EXTRAORDINARY STORY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 8 July 1924, Page 7

EXTRAORDINARY STORY.

WOMAN LOCKED IN ROOM FOR SEVEN YEARS. ■k BY CABLE —PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT Received July 8, 9.10 a.m. B m LONDON, July 7. The Morning Post’s Paris- correspondent tells an extraordinary story of a husband who is alleged 'to have PF secretly divorced his wife in order to secure her fortune, and kept her locked .up for seven years in a room of the house in which he lived with another woman. It was disclosed before the courts that the parties married in 1889: The, husband was a young, briefless barrister, and the wife brought into settlement, 600,000 francs, which were so invested that the couple could "only touch the interest four years after marriage. The husband persuaded his wife to consent to a formal divorce and continue living together. The husband was thus able to secure control of the property as her agent. By 1914 she was penniless. Henceforward, having - become a charge on her husband, she was kept locked in a small room with a barred window, and her only food was > ft plate of boiled potatoes and dry bread every two days. Sim succeeded in escaping in 1920, and took refuge with her relatives, who communicated with the police. Thanks to the law’s delays, however, the husband was able to prevent a hearing before the court until now*. The bourt ordered investigations with a view to a criminal prosecution. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.