MRS. TERRY'S PETITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11686, 22 June 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

MRS. TERRY'S PETITION.

MARRIED IN AUSTRALIA AND LEFT

WITHOUT A PENNY. Mas, C'ONSTANCK Margaret Fleming Terry obtained a divorce from her husband, Mr. William Edward Herbert Terry, in the Divorce Court on the ground of his desertion and misconduct. The parties were at one time members of the dramatic profession, but for some years the lady has been a journalist. They met on a tour in Australia, and in September, 1897, they were married at Fitzroy, a suburb of Melbourne. A fortnight later' Mr. Terry told the lady that she was not his lawful wife. "I have a wife living in England," he said. Afterwards lie admitted that he had lied to her. Mrs. Terry had a copy of the marriage certificate in her possession. Once he asked her for it. She declined, whereupon he drew it revolver and fired at her. Fortunately his aim was bad, and the bullet passed through the lady's clothes. Finally Mr. Terry left his wife " absolutely penniless." If it had not. been for friends in Sydney things would have gone very badly with her. These fiiwids wrote to the respondent's father on the matter of the "first marriage" Terry had spoken to Ids wife about. A reply came back to the effect that there never had been any stub marriage. Returning to England in April, 1898. Mrs. Terry met her husband once more. He expressed great sorrow for his past conduct to her, and promised to make amends for the past. Next morning he said he had to go and see his father at Barnes; and having borrowed all his wife's ready money went off. Later on in the day Mrs. Terry went over to Barnes. She found no traces of her husband, and saw no more of him for a long time. Last September she received an anonymous letter, which led her to make inquires at the Midland Grand Hotel, St. Pancras. There she found that her husband had been living with a woman. The visitors' book showed the entry, "Mr. and Mrs. Terry." Evidence on commission from the Melbourne Primitive Methodist minister showed that the marriage had been legally and properly performed; and, on the foregoing evidence Justice Barnes pronounced a decree nisi, with costs.