Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1908 — ERASTUS PEACOCK UNDER ARREST [ARTICLE]

ERASTUS PEACOCK UNDER ARREST

Grand Jury Found Indictment Charging Wife Dersertion and He Is Admitted to Bail. Erastus Peacock, the railway mall clerk, who last fall sued his wife for divorce, and denied the de- ! cree, having wholly failed to substantiate any charge that would justify a divorce, was Monday arrested on a charge of wife desertion, the result of an indictment returned against him by the grand jury. He was at once taken to the court house and Judge Hanley admitted him to bail in the sum of SIOO, the bail being furnished by his attorney, George A. Williams. Following Peacock’s unsuccessful attempt to procure a divorce, he was sued by his wife for separate maintainence, and ordered by the court to pay the sum of $7 a week for the purpose. This was several months ago and he has never paid in a cent, and save, for the kindness of friends Mrs. Peacock would have been entirely destitute. The attention of the grand jury was called to the case and they brought in an indictment for wife desertion. Mr. and Mrs. Peacock resided together for 39 years and raised a family of four children. He is a veteran of the civil war and has been a mail clerk for more than 25 years and has an income of more than $l3O a month. He has been a conspicious figure in the Knights of Pythias lodge, and held a grand lodge office for two terms, He had always been regarded very highly by the people of Rensselaer until within recent years, when stories of his alleged neglect of his family began to be circulated, and when about two years ago he published a notice in the Republican notifying merchants not to extend any credit to his wife, it was a severe shock to their many ( mutual friends. Since then he has exerted every effort to secure release from his marital relations, and the public has become very indignant at his conduct. Mrs. Peacock, who is a good and pure woman, has endeared herself to all her acquaintances in Rensrelaer and has secured the working sympathy of all the good women of the town. The public would like to believe that Mr. Peacock is not so bad as his attitude in this matter would indicate him to be, and it is hoped that he will see the folly of his way and meet at leaßt the demand of the court and provide for his wife. The case will probably not be set for trial during this term of court.