IS IT A MISTAKE ?

NZ Truth, Issue 132, 28 December 1907, Page 5

IS IT A MISTAKE ?

MAUDE TIERNEY'S BOODLE. A North-street Resident's Little Lot Will Have to Explain to a Jury. v Due disadvantage about Court proceedings is that they often reveal a woman's antecedents, when 'to all intents and purposes she is a virtu-' qus person. Adeline Lilian MayFrancis, who resides m the aristocratic neighborhood 6f North-street, Wellington, much affected by the de-mi-m.onde, was known to lots of people as the legal spouse of Peter Tiernan, out because she was charged m the Magistrate's Court with appropriating £§ which belonged to somebody; else, an unbind prosecution raked up the fact that she wasn't really married, but had been living ,iri a state of sin with Peter for a period of eight years, and her soul was m danger of damnation on that account. There are unusual circumstances about Adeline '.Lilian May's excursion into the realm of alleged dishonesty, and Lawyer Jackson hopes to plead successfully before a sympathetic jury 'for bis unfortunate client, whose character is assailed by the prosecution. It appears that a maiden of seventeen, or thereabouts, named Maude Tierney, whowears a green band round her straw hat, expected a money-order telegram or letter from ber brother Dick, who is a hairdresser and tobacconist at the sensational centre of Onga Onga (Hawke's Bay). Adeline. Lilian May Francis (what a long tail our cat's got !) happened to be m the P.O. on November 18, when juvenile Maude asked if there was anything for yJVDaude Tierney," and on the following day Peter Tiernan's missus made Inquiries after a' letter herself. She nold the clerk she expected some cash from her "boy," up the line, and be asked her, if her ■ name was "VTaude. She replied-sYes—Mau'de Tiernan, or Tierney, or some name like that. The official wonsulted another paper scratcher, who recognised her as a person who had frwpired for letters for somebody named Tierney of Tiernan or Tubb's, or something simiilar, and an order for two quid from the tonsorial person at Onga Onga was accordingly given to her; Pay-clerk Gladding; at the Lamibton Quay ; Money-Order. Office, . told Adeline .Lilian May she would have to geti somebody to identify her, and .there-? upon the North-street resident pro^ diic'ed several letters addressed to an j individual named . Tiernan, or Tierney, of Tanglefoot", or some name that was indistinguishable - m the, hurry and bustle of v the moment, and the lady v •RECEIVED TWO SOVEREIGNS, j When she got the money-order 'telegram , she signed the receipt, ./."Maude Tierney," thereby laying herself 'opdri to a charge of forgery m the Magistrate's Court. ', „ , v ( - . 'Tec. Letois got on the'-ttack of my lady, and interviewed . her twice oh the 12th December, when she denied vhat '.the signatures Were hers, anil on the first occasion Adeline was m a reason^Ule stiaiie of soibriety, but m the evening when./fche ..crime' investigator again called she had summoned fortitude with the aid of beer, and was m a condition of maudlin repen'sance. She acknowledged having received the cash, and mentioned that she had a father and brother who might send her money, but she was expecting cash from her "husband," Peter Tiernan '. Sometimes she signed herself "Adeline Francis,", sometimes "Maude Tiernan." Teirnan, the man she was living -with, was a sailor or wharf laborer. Adeline gave her address to the P.O. people as 17 Constaible-street, a**d. Lewis visited that domicile, only "to find that It Was occu^ed fry ra Peronfaneni} Artillerymsan, named Fred Caxfcyj a highly respectable married person/ who wouldn't b|e found dead with Ader linei m a 400-acre paddock. • "Tec. Lewis told -Mr Jackson tbat he didn't know the woman, prior to the 12th, and it might be a fact that she was known to the neighbors both as "Mrs. Tierna-n" and "Mrs Tierney." For the same reason the *Tecl knew nothing afooufr Adeline's "capacity for getting squiffy. She wasn't exactly drunk when she . made ttoe statement and signed it, but she. had certainly .been ljookirig, on -the;. ' beer, when it was long.. Nor had the' womp an been drinking heavily , judging .by appearances, although she sported a black eye at the time. First ;she said she didn't, then she wept 'salt tears; then she said she did, and sobbed her case away. Lewis didn't deem.it. necessary at the time to caution lihe. woman, as he -had no intention of. arresting her until she committed herself by opening her mjoutih too wide. Mr Jacksonmade a statement for the .defence as it bad 'been given 'him by. the woman, whjo'was. a Mrs Francis, formerly of Melbourne.. According to counsel, it was a fact • that the woman had been living with Tiernan m King-street and North-street for upwards of eight years, and she was known to everybody both as i, "Mars Tiernan 1 ' and "Mrs Tierney." As "Tierney" as easier- to say than "Tiernan," Tierney was probWbly her most popular moniker, and Adeline offered no objection to the titles, possibly because the finger qf scorn might be pointed at her as a mere mistress of Tiernan if she claimed the title of Francis. Then there is the probahlM'ty that Adeline didn't care a tinker's anathema what she was called ? although these .hypotheses were not mentioned by counsel, they have occurred to the vivid imagination of our reporter. Solicitor 'for the defence was informed by his client that m October last she met. a friend from Melbourne named Bob Sharp, who had known her ever since she was seventeen years of age, and had TAKEN A FRATERNAL INTEREST m her welfare. He had given her money at intervals as a token of his appreciation and had gone up to Taihape to earn a cheque. A fortnight previously she had written to generous Bob, requesting the loan of £2, as she had often done before, "" and when she was presented with a moneyortler te'egram addressed to Miss j 1 Tierney, she concluded it was frrm j Ro'-evf, iui:l pppfopv'ii'.tc-' l!-o w"!'. Counsel said llie casu was a peculiar.