Here is the first of two articles about spanking that appeared in the New York Times in the years 1901 and 1903.
I will recopy and post the second article tomorrow.
COPIED EXACTLY WORD FOR WORD FROM A MICROFILM OF THE ACTUAL ARTICLE.
SPANKED, SHE WANTS DIVORCE
MRS. REDFEARN ACCUSES HER HUSBAND OF BEING A VERITABLE MR. QUIIP
Jersey City, N.J., June 11, 1901 Not five months married, yet spanked by her husband until she was sick, is part of the story told by Mrs. Mary Redfearn of Jersey City in proceedings for divorce which she has commenced against George William Redfearn, whom she met while she was singing contralto and he baritone in the choir of Grace Protestant Episcopal Church in that city.
Mrs. Redfearn was then Miss Robbins a dresmaker and it was said to be a case of love at first sight. The Rev. George Bennit, the rector married the two on Dec. 12 last and they took up housekeeping at 190 York Street, She providing, according to her story, most of the linen and and a great many other articles of domestic necessity, as well as a piano.
Only one month were they happy, she says, but the first troubles she recites in detail was on Feb. 18th, when she alleges her husband made no objections to his brother calling her a "slob" before many people, and smilingly acquiesced in other utterances calculated to injure her good name and feelings, simply answering her protest with the remarks, "isn't that what you married me for".
His ill treatment grew worst, she declares, until she suffered from it not only during the evening and nights, but when he came home for his noonday meal. It culminated in the spanking, and she left her home a few days later, but soon returned to him in a flat at 335 Montgomery Street. She left for good however, she says, on May 17 and went to live with her mother at 217 Newark Avenue, where she is now. Papers in the suit have been filed with Chancellor Magio Trenton and her counsel Eugene Devitt, will shortly apply for alimony and counsel fee.
Among the cruelties which Mrs. Redfearn alleges between the spanking and her fianl departure is that Redfearn accused her of stealing his watch. He also, she says, kept her up all night while he rested, threatening to throw her out of the window every time she approached the bed, and on the very day she returned to him in Montgomery Street, in response to his importunities he fetched a piece of meat and bundle of firewood and left them on the table, saying, "I don't want to have you say I am not feeding you well, because all I have to do to is feed you and keep a roof over your head. "You are a she devil".
The final act on the night before her departure, she alleges, was another midnight thrashing coupled with a choking, and when daylight came she told him she was going, he expressed no regret.
"All right". "There's no use in leading a dogs life", was his final words, she said.
The Redfearns are both well known in Binghampton, where Mrs. Redfearn was born. Mr. Redfearn has thirty days in which to file his answer, and it is understood that, "he will", set up a general denial of his wife's allegations.
_______________________________
Interesting another NY Newsaper, the Evening Press, reported the same story but in a more earthy fashion. Here is how the NY Evening Press reported some parts of the story..
..The crowning and painful insult came, she said, on the night of April 30, when the cold was intense and thee was no fire in the house. After she had prepared to retire he rolled himself up in all the bed clothes, leaving her with nothing on except a night dress. She protested against this treatment. Then, she days, he grasped her about the shoulders and forcibly bent her over his knees.
"Then he spanked her most brutally", the allegations say, "by which spanking and assault she was sick and sore for many days.
"In her allegations she says, "she had never in her life been spanked as hard and long", she says, "that it pained more than her mother's spankings which had been administered on her anatomy with a thick hair brush even in the past year".
__________________________
The word "Anatomy" was used in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century as a poite word to denote bare flesh and/or nudity.
_________________________
Perhaps someone who lives in Jersey City or nearby might find time to stop a local library and check into
how the local newspapers reported the story.