FRENCHMAN'S CRUELTY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18756, 9 July 1924, Page 11

FRENCHMAN'S CRUELTY

IMPRISONMENT OF WIFE.

PLOT TO SECURE HER PROPERTY.

A. and N.Z.

LONDON. July 7.

The Paris correspondent of the Morning Post relates an extraordinary story of a husband who is alleged to 'have secretly divorced his wife in order to secure her fortune. The man kept her locked up for seven years in a room of a house in which he lived with another woman.

It was disclosed before the Court that the parties were married in 1889. The husband was a then young briefless barrister, and the wife's marriage settlement of 100.000 francs was so invested that the coup'e could only touch the interest four years after their marriage. The hfisband persuaded his wife to consent to a formal divorce, but to continue living together. Tho husband was thus able to secure control of the property as her agent.

By 1914 the woman was penniless and became a charge on her husband. She was kept locked in a small room with a barred window. Her only food was a plate of boiled potatoes and some dry bread every two days.

The wife succeeded in escaping in 1920 and took refuge with her relatives, who communicated with the police. Thanks to the law's delays, however, the husband was able to prevent the hearing before the Court until now.

y The Court has ordered investigations to be made with a view to the criminal prosecution of the husband.