GREAT BIGAMY ROMANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13485, 11 May 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

GREAT BIGAMY ROMANCE.

—— ' p .'■..il EXTRAORDINARY SCENES IN i j VI AGE. ' j Seldom has v more remarkable drama bee* 1 unfolded in the Law Courts than that brought to light by the Wagstaff-Jalhad | will euit, which came to a conclusion m [London on March 25. The novelist of tl sordid and sensational could hardly d esi| ! | better material than this story of a wealth man who marries a woman already married : who has on* cousin a tailor in the village and another of the same name a ' | prosperous architect in London, an d a » whose death amaze of complications e a . j sue. A life interest is left to his widow so long as she remains a widow ; but mean- I while the woman has made a sensational ; confession of bigamy, and, never bavin* been his wife, how can she be-his widow* Failing her, the estate is to pass to tit" cousin's eldest son; but to the son of | which cousin, since both bear the tanw name? Taking such a plot, the novelist j could not more intelligently or sjtitk,'. " torily have worked it out than the actual case had been adjudicated by Mr. Usti £ Kekewieh. the issue between the cousins ■'" - was early disposed of. The argument set. tied round the question whether a. second ary meaning could be applied to the term widow, and there is no doubt that Mr James Poole "Wagstaff intended «uch » secondary meaning, just as he gave * secondary meaning to the word wife by introducing Mrs. Jalland as big wife to i the world at large. Had he foreseen that Mi's. Jalland would have found; it necessary publicly to confess to bigamy, be would doubtless have made clear IJis intention that, in any event, it was she to whom the life interest should go. A- it was he was careful to avoid exposure, and, a i it is, his wishes have been, earned out. ." .1 THE WIDOW'S RETCBK. ; Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the story wait the welcome home given tn Mrs. Jalland. • * W Quiet little Potion, in. Bedfordshire, hud i the great day of its life. ,To the rest of ; - ! the world Mrs. JaHand's great victory was : merely a heading in a newspaper, to be glanced at for a moment, and torgotten. But down at Potton, where Mrs. Jalkuul lives, she is the Lady Bountiful of the Tilluge, her praise is in every mouth, and. his . homecoming ; within a. few hours of trie" judge's decision iii her favour, was » triumph such as few- people enjoy. The aewi of her victory . soon spread, and when -ft became known that she was coming noma straight from the court the whole village ' turned out. : ; At the. parish boundary, down by Lon» • < Ladder stile, they gathered to greet her. ;- as she drove from ; Biggleswade! station. i The men of the 'local faro brigade were i there, in the new uniforms and gleaming helmets she had presented to tJiem not - long before.- The town band owed their smart uniforms to the generous hand. , Presently along the road '.. the watchers see a cloud of dust. ."She is coining!" ■ ! they cry. In a few moments a pair-horte - j brougham dashes up, .surrounded by cyclists j who had ridden over to Biggleswade ste- J jtiou to meet the train and form a mounted escort.' .-.'.. ■.;<'■ | In a twinkling the horses have been ' taken out of the brougham, the firemen have taken their places, and amid cheers | the procession moves onward, while the* ■ band strikes up, "See the conquering here comes i" . < So, headed by the band, they pass along '" the country lane, through the'quaint old I market place, where flags are flying from : many a window, ;up to Manor Park, where Mr. Wagstaff • had lived, and which is to remain in Mrs. Jalland's band?.