The San Francisco call., 1909-05-09
DIVORCE ASKED
FOR BRUTALITY
OF PUBLISHER
Mrs. Mary Alice Calkins Charges
Her Husband With Having
Broken Her Ribs
Ten Years Ill Treatment De-
scribed in Complaint Which
Defendant Calls a Plot


Calkins newspaper syndicate appeared
in a new role yesterday. The part of a
vicious wife beater was assigned him
in a suit for divorce instituted by Mrs
Mary Alice Calkins. OF the thousands
of divorce complaints on hle with the
county clerk few, if any, contain such
a remarkable series of allegations of
unmitigated brutality If half Of Mrs
Calkins' charges are true her husbands s
behavior ior years past has been that
OF a mailman or fiend
Not once. but many times. she as
serts. Calkins has kicked choked
strangled, punched and throttled her.
scratched her till the blood ran and
pulled her about by the hair. besides
using terms of abuse ana reviling her
CALHoUN's NAsiE MENTIONED
Patrick Calhoun figures in the COM
plant Soon after the trial of Calhoun
started readers of the Calkins news
papers were astonished that attacks
were being made upon the indicted
president of the United Railroads. Pre-
viously .ae had been beslavered with
fulsome adulation. hint of the rea-
son for the right-about-turn is fur
nished by Mrs. .Calkins.
During the early part of the present
year. the exact date of which plaintiff
does not recall" she says defendant
told her one evening he was going to
show Mr.. Calhoun thing or two; that
the morning papers would contain q
great surprise and tnat Calhoun and
others would be taught a lesson.
Mrs. Calkins goes o.. 20 say that she
questioning the wisdom or proprioty Of
her husband attacking any one through
the columns of his papers, and strongly
advised against it.
'BIG MAN MOULD FIGHT WIFE
Calkins became greatly enraged, tell
ing his wife she was a fool aud that she
was mot fit to be the wife of a big
failure to appreciate the honor of being
the wife of Willard P. Calkins the de-
fendant is alleged TO have told her he
despised her and that she could not
please him better than by leaving him
Soon after this she did leave him.
challenge to fight delivered by
Calkins TO his wife is another of the
unique features of this divorce COM
plant. II occurred on the night of April
q.
to his home at 1882 Masonic avenue in
an intoxicated condition at o p. m. Mrs
Calkins had retired to ped. Her hus-
band angrily upbraided her for not hay
ing hot dinner ready. The "big man.
then issued the challenge to his wife
TO fight him. In fear or violence Mrs
Calkins ran into an adjoining room.
ATTEMPTS TO sTRANGLE WIFE
Calkins followed her and, in the un-
vanished words OF the complaint.
"grasped her by the-throat, choked and
strangled her, told her he would kill
her and pulled several handfuls of hair
out" In a frenzy of anger he declared
he was through with her, and called
upon God to witness that he would
leave the house and never return to it
or to his wife
This was the climax of 10 years OF
i'll treatment, according to the com
plant. Mrs. Calkins left her hus-
bands house and has since lived with
her brother, where for the first time
in many months she has retired with
out the fear that every night might
be her last
The bill. which was prepared by At
torney John r. TyrreIl. recounts in
incidents in the marital life of the
Calkins. They were married in Grass
Valley July 27 1887.
TEN YEARS. I'LL TREATMENT
The complaint opens with the gem
eral allegation that while for 10 years
he has beaten, kicked and cursed her.
his conduct during the last year has
been 80 unbearably vicious and in
human" that she became in fear of
her life and left him. He is possessed
of an ugly, vicious and ungovernabIe
temper. it is alleged, and makes no at
tempt to curb it,
The first particular charge is dated
June. 1896. Calhins. after a night of
gambling, kicked his wife out of bed
and threatened her with revolver
In 1898 in the town of Etna his wife
worked several hours day in his
printing office. did the family washing
and kept three boarders. When, in
September of that year, Calkins reviled
his wife in the presence of employees
of the printing Office, she went up
stairs crying but her husband is al
legged to have gone after her. thrown
her downstairs. and said, stop your
sniveIing and get supper
An attack Of the usual kind occurred
August Is. 1902, the complaint alleges
On that occasion CaIkfns is stated to
have choked and almost strangled his
wife digging his fngernails into her
neck until the blood flowed running
on his night clothes.
RIBS BROKEN BY KICKS
One Sunday morning the following
month Mrs. Calkins says he gave SWAY
to his vicious, nasty temper and gave
her a severe pummeling, striking her
with force and violence and
kicking her to the floor, from which
she was unable to rise. She said she
thought her back was broken, but her
husband laughed and went out A
was summoned by Mrs
Calkins, and it was found that two of
her ribs were broken She was in bed
many days
One of the most fendish of the at
tacks Calkins is accused of having
made on his wife is thus described:
On October 10, 1907, while they were
living In their Masonic avenue home.
he few into rage at the dinner
table because she had dared to ex-
press an opinion on some matter under
Her big husband seized
I,er bv tha throat choked and Stran-