MARITAL MAELSTROM.

NZ Truth, Issue 142, 7 March 1908, Page 6

MARITAL MAELSTROM.

Hellen's Hoggish Hubby. They Quarrelled Like Devils.

Stepmothers have a reputation--just or otherwise— all their own, and a little Kakanui embroglio, ; recently ventilated m Dunedin Police Court, does little towards ', enhancing the vadue Of that reputation.. William Lawxence is a curious-looking cuss, a cocky from Kakari'uv and his- present iwife is Helen Lawrence, nee' Mills, but no relative, of Sir James,, baronet. Helen; appeared the other day under the' -sheltering wing of the gen- ; rtle Hanlon, and asked for a separation order from hubby on the grounds of lack of ordinary maintenance and persistent cruelty. In the box she told her little tale. Eleven years ago she married the monster, who had already outlived one wife and was then the father of *ix children. Since her marriage, number two said she had borne another six. Amongst the plethora of children trouble had arisen.' The offspring of the deceased number : one had carried little stories^ to daddy which were- evil concoctions, but, which he accepted without question. Witness refused to say what the stories were, and could not imagine why her husband gave them credence/ But- he did, and proceeded to. show his resentment. He generally opened with a number of large-sized cussirords, followed them up with a few Wows, and gave emphasis to his remarks with a peroration of heavy kicks. 'He was. a conscientious man, and when 'he had leason to chastise "hit he did the job thoroughly. His language; said number two, aggrieved.ly, was. full of- variety : it was always filthy and disgusting, and one could always, : depend on - -himv. saying something new and startling. It Was not fit <for the ears of a decent, wojri'ah. On one occasion 'within .the last six months he ( walloped her severely, after, listening to a tale .of which a daughter of number one was ifche author,, and then he yanked her unceremoniously out through thefcack door. He knocked her down, administered an undue amount of chastisement, and indulged' m the usual luxury of kicking her. -All of which, said number two, Was very hard to bear. On ■ one or twa occasions ' she had attempted to .avoid her manly, chivalrous husband by locking herself m her room, but he simply burst /the door m and gave her, a worse hiding than ever. Once, trying to dodge his, playful little ways, she JUMPED OUT THROUGH THE V ..-,.-. -WINDOW ; m her night-dress and lit out for a neighbor's place half a mile away, where she gained shelter that nightr She went down to her father and siisters'atf 'Milton for succour, but although her father came up and threaded to knocfc -Williams V<h^^ ofi if h» > jdidn't . stop' at, lie only seemed to make matters worse. Her lord and master accused her oi ill-treating the angels left-behind by his first wife, ajad he threatened to make her life a *«Cffi«t hell if she did not mend her m&jiß. He instructed three daughters of ttie Jkst family to tackle her with sfcioks fif they thought she deserved it aod fell her to the ground. She had soever ill-tr«ated the relics of number/one, except when fighting with tohczn and protecting herself. Fina% slw took her six children and went home to her mother. j . Hellen was then cross-examined by youthful Lawyer Hay, who sat upon , tSe left hand of William the wife- .; beater. She said that a hog named Archibald McGee had once approached her m.a manner that any- decent i*r«natt should resent, and because he ivfas displeased with her attitude he cursed her m filthy language. She was a sell-respecting "woman, and she swas : n*fc going to stand that sort of. thing from the hog McGee or any btber hog, so she landed him over fbhe head with a poker. McGee promptly got out of the landscape, but he laid a soulful complaint of assault— unjustifiable assault— before her hubby. William -was greatly annoyed about it. , How dare his missus {treat his friends m such a manner -\ (E£ his cobbers wanted to hav.e a litAle lark with his: wife they had' a (perfect right to do so. Was she the Queen of Sheba that she gave herself such high and mighty airs ? He would b— — soon show her. So he got her by ibhe throat and punched her several times m the face. But Jfchis time she didn't take it. lying idown. She struggled, 7 and tried to scratch his face. She was afraid she 'didn't make it bleed, however. No, she had nfever broken the nose of one t>f his daughters by number one, and she was not m the habit of kicking ffchem. She only biffed them occasionally m self-defence^ Yes, as a stepmother she had had a lot of. battling. On Sunday her husband tpld heu to get up and bring her brood ■to breakfast, or she damn well would not get any. She did not get up and got no food that day. She had her mother staying with her for a time, and the old lady once interfered when tubby was cutting tip rough. ' He promptly turned on his mother-in--law, grabbed her by the shoulders, and swung her off her feet. "Ehe old woman yelled m terror, and never ihad much to say after thai',, although William often remarked amiably that he proposed to MURDER HELLEN THAT NIGHT. He once told the children of. number one to tackle her all together, and give her what" for. The dasr after leaving home" she got £35 worth of clothing from the D.I.C. and charged it up to her husband's account, and she also borrowed £5 from a storekeeper. He gave her no momey^ and she bad to get clothes, and necessaries somehow. Smart man Hay, obviously tired, gave it tip. ; Hellen's mother. Janet Mtltp, said that while she was with her ■ daughter she had had a remarkably lively tihre. Hellen and her hflbbv Quarrelled like a pair of devils.. Once when William had tackled her with a stick, a son of number one. a bi.g hulking, teountry lout,, squared; up I>o her, arid, vrif/h ttie .remark that ;sh*£ had not had half enough, offered to do for her. He had also, attemp/te.d an asss»wit upon "witJie&sl : i: . Wif.ness onterM a den\*il m toto. |% 'Ho v^olo trouble was -'that she per-ill-treated his <lar<p;hters by '• V*^^^;lWj^^H harji (often come

with it. She was a vixen— a she-dev-il. He had never done any of the things she described. In reply to Hanlon,- William sa-id that when he requested her to stop beating his girls,' she said, "You old devil; I will give it to you." He had never called hfe wife anything beyond "a brazen woman," and if Hanlon knew as much as he did he would say the saine'. All the witnesses who had said he maltrealed his wife were liars. 1 A sweet- young innocent of 19, one of the angels bequeathed by number one, Fanny Lawrence, told a harrowing tale of being hunted from the house by a fiendish stepmother, who thrashed, her with -a bullock-hide and struck her over the head with a pickaxe' handle. , Her father never beat step-mother, but step-mother had a nasty habit of playing a devil's tati too on the persons of self and sister [with a poker or fire-shovel. The injnocent's, brother, William Henry, al[so spoke, and Magistrate Wrcklowson i adjudicated. [ The order was granted as prayed. ! William was ordered to pay £2 5s ! a week towards the keep of his number two and his six offsprings, and also to make himself responsible for Coiirt r costs. .:■■': ■■ Hay. with a sickly smile, gave notice of- appeal.' "":