On June 6, 1860, the New York Times devoted a giant wall of text on the second page of the paper (yes, all of the text you see...
On June 6, 1860, the New York Times devoted a giant wall of text on the second page of the paper (yes, all of the text you see above) to the statement of one Isaac Burch filing divorce from his wife, Mary Burch, due to alleged adultery with one David Stuart (and others), and Mary’s counter-statement endeavoring to clear her name.
It includes detailed descriptions of Isaac’s financial, emotional, and physical abuse of Mary, including direct quotes (“shut up and stop your crying”), full scenes of dialogue with descriptions of where they were sitting or standing relative to each other, Mary’s claim that Isaac coerced a written confession from her by threatening to throw her out of the house penniless without her kids, and Mary’s attempt at benign explanations of four or five fishy incidents like the time a family friend came to call and caught a glimpse of David’s hat and scarf in the foyer.
My theory: Mary was definitely cheating, but with a husband like Isaac, who wouldn’t?
Anyway, thank fuck the New York Times no longer considers the divorce proceedings of well-to-do abusive bankers to be matters of public record.
gosh Tumblr receipts drama is weak sauce by comparison
