Gilmore v. Mathews

• Decision Date: 19 December 1877
• Citation: 67 Me. 517
• Parties: MARY F. GILMORE v. WILLIAM H. MATHEWS.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

67 Me. 517

MARY F. GILMORE v. WILLIAM H. MATHEWS.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

December 19, 1877

ON EXCEPTIONS, arising on a demurrer to the declaration.

CASE " For that the said plaintiff was duly married to Edward Y. Gilmore, her late husband, thirteen years prior to the date of this writ, and lived with him till the twenty-third day of September last past, on which day he died of delirium tremens caused by excessive and habitual liquor drinking of a poisonous character, sold and furnished him principally by the said defendant, in and at his hotel situated in said Searsport, and that during her said marriage she had by him two sons and one daughter; that at the time of her said marriage, her husband was a gentleman of cultivated manners good character, liberal education, good business habits and capacity, robust in health, full of hope and promise for the future, and in all respects a delightful and desirable husband, and so remained for several years after their said marriage, but being of social habits and an agreeable companion among gentlemen, and residing near the defendant's hotel and being frequently invited and tempted to go therein and to drink there intoxicating liquors by the said defendant and others, he gradually became intemperate and a spendthrift and drunken to an excess that destroyed his capacity to do business and to maintain his wife and family,--and also destroyed his bodily health, his mental sanity and finally his life, on the said twenty-third day of September last past.

And the plaintiff avers that for the last six to eight years of his life the said defendant supplied and sold to him the worst kind of intoxicating liquors to be drank by him daily in his hotel and to bring home to his house in bottles there to drink, and that very much of the intoxicating liquors that her husband so used and drank he obtained of the said defendant, during the last six or eight years of his life and so made him terrible to look upon and dangerous in the extreme to his wife and children, so much so that the plaintiff was obliged to leave her house frequently, hide herself and seek protection of her neighbors, and to abandon his room and bed altogether for the latter year or two of his life, during which time he had two terrific attacks of ‘ delirium tremens,’ in the last of which he died.

And the plaintiff further avers that during said years she was obliged to seek and receive support for herself and family from his and her relatives and other friends, solely on account of the said intoxication of the said husband, and that in his moments of intoxication, her said husband destroyed and disposed of four cows of the value of two hundred dollars sent to her by the brother of her said husband for the use and benefit of herself and family, and spent the same mostly for liquor so sold him by the defendant, (one of which was given to her by the donor) and some other property so given to the use of the family, and that during the whole of said period, she lost the society companionship and much of the love of her said husband by reason of the intoxication and consequent insanity of her said husband, and suffered several severe attacks of sickness from the same cause, and that all of which was well known to said defendant during the whole of said period and protested against to him by this plaintiff and others in behalf of herself and children.

And the plaintiff further avers that her said husband some years prior to his death had procured an insurance upon his life for the plaintiff's benefit in the Etna Life Insurance Company of Connecticut, so called, which was in full force, and value of $2,000, when her said husband died, but that she lost twelve hundred dollars of the said two thousand so insured by reason of the said intoxication by defendant of her said husband and of his death in consequence thereof as aforesaid,--and was compelled to receive only eight hundred dollars for the same or to lose the whole, which she had so to accept and did so accept in full discharge of said insurance company on the professional advice of her legal counsel in the case.

And the plaintiff further avers that the said intoxication became so habitual and dangerous that she was obliged to keep hired help, man or woman, all the time, day and night, for the protection of herself and children from the violence of her said husband, thereby adding largely to the daily expenses of the family, and that in consequence of this and other expenses and losses caused by his said habits of intoxication this plaintiff lost her house and home and became...