Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1859 — A Hard. Case of Wife Beating and Starvation. [ARTICLE]

A Hard. Case of Wife Beating and Starvation.

[From the-Rochester (N. Y.) Democrat.

The Orleans (Albion) Republican lias a communication signed “Z. R. P.,” which contains a statement relating to the alleged ill-treatment of a wife, by a man residing near Murray, Orleans county, which is quite too shocking for belief. If the Republican has not been imposed upon by some person who has sought to gratify personal spite by accusing a neighbor of infamous conduct, this case is a marked and shocking one of wife-abuse. The article states that John Fullerton, the owner of a comfortable dwelling in a thickly populated and wea thy neighborhood, and worth some $5,000, has I been known to cruelly rett his wife and I daughters, often turning them out of doors. One night about the Ist of March, attention was directed to his house by groans proceeding from it, and the neighbors, not having seen Mrs. Fullerton for some time-, suspected that she was suffering. Mr. Birch, a neighbor, called at the house the next day, and was reluctantly permitted by Mr. Fullerton to see his wife. He found her in a chamber destitute of furniture, save a miserable bed in which she lay—buried in the straw, with a dirty feather-bed as coverI trig, and apparently without a particle of I clothing upon her person. Still more shock- ! ing was her emaciated condition. She was reduced to a mere skeleton—her hair matted and clotted with blood, and her face badly bruised. The scene was so sickening that Mr. Birch speedily sought the open air. The ladies near were soon enlisted, and repaired the following morning to the house, where they were met with repeated threats of violenc • from Mr. Fullerton, but. they finally proceeded to put the skeleton form in a more tidy and comfortable condition Their representations of her situation are too revolting for repetition. In several places the bones had worn through the flesh, and all her body was covered with stripes and terrible bruises. When nourishment was given to her she ate like one famished, and her mind seemed to be in a condition bordering on idiocy. There was every indication other having been kept, for a long time without food, lire or clothing, and subjected to frequent beatings by this inhuman legal proprietor of her person. Through the interference of the poor authorities, Mrs. Fullerton was at length removed to more safe and comfortable quarters, and is now at the residence of James Burnet, one mile west of Sandy Creek, where she is tenderly cared for. Her physician. Dr. Nicholson, attributes her present reduc d condition entirely to brutality and starvation. Mr. Fullerton is 1 Irish birth, about sixty years of age, and somewhat educated. He is not strictly temperate, but. cannot be called an inebriate, nor has he generally committed his brutalities under the influence of strong drink. Mrs. Fullerton is fin American woman, forty-sev n years of age, and is said to have possessed stir abilities before they were demented by inhuman treatment. She formerly resided in Penfield, now Webster, M mroe county, where they Uere married twentyseven years ago. She is the mother of eight living children; most of the older ones being residents of another State. One, born twenty years since, and a few months fter the mother had received a terrible whipping, from which she fled through the snow in mid-winter to the house of a relative for protection, was a life-tony idiot. The only children at home are two boys, but so tearful are they of their father’s wrath that it is difficult t > learn much from them. Some time during the past winter, another brother ventured to carry his mofher food, in his father’s absence, for which he was severely whipped. He then ran away, and has not since been home. Fullerton is excessively penurious, and is, I understand, contemplating bringing his wife (!) back to bis house to avoid paying for her keeping.