THE BRIGHTON BIGAMY CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 265, 14 November 1885, Page 8

THE BRIGHTON BIGAMY CASE.

Personating tho Captain of tlie "Kniltoura. ■' (l-'ROM on: OWN COKKKSi-c'NHKNT.) London, October 7. Tin trial ot tlui Central Meat Market nalosman, Malcolm, who iw acru-^-.il nf havin;; iMmmillci! bijrumj in lliocli.irautor nf I'.ip lain M:u-.!onaM, nf tho U.M.S. Kaikoura,

pruw\l fay more iuloivstiii;; :iml o.vtraor

ilinsiry than roiil.l linvo been i\n!ii-i ( ..i(..!

Cases of mistaken ov confused identify, ir which (as lioro) tho jury tli-agteoil, havo uc

puiTCil before, bill tho complicat'ior..' i

iiiciilrnli which marked Malcolm's Irfol have only been sm-p.-w.sed by the i-vci niciuumbla pro«eeittuni nf "Sir Koivr" [ichborno.

The prisoner wiw accused of having run traded a folonioiiH marriage witli a Miss Kinum Dash, of Brighton, while his wifo was still living. In answer to thu charge tlio defonco simply wan Hint it was all a mistuko : and that sorao otlior individual, exactly liko tlio prisonor, hud gone through tlio mnrringo ceremony, Thoro if, at all ovonts, no doubt about tho main fact, that In-t Eastorsoruo por.ion calling himself Captain Macdonnld, ami representing himpoli to bo ft fuu-captaiit, nude tho acquaintiuioo of Miss basil and her mother at tho South Coast watoring-plaec. Ho met tho two ladies in tho street, and thcro seems to huvo been no oeromonious introduction whatever. Wo then il'nd tho stranger taking Miss Dash drives and expedition*, and, after an acquaintance of only n few days, he proposed and was accepted. The marriage took place on the 4th of April, only a week niter Captain Macdonolil'a tirst appenranco, and four day? later tho mysterious sailor loft " for his ship," and his nowmado wifo heard no more of him until July. A mitral friond at tho I.ittor date, a Mr Osborno, li.ipponcd to bt< present at a garden party givon by tho Butchora' Company at Fulliam. Ho there paw a gentleman drossod in Highland costume, whu no doubt wa.-i tho prisoner, James Malcolm, and ho at onco recognised him, or thouglit that ho recognised him, an tlio so-called Captain Macdonald. tho huabnnd of tho lady whom ho —Mr Osbnrno had known beforo her marriago as Miss Dash. lie tapped tho masquoradin{{ sea-captain on tho shoulder, and accused him of boing tho man who had married and thin deseited tlio Brighton young lady, to which tho prisoner, Malcolm, replied, "It must havo been my brother or nil apparation." On the 13th of July Miss Dash horself saw tho prisoner, and immediately addvessed him a.s her husband, and begged him to acknowledge that lie was so indeed. James Malcolm, tho prisoner, dodared on that occasion that ho was not " tho Captain Macdonald who was so much wanted in connection with tho Brighton marriago; and to that assertion ho has adhered all through, Tho wifo herself, her mother, tho clergyman who performed the marriago service, and all tho witnesses who assisted in tho coromony, ayo pouitivo'about tho identity of Malcolm and Macdonald ; yot, on tho other hand, witnesses have come forward who have sworn pouitivoly that Malcolm waa in London at tho timoa when, according to tlio theory of tho prosecution, ho ought to havo been prosecuting hid hasty lovo affair at Brighton. As a result, tho jury wero thrown into a sfcato of mystification, and woro discharged, aftor four hours' deliberation, without arriving at any docision, while Malcolm, tho accused, was liberated on bail.

It is obvious that hero wo havo ono of the most extraordinary romances that over havo occurred presented to us as a pioco of grim reality In tho first placo, it may bo romurked as a curious ciicumftanco that tho accused man is a meat salesman in tho Metropolitan Meat Market, and that ho appears to havo boino v high character among those who know him, and to bo a strict teototallor. On tho night of tho last day of March thero was a firo at tho shop of Mr Flint, a London jowcllor, who had been in tho habit of entrusting jowollory to Malcolm to dispose of among tho visitors in the MoatMarkot. Atthisriro, which occurrcdat nine o'clock, tho accusod was noticed by several witnesses, Yot on thut vory night Miss Dasli was sooingGapMacdonaldolT from Brighton to London,accord ing to her story, by a train which did not arrivo in town until after ton. Op tho Thursday night before Good Friday, thoro was a Captain MacDonaldslooping at thcClarendon Hotel, at Brighton ;at least, no tho manageress of tho hotel assorted, and who further stated that Captain Mncdonald was undoubtedly not tho samo person as tho accused. An important orror of dato, however, in the ontry in tho hotel bcok somowhat lessenod tho force of this testimony. On tho Good Friday, according to tho ovidonco for tho defence, Malcolm wont down to Brighton and stayed at tho Victoria Hotol, but ho had all his meals out of doors. Saturday, April 4, was tho dato of tho marriage, and Captain Macdonald entertained his newlymade wifa and a little party to a champagne breakfast at his hotel, after which the "happy pair" departed to spend the honeymoon at Chiehoster. If tho prosecution was correct, no doubt tho accused man was at Chichestor on the Sunday morning ; yet tho attendant at the Victoria Hotol swore that on that morning she took hot wajor up to Malcolm in his bedroom at Brighton. Of course tho witnesses for tho defence must bo taken, or the view may bo hold that they are too favourable to tho accused to rendor their testimony impartial. At all events, when tho question turns on whether a man in last March and April was at a certain place on a particular day and hovJr, there is evidently infinite room for errors of all kinds to creep in. The whole of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday the self-styled Captain

Macdonald and his wifo were together at Brighton or Chichcfiter. On Tuesday tho Captain ?aid he musr 'join \va ship" at four o'clock i'l the moniintt ; hi" ship, :i8 Mr Poland remarked, being the Metropolitan Moat Markot, if tho viuw of tho prow cut ion bo correct, Jt is remarkable that four was the exact hour at which Malcolm s duties at the market commenced. Captain Macdonald and tho accused wore alike in a Renr on the face and in the absence of a certain tooth ; and it was shown that tho ring which tho husband gave Mim T)ash wtis of tho samo kind as those ontrusted to Malcolm by Mr Flint. Moreover, tho name of tho vossol which Mio husband gavo as that which ho commanded was tho same as that in which a cargo of frozen meat had been sent to the former master of tho accused from Now Zealand. Tho handwriting in the marriage register was so like that of Malcolm that tho Tatter's employor Huiil he could notswear it was not|Maleolm'.s. It will thus bo "oon that there waa enough conllict of evidence to justify any jury in being puzzled ; and it can hardly bo said that the bottom of this remarkable caso has as yet boon roached, oven aftor tho exhaustive trial which lias taken placo. That a cruel fraud, of tho very worse description, has boon practised on the lady who waa Miss Dash is apparent from tho facts admitted on both sides. Somo person, whoover ho was, representing himself to bo a Captain Macdonald, did, at the ond of last March, manage to scrapo acquaintance with this lady and hor mother, and, after a course of rapid courtship, won hor consent to an equally hasty wedding. It may appoar surprising that so lit tie trouble wastakim to ascertain tho lionajide* of tho Captain's roprosontations. Beyond question it waa a stop of vory groat imprudenco to marry a man about whom nothing at all was known except what ho choso to tell himself; and noithor tho prosccutrix nor her mother can oscapo a degree of blame for tho carole.'SllOfS which charactorssod their conduct previous to tho marriage. Yet human naturo is often exceedingly credulous, and a fair-spoken deceiver may win his way to a woman's heart without credential?, as he may boßuccossful in porptratingany other act of fraud. Sea-captains, moreover, aro sup posed to bo impulsivo, and tho naturo of their calling renders thoir amount of leisure timo on land scanty at tho boat. All this may bo ploided in excuse for tho precipitancy with which amorous matters sped at Brighton last Eastertide ; and wo aro left in prosonco of tho fact that somo individual did go through tho marriagocoromony, and did subsequently loavo his wifo on tlio representation that ho was about to "rejoin his ship." This individual, whoever ho may havo been, has nover again turned up to claim his own ; and, whether ho was Malcolm or enmebodv elfo, ho was in any caso a heartless villain. Malcolm's wife is alivo, and hor evidence— if it were admissible—would bo of tho groatost valuo. Tho theory of tho dufonco seems to bo that Capta'n Macdonald really existed in the Mesh, and that he so nearly resembled .lames Majcolm that confusion botwoon tho pair is as natural an that between tho two Dromios and tho two Antipholi in tho " Comedy of Errors." One of tho witnesses for tho dofonco, indeed, -tattd that Malcolm and Macdonald were vory much alike, only tho latter was tho bigger man of tho two ; and, though Mio (Ul. not actually exclaim, "Ono of these men is genius to the other," it is obvious that she might have cj-.iotcd Shakeapoaro to that elfect with perfect propriety, In fact, if there wore two men, who were both in Brighton on tho Friday, both with the same initials, and with handwriting almost identical, both with a scar on tho forehead, mid tho sumo tooth missing, tho coincidence is not simply extraordinary- it is miraculous. Yet nothing loss than that seems to bo tho theory on which thoiltifcnrc wn. j cuiidui-ti'd, .hlI l>v wliii-li i( mv- i ho : iipp..rln!.