“IT SEEMED TO DRIVE HIM MAD”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18186, 20 June 1927, Page 5

“IT SEEMED TO DRIVE HIM MAD”

LIFE DOMINATED BY HYPNOTIC HUSBAND, IS WIFE’S ALLEGATION. "My touch on his coat seemed to drive him mad—he beat me cruelly, and when I came to he said, ‘You did it yourself. I am sorry to see you in such a state/ lie had struck me with his hand, and injured my face so that the neighbours said that 1 was unrecognisable. My face was a horrible sight.” Such was the tale of May Colbeck, a woman of thirty-one years of age, who brought her husband, Ilenry E. Colbeck, to the Magistrate’s Court this morning and applied for separation, guardianship and maintenance orders, on the grounds of persistent cruelty. She was calm and smiling in the witness box, and for an hour stood up and told her story, at times under hard cross-examination.' The case was heard before Mr IT. P. I.awry, S.M. Mr Sim appeared for the woman and Mr M'Carthy for her husband. In the witness box Mrs Colbeck said that, since her marriage in 1916, when she was twenty, she had not been permitted to go out or to associate with anyone except her husband and her mother. “Mr Colbeck gave the impression to my family that he was a Godfearing man, and he gave himself out to be a ‘follower of Christ.’ He never went to church. I was completely under his dominance. He had dabbled in hypnotism, though he had had to sign a paper promising that he would never use it. lie used to knock me about in front of the children, and on one occasion he stamped on my toe ‘by way of emphasis/ so that the nail blackened and came off. “I left the house, and got various situations,” continued Mrs Colbeck, “and each time he tried to get me back, and when I had left my work lie began to bully me again. He has kept my children from me, and I think that is the way he has taken to punish me for leaving him.” Mr Sim: And you received a letter from him in which he said “Lady, it is now four weeks since you have left me.” and going on to give you fortyeight hours in which to return, and if not you would be cast off. The letter goes on. “I am not a fool, even though 1 am your husband. I shall always be master in my own home, even though it be a dog kennel. I have tried to keep all trace o£ bitterness out of this letter.”

Mr M’Carthy then examined the witness:—lt is true that you were veryintimate with a Mr Brownell, your step brother?—No. Did vou not write poetry to Mr Brownell ?

Xo. I wrote verse which was dictated to me by my husband, in the presence of another lady, a. Mrs John-

Mr M’Carthy read a letter written by one Bradley, a married man, in which he said:” “I am counting the time until I shall have you in my arms. I was very disappointed that you couldn't come into town the other day. 1 had everything arranged. I have looked upon you as if you were wholly mine. But never mind, little girl, etc.” Witness: TTe came to me when I was ill and dispirited, but I did all I could to discourage him, and I told him I would tell my husband. I gave my husband the letters myself. On being taxed with further poetry, a copy of which was produced in court, witness said that it was a song she sang, the words pf which she had copied out. “It was a pretty little song, and I had not a printed copy.” Mr M’Carthy: Did you write a letter to Bradley which said: “I hope I have killed the feeling which you may have had for me, however paltry it was. I am defending you against a man who would fight for my honour to the last gasp.” Now, to whom did you refer this? To Colbeck. Mr Sim: O' Gallant Knjght l Witness: The letter was not addressed to anyone, I just wrote it without an object. ' 1 i 1 The Magistrate: Mr M'Carthy may not be aware that women have a habit of committing their thoughts to paper. Mr M’Carthy. On one occasion you said to your husband, “I don’t care a fig for you or the children”? Xo. I cared nothing for him, but I adore the children. He is a s.ober man, but erratic, and not reliable in anything. He always used violence when lie wished to impose his will on me. and w T as abusive to me before the children. Frederick Brownell, the step-father of ■ the complainant, gave evidence in support- He had seen complainant when her face was in an awful condition. Colbeck had refused her request, made when she was very ill, to see the children. Ilis attitude towards her was. “I am the Lord High Executioner.” Colbeck was hard-natured, masterful ar.d domineering. When asked to let her see the children, Colbeck had replied, “I am judge and jury in this Corroborative evidence was given by Rosina Eastwick, a neighbour. Catherine Dora Stone said that complainant had been known to her since 1915, and was a bright, happy girl, well thought of. She visited witness and she was then in a very run-down condition and subject to fainting turns. A chemist had told witness that he had never prescribed so strongly for anyone as for the woman staying with her, and she would have to be careful. Mr M’Carthy said that the case for the defendant was that shortly after the marriage to complainant defendant had to go to Durifedin to take charge of a provision store. He was there for six or nine months, working very long hours, and his health became affected by that. Ilis wife went down to Dunedin. and she was put into lodgings, so had no housework to do. Defendant t hen came back to Christchurch and had the bad luck to lose his billet. Defendant would deny absolutely all the charges of cruelty, or behaving in an overbearing manner, and he would show that he himself did a large part of the housework. Perhaps he was not ot such a social turn of mind as his wife. He was only, a young man, not getting big wages, and he was anxious 1o get ahead and have a home of his own, and eventually a business of his own. The letter regarding Brownell was written out voluntarily. Continuing, counsel for defendant ' said that Colbeck would say that the alleged assault was provoked by his wife, and what he did was entirely in self-defence. The man had kept the home open for nine months after his wife left him, and if that was not a sign of his bona fides counsel did not know what was. She chose to run away from her home, husband and children. and now she came to the Court to ask that defendant should maintain tr “This young lady appears to have d amorous relations with two married Slen,” said Mr M'Carthy. The Magistrate: Do you suggest that that was the cause of the assault? , Counsel: Xo, not at all. Mr Sim: I object, as there is not a bit of evidefice. It is most improper. Mr M’Carthy: The letters show it. Mr Sim: Most improper. Mr M’Carthy: Not improper at all.

The Magistrate: I would prefer, Mr M’Carthy, to draw my own inferences from the facts. Mr M’Carthy then put defendant in the box. He gave evidence on the lines of counsel’s address. Colbeck said that when he and his wife went househunting she said: “You are a fool to do this, I will only let you flown again.” She also said, in connection with the children. “They will be all right wherever you are.” To Mr Sim: My wife was brought up in a. strictly religious household. Yes, she. had been an exceptionally nice girl, Mr Sim: Ah, a generous admission at last. The Magistrate: “What are you doing with the children?—l am boarding them out. I see them four times a week. (Proceeding).