HER TALL THIRST

NZ Truth, Issue 1200, 29 November 1928, Page 9

HER TALL THIRST

DAISY told the story of her unhappy life /under guidance from Maintenance Officer Percy Jones. . Things had been going a trifle hard with her before getting her present position, she said, and, to "raise the wind" she had been compelled to pawn her sewing- machine and rings for £4/10/- as she was more or less destitute when she took out the. com plaint. At present she was providing for herself from the 455. she received weekly for cooking at Godley House, Diamond Harbor. Mrs. Walquist said she was a divorced woman when she married Walquist at Dunedin m March, 1913. She thought it ..was about ten or twelve years ago since she was compelled to leave him through his cruelty iiimiinniiiiiniiiimNiiiim.imnim and habitual drunkenness. She v had never written to him nor made any application for maintenance, but she considered that as she was destitute when she made the application, ■ Walquist should be held responsible for her. upkeep. - Mrs. WalqUist described him as a "soak," a confessed ■ gambler,, and possessed of an extremely Jazy disposition.^ ' , . They had taken several positions v as married couple on sheep stations, Where,.: she said, one of her husband's favorite pas r times was "putting the. rule over her money while sh e was asleep. The M.0.: He alleges drink is your trouble. 'Were you ever prohibit- M ed?— Well, I was once or twice; twice, I think. Mrs. Walquist stated that any lapses of memory she might be suffering f-om were the result of concussion of the brain 1 which , was caused througli Walquist striking her on the back' of the head, with his clenched fist which caused a slight paralysis. She admitted that she had been convicted m the lower court, and spent twelve months m the Salvation Armyreformatory. y Armed with Walquist's slfle of the story/ and that of his mother, m the form of a bunch of evidence taken In Dunedin, Lawyer Widdowaon gave Mrs. Walquist a gruelling time. He asked: "Wasn't it when you were. at .the Glen Lyon station that you started drinking?" - • -

Mrs. Walquist and Whisky Were Close Companions, According To Her Husband

MAINTENANCE CLAIM FAILS

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

1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 1 II : 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 1 [ 1 1 1 ( 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ( 1 11111111 M ] 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 M 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 [|Tl 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 M tUI 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 U 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ) 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I . When fate cast Alexander Valentine Walquist across the f 1 path of his Margaret Elizabeth Daisy, it smote them both an | 1 unkind blow. She had already had one failure m the matri- i f moriial stakes, and it was not long after settling down with him § | that she realized she was again an also-started. |

Mrs. Walquist: "We were both drinking." • "And didn't you have to go to gaol for stealing whisky?" Mrs. Walquist replied that she had shouldered the blame for her husband, who had suggested to her that if she admitted the offence -. she would get off with about 24 hours' imprisonment, whereas he would perhaps get twelve months. ■ Anyhow, you got seven days?— Yes. Do you remember being m the D.T's

Looked fishy, but not as much as it was.

when you were at his mother's? — I do not. •• •■ ;.. - ;'• „ ' ■ ■■■"' ■ ;■■ •■- He says, that you pawned his coat and your rings, including your wedding rings. . . ' Mrs. Wal^uist retorted that Walqutst's wardrobe did not include an overcoat -vyorth pawning. , The boot was on the other foot, according to herr, for she stated that while/ they were- slaying at the Gridiron Hotel, irt Dunedin, Walquist gave her ! extra strong liqudr one night, so that she would sleep well, and then rose !eaHy, . stole her money, an.d, Went off to Chri6tchuroh to the Grand National meeting. , While at the meetingr, apparently he

Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll^ could not get among the winners for he returned to D.unedin' absolutely penniless. , . . Their stay at the Gridiron was evidently an unhappy one for Mrs. Walqiiist, for she alleged that her husband broke her false teeth, and left, her body- a mas^s of "bruises "with his bier boot." : - Suggesting that her conduct was not all that it might -have been while she was staying with her mother-in-law, Lawyer Widdowson asked her was it

not a fact that on some occasions she stayed out all night, that she was seen going into the lupins with a man, and that she todlt two bottles of whisky to bed and had disposed of their contents during- the night. V • Daisy gave a strenuous denial to such suggestions, and said the only occasion on which.' she had gone to the lupins was with Alex's x people, who lived close by. Counsel: What happened the night you stayed at' the Leviathan Hotel m Dunedin ? Did you behave' yourself?-— Of course I did. That, was the night before 1 left to come to Ghristchurch. Counsel read an illuminating passage from the evidence '.of,. Mrs. Walquist, senr., m which she stated that ©no morning thY proprietor of the

Jllll!!l!lllllllllllll|[||lllllll!lllllllllll!l!llll!!i^ hotel rang- up and subsequently a cab flrew up outside her house and deposited Daisy Walquist, who was clad only m a flimsy nether garment. When the cab drivei 4 set her down on the beach she was very* drunk and, being practically unclothed, she soon attracted a crowd. . . ■ Mrs. Walquist stood aghast at this, and. declared that it was a horrible lie. She. told the court that her husband's habits were not of the best, and he had to go to gaol Tonce or twice since she had left him. Asked by \ the magistrate why she had left her husband, she said he was cruel m the extreme. He struck and bitten her on oc- ■ •■ ■ ■- A casions too numeriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii oug i o mention Then she saw him with his arm round another woman, and that finished it as far as she was loncerned. She left Dunedin a few days later, and had never „ heard from him since. Counsel:" Besides 3tealing whisky and the term m the Salvation Army home, what other 3onvictions • ha v c /Ou?-r-I can't renember. I think there were other jonvictions. ' You have been iving with other men at Chrlst3hurch? — I have been housekeeping: for some if that's\ what you call living with them. I have never lived with an y - one as man and wife. /:,. . The . defence set up by Walquist alleged that his wife's v i o lent drinking habits had caused all the unhappiness m their married life. As the 'result of her stealing the whisky at Glen Lybn station they were both "fired," and Daisy had ; served seven days for it. Walquist denied any allegations of cruelty, and said he had always maintained his wife and treated her,. well. She was a divorced woman when he married her, and he helieved that the ground . for her divorce was mlscph:dUGtA ';■-' :. ■■. •■ ■': ■■■.'■■" ■:■■;',..■ ■ : '^--,,;- "} v" Mrs. Walquist failed to.': convince Magistrate;^^iiawry'vyith her story, arid uhjißSfi i ;'sh l ei ; ; : T6tijEnaVt()''---h^r. il hußban4' which is unlikely, she will have to continue cooking for an existence, as her application was dismissed. ..: '