MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 March 1934, Page 3

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

BIGAMY CHARGE DEFENCE. SYDNEY, February 27. An extraordinary story was told to Judge Barton at the Parramatta Quarter Sessions by John Henry Sheen, or Halpin, 63, railway pensioner, who pleaded not guilty to a charge of bigamy. It was alleged by the Crown that 33 accused married Sarah Matilda ylor at Newcastle on July 4, 1892, d while she was still alive went through a form of marriage with Hilda Jane Peck at Redfern on April 22, 1925.

In a statement from the dock the accused said that he was until recently under the impression that his name was Parker. He later learned it was Halpin. His mother, he explained, was One of foiir sisters, two of whom had been carrying on with the same man r That man was named John Sheen. “I was born of one sister,” said accused, “while John Henry Sheen was born of the other. We were both illegitimate. Later my mother married a man named Parker. When I was very young my mother went off her head and tried to" murder me by cutting my wrists with a razor. I still have the marks.” The accused added that he met John Henry Sheen at Paddington about 20 years ago. Sheen told him that he was about to sit for an examination to admit him into the Railway Department, but he knew he would not pass. It was decided that the accused should sit for Sheen, and when he passed Sheen told him he could have the job. The accused said he accepted the position under Sheen’s name and was employed on the railways from May, 1914. “I don’t know whether I am to blame, but I know I have fallen in now over something that happened 20 odd years ago,” he continued. “I was retired from the railways as John Henry Sheen in 1933. When I first went to Harden, Sheen, who was in Sydney, was in trouble with his wife, and he gave me samples, of his handwriting. I spent hours .every night trying to copy it. Sheen gave me letters to post to his wife from Harden. She would reply, and Sheen would send them to me and I would reply to them.” Accused denied that he visited Mrs Sheen every fortnight, but said that out of sympathy he assisted her financially when Sheen disappeared. This went on for years until he was moved to Sydney. There Mrs Sheen was always wanting money from him, and used to waylay him. When he married in 1925 he was not in a position to support her. “She used to throw it up at me,” he said. “She used to say ‘You took his place, and now you must take me.’ ”

Mrs Ida Emily Maude Hyde, of Newcastle, said her maiden name was Sheen. John Henry Sheen was her brother. He married. She identified Mrs Sheen (who was brought into Court), as his wife. The man in the dock was not her brother. He was John Halpin, her cousin. She last saw John Henry Sheen about four or five years ago, when he said he was going to New Zealand. Amelia Gardiner, a widow, of Newcastle, said she knew John Henry Sheen, whom she met at lodge functions. The accused was not he. She had not seen the accused until the police court proceedings at Liverpool a few weeks ago. She last saw Sheen about 22 years ago. Sheen was convicted by the jury. He was sentenced to 12 months’ hard labour. , Mr W. C. Moseley, who appeared for accused, in an appeal for leniency, said Sheen was in failing health. Of the first marriage, he said, the youngest of the 11 children was now 20, ‘While the second woman had two young boys to support. The accused would have to face a summons at Burwood Police Court the following day for maintenance of his lawful wife. “It is obvious to me,” said his Honor, “that the accused misled the second woman into believing he was free to marry her. Bigamy is a serious matter, but I am taking into consideration the jury’s recommendation.” When sentence was passed, the accused was removed from the dock in a state of collapse.