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Show MOST DISGRACEFUL. - The Way in Which Francis Fritsch Treats His Wife. SHE SAYS HIS CONDUCT UNDER-MINDED UNDER-MINDED HER REASON, And She Attempted to End Her Life' by Suicide. At Last She Brings Suit for an Absolute Abso-lute IMvorce and TeUs What She Has Suffered-A Scheme to Defraud. Her of Her Dower Interest Which. She Has Helped to Accumulate A Sad Tale. A divorce suit was brought in the First District court today which, on account of the prominence of the parties no less than the nature of the case, will create a sensation sensa-tion Mrs. Kathinka Fritsch Is the plaintiff, and Francis Fritsch, the well-known capital, ist, is the defendant. The complaint was filed this afternoon, and in it Mrs. Fritech. alleges that she was married to the defendant defend-ant at Wapakoneta, Ohio, in 1863, aod-' they continued to live together as man and wife until August 1st lt. that the defendant is a man of property, hia real and personal property amounting, at a low estimate, to about $190,000; that while plaintiff was in Germany in 1S0O the defendant defen-dant wrote to her, demanding that she should assign and transfer to their son Alolph all her interest in certain of ms property, amounting in. value to about $100,000; that she at first refused to sign the papers forwarded to her, and her husband then sent a threatening threat-ening letter, stating that unless she did as he desired in the matter, he would not send her any money whatever, and allow her to remain re-main in Germany; that thereupon she acceded ac-ceded to the demand, signed the papers and forwarded them to her husband; that this transfer was designed and carried out by the defendant for the sole purpose of cheating her of her dower right in the property; thai although the property now stands in the came of her son Adolf, the defendant exercises exer-cises full control over it and uses the son's4 name. SIMPLT A3 A COVER for the purpose of preventing her from se-curing se-curing her interest in the fortune sho had assisted in accumulating; that the defendant has utterly failed and refused to support her ' m accordance with her statioa-ln life to tha -extent that life to her has become a burden -ferae- tnrth ere aha ira -tha t the d stujUniit" since her first acquaintanee-w4th"lilm, ' has" been a man of most penurious habits, and that although in Ohio he was worth more than $150,000 the total amount he allowed her for the support of herself and the family generally was $50 per month; that after she arrived here in January, 1S91, she was taken seriously ill and was forced to undergo un-dergo a serious surgical operation. At that time they were boarding at the St James hotel, but Fritsch constantly com- . plained of the great expense of thus livino-and livino-and while the plaintiff was yet very ill he took her and his family to an uncompleted house he was building on Capitol hill, in order to save expenses. This house, Mr Fritsch says, was not finished, the plastering being wet, and it was very cold. Still he allowed her NO ONE TO WAIT UPON HER. and compelled his daughters to perform tha work of the household. She rapidly grew worse until her life was despaired of but notwithstanding this, her husband refusod to properly warm the house, claiming it would cost too much. He also refused to procure a nurse to watch over his sick wife As an instance of his penuriousness, she says that while thus sick she sert down town and bought a 35 cent thermometer in order that she might gauge the temperature of the sick room, and when he found it out, he flew into a towerino-passion towerino-passion and upbraided his sick wife" saying the expense was more than he could bear. Again, when she aent down town and purchased a pound of cherries, he boisterously boister-ously upbraided her for it. This constant bickering about expense and her husband's brutality in the sick room finally undermined his poor wife's mental power, and in consequence conse-quence in J une, 1S01, while still very ill, she attempted to commit suicide by taking poison, poi-son, and a few days later attempted to take her life by cutting three deep cuts in her arm. The physician who was called in at the time directed her rpminl tn innSa . his own, announcing that if she remained where she was she would be driven permanently perman-ently insane. That in September, 1891, the plaintiff had charge of some funds at a German festival and unfortunately lost $25 belonging to the German people, which she had to replace and when Fritsch learned of this he became greatly enraged, and said that her habits . were designed to bring him to poverty. After that incident HE BECAME MORE ABUSIVE, ' and both he and their son Adolfh would charge her with being a spendthrift, and they insisted that she should go to a town in Germany and transfer all her dower interest to them. From that time on she was treated with contumely by her husband and all of her children except Helena. Tney would charge to neighbors that she was insane. Some four weeks ago she found a bunch of keys belorging to the precious son Adolfh and he abused her in language neither refined nor elegant. She said she would give up the keys if the defendant would protect her, and Fritsch remarked, re-marked, "Adolfh, you go for the police and have your mother arrested." She further shows that while sick, as stated, the defendant and her sons and daughters refused to let her have milk or eggs, as they were too expensive, and the sickness was beef tea, which was brought her by the sisters of the Catholic church. " She alleges that Fritsch is so penurious that in the household they go for days without with-out any meat, and the family would not invite in-vite her to sit at the same table with them but have compelledher and her child Helena ' to go to neighbors to secure food to satisfy the cravings of hunger. Mrs. Fritsch allegres that she is economical, econom-ical, and that when she and her husband started in life she loaned him $5000, which was THE BASIS OF THE FORTUNE which he has since accumula'ed; that Fritsch, in the presence of the children, haa used shocking language towards her, repeatedly re-peatedly calling her a crazy old hag, a thief an old wench and so on, and has, without rebuke, permitted the son Adolph to shake his fist in her face and call her "a d d old ' 1 hag." . la . I Mrs. Fritsch asks for an absolute dccre I of divorce, and pending the litication the dt fendant be required to pay a reasonable sum for costs, 250 a month for her support and ' $1000 for attorney's fees; that he ba I restrained from disposing of his prop. I erty, and that she may be given tha , custody of the daughter Helena, and for such other relief as to the court may seem just. W. G. Van Horn and Powers & Hlles arc the plaintiff's attorneys. |