OFFICER'S REMORSE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13453, 1 June 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

OFFICER'S REMORSE.

.;'. _ ,*. — ! .. ■ REPENTANT HUSBANDS SIONATE APPEAL. Some sad letters were read when Mr. Jus. tice Dodd, in the King's Bench, Dublin, gave judgment for the petitioner in the divorce case brought by Mr*. Gwenllian P'ascoe Kiliery, of Harrington Gardens, South Kensington, London, for a divorce " a mensa et t-hbro" from her husband, Mr. St. John Brown Kiliery, an officer in the army.. The petition was based on misconduct and cruelty. There was no appearance for respondent. The parties were | married in the Roman Catholic Military !Chapel at Rangoon. They first met in London in May, 1897, and they were engaged in the following July. On March 16, 1899, they were married, and very soon after |that the husband, it was alleged, began his I ill-treatment of petitioner. They returned !to London, and lived at various places, but respondent treated his wife with cruelty, and absented himself from his home. Durling all this time, it was alleged, he. was associating with women of bad character. | Petitioner said she was now, domiciled in | Ireland, and it was stated that respondent was bom in Merrion Square, Dublin. Mr. Healy, K.C., M.P., in presenting petitioner's case, read letters written by respondent after the proceedings for divorce had been instituted, in which he expressed contrition. On December, 15, 1906, he wrote: — . " Gwen, darling.—Do, for God's sake, be merciful to me. Hove you, and only you. Bad. as you make me out to be, still there is some good in me. lam willing to atone for all your unhappiness by my future life's devotion to you. Oh, Gwen! remember I am vour little boy, and that I love you. Don throw away my love and trample on it, for whatever I have done I am willing to make reparation to you and humbly apologise for. Do be merciful, Gwen, and don't separate yourself from me, for I love you. Good-bye. No matter what happens, I am, and will remain for ever, your loving St. John." On the same day he wrote from Hyde Park Barracks: — "My darling wife,— that is what vou are and always will be. May I take val to ten o'clock Mass to-morrow? If so, you will please tell Lost-mam either to bring him here or meet me at the door of the Oratory at two minutes to ten. Be merciful to me, Gwen, my darling, for I have been punished terribly already. If you like. I will go and live away, but for God's sake don't cut me off from you for ever. My darling Gwen, I love you so, and I feel absolutely wretched, and, oh, so lonely now. Do, do be merciful, and may God 'bless and take care of you. Good night.Ever and alwavs, I am your loving St. John." '.'-.. A pathetic LETTER. On December 18, 1906, he wrote:-— " My Darling,—For God's sake be merciful to me, for I am utterly crushed and heartbroken. Darling, you will have your way about the separation if you wish it, but do come home again or do come to see me, or may I come to see you? You say you are sorry for me. Do show your generosity and kindness by being kind to me. If I nave sinned I am, oh, so sorry, end I apologise to you most . humbly; and, darling, you shall have your own way about the separation, but do, do forgive me, Gwen, for I love you so, and I always have. Do write a few kind words to me and come and see me." Respondent also wrote to bis father-in-law (Mr. Edward Vaughan Morgan) and to his mother-in-law, pleading his case. In one of these he wrote:— . " Oh, dear Mrs. Morgan, I love you and Mr. Morgan, and I cannot bear to be cut off from you like this." Petitioner was then examined, and detailed various acts of cruelty. \ A fortnight after marriage he knocked her bead against the wall, and one day, while out riding, he hit her with a whipacross the head. She was not of the same religion as her' husband. They lived' at various places in India— Calcutta; Rangoon, and Manedalay. On coming to England, they lived at London. Canterbury, and Windsor. While in London respondent went out every night immediately after dinner, never telling her where he went, and did not return till early in the morning. While in the house in Montpelier Square they had several scenes, and he struck her once on the mouth, and she collapsed on the floor. When he saw her bleeding he fetched a doctor, and she was put to bed. He called her bad names in the hearing of the servants. One day hi October, 1904, while they lived at Windsor, a letter came which bore the Paris postmark. She thought it was addressed "Mrs. S. John Kiliery," but when she opened it she saw that it began " Mon cher St. John." She saw that it contained a demand upon him for 100 louis, and she asked her husband about it. He said it was from an 'English girl that he had met in a hoteUin Paris, and that it was a joke. Although she thought it very funny, she believed what he said. A little time afterwards she found the letter lying about, and she remembered that he told her that he was awfully afraid of being blackmailed. She asked "him why, and he replied that women do often try to get hold of married men, and what would she do in such a case? He then said that he was afraid that the letter from the girl in Paris was a blackmailing letter. In reply to Mr. Justice Dodd, petitioner said there was no collusion or connivance between her husband and herself in the bringing of . these proceedings. Edward Smith, a private inquiry agent in London, said that in November, 1906, he received instructions to watch respondent. He found that he used to go homo at two, three, and four o'clock in the mornings, and that he associated with the women of the streets. There was no evidence for respondent. Mr. Justice Dodd granted a decree of judicial separation, with costs against the respondent. 1 ■ ,==