Claiming to have conducted herself as a "dutiful & obedient wife," Mary Cole relates that shortly after her marriage her husband commenced beating and whipping her in a "most cruel barbarous, unmerciful & savage manner." He stomped on her head until blood came out of her mouth and nose, beat her with heavy shoes, sticks, "or anything else," and tried to poison her or force "his negroes & others to do so." Stephen Cole is a man of substantial means, Mary asserts, having no debts and owning a large plantation and forty slaves. She asks for a divorce and alimony.
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Repository: North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina
