The San Francisco call., 1904-07-03
HUSBANDS CAN
BARTER WIVES
Strange Practice Yet Pre-
walls to a Great Extent in
Some Counties of England
Is POOR MANS DIVORCE
Prices Range From Quart
of Ale to a Few Shillings
to Give a ''Value Received"


been reminded Of the opening chapters
of THE Mayor of Casterbridge" by the
case at Marlborough-s Police
Court the other day, where 1t was
shown that the defendant had got rid
of his wife by selling her for copple
of shillings. For precedents for this
commercial form of divorce some jour
nalists have searched the records Of
century ago and produced numerous
instances of wives being led to the cat
tie market and there knocked down to
the highest bidder.
But 1t Is not necessary to 90 back
anything like 100 years for such sales
Of wives. There are sufficient modern
instances to maintain the assertion
that wife selling is still q British Gus
tom. There are hundreds of people
who still believe that to transfer a wife
to another man for a cash payment is
legal transaction and a valid disso-
luton of matrimonial ties. AS a popu-
lar error it ranks with the idea that
If husband or wife be absent and un-
heard of for seven years the other is
free to marry again. In Yorkshire
generally and In Sheffield in particular,
this doctrine of wife selling Is still so
firmly established and frequently prac-
ticed that 1t has little less than the
force Of a local law.
SELLS FOR FIVE SHILLNGS.
Legends Of Sheffield grinders who in
drunken bouts sell their wives for a
quart of ale are well known. But now
adays such transactions are no longer
conducted offhand. They are invested
with formality. as witness this docu-
ment which figured in a case at the
Sheffield County Court In 1887: "At the
Royal Oak, Sheffield, I, Abraham
Boothroyd. agree to sell my wife Clara
to William Hall for the sum Of shil-
lings.''
In another case the bargaining was
accidentally overheard in a public
house by a Sheffield journalist. A
Golfers wife had transferred her af-
fections to another man, and the hus-
band was willing to renounce his
claim for suitable compensation. So
the parties assembled In a public
house to arrange matters. There was
the husband with a friend, his wife
with her father and mother and the
prospective purchaser with a friend.
The husband demanded fS for his
wife; she herself said 1t was too much.
and her new man said he wouldn't
give more than a sovereign. Finally
30s was the sum agreed upon, 1t was
paid over and the document drawn up,
signed and witnessed: "Mr. Taylor to
have my wife, Elizabeth Smith, free
from me forever. to do as she has a
mind, this day. December IL, 1898.
YOUNG AND UNRULY."
These are merely two recent cases
which have come to light The ma
jority Of such sales of wives never
attain publicity. At Leeds Assizes in
1895 Benjamin Gibbons was tried for
bigamy. He admitted that he had
married woman while his first wife
was alive, but he pleaded that as he
had sold her he was entitled to marry
again. She was a young woman
and unruly; even though he con-
stantly gave her good hidings, she
troubled him. and, tiring Of her, he
sold her to a soldier for 3s Cd. She
went quite willingly and married her
purchaser.
Again, at Leeds Assizes three years
ago, another bigamist offered the same
defense. In his arrest he stated:
When / married her I knew I had
a wife living, but 1 sold her for 5Os.p
More recently at Stockport an elderly
man told the magistrates that he
thought he was entitled to marry
again as he had sold his first wife to
chimney sweep for 18 pence.
In each case 1t will be noted that the
purchase money is small This is not
due to q low valuation of the woman.
but nominal sum is agreed upon to
make the bargain an actual one. The
legal doctrine of value received" is so
far understood by the vulgar mind.
The sale, indeed, is the poor mans di-
vorce. His honesty in this matter is
shown by his retention Of the children
of the marriage, and his maintenance
Of them.
TAKES CHILDREN, TOO.
In a case at Doncaster in 1896 the
purchaser, instead Of paying cash.
agreed to take over the vendors four
children with the wife. This was the
document which figured later in the
police court: New Coinisboro. March
s, 1851, Enoch Childs, is quite will
ing to take your wife and children as
mine, that is your wife, Ellen Tart,
and Sarah, John, Henry and Eliza.
Signed, Ellen Tart, Enoch Childs.'
Though Lancashire is so kin to York
shire no sales of wives are known in
the County Palatine. But in Alfreton.
in Derbyshire, collier sold his wife
for fourpence in 1882. In 1873 there was
remarkable case at Belper; the wife
Of an absconding debtor had a halter
placed about her neck and was led into
the market place on Saturday after
noon and offered for sale by auction
as one OF her husbands assets. But
there were no bidders and no sale.
About four years ago Irthingborough.
near Northampton, supplied southern
instance. A shoemaker paraded the
streets with a bell calling upon all per-
sons to know that he had that after
noon sold and bequeathed" his wife
to John -. He proclaimed the names
of two companions as witnesses to the
frarSa ctiOn The r11rehaca p,opaxr x.-ae