MIRIAM'S ROMANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 29, 4 February 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

MIRIAM'S ROMANCE.

VN EPISODE IN THE LONDON ,1 15 WISH COMMUNITY.

Miriam Lieberman, a young- Jewess, went through the ceremony of marriage with Soloman Szapira, without knowing it. That, at any rate, was the story told by Miriam in the Probate and Divorce Division on December 21, in a case in which she soug-ht a declaration of nullity.

According1 to Mr Groser, her counsel, the girl is now twenty years of age, and at the time the contract was entered into was but sixteen and somewhat illiterate. The ceremony took place at the Registry Oflice at Nottingham, and she thought it was simply one of betrothal, which in any case had to precede a marriage at the synagogue. ■ v "After the marriage Szapira.left her at the Registry Oflice door, and. she had never seen him since, as he had gone off to South Africa, and had never been heard of since the marriage, nor had the ruarriag-e-ever been consummated.

Miriam went into the witness-box and gave her owi\ account of the affair. She said she niadie the acquaintance of Szapira as a friend of her mother. He asked her to become engaged to him, and she answered, 'Ask mamma.'

In January, ISO 4, he asked. Iter to go to the Registry Office for the purpose of 'registering the betrothal according to the English law,' and in the following month they did go to the Registry, and went through a ceremony, 'which at the time she thought was merely a formality.

In the course of the cereanony Szapira put a ring into her hand. After they left the Registry she asked him what the ring meant, and he said, 'Oh, it's nothing; it's only brass,' and, taking it from her, threw it away. He shook hands with her at the Registry door, and she had never seen him since.

She afterwards told her mother what had taken place, and her mother said she need not put herself about, as it was only the registration, and lasted for only three months, and that if she did not wish to get married then she need not. Subsequently she ascertained that the Kabbi had called at the Kegistry as the result of talk among the community, and it was after that she learned she had been through a civil marriage.

Sir Justice Barnes: What made you believe that you were betrothed?—He asked me to become engaged to him. I said I did not mind, and he persuaded me to go with him.

Mrs Lieberman, the mother of the girl, stated in evidence tha-t Szapira was a jeweller. He showed her a paper for the registration of the engagement. She could neither read nor

write, and so she put her mark to it.

His Lordship: It is a consent for the marriage of a minor. Can your daughter read and write?— Yes, my lord.

His Lordship: There is another signature of a person who can write; It is Mr Silverston.

Mr Groser: You are a strict Jewess, and hold a marriage elsewhere than in a S3rnagogue something disreputtable?—lt is nothing at all.

His Lordship: Do you know why Szapira wanted to marry your daughter and then leave her? —No I did not.

Had your daughter any money?-

No, none.

Was Szapira better off than you?— I didn't know his position. I had no time to inquire before he left.

Mrs Ada Silverstom told the Court that she was sister to Mrs Liebermun. She went to the Registry Office at the request of Szapira, who told her the object- of the visit there was simply to register the engagement, and that it was necessary to give notice in order that they might afterwards be married in the- synagogue. Notice of the intention to be married in the synagogue had to.be given, and it was valid for three mouths.

His Lordship said that was extremely important, because it explained where the idea of the three months came from.

Mr Silverston, husband of the last witness, who was1 also present at the ceremony, declared in evidence that he believed it was nothing more than registration of an intention to be married in the synagogue.

The Assistant. Registrar stated that in the first instance Szapira gave notice of an intended wedding in the synagogue. He afterwards returned and said he didn't wish to be married in the synagogue but in the Registry, and he then, asked for the notice necessary.

After the ceremony Szapira told him that he. was a jeweller, and that when he returned to Boston he Avoiild send him a present, Witness told him not to do so. Szapira subsequently requested him not to disclose anything to the Rabbi in the event of inquiry being made relative to the marriage, but he told htm he could do nothing of the kind.

Mr Justice Barnes said the only

difficulty he had was this. He, should like to be certain that these proceedings were not merely taken to satisfy, the Jewish community, but had been undertaken to show that the parties taking part in it did not believe it to be a marriage, in order to ascertain, whether the Rabbi or other Jewish authorities could throw light on this point, he should allow the case to stand over until the sittings next term.