SHE FORGAVE, BUT HE FORGOT

NZ Truth, Issue 1240, 5 September 1929, Page 10

SHE FORGAVE, BUT HE FORGOT

Drunken Husband Made Pledge, But Broke It

FINAL DECREE DELAYED FOUR YEARS

* (From lI N.Z. Truth's" Special Dunedin Representative). |niiiiiiiiiiiiiiifiifiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiin^ | v It J ;is doubtful if any husband has over been given- ] 1 more chances to reform than John Williani Forrester, of m I Dunedin. In' May, 1924, after nine yeirs of more or | , less constant unhappiness, his wife applied the shears- | of divorce to tier strained matrimonial bonds, the I remaining strands pf which were not severed until I recently. i

l!llllllllll[nil!Olllllilllillllinillllllllllll!llllllllll!llll!ll(!l!illlinillll[lflll IIHIIIIIIIIHII JUST before the sharp edge of, a decree absolute could snap across 1 ihe last nuptial strand, the young wife foolishly gave way to- new promises Iby her husband and persuasions from a- sdster-in-law. ; For five months >■. only, after the strange reunion, did Forrester adhere to his resolutions to give' up- drinking and treat his wife m the manner of a dutiful- husband, but m December of that year he relapsed.:. into his old habits of. drunkenness and cruelty. So, m a spirit of soft-hearted condonation,"' Muriel Cora Forrester : unwittingly led herself ■ info four years of matrimonial unhappiness. From the end of 1924 until December, 1928, For-rester-continued his harsh behavior towards his wife, at the end of which period she left him.' , .;"* A , It was .a strange stOEjr that was told m Athe Dunedin Divorce Court i*e- ! cently when Mrs. Forrester applied to, Mr. Justice Kennedy to make absolute!

1924, to the month of December, hej did not drink nor was he cruel," she said. ' ■-• Petitioner", then" described' what followed after ; December of that year, when respondent reverted ' to, his old habits Of' 'inebriation and 'ill-treatment; The ifirst instance of maltreatment occurred m Cargill . IjLoad, when. he assaulted her arid toce off her coat;' ' Throughout the following year he continued his drinking habits. Hardly a week-end passed without his being drunk. She underwent a similar.experience Sn 1926, respondent even going the '.length of striking her while she; was m bed recovering' from; an; 'operation. Arid so' with 1927. She failed to observe any ifnproverrierit m respondent's (behavior, and towards the latter end , he became worse. I One day Forrester struck his wife