Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1893-11-24
THE VALUE OF WOMAN.

IAE VALUE OF WOMAN.
What is the value of a woman
that is, the legal value as established
by the courts OF course, when you
are i'll love you are satisfied that the
value of certain particular woman
is away up in the millions or billions,
but learned judge, if the case could
be submitted to him, might not place
SO high valuation on her. He has
nothing to do with sentiments and
neither has this article.
When young nun asks young
woman to be "his'n," he doesn't con.
slider her from financial point of
view. He may give some thought to
her fathers wonlth. or her dowry,
but he doesn't figure on the financial
value of the woman herself. IF he
did, and looked up the court record
a little,he gasped at the very thought
of asking for so much wealth.
In the slave marta of the Old
World in ancient times beautiful
women have brought large sums, but
they didn't begin to be as valuable as
some OF their sisters of the present
day, when taken piecemeal, have been
adjudged by courts of record. An
arm alone has been valued ut SI1 ,250;
wrist at $1,000; hand at 81, 700, a
leg at $4,000.
just compare those with the prices
paid in the slave marts, and with the
even lower prices for which women
have been sold outside of the open
markets. An Englishman shortly be
fore $500 sold his wife. with child
and some furniture thrown in, for Ii
shill:ngs, and n butcher in Hereford,
in 1902, sold his wife at auction for
I'll Us I'D and bowl of punch 1t is
impossible to learn exactly what he
valued the clothes she wore at, but
there lis an intilnntion in the account
of the sale that he considered them
worth FL 0s Id, and let her go for
the bowl of punch. Still another
woman was sold in Knaresborough
for Cd and plug of tobacco. But
American women have apparently
been held at ii higher figure. In May,
1882, John Howard, of Arnpahoe
county, Col, sold his wife Rebecca,
together with all and singular the
improvements and hered,taments
therein and thereon" for S75 and
yellow dog.
But these cases are hardly to the
point. They show the valuation put
upon certain women by certain men,
but do not in any sense show their
legal value.
A woman's life, under the law in
many States, il worth the same as q
inan's-S5,0o0. But that seems ali
absudly low figure when one consid-
ors the figure she has been appraised
at when taken section by section.
Her head apparently is not of much
value. Of course it cannot be con-
sidercd separately, as this article
deals entirely with the value of live
woman. but considered as part of
the whole, damage 10 it is not assess
ed very high. An Illinois court has
decided that Sl,7O0 is too much for
hitting n woman on the hend with q
hatchet without force enough to causb
death, and from that decision the es-
innate will have to be made A fnir
and impartial valuation under the
circumstances would put the figure
at about $1,000. A due considera
tion of this ought to make a man
hesitate when he loses his temper
and reaches for poker. He would
think twice before he would try to
smash q $1,000 vase or piece of bric.
a-brac.
Shoulders have not been valued
quite 80 high. The case of q Mrs.
Dudley of England will have to he
taken as criterion. She tried {,
pass under an archway niue feet and
nine inches high while sitting on top
of u coach eight feet and nine inches,
high. and the result was disastrous
TO her 'shouldere. OF course she
didn't lose them entirely, but she
came near it as passible and the $500
awarded her by the jury may be tax
en- as it's estimate of their value.
- "O'o"h hoho 10 PieLIy valuable.
Many man has given up all he pos
sessed to get one, but that was sen
timent, not law. An Illinois woman
recovered $4,000 for The loss of
hand, or, at the rate of 80, o pair.
This is somewhat more than IL won.
ans wrists are valued at. A Miss
Jones, a nurse Of Chicago, was paid
for one fractured wrist at the rate of
$4,000 pair.
The arm of the woman of today is
worth more than whole woman-
and beautiful one at that-was
worth in days gone by. Miss Sweely,
of Ottawa, Ill. was given $4,000 for
one; but that was a small figure and
only goes to show that the Illinois
has not The legal value OF the Massa.
chusetts arm. A Mrs. Shaw, of the
latter State, was awarded $4,000 for
the loss of one arm and the crippline