Frances Boulware requests alimony from her estranged husband, Osmond. She confesses that said Osmond "became dissipated & treated your Oratrix with great cruelty" and that "to obtain safety & peace your Oratrix was compelled to leave his house." She admits that she "was induced by the protestations & promises of the said Osmond to return to his house;" upon her return, however, the petitioner charges that he "beat her most inhumanly with sticks & rails -- shot pistols at her, threatened to take her life," causing her to flee "in great terror & fear of life" from her husband's "bed & board the second time & has ever since continued to live separate from him." Frances further charges that Osmond has repeatedly engaged in "unseemly intercourse with lewed women." She reveals that he set up a trust estate for his and his four sons' benefit in 1853, consisting of land and 9 slaves; the deed directed that said slaves were to be appraised and divided when the oldest son arrived "at his majority," with each child receiving a one-fourth part at age 21. Frances laments that her parents have recently died, leaving her without a means of support. She also alleges that Osmond "has hitherto wholly neglected & refused to make any provision or any contributions" to her and her two children's support. Frances prays that Osmond be decreed "to pay to your Oratrix such a sum for her alimony or transfer such a proportion of his property to the use of your Oratrix as shall seem to your Honors just & equitable."
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Repository: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina
