HUSBAND WHO TOOK TO DRINK.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9392, 11 March 1909, Page 7

HUSBAND WHO TOOK TO DRINK.

Judge Bargreave Deane recently had to decide on a grave point of ethics. He granted a decree nisi of divorce to a woman who, after ;ss yearrof dli-treatment by her drunken husband, went to live with the man who stood by her as a friend in need. One petition was that of Mr George Alcook for- the dissolution of his marriage by reason of the misconduct of his wife (Elizabeth) with co-respondent, Mr Ofakdwick. When the case was called on, it was stated that the petitioner could offer 09 evidence, and the petition was accordingly dismissed. * The wife counter-petitioned for a divorce, by ■ reason of the cruelty and misconduct of her husband, and asked for a decree notwithstanding the fact that she herself had committed misconduct with Mr Chadwick, and pleaded that the misconduct Jwas the direct result of "her husband’s treatment. The jury were discharged, and the , case was heard before the court itself, and was undefended. Mrs Allcook, said counsel, was married to her husband in June, 1899. She was. then manageress of a restaurant in Hanover Street. For some time afterwards she continued to manage j the business, which her husband purchased for a sum of £2200. After the first child was born in 1900, she left the business and went to live >t Richmond, and the husband subsequently sold the business for £4OOO. He then became addicted to drink, and in October, ;1900, while intoxicated, he fell from a train at Queen’s Road Station, and was Jso badly crushed that he was afterwards detained at St. Thomas’ hospital for two months. After leaving hospital he was constantly drunk, and would net work. To keep the home going she started as a florist at Richmond Hill. Very shortly afterwards ner health broke down and she had to give np. After months of misery her husband left her and went to Canada, and she took a situation as oipb-manageress at a hotel at Henley-Oh-Thames. Then followed an incident which marked a turning poifct in her life. One night, while walking by the river, Mr Chadwick met her and asked her if she wished to cross by a boat. It was a wet night and she accepted the offer. After that an acquaintanceship sprang up between them, and ultimately she went to live with him. Mrs Alcock described in detail the misery of her married life. Shejsaid that her husband pawned everything, even her wedding ring. At the time she found a friend in Mr Chadwick, who was very much older than herself. She was then at the end of her resources, and hkd no friend to whom she could appeal for help. Mr Justice Deane granted Mrs Alcock’a decree nisi, remarking that he would hold that the wife’s misconduct was a direct result of the treatment she received, and Jihat he must absolve her from it.