Crum v. Crum

HART, J.

J.—The plaintiff was granted an interlocutory decree of divorce from the defendant on the ground of extreme cruelty. The decree also awarded to plaintiff the custody of the minor child of the parties, Mabel Buth Crum, age seven years, the only issue of the marriage of said parties, and one-half of the community property, consisting principally of real estate. The personal property, of which there was a small amount, and which also belonged to the community, was awarded to the defendant.

The defendant appeals from the judgment under the alternative method upon the sole ground that the testimony of plaintiff as to the acts of cruelty alleged to have been committed by the defendant upon her was not legally corroborated.

The parties intermarried in the state of Missouri, in the month of May, 1908, and removed to Kings County, this state, about two shears later.

The complaint alleges that on numerous occasions from the year in which the parties were married until May 12, 1920, on which latter date they separated and ceased' living together, the defendant “has treated plaintiff in an ex

[541]

tremely cruel and inhuman manner,” following which averment is a specification of certain acts of cruelty on plaintiff by the defendant in the years 1910, 1911, 1915, 1916, and 1919. It is alleged that on one of these occasions the defendant, in the presence of others, called plaintiff a “d-n fool,” a “d-n b-eh,” and cursed and threatened to inflict bodily injury upon her by saying: “God d-n you; I will bust your head,” and threatened to kick plaintiff out of the house; that at another time, the defendant, becoming very angry at plaintiff, struck her a violent blow “over the head with his gun-case,” and that on another occasion, specifically mentioned in the complaint, the defendant, having been asked by plaintiff “a few friendly questions,” became sullen and morose and refused to answer said questions; that thereupon plaintiff insisted on answers, when defendant became very angry, “grabbed her with both hands and jammed her up against some shelves, saying that he was going to kill her”; that at thisi time defendant, without cause, “twisted plaintiff’s arm painfully and cracked a bone in one of her fingers”; that in April, 1919, “while plaintiff and defendant were living near Lemoore, in said county, defendant, without cause, grabbed hold of plaintiff forcibly- with his hands and! jammed her against the wall a number of times, and said that he was going to kill plaintiff”; that, during the four years immediately preceding the date of their separation, the defendant has practiced sexual abuse upon the plaintiff, by reason whereof she has become a nervous wreck. The complaint then charges generally numerous other acts of cruelty practiced upon plaintiff by defendant during the four years the couple resided in Lemoore, it being stated that, without cause, the defendant “constantly reviled plaintiff and cursed her with the vilest language”; that defendant “has constantly been sullen and morose, without cause, around home; that he has constantly and habitually refused tó talk to plaintiff, and has never talked to her except when compelled by necessity to do so.” There are some other charges of cruelty in the complaint of a more or less specific nature, as to which no findings were made and which, therefore, require no specific notice herein.