ROMANCE OF FLYING CORPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15646, 27 June 1914, Page 2 (Supplement)

ROMANCE OF FLYING CORPS

• .'■' ■ Ym " '■",'..'! ■■••' .« • CAPTAIN'S BROKEN ENGAGEMENT. '"■■■■ ~-..■•■ , ', — /*■='■'■•;•'-'..■' •■■.■ ■' ■->?> DEATH INTERRUPTS LAW CASE. 1 , The, romance of a broken.engagement and an aviation tragedy was related in the Chancery Court recently. Mies Derryle Elizabeth Law, an American girl, sued, the executors of the late Captain Patrick Hamilton, the army airman, killed on September 6,1912, on Salisbury Plain, to enforce a settlement of £600 made in her favour. In the end she secured judgment | for the amount claimed with costs. The parties became engaged in America, and Miss' Law came over with her mother to bo married to the captain. Finally, however, the engagement came to an end, ono of the most dramatic phases of the affair being the final dialogue on the telephone between the couple. Miss Law repeated it as follows, in the witness-box: " Captain Hamilton: We are no longer i engaged. "Miss Law: We most certainly are. "Captain Hamilton: All I have to live on is a bucketful of debts. "Miss Law; It will be a novel experi- ; ence for me. "-* ".Captain Hamilton: We cannot possibly marry. "Miss Law: It is rather late in the" day to say that. Yon have brought me away from my country. "Captain Hamilton: I must be going, a$ I havo to catch a train for Southampton. Good-bye. 1 am very sorry, my dearest." That was the last time, said Miss Law, that she heard from Captain Hamilton. Mr. Terrell, Miss Law's counsel, said that his client was the daughter of a merchant of Atlanta City <tjrho died fifteen years .ago. He left his widow property bringing in £1200 a year. Promotion Comes First. When Captain Hamilton met Mies law in America ho was engaged in an enterprise connected with aviation in Mexico. The young people became engaged,to bo married; and it was arranged that the wedding should take place at Washington. He then went to Mexico, and from there wrote to say that under the new regulations his marriago would prevent his gotting promotion in the Flying Force. He suggested that the mt'.viage should be postponed.

The. enterprise in Mexico was a" failure, counsel .'continued. Captain Hamilton could not get the money for.his contracts. in the meantime Miss Law hod had to tell her friends that her marriage was postponed. She had got her trousseau.

As the life of an airman was precarious, Captain Hamilton thought it proper to settle £600 on Miss Law. The arrangement was that whon they were married in tho following October, 1912, he should settle'' tho whole of his property on her. A document with regard to the settlement, was signed in the presence of a notary. At the end of the document. Captain Hamilton said

"1 havo made this settlement to prove the; high regard I havo for my future wife." r

Mr. Terrell was about to read letters that passed between Captain Hamilton and Miss Law, when Mr. Clauson, counsel on the other side, said that ho would admit the engagement, so that the letters need not be read. "I think it terrible" be said, "that love-letters between these two young people should be read in court."

Mr. Terrell went on to tel! how Mrs. Law and her daughter were .welcomed when they came to England by Captain Hamilton's family, who seemed to be under tile impression that Captain Hamilton was marrying a rich American heiress. Afterwards, however, a determination was comevto to prevent the marriage. The result was that Captain Hamilton broke i off the engagement. Up till March, 1912, he had continued to write affectionate letters. Too Poor to Marry. Mrs. Law next received a letter from Captain Hamilton's solicitor stating that the captain had only £50 a year and his pay. When Captain Hamilton did not call on Mrs. Law as she asked him, she said in a note: "Is it that you aw ashamed or too much of a coward that you have not been before?", The action for breach of promise came to an end when Captain Hamilton was killed in the following September. Miss Law then* gave evidence. It was dt Long Island, she said, that she was introduced tor Captain) Hamilton in September, 1911. An aviation exhibition was in progress. They became engaged, and, remarked witness, "He said he would always love me and protect me from tho world."

Miss Law then described how they came to Enriand with Captain Hamilton on the Olympic. Speaking of a quarrel she had with Captain Hamilton, Miss Law said that it was about his sister Ethel's interfering with their affairs. A few days afterwards there was a reconciliation. They parted on the best of terms;/he kissed her, but she never saw him again. On the next day the final telephone conversation narrated above took place.