[38] See decision New York Court of Appeals, January, 1892.
[39] ST. PETERSBURG, September 22—In April last Mrs. Aina Sainio, wife of a professor in the State College at Travasteheuse, Finland, was found guilty of poisoning her husband, and in accordance with the mediaeval law, which is still in force there, she was sentenced to be beheaded, and her body to be affixed to a beacon and burned. It was charged that Mrs. Sainio had been unfaithful to her husband, carrying on a liaison with one of the students at the college. She strenuously denied this, and said her motive in killing her husband was to get the insurance of $2,500 on his life as she was deeply in debt. The case was carried to the Court of Appeals and today a decision was handed down affirming the judgment of the trial court and adding to the punishment. It transpired during the trial that Mrs. Sainio had forged her husband’s name to checks for small sums some time before his death, and for this offense the Court of Appeals ordered that her right hand be cut off. Then she will be decapitated, her body fastened to a stake covered with inflammable material and set on fire.
[40] Reported in the London Telegraph.
[41] Telegraphic Report from Providence, R.I., September 24, 1892.
[42] Mrs. Judge Seney’s trouble.—A deserted wife suing the woman who enticed her husband away from her. TIFFIN, O., February 14—Judge Dodge gave his decision yesterday in the novel case of the former Mrs. George E. Seney against the present Mrs. George E. Seney. Judge Seney is one of the well known lawyers of Ohio, and author of a “Civil Code” that bears his name. He married his first wife, Mrs. Anna Seney, in 1858, and for fourteen years they lived happily together. At about that time Mrs. Seney and Miss Walker became very intimate friends, and continued to be so until, as is alleged, Mrs. Seney ascertained that Miss Walker was undermining the affections of her husband. A separation between Mr. and Mrs. Seney soon followed, and subsequently the Judge married Miss Walker. Mrs. Seney, therefore, instituted a suit against her successor, claiming damages to the amount of a0,000 for the seduction of her husband.—New York Sun.
[43] James Howard, thirty-five years old, was taken from jail at Texarkana, Ark., on Wednesday night by a mob and lynched. He was under arrest for horrible cruelty to his fourteen-year-old wife. The woman says that he frequently tied her feet together while she was in a state of nudity, and hanging her up by the feet beat her unmercifully and threatened to kill her if she told anyone of his cruelties. On the first of November, Howard took a common branding iron, used to brand live stock, and heating it red hot branded a large letter “H” on his wife’s person in two places while she was tied to a bed.
[44] “Pall Mall Gazette,” 1888.
[45] “Westminster Review,” September, 1887.
[46] Cato, the Roman (pagan), censor three centuries before the Christian era, said: “They who beat their wives or children lay sacrilegious hands on the most sacred things in the world. For myself, I prefer the character of a good husband to that of a great senator.”
[47] The bill failed of passing upon the ground that the lash belonged to the dark ages, degrading a man by its infliction.