A WOMAN SUING A DEAD LOVER.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7719, 16 April 1887, Page 3

A WOMAN SUING A DEAD LOVER.

At "the, Newcastle Assizes— before Mr 1 •Justice ■ Cave' and ', a jury— an extraordinary action- for breach .of promise was heard. Tito "plaintiff Isabella Finlay, 'oy her statement, 'of claim alleged that John George Cliirney, who, being dead,'was represented by the defendants, promised to iimrry : hot and broke his promise before" his 'death ; ■ further that , lie promised.;tp:;mako ■ certain compensation, which the' plaintiff alleged :had not been made, The vdefctutynts denied that the testator., had, eVer made snch' promises. Mr Seymour said he had to lay before the ' jury a very exceptional. case. It was a case in which, in any. view of it, a great wrong had 'been /done. But the executors of anian who had -died leaving a large cstate-^soiuetliiug" between ' £20,000 and £00,000 — were".. therje -'.to resist the claiirii'fflt wasVari v action for breach of promises of -marriage against a. dead man. If he .could show them, as he undertook todo; that' there "was a promise to marry, iitul that' there was in the lifetime of the deceased a: breach of that promise, then liis executors ought to pay. . The plaintiff was'inarriedlo'a Mr Finlay, who died in 1880. Plaiutiff then had three children, and another was added by the unfortunate intimacy behyeeri hersolf and the' deceased man, who was a man of substance, and was very mnch respected .at; Morpeth. He hold a high position in a' lelifrious body;he was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and was very much respected by its- members. -'In, the year 1881, when the plaintiff was a widow, the defendant invested a portion -of, his money in a farm at .Stobhill,, thre,e or four miles from, Morpeth, a ■ place .• to -which he moved to in 1884., Soon. -* after he ' took this place he' wanted ' someone to superintend his dairy,- and he engaged the plaintiff. He had known her as a girl of filteen, and had on one; occasion kissed her. He assigned her a comfortable house at .Stobhill, where she was to live with her .children, and when, she went to live there he used to go there and see her, and after a time his visits, ' which at first were daily, became almost hourly. He gave her abundant proof of the affection which he had towards her. There was no great disparity between their ages ; she was about 40 and he was about 60. One day, on going into the plaintiffs house, he put his arm round hei\ and kissed her, saying, " It's a long 'time, since I; gave you a kiss before." Nothing": could exceed his attentions to the plaintiff, and the constancy arid firmness of his affection were both marked. He spoke of marriage to her,. but said that while Mrs. Boll, his housekeeper, lived at his house there .would be some difficulty in carrying out his wishes on this subject. But this difficulty was removed, for Mrs Dell died in July, 1882.- The defendant, shortly after Mrs Bell's death,, entered, into a positive engagement of marriage with the plainliu', and was 'accepted by her as her future, husband. Thedetendant , had "a daughter 'named Maggie j ,' and ' Her" father was extremely anxious that she should be a willing party to the engagement. The defendant had promised that he .would take care to marry her before the birth of the child ; but from one cause arid another the promise was not carried out. and the child was born. The defendant expressed a wisli that it should be called Isabella Beaumont Chirley Finlay— lsabella having been his mother's name — and the child was christened ac- ■ cordingly. Matters went on, and the last time the defendant visited the plaintiff was on the 19th of January last year. The noxt time ho saw her was at his own house, ; when he was ill ; she saw then tliat objections which had been raised to - the marriage were influencing him, and ■ that her hope of ever becoming his wife had gone. After the interview she felt that she had bettor, for tho sake of her children, consider whether she could not in his lifetime obtainsomeredressin theshape of compensation. He had several times' spoken of his intention to make provisionfor her. At one time she was to have a shop and a sum of money to keep her ; at another time it was to be half-a-dozen cows and a farm; then lie was to make/ an arrangement for providing for her three boys. He persevered in his promises „.* of that kind down to the close of his life.. After this Jast interview the plaintiff, who had acted a most tender, indulgent, and forbearing part towards the defendant, consulted her solicitors, Messrs T. and K. Nicholson, of Morpeth. They wrote to the deceased, who promised to pay £100 down and 12s a week lor 20 years as a provision for herself, besides doing something for the child. The death of the defendant, in April, 188b',' prevented this from . ever .reaching a satisfactory point. Tho defendant left a will by which ho made provision for the child, paying it 12s Cd a week until il. should lie 21 of age. There were three documents written by the defendant to tho plaintiff. ■■ One was dated October 15th, 1884, and was as follows : — 'l.ljear Belle, ~l have receiyed your kind note, enclosing a birthday card. I was glad to hear yon and the child were well. You know I mean to be your friend, but your coming to Stolihil) at present would not be for your comfort or my welfare. Everything is being done to make me uncomfortable. Could you not manage to go over to Tidlinglon, and send for what you may require! 1 ' Another road: — '"Morpeth, 'July 411 1, 1885.-1 hereby offer Mrs Isabella Finlay of Stobhill, to . receive from my executors, iff should bo taken away, £30 per annum until the sl2th of May, 1800, in quarter's payment, unless it should be superseded 'by a

legacy. --(Signed) J. B. Chiuney." The defendant diod, and no compensation had been made to the plaintiff. The defendant, was an elderly 'maiu fcurd.had been once or twice Mayor of Morpeth. .Isabella Fihlay; 'examined by. Mr Walton, said she was ,h widjo\V> and was (he plaintiff in iMiia action. Her husband was William Pinky, who Was a gamekeeper "ehipioyccV" on tho Dresswell estate. Whilst sh6 was still a girl she was well acquainted with the deceased. When she was 15 years of age he kissed her, and said she woulumake a nice little wife for somebody some, day. Mr Chirney •was afterwards married j she herself, at tlie age of 23 married Mr FinlaV. Subsequently her husband died, and Mr Chirney became a widoweiv He gave as a reason for not carrying ont liis promise to marry her that his step-daughter Maggie objected to it. He said she and. I threatened to drown herself, and that he was afraid she would carry out her threat/. Her father had drowned himself, and there was insanity on both sides. He wanted her to go and see his daughter, and try to arrange' the matter ; he was sure she would give in, because she was always like a lamb, (Langhtt)}'. ) Mrs Ellen . Dickenson, sister of tjie plaintiff, said she saw Mr. Chirne'y .after she became aware of the condition her sister was in, awd be said he' could not marry her then. She saw Mr Chirney again in the sunihier of 1885, and he then said they ■Would have agreed like ewe and lamb— (laughter)— but he had not his daughtpr's consent. She met Mr Chirney a few months afterwards) and he said he was in a very critical state of health— that anything Upset him, and he might die. He said also that if he. were to "marry one week ■ there' would be a' - scene, and he would be buried the next. His Lordship riiled that there was no case to go to the jury, and he gave judgment for the defendants with cbstsY ■■<■■■>