The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1902-09-13
.|NHUMAN CRUELTY
OF DILLON DOCTOR
MRS. ELLA MILLER REClTES TALE OF
UNBEARABLE PERSECUTION IN
THE DIVORCE COURT.

In less than one hour this morning
Judge Clancy sat at his desk in the district
court, listened to the marital woes of five
women and one man and gr,ntcd six
divorces.
There were all classes of society and
refinement represented among the COM
plainants, and every degree of cruelty and
divorceable demeanor written in the COM
plants.
From the wife of a prominent physician,
in hei gown of latest cut, with her story
of threatened murder by poison, revolver
and club, to sallow-faced Austrian in
caEco dress, who smiled as she informed
the court that she wanted separation
because her husband was convict in Deer
Lodge, the social scale was ON the carpet.
Some of the ties that bound the COM
plainants to their homes were severed in
less than two minutes; none OF the scpara-
ton operations took more than five.
A Tale Of lnhuman Cruelty.
1t was a peculiar coincidence, but the
bitterest tale of persecution and cruelty
came from the woman from whose home
life might be expected the most refinement.
Mrs. Ella Miller, wife of DIR. M. A.
Miller, practicing physician OF Dillon,
sat in the witness chair, her daughter, Mrs.
Teal, by her side, and told a tale of cruelty
in which there was every evidence of truth.
"Twenty-four years ago we were mar
ried," said the woman, "and for years
have been in terror of my 4.ie from my
husband. He has threatened to poison me,
to shoot me, to brain me, and to kill me in
every violent and imaginable manner. He
has choked me and beaten me, until
feared that he might kill me. would
have secured divorce from him long ago,
but he threatened that he would follow me
to the end of the earth and kill me, If
did. =
I'VE were married at Carlisle, Pennsyl-
vania. All our children are grown up and
married. Last December he beat and
bruised me and was compelled to leave
my house afraid to return. On the gath
of last month he caMe up here to my
daughters house and tore my clothes OFT,
truising and beating me at the same time.
"One day last month he came to my
daughters house and tore my clothes off,
saw him coming | ran out across the little
gulch and down to the railroad track,
where | was hemmed in and had to hide in
a coal shed.
In the Presence Of Their Child.
"He did everything but kill me- added
Mrs. Miller. my daughter Blanche has
seen him many time. He has threatened
to sell his property, take the money out OF
the bank and leave the state if | attempted
to institute proceedings against him.
Attorney John N. Kirk, who represented
Mrs Miller, then called her daughter Mrs.
Teal to the stand.
Many time" was her answer to the
attorneys question, If her father had ever
beaten her mother, many time have !
gotten between them and prevented him
from beating her further. When he came
with the revolver in his hand, | saw it, al
though he had it hidden under a handker-
chief, and when he tried to reach around
ny waist and shoot her ! held his hand"
That was enough. Mr.. Kirk needed to
present no further evidence. He said the
complainant left the amount of permanent
alimony and oN,er relief to the court, with
provisions for attorneys fee.
Judge Clancy granted decree in ac-
cordance with the request of the COM
plant.