TRASK THE TRAITOR.

NZ Truth, Issue 160, 11 July 1908, Page 5

TRASK THE TRAITOR.

ONE MAN: TWO WIVES.

How a Scoundrel Succeeded m Duping Women.

Justice Edwards is Indignant.

There is a heap of trouble m store for a person Of Mormon tendencies whPse name is Elijah Trask and who the police of New Zealand very badly need, if they have not already succeeded in, ' arresting. Elijah's trouble is with women, andi he is a bad egg ; so rotten, indeed, that we find a highly respectable daily paper like the Taranaki "Herald" coolly describing him as an unscrupulous scoundrel; and the Mormon m him was revealed to Mr Justice Edwards one day last week, yrhon. one Margaret, Trask petitiioned /for .the' dissolution' of her marriage with Elijah Trask on the ground of his adultery with one Catherine Wells Kincai'di (known, also, as Trask). Lawyers T. S. Weston . and C. H. Weston piloted "Margaret through ■, the technical breakers ? of the- Divorce Court, and, m fact, 'everything was plain sailing, as there was no defence. There could not be any defence, and • Lige has apparently done; a bunk because, he; has confessed to bigamy and 'the Law hits biganifists hard, as it ' is Ijound to Mt Trask the x trash when he ttoes, r ..if eyer fhe dbes. the judicial scratch., r- **" "' ■•>' ■ ; A .law clerk named: ' Henry BUling swore to the effect that he' had served the divorce proceedings papers on both , Trask and his second matrimonial venture, and he admitted being Margaret's spouse, whom he had taken to church m Victoria. Moreover, he admitted that while m New Plymouth he had glvien 1 Miss Kincaid the protection of his worthless name. Margaret Trask then , gave evidence and admitted having cPrae from Victoria for the purpose of legally ridding herself oi Lige, who, at a back-blocks village of Victoria, named Birrebarra, on J|uiy23, 1.9,02, promised all sorts of things ere ho slipped a ring on her finger. Two children wexe born after marriage, and they had lived together at his farm at a place called Beeac. .

LIGE WAS A BRUTAL COR. . from all appearances, as lie did not hesitate when angry to .strike her on the lace with a stock-whip handle. This kind of treatment forced her. to go to her father and she remained under the paternal root for a couple of months, occasionally gdzing on/Lige's unloveable diaL Along came the day when he said he was going to, New , Zealand, wheare he promised ha. would make a home for her and where she should join him and where every thing m their little Eden would be bright and happy and where there would not ho snakes,- serpents* or other reptiles. ■. m June, 1904, he.'set off to God's Own Country and wrote spasmodically, and then it ceased, the last loving epistle bearing the date of July 9, 1906. .Next she heard through her fai/her's solicitors that Trask had gone through a form of marriage m New "Zealand. Mr Weston at this stage produced two deeds, m which Trask i acknowledged margaret. as hiss" ■■■ ■■ .- ;., ■•.; wife,/' :. and assigned her certain moneys. According Iso the duped, deserted and wronged Wife, Trask' sometimes /called himself -fcUijah Henry, Trask, but he had no right to -the, -Henry. Levi Trask was Elijah's unole and his father was named Jeremiah, and occasionally assumed the ' name 61 Jimmy. The photograph shown was that of Elijah, her husband. ' I .■•William/ Jenkinson, a carriage-builder | of ' New Plymouth, said he knew Miss Kincaid and admitted to an acquaintance with the miniature Henry VIII. When Trask spliced Miss ' Kincaid she was, employed by witness and 1 his .wife, *. and ho /gave -that young : unjprtunatg- ■woman an excellent character, and furthermore add-; ed that the pair were married from his house. Miss^Lydia Shaw, of New Plymouth, gave evidence to the effect that she mad known Miss Kincaid as Mrs Trask, as slic and her alleged husband, had stayed m witness's house from November, 1906, to April of last year. * Catherine Wells Kincaid, who gave evidence at her own request, said she now resided at Auckland. She! identified from a photograph one Elijah Henry Trask, to whom ' v . SHE SWORE TO LOVE, HONOR, ETC. at the Primitive Methodist Church, New Plymouth,' on November 24, 1906, and & "certificate of. the marriage was produced. She thought Tjrask was a bache-. lor, and it was m/ March, 1907, when living at Hawera, and when served witn certain legal papers that she came to the conclusion that she had been a victim ot Trask. She left him at once and went to her people at Auckland, and the tricky Mormon followed her up with a< proposal to make it up again. He declared that after his first wife had got her divorce they could go to Dunedin and be again married and lawfully mimed; too. She refused to have anything more to do with the brtute, and she had not seen or heard of or • from him since. There was one child to the marriage. Mr Justice Edwards: Where is this man how ? ■■■•' .. ' : Mr Weston.: The witness will tell „ you., something about that m a moment. ' ' Mr Weston further volunteered the ', information that he understood the police authorities had tieen notified of tire case. Sergeant Haddrell came forward kt the request of the Judge, and his attention, was drawn to the circumstances of/ • the case, but the Sergeant explained that the. first notice he had of the case was -when the papers were filed m Court. His Honor : I don't 'blame you' in. any way, Sergeant. It is .necessary, however, that the matter must be conducted "with speed. The >most important witness,- the petitioner, has to return to Australia, and she cannot be expected to stay .here unnecessarily. You will notice that ;\ this man - - ' ... "-' ' /■ :. ' ■ HAS BEEN GUILTY OF BIGAMY ' m the most cruel circumstances. . Th,is sort of thing must not be tolerated. Australians must not be allowed to come overAere and do this sort of thireg. 'A decree nisi was granted,- to bey made absolute m- 'three, months. Costs against respondent on the highest scale were allowed. : A ' . On the application of Mr Westoa. his Honor made a declaration that Trask's dpmicile was m New Zealand. Mr Justice Edwards furthec commented on the urgent necessity of prompt action being taken. If it were necessary that Mrs Trask should stay m New Zealand for any time for the purposes of the case, the Government should pay her expenses. A speedy endeavor should 'be made to find Trask, and this, duty devolved upon the Government. "It is quite plain," his Honor remarked, "that young girls da New Zealand should be protected against th,ls sort of thing."