Extraordinary Conspiracy.

Hastings Standard, Issue 104, 26 August 1896, Page 4

Extraordinary Conspiracy.

Readers of the Sydney Sunday Times will remember thai in the course of recent articles regarding laxity in the registration of marriages allusion was made to a bogus or sham marriage, the investigation into which led to our obtaining the facts upon which those articles were based. Being desirous of satisfying ourselves regardig the truth of the allegations before making them public we deferred giving the particulars at the time, but after making the fullest enquiry* we are now enabled to supply the details of the case, and which tend to show that a young and inexperienced woman had been made the victim of a vile and iniquitous plot. It appears that something over 12 months since the young lady in question promised to many a young man then occupying a responsible position in the city. The accepted lover undertook to make all arrangements for their marriage, and under some plausible pretext persuaded his fiancee to agree to a quiet wedding,and although the bride-elect expressed a wish to have some of her friends present at the ceremony, she was overruled by her promised husband. On the afternoon of the day fixed for the ceremony she was taken to a private house of considerable pretensions in one of the eastern suburbs, and presenting the appearance of being occupied by people of some means, being situated in a fashionable neighborhood, and comfortably furnished. Here she was introduced to a young lady, who she was told was to be one of the witnesses to the ceremony, which was to take place at 7 o'clock the same evening. The bridegroom then escorted her back to town, where they parted until the time appointed, .Vrt 'hp ■> Winced bride duly arrived ;u t'm h There she found the iu:ui vv!.,'! 1 he was engaged to be irri .n i wo other men, one of w'iir. t"L;*-ed like a clergyman o'" ■ Ol.urr': ■*' England, and intro<t- - vti her -uch, and the other ■ ■ cousin of the bridegroom, bearing the same surname. The young woman to whom she had been introduced during the afternoon was not present but a marriage certificate form was produced already bearing what was said to be her signature as a witness, it being stated that she was unexpectedly prevented from being present at the wedding. The bride elect was, however, assured that this made no difference as she had already seen the witness in question during the day. Of course, any one having the slightest knowledge of the law in such matters would have known differently, but the supposed bride being alone and without advisers, and trusting implicity to the representations of the man whom she believed was about to many her, made no objections. She ways told to sign the certificate, which j abe did, as did the three men in the mqpetna ttgocitne bridegroom, 1 k v Wr i ,■<»,

clergyman, and witness. The ceremony then proceeded, the pseudo clergyman reading the marriage service of the Church of England, and signing the name of a well-known minister of that denomination. No other documents were signed, but the bride was presented with what purported to be a marriage certificate, and she then left with the man to whom she supposed herself to have been lawfully married. The couple went to reside in furnished apartments in one of the suburbs, but after the lapse of a few weeks the man represented that he had been transferred to the country, and ostensibly proceeded thither, promising to send for his wife so soon as he had a home ready for her reception. He corresponded with her for a time, and sent several remittances, but ultimately letters and remittances ceased, and the deceived woman then made enquiries of his whereabouts at the Sydney office, where her supposed husband was engaged prior to being transferred to the country, only to learn that his whereabouts were unknown. All subsequent efforts to trace him have proved fruitless. Having no means of her own, and being about to become a mother, she went to reside with friends, and eventually a child was born. Though apparently deserted, and unable to find any trace of her supposed husband, she had [as yet no suspicion of the dastardly plot by which she had been betrayed and deceived, but on attempting to register the birth of the baby, and giving particulars of her supposed marriage, she learned that no such marriage was recorded in the Registrar-General's office in Sydney. Further inquiries elicited the fact that [not only had the cleryman who was supposed to have performed the marriage ceremony been personated, but that his signature to the certificate had been forged and an examination of the document shows that it is an old one, from which the orignal names and dates have been erased, and those representing the parties to the sham wedding and the date written over the spaces so created. The whole of the facts show that the affair was a deliberately planned scheme to ruin and betray a confiding and unsuspecting girl, and as at least three persons were implicated in the matter, it is to be hoped that steps will speedily be taken to bring the cowardly conspirators to justice.