CLAIMING A HUSBAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 138, 10 June 1905, Page 3

CLAIMING A HUSBAND.

A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY. Some four weeks ago an elderly bottle-dealer named John Baird was cited before the Newcastle (New South Wales) Police Court to answer an application for maintenance tiled by a woman calling herself Elizabeth Baird. The complainant then alleged that the defendant married her at Sydney 35 years ago, and two days after the ceremony deserted her. She next savr h : m 14 years ago, when she reproached him with having taken a .second vcife while .she (the enmplaiuaut) was still alive. Shu did not again see him until April last, when he called at a place where she was employed, to buy bottles. She stated that she first met tho defendant when she was a servant at the Currency Lass Hotel, at the corner of Pitt and iluiurr streets. .Sydney, and two days afterwards they were married. The defendant, in his answer, denied any relationslrp whatever with the complainant, who he declared he hud never seen until 14 years ago. when, in response to her claims, he repudiated all knowledge of her. She threatened to summon him. ami he then toM her to -,co away,"' as he "did not know her." He wa.s married in 1870. and subseqcently, eijrht years ago. to his pre.-~i'iit -vife. After hear ! ng the evidence Mr Scott. S.M.. fouini in favour of the complainant, and awarded her •V per week. Against this decision thn defendant appealed, through his solicitor (Mr A. H. .lames), to Judge Fitzhardinge, sitting : n appellate jurisdiction, at the Quarter Sessions a tew days ago. The ground Inken by tho appellant was that the magistrate's decision was against the evidence, and he produced a witness who stated shu had known Baird fer the last 45 yanrs, and she. in the man, also corroborated h's evidence as to his movements at the time of the alleged marriage with the complainant. His Honor, after bearing the additional evidence, came to the conclusion that Baird was not the man to whom the respondent had been married. He. however, thought the respondent honestly believed Baird was the person she married, but on the evidence adduced, he (His Honor) had no hesitation in upholding Ihe appeal. The magistralcV order of .">/ per week as maintenance was accordingly quashed. No application was made for costs.