Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-02-09
At TTORNEY CUMMING PUTS
UP HARD FIGHT FOR LIFE
Wife i'll Jail, Suffering From Hys-
teria, Refuses to Discuss Hamp-
ton Shooting.
PRE-NUPTIAL CONTRACT FOUND
Court Records Show That Divorce
Was Agreed Upon Prior to Con-
summation Of Marriage and Sup
port of Child Arranged.

HAMPTON, VA. Feb. S--WhiIc s
Gordon Cumming. former Virginia leg.
( isiator and prominent attorney, lies at
Dixie Hospital here. lowering between
life and death. as the result of two
bullet wounds inflicted late Saturday
afternoon, his wife, Mrs. Mittio Jester
I Cumming. charged with firing the bull
lets which struck down her husband,
is in jail. suffering from i form of hys-
teria.
Thus far. she has refused to talk to
anyone concerning the tragedy enacted
shortly after o'clock Saturday aft
ernoon. .r when sne stepped from a door,
, hve bullets At her husband as he
walked toward the home which they
mad never shared since their marriage
While his father is at the verge Of
death and his mother waits behind
eventually oe charged with murder or
assault with intent TO xiii, s-year-old
Kenneth Cumming, the axis around
which the marital difficulties of the
briiliant attorney and his young wife
have rerolved. IS being cared for .at
the home Of Mrs. Cummings sister.
Pre-Nuptial Contract Located.
Shooting of MIR. Cumming has
HAMPTON a whirl of gossip. which has
eentered about the Cummings affairs
mating more than two years before the
marriage OF the couple. In the origl-
Si.o Sai bivorGs hN ,oS, ProeeedinEs which we're
attorney for Mrs. Cumming, il was
! brought out that there had been u pre-
| nuptial contract entered into between
the couple, whereby the wife was to
sue for divorce as soon after the mar
riase as possible.
Ws no Un msrsS 10
Should nay SO Ssa sas amma25 snpp64s
meth. for six months. AFTER which the
allowance was to be reduced to SIS per
week, this sum to be devoted entirely
In the petition of appeal flied with
the supreme Court of Appeals and
argued in Richmond about three weeks
Ter then twenty-five years old, met
Mr.. Cumming and fell in love with
tie girl had no experience in the world.
was unlcttcred and of modest station
and that Mr.; Cumming was a man Of
attractive.
Controversies Over Money.
Six years later and two years after
tine boy Kenneth was horn, the petition
points out that the marriage was en-
tition that Mrs. Cumming sometimes
acted hysterical and that there were
many controversies over money mat
done an injustice.
1t is stated here that efforts were
ming and during the trial of the di-
vorce case she was asked what effect
such separation would have upon
her:
Well. I am afraid he (Kenneth,
would grieve so his health would be-
come SO he would never get over IT.
and | know that I would go crazy, be-
cause my nerves are not so very good"
the court record shows she replied. 1T
have been through such a strain over
all of II that L could not stand much
more. 1 know if he was taken away
from me 1t would kill him, any way
and j think 1t would break his heart.
That is all have to look TO. / have been
Mr.. Cumming. and i don't feel he ought
TO take this child from me, after all
that have gone through with. lie
and sit down and be n companion with
me at home, when 1 have no one else
to look to-"
Asked Regarding Son.
When asked, during tho trial if she
believed the boy should be sent to
some institution, she answered:
mo, 1 do not, because nc is all
have TO live for, and have gone
sat up nights and lost sleep and health
and nerves and everything else for
him, and I don't feel anybody else
should take him from me-"
1t was testified in the trial that
there has been numerous conflicts be-
tween the man and woman during the
period since their marriage. Richard
E. Byrd, United States district attorney
for the Western District of Virginia
represented Mrs. Cumming in the di-
vorce proceedings in the Supreme
Court and 1t was stated hero tonight
that he would act as her counsel in the
present difficulty
The woman was said to be In an
exceedingly serious nervous condition
at the Jail tonight and is in physi-
clans care. No effort has been made
to secure her release by bail. as the
authorities state she will be held pend
ing the outcome of Mr.. Cummings
wounds.
AinI AaIirIl ktiafan nsa.k.,