Young Wife Asks Judge For Pass To Freedom

NZ Truth, Issue 1166, 5 April 1928, Page 5

Young Wife Asks Judge For Pass To Freedom

r»EORGE HENRY RILEY, machinist, vJ of Auckland (N.Z.), was 29 when he wedded Catherine O'Connor, three years his junior, on January 28, at the district registrar's office, Newtown. George was living at Simmonsstreet, Enmore, at the time, and his Catherine at Rowley- street, Camperdown. Her father was a publican. George described himself on the marriage certificate as "divorced.' 1 He had been married "before to Catherine, 'but as he had overlooked a living wife, the marriage was null and* void. George was charged m 1917 with .bigamy. The result of the bigamous marriage was that Catherine -bore George a child, and after the prosecution — and some considerable .thought — she wedded him again m 1920. But the course of love ran over a rocky bed, and George's unsuccessful suit for restitution came on m 1924. Last week Catherine Riley asked his honor to say whether her husband had committed misconduct with a married woman named Maud Ritchie (wife of David Andrew Ritchie, employed by Winchcombe, Carson and Co., Ltd.) between June 1, 1925, and September 28, 1927, m Sydney, and m other parts of the State; also to decide whether he had been guilty of desertion. Catherine brought along with her Lawyer Toose, George Henry had the services of Lawyer Dovey, Mrs. Maud Ritchie, who intervened m the suit, had Lawyer Maddocks Cohen to see her through the ordeal. Both the husband and Mrs. Ritchie filed denials of the misconduct alleged. Mrs. Riley, a small, energetic woman, whose most conspicuous ornament was a red rose worn on her left shoulder,