WHEN FERGUSON SAW THE BABY

NZ Truth, Issue 1177, 21 June 1928, Page 9

WHEN FERGUSON SAW THE BABY

Winifred Tells Magistrate of Husband's Startling Accusation

DENIED PA TERNITY AND BLAMED COUSIN £iiiiiiiminiimiiiiiiMtmiiiiimiimi!lmimiiiiiiiiiiiimimiiiiiiHiimii iiimiiiimimiiiiiiiiiiin iiimmmitmiiiii minium iimiiiiiimim mm iiiiiiiiiiimiiiumi iiiiiiiiimiimiiiiimiHitnmiimuniiiiiimimimii mmtiMiiiiimitmmimiimimimmn^^ iiummiummumK |yiuiiiuiiii:iniiiiiiiui»iiiiiiiiiicitiiitiHiiititiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiniiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiMiHiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiintiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii mimimi iiimimiimimini .miimiiiiilimimiiiiiniiiiiMimmimiimimiimiiminiiimtmiiiiimliimiN If (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Chrlstchurch Representative.) H II WHEN WINIFRED SIMPSON DECIDED that her wifely patience with connubial upheavals had reached the !I I| absolute limit, and that a life away from her husband would bring surcease from worry and woe, she tabulated a !! [| regular catalogue of complaints, the recital of which painted him m very grim colors when Winifred took her f| i| troubles to Magistrate H. P. Lawry and asked for separation and maintenance. , |f II But it was certainly no one-sided story the Christchurch magistrate was called upon to listen to, for her || ii husband, Sidney Ferguson Simpson, came along with a catalogue of allegations just as bulky, though much less I! II convincing. The 5. M. preferred the wife's version of life m the Simpson menage. ]|

11l convincing, me o. i v i. prei I =£nnn_immßm.m_mm.nOTm.inmmiim.ninmimammm I jMiiiiiminmmiiimHimiutinmniiiiYi.iiiiiiimiiiiuijuiitmnnniintfmifniminimntiiutiiiiiiiiiniiiuiii WILD as were some of ______ allegations, Sidney Ferguson was quite unable to substantiate them m the witness-box, and had to stag-e . a somewhat undignified back- down all along the line. It was Winifred's win, although the magistrate, ■ thinking there might, be some possibility of a reconciliation, adjourned the separation proceedings for three months. In the meantime, Sidney must pay maintenance at the, rate of £2 weekly. In the five years of their married life the Simpsons have not acquired the philosophy which teaches that marriages are made m heaven. Winifred would be the last to | hold any such views m the light of her own experience. To begin with, she complained that Sidney had never provided her with a proper home. This was a sore point with her, but most grievous of all insults she considered was her husband's conduct towards her when her youngest child was born. "When the baby was only half-an-hour old," she said, "he told me the child did not belong to him, but to his cousin." This "baseless allegation, she del clared, was a great blow to her and upset her very much. I Three months afterwards the Simpsons had a violent quarrel." "We had a terrible row," Mrs. Simpson told the bench, "and he called me 'Churchill's woman' and other things." Just what he had meant by calling his wife "Churchill's woman," Sidney failed to explain. Later, said Winifred, he told her that he did not want to see her again. Carried Off Baby He called at the house where she was and snatched the baby out of her arms, remarking that he had someone who would look after it better than she could. He took the child away,, but it was brought back later m the day. Winifred told of another occasion when she had been turned out of her home one Sunday night. A friend of Simpson's, Thomas Hickey, had been up to the house for the evening, -and, said Mrs.: Simpson, after, he had gone "my husband turned me out and threw my clothes out after me." Greatly distressed, she hurried along the' street and' overtook Hickey, who was informed of what had occurred. She asked Hickey to speak to her husband and he did so, the result being that Simpson took her back into the. house. But Winifred had just about had enough of her husband, and later she went to Wellington, where she secured a situation. A telegram from the people with whom she had been staying, however, brought her post-haste' back to Christchurch to see her boy, who had been taken ill. Since she had been away from her husband, he had allowed her thirtyfive shillings some weeks and twentyfive shillings other weeks, out of which she had to keep herself and the two children. , On her return from Wellington, sho stayed with the same people, and every time her husband came round, she said, ho "kicked up a row." He considered the children were not properly clolhed, but Winifred reckoned she had done the very best possible on the meagre allowance she had. "The only home' he has ever offered me since is •& home at his mother's place. Hs has told mc j that hs . absoiut.ly rsfusse to ; ..•ia.int_.i . r..-. sxcs.pt r..' h'<c .no* •!»:•'"*• ; ..lacs, "His conduct iriis aeen very ._•_.. o . ' ; Begged For Money lately, and I have had to beg the money from him for the baby's food." Lawyer J. -B. Batchelor, who appeared for the husband, then took a hand and fired the pellets his client had provided for him. Mrs. Simpson denied that .her hu.sband had given her any proper housekeeping money. "Only a shilling now and again," she said. "The household necessities were bought, by him, although sometimes he would give me two shillings to buy meat. "Certainly not," she asserted vehemently, when asked if it were not true that her "husband had provided her with £4 weekly. "Why, *he never gave me that amount ever since we have been married." Lawyer Batchelor: "Your husband is prepared to take you back and provide a home away from his mother. Are you prepared to go back if he does this?" Winifred bristled. ' "Certainly n0.," she replied -with firmness, Counsel: Where did you get the money from to go to Wellington? — I borrowed from the Fergusons, with whom I was stopping. Was it not borrowed from Hickey? — Certainly not. Is it not the case that the whole of the .trouble between you and your husband is because of Hickey? — No, it is not; there was trouble between us long before Hickey came along. You went to the pictures one night with a friend of yours, Miss Rutland, did you not? Did you not toll Miss Rutland when you left her at the pictures, at 9 o'clock that you were going to meet Hickey?— No, I did not tell her any such thing; that is not true. Well, if Miss Rutland- says that you told her afterwards that Hickey came down to meet you, on your husband's bicycle and that you said: "Hallo, meeting Simpson's wife on ■ Simpson's bike," what do you say ? — I say that it is the first I have heard about it. Now, that episode is ,said tp have occurred on a Friday night. On tho following Monday did you not tell ; your husband that a man named Gibb

was coming round to see him that evening and that he had better not go out? — No, I was given no such message for my husbnad. Did you not tell Miss Rutland about the other episode? — No, I never told Miss Rutland anything. I was ahvays under the impression from what my husband had given .me to understand that she was a woman of very doubtful character. Counsel prepared a few moralegal ■' shots. "Well," he asked, "do you know that the eldest child had told your husband that you ' had been to Hickey's boardinghouse?" Mrs. Simpson said she had never heard of such a thing.

iiiniiiiiiiiiiiniiMiiinniiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiinmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiriiiiiiiimiiiiiiimiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirniiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiniiiiiilHtiititiTiiutiiiiunitnliifliinitirniinntniintilliittiNllririnrtniilMlinniMiiiirnitiiitiiiirinntliiiiilllii Counsel: Did you ever tell your husband that you had been to Hickey's boarding-house to borrow a tram fare? — No, he asked me if I had, but I -denied it, as there was no truth m the suggestion. Has Hickey ever been to your house when your husband was away at work? — Sometimes he might ' come along with a message for my husband, but whenever he came to the house it was at my husband's invitation. It is not a fact that you want this separation because m three years' time you will be able to go for a divorce? — No, such a thing never crossed my mind. Re-examined by her counsel, Lawyer A. C. Cottrell, Mrs?. Simpson was asked about Miss Rutland.

"What did your husband tell you j about Miss Rutland? — He told me she was a .woman of very doubtful character and that he had proved it. Now, did you see your husband do an indecent act m front of Mist. Rutland?— Yes, I did. Mrs. Simpson then described an act of "skylarking" which she had considered most unbecoming; m fact, she thought it was downright indecent. Lawyer Cottrell: "And what did Miss Rutland do; did she protest and leave the house?" "She did not," was the reply. "All she did was to laugh . . . and when I protested against my husband's I conduct, all he said was that I was narrow-minded." Counsel: It has been suggested that you were friendly with Hickey; whose friend was he? — He was my husband's friend. At long last Mrs.. Simpson left the box, looking relieved to be through her ordeal. Thomas Hickey then entered the box and told his version. He strongly denied that he had ever met Mrs. Simpson. "I have never met her, never," he protested. He had, he said, spent several evenings with the Simpsons at their home. He recalled the occasion *when Mrs. j Simpson was turned out by her bus- i band. | He was surprised when she came along the road after he left the house. He just could not believe that Simp- I son had turned her out m the cold. He went back to the house to see about it. Simpson told him that he had turned her out m a fit of temper, j The Two Cobbers ■y.-A, ■ \ -,i. ,-i . Undter cross-examination by Lawyer Batchelor, Hickey denied that Simpson had ever made any suggestion that he had been too friendly with his wife. Questioned about the. bicycle incident, Hickey readily explained that he had borrowed Simpson's machine that night. He was going to meet "a young lady." He returned to the Simpsons' house about 10.30. He had never met Mrs. Simpson that night or at any other time. ; Simpson then entered the wit-ness-box and told his side of the story. Describing how his wife came to leave him, he told the court that they had an argument. His wife told him she was going away and that he had better come and take the children. / He . took the baby, but brought it back again after about and hour and a-half. Later his wife left for Wellington. He had seen Miss Cardale, of the Society for tho Protection of Women and Children, about getting his wife back. Asked what he had to say concerning the night his wife told him about Gibbs coming round to play cards with him, Simpson said he knew Gibbs was at Amberley and could not come. His wife went out that night and he stopped at home to mind the children. Coming to the episode when Hickey was alleged to have met his wife the night she was at the pictures with Miss Rutland, Simpson told the court that Hickey was up at the house that night. Somewhere round about 9 o'clock, Hickey, according to Simpson, left the house, saying he would 1 hav_ to go, as his landlady was seriously ill. "1 told him to take ray bika and lie j ■ did _30," saio. Simpson. [. ' ".'fficlcsy _'_-U--__).-sa to chs .__.ou._e __. t s. j • is. narter to slavea .hs saioas night an _ . us '£olc_ ms ks hafl hss_c_ 'tha two coh- ! I ■ ' . -. Emphatic Denial bers' " (Mrs. Simpson and Miss Rutland) "up town." ; He denied emphatically that he had been guilty of unbecoming conduct m the presence of his wife and Miss Rutland. There was nothing more to it than a bit of skylarking, "but it was certainly not indecent." ■'„ Never at any time, declared Simpwon, had he challenged his wife about going out with Hickey. Lawyer Cottrell. then put Simpson through a rigorous cross-examination. He' admitted that his wife had accused him of telling lies. "I might have lied to some extent when I saw Mr. Cottrell at his otlice," he added. "I deny that I ever called my wife 'Churchill's woman' or that 1 , called her .V coarse name as she says." Lawyer Cottrell: "Now, do you make any suggestion against your wife and Hickey?" Simpson did not hesitate m his reply. "No, I mjike- no suggestion litrainst them." He explained that he had never told his wife anything about Miss Rutland. "It was what my wife told me about her." ' '. . Lawyer Cottrell: "I think you are a wonderful man th- way- you can twist things!" Simpson denied every allegation his wife had made, but failed to sustain— nor did he attempt, to sustain — any of his own allegations aeainst her. Asked why he had brought up these matters when he. had failed to support them, Simpson glibly explained that he had passed on the information to his counsel and had "left it to his discretion as to what he brought out." The magistrate thought there was a cham.e of tlie parties coming together and he held over the separation proceedings with leave to apply within three months. Maintenance he fixed at £2 per week. The decree having jrone forth, the Simpsons sat back to review the day's events. All things considered, it was a decided victory for tha wife-lix-^xfrx