IS HE A BIGAMIST ?

NZ Truth, Issue 139, 15 February 1908, Page 6

IS HE A BIGAMIST ?

♦' QUEER CASE AT CHSISTCHURCH. i ! James Sheard and the Marriage Certificates. More Will be Heard of the Matter. One of the most peculiar cases ever heard m Christchurch, or m the Dominion for that matter, was deter- : mined the other morning, and it wasn't determined to the satisfaction of everybody either. On the surface it looka like a case of barefaced bigamy, and more may be heard of the malodorous matter. It is simply a question of whether James Albert Sheard, shoemaker, got married m England— in a certain street m Leeds to be accurate— and if he left his wife there, and married again m Maoriland. How the matter came before the Court was this : Mrs Sheard . has got a maintenance order against her husband James, and he asked the Court to cancel the order on the ground that he wasn't allowed access to his young daughter, aged 11 years. The Court hadn't made an order to that effect, but it was understood by the parties a<t a meeting outside the Court that that was to be so. But during the last six months, complained Sheard, his better half that was had deliberately refused to allow him to see the girl. So he wanted the order knocked endways ami eliminated from the records of the King's. Court. He was represented by Lawyer Dougall. The action, was defended by Lawyer Donnelly. - When Sheard entered the box he got an awfiil roasting from Donnelly. In fact, he didn't know where he was, or what time the next airship started for Weniwton. Prior, to that he said that his wf fe had refused to allow him to see the girl any longer. He had applied for the variation of the order for 15s a week some time ago, unsuccessfully ; now • HE WANTED" IT CANCFj^ED. Mr Donnelly : Do you drink ?— Well I have a glass of beer now and again. Are you ever under the influence of liquor ?— No, I am not. Do you keep company with people of the other sex ?— Well, no. Well, you ought to know ? — I don't then. Very well, here are two sets of marriage lines. Are you the • James \. Sheard mentioned m No.l, which says you were married m i Somerset House, Leeds, England ?— I am not. It describes you as a shoemaker, ami says that your age is 20, and that your father's name is John iSheard. Doesn't that fit you ?— lt does, but I'm not the man. It corresponds m .every particular with the second marriage certificate, ami I want to know if that first certificnte isn't genuine and that you arc the person alluded to ? — I am not. Was your father not a beer-seller m the old country ; and was his name not John Sheard ?— Yes. Edmund Sheard, brother of James Sheard, the applicant before Court, said that he lived at Woolston. Mr DonneJly : Did your brother live with a woman as his wife m the Old Country ?— Not that I know Iff. ■■" ■ ' ■■'■;''■ '""' ' Did you hear he was married ?— 7es, I did ; just before we left England. . Mr Dougall here objected to the evidence, but Magistrate Bishop said he was going to admit' it ; he wanted to get AT THE BOTTOM OP THE MATTER. Mr Donnelly : In 1878 he was a single man ?— Yes. And a shoemaker ?— Yes. At Leeds ?— Yes. . And your father's name is John. Sheard, and he used to sell beer ?— That is so. Didn't you live with your brother m Leeds when he was said to be living with a woman who was said to be married -to him? — No, she never lived m our house. Did you ever ask him if ho was married ?— No, I didn't know he was married until the afternoon before we left England, and then I was too busy to enquire. Anyhow, I don't poke my nose into other people's business. He has denied that the first marriage certificate (produced) refers to him ?~I don't know anything about it- . ' Do you remember who told you he was married ?~No, it is 28 years ago now. , Sheard, the applicant, was here recalled and asked if he had ever made any enquiries as to whether Sarah Ellen Holland, the woman he was alleged to have married m Leeds, was alive when he married Miss Spencer. "I never had any occasion to make, enquiries," he replied. A grey-haired lady,, Mrs Edmund Sheard, sister-in-law of James Sheard, said that herself and iher husband had come out from England with him. Her father-in-law sold beer m the old dart, and the description of James Sheard m the No. 1 marriage certificate corresponded m every way with Turn. She didn't know Sarah Hollands, and never saw the name until she saw it on the marriage lines. Counsel : That's the straight truth? —Yes, I heard that he was married to her, and that she was COMING- OUT AFTER HIM to New Zealand. | Mr Dougall : Did he ever admit that j he was married ? — Yes, i</ was common talk that he was married. Did you ever see his wife ? — Yes, but only once. I don't know how long he was married before we left England. I never bothered my head about him, anyhow. I have never hoard of the woman since. This was all the evidence, and Bishop, S.M., said that he would dismiss the application for the cancellation of the order. J? Mr Donnelly wanted to know what should be dona with the two marriage certificates. Mr Bishop : I think I ought to keep them and have enquiries made. I don't think the truth has been told here to-day. At anyrate, I will retain the papers at present. So Ai all that is allesed is true, and if it is proved to ,be so, somebody may find m the not far distant future that things are as warm as heaven isn't.. Two marriage certificates agninst a man look dead ugly. Still Sbennl may be the victim of circumstances. You never know.