The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-09-12
DEAF HUBBY SUES
MUTE WIFE FOR
TALKING TOO MUCH
In Newark Court Divorce Suit
of Deaf Mutes Is to
Be Tried.
CHRISTMAS WEDDING
NOT so MERRY IN END
Fingers Must Have Worked at
Remarkable Rate if All
Charges Are True.

James William Nash, of 1856 Orange
street. deaf and dumb. was married
twenty-fi years next Christmas Day
to Sarah Louise Harper Nash. also deaf
and dumb. Now he is suing for divorce,
alleging that she talked too much.
'She finger-lashed me until the air
was blue with her language" is the
synopsis of Nash's alleged grievance.
although he also alleges that Mrs. Nash
on three occasions deserted him and
their three children. all of whom are
strong. healthy specimens of American
youth, who can talk as well as any
other youngsters.
He spelled off cruel and unllind mes
sages.' declares Mrs. Nash in her an
swer why, on one occasion, after he
| had tried to choke me. he told NE that
to hang for killing me would be a pleas
ure and he would welcome it. He was
so angry his fingers fairly flew"
Courtship a Short One.
| After a romantic coprtship, lasting
| but short time. Nash married his
| wife, who was Miss Harper, in Nor
gansville, n. Y, in 1888 The knot was
| tied by the Rev. Thomas Gallaudet.
pastor of st. AIMS Church for Deaf
Mutes. The clergyman knew the Ign
| language and the ceremony. of course,
was performed through that medium
of conversation.
For a while the fingers of the newly
weds fairly drpped honey They
moved to Pennsylvania. Two children
were born before they moved to New
ark. Nash obtained employment at the
| National Saw Company at II River
street.
Mrs. Nash's parents. Mr.. and Mrs.
Joseph L. Harper, lived then at 352
Stuyvesant avenue, Irvington, their
present residence, and Nash declares
! that she spent much time there, leav-
ing their brood. now three. to their
own inclinations. Quarrels followed.
Mrs. Nash complained that her work
was irksome and caused her limbs to
ache. Finally matters came to a
! climax in the latter part of 1900. when
Nash came home one night and found
| the following note:
Dear james, have decided to go,
| because the work is more than 1
can stand and it makes my arms
ache.
Four Years Apart.
For four years Nash and his wife
lived apart. A reconciliation followed,
and once more honeyed words fell from
| their finger tips. Sweet was changed
! to bitter in double-quiclS time, however.
| and on November S, 1904, Mrs. Nash
| again left, according to the husbands s
statement. On March 16, 1906, declares
Nash, the third and final desertion fol-
lowed Il reconciliation less than a week
old. This time his fighting blood was
| aroused. He says he walked into his
home on the night in question to find
that his wife had employed a van to
move off half the furniture to q room
she had rented at % Golden street The
couple were then living at so Washing
ton street,
The children declared that their
mother had left early in the day. While
they We're talking on their fingers the
van driver arrived and demanded pay
from Nash for moving the furniture
Over-awed by what he terms his wife's
Colossal nerve" Nash meekly paid tho
bill.
He also declares that he paid the
rent for Mrs. Nash and gave her money
for four months. urging her to return.
Then he stopped pleading and employed
Clifford & Miller TO file papers in a suit
for divorce.
Mrs. Nash fights the suit through her
attorney, Otto Stiefel The case comes
up on bill and answer next Wednesday
before Vice-Chancellor Howell who
will employ an interpreter familiar in
the sign language.
For the first time in New Jersey
court the spectacle of a divorce suit IA
which both parties are deaf mutes will
then be seen.