The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1908-09-11

OF the blind confidence she had In her
son, or else in contemDtuous disre-
gard for the rights and wishes OF the
husband, leaves her son and tbe de-
PENDANTS wife alone together in the
same house. And defendant goes TO
that house and fnds them there to-
gether and alone. Finds his wife
again alone with the man on account
Of whom he had left her. and while
the husband is trying 70 have a con
yersation with his wife; while he is
naturally upbraiding her for her dis
loyalty to him in thought and afec-
ton and manner, this man obuudes
himself into their presence; and when
the husband protests. the wife, instead
of coming 70 the rescue Of the hus-
band sides with the man who is the
cause of their trouble, and points the
husband to the door and tells him TO
leave. Not willing, she declares, TO
stay under the same roof with him,
but quite willing to stay under the
same roof with the man who had sep
arated them.
Il don't know why the defendant
did as he did, at that time" exclaimed
the speaker dramatically; but as for
myself, no power in heaven or hell
could have driven me from that house
and left my wife and child there with
the man who had wrecked my home
and my happiness. and left him there
alive
Mr.. Hughes commented upon the
agreement made between relatives of
the parties, that the husband should
go back to the mines and stay out OF
Mt. Pleasant, and that the wife should
90 to her father at Centreville, and
said that if that agreement had been
strictly adhered to, instead of her re-
manning several weeks longer in Mt.
Pleasant, these parties might, now be
living together, peaceably and happi-
ly; for, said he, up to that time defen,/
dant had no thought of his wife's in
fidelity to him; nothing irrevocable
had taken place; he had simply felt
and keenly resented her lack Of af-
lection and sympathy and kind and
respectful treatment of him. Not
that she had been guilty of any Grim
inal conduct; but that her sights of
him, her contemptuous disregard OF
his wishes, her deafness to his warn
ings, her lack Of affection, her lack .
of attention, her lack OF confidence,
her lack of courteous treatment; her
lack of sympathy, all of which every .
true husband is entitled to and which
no wife has the right to withhold or
deny; together with her cordial greet
ing and conversation and manner and
smiles for another, naturally, reason
ably and justly aroused his suspicious
and indignation; and he had right
to demand of her different treatment
toward himself and different treat
ment of others.
A man continued the speaker, has
a right to control the associates of his
wife, and no true wife will disregard
her husbands wishes and warnings;
and when a woman does defy and dis 7.
regard her husbands wishes as to her
conduct and department and associa-
lions, she takes her character and
happiness into her own hands, and
the man, if there be man in the case,
takes his life into his own hands.
And it is right that it should be so.
For the written law Of God is that a
man has the right to take the life OF
the man who separates him from his
wife,, and wrecks the happiness of
his home. 1t does not always require
guilt to do this. But if there
be merely a transfer of affection; or
a lack of sympathy, confidence and
if these be aught that wrecks
the home and the happiness Of the
home, the man has the right to pro-
tect himself and his home from that
invader, in whatsoever form 1t may
come And if a man be the cause,
even the remote cause no man with
true Southern blood will temporize
with such situation.
Speaking of the defendant and his
frame of mind before the killing, when
the circumstances and the reports and
the boasts of the deceased were con-
stantly coming to his ears, Mr..
Hughes said 1t was a future so black
and dark that not CLEAN of SUM-
shine could light his life; his very
life was dead; his happiness forever
gone; his home ruined; his child
snatched from his embrace. 1t was
the awful struggle of the sOul con-