INDULGENT COURT

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 March 1930, Page 3

INDULGENT COURT

ABERDEEN’S BEST JOKE. Aberdeen is laughing uproariously at its own latest joke—the story of a man who resorted to bigamy in order to save 50/- a half year on washing! Here are the facts of the case in brief: the humorous narrative comes at the end. When Henry Smith, a farm servant, pleaded guilty to bigamy, the prosecutor (Mr. Thomas Maclennan) said Smith asked the woman to marry him, because if he had a wife it would save him £2 10/- in a half-year for washing. When Smith’s first wife died he married her daughter by another man, but she left him. Describing the case as a comedy of errors, Sheriff Laing fined Smith £lO, with the alternative of four days’ imprisonment. The story, as told by the prosecutor, threw a lurid light on social conditions in the local countryside. He said that Smith’s first wife was living peacefully with her illegitimate daughter when Smith went and proposed to her, and she married him. She lived only three months after the marriage. Her daughter was only 17 years of age, and Smith induced her to marry him. One day Smith (said the prosecutor) turned up at an auction mart at Turriff, where a number of women were plucking poultry. Among them was Annabelle McWilliam, who had been in the same farm service with him twelve years previously. He asked for her,’ and she replied, “Ay, I’m Annabelle. Fit (what) are ye seekin’ me for?” Ho said, “I wis wonderin’ if ye wid come an’ be my housekeeper.” “Na, I dinria think that,” said the woman. He stayed with her for about an hour, and said he would come back and see her on the day of the cattle show. On the cattle show day he came back, but, instead of asking her to be his housekeeper, he asked her to be his wife. The woman said she would think about it. He visited her regularly every fortnight after that, and later they came to Aberdeen to look for the “Marriage Buroo.” They were directed to a lawyer’s office, and Ihe sheriff (added the prosecutor) did the rest of the work. They then went home to Turriff, where the marriage feast was awaiting them, and next morning it got about among the neighbours that “Harry” was married already, and that his wife was actually living in Turriff. One of the neighbours went into the house and said to Annabelle, “They tell me that Harry is married already.” “I dinna ken that,” said Annabelle, “but I will need tae speir (ask) at him.” She “speired” at him, and he said he had been married, but his wife was dead. The police made inquiries, and had no difficulty in tracing Smith’s second wife-. The Sheriff observed: —“The crime of bigamynccessarily varies in degree, according to the circumstances in which it has been committed. I confess that I cannot imagine circumstances which would more justify my taking a somewhat lenient course than those which have been disclosed in this case.”