The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-02-09
BRITISH WIFE BFATERS.
Light Punishment Imposed For Cow
ardIy and Cruel Acts.

A most interesting feature in cOnnec-
ton with the sentencing of Actor Rat
cliffe to six months Imprisonment for
Saulting ms wife IS brought out by the
fact that is he mad committed the same
Offense in England he would simply have
10 pay a fine OF few dollars. ana moth
ing further would have been heard of the
matter. says the New York herald. For
it seems that in England such Jnings are
not treated nearly so severely as they
are here. When a man marrleS woman
she becomes IN large measure MS own
personal property. and he may do with
ner as he pleases. In fact, the old say
ing:
\ woman. dog and walnut tree.
he more you beat EN- the better they be.
seems 10 hold good there
MI Henry hemeike. the proprietor or
the big newspaper clipping bureau that
bears his name, was some time ago
struck with the great laXlty OF the Eng
lish law in this respect. and set about
Keeping q record OF these Onenses and the
punIshmentS metcd cut 20 women beaterS
IN the city of London alone.
\ man in London may. il seems. knock
down his mother for the trltilnS sum or
$50. A mOther-in-law. however. may not
be interfered with so Cheapiy. for a man
who was ill-adVised enough TO try il was
fined 50. The average cost of chaStiSing
an unruly sister-in-iaw seems to be about
IS. But mans own wife may be taught
10 behave more TO the liking of her lord
and master for the modest sum of SOD.
and if without intent TO hurt a poker or
stove lid may be thrown at her for 10
cents.
But. according to the law. a man must
be careful how he treats another man )
wife. to 60 violence TO whom costs lit
tie more. For instance. q man who had
the temerity TO strike anOtherS spouse
was fined almost 81 whereas he could
have given his own wife the same handi-
ing for One-third the amount He must
have been reckless on that day.
A prisoner became very angry in court
when he was asked to pay So for showing
his wife how to make a FIRE by beating
her over the head with q poker. He
thought the price too high. and told the
magistrate il was eXOrbitant-
On the other hand. nothing could be
more economical tnan the enjOyments OF
a certain individual who knocked his wife
down with q piece of wood five times for
81. an average Of only ~ cents for each
knock down. Immediately following this
IS an account of man thrusting his wife
in the fire three times for the same
amount. At this rate he does not seem
to have gotten full value for his money
Then there comes a long list of other Of
lenses. TO each of which Mr. ROmeike has
placed in the margin the average hne i'm
posed by the London magistrate for such
cruelttes.
Here are a few of them:
For throwing fire irons at the head
For beating his wife on the head
with a piece OF wood two months
after marriage ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS %
For beating his wife several times.
kicking her repeatedly. tearing
her hair out. -rying to strange
her and knocking her down.. l %
For throwing his wife n the fire
and badly burning her ..---..-....... ! 80
For TRYING to cut his wife's throat,
backing her eve. striking her in
the breast throwing . cup of hot
tea in her face after having boxed
Ncf t-tts D -
For backing with his wife's eyes and
cutting her head open with an AK 10 20
For thoroughly thrashing mis- wife,
so that she lay in disabled condi-
ton for weeks OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES 10 W
These are only a few specimen items
taken at random from the statistics. and
from this range of fines Mr. Remeike has
made a computation Of how much suffer-
ing a man can intlict upOn his wife in
England TO warrant in the eyes of the
British magistrates a sentence of six
months imprisonment. Here is the start
ling result: He can knock her down. cut
her with a knife. throw a lamp at her.
break one of her arms. kick her while on
the ground. tear her clothes off. burn her
and then wind up with a first-class
thrashing-