In 1905 Des Moines, Iowa, Mrs. Roslie Pohlman went to court with an unusual complaint: her husband would not laugh.
According to her divorce petition, Mrs. Pohlman enjoyed jokes, funny stories, and family conversation around the table. Her husband, John Pohlman, did not. Instead of smiling at her humor or joining in with the children, he allegedly answered with cold stares, sneers, and the cutting remark, “What a set of fools you are.”
For a nervous and sensitive woman, she said, the constant fault-finding and refusal to share even a moment of cheer became unbearable. Judge McHenry apparently agreed.
Within half an hour of the petition being filed, Mrs. Pohlman had her divorce.
Funny Stories Win Woman a Divorce
DES MOINES, Iowa. — Pained beyond endurance because her husband, instead of appreciating her efforts at humor, gave her a cold stare whenever she cracked a joke at the table, Mrs. Roslie Pohlman applied for divorce from John Pohlman, of this city. It was granted by Judge McHenry within half an hour after the petition, accompanied by affidavits, was filed.
That Mrs. Pohlman prides herself on a certain ready humor and that she is hurt is a well-turned witticism goes unappreciated is well known to her friends.
She was hurt indeed when, so far from laughing at her pleasantries and funny stories told by her children, her husband would commonly greet her efforts with the surly remark:
“What a set of fools you are.”
In her petition, Mrs. Pohlman sets forth:
“This plaintiff, at the time the defendant married her, was in good health and had a fine constitution and was able to work and endure much and still enjoy life, and yet the plaintiff was always of a nervous and sensitive organization so as to be seriously injured by sneers, insinuating remarks, and continual bickering and fault-finding persistently and continuously accorded the plaintiff by the defendant.
“That at one time the plaintiff was talking to her sons at home and they were relating humorous stories to her in presence of defendant, whereupon he gave so much evidence of dissatisfaction that talk was discontinued and everything was done to please the defendant possible or that occurred to plaintiff and at table, while the family was eating, defendant appeared so morose and seemed in such an unhappy condition that one of the children asked if he was not feeling well, whereupon he said:
“‘I hate to see a set of fools,’ after which they ate in silence.”
Source: The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. October 21, 1905.
