MATRIMONIAL CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7651, 31 May 1886, Page 3

MATRIMONIAL CASE.

APPLICATION FOR A SEPARATION ORDER. On Saturday at the Police Court, before Mr. G. H. Seth Smith, R.M., ail application for separation order and custody of children was made by Margaret Lynch against her husband, Dennis Lynch. Mr. Theo. Cooper appeared for the applicant, and Mr. O'Meagher for Lynch. Mr. Cooper said the application was made under the provisions of the Married Women's Protection Act, 18S0. The applicant wished for a separation order, and that the three children of the marriage be delivered into her custody. He understood the applicant to bo willing that a separation order should be granted, but not the application for the custody of the children. He then gave a sketch of the case, narrating the frequent acts of cruelty which had compelled the applicant to leave her husband and ask for the present order. He then called Catherine Lynch, who said she was married co Dennis Lynch on February 5, 1879, at St. Patrick's Cathedral, and first went to Kyber Pass and then to Wairoa, where her husband kept the Wairoa Hotel. There wore children of the marriage, Patrick, born in ISBO : Catherine, born on July 23, 18S2 ; and Margaret Spellman, born May 28, ISS4. The youngest was in her possession, and she wished to have the custody of the other two as well. It was nearly twelve months after the marriage that she had to complain of her husband's conduct. That was about three months before the birth of the first child when her husband struck her in the face in the presence of the servants, and she could not tell the reason why. He was then sober. He afterwards promised never to strike her again, and she thought he would not have done so but for his giving way to drink. In ISB2, after they • left the Wairoa, he gave her a black eye, and she had to keep her room for a fortnight to prevent people knowing. At that time he war, scarcely ever sober. She left her husband for a time, and he sold out his Wairoa business and came to town, when she again joined him. They lived in a cottage of j their own in Custom-street West. The second child was bora about three months after that. She gave evidence of several acts of cruelty, suoli as knocking down and kicking, besides striking her over the face. A week after her second child was born, he knocked her down, jumped on her chest, and tore her hair. David Gouk asked Lynch what he was doing to his wife, and Lynch then knocked him down. They went from Custom-street to Mercury Bay, and during I die twelve weeks they were there he was j drunk all the time, but did not illtreat her. : They kept the Mercury Hotel there for six i .veeks. Afterwards they went to the i incidental, where they remained about I eighteen months, and during that time a fortnight never passed without him getting drunk, and he was always abusive, and he frequently ill-treated her. On one occasion he struck the baby, and then illtreated her so that at three in the morning she had to go to her mother's house. After seeking police protection, she came back in three or four weeks. Another night in the diningroom, when his brother William was there, he again blackened herjeyes, knocked her down and jumped on her, and crowds of men gathered round. They afterwards stayed for a week or two at Gleeson's Hotel, and afterwards returned to the cottage in Custom - street. Six or eight weeks afterwards their youngest child was born, and she narrated still further act of illtreatment of herself and her children. Once she slept under the bed on a. rug for fear of his violence. They went to the City Hotel, when the violence continued, and (the was still rather deaf from blows at the back of her ears. He fired a revolver at her, but she afterwards found it was only loaded with matches. She askad for a protection order, and the exclusive custody of the children. She was in a position to maintain them, and her husband was at present in the Bankruptcy Court. At this point the further hearing of the cage was adjourned until two o'clock on Monday afternoon.