Teaches Parrot to Swear at Husband; He Asks a Divorce

ATLANTIC CITY, N. J., May 20 -- If a wife teaches a parrot to "cuss out" her husband, is it sufficient grounds for divorce?

This issue has been put to Special Master in Chancery Slack in the suit brought by Maltby H. Messick, a city fireman and overseas veteran, against Mary R. Messick.

Mrs. Mamie Allen, a relative of the defendant, testified that during a visit to her home in Philadelphia Mrs. Messick had a parrot in the room with her constantly and it received a regular schooling in modern cussing.

Mrs. Messick, according to Mrs. Allen, said she was "teaching the bird to cuss and swear so it could express her opinion of her husband when he got home."

Messick, who was a top sergeant to Battery B, 112th Artillery, admitted the bird had an entirely new line "that was worse than any German gas he had bumped into!" Capt. Hiram Steelman, his old commander, now his counsel, pins his entire case on the linguistic parrot.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 1.