MARRIAGE TANGLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 258, 31 October 1929, Page 14

MARRIAGE TANGLE.

A SOLDIER'S WIVES.

WOMAN ACQUITTED ON" BIGAMY CHARGD.

BELIEVED SHE WAS FREE,

"I told him I absolutely free to marry, and I honestly believed that I was," said Minnia Clamest Horrocks, a middle-aged woman, who pleaded not guilty at the Supreme Court yesterday to charges of bigamy and making a false declaration. Complicated relationships arising out of four marriage ceremonies were investigated during the trial, which ended in the evening with a verdict of "not guilty." Mr. V. N. Hubble prosecuted for the Crown, and Mr. Eay defended. It was. alleged that accused, having married William Arthur Meredith in England in 1912, went through a form of marriage with Gfeorge Earl at Auckland on December 21, 1921. Both Meredith and accused had been married before 1912, accused's first husband having died in 1902. Meredith stated that he had learned of his first wife's death some years before marrying accused, but the defence was raised that accused had reason to believe, on Meredith's own admission, that his first wife was living at the time of the second ceremony, and therefore that the 1912 marriage was a nullity. William Arthur Meredith, tailor, of Christchurch, stated that when 35 years of age he married the accused, whose age was 30, at the registrar's office, Bedwellty, Monmouth, England. That was in, October, 1912. Shortly afterwards' they came to New Zealand, and lived in Christchurch. Witness left for the front during the war with the 20th Reinforcement. When he returned, he could find no trace of accused, although he made many inquiries. He did not . see her again until the present proceedings were commenced. On the occasion of the 1912 marriage he described himself as a widower. His first wife's name wa3 Minnie Rowlands, and he married her before the Boer War. He was unable to find her when he returned, .and about seven years afterwards he ascertained that she had died. He was unaware of accused's previous marriage. He. denied that he told accused that his former wife was living. He wrote to her up to the time of his return from ;he last war, and she drew his pay throughout. Frank Evans, registrar of marriages in Auckland, said when accused was married to George Earl; in December, 1921, she described herself as a widow, the date of her former husband's death being given as January -25, 1902. Detective' White, of Hamilton, said when he interviewed accused at Ngaruawahia she said she married a man named William Horrocks in England in 1901, and he died in South Africa during the Boer War. She said Meredith had told" her to describe herself as a spinster on the occasion of the 1912 marriage. Meredith's mother told her after the marriage that he had a wife living in England. Meredith confirmed this, but said that because of something she had done this wife had no claim upon him. When she marriedEarl in Auckland in 1921 she believed that the 1912 ceremony was not a marriage because Meredith then had a wife living. . Accused confirmed these statements in evidence. She said that owing to insulting letters which Meredith wrote from England, and his statement that he did not intend to return, she wrote and told'him she had finished with him. After half an hour's retiremnet the jury returned with a verdict of not guilty, and accused was discharged.