INTERESTING DIVORCE CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume XVI, Issue 3851, 20 December 1882, Page 3

INTERESTING DIVORCE CASE.

A Good lemplar Scandal,

Bather moro than a year ago the public wore startled, and tho leaders of the Good Templar organisation in Auckland scan. ■ duliscd, by the circulation of a report to the I cll'cct that* a papular vocalist of tho Onfler was intriguing with tho wife of another brother, and ere the matter had censid to engage at'entlon, it wus alleged that the anurous pair were living tcge her^ The affair w;as talked over far ana wide, 1 until, liKe other sensation^, it gradually \ ceased to bo canvassed. Now, however, proccedinp;».haVe been instituted which may lend to a resurrection of all the dotails, and cmuu a fresh ilmter in tho dovacots of soaety. I he matter has been placed in tho hand* of Mr W. Cvleiuau, und thin morning he mado appiicntion to Mr Justice Oillios (titting in Chambers), under tho Divorce und Mii'.umooiul Causes Act, of 1867, that he should fix the mode sud appoint a place of tiiat for tho case of TV Js. Wilcock v. Wileock and Fordor. Hiu Honor accordingly fixed the trial to take place before a common jury during tho enaning Civil Sittings of the Supicinu Court. In tho meantime we give a resumd of the allegations which the petitioner, Thomas fcpurey 'Wilcock, embodies in his petition. He states, in the lirst placo, that ho is a tea dealer, and that ho was married to the respondent, Mary Frico AVilcock (n6o Maw Price Roberts), at St. James's Church, IJarrow-iu-Fumess, Lancashire, England, on tho 26th of Jane, 1576, and that from that time up till bis emigration to New Zoaland' he cohabited with her at Dalton-in-Fumes* in the same county. Xfie fruita of tne marriage wore tour cbilarcn all of whom diad in infanoy. Ho further avers taat on or about November, 1881, the respondent loft his house in Auckland, and since than bus lived apart from hhn ; that en the 18th March last she cominitttd adulUry with Charles Edward terdur, clerk (ca-respondeni), in a house in Cookstreet, and ttut ever since the has b.eu habitual))? committing the tamo oft'ence with the aforesaid border; first at the houßO in Oook-strtet during the months of March, *pril, May, Juno, and July last, ttien at a house in or olf Synionds-strect during September, nud part ot October lust, aad next at a house in or off Ponsonby Road during part of October lust, besidts various other places in the province. The petitioner, therefore, prays that the marihgc may be dUsolved, and that Fordor may bo adjudged to pay the full costs of the petition, and he also denies on ailidavit that there has been any cjnnivance between his wife and himself for {he severance of tho matrimonial tic. The only answer that the respondent and co-respondent make to these averments is a denial that adultery was committed by them on toe date mentioned by the petitioner. As iwe have already remarked, the parties were connected with tho Good Templar Order, and Mr and Mrs Wilcocks frequently sang duets at the entertainments given by the Sir Henry Havelock and other lodges, She ii said to hive been a little " fast " in htr mauner, and Forder aud she wero often keen out walking together. Her hiubaiul, of courso, grew jealou*, and tho result of bis expostulations waa her flight from homo. iJhe tuok caro, however, to send an express for her belongings,and Ft»r. dcr, having furnished a house for her, thoy took up their rc.idence t«gether. Tho officers of tho lod*o were duly shocked at such behaviour, aud demanded an exphinatiou from their frail sister. She promptly replied that she valued Folder's HUlu linger more than her husband's whole body ; that she had gone to live with her lover, and that she was determined to stick to him. The lodge forthwith expelled her, and the Good Templar public ceased to be graiified with her vocal efforts at their ptriodical meetings. Wo are informed taat the/:ouplo are now residing in Yincent-atreet, and that Mrs Wilcock is "as ladies- wish to be who love their lords," while F»rd»r is dtecritcd as a gay Lothario, who has successfully carriod through m«re than one aiiuntr dt>ri»g his residence in this city.