The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-12-27
They DID NOT SPEAK
For Seventeen Years a Man and Wife
Exchange No Words.
LIVED IN THE SAME HOUSE
Finally the Old Women of the VII
iase Concluded That Something
Must Be Done. So They Get
the Couple to Fighting.

the Couple to Fighting.
New Haven. Conn. DsoI z6-In the
village Of Branford there IL a two-story
frame house. old and battered by the
weather. and long unpainted- 1t stands
apart. and for years none but the occu-
pants has gone into It. In that house
Edward Burke and Ellen. his wife.
have lived for % years. They were
married in 1872. and took this cottage
and settled down to a comfortable.
drowsy existence after the fashion of
the respectable New England village
family.
At the end OF six years the neighbors.
who had been watching them carefully.
noticed that something was wrong. The
wife could be seen eating her meals at
a table on the ground floor of the cot
tage. while the husband was TO be seen
eating at n table In one OF the upstairs
rooms. There were no mems articles
In the washing Ellen Burke hung out
on the line in the back yard. and once
q week Edward carried a bundle to a
washing woman in the village. The
neighbors decided that one Of those
fierce. bitter. silent quarrels. not un-
common In New England villages. was
on between them.
Burke and his wife were never seen
together. and. when the neighbors. bent
upon getting at the truth. questioned
each separately. they got no satisfac-
tion. Neither would speak the Others
name. The interest In the quarrel be-
came so intense that to prevent some
of the feebler old people from dying OF
unsatisfied curiosity n counsel was held
and an ingenious line of action was re-
solved upon.
They decided that II must be the man
who was at fault. and that he must be
crazy. SO he was hauled up. and all
the village turned out to hear his ex-
PLANTATION. He simply said that he and
his wife had quarreled. and had not
been speaking. and. 20 far as he could
manage IL. would never speak to each
other again. He said that she lived on
the ground floor and he on the second
| floor, and that each establishment was
| complete In itself.
| This was not lunaoy. and 20 Edward
Burke was released and allowed to 60
back 10 his queer home. But village
curiosity was stiu a-hunger and
athirst. So Ellen Burke was hauled up
charged with being insane. She soon
proved that she was perfectly sane. and
did II without letting out any more OF
the cause and progress OF the quarrel
than had her husband.
After these lunacy proceedings the good
people let them alone for . year or two.
Then they bethought them that In q de-
cent. godly place like Branford such bit
terness between husband and wife was
unseemly. revolutionary and scandalous.
So they went TO the Burkes and prayed
/ ened them But the Burkes. - before.
spoke not. although they paased each
| other many times every day In the yard
They gradually dropped ell their ac-
quaintances and spent all their time not
employed IN making their separate and
Independent iivings In the house she
| brooding down stairs. he brooding In his
sitting room over her head No doubt
each sent many longing thought out to
| wards the other or backwards towards
| the days whom they had wandered the
village lanes. each with an arm around
the other. But that stubborn. relentless
/ pride. that fear OF being thought weak
| and yielding. held them apart. And so
the years passed down to Nov. . last. al
most the i7th anniversary Of their quar-
| rel.
On that day something happened. no
one knows what. that angered Burho
/ into breaking the silence. Down the
i
| II years. walked In upon his wife and be-
| gan to shout at her. She answered him
In the same strain. He took her by the
| shoulders and gave her n tremendous
| shaking. sat her down hard In her big
rocking chair and staiked away.
She was In q frantic rage. She rushed
| out and had him arrested He was fined
| 81 He appealed the case and to-day It
/ came before Justice Studley IN the court
OF common pleaA The decision OF the
lower court was confirmed and now
Burke has not only to pay the - but also
| the costs OF the appeal.
This looks as II Edward and Ellen were
further away each from the other than
ever before But there Is one hopeful
| sign They are talking each TO the other
again daily. hourly. II Is true they are
quarreling. but as the silence 10 broken
the tears may come at any moment. The
neighbors are hopeful and are wisely
| standing aloof. or as far aloof as Is COM
patih1e with watching every move.