The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-04-14
SHIRTS ARE HIS DIET
WIFE SAYS NIGHTLY MEAL OF HUs.
BAND WAS MADE ON APPAREL
AND BED CLOTHES
TELLS OF TERRIBLE TEMPER
He Worked While He Slept, the
Complainant Declares, and Then
Woke Up for the Sake
of Getting Mad.

CHICAGO, ILL.,, April 13-"My husband
used to Wreak his rage on anything which
| happened TO be within reach. usually his
| clothes, in which he would tear 2 eat holes
with his teeth and spit the pieces out, !"
| said Mrs. FredTicka GehrI1e, in discussin ING.
| her suit for separate maintenance against
! her husband, Albert Gehrke. Judge
! Chytraus dismissed the suit but later re-
| considered his decision and set a further
! hearing for next Saturday
"Gehrke has an awful temper and when
fit of it came on, which was nearly ev-
! cry day, he acted like a crazy man. But
| he amt crazy; it's just his temper. He
| was all right when l married him eight
| cen years ago.
| Brother Passed Muster.
ct was his brothers widow, and his
! brother was always a good husband to me
| and thought Albert would be, too. l had
| two little daughters when l married him
| and since then [ have had seven children
three Of them dead. Gehrke's first bad
! attack of temper was fifteen years ago,
when my girl, Tina, was three weeks
old. He came home from work, and
asked him to do something for me-some
little chore out in the yard. He got mad
and swore at me and grabbed me by the
throat and waist and shook me so hard
| that 1 was sick for three weeks after
ward.
He hated all my relatives and would
not let them come to the house to see
me- He wouldn't let anybody come to
the house, not even the neighbors.''
And as for letting US girls have fell
low call on us-there wasn't one that
would come within mile of the house.
chimed in her daughter, Augusta.
Every time he would come home he
would say: who's been here?% ard carry
f.11a nod
out of place." said Sophie, another daugh-
ter.
Dieted on His Shirt.
''He used to come home from the shop
and try to quarrel with everybody IN the
house." went on Mrs. Gehrke. And il
he couldn't start one with us he'd go into
his room and stand in front of the glass
and make faces at himself and pull his
| hair and tear his shirt sleeves with his
| teeth and act like mad dog. Then I
would say: What ais you, man?' and
he would say, 'Ach, l have such bad
temper, am so savage and then he'd eat
some more of his shirt. He'd wake up in
the night time and think of something
to get mad at, and then he'd thrash his
arms around and take the bedclotheS and
chew a big piece out and spit it in the air.
We used to wonder what made my boy
Eddie have the nose bleed every morn
I
found out that when his father thrashed
his arms around in his mad fits he would
hit the boy on the nose with his elbow or
his fist He didn't mean to do it, but
he was so mad he didn't know what he
was doing.
Threatened Neck Carving.
Eyes, and he was always fighting about
money! said Augusta. zone time, nine
years ago, my mother drew $500 out of a
loan association, and it belonged to me
and my sister We had lots of sickness
in the family, and Mr.. Gehrke used the
money to pay bills with and live on.
He never said anything about lit until
two years ago, and then he suddenly
began to quarrel with my mother and
said if she didn't give him back his $3.50
he'd cut her neck open. He used to say
he was going to drive US out of the
house and shoot us and cut our necks,-
and lots of things like that.
Last October he got mad at the break
fast table and took a knife and started
after ma, and I got up and told him not
to touch her, and he said to get out of
the house before night or he'd kill us
ell We thought he'd forget it by night,
but he didn't, and we had to go to my
aunt'S that night, and then a few days
later we got some furniture and moved.
He's mean man. My little brother Ar
thur runs and hides under the bed and
screams when we say we are going to
take him to his papa
Gehri1e Denies 1t All.
Mr.. Gehrke still holds the fort at 667
Dunning street, living in solitary SPLEEN
dor among the, furniture left him by his
family. He is a small, meek looking man,
and declares, in broken German, that he
never got mad like that" and denies all
of his wife's accusations. He says that
her relatives have made all the trouble
between them, and that she is a quarrel
some woman and has taught his children
to fear and hate him. He says she is ig-
norant and believes in witches, and that
he doesn't intend to pay her alimony if
he can help it, because she left him with