TOO MUCH CAVE-MAN STUFF?

NZ Truth, Issue 1175, 7 June 1928, Page 4

TOO MUCH CAVE-MAN STUFF?

Kept A Diary of Wicked Things Husband Was Said To Have Done! PULLEY'S WIFE SPEAKSjOF ANOTHER WOMAN (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Wellington Representative.) _ Here's aUp to those wives subject to cave-man attentions from he-men husbands. Make a note of it! Skip right merrily to the book of words — and deeds — and jot down the nature of the "attention,*' if it be forcible and ultra-modern. Then, when, and if it comes to pass, the ears of the law will hearken unto thy complaints and give thee, perchance, a right good hearing. Thus, m accord With the bodk °f domestic proverbs, did Lena Ann Fortnam Pulley make haste to her diary after her little bouts with her husband, Arthur Phipps Pulley, of Wellington.

THE acts of cruelty complained of, extended over the past eight

months and all arose,_ so Mrs. Pulley alleged, from the presence of "the other woman."

She applied for a separation from her husband, Arthur Phipps Pulley, a contractor, m the. Wellington Magistrate's Court last week.

Although the first act o£ alleged cruelty occurred on October 22, Mrs. Pulley said she first found out things were not as they should be, away back on August 16 last.

"What did you do?", asked Lawyer Humphrey O'Leary, who appeared on her behalf, "ktaxed him with it," said Mrs. Pulley m the witness-box, "and the following day— on the 17th— I taxed Miss Meredith, and . severed all relations with her. \

"That night I slept on the couch and I went to the telephone exchange where she was working and complained. She was transferred to New Plymouth, but resigned and came back to Wellington."

The bench: "Does, he admit or deny this infatuation?" — He absolutely denies it.

Lawyer O'Leary: What happened on that Saturday before Labor Day? — Mr. Pulley left home and said he would meet me at the Trentham races, but he did not do so.

What happened when he came home? — I taxed him with it and told him whom he had been out with. We had a bit of an argument and he wanted me to go to bed. I refused.

He picked me up forcibly to carry me, so I grabbed his tie which pulled into a knot. He couldn't get it undone and had to cut it .off. My daughter came to my assistance and he smacked her.

A Poker Episode

"I then picked up the poker," went on Mrs. Pulley, reminiscently, "but he took it from me." She fainted then, she said, but when she came to, Pulley was doing all he could for her. She was considerably bruised on that occasion. s

Counsel: What happened on Christmas Eve? — Just the same thing. Norman had an accident and was m bed, but when he came to my assistance he struck the boy and hit him all the way down the passage back to his room.

You have kept a book o£ all these

occurrences? — Yes

The next incident occurred on January 31? — Yes. I was looking out of the window when Mr. Pulley came home. I remarked to him: "It's a very nice night for your friends to go away, and he immediately flared up."

The bench: What was the trouble? — This woman. This Miss Meredith.

To counsel, witness stated that trouble again marred the home on March 17. Pulley wag rag^ingr the girls, but he carried his fun too far.

"I went out and told him to leave them alone. I had a stainless bread and butter knife m my hand at the time, and Pulley said: 'What are you going to do with that 1 ? so I said: 'Oh, you never know what I might do with it m a corner."

He told witness to get out and as she passed, she received a blow. Thereupon the son chipped m and said: "Don't you hit my mother when I'm about." That put the finishing 1 touches to everything: -and -.'Pulley became annoyed again.

On Easter Monday, after they all returned from a holiday at Paremata, Pulley* who had stayed m the house, came m and complained about his bed not being made. He pulled the clothes off her and her daughter and then pulled them out , of bed. (

Her Little Diary

The disturbance brought the boy Norman along to champion his mother's cause, but for his trouble, so Mrs. Pulley alleged, he was picked up and hurled along the passage. To make matters worse, Pulley then put the boot m, she said.

Witness then went to the telephori'e to ring for assistance, but her spouse took the receiver from her and broke the 'phone. ,, She thereupon went out m her night attire and called the next door neighbor.

PuJley switched off the electric light at the meter and when the men came told them through the keyhole to .get away and not interfere with his business. ■ • ■ .

On Friday evening, April 20, Mrs. Pulley was going out shopping with a friend, but her. cave-man husband refused to allow her to go. He picked her up and pushed her on to the bed, bruising her legs. She fainted.

Lawyer OlLeary, with the book of alleged errors m front of him, ticked off each date and incident as Mrs. Pulley related them until three consecu*tive Fridays had been dealt with.

On the morning of one of these days, witness was getting breakfast when her Arthur came and put his arms round her.

He was a big, powerful man and she objected, as he didn't do it as a loving and affectionate husband should.

"I gave him a crack with the frying pan," added Mrs. Pulley with a look at her husband as he sat beside his counsel, Lawyer Douglas Jackson.

Hubby had lost all love and affection for her and the children since the shadow of this other woman fell across their home.

On another Friday morning, feeling off color, she stayed m bed, but had arranged with her eldest daughter to get up and prepare, the breakfast. But this wasn't to the liking of Arthur P.P. He came into the bedroom and ordered her out of bed, finishing up by pulling her out. '

. As she fell, she caught him by the hair. Another- rumpus ensued when son Norman put m an appearance, but again did not reproduce the Norman Conquest, getting smacked for his pains.

, Counsel : Are these the only occasions he. has ill-treated the child? — There are a number s of minor occasions.

'These things, you took ridte bf'were the more Serious occasions?— Yes. i

Has this trouble affected your health? — Absolutely. Christmas, 1926, I was 12st. 61b.; yesterday I weighed myself and I'm now 9st. 101 b.

Mrs. Pulley said her husband had always provided her with money. Until recently he had given her £5 a week, 'but had then cut it down to £4. He was a carpenter by trade and had sometimes worked for Odlln's, but was mostly occupied with small contract work.

"Hasn't the trouble started through Pulley trying to correct the children?" asked Lawyer Jackson of witness. "No," was the reply.

Didn't your son call his father a?— Yes, ? — Yes, after he had thrown Norman down the passage. Not before.

This Miss Meredith you speak of. Is she some relation? — She is a second cousin. How old is she? — 36. You are not on friendly terms now? — No, but she used to come

and stay with us sometimes,

She is not the sort of wqman to be immoral? — Well, "I did not think so at the time.

Didn't Pulley try and control you by holding you? — He gripped me by the arms.

You admit pulling his hair?— Certainly, I did.

He is a strong, powerful man, is he not? — Most decidedly he is.

The mere fact of him holding you, would cause the bruises of which you complain? — It might.

Pulley has never struck you with his closed fist, a strap or stick? — No.

Didn't the trouble start through your sroing: out? — I never went out until my husband started going' out.

You. go to the races. Yes, but my husband has asked me to go and has been with me,

Isn't he a good man m the home and garden ?*-He was. It used to be his idol. •

If this familiarity was going on why did 3'ou not go and divorce him? — 1 don't like the idea of divorces.

You. don't intend to give him his freedom? — No, certainly not.

To her own counsel, witness stated that her husband had a Chrysler car, which he sometimes used m the course of his business.

Dr. Mackin,. who had known the parties before they were married and had attended them ever since, enumerated bruises on the arms, legs and body of Mrs. .Pulley. „

He also saw them on the face of the boy one day when he. was brought by his mother for some medical attention.

Lawyer O'Leary: Were they consistent with rough treatment? — They were not caused by gentle handling. To Lawyer Jackson, Dr. Mackin said he had always known Pulley ' as a very good and decent fellow all round. There was only one cause, of the trouble between man and wife. The bench: What cause? — This woman; a girl he is fond of.

Young and pretty, Rita Pulley stepped into the witness box and told of the trouble existing between her father and mother. Prior to. twelve months ago they were all a happy family, she said.

In answer to her mother's . counsel as to what or whom caused the trouble, Rita murmured the name Hilda Meredith.

To Lawyer Jackson, Rita said' she had not the affection now for her father she used to have.

Counsel: Have you gone through tho little book Avith your mother prior to coming here? — No.

Norman Arthur Pulley, the lad who acted A as a buffer between his warring parents m an endeavor to protect his mother, looked down from the'Avitness-box at his father with the light of many bitter memories m his eyes.

In answer to counsel he said that on two or three occasions he had tried to protect his mother.

What happened when you did that? he was asked. "I usually came off second best," was the reply.

Do you remember y/)ur mother having two- black eyes? — Yes, she also had a big scratch on her face.

Norman detailed the various occasions related by his mother on which there had been trouble. He remembered the time she did not get breakfast and father was holding his mother across the bed, hitting her.

Counsel: How do you remember that?— That morning I was bitten on the arm, I know that. He had ■mother on the bed and I tried, to interfere.

Counsel: Very obvious. He wouldn't

let go

Lawyer Jackson: Do you remember

calling your father a and he gave you a thrashing? — Yes, I called him that, but he thrashed me first, threw me^down the passage and kicked me. Once his father had hit him with a closed fist and nearly knocked him out.

When Pulley pere stepped into the box he dismissed the allegations and testimony of all his wife's -witnesses with a sweep of the arm. They had always lived and been a perfectly happy family. The whole trouble had been caused by the bickering attitude adopted by his wife and family, he said.

There was absolutely no foundation of truth m the suggestion about the o they lady. She was a friend of his, and his wife's jealousy was unwarranted.

If' he attempted to correct the children his wife interfered. His wife didn't have two black eyes. She had one. She told her brother at the Trentham races she had bumped against the table and done it.

He had always given his wife plenty of money; she went where, she liked and did what she liked. In fact, she was a' well-known figure on the Trentham racecourse.

He detailed the trouble throughout the various incidents complained of and said he generally had to restrain his wife. Mrs. Pulley had an erratic temper and was easily riled.

He had to hold her until she cooled down. This, m most cases, caused the bruises she complained of. She bruised very easily.

"I hit the boy one good clout that night he called me a . I had a right to. I will not allow any of my children to use that word to me."

To Lawyer Jackson, Pulley said his wife was not ill the morning he wanted

"Only A Friend"

her to get up and prepare breakfast. She was tired through gallivanting round town. "I tried to lift her out of bed and she caught me by the hair, so I just slapped her." He put the bruises she showed, down to blotches his wife was subject to. If anything happened it was, always a signal for the children to butt m. "I have been too good to my childfen. I have given them all a good education and now they have grown up they think they are a bit above me." Counsel: You think your wife is mistaken when she sa.ys you are running about with this other .woman? — Absolutely so. .She is only a friend. The allegations were all unwarranted and were* made out of bitterness and to poison him with the neighbors. When his wife hit him with the frying pan, he had only just placed hand on her shoulder when she said: "Take your dirty hand off me," and "cracked" him with the pan. The children came running m. "That is all it was done for," he said. "I worked for them and brought them into the world and have done all I can for them. It's news to me to know that they have no affection for their father." When Lawyer O'Leary rose to crossexamine witness, the bench intimated that he might conline it to matters of finance only. Concerning some mortgage money which Pulley had raised, Lawyer O'Leary wanted to know if he had used any of it m purchasing a confectionery shop for Miss Meredith. Pulley said no. Counsel: You know she has one? — Yes. In summing up, his worship said i£

Pulley Must Pay

appeared from the evidence that the home had been a happy one. There was no question as to Pulley's character. Pulley had been a good husband and good father, but during the last months, a cloud had come over the home.

"Whether the infatuation was true did not affect the court; all it was concerned with were the allegations of cruelty and a substantial body of evi -. dence had been brought to testify m this. . r

The husband had definitely denied the allegations, but he was of the opinion they had been established.

Therefore, he would grant the order for separation and maintenance, the guardianship of the child under 16 to remain with the mother.

He fixed the maintenance at £3 a week for the wife, the husband to pay the costs of th£ proceedings, counsel's fee £3 3s. and witnesses' expenses £7.