MISCEGENOUS MARRIAGE.

NZ Truth, Issue 59, 4 August 1906, Page 5

MISCEGENOUS MARRIAGE.

A Maid That Loved a Coon.

And Now Wants a Divorce

From Her Discolored " Sport."

Some women are born fools, some are made fools of, and some make fools of themselves. Of the latter class is evidently the heroine of the story printed below, a pretty Los Angeles (California) girl who fell m love with and wedded a doukey-rigg-ed black brute of a wLgger "sport" and now wants a divorce. Here is the tale of the fool and her shameful folly, which the paper quoted speaks of as an "Amazing Divorce Suit r " and expresses its amazement and horror at a white girl having married a stinking coon. Here m Australasia we are not unused to the sight, but it is a horrible one wherever seen. Black men and white women were never meant to mix dn marriage. Says the Los Angeles "Times" : :— The wife : a dainty little pink-and-white Dresden china girl. The husband : a big, loudly-dressed negro. These are the characters m an amazing divorce suit filed yesterday m the Superior Court. The little pink-and-white girl accuses her black husband of deserting her for a hegress— which is, perhaps, the most astonishing part of the story. Her married name is Lillian John|son;,he "js Andrew Johnson. In her divorce complaint, she accuses him of marital unfaithfulness ; desertion, extreme cruelty and drunkenness. She claims that he beat her with his hupe, black fists. Wherever these two have gone together since their marriage, two years ago, they have attracted thun-der-struck attention. They used to go to the coursing matches when they were held at Baldwin's Ranch. Waiting for the cars back to the city, horrified crowds would stare at this prettily dressed young white -girl walking under the escort of a tyDical "sporting coon." Frequently there would be other colored men with them. The girl, from her actions, was obviously m love with the black ; but her attitude was one of half defiance. She could not help being mortified, but she made a pitiful attempt at carrying off the situation with gay, unconsciousness. The darky, on the other hand, was sheepish and ill at ease being with her under the eyes of the crowd. She told her story to a friend here yesterday when her suit was filed. Coming here, a friendless young girl of 19 years, she said that she married him because he offered her a home. He was a refuge to her from the terrible loneliness of a big city. She was poor, and knew no one to whom she could turn for sympathy. She happened to meet him. He had the typical negro gaiety and effervescent spirits, together with the friendliness and sociability. Some say there is a great deal of rot about the course of true love ; that the sad fact is that a girl when she wants to be married takes the nearest available material. It was this girl's fate that it should he this sportive negro. She says she honestly loved him when they were married, and was glad to sacrifice everything for his sake. Doubtless she gloried m the thought of what she was giving up for his sake ; like many luckier fools. She says that, soon after their marriage, he got over the pride that was hjs at first m marrying a pretty white girl. He abused her cruelly, she •charges. To her unutterable distress he began neglecting her 'and going around with noisy negro women. She says she had to go to work to support him. It is highly possible that there may. be another side to this story. Johnson cannot be found— even by her lawyers, Hester and Ladd— so his version cannot be given. It will be one of the strangest divorce suits to be tried m Los Angeles courts. .