Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1875 — A Warning to Husbands. [ARTICLE]

A Warning to Husbands.

The observations made by Mr. Justice Brett, the other day at Chester, when addressing a woman named Mary Lancaster, found guilty of the manslaughter of her husband, will be read with deep interest in many a family circle where the poker on the domestic hearth is used by the head of the household for the double purpose of stirring the fire and battering the skull of his wife. The prisoner in the dock had been a good and industrious wife, but had been cruelly ill-treated by her husband. Oh the 13th of September he came home drunk and kicked over the meat she was preparing for dinner. He then Thrashed her, and in a moment of passion she threw at him a sharpening-steel, which caused his death. It can hardly be said that Mr. Lancaster was any great loss to society. Indeed, Mr. Justice Brett remarked that he had seldom heard, of “ a greater brute” than the prisoner’s husband. “ All the real right in this case,” said the Judge to the prisoner, “ was on your side, all the real wrong on your husband’s, and God forbid that I should punish you. I will be no party to it. I will not even make the judgment complete. I will not allow it to be said by anybody that you are a convicted felon for a conviction is not complete until a sentence is passed, and I mean to pass no sentence at all.” (Here there was loud cheering in the court, which the officials, as usual, “ vainly endeavored to suppress.”) The Judge continued: “I shall merely ask you to enter into your own recognizances to come up for judgment if called upon, and nobody in the world will ever call upon you—God forbid they ever should.” Here there was renewed cheering, and amidst a burst of applause the prisoner left the dock. This is very disagreeable for irritable husbands, who, when thrashing their wives, will run frightful risks of injury unless protected by the law.— Pall Matt {London) Gazette.