Berry v. Berry

• Decision Date: 04 February 1902
• Citation: 115 Iowa 543,88 N.W. 1075
• Parties: BERRY v. BERRY.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

115 Iowa 543

88 N.W. 1075

BERRY

v.BERRY.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Feb. 4, 1902.

Appeal from district court, Linn county; H. M. Remley, Judge.

Action for divorce. Decree as prayed, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.F. L. Anderson, for appellant.

Fitzgerald & Varner, for appellee.

WEAVER, J.

As ground for divorce, the petition charges cruel and inhuman treatment. In support of this allegation, evidence was offered tending to show that appellant is a man of hasty and violent temper, and when angered is profane in speech and abusive in language; that, becoming excited over trivial matters, he slapped his wife's face on at least two occasions,--once quite violently; that when she was ill, and requested him to call in a neighbor, he refused; that at the time of the birth of her child he expressed to her his doubts whether another man was not its father; that he cursed her and called her vile names in the presence of their children and others; that he denounced and reviled her parents and friends; that upon all such occasions his abuse was accompanied and emphasized with a copious and varied flow of profane objuration, from which it is unnecessary to quote; and that by reason of such treatment she was tormented with fear, and made ill, weak, and nervous, thus tending to endanger her life. The evidence corroborating the wife's story is not strong, but tends in some degree to sustain the correctness of her statements. The appellant on the witness stand denied that he ever struck or slapped his wife, and denied that he cursed her, but admitted that when angry he sometimes used profane language. He admits refusing to go for a neighbor when his wife was sick, but says he offered to go for the doctor, but she would not permit him. This is the substance of the case as made by the parties, and the appeal is predicated solely upon the thought that the evidence is insufficient to sustain a decree in the wife's favor. It is to be admitted that the showing of cruel and inhuman treatment is not as overwhelming as is sometimes made in cases of this kind, but, after due deliberation, we think it sufficient. Some women may be so constituted that loud-mouthed curses upon themselves, their parents and friends, and coarse insinuations against their wifely virtue, will be received with perfect equanimity; and as to them, while it is cruel and inhuman treatment, it does not endanger life. But women who thrive upon such treatment are rare. With the husband a strong...