THE POPPENSES AND PRENDERGAST.

NZ Truth, Issue 132, 28 December 1907, Page 8

THE POPPENSES AND PRENDERGAST.

— . . .. . •» , — FILES PETITION FOR DIVORCE. labor Leader G. M. Prendergast Cited as Co-Respondent. £5,000 Damages Claimed. The Ppppens and Prendergast sen■satipn, which has aroused so keen a degree of interest and excitement m -Victorian political, Labor, and general circles during the. past twoi or three weeks, entered upon a critical stage recently, when Poppens, the husband, filed a petition m tho Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Jurisdiction- of the Court praying for the dissolution of his marriage with Emelia. The ground of the petition was an allegation of adultery, and George Michael Prendergast, M..L.A., and Leader of the State Labor Opposition, was cited as co-respandent. The petitioner, moreover, claims :£5,000 damages from the said co-respondent. . Although the case has thus been initiated, it is unlikely that, supposing ,the issues go for trial m due course, the hearing will reach until about May of next year, so that probably .the case will come on about the same time as the State Parliament will be once more re-assembling after its long recess. - The respondent and co-respondent have eight days m which to enter an appearance, and they also have 21 days within which to file- their answers to the petitioner's allegations. THE COVERING. AFFIDAVIT of the petitioner, filed on his behalf by Mr S. Marriott Watson, solicitor, describes him ' thus :— -"Willaim Poppens, of 161 Station-street, Port Melbourne, m the State of Victoria, ex-publican,. "- In this document the petitioner states that he was on or about May 14, 1875, married to Amelia Poppens, nee Jansen, by the Rev. Charles Edward Elliott, according to the rights of the Church of England at Napier, New Zealand. It will be noticed that the respondent's name is here given as "Amelia," whereas it is understood that her Christian name is "Emelia." Poppens confesses to being 51 years of age, and states that his wife, who was born at Christiania, Norway, is four years his junior. Before his marriage, according to Poppens 's

sworn statement, he was providore for the firm of Robert Sloman and Co., and resided at Hamburg, Germany. There are issue of the said marriage three female children, viz., Elizabeth Jamieson, born m Wellington, New 'Zealand, and now 30 years of age ; Amelia Poppens, also born m Wellington, and now< 23 years of age ; and Rose Poppens, 'born at Johnston-street, Fitzroy* and now 0.9 years old. The petitioner alleges that COHABITATION CEASED between himself and his .wife m the month of November of the present year, shortly after his arrival m Melbourne from Canada. He also declares that ythe first time he became suspicious of respondent's alleged adultery with co-respondent was . m consequence of information received by him from friends shortly after his return to Melbourne on or aibout November 4. Poppens thereupon proceeds .to state :— "Before marriage 1 was' proyddore on the ship Friederberg, trading 'between Hamburg and New Zealand. I met the respondent on the said ship. She was an immigrant on her way to New Zealand, and at that time was m the family way to some man m Norway. We became 'acquainted on board the said ship. She told me of all her troubles. I. 'became much attached to her— she was a handsome girl —and FOR THE LOVE OF HER we visited a Church of England clergyman at his house at Napier, New Zealand, and 'got married, the child being born about two months after our marriage." After this, petitioner alleges, they lived and cohabited together at Napier for aibout 18 months, then at Wellington for seven years, at Chris tchur eh for. two years, at Timaru for six ■m-onthsj at Port j Chalmers for two years, again at I Wellington for two years, and then they came to Melbourne [ via Sydney. In consequence of financial difficulties, . petitioner states that he was compelled to return to Wellington to answer a charge under the Bankruptcy. Act, which charge was dismissed. During the earlier part of his career m New Zealand he had been EMPLOYED AS A HOTELKEEPER When he returned to Wellington . he remained there for aibout 12 months, being employed as a barman. In 1882 he and his family journeyed to Melbourne, where he followed his occupation as a hotelkeeper at the Palace Hotel for 12 months as storeman and barman, then, at Hosie's Hotel for six I months, than as manager of ' the Excelsior Hotel for the Castlemaine, Brewery for six months, then as manager erf the Cricketer's Arms Hotel,* North Fitzroy, for 12 months, then to the Sunny Side Hotel, North Melbourne, for 12 months, and then at the Central Club Hotel, North Melbourne, for about two years, then to an hotel at the corner of Little\ Bourke and Spring-streets/ for 12 months, then to the London and Carnarvon Hotel, Flinders-street, for, six months, then, to the Four C-i-fis Hotel, Williamstreet, for about six months, then to the Bleat Market Hotel, North Melbourne, for 10 years. At this stage Poppens, so he states, VISITED BUROiPE WITH HIS WIFE for 12 months, leaving the children at a convent. I Upon their return from England ia ! 1899 he and -his wife went to live at the White Hart Hotel fox three ! months, and ha then purchased the Melbourne Hotel, Bourke-street, and carried on business there for about three years. "Through no fault of mine," the petitioner continues, "I assigned my estate to my creditors, and obtained a release. We then journeyed to Western Australia, where x we lived and cohabited together for about 15 months, I following my vocation as a publican at Bunbury. "I sold out, and we journeyed to Sydney, N.S.W,, and reliving; m privacy, I then purchased the Fountain Inn, George-street west, remained there for about three months, and iat a loss sold out." "From there I purchased the Picton Arms Hotel, Campbell-street, Sydney, and carried on business there for about seven months. At suoli hotel I lost everything save and except the sum of £36: I gave m;y wife £18 and sent her BACK TO MELBOURNE, - I following two or three months afterwards. On her arrival here Mr J. Dunne, late of the Moonee Valley Cordial Factory, put her into tho Builders' ~ Avrms Hotel, Gertrudestreet, Fitzroy, where she remained for about two years. I went to Sydney m search of work, and returned m four months' time. On my arrival here I managed the hotel for her during the time she was carrying on business. We were constantly quarrelling, and arranged' I should go away, my son-in-law lending me £30. In August, 1906, I left Melbourne for Sydney, and journeyed to San Francisco by the Sonoma, leaving Sydney on October 7, 1906, and I returned back about November 4, 1907, to Melbourne. .■-• "During my absence from Melbourne she sold out from the Builders' Arms Hotel, Gerturude-street, Fitzroy, land lived with m(y son-in-law for two months. In or about the month of December, 1906, she purchased into the Central Club Hotel, North Melbourne; and from the time she took possession of such hotel the co-res-pondent '■ - : BECAME A FREQUENT VISITOR, and alsio shortly alter I left the Builders' Arms Hotel, Gertrude-street, Fitzroy. He also frequented the Builders' Arms Hotel mmy absence, and from the month of August, 1906, to the present time she has committed adultery with the co-respondent, the said George MJichael Prendergast, namely, from "Amgust to December, 1906, at the said Builders' Arms Hotel, and from December, 1906, to the present time at the Central Club Hotel, at Victoria-street, North Melbourne." In conclusion, the petitioner states that there has been no deed of separation between him and his wife, and lie winds up with the usual declaration, "That I distinctly and unoquivocablydeny all collusion ap connivance, past or present, directly or indirectly, .with the respondent or any person liable to be made a respondent."