Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-27

IF you want to get rid of cough,
mosquitoes or gray hair, there are
numerous people to tell you how to
i do it quickly and cheaply. But
when 1t comes to wives they are
mute. This years prize for practical
scheme to get rid Of wife should go
to an EngliShman who recently accom-
plished the feat in what a magistrate
said was the cheapest way he had ever
seen. The case of Lily Burton against
her husband. Henry Theodore Burton,
for not providing her with reasonable
maintenance was tried in MarylebOne
Police Court, in London.
The BurtonS were married in 1911.
In 1925 Mr.. Burton, being out of en-
ployment, the husband and wife agreed
that she should go to Canada to earn
her own living, while he returned to his
mother. Before making the Canadian
venture Mrs. Burton signed an agree
ment with her husband in which he
paid her $540 for her passage and out
fit. Not being able to find employment
in Canada, Mrs Burton came back to
England to find that her mother-in-law
had died and Mr.. Burton was richer by
100000. She applied to her husband
for maintenance and upon his refusal
summoned him to court for non-sup-
port. She told the court that Mr.. Bur-
ton had said that the agreement freed
him from all obligation and had threat
ened to shoot her If she bothered him.
The signed agreement held. But in
dismissing the summons, Magistrate
Halkett said:
"One hundred and twenty-seven
pounds ($540) seems a very small sum
rid Of his wife. and but for the case Of
Midway and Midway, in which a man
got rid of his wife for EGO, would be
inclined to decide against the husband
without any hesitation. But this deed
Is valid one, extraordinary as 1t Is,
and 1t seems to be complete bar to
the wife applying for the present order"
X X X X
TN some country districts of England
an even cheaper, If somewhat &C.
paratively modern times. There was a
notion among the rural population that
man by setting his wife up at public
auction. and so parting with her, legally
dissolved the marriage tie and escaped
from all its obligations.
AS late as 1918 the Daily Mail re-
ported the case of a married woman
who when asked why she had left her
husband answered:
because ne sofa me 10 C1lS man IOr
a sovereign" She further flabbergasted
her hearers by admitting that she had
agreed to the sale.
, In 1882 an account of wife sale APP
peared in the Arnua. Register. Joseph
Thomson, a farmer, and his wife, Mary
Anne, had been married for three years.
, The grievousness of their mistake be-
came more apparent to them both every
day, and they agreed to separate. Be-
lieving that wife-selling was a perfectly
proper proceeding. Thomson brought his
wife into the to Vn Of Carlisle and an
nounced by the bellman that he was
I, prepared to sell her. At IL o'clock noon,
large crowd having gathered, the sale
commenced. Thomson placed his wife
on a large oak chair, with a rope or
halter Of straw around her neck. He
then made the following remarkable
speech:
Gentlemen, I have to offer to your
notice my wife, Mary Anne Thomson
otherwise Williams, whom I mean to
sell to the highest and fairest bidder
Gentlemen, 1t is her wish as well as
mine to part forever. She has been to