New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-06-09
M'CORMICK HER
SECOND LEMON
WIFE DECLARED
Also Too Many Drinks
Made Assistant District
Attorney Bad Tangoer.
SH ETOOK A SMOKE
ON STREET, HE SAYS
Punched Him, Too, in Bed, SO
He Wrapped Himself in Sheet
and Slept on FlOor.

The main issue in Mrs. Frances
Buzby McCormick's separation suit
against Robert c. Mccormick, Deputy
Assistant District Attorney, which was
continued yesterday in the Supreme
Court. seemed TO shift between
her cigarette smoking habit and
her husbands alleged Over-indulgence
in alcohol. Mrs. Mccormick admits
she smoked. but Mccormick denies
that he was in the habit of drinking
enough to make possible. without his
knowledge, any cruelty TO his wife.
He declared yesterday that he never
struck his wife, never swore at her
and, in fact, never gave her any cause
for complaint On the other hand, he
insisted that il was he who was as
saulted.
A full-faccd. full-bodied man Of for
ty-two years, but looking little older
Mccormick does not LOOK like a man
who would have any mental qualms
because his wife enjoyed the occa-
sional puff of cigarette. and, as n
matter of fact, he mas none. He makes
the point that It is all right for a
woman to smoke in the privacy of her
own home. which he knew Mrs. Nc
Cormick did before he became her sec
ond husband. but he strongly disap-
proves cf woman smoking in public
That is the issue on which the couple
have split.
Called Him Lemon
As in many other matrimonial suits,
the wife's mother and other members
Of her family have cropped up in the
Mccormick litigation, and their al
legged interest and interference in the
affairs of the couple seems TO have
greatly aggravated a disagreeable stu
alton.
The Buzby family's idea of a joke
was apparently not Mccormick.
Here is an example:
ION two occasions in Atlantic City"
Mccormick testified, my wife spoke
of me, to my great embarrassment, as
her second lemon"
"Her second WHAT" asked Justice
Blanchard. The characterization was
repeated for the benefit Of the justice.
Because of the laughter in the court
room Justice Blanchard could not hear,
and again the witness repeated
Lemon"
This remark, Mccormick testified,
was made in the presence of his wife's
mother, father and two brothers, who
considered il quite funny.
at didn't strike me as being funny,
at ALL" he added.
In the course of McCormick's exam
ination it developed that he contributed
5000 to the governorship campaign Of
Charles S. Whitman, his former chief.
Mrs. Mccormick was much opposed to
such a contribution, and suggested that
her husband give her the money to buy
some clothes.
At First He Was Lovely"
81 told her." said Mccormick, that
having been with Mr.. Whitman so many
years, it was the only decent thing for
me TO do. ! did give the money"
Early in the day Mrs. Mccormick was
again on the stand to round out her
testimony. She stated that she di-
vorced her husband, Harry Persch. a
bond broker, with whom she had lived
in Philadelphia and San Francisco.
81 am a young woman, and ! wanted
continued Mrs. Mccormick. 81 had
some money-an income from an es-
tate left me. had known Mr. McCor-
mick only three months before ! mar
ried him, and he was so kind to me
felt that he would make a model hus-
band. He lavished attention and lux
ury upon me. So, to make this success
! speak Of, | spent my income for three
years ahead to buy my trousseau, and
TO have a big wedding and the break
fast that followed" During the court
ship, the witness said, her husband was
Just as lovely as could be-"
Mrs. Ellen S. Buzby, the mother-in-
law, testified that she saw Mccormick
intoxicated two weeks after he mar
ried her daughter. Mrs. Buzbv said
that when her daughter reminded Nc
Cormick, Don't you remember. Robert.
that this is the anniversary of our
wedding" he replied, 80, hell, how can
| ever forget that?"
She Smoked on Street.
Mccormick testified that on two or
three different occasions his wife struck
him, once slapping him and at another
time punching him. She wore a ring
which cut his face, he said Once when
she punched him in the back as he Law
IN bed, he took the bed clothing and
slept on the floor.
Coming to his objections to his wife's
smoking in public, the witness said he
had no objections to a woman smoking
IN private. He protested against his
wife walking into the smoking com
partment of Pullman sleeper for a
quiet puff. While waiting for the train
TO take them home, one evening. Nc