THE BETHELL MARRIAGE CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9022, 7 April 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE BETHELL MARRIAGE CASE.

Mr. Justice Stirling delivered judgment on February 15, on the question of the validity of the marriage of the late Mr. Christopher Bethell, of the Capo Mounted Police, with Teepoo, a member of the Baralong tribe in South Africa. If the validity of the marriage was established, the child of Teepoo would be entitled to property worth about £500 a year. Mr. Justice Stirling said that Mr. Christopher Bethell left Eng.land for South Africa in 1878, and never returned, he being killed in an encounter with the Boers. Aβ he was entitled to property from his grandfather, an inquiry was directed whether he was married. The chief clerk held the inquiry, and found that he had married, according to Baralong rites, a woman named Teepoo, by whom he had a child, born ten days after his death. He also reported that polygamy was prevalent in the- Baralong tribe. The question whether this constituted a legal marriage had been very ably argued before him. At first Mr. Bethell was British Resident; but subsequently the appointment was cancelled, and he became a storekeeper, after which he joined the Cape Mounted Police. He became acquainted with Montsioa, the chief of the Baralongs, a semi-barbarous tribe, the members of which were allowed to have one great wife and several concubines of almost equal rank. Mr. Bethell stated to Montsioa that he wanted a Baralong woman for his wife, and in answer to the chief's inquiries, said he would marry her according to Baralong rites, and not in church. These rites consisted in sending the heads of a sheep, buck, ox, and cow to the mother of the girl, and were fulfilled by Mr. Bethell when in 1883 ho married Teepoo. He also ploughed the mother's garden, and, according to Montsioa, fulfilled all the requirements of a Baralong marriage, and lived with Teepoo exclusively until the time of his death. In 1883 ho signed a document directing a Mr. Roland, in the event of his death, to sell his property and buy cattle for the support of Teepoo and the child, if one was born, and expressed a wish that it should be sent to school either in England or the colony, and enter the army subsequently. During this time he kept up communication with his family, and received his income from the property, but did not mention his marriage with Teepoo. He (the Judge) was of opinion that the relations between Teepoo and Mr. Bethell were higher than mere concubinage, and no doubt it would have been dangerous and disagreeable to him to have lived with a near relative of the chief of the tribe unless he had conformed to their marriage customs. But polygamy was rife in the tribe, and was the union one that merely bore the name of marriage, or was it a union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others for the term of their lives. It must be remembered that Mr. Bethell refused to marry Teepoo in church, although that could have been done, and there was an entire absence of any instance in which he recognised her as his wife to his friends. Moreover, Teepoo gave no evidence in the case, and the conclusion he came to was that the marriage was only a marriage in a Baralong sense, and wae not valid. At the same time he hoped Mr. Bethell's relatives would make adequate provision for the child,