Tried To Shoot His Wife

New York, 1895

Bowman's Pistol Would not go Off — Screams Scared Him Away.

Mrs. William Bowman of Flushing is alive because a pistol in the hand of her worthless husband failed to act when he pulled the trigger in an attempt to murder her on Main street Sunday night. About a year ago William Bowman of Maspeth, and Miss Tillie June of Flushing were married and went to Maspeth to live. Mrs. Bowman found married life a sort of precarious existence. Her husband was not particularly fond of work, and what little he did earn oftener went for whiskey than for food.

Finally, when the place she called home was taken from her because of nonpayment of rent, she determined to leave her husband. She did so, and on Thursday came home to her mother. Late Sunday night she and her mother and Mrs. Annie Mackinroe were returning from a call, when they met Bowman on Main street. He had been drinking heavily.

He stepped up to them and said: "Tillie, I want you to go with me." His wife refused to go with him and he yelled, "Then I'll shoot you." Suiting the deed to the word, he drew a revolver, and, thrusting it into his wife's face, pulled the trigger. Fortunately the weapon did not discharge, and the screams of the woman alarmed Bowman, who turned and ran.

The police finally located him as he was about to board a late train for New York and placed him under arrest. Next morning Judge Smith placed him under bonds to keep the peace, the charge of assault with intent to kill not being pressed.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Feb. 22, 1895, p. 12.

New Earthquake Theory

1910

Areas of earthquake and volcanic activity are traveling westward about twenty-five miles a year, according to the investigation of H. Wehner, a German physicist. He accounts for this by the novel theory that the earth's solid crust encloses a thin layer of liquid, within which is a solid nucleus rotating about the same axis as the outer shell, and in the same direction, but with a slightly less velocity, the lagging behind causing the nucleus to make a revolution to the west in the crust in about 952 years.

It is assumed that earthquake and volcanic disturbances result when projecting or active spots on the nucleus are moved under weak portions of the crust. From reports by ships during the last 60 years it is calculated that the active spots of the Atlantic are nearly all collected at the present time under the region between 35 and 41 degrees west longitude and one degree north and one degree south latitude, and that this area off the northeastern coast of South America may be regarded as a danger zone.


Grecian Nose Worth £1,000

Mlle. Boucheraud, a fascinating Parisian actress, once had a perfect Grecian nose. Now it is slightly concave in its lower part, and she is claiming in the law courts £1,000 from M. Lang, who was the direct cause of the alteration. M. Lang considered that Mlle. Boucheraud did not reserve her fascination for himself, and in the course of a lovers' quarrel struck her heavily on the face.

Has "Postal Cardomania"

1909

Cincinnati Man Gives Reason for Slapping Wife; Court Releases Him

Cincinnati — William Schenck of Elwood place offered a novel excuse for slapping his wife when he faced Judge Hoffman in the police court Wednesday. He claimed that he was a victim of "postal cardomania," and charged his wife with sending them. He presented several cards to the court.

On one was written, "All in and down and out;" another showed a handsome young woman with outstretched arms, yawning. Underneath the picture was printed the words, "I do not care if he never comes back." Another had written on it, "Come in, the water is fine."

The wife claimed that Schenck had slapped and then punched her in the face while he was talking with her Sunday night. He was released.


1900

Sounded Like Age Hint

Mary Anderson Navarro attended a bazaar in England the other day in aid of a religious community and was told by the father rector that she was a mother to them. "Our Mary" is, of course, no longer in the full blush of youthful beauty, but this remark rather startled her for a moment. In the course of a short reply she good-humoredly said that the reverend gentleman might at least have called her a sister.

Brutality Better Than Ardent Love, Asserts Wife

1920

Smothered by Kisses

SAN FRANCISCO, Cal. — How much should you love your wife?

This is the absorbing question brought up here by the divorce action of Mrs. Leigh M. Stewart, who sues her husband, Commander Stewart, because he loved her too much.

The divorce courts are cluttered with actions because "love has died." Now there comes the reverse — the newer and absorbing question for a judge to determine: Just how much should a man love his wife?

A modern cave man was Commander Stewart, according to his wife. A cave man with gentle human kindness, but overpowering in his love.

"His love for me was so overpowering, so terrible in its intensity, that it killed my own love for him. As I look back over the period of five years of our married life something tells me if he had loved me less I could have loved him more.

"He was never satisfied unless he had me in his arms, kissing me. He never seemed to be able to caress me enough.

"Then we married. It is easily imagined how he won me by this love, but later, incessant as it became, it tired me. I was never free from the very awfulness of his love.

"Life became hateful. Can you imagine sitting at a breakfast table with a man who wouldn't permit you to eat because of the time it took from kissing? At luncheon he would have thought up a new love poem, the kind he always returned with from a sea voyage, and I would have to listen to it. Then at dinner it was more kissing, kisses, kisses, kisses.

"Not so very long ago I tired so utterly of his kisses that I asked him to leave me alone for a moment. He flew into a rage and choked me. I thought then that he was going to kill me, and I can nearer at that moment to loving him than in any of the long years of our married life.

"His caresses were so tiring that brutality was welcome."

Forced to Sleep in Hen Coop, Is Charge

1920

Man, 68, Gave Nephew His Money, Received Abuse, He Says

MARYSVILLE, Cal. — Fearing that his nephew would drive him into the street and he would eventually become a public charge and die to be buried in a pauper's grave is the reason given by Manuel G. George, sheepherder, for filing suit in Judge Eugene P. McDaniel's court to compel Manuel E. George to return $500 which the old man transferred to the younger man's account in a local bank on promise that the latter would care for him.

The complaint recites that he is 68 years of age and that when he went to live with his nephew the latter's wife and children abused him and he was compelled to sleep in a filthy chicken coop, although in ill health.


Steals a Dying Man's Watch

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — As Samuel Sterling lay dying of pneumonia, his mother and sisters screamed and wept and the attention of passersby was attracted. A number of persons entered the house and went upstairs to see what was wrong. One of the strangers, a stout man about 25 years of age, grabbed the dying man's watch from a bureau, ran from the house and made his escape.

Lady Speaks to Him Only with Her Eyes

Indiana, 1916

But Interpreter Spins a Long Story from the Conversation.

Mrs. Joe Pogzelaski, of Hayden street, was called to the stand in the city court, Monday, to testify as to the conduct of her husband, who was drunk Sunday and creating a disturbance at home. Neither Joe nor Mrs. Joe could speak English and an interpreter was called.

Mr. Beklixyzski volunteered the use of both his English and Polish vocabularies.

"Ask him if he is guilty," said Judge H. Waveland Kerr to the interpreter.

"He says he will never do it again," volunteered the interpreter before the prisoner had a chance to say a word.

After some sparring between the court and the interpreter Judge Kerr asked for Mrs. Joe. She was sworn and sat gazing into the face of the interpreter. "Ask her if her husband struck her over the head with a beer bottle," instructed the court.

"She say they been married twenty-two year and never had no trouble and she want him to come home and he won't do it any more" — and a whole lot more, said the interpreter.

Mrs. Joe had said not a word. If she spoke it was with her eyes and she might have wig-wagged the message to the court through the interpreter, but there was reasonable doubt even of that. For five minutes Judge Kerr sought to find out whether Mr. Joe had assaulted Mrs. Joe. It was futile. The woman said nothing, whereas, the interpreter discharged conversation like a whole battery of phonographs.

Then Mr. Joe, Mrs. Joe and the interpreter got their heads together for a three-cornered talk-test, the upshot of which was a translation by the interpreter that Mr. Joe wanted very much to go home. Judge Kerr gave up in despair and continued the case until Tuesday, sending Mr. Joe to jail. When the police arrived at the Hayden street residence Sunday they found no end of beer, a bottle of whisky and broken bottles all over the house and in the street. Mrs. Joe had taken refuge across the street.

—The Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, April 26, 1916, p. 4.

He Wouldn't Eat Wife's Mouldy Pie

1920

Boston, Mass. — George D. Zwicker of East Boston testified in the East Cambridge Divorce Court that his wife, Mrs. Mary Zwicker of Cambridge, slapped his face when he refused to eat a mouldy apple pie which she placed in front of him. He told the court that his wife locked him out of the house, and when he tried to get in by forcing the door of the basement, she struck him on the hand with a hatchet and inflicted three cuts. He showed the scars to the judge. He is bringing the suit for divorce on the grounds of cruel and abusive treatment.


Urge Medics Study the "Lounge Lizard"

The idiosyncrasies of tickle toes, shimmy shakers and the hearts of jazz band masters will be delved into by future medics, according to plans outlined by Dr. Charles R. Bardeen, dean of medicine of the University of Wisconsin.

Lounge lizards and other living oddities of wider fields offer greater scope for scientific study than human cadavers, Dr. Bardeen told the congress on medical education in Chicago.

Dr. Bardeen suggested that all clinics be equipped with an assortment of live models and that these be used in study as comparisons with dead bodies.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 20, 1920, page 1.

Bites Wife's Cheek as Finish of Kiss

1920

Pulling Cave Man Stuff Lands Hubby in Workhouse

NEW YORK, N. Y. -- Cave man methods of kissing one's wife is no way for a modern husband to show conjugal affection, according to Magistrate Douras of the Essex Market Court. Saderio Anselino, 45, wa arrested on a warrant issued on the complaint of his wife, Nellie, who charged that Saderio had bitten a piece out of her cheek.

"What do you mean by biting your wife's cheek?" demanded Magistrate Douras of the defendant. "Do you think you are a cave man?"

"I love my wife," the defendant said, "and was only trying to kiss her."

"Thirty days in the workhouse," answered the magistrate.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 9.

We're Doin' The Shimmy!

1919--

BANDIT TAKES ROLL, AND ORDERS SHIMMY

POLICE FIND VICTIM AFTER HE'S EXHAUSTED

Philadelphia, Nov. 26. -- The "shimmy highwayman" is the latest arrival in Philadelphia.

Joseph Gottschalk was standing at Fourth and Pine streets when a man approached him.

"Can you jazz?" asked the stranger. Gottschalk replied that he could.

"Let's see you do a few steps," said the stranger, drawing a revolver. Gottschalk hesitated, but catching a glimpse of the weapon, decided to comply.

"Now," said the footpad, "let's see you do the shimmy. And be sure not to stop jiggling your arms."

Gotschalk proceeded to shake like a bowl of jelly, while the robber went through his clothes and took his watch and chain and wallet containing $27.

"Keep on doing that," said the bandit, as he backed away, still covering Gottschalk with his revolver. "If I see you stop before I get out of sight I'm going to take a shot at you."

It was five minutes later when Gottschalk fell exhausted to the sidewalk. A policeman picked him up and took him to a hospital, where he was revived.

--Ironwood Daily Globe, Ironwood, Michigan, November 26, 1919, page 2.


SEE WHAT SHIMMYING DID TO NEWLYWEDS

ROMANCE STARTS WITH DANCE, AND DANCE NEARLY ENDS IN COURT

Milwaukee, Nov. 24. -- The shimmy as a home destroyer made its appearance in district court Friday.

Daniel Monte, 24, was arraigned on complaint of his bride of a month, Winifred, 20.

She said he beat her in their apartment, 711 Sycamore st. one morning after they had returned from a dance.

"I may have struck her," said Monte. "I don't know. I was mad. Every night for two weeks she made me go with her to a dance. 'If you don't go, I'll go alone,' she told me.

Forgets Wedding Ring

"Most of the time she forgot to wear my wedding ring. I didn't want her going alone. I was dead tired of shimmying every night. I told her it had to stop. We quarrelled. The next day she left me. I haven't seen her since."

It was a dance that ushered in their romance. They met in a dance hall Oct. 8. Two days later they were married in Waukegan. The next day the young wife went to her home in Ludington, Mich. Her husband, against his wishes, remained at home.

Then Begins the Shimmy

After a two-week visit, she came back. Then began the period of nightly dancing, which culminated in the home fight on Armistice day. Since then she has made her home with a sister in Cudahy.

Judge Page lectured them about the undesirable points of a dance hall romance. The young benedict was dismissed without fees.

--Ironwood Daily Globe, Ironwood, Michigan, November 25, 1919, page 8.

Wife Offers to Pay Alimony to Husband

1920—

Wife Offers to Pay Alimony to Husband

All She Asks Is Divorce and Custody of Children

SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., May 20. – Mrs. Ida May Harp, of this city, established a precedent in local divorce courts when she filed suit against Arthur E. Harp, an insurance adjuster, and offered in her complaint to pay him $25 a month alimony.

Mrs. Harp charges that Harp has been cruel to her. They were married in Napa in 1905 and separated recently when, says Mrs. Harp, he told her he was sorry he married her and that he wished himself in the "hot place" instead.

Harp also is jealous, she says, and refused to let her attend church, saying if she did she might flirt with the minister. He also was jealous of tradesmen.

Mrs. Harp asks for a divorce and the custody of their two children.


Women Are Inferior, Avers One of Them

LONDON, England, May 20. – "Women do not excel in any art. I do not personally know of any woman qualified to be an associate of the Royal Academy of Arts. Women have never been good in any art."

That is the opinion of Lady Scott, the sculptress and widow of the explorer, in discussing the fact that it is more than 150 years since a woman became a member of the academy.

Asked why she thought women fail at art, Lady Scott said:

"I don't know. We are an inferior race, I suppose."

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 4.

Wife Thrashes Her Husband In Court

1920
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill., May 20. -- Not satisfied with justice as meted out by the police court here, Mrs. Thomas A. Payne took matters into her own hands and gave her husband a sound thrashing before court officials could interfere.

Payne pulled table between himself and his wife for protection. Court Official Huot finally seized the woman and placed her in a chair. Mrs. Payne then collapsed and cried. Payne made no attempt to defend himself.

He was before the judge charged with assaulting his wife. The evidence, however, showed that he did not assault his wife, but simply tried to protect himself when attacked by her in a business street. he was found not guilty and the charge dismissed.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 2.

Husbands Thrive on Spanking (Some Wives, Too)

1916, Click graphic for bigger version
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HUSBANDS THRIVE ON SPANKING

According to Recent Testimony of Their Wives

AND HABIT PROMISES TO SPREAD

Lemon Squeezers and Bread Boards Favorite Substitutes for Birch of Boyhood – Policeman Fears Wife May Attack Him on His Beat – Piano Tuner Finds It Hard to Keep Ear for Harmony.

Victims Hold Various Views as to Efficacy of Household Treatment, but May Unite in Alumni Club. Weaker Vessel Also Tanned and Cheerfully Admits She Likes It.

BY NIXOLA GREELY-SMITH.

Herewith the silly season is formally declared open. From this day on till the hot weather is over wise New Yorkers will not burden their sizzling brains with the Mexican problem, the presidential election or the success of the new offensive of the Allies. To spank or not to spank is the question of the hour. It's much too warm to think. If you don t believe it, read the letters which have been written in the last few days by husbands and wives who favor or oppose spanking as a first aid to conjugal concord.

Grown-Ups Need Birch.

The controversy was started by an innocent little document from a wife, who declared frankly that grown persons as well as children are the better for an occasional whipping, adding that her own husband had been changed from a drinker and smoker into a model man, with a good job, money saved and a fine home by the judicious application of these wifely principles.

Spare the rod and spoil the husband was this matron's recipe for domestic happiness. Many husbands, doubtless, would rather be spanked than nagged. Spanking, like war is only one form of the force argument, in many cases not so objectionable and not nearly so efficacious as hysterics or tears. The pacifists of the home, like those of the larger world, don't seem to realize that to put an end to physical warfare won't put an end to war.

Money as Weapon.

War can be and is made with money all the time, though every sword is sheathed and every bayonet sleeps in its scabbard. And war is made, pressure amounting to tyranny is exerted in many homes wherein the word spank is so discredited that it would not be let in the back door. Persons who decry the rod and the slipper as corrective agents may use meaner weapons. It has been proved that small boys when given a choice between a licking and a milder but longer and more boresome penance elect always to take the licking.

Boys Prefer Licking.

After all when you're licked for going fishing you can take the licking and go fishing again. So husbands given their choice between being lectured or spanked for staying out late at the club might choose the shorter and more merciful punishment.

Still, the husbands who have written their views do not seem to be as philosophical about their spankings as they should be. They do not take the broad, impersonal view of the wife, for instance, who writes that her husband has spanked her frequently and that she feels that her home is happier and she herself a better woman for the spankings.

The letter which started the spanking controversy and those written in answer to it are printed below.

Origin of Controversy.

"On the needs of spanking which were discussed in the world. I would say that grown people should be spanked, as well as children. Whipping has reformed my husband from a drinker and smoker into a model man.

"After a few months of misery I decided to take matters in my own way. So one night when he was half drunk and his pay half gone I lost my temper, took him over my knee and gave him a sound thrashing. I have spanked him often since when I took notion. Now he has a good position, money saved and a fine home. MRS. N. McC."

Likes Being Tanned.

"I would say that while I have never had occasion to even think of punishing my husband, he has frequently spanked me, and I freely admit the result has made our home life happier. I had been careless in many things and caused my husband much worry until he took the advice of my mother and soundly spanked me. Since then I have realized that there are many things I should not do and I refrain from doing them, knowing that if I am caught doing them my husband will not hesitate to place me over his lap and spank me. While he is never brutal in punishing me, he has tanned me many times, and I feel I am the better for it.

"I think there would be more happy couples if more husbands would do the same thing. I freely admit that my life has been made happier since I have been called to an accounting for my misdoings. MRS. A."

Spanked Twice Daily.

"Those very energetic wives who spank their husbands should keep that fact to themselves. My wife read their letters and was very much interested -- too much so for me. Last night I stayed out rather late at my club, and when I returned home received the surprise of my married life when my wife handed me the first spanking I received since my boyhood days.

"This morning at breakfast I remonstrated with her and attempted to stick up for my rights, whereupon I was taken from my meal and given another introduction to my wife's riding crop. A spanking at night is bad enough, but to start the day with one is simply indescribable. Aside from the humiliating fact of a man's discussing war at his club and then going home to be spanked by his wife, it will make husbands invent lies to tell their wives rather than take the spanking. My wife will in future get more fibs from me than truths. INDIGNANT HUSBAND."

Sees Trouble Ahead.

"Honest and truly I hate to write this letter, but the letters you've been printing about wives spanking their husbands makes me want to write this, because I'm always getting spanked by my wife. Honest, Mr. Editor, you don't know how ashamed I feel to tell this to the public but I'm just so full of it I can't help it.

"None of our relatives or friends dreams of the way she works off her tantrums on me. And the funny part of it is I'm a good husband. Well, you can see for yourself -- I don't gamble, drink or chew or smoke (save once in a while I smoke a cornsilk cigarette for fun, but as corn ain't ripe now I haven't smoked any this season.) Don't that sound like I am a good husband?

"I'm a piano tuner and work steady and give her my envelope every week, but a man ain't in much humor to tune pianos when his wife's spanking him all the time, is he? Outside of that one fault, though, she's a fine wife. Sometimes I think she's crazy on the subject because right in the middle of a quiet talk she'll grab me and lay me across her knee and let me have it. One thing about her she don't use no board or nothing, but gee, how she can hit! She's almost twice as big as I am. It's all right to say I made a mistake in marrying a big woman, but I thought the world of her. I do yet, and that fact makes me sore at her treatment. I stole down to the Polo grounds Fourth morning to see the Giants and Brooklyn play, telling her I had to work. I came home with a score card in my pocket and she choked the truth out of me. Then she took me on her knee upside down, Glorious Fourth for me! I don't think, I know I'll be sorry. I wrote this because she'll see it and when she does -- me for the arnica. The only hope I see is that she's getting rhoomatism. BELOW THE BELT."

Victims May Unite.

"And me grieving all these years in the belief that I was the only boob husband who was getting spanked! From the letters you've been getting I'm sure there are enough of us to organize an alumni. What a chance to swap experiences and exchange alleviation ideas! You can see from the letter I write I'm not a mushhead. Furthermore, I'm that much bigger than my wife that it might be fatal if I ever sought to retaliate. That and the fear of our domestic battles becoming public is what makes me put up with it. Then there is a financial reason.

"First along in our married life of nine years, when I tried to curb her furious attacks she used to smash the household articles. I found it was cheaper to let her strike me. I got to bending over and covering my head to save my face, and her spanking developed as a matter of course. While I'm at it I might as well tell the whole humiliating truth. She uses a wooden lemon squeezer. I'm a railroad clerk. We have two children and a Ford, but she never lays a hand on the youngsters. Anyhow, I feel better now to think I'm not the only husband who's getting walloped. OUCH."

Policeman Henpecked.

"Think of a policeman who permits his wife to spank him. Yes, I'm the policeman, I'm sorry to say, and I'm a member of a West Side precinct. Not only that, but I've got a medal for bravery. That's a laugh, ain't it. Those spanking letters you've been running hit me in the same place as they hit the other fellows.

"Here's my case: I've got only a few years to go to get on the pension list, and as I've got a good rep with the members of the force I don't like to spoil everything by dragging my family troubles into print. My wife knows she has me in a hole and that I dare not squeal. She even dares me to arrest her. Ain't that a fine fix? I'm sure some of the neighbors know she spanks me, although I try to stall by laughing out loud when she spanks me. It's hard to laugh, though, when you're getting soaked with a bread board. I got a terrible spanking the night of the last police parade because I didn't wave my hand at her when the parade was passing the library. Several times she's come to my post and threatened to attack me. Some night I'm afraid she will. I wonder how many policemen are getting spanked. PATIENT COP."

--The Washington Post, Sunday, August 20, 1916, Magazine Section, page 1. [Page 37 in microfilm archive.]

Wife Reveals Husband's Terrible Cruelty

Beacon Falls, Connecticut, 1902
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HUSBAND'S CRUELTY.
SHOCKING TALE TOLD BY MRS. JAMES SANFORD IN BEACON FALLS.

Said Her Husband Knocked Her Down, Stuck a Fishhook into Her Breast and Stabbed Her With a Penknife – The Assault Is Said to Have Been Committed in the Town of Bethany – Sanford Placed Under Arrest on Charges of Assault – Found Guilty of a Charge of Theft – Assault Case May Be Tried in Bethany.

A tale of human cruelty that is really shocking in its recital was related by Mrs. James Sanford of Oxford to Constable George Butz of Beacon Falls yesterday afternoon and resulted in the arrest of the woman's husband on a serious charge. Some of the domestic affairs of Sanford and his wife have been told in the public prints before but never has such a charge been preferred against the husband as that made yesterday by his wife.

It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon when Constable Butz saw Mr. and Mrs. Sanford walking along one of the streets of Beacon Falls, and having suspected Sanford of being implicated in the theft of some tools which were taken from Fred Smith's carpenter shop a few days since, he decided to follow the couple. Mr. Sanford left his wife on the street and went over to the house of an acquaintance.

Constable Butz came along shortly afterward and Mrs. Sanford informed him that she desired to prefer a charge of assault against her husband. She said that she left home last Wednesday and went to the home of a friend in Bethany; that the husband followed her and compelled her to return with him, that on the way to Beacon Falls he took her to a by-path off the road, knocked her down and stuck a fishhook into her left breast. She said he worked the fishhook in such a way as to cause her terrible pain and that finding it impossible to get the implement of torture out by working it he cut it out with his knife. She said he then sank his teeth into her flesh and stabbed her twice between the breasts remarking that he might as well finish her then as at any time. She said he also pricked her just above the right breast with the fishhook and then let her up. She then walked on to Beacon Falls with him.

After hearing her story Constable Butz placed Sanford under arrest and took Mrs. Sanford to his home where she showed the wounds on her breast. She appeared to be in great pain. She was made as comfortable as possible by Mrs. Butz. Sanford when questioned denied having cut his wife or stuck a fishhook into her but admitted the ownership of the knife which his wife said he had used. It is a pocketknife with a three-inch blade. He said his wife had lain down on the ground and that he had gently kicked and slapped her but that he had done nothing more.

He was brought before Justice Allen in Beacon Falls this morning and tried on a charge of assault. During the trial there arose a question as to whether the alleged assault was committed in Beacon Falls or in Bethany, and it was decided to adjourn court until it could be determined in which town the offense was committed. The court officials and Mrs. Sanford and her husband drove to the place.

Previous to the adjournment of court for this purpose Mr. Sanford was tried on a charge of theft. It was alleged that he had entered Fred Smith's carpenter shop and carried away eight steel bits, a glass cutter and a package of nails. Sanford pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Constable Butz told how he had learned from Mrs. Sanford that her husband had come home between 2 and 3 o'clock Sunday morning and had among other things some steel bits, a glass cutter and some nails and that when she asked him where he got them he replied that some one had been trying to do some "monkeywork" with them; that he had hidden the steel bits about a quarter of a mile from the house. Mr. Butz said he went to the place mentioned and found the bits. He found the glass cutter and nails in Sanford's house. Mrs. Sanford corroborated the testimony given by Constable Butz.

Sanford claimed to have bought the cutter and nails but said he knew nothing about the bits. He was found guilty of the charge of theft, but sentence was reserved until after the trial of the other charges.

The court officials returned shortly after 1 o'clock this afternoon and stated that the place where the alleged assault was committed was in the town of Bethany. It was decided to bring the case to the attention of the Bethany authorities. The Beacon Falls officials intend to do all in their power to bring the case to trial and will give the Bethany authorities all the assistance they can.

Late this afternoon Sanford was fined $5 and costs and sentenced to serve 10 days in jail for theft. It was stated this afternoon that residents of Beacon Falls became quite excited when they learned of the statement made by Mrs. Sanford, and the feeling against her husband ran high.

About two years ago it was alleged that Sanford had committed a brutal assault upon his wife, in the town of Oxford but if he did he was not given the punishment he deserved. The Oxford officials were subjected to some sharp criticism for the apparently listless manner in which they acted on the case at the time.

--Naugatuck Daily News, Naugatuck, Connecticut, April 4, 1902, page 4.


SANFORD GOES TO JAIL.

Could Get No One to Pay the Fine Imposed on Him for Theft – Bethany Officials to Prosecute Him on the Charge of Assault Preferred by His Wife.

James Sanford of Oxford, the man who is charged by his wife with having brutally assaulted her in the town of Bethany while the couple were on their way home to Oxford was taken to New Haven this morning by Constable Butz in default of payment of a fine of $7 and costs imposed on Sanford yesterday by Justice Allen of Beacon Falls after finding Sanford guilty of a charge of theft of some carpenter's tools from a building owned by Fred Smith of Beacon Falls. The justice at first declared his intention of making the penalty $5 and costs and 10 days in jail but later decided to make it $7 and costs. Sanford could find no one to pay his fine.

Yesterday afternoon Mrs. Sanford in company with a Beacon Falls official went to Bethany where formal complaint against Sanford on the charge of assault was made. Mrs. Sanford decided to remain in Bethany and is there at present. Grand Juror Swander who came to Beacon Falls from Bethany this morning said Mrs. Sanford was feeling as well as could be expected. It is not thought that her injuries will result seriously. The grand juror informed Constable Butz that the officials of Bethany had determined to prosecute Sanford on the assault charge as soon as the latter was released from jail. He said he would immediately prepare the papers.

Sanford still claims that he did not cut his wife with a knife or stick a fishhook into her breast. He expressed the opinion that the woman was not in her right mind. Constable Butz stated to a News reporter to-day that Mrs. Sanford's injuries were fully as bad as reported and that there was no doubt that the woman had been roughly handled. He said Sanford appeared to be very much out of spirits this morning because he had to go to jail.

--Naugatuck Daily News, Naugatuck, Connecticut, April 12, 1902, page 4.

Charged With Insanity, Man Kills Himself In Jail

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DIED BY HIS OWN HAND BY HANGING HIMSELF IN JAIL.

Jacob Cline, in Prison Awaiting a Hearing on Charge of Insanity, Takes his Own Life.

Jacob Cline committed suicide by hanging himself at the county jail some time during Thursday night. The victim of his own hand had been placed in the county jail on the charge of insanity on Wednesday and was to have had his hearing today. He was a married man and had a wife and five children.

Cline is about 52 years of age. He had no trade so far as is known, but formerly worked steadily at anything he could get to do. A part of the time be worked for the street commissioner cleaning streets.

About a year ago he first began to show signs of insanity by acting in a peculiar manner. The malady developed on the man gradually until his family was obliged to make complaint to the authorities against him. The trouble became so serious for the members of the family that in June last he was arrested and confined in the county jail on the charge of being insane.

At that time Cline was not considered dangerous and when it came to the hearing, after he had been locked up in the jail a few days, Mrs. Cline, who had had him arrested, appeared in probate court and withdrew the charge against him, after which he was released.

Cline's conduct was all right for a short time after this episode, but he soon began to become obstreperous again. He abused his wife and the children so that they found it necessary to take steps again to deprive him of his liberty. On Wednesday morning, Mrs. Cline sent for her attorney. A. A. Douglass, and complained of the conduct of her husband. When the attorney reached the house he was told that Cline had gotten up during the night and rambled about the house in a dangerous fashion to the terror of his folks. The wife and one of his daughters attempted to induce him to return to bed, but he refused to do so. Then when Mrs. Cline insisted on his going back to bed, she told the attorney that the head of the family had turned and beat her and the one daughter in a shameful manner. The side of Mrs. Cline's face was bruised and swollen, while both of the daughter's eyes were blacked and swollen. It was stated that Cline had used his fists in assaulting the two members of his family. Mrs. Cline wanted the attorney to have her husband taken into custody, but the attorney declined to do so at once, or at least until the man had been thoroughly examined by the doctors. Mr. Douglass sent Dr. Harding and Dr. Boles to the Cline home and as a result of their investigation and examination, he appeared in probate court and made affidavit agaist Cline on the charge of insanity.

CLINE ARRESTED.

Jacob Cline was arrested at his home on Glessner avenue Wednesday morning about 10 o'clock by Deputy Sheriff Tom Bell and lodged in the county jail. When Cline was in jail last June on the charge of insanity he bothered the other prisoners by continually calling them during the night time and keeping them from their sleep. He also called up Sheriff Pulver repeatedly until the thing got very tiresome, so when he was arrested Wednesday morning Sheriff Pulver ordered him locked up in the female department on the second floor of the jail. There were no prisoners in this part of the jail. The man kept complaining to Sheriff Pulver about his bowels, while to Deputy Bell he complained of a severe pain in his head. He appeared to be fairly cheerful, however, and nothing unusual was noticed in his conduct. Thursday night at 6 o'clock the girl took Cline's supper to him as usual and afterward got the dishes and he appeared to be all right. There is a corridor leading to the three cells in the female department from the hallway in the upper story. The door of Cline's room or cell was left open and he was allowed to come to the grating outside for his meals, which were handed in to him through the bars.

FOUND DEAD.

This morning when the girl carried his meal to him at 6 o'clock Cline did not come out. She called to him, but still he did not appear or answer, so the matter was at once reported to Sheriff Pulver. That official ascended to Cline's room and on opening the door found him stone dead. He had hanged himself during the night with the chain of the flush closet inside the room. Cline's bed looked as though it had not been slept in, although the sheriff states that he was in the habit of sleeping with his clothing all on. Cline had removed his shoes. Then he had apparently stepped upon the stool of the water closet, placed the chain of the flush box overhead around his neck and slid off the stool. That he was determined to suicide was shown by the fact that Cline could easily have prevented being strangled by landing erect upon his feet.

It is supposed that in putting the chain about his neck and slipping off the stool Ciine got the middle finger of his right hand caught in the chain, as it was torn and there was a little pool of blood on the floor of the cell at his side, which had dripped down from the lacerated finger. There was nothing uncanny about the corpse as in usual with most cases of suicide, his face bearing a reposeful aspect, just as though he were sleeping.

CORONER VIEWS REMAINS.

Sheriff Pulver at once notified Coroner Bushnell of the finding of the suicide. The coroner appeared at the jail about 8:30 o'clock and after viewing the remains ordered the body taken down and prepared for burial.

Mrs. Cline was also notified of the suicide of her husband. When she appeared at the jail and saw the body of the deceased she was attacked with hysterics and was calmed with considerable difficulty.

The deceased, it is stated, has a brother, Jackson Cline by name, residing north of the city. There was also another brother, John Cline, a mute, who was killed on the railroad a few years ago. Cline owned two properties adjacent to each other on Glessner avenue. He resided at No. 144 Glessner avenue. A short time ago he sued the city of Mansfield on a claim for damages by reason of a change in the grade of the thoroughfare on which is property is located and secured a verdict of $250.

The oldest child in the family is a daughter 19 years of age. Cline's sad end was not unlooked for by those who knew him as the neighbors on the same street state that he and his wife have had trouble for some time past, principally about the children. The remains of the suicide were taken to Schroer's undertaking rooms about 9:30 o'clock this morning and prepared for burial. The body will be removed to the residence on Glessner avenue some time this afternoon. The funeral will take place from the family residence Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock.

--The Mansfield News, Mansfield, Ohio, November 16, 1900, page 6.