WIFE BUYS HUSBAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14984, 4 May 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

WIFE BUYS HUSBAND.

HIRED OUT AS "CONVICT LABOUR." -v An auction held ip Ashville, North Carolina, recalls the old days when men were hired out as "convict labour" in Australia and some of the Western States of America. In this case a prominent local resident was offered for sale and ""knocked down" to his own wife for the sum of £100. •

The man in question, Mr. P. H. Thrash, is a member of "an influential family, and is understood to be worth over £20,000, but he was convicted of violating the litpior laws by selling • spirits to retailers in a prohibition district. A fine of £500, together with the cost of tho prosecution, another £80, was inflicted, and he was further sentenced to thirty days' imprisonment. • In response to his wife's pathetic appeal, and on receipt of the prisoner's promise not to offend again, the judge 1 modiBed the prison sentence/ so that the countv commissioners could let his service? out lor hire as "convict labour," provided a responsible employer could bo found. The commissioners arranged for a sale by auction, and as Mrs. Thrash was the only bidder, her first bid of £100 was accepted, and she was able to take her husband homo to work out his sentence as a farm labourer.