An Inhuman Brute.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3169, 2 April 1889, Page 2

An Inhuman Brute.

Tho case of Porter v. Porter, a petition for judicial separation by the wife, was conoluded at Sydney reJ") cently. The evidence of the petitioner!*' "" disclosed most brutal conduct on the 9* part of her husband. His Honor, in giving judgmeut, said that tho only question was that of cruelty, on whioh ground tho petitioner sought for judicial separation from her husband. The ovidenco proved undoubtedly that cruelty of an almost inhuman cbarac tor had boen practised by the respondent towards his wife, cruelty which made it appear that the respondent was one of those domestic tyrants who in tho privacy of his homo thought he had a right to treat his wifo in a way . which no man of feeliug would treat a dog, His Honor then referred to the evidence as to the husband shooting, hanging* and whipping his horse to death, That evidence was uncontradicH, and auv man who would treat' dumb animals in that way would treat human beings in a, similar way, Tho story told byMk wife was one of long '. cnduriijff' patience, bearing up against a husband's cruelty for years, Here was a case in which a woman was driven to .desperation, and almost to losing her reason from long suffering. She had endured and endured in silence, It was almost incredible that any man could be utterly hardened as was this man towards his wife. Ho had flogged her when she was ill jhe T had flung filthy water over her; ho "z had struok her with a stook whip and * buggy whip when from long exhaustion and sufforing from sandy blight, the agony of whioh only those could kpow who had endured it, sho hadjfcllca asleep in a chair and had not'heard her baby fall out of bed. Time after time he spat on her and repeatedly kicked her, and once so severely that tho child she was bearing was found to bn marked at its birth in the same portion of the body, Such cruelty of conduct on thopart of any man was degrading, and deserved the reprobk tion of every right-minded man iqJK' community. The respondent, 'mtinued his Honor, did riot attempt to contradict the ovidenco. People could scarcely believo that any human being short of a savage would be guilty of treating his wife in the way respondent had done, but in addition he instructed his counsel to ask insulting questions of alady who had been a friend of'his wife from the first and was her friend now, A.decree nisi would be-granted with costs, the wife to 'have'tho custody of all the obildrsn, as th« rsßpondent *4b unworthy to biYq

oharge of any orcaturo tlin.tr could ' Buffer pain, not even a dog, much less a human being. Alimony at the rate ■ of £3 jot week was granted, as the respondent is in well-to-do circumstances, being owner of the Gorah run, where the brutality was com.g mitted. * Mistaken Identity. In tho early days of San Fraucisco, in 1851, when there was a tomporary. committee ol vigilance to aid tho slow regular police in detecting the crimes committed by the "Sydney Ducks," a form often unfairly naed of rcspectablo settlors from Australia, as well as of tho ex-convicts from the colony. About 6 o'clock one spring evening Charles Jansen. proprietor of a wholesale dry goods establishment on Montgomery-street, was seated alone in hie counting-room, his clorks having gone to supper. Two strangers entered, one of whom Jelled him with a bar of iron while the other rifled tho safo of mauy thousands of dollars in coin and gold dust. Tho olerfaybuud Mr Jansen senseless and bicujjig on tho floor. Next day he was able to describe his assailants, and the >, supposed criminals wero arrested' as thoy (j stepped aboard the Sacramento boat, The L description of oueof them agreed exactly with James Stuart, the leader of a gang I of thieves, and murderers who had killed the Sheriff of Yuba County and wero tho terror of the State. Tin poiico were satis- ™ A that they had now captured Jim Stuart, and Joo Wildred, his companion, and that they were the perpetrators of the double • crime. It was (cared that Jansen would die and the two men wero taken to his 4T" bedside, whence he at onoo and unhesiHt tatingly identified the smaller man, supto be Stuart, as tho man who had him.with the iron bar. About the .other ho had little doubt, bat- «w!d nol Swear so positively. The men wen tried' at once, giving their names as Thomas Berduo and Joseph Wildred. They pleaded in vain that they wore "chums" from a mining camp just arrived in San Francisco and knew nothing of the deeds attributed to them, It was with greot difficulty, and onjybyan intervention of soldiers, that they wore saved from lynching. Many wituesses swore that Berdne was Stuart, They were sentenced to be hanged on the following Friday, But meanwhile a \igilanoo committee party scouting the hills between San Francisco and (he Mission Dolores came upon a man hall hidden full length in tho sand. Ho was the real Stuart, confessed that crime and others, and was hanged on Friday instead ot the innocent Berduo. The lattor was put beside tho body when he was out down, and a reporter whs was present wrote-" Berduo stood in tho presence of his dead rival, standing by the table on which Stuurt was lying, and gazing upon « his died features, It was like a man look--6 ing at his own corpse. I never before or b since saw such a resemblance, Stuart was ™ perhaps a triflo stouter; but having seen cither one, I think I should unhesitatingly ' at any timo thereafter, have been willing to . swear fo the other as that one. It scarcely Jfc seems possible that the men could havo so W "perfectly resembled each other." About Salt.

In Eoreral countries of Africa men arc told ior Gait; among the Gallfis and on the coast of Sierra Leone tho brother sells his sister, tho husband his wife, parents their chiidrcu, for salt, and in the district of Accra on the Gold Coast, salt is the most valuable merchandise after gold, and a handful of it will purchase one, or even two, slaves. Among tho ancients it was a Hghly valued commodity, Homer describes it as " divine," and Plato as " a substance dear to the Gods," As covenants were generally made at the time of a meal, such an expression as that used in Numbers xviii. l'J,"a covonant of salt," is easily understood, especially when it is also borne in mind that the preservalivn qualities of the article rendered it a peculiarly suitable symbol for contracts of a binding nature. The economic importance of Ealt is also indicated by the almost universal prevalence in ancient and medimal times of a Government monopoly ior its sale, or for a tax upon it, though such a meaiiß of raising the revenue has always been unpopular and oppressive. Fitt incurred much odium by the imposition Jof an increased salt tax in 1805, aud the French gabelle had considerable effect in bringing about the Revolution 100 years ago. Even in the present day high imposts on salt exist in India and other Oriental countries, one result of this being that the salt often reaches the consumer in a very impure slate. "If the salt have lost his savour" (Motthcw v, 13) is a phrase which his roferenco to tho earthy residuum of an impure salt, from which the chloride of sodium had been washed out.