REFUSED TO RECEIVE COLORED MAN IN BOUDOIR

NZ Truth, Issue 1181, 19 July 1928, Page 7

REFUSED TO RECEIVE COLORED MAN IN BOUDOIR

Annie Cruickshank's Husband Blames Prominent Auckland Lawyer For His Matrimonial Misfortunes JUDGE REJECTS STORY OF TWO A.M. TEASHOP FLIRTATION

THE action, an appeal by George Cruickshank, fishmonger, against an order for separation and maintenance made by Magistrate F. K. Hunt m March of this year, ' was marked by sensational accusations levelled by appellant against his former solicitor, J. F. W. Dickson, and the legal man's mother; also the persistency with which the mortgage bobbed up m the proceedings, despite the ef.forts of counsel for the wife to prove that it was irrelevant to the issue. Tall, spare, and delicate-looking, Annie Elizabeth \, Cruickshank nevertheless produced a robust voice when she set out to' tell her story. Her selfpossession seldom deserted her m the witness-box. In brief, she alleged that her husband's persistent cruelty had taken the form of personal violence, bad language and insobriety; that on one occasion she had caught him m company with a female employee m the early hours of th.c morning; further, that he had been inconsiderate m his demands upon her at a critical period m her life. •■.. ■ , Giving an instance of his alleged cruelty, Mrs. Cruickshank stated that her husband had struck her with his clenched fist on the side of her head. She found it necessary to consult a doctor as a result of the blow. "My husband bought the St. Heliers tea-rooms m April, 1925," said witness, "and m May we moved into the place." It was while they were living at St. Heliers Bay, she said, m reply to her r — i

Husband's Friend

l_ , __l counsel, Lawyer Alan Moody, that she had seen her husband and Miss Moran, the manageress of the tea-rooms, together m a room at 2 a.m. Cross-examined by Lawyer HallSkelton, Mrs. Cruickshank denied that the St. Heliers business had failed badly after her husband took it over and that he had lost a lot of money. It was also incor.rect to say that her husband consulted her over the appointment of Miss Moran as manageress of the tea-rooms, on account of her health. "I did not know she was coming," added witness. Lawyer Skelton: She was your friend, was she not? — No, she was my husband's friend. "Why have you now, for the first time, made this statement that you found this woman and your husband together m a room at 2 o'clock m the morning?" Mrs. Cruickshank asserted that she had told counsel the same thing m the lower court, but Lawyer Skelton insisted that she had not done so. Counsel tried another line of attack. He referred to the long-standing dispute between husband and wife concerning the mortgage of £ 1500 on property m their joint names. It was alleged by the husband ' that this mortgage was the real cause of his domestic unhappiness. Mrs. Cruickshank could not remember if she saw Mrs. Dickson at the office of J. F. W. Dickson, solicitor, m September, 1925. Lawyer Skelton: Tour husband says you came back m a towering rage from that interview and told him you were hot going to hand that mortgage over; that Mrs. Dickson had said to you: "Stick to it like grim death"?— l never said that. I went to Mr. Dickson's office two years ago about a separation. Counsel: "Is not this property the real cause of the trouble between you?" The witness was emphatic m her denial. '■ . , Counsel: "After" this interview with Mrs. Dickson, you returned home, and, for the first time m your married life, you locked your bedroom door against your husband?" This was not correct. The first time she had locked her bedroom door against her husband was when he came home "with some trouble" and had to consult a doctor. Counsel: Did you say you were not going to sleep with him until he had

Lawyer's Mother

fixed up the mortgage?— Nothing of the kind. . Lawyer Skelton read the following extract from a letter stated to have been written by Lawyer , Dickson to Cruickshank concerning his treatment of his wife: "She is actually afraid of you, and advises me that she has had to barricade her door m order to get any sleep." Counsel: "Now, was not that written after you came back from that interview with Mrs. Dickson?" Mrs. Cruickshank denied that this was so. His Honor: "Who is Mrs. Dickson?" Lawyer Skelton: "She is Mr. J. F. W. Dickson's mother and she manages his business." Counsel reverted ' to the property, with its £1500 mortgage. Was it not correct, he asked, that various attempts had been made between September, 1925, and September, 1926, to have the trouble over the mortgage fixed up? Mrs. Cruickshank did not know. With a view~to refreshing, her memory, Lawyer Skelton read another letter from her solicitor, at that time J. F. W. Dickson, which suggested a mutual separation, because "Mr. Cruickshank's conduct .is such that she will be compelled to leave him." iiiiiMumiiiniiimmiiiiiimimimmmniiiimiiiiiiimiiimiiiimiumiimiiiiiiiiiin

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative.)

IN A VOICE TREMBLING with passionate intensity, George^Cruickshank, of Auckland, denounced Lawyer J. F. W. Dickson and the solicitor's mother to Judge MacGregor as being the cause of his marital unhappiness — estrangement of his wife's affections, separation from his children and embroilment m costly litigation. Neurotic, temperamental, and an invalid, Annie Elizabeth Cruickshank, the wife, charged her husband with persistent cruelty and failure adequately to maintain her. She attempted to prove that he had been guilty of improper attentions to another woman, Kathleen Moran, but without success. His honor refused to believe that this was a case of the eternal triangle and attributed the unhappiness of the parties to a more prosaic factor, a property mortgage for £1500; also to the bad influence and bad advice of two persons on "a woman whose ill-health has largely undermined her judgment."

This letter, stated counsel, was written m September, 1927, a few, days before a Supreme Court action, which was pending on a writ issued by the husband against his wife m respect to the property with the £1500 mortgage. A reply was sent which informed Mrs. Cruickshank, through her solicitor, Lawyer Dickson, that her husband could see no reason why they should separate, and, "m view of your statement m the letter, we think it is an attempt to circumvent an action that is now pending m the Supreme Court." Counsel said the Supreme Court action was settled between the parties. Under the terms of the settlement, it was agreed that the wife should release the mortgage of £1500 and the property was to be transferred to the husband. Lawyer Skelton: "Did you instruct your solicitor to lease the property for a term of three years?" Mrs. Cruickshank replied m the affirmative. Her husband knew she was going to do so, because he had told her to do what she liked with the property. "My husband promised to be different if I would go to live at Devonport," she said, "but trouble started when we had been there six weeks." Lawyer Skelton switched his queries to an incident that occurred m the Eden dale home over some money placed by Cruickshank on a ledge of the hall-stand. "This money could not be found when the men came to move the furniture," he said, "and your husband asked you if you had seen it, did he not?" — "He never said a word about it." Did he riot charge the two carriers with taking it . '„ . and you stood by and said nothing? — No; Miss Moran told me 'she would take care of the money for me. Mrs. Cruickshank positively denied that she had gone to Miss Moran and handed her the money, saying: "Don't tell my husband about it." "It was not £30," she added; "it was £29 and my husband had forgotten

-V Neighbor's Story

it was there — it was thick with dust." With regard to the occasion when 'she was struck on the head, witness insisted that her husband had hit her. with his clenched fist.' Lawyer Skelton: Did not your husband get a doctor for you? — Yes, a black man. \ You barricaded your door and would not see the doctor? — I was not going to let a black man, and a stranger, come into my bedroom. Lawyer Moody: "It was a Hindoo doctor; he could not get another doctor." Lawyer Skelton: "Your husband says that you went hysterical and he grabbed hold of you; that was all that happened." This, witness said, was not the correct version of the incident. A neighbor, Mrs. Cleal, described how she saw Cruickshank strike his wife on the head and later swing a chair to hit her with it. Asked if she could give any specific dates when she had seen liquor being taken into the Cruickshank home, apart from that which she alleged she had seen on the day she saw the blow struck, witness could not do so. She had seen liquor going m at various times, though. Mrs. Cruickshank's sister, Mrs. Lucy Stewart, corroborated respondent's statement that she had visited her and displayed the lump caused by the blow when her husband had struck her. When her sister went to St. Heliers Bay she was m a very nervous condition. "What was your father's conduct towards your mother?" Lawyer Moody asked Richard John Cruickshank, aged 12, whose manner indicated that he required no prompting. "He has been veriy cruel to her. He has sworn at her, pushed her and kicked us. The first time when I. was telling Mrs. Dick (a Salvation Army captain) about dad being with Miss Moran, he kicked me after she had gone." Jack described how his father had swept all the crockery off the dresser with a chair, with which he swung round to strike his mother. They were now living at'Takapuna. "Last Sunday dad came round to the house," witness continued, "and he made my brothers cry with the things he said about mother. He said he had £1000 saved up for us children, but it had all been taken up .with lawyers." Lawyer Moody: "Oh, ' never mintl about the lawyers; what about the doctors, too?" (Laughter.) Jack stated that his father often came into the bedroom at night, where witness, his brothers and his mother slept, and he would be clad only m his undershirt. Sometimes it would be one o'clock; sometimes about 2 a.m. '"Mother was taking fits all the time," he added. Lawyer Skelton: You told us m the lower court your father treated you all very well? — No, I told you he used to kick us and push mother round. "Did not you' tell us m the lower court that you and your brothers used to quarrel as to who would go out with your father?" Jack's explanation of this was that the favored offspring who accompanied his father was "shouted" ice-creams and lollies. His Honor: "There is nothing m the lower court depositions about this witness, having seen his mother struck on the head."

When it was suggested to Jack that the reason his father visited the bedroom at night was to attend to his youngest brother, he declared that this was not so. His father did not wear pyjamas. Alice Mabel Dick, Salvation Army captain, stationed at Devonport, said she had frequently visited the Cruickshanks when they were living m her district. / On one occasion, when Cruickshank spoke to her about his affairs, she mentioned his wife's illness and said: "You know it is upsetting her dreadfully." To this the reply was that he did not care if he lost the property, so long as he had his own way. Lawyer Skelton: "You say you started to interfere prior to the court case?" ■ , But witness objected to the term "interfere." All she had done was to endeavor, to make peace between husband and wife.

Counsel: Mrs. Cruickshank has .joined the Salvation Army, has she not? — Yes, but it was since then. .. Was^that not the reason you went to her house? — No, she had not joined the Salvation Army then. You wanted her to hold the £1500 mortgage, didn't you? — Well, it was no affair of ours, but we thought if he was so fond of his wife, why did he hot let her have it? When Mrs. Cruickshank took a fit on the floor m front of her husband and witness, Captain Dick went on to say, Cruickshank just stood and laughed at his wife and said she was shamming. Dr. S. A. Bull was called by Lawyer Moody. He testified to having examined Mrs. Cruickshank' on February 27 of this year, when he found her condition to be one of extreme nervous depression. He thought her condition serious. "I am very strongly of the opinion

that any further worry would have very serious results indeed," he added. Lawyer Skelton: "You did not know there had been a long course of medical attention on this woman just after she was married?" Dr. Bull did not; nor did he know, he added, that m 1925 she had been operated upon m order to save her reason; Lawyer Skelton opened his case with the comment: "It is most unfortunate that Mr. Dickson shomd have been the adviser of this woman and of her husband — he could not serve two masters. From the moment the mortgage was put m the woman's name, the war between these parties really started. There was no threat of separation until the action was brought m this court m regard to the mortgage." Counsel stated that Cruickshank was very fond of his wife- and passionately attached to his children. He quite believed that she would return to him once this trouble over the property was settled. Dr. T. H. Petitt stated that he had attended Mrs. Cruickshank for three or four years before 1924, when she was m a nervous condition and not strong physically. . • In August, 1921, after a consultation with Dr. Wi H. Horton, an operation was performed, because Mrs. Cruickshank was having a series of fits, when she would be found lying about the house m an unconscious state. Had this operation not been performed, she would have lost her reason. At the time this operation was performed, Mrs. Cruickshank was within six months of her confinement. Her health subsequently improved. The doctor had frequently visited the home, not m a professional capacity, and to his knowledge Cruickshank was an ideal husband and father. Dr. Horton corroborated the evidence of his medical colleague with regard to the operation and Mrs. Cruickshank's health at the time. A number of witnesses were' called who stated that they knew the parties

Emphatic Denial

intimately and considered Cruickshank a model husband. ' . Giving her occupation as manageress of th« firm of Stormont and Sons, confectioners, of Auckland, Miss Kathleen Moran, a slim young woman, was repeatedly asked to speak so that she could be heard. It was alleged that Cruickshank paid considerable attention to witness when she was in 'his employ as manageress of the St. Heliers tea-rooms. She had known the parties intimately for many years, and had been sent for when the Cruickshanks took over the St. Heliers Bay tea-rooms. Later she became manageress of the place. "I am soi-ry to have to put this statement to you," said Lawyer Skelton, "but this evidence came out for the first time m this court. There is a suggestion that you were found m Mr. Cruicksharik's bedroom down at St. Heliers Bay. Is there any truth m that?" "None," replied witness. "That is the first time I have heard it suggested." Miss Moran went on to explain that the main room m the house at St. Heliers was used as a sitting-room, a bedroom by Cruickshank and his wife, an office and a sewing-room. She and Mrs. Cruickshank used this room continuously during the day. She may have been seen m this room by the boys, because she did all the sewing there. . j There was trouble between husband and wife, because of Mrs. Cruickshank's interference with the staff. She had never heard any "language" used by Cruickshank. Lawyer Moody: He borrowed a couple- of hundred pounds from you? — Yes. , Did he give you any security? — I got interest on it; my mother arranged the security. You know Mrs. Cruickshank has sworn that she saw you with her husband at 2 o'clock m the morning?— That is an absolute lie. Miss Moran denied that she had been asked to leave by Mrs. Cruickshank, because of the alleged bedroom incident, but said she had given up her position because her mother needed .her. ■ A stockily-built man, florid-featured, with crisp, curly, ( iron-grey hair, George Cruickshanli's evidence 'was interspersed with declarations of affection for his wife and children, and emotional outbursts against Lawyer Dickson and his mother. , Speaking with a strong Scottish accent, at times it was difficult to follow him clearly. * ■ . < "How came it that the mortgage was placed m your wife's name" asked his 1 counsel. "It was Mr. Dickson's doing," he replied. ; . "Mr. Dickson said he did it. to safeguard me m case the business at' St. Heliers Bay did not pay. The whole trouble at St. Heliers was over t,he ; mortgage." . . ■'■ Cruickshank stated that when his wife went t<J see Mrs. Dickson m September, 1925, she told him, on her return, that Mrs. Dickson had said she was to keep the mortgage, and not let him have anything- to do with it. "That separated my wife and me," continued witness. "When I went and saw Mrs. Dickson, she told me that if I insisted .on having the mortgage m my name she would separate me and my wife. She is the manageress of Mr. Dickson's office and when they turned me down as their oliemt, they

made my wife their client . . . and this is what they have done to me." Cruickshank, waving his arms m a helpless gesture, added: "I have tried everything to get my wife to return to me, but I have no control over her; she is under the influence of the Dicksons." His Honor:, Is this Mrs. Dickson a lady lawyer? — No, she is no lawyer, j told Mrs. Dickson she had no right m that office. i. ■ • Cruickshank declared that his wife had left home m March, 1928. He denied ever striking her or having used "language." His wife was subject to bad attacks, during which she would "murder" the children. "But she does not know what she is doing," added Cruickshank. "If Mr. and Mrs. Dickson had left her alone she would have been m good health. There is no confidence between us— she goes to the , Dlcksons. After the November' settlement I thought everything would be all right. "I asked he/ to give up the Dicksons . . . and afterwards she went back to Mr. Dickson and he sent her to Mr. Moody. Mr. Dickson would not stand m front of . me and ask questions," concluded witness vehemently. Replying to Lawyer Moody, Cruickshank said: "My wife was a good wife and looked after her home until' she got into the clutches of that man." Lawyer Moody: Do you say your wife is untruthful? — I am not going to answer that question. I have never said a bad word against my wife yet. r — - — — — — n

Wife's Suggestion

Miss Moran was appointed to the position of manageress on his wife's suggestion, said Cruickshank. Lawyer Moody: Your wife and little boy are misleading the court when they say you struck" her on the head ■with your clenched fist?— My poor little boy! He should never have been here. It is a shame and a disgrace! I have never struck my wife m my life. Cruickshank admitted that he had issued the first writ against his wife irP order to' get his own back on Dickson, her solicitor. Lawyer Moody: But Mr. Dickson does not come into this. — l.;am going to speak! Mr. Dickson robbed me. ... ■ His Honor: "Well, Mr. Dickson is not before me. I cannot tell." "Let my wife give up the Dicksons and we will be happy as can .be," Cruickshank concluded. His honor, m giving judgment, said it was his "duty to come to an independent decision on the evidence placed before him. It was no^a question of whether the magistrate was right or wrong m making an order against appellant for separation and maintenance at £3 per week. Certain fresh evidence, had been placed before him, but so far as the charge of failing adequately to maintain was concerned, there was. no evidence to support it. 'On the charge of cruelty, this was a more difficult matter to determine. The woman was nervous, neurotic and hard to get on with. "She has largely been subject to the advice of some other woman," continued the judge, "who has been interfering m her affairs m some extraordinary way . . . and there is no doubt she has been badly advised for some time.' "This has landed her husband and herself m a morass of litigation. It has been bad for both parties. Up to 1925 they appear -to have been very happy . . . and then came the £1500 mortgage, which seems to have been a bone of contention for years." Referring to the incident alleged to have taken place at St. Hellers, when Mrs. Cruickshank declared that she saw her husband and Miss Moran together, his honor, said: "I am satisfied that statement is untrue. I don't think this incident ever happened and I —71

The Judge's View;

I think it very unfair that it should have been made m the way; it was. "Maybe Mrs. Cruickshank now . believes it happened, as she has made herself believe it, but I do not think it happened." With regard to the alleged assault at Edendale, Judge MacGregor intimated that he did not believe this happened,, either, as stated by Mrs. Cruickshank and the boy, Jack. The boy, his honor said, was a most unsatisfactory witness. ' ■: Then again, on the^ allegation that," the husband had used bad language, ■! there was no evidence to support the charge. : "I disregard the boy's story and I am sorry he was brought' into it at: all; I Son't think he is a reliable witness. "The trouble between the parties largely arises out of this unfortunate mortgage transaction, but that does lot prove the husband has been guilty jf persistent cruelty. "I think Mrs. Cruickshank is a -voman whose bad health has largely indermined b^er judgment .. .. .and she has unfortunately been subject to >ad influence and bad advice about her msband's affairs. , ■ "The appeal is allowed and the order iet aside.',' . '