JOSEPH KICKED OUT THE CAT.

NZ Truth, Issue 252, 23 April 1910, Page 6

JOSEPH KICKED OUT THE CAT.

The woes of a wharf-lumper named Joseph Jones, and his tremulous spouse, Florence Marie, occupied the attention of Magistrate Bishop m the S.Ms. Court, Christchurch, on Tuesday. Florence' Marie, who had Mr Donnelly as cicerone, narrated the story of her joyless existence •ia a quivering voice, and seemed to be on the verge of tears throughout the proceedings. Her handkerchief was continually to her mouth, and her muffled evidence caused considerable inconvenience to the Bench. Tins couple, as m another case, had also been married nineteen years before the kettle of their domestic misery boiled over, and it seems to he a crucial point m married life. Four children survived the battle of life, and were filled with hunger at the present moment, and required clothing. Unfortunately, Joseph (whose name has been worn by many unsatisfactory persons ?way back m history) was guilty of persistent cruelty to the missus, AVho desired a dissolution 1 of the 'appy 'ome, which was 'appy only when Joseph didn't happen to be on the premises. The brutal • husband had an unpleasant habit of catching Florence Marie by the throat, and of bashing her up against the wall. Also lie used threatening and beastly language that was unfit for the ears of his growing girls. The man worked on the wharf. Mr Cassidy : Did not this trouble arise because your husband used to give you ail his wages, and he recently stopped that ? — He hasn't given me more than £1 a week for a long time. Didn't he find himself £40 m debt, and stopped giving you all his wages ? — He didn't earn more than a boy's wages. Florence explained that she couldn't pay the baker and grocer and others, also

the rent, because he didn't give her the money. , Didn't you clear every strip of furniture out of the house 7^—l did it on advice. Constable Pratt's advice ?— Yes. The woman, whose gold-rimmed specs, quivered convulsively on her hose, said that Joseph, on Boxing Day, caught her by the throat and threw her on- to a sofa, simply because one ol the children said that their pa had dirtied the tablecloth at the dinner table. Ma ran out side, and pa followed, and the woman rang up the police station. The person afc the other end advised her to give him another chance, but when she returned Ibirbhy refused' to let her enter the house. It was true that £20 was owing for rent. . v . • Floreuce and Dorothy, daughters of the ill-matched twain, gave evidence respecting the cruelty of pa to ma. Pa had even given , a hiding to Dorothy, who was:, [ fourteen and hysterical like ma. Ma sat I weeping immediately beneath the witness box, anil the lugubrious spectacle had ; such an effect upon her offspring that : they wept m concert, and the snivelling duet severely incommoded counsel for the i defence, who remarked that t-Ue girls sided 1 with' their mother, broke down m court, : and aroused a certain amount of sym- ] pathy. Jones stated m evidence that the trou(ble arose when he found himself heavily |m debt, and removed the job of extiu- ' guishing it from his wife's; hands. .He gave her £1 a week , then she ran him j into furtter debt to the extent of £11 ss. ;He wasn't drunk on Boxing Day, and be denied the cruelty. A row arose because ■he hurled a stray cat off the premises. O:ie Sunday he went shooting, and returned with a rabbit, when he passed i the place o? a friend and accer/fced an m;- -; vitation to come and have a beer. He did not put his hand on his wife m the subsequent' quarrel at ; home, and next morning when he wanted to go to .work he found his clothes m a tub of water. His earnings averaged about £2 5s per week.. The S.M. decided to make an order of £1 a week, ; Joseph to pay the cost of I the present 'proceedings.