PUTATIVE PATERNITY.

NZ Truth, Issue 148, 18 April 1908, Page 6

PUTATIVE PATERNITY.

MARY'S LITTLE LAMB. Baa Baa Black Sheep Brown. In the Wellington Magistrate's Court on Wednesday last the woes of Mary Phillips were paraded with much solemnity before Mr W. G. Riddell, S.M. In Dece2nbcr, 1905, Mary was . a waitress and assistant-barmaid at the Wairau Valley Hotel. Mary as neither a beauty nor a chicken. She is an. undersized tart of quite thirty winters. Nevertheless, her charms ensnared a farm laborer named Harry Brown, two or three years younger than herself, who, after a fortnight of acquaintanceship, offered to marry her. and was graciously .accepted. Mary stayed at the Wairau •" Valley for five Weeks m all, and m that time, she avers, the bashful Brown frequently overcame her maidenly modesty. Mary subsequently had a holiday, and during her absence the love lorn Brown languished exceedingly, although he tried to keep his pecker up by WRITING AMOROUS LETTERS to her. In March, 1906, he got her a job at the Commercial Hotel, so she went there for three months. But for-, tune frowned on Harry, for circumstan-' ces had taken him fifty miles away m -the country, and he was unable to console himself with even a single glimpse of his beloved during all that time. Then the marriage-seeking Mary shifted her quarters to the Empire pub. at Blenheim, and Harry managed to come m once a week, staying from Saturday to Monday, the inevitable happening. Being of a rather wayward disposition, Mary once again shifted her quarters m September, 19,06, going to the Grosvenor Hotel, Grovetown, near Blenheim, for five months. In the first week m February, 1907, Mary returned to Wellington, but at the end of June discovered that she was going to become a mother, so, accompanied by her mother, 'she went to Blenheim to see her lover. He was found at Spring Creek, where he said he would meet her on ! the following Saturday and give her money to buy a ring, adding that lie would marry her. Brown did not keep his appointment, so Mary w.ent to Lawyer r, McNab, at Blenheim. Brown, Mary, her mother, and the lawyer next assembled at the latter private house and Mr McNab questioned the now hesitating Brown, who confessed his undue familiarity with Mary, and who, according to the spinster, said he intended to marry her, but was not then ... m a position to take that serious step. Afterwards bashful Brown sent her. a medical book, but she burnt it. The child was born on November 6, 1907. Mary had been m a nursing home for 13 weeks before that, where an operation had to be performed on her, and altogether the expenses amounted to £4.4 18s, find receints were produced to show she had paid the expenses herself. Harry didn't believe m shelling; out money m this line, so Mary enlisted the services of lawyer Peacock. Tn cross-examination by Mr P. W. Jackson, who appeared for Brown, the love-lorn lass denied that she hnd told Brown it was physically impossible for hrr to (rive birth to a child. She was also positive at the interview m Mr McNab's house, Brown had s SAID HE WOULD MARRY HER. although , Mr McNab, m his evidence* taken at Blenheim, had said Brown had point-blank refused to do anything of the sort.' During the tune she was m Marlborough, she had misconducted with defendant about eighteen er twenty times. In corrobpratiou of complainarit's story Mr McNab's account of the interview at his house was handed m. Defendant then went into 'the witnessbox and swore that he had only attempted liberties with Mary once or twice at Wairau Valley. He denied that the child was his, and declared that at Mr McNab's house he had refused absolutely to marry the woman, because he was not the child's father. Unfortunately for Brown, he cot tangled up considerably m cross-examination by Mr Peacsck. The latt,-r produced some amatory epistle* and asked him if they were written by him. After- studying them tor sevcrai moments, Brown de- . clared they were not written by him. MrPeacock then got him to write down an extract from one of the letters, and ciunnared it with the others, upon which Brown acknowledged the authorship. These, very affectionate missives had ' a number of crosses at the foot of each, but defendant said, m answer to a question from counsel, that he was not aware what they meant. Mary had put them on her letters to him, so he just followed suit. The beak, with a smile, remarked that there could be little doubt what the crosses meant. Then the luckless wight was questioned concerning the medical book before alluded to. Some bloke, he replied, brought it from Australia, and gave it to him to look at. and Mary took it out of his pocket. He did not show it to her, and never had any intention of doing so. One of the letters mentioned gave him away, for m it he had told HIS "DARK-HAIRED ANGEL" that he had got a small medical book from Australia and was going to send it to her. The subject of the book was then left behind, and the hapless Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He informed Mr Peacock that he had never intended to marry the donah, and this brought more tnouble on his bead. In a letter dated January 29th, 1906, a few weeks after he, first met the modest maiden, he made an allusion that ' was unmistakably to marriage. He got further into the bog by asserting that he had only put that m the letter "to fill the paper up." He meant nothing by. writing m that strain ; m fact, he wrote like that to everybody. Mr Riddell remarked that either Brown's memory was very defective, or else he. was not telling the truth. Sufficient corroborative evidence had been given, and defendant must be adjudged the putative father of the child, and ordered to pay 7s a week towards its support. As regards the £44 18s incurred by complainant, the law did not entitle him to allow her that, but defendant would have to pay birth expenses to £10 10s, and 'law costs £2 2s. Brown was further ordered to find security for compliance with the order, himself m a bond of £60 and two sureties of* £3o each. As he resided at Blenheim, he was allowed a fortnight to find the security, on condition that he reported himself to the Blenheim police once a week. The alternative to finding security was fixed at two months m quod.