Mary Belt asks the court to grant a subpoena against her estranged husband, Hiram. When Mary and Hiram were wed, Mary was a widow with a substantial amount of property, slaves, and livestock worth $4000. Hiram came into possession of this property upon their marriage. However, Mary asserts that Hiram's "conduct to her has been of the most brutal, savage and disgraceful kind." She fears for her life and has fled to live with her brother. Mary asks the court to intervene as "she is fearful he will make sale of or put out of the way and out of her reach the said property, and leave the District of Columbia himself to go to some distant place unknown to your Oratrix and leave her helpless, destitute, and penniless." She asks the court to allow her to live separate from her husband and to decree her "free both in person and property from all kind of molestation or disturbance from him or by or through his means."
Result: Granted.
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Repository: National Archives, Washington, D. C.
