MARRIED TO A MANIAC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6823, 29 September 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

MARRIED TO A MANIAC.

Tub old proverb about marrying ia haste and repenting at,leisure was never better illustrated sra»v'it was-ia.a., suit-, which came before Jiidfje.J. F. Daly in'the Court of Common' Pleas, New York, recently. The action is one broughi by David Holtz against his 'young : wife, Pauline Holtz, a "girl o5 twen-.y, to annul their marriage, which took place "en tlia Iw\ of last April. In his complaint t'ue; plaintiff says, that hiS.-' marriage occurred under the following circutristaucba': became engaged; to'the defendant on the day. preceding his marriage, and, as-hq alleges; .the clefeuclnut au(i her relations,-for thoparpose of iadiiciug him to consent that the, marriage shiiuld occur the next day, falsely represented to- ii'm that by the lawn, or customs of the- State it was' obligatory upon engaged, parties to-.iuimediately appear before some officer.or.person stationed at the City Halt for the purpose of performing the m iri'ia:;e cereuiouy ; that when be refused to be married so quickly after, the engagement, without having first become better acquainted with his intended ■ wife,- and without first cou-iulting his mother, .who-was then .on her' way , from Europe to, America, the dc r fendant and her for t'ue purpose of hastening the. marriage, fraudulently represented to him-' that suuh a' ceremony- was not binding:upon-persons' professing the Hebrew' religion, and that their actual marriage could take place thereafter and be performed by ;v minister of- , their own religion; that ,tho plaintiff, who is a' foreigner and unacquainted with tiio.','English /language, ' was tically induced to'.consent' to the marriage, which i was performed at the City Hall by one of , tiie Aldermen, and that this 'marriage was j not cofisumtiiated uritiltlie 15th of. April following, on . which ' day the parties were remarried by a Hebrew minister. • Oα the morning following the second ceremouy of ■marriage, as 'Mr. 'lToltz proceeds to allege iii hiscomplaiut, bis young wife became insane, and , had to be removed ti.the asylum ,ou Blaclcwcll's Island,:where sha still remains, , ■under medical treatroeut ;is a lunatic, and .upnn.iuforrnatiOQ aad belief: it i 3 alleged that she ha? been a lunatic 'or several years past, ■ and haii been'.several, t>ntcs in the asylum, but that she enjoys lucid intervals at vorif-.m times, lasting.from five 'ays to two months, , -and that.at such intervals she fully remembers.,all that had transpired before she relapsed into-lunacy. • At these times,as the j complaint further state?, she is well.awhrq of her lunacy, but-believes—having advised by physicians—that, her cure maybe effected in caseof.hcrbecoming a mother. Mr.; lioltz aaya that during his acqunintanec with, thedefendant and up to tho day'following the second ceremony of- marrir'.ge, the defendant was enjoying one of ihese lucid intervals,.and during thii time acted liko-a sane person, and the fact of her having been insane was entirely unknown to , him, The .'phintiff charges tliat thedefendant and her relatives maliciously, withheld . from him tlie tact's above statctl, so that he might be induced to ■marry her, in utter ' disregard of l.iis'own. personal happiness,.more especially 50 as f.bo defendant's father is also'a-lunatic, as .the plaintiff , is informed and . believes. In,conclusion, the plaintiff says that had the facts ■a3 stated, not been concealed from ,hinv ho' ■would nevov have married the girl!., He therefore asks, that the marriage be declared void. The. plaintiff also makes an affidavit in whicli ho states that he never saw the.' defendant's father at her house, and he was mido to believe by both the defendant and her mother that her father was dcid. ■ The" plaintiff says-that ho sub.cqu.fcntly discovered that, the father'was alivrj-"and of unsound mind; aiid 'had not lived v.ith his family since 1572. Upon this state, c-.t facts Judge Daly ■ ordered that service of the summons be made upon the defendant' personally, aud also upon Dr. Franklin.and the girl's mother.