RIVAL DIVORCE SUITS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17328, 27 November 1919, Page 8

RIVAL DIVORCE SUITS.

HUSBAND AND WJFE SUING. BOTH SIDES MAKE CHARGES. ALLEGATIONS OF INFIDELITY. Another somewhat unusual divorce case engaged the attention of Mr. Justice Cooper and a jury of 12 at the Supreme Court yesterday. Lilah Markwick (Mr. Singer) applied for a divorce from Harold Mark-wick (Mr. Inder), on th ground of his misconduct with Elizabeth Leach, and i a cross-petition was made by Markwick j alleging that his wife had committed adultery with William Jones. Mr. Singer said th; marriage took place in 1913, and ther e was one child. The treatment meted out by Markwick to his wife was not only extraordinary, but cruel. In November, 1916, he left her without a home, starving, and without clothes. Ever since then Mrs. Markwick had had to earn her own living. In March, 1%17, she obtained a maintenance j order against her husband, but payments were very irregular, and subsequently the order was reduced. The co-respondent, Elizabeth Leach, was formerly the wife of Richard Leach, who divorced her" last • February on the ground of her adultery with the present respondent, Markwick. Leach was serving with the Expeditionary Force in France when he heard the two were living together, and in consequence .he obtained leave to return to New Zealand. When he arrived at Wellington in March, 1918, his wife met him, and persuaded him that there was no truthj in the report. Later, however, he found that Markwick had represented himself to a moneylender as Mrs Leach's husband, and, as a result of other discoveries, instituted the divorce proceedings, which were successful. The petitioner, Lilah Markwick, gave evidence on the lines of counsel's statement. ■ She said she saw her husband once walking arm-in-arm with a girl. She accosted the pair, and the girl said she knew him as " Mr. Martin," and thought he was single. Whenever witness tried to persuade him to stay at home he would fly at her. One night he picked up a clothesbrush and hit her, and on other occasions exhibited violence. He also threatened to cut her throat with a razor. To Mr. Inder : It was not true that she always posed as a single woman. She had never misconducted herself with Jones., and had never been out with him. James Mason, moneylender. gav evidence regarding a loan of £_0 to Mrs. Leach. Markwick represented himself as ; Mrs Leach's husband, saying his name was " Robert Leach." sßichard Leach, bootmaker, gave evi dence regarding the incidents that led him to sue for a divorce from his wife. On his return from active service he found that the insurance policies on the four children had lapsed, and that a number of debts had been incurred 6y his wife. He allowed Markwick to stay on in the house, and did not break tip the home, in the hope that his wife would come to her senses. Eventually he had to tell Markwick to go, as h e could see the two were fascinated with one another. His wife said that if Markwick went she would go too. She went. I Mr. Inder said the defence would be a' complete denial by Markwick and Mrs ' Leach, supported by other evidence that any misconduct had been committed. \<■ i y ing a « ainfit Markwick was that he was co-respondent in the previous divorce case, but if the jury were not convinced that he committed adultery thev were omte entitled to disregard the verdict m that case. Evidence would be called to show that Mrs. Markwick committed misconduct with Jones in Cornwall irark. The respondent, Harold Markwick, said his wife repeatedly left home for a week or fortnight, at a time She finally left altogether, leaving the baby boy, who was then about 15 months old, with him. He had had occasion to tax her with infidelity with Jones, but she denied it. There had never been any impropriety between witness and MrS Leach. He simply stayed, at her house as a boarder - J *«*}ea. On* examined by Mr. Singer, witness' & representing himself t0 a"? monevS. did tf 8 Mre - Leach ' s husband ' and fie: did not sign any agreement to purchase! a gramophone a* - Harold Leach" IS trade was that of a painter. He played the Piano at dances, and adonted the name j of A* Martin "as a professional name. j *" oßrt * oUrned «*!