The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-12-20
EFENDANT
FAINTS.
Sensational Ending Of the
Bathgate Divorce
Case.
BOUGHT HER HUSBAND CLOTHES
Mrs. Bathgate Tells of All
She Suffered for Her
Child's Sake.

IHe BdJnSate divorce case which mas
been occupying the attention of Vice
Chancellor Emery in the Court of Chan
Gerry for the past three days came to a
| close yesterday after more or less SEN
sational session. Mrs. Bathgate, the de-
,, fendant was on the stand most of the
afternoon and whine she had finished her
testimony she collapsed.
When the court reassembled after the
non recess, Mr.. Hart, counsel for Mrs.
Bathgate, called her. The defendant is a
frail delicate little woman with large ex-
pressive black eyes, an attractive face.
She was plainly attired in black and
wore hat with a large black feather.
After swearing to tell the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truh, she leaned
back in her chair and braced herself for
he coming ordeal. She spoke in a voice
low but distinct and carefully weighed
her words before she let them CO. all the
time passing a smelling bottle to and fro
before her face like a ran.
She began by Saying that she was mar
ried 80, 1894 in New York and
that the first two years of her married
| life were happy, but after that her hus-
band subjected her to physical cruelty
What that physical cruelty was she said
she did not care describe unless it was
necessary. No one seemed to think it
necessary and she went on. After that
began she ceased to care for her husband
and lost all affection for him. She de-
clared false the testimony of Avice Carter,
| the young French woman who has figured
in this case, and who testified that Mrs.
Bathgate had spoken to her of an ar
rangement whereby Bathgate was to give
his wife SIS month and she and the
Carter woman were to live in New York
| together. There Atwood, the correspondent
| could visit Mrs Bathgate as often as he
pleased and if any one talked about it
she could say that Atwood was engaged to
the Carter woman.
Mrs Bathgate continued that her huS-
bands salary was small and she was
obliged to do dressmaking to keep the
house going. Often when company was
present her husband would tell her that
she should give up her business and then
when they were alone he would tell her
to keep. right along working and not mind
what he said, as they needed the money.
Mr.. Rooster then took Mrs. Bathgate
in hand for cross-examnation and by his
questions brought out evidence more
own client. In answer to his questions
about her husbands income, she said
'Why, the overcoat he is wearing now
1 bought for him for Christmas pres
ent, and shortly before that 1 bought him
a suit of clothes'
Mr.. Koester asked Mrs. Bathgate If she
had not made arrangements to put away
her child.
burying her face in her handkerchief.
wept.
Mr.. Koester then went back to the hus-
bands failure to provide for his family,
and the witness said one cold Saturday
night there was no coal in the house, and
she asked her husband to go to a store
and get enough to last over Sunday He
refused, and she gave a boy ten cents
to carry the coal to the house. Her
husband asked her what she did that for
and she said she gave it to the boy for
doing what he ought to have done. He
was carving turkey at the time and
picking up plate on which there was
a second joint, threw it at her. The
plate missed her, and then her husband
ran to where she was sitting and struck
her in the face, knocking her against the
buffet and leaving mark which she car
ried for several days.
She told of finding her husband and the
Carter woman together under suspicious
circumstances
She acknowledged that she lost all af-
fection for her husband, but she con-
tinued to live in the same house with
him but did not room with him When
asked why she did that she replied
Because he is the father of my chld.o
Mrs. Bathgate emphatically and cate
gorically denied all the charges of the bill
or any wrong doing whatever. Two or
three times during her testimony Mrs
Bathgate was on the verge of collapse,
but she held herself together with an eff
fort. When she was finally released from
the ordeal she tottered from the witness
chair, and going to another hoom fell into
a swoon. She was soon revived and taken
to her home in Hackensack.
The summing up followed. Mr. Koes-
ter worked himself up into quite fury,
and got into such flights that the Vice.
Chancellor called him to order and ad-
monished him that he was not addessing
a jury. Decisi61 was reserved.