The Mankato free press., 1909-01-22
Nick Hittle Is Put Under Arrest
Charged With Assault.
WOMAN HAS. A BLACK EYE
She Claims That Divorced Husband
Broke into the House snd Beat.
Thrsate nod to KIN Her.
From THURSDAYS Daily.

From THURSDAYS Daily.
Nick Hittle is under arrest charged
with an assault committed upon his
wife yesterday afternoon. 1t appears
that the trouble occurred at his wife's
residence, 1889 Third avenue. The cou
pie were separated last July, and the
wife has the custody of the three chill
dren, the oldest being "a boy seven
years old, and the others twins, and
that the court, in making the decree
at the wife's request, directed that
Mr.. Hittle pay so n mon alimony to
her for the support of herself and
children. 1t appears that he mas not
been complying with this order lately
for yesterday he was served with pa
pers directing him to show cause next
Monday afternoon why he has not
done So Just how much these proceed
ings had to do with the assault is
not known, but it may have put
liittle in an ugly frame of mind.
Exhibited Number of Bruises.
Mrs. Hittle visited the county at
torneys office this forenoon, and cX-
hibited very bad eye, swollen shut
and black and blue. She was ac-
by her brother, Frank
Marka. who with his wife boards with
her, and ne got out warrant chars,
ing Hittle with assault in the third
degree. 1t is his desire to enter a
more serious charge, and this may
be done later. Hittle was arraigned,
but was not allowed to plead to the
lesser charge. and the case was con
tinued until Tuesday next at 9 Il. m,
by which time it will be ascertained
how bad are his wifcs injuries. He
was allowed his liberty upon filing a
bond for $500.
Hittle went to his wifc's home yes
tcrday afternoon at about 3:30 o'clock
for the purpose of getting some pho
tographs and enlarged pictures of him
self and brother and MS tools. His
wife's account of what happened fol
lows:
Had Doors Locked.
"Mr Hittlc came to the back door,
which was locked, and without knock
ing tried to open it, asked him
through the door what he wanted, and
he replied by calling me names. |
then went to the front door and
locked it. fearing trouble, and left the
key on the inside He kicked the
door in. and the key flew across the
room He tnen entered and began to
tear the pictures down from the walls
hastily, and got all of his things.
"NIy sister-in law was frightened and
ran upstairs, ubt I called to her to
come down, which she did Mr.. Hittlc
then said to her: ON. | won't hurt
you He then turned to me and
struck me hard blow on my breast,
which knocked me down against the
stove He then struck me a number
of blows on my face and body while
I was down, and kicked me in the
side several times and once in the
left eye He also took my head and
bumped it against the floor. He
seemed to be beside himself with rage.
Gust then August Deike, who had
accompanied him TO my house with
a dray. to take the goods away, en-
tered the Kitchen and saw what Mr..
Hittle was doing and told him to stop.
| then got away from Mr.. Hittle and
ran to the nearest house, Mrs. Ter
wick's, and she went to a neighbor's
and telephoned to the police station,
and also summoned DR.. Hielcher. The
latter treated my injuries.
Claims Threatened to Kill Her.
During the assault upon me Mr.
Hittle threatened to kill me with a
heavy piece of steel from the stove.
We were married eight years ago, and
two or three years ago he became so
cruel that | was obliged to bring
the action for separation, which the
court granted. My sisterin- law and
my Oldest boy saw the assault, and
MIR. Deike saw. part of it."
The heavy piece of stove was taken
to the police station to be used as evi-
dence.
Mr. Hittle appeared voluntarily at
the police station after the affair was
over and said that he would be at
his barber shop across the street if
He said that he was goaded
by his wife to the point where he
thought that he would "show her a
thing or two" He said that he had
taken a punch at her." and struck her
several times. He seemed to think
that he was justified in what he did
and that he had not gone too far. He
denied that he broke the door in, and
said that he unlocked it with key
that he had
Chief Osten and Officer Edwards re-
sponded to the call to 90 to the house
yesterday afternoon, but the trouble
was all over when they arrived, and
Hittle had left with his goods.