HORRIBLE HUNTER.

NZ Truth, Issue 74, 17 November 1906, Page 3

HORRIBLE HUNTER.

TRAGIC STORY OF A BRIDE.

Conceited, Incapable, Impotent, Nincompoop

Weds a Lovely Girl to Gratify His Vapid Vanity, and Starves Her Natural Yearnings.

The marriage of beautiful Mart-he Wisner has been declared null and void m the Supreme Court of New York. Of all the extraordinary stories ever told m a matrimonial court, none perhaps is more extraordinary than that of the platonic union of this charming young girl to George Leland Hunter. The summary of the story put before the Court is so eloquent m its official baldness that it. is well worth production. Here it is :

That plaintiff at the time of the marriage was eighteen, and had been educated m France, was passionately devoted to music, and knew little of the nature and duties of the marriage relation. ...

That defendant was fifteen years older than plaintiff, and engaged m certain art work. That, knowing fully the trustful .confidence plaintiff reposed m him, lie professed great love and affection for plaintiff, . . . persuaded plaintiff to marry him.

That immediately upon their marriage ' defendant assumed a distance from plaintiff,, and informed plaintiff that he had no intention that this should be an ordinary marriage. . .

that he did not wish for children

.• . . that he wished her to become great with him m the artistic world, that he wished to form a partnership for ambition, and that their union should be one of good fellowship.

That plaintiff was for a long time, submissive. ... living With the

defendant without fully realising the situation m which she was placed.

That defendant ' before the said marriage fraudulently concealed from her his intention that the union should not be the usual and ordinary union of husband and wife. . . . And that if she had known or been informed of the existence of such intention or incapacity, she would never have consented to the marriage.

That more than five years have now elapsed ,smce plaintiff discovered the fraud and deception practised upon her by defendant. ...

Whereas, plaintiff demands judgment that the said marriage between defendant and the plaintiff be dissolved and declared' null and void by the judgment of this court, according to the statute m such case made and provided. ...

MARRIAGE DECLARED NULL AND VOID. Beautiful Marthe Wisner-Hunter, after living; five years as a wife "For art's sake, only," ,is now free to marry some man who is al)le 'and willing to return manifestations of true wifely affection. From the foregoing (;aiagraphs, taken from her aPpeal~to be freed from "the most brilliant man m the world," as he called himself, who was aghast at the prospect of her slightest caress, it will be seen that there really was no marriage to be annulled. Such as it was, however, the -court promptly declared it void, and henceforth— judging from present indications— the soulful intellect of Mr Hunter will have "to plod along unmated. Dry legal phraseology is not calculated to illuminate romance. Yet, m this case, even the formal complaint of the deluded and defrauded wife bristles with romantic material.. This and the testimony ot Baronesis Munchausen and other fn>mls or the pretty plaintiff unite to describe the strangest matrimonial picture that the courts have ever plao^d on " exhibition. All evidence m this remarkable case tends to show fl-at if ever a young girl and wife was deluded and made a martyr of— five long years of martyrdom before her innocent consciousness was fully awakened to the great wrong ,done her— such was the situation of Marthe WisnerHunter. It is plain that the man wooed her with such deceptive warmth that he completely won her heart, and that m her unsophisticated mind— the mind of a girl conventbred m France— was the entrancing picture of ideal wifehood and motherhood. These young poets taking always the pose of men of unparalleled genius, through all the ages have possessed a .singular attraction for women, both youns and old. Such a man was Georee Leland Hunter. He dressed well and carried himself with distinction—for he was more than thirty years old when he first paid court to pretty Marthe Wisner. He was then one of the editors of a magazine supposed to cater successfully to cultured people, and,

IN CERTAIN CIRCLES, QUITE A

LION. She was passionately fond of music, m which she was trained as a true artist. Such a girl, with the added advantage of, great beauty, as his wife would add lustre to his own position with respect to the sister art of literature ; and so, according to the testimony, he' calculatingly captivated her —but with the weapons of the real lover. He pursued her first as an impassioned lover, and second as an enraptured devotee of her music. But the lover so far overshadowed the selfish and ambitious man looking for a further means of increasing his social and professional vogue that she was completely deceived: It was only after their marriage—but immediately thereafter— that he showed himself m his true colors. It is related that at the very beginning he harshly put her in -the ' wlace he had designed for her. At last, alone together , after the weddin<r. when she offered him a kiss, he [shivered till his knees trembled. It i seems that he was really fearful that i she would not be submissive, alter 'all. He adjured her : I Be calm ; Ihis is a marriage for j art and good fellowship. When they_ started on their honey-

moon, and sne nestled lovingly aigainst him m the privacy of their Pullman stateroom, "he was so scared she was afraid he would ring for the porter." This was still his attisude when they settled down m their home— a home of artists. That home was visited by such celebrities m music, painting, and literature as he was able to gather about him. He was proud of her talent. He stalked through their rooms more distinguished looking than ever, drinking m with immense self-satisfaction complimentary phrases that reached his ears— • phrases of this kind, showing them to be the envy and admiration of all their friends :

"What a talented couple." \ , "How distinguished looking he is— what a fine match." "Music and literature wedded. They ought to be •

THE HAPPIEST OP MORf ALS."

"It is plain that she adores him. Look, now, she follows him with her eyes." . , ■

"But isn't she a trifle pale and pensive. After all, music may be only the lesser, half of her— there is more than a subtle suggestion of electricity about her."

"See how she: watches for a glance ,from his eyes, only to be disappointed—for these glances all bid her to play her part m his cherished , union for aits sake."

For, even m the earlier days of their married ilife, there v were those about them who read him through and through, and wondered when she would awaken from her dream of being some day a real wife: She, 'too, was proud of him m his work. It was easy for her to believe him when he told her, and told her often :

• I am the most brilliant man m the whole world. You are a "nrilli-

ant woman, and together we shall

achieve great things. Then, when, overcome by wifely tenderness for the husband who persisted m being no husband to her, she would attempt to throw herself upon his bosom, he would raise his hand m warnini, admonishing her :

Remember, we are not married m the ordinary, vulgar sense. Ours is a partnership :'for fame. ■ When they had guests it was not so difficult for her to play the part whioh

he assigned her. It was when they, were alone together by their own fireside that she suffered most— suffered more with the passing of each month. He insisted that they should have their separate private apartments, and any intimation that they should exchange visits therein filled him with horror. It pleased him to lecture her severely on her lack of appreciation of his high and soulful interpretation of their relationship,, saying :

I adjure you do not 'for a moment forget that this is not the ordinary union of husband and wife-

I have never had any such inten-

tion. There are plenty of common people m the world to carry out

the original and vulerar plan of marriage, to dwell together m that intimate fashion so destructive to individuality, to raise children. I desire no children. They are at hindrance to the true artist. I must repeat to you that this is a MARRIAGE OF SOULFUL INTELLECTS, and I must bep- of you not t<* ..offer or expect to receive those . caresses and attentions typical of ' the common herd of married peopleAs the early years of their strange union went by she strove to obeyj him, to be the soulful mate of his "soulful intellect..' But often the burden became too great for her to bear submissively. She was learning more about the lives of other married people ; she was beginning to feel that she was being defrauded of her rights. She strove to warm him [with her beauty. She even studied and undertook to practise the arts of the coqjuette. All m vain she adorned her beauty for this man without an emotion except for art. She hovered about him when he worked, or meditated m his armchair. Aad sometimes she would dare to let her impulse of tenderness lead her into disobedience of his stern instructions. When she would lean over the back of his chair and kiss him warmly on the 'cheek, he would raise 'his hands and say :

You are forgetting ; this is a; marriage of our soulful intellects only. Such demonstrations are unseenilv. Further; they destroy that calm so essential to the conception' of great art works.

Being denied even the least caress, she would throw herself down on the rue- by his desk and weep bitterly* while he regarded her over his shoulder with disdain that was 1 growing daily more like contemptuous dislike. He would never consent, to the domesticity reflected m the fact of housekeeping. He insisted on having their rooms m hotels and boarditog houses, and as often as she succeeded m making .them look homelike he would insist on moving. Gradually, all his little gallantries (towards her ceased. While these never descended to vulgar caressings, she was grateful for them. When, she was ill she failed ' to serve the purpose for which he had married her, and he would not omit his evenin- walk m order to bear her company at home. In spite of his brilliancy— the most effulgent m the world, as he told her— his regulation of the Retails of their soulful marriage did not seem to advance -him m his profession. From editor of a smart magazine he became editor of a trade journal— which is understood to be his present main occupation. At ,last the wife, who was -no wife, rebelled. Now, after five long years, says the "New York Journal" m its'account of this long drawn-out agony, she is free— for the Court/ found .that his proposal and his courtship were fraudulent, with intent to deceive an unsophisticated young girl whose heart he had won into believing that she was to be a wife as other wives are, and Marthe Wisner steps out of the chill sepulchre, where for so many years she was a prisoner, into the fulness and freedom of every-day life. "The most brilliant man m the world" is alone m his brilliancy.

RUSKIN'S "ANIMATED STATUE*

In the last half century there has been just one celebrated case which, seems to offer a parallel, m the main essentials, to this one- John Ruskiri, most famous of art conoisseurs and critics, philosopher and prose poet, married and took to his home a very beautiful woman. He ■made it plain to her that she delight? Ed his every artistic sense. . Before Ion" she discovered that that was all she represented to him— merely, am animated statue, cherished . like his other valued art objects, but not loved". Whereupon Mrs Ruskin revolted, amd- fell m love with her husband's particular and most esteemed painter friend, Sir John Millais. Soon the world had sensational proof that Ruskin was indeed a philosopher. He cave his wife her freedom so that she might marry his friend— which she oromptlv did.