Hot Fish, an Iron Fork, and a Second Divorce

For the second time in her life Olive Rogerson was granted a divorce yesterday from her husband, Thomas A. Rogerson, after a spirited contest in Judge Humes' court. The wife attempted to show that the husband was a brute, and the husband introduced testimony to show that Mrs. Rogerson was a fiend in disguise. The couple were married on April 10, 1886, at St. Johns, N.B., and they continued living together until November, 1888, when they were divorced at the instance of the wife by the Minneapolis superior court. Mrs. Rogerson separated from her husband at that time because he had, in a fit of anger, broken her nose with one of his fists. Shortly after the first divorce Mr. Rogerson, according to the story of his wife, by intimidation and threats forced her into giving him a $1,300 promissory note, secured by a mortgage on property located in Minneapolis. The note and mortgage were given without any consideration whatever, the wife says. In 1894, in this city, the couple remarried. Mrs. Rogerson claims that her husband promised to reform and that she believed it to be for the best interests of their child that they should live together. Mr. Rogerson alleged that Mrs. Rogerson came back to him, not for love and affection and marital happiness, but to secure possession of the note and mortgage which she had executed to him. It was his contention, the husband alleged, to get rid of it the best way she could, once he had possession of the note and mortgage. The husband and wife charged each other with all sorts of cruelties. Mrs. Rogerson told Judge Humes that on May 22, at Bremerton, where they then resided, Mr. Rogerson, who is employed at the Port Orchard dry dock, struck her in the eye with his fist, injuring her eyesight, and then knocked her down, and while she lay helpless on the floor kicked and beat her. As an instance of his wife's alleged brutality the husband stated what he claimed were the facts of the encounter on May 22 at Bremerton. Mrs. Rogerson, he says, caught up a dish of hot fish from the table, where she had just placed it, and buried the contents in his face. Then she attempted to strike him on the head with the dish. Mr. Rogerson said he had to resort to a little force in order to prevent his enraged wife from further assaulting him. She tried to get at him with a heavy iron fork, and throughout the altercation, according to the husband, the conduct of Mrs. Rogerson was "insulting and violent, and the plaintiff committed the assault with the greatest fury." Mrs. Rogerson asked for a divorce and the custody of the only child, and Mr. Rogerson's prayer in his answer and cross-complaint contained practically the same requests. Judge Humes, after hearing the evidence, granted the wife a divorce, also the custody of the child, and remarked that he was disposed to give her the $1,300 mortgage, allow the husband to retain certain community property in Kitsap county, and compel him to pay $10 a month for the child's support. No order was made, however, in regard to the disposition of the property and the support of the child.