Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-05
Hunting Husbands a
Popular English Sport
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

LONDON, February -, 1910
TNGLISH wives are becoming careless
= At this moment. in one of the thirty
boroughs OF London. there are six
ty-eight wives who have msaid their
husbands and can't find them anywhere
The public bars have been ransacked IN
vain. and still the searchers for the miss
ing men are not even warm.
According to the list which was posted
yesterday by the guardians of the poor in
Wandsworth. wife deserter has fixed
monetary value. Any one who is lucky
enough and mean enough to corral an es-
capped husband is doomed to disappont-
ment II he expects to receive more than
a five-dolar reward This amount may
be said to be the net price. Further
more. pedigree cuts no ice; a missing hus-
band with ancestors brings no more TO a
tracer than a common of a husband.
This morning the writer scuttled down
to the borough of Wandsworth in hopes
OF getting an invitation TO one of these
hunting parties now SO popular among The
lower classes. Recently keen sports
man MAJ walked into the relieving once OF
the borough with information regarding
three of the missing husbands all OF
whom happen to be his friends. After he
had drawn the SIS he treated each of the
husbands. however, were warned and did
not let the police detan them.
What the writer had to content himself
with, though, was an elaborate explana-
ton of why men leave home. William
Haggis. superintendent Of the Wands-
worth Union, gives the following data:
Mrs. Mitcham fs securing the country
for her husband, Thomas. Thomas has a
temperament to which the support of a
wife and children is incompatible He
has been arrested three times for desert
ing his family. Since the year 1901 to the
present day his four children have been
installed In the workhouse.
Despair has driven William Alfred
Henderson from his wife and eight chill
dren. DeSertion was his only means of
saving them from starvation. The work
house is caring for his family until he is
arrested. when he will be confined for
about year. AS soon as he is liberated
he will doubtless desert his wife again
"Lorne has deserted his wife for the
Fourth time. Every time he runs away
she offers an extra sovereign for his re-
capture
The motives which actuate the people
who give information regarding these wife
deserters are usually cupidfty, revenge. or
both.
James Lane deserted his wife and two
boys. He was away for seven years and
under an alias he committed some petty
crime for which he was imprisoned His
brother-in-law happened TO be sojourning
in the same prison and recognized him
The brother-in-law on his release inform
ed against Lane, with the result that
Lane was urged to partake more lber-
ally of his majestys hospitality
At present Mr. Haggis has a very Curl
Gus case in hand Some years ago one
Smith deserted his family. Recently
Smiths nephew trudged all the way from
Cardiff to London in order 10 give nfor-
nation regarding his uncle. Smith had
been working i'm the same Cardiff mine
pit with his nephew, and his onephew in
nf h26 ,af.a
him and hit him on the lip Before Smith
could revenge himself he was suddenly
arrested for some past felony and sent to
Bedford prison. Out Of fear of being
slaughtered in the mining pit by his uncle
on his uncle's release the nephew inform
ed the Wandsworth Union that the man
they sought as wife deserter is now in
Bedford prison.
In regard to the methods employed BY
the union. Mr.. Haggis says: THE unions
do not diminish wife desertion. With the
present system we work only in circles
whenever a man is liberated he promptly
deserts his wife again The only sou-
ton. 1t seems to me, is to establish labor
houses where the men may work for the
keep that the workhouse provides for
their children. We have spent over $500
in supporting the children of one man.
THE poor law is defective in many
ways. the most salient being that man
in order to receive assistance must be des-
titute-must be in the mud before We can
tell him to get up. Fifteen years ago a
man came to me for assistance: his wife
had just died, leaving him with three
children. If he stayed home to care for
his children he would lose his job. II he
put them in the hands of some woman
she would either neglect his children or
insist on his marrying her. What could
he do? What could | do? In order that
his children be cared for by the authori-
ties 1t was necessary fer him TO be first
dragged into the workhouse.
The next day he sent his children 10
the workhouse school with his marriage
certificate in the pocket of his eldest child.
At night it was discovered that he had
gone to America. He has ne~er been
heard of since