A MISERABLE MARRIAGE.

NZ Truth, Issue 147, 11 April 1908, Page 7

A MISERABLE MARRIAGE.

Gallant Galland and His Wife.

He Pelted and Pursued Her.

, This is the same old sordid story •bout the hog who marries a young Woman, and after a year or two of married life, when her youth is fading, and he is satiated with her charms, commences to use his brute strength on her, and ill-treat her and knock her about m a manner -never known of the lowest animal. The laws of this over-governed country cry for amendment m .many directions, and every one of these miserable cases, that come before the Stipendiary Magistrates makes ' clearer the necessity of providing for the imprisonment of the unutterable skunk who, without just provocation, illuses his wife. The human animal that would strike a woman is all too common, but the awful thing that, when legally hound to a female, systematically ill-uses her, should have a special kind of torture devised for him. Some four years ago, Rebecca Marion Collins, then _2 years of ag;e, and an exceedingly good-looking young woman, married Frederick Biirfield Galland, an ordinary wharflaborer. They found Arcadia for a while, and presently a son was born. Freddy was always a faddish sort of a fool, it appears, and some two years ago his temper, always mortise, became worse, and he started to knock his wife about. She had borne it patiently for two years, but at last human endurance could stand no more, and kebecca appeared m the Police Court a few days a.q to ask. for ta summary separation /order. Lawyer Stm tham Was her advocate. In the witness-box she told bow tlie monster bad persistently knocked her about. On one occasion he had .struck her a Mow that nearly cut 1 her ear of?, and on another his manner bad been so fierce and threatening ti'Tt she had sought safet"---6¥ CRAWLING UNDER THE BED. Tier arms still bore the marks of cuts inflicted on her by him, and her body was seldom free from bruises. TGnly recently he came at her with a table fork, and amiably informed her that he was going to poke her eyes lout. Once, when he was striking; ■her, she begged him to spare her for the sake of the baby, but this only seemed to make him the angrier, for. he chased her out of the house with an axe. He constantly struck her with his clenched lists, and so bruised and blackened her face • and ihe was ashamed to open the' door to At another time, he struck the baby and made its nose bleed. This brute, she said, drank, but he did violence to her whether drunk or sober. . ..- : " 'Mr Scurr, who appeared for the defence, wanted to know whether Rebecca had not been frequently to the theatre on passes given her by other men. Witness indignantly denied this. She had , often appealed to him., asking, why they could not get along bt'ttur together, but his- ; -only reply was to call her vile names, and inform ber that.it did her good to be knocked about occasionally. He had told her, too, that if the en so was brought /Co Court, he would give her a great showing-up, and blast her Charactor so that every loafer on the -street would call on her and . the. knAW . .. , ber . house . f or a, V Chief-detective Herbert said he was -acquainted with Rebecca, who was a .respectable woman of good charac- : ter. Then the neighbor, who invariably appears m such matrimonial iSouahbles, was called on. She turned out to be a Mrs Alexander, and she said that Rebecca was a good .woman. Witutss told how she was with Mrs Galland one day, and fanatical Freddy came home. Rebecca * had her child m her arms then suckling it, and the sight seemed to make ;;the man mad. He addressed his ..'wife m filthy language, held a knife "at her throat, and told her he was .going to cut her throat. .At another time the observant Mrs Alexander had noted Fred throw a hoot brush at his wife, who had often showed witness bruises inflicted by ythf monster with whom she lived. :'-' Anthony Collins and Lena Collins, brother and sister of Rebecca, '^corroborated all this. Rebecca was ,'a good housekeeper, and her hoggish ..husband had nothing to complain of 'on that score. Yet witnesses had seen him threaten 'to kill her with a -poker, throw her > violently against >the wall, and throw a lemonade botKip at her with such force tha- it into numberless pieces

[ against .the Wall. Lejia 'once saw 'this madman hurl a dish at his wife, and then hunt her out of the house and chase her down' the street. Frederick denied all this m toto. He had never struck Rebecca, but she was of a quick-tempered disposition, and he had frequently to defend himself against her. One night she tackled him with a chair, and he had great difficulty m escaping unhurt. She kept very late hours, and he had frequently to stay at home till midnight minding the baby while she was away, at theatres and meetings with others-: Once, because she was spiteful, she had sewn up the sleeves of his cont and the legs of his trousers, and thrown over him -a pailful of slons as. he lay m. bed. She used his tooth-brush as a nail-brush, and when he complained she kicked up a devil of a row, and rushed off to complain to the neighbors. His wife and her sister foup?ht like cats, and he had often to forcibly separate them. He had NEVER BIFFED THE BABY, but once, when it poked its finger m his eye, he had pushed it away, and accidentally bled its nose. He would not go out with his wife because she met other men. Frederick's mother was also m attendance with evidence. Rebecca, she said, was constantly nagging ; she drank, and struck her husband when, under the influence. The lat--1 ter's underclothing was never properly looked after— was m a disgraceful state. Yes (to Stratham) she lived apart from her husband, but . she did not see what business that was , of I his. His Worship was satisfied. Order as asked for. Defendant to pay 25s per week towards his wile's support. [ She to have the custody of the child. Defendant to pay his wife's costs— | £2 17s.