THE BOND-AND THE FREE.

NZ Truth, Issue 327, 30 September 1911, Page 5

THE BOND-AND THE FREE.

DECREES IN DIVORCE DEMANDED.

A dozen undefended matrimonial misfits occupied the attention of his Honor the Chief Justice (Sir Robert • Stout) , at the Wellington Supreme Court, on Tuesday morning last. A significant feature was the fact that Mr T. M. Wilford appeared as counsel m all but one. Seven of the petitioners . were husbands, and five were wives. Decrees were granted m ten cases, ,one case standing over for further consideration, and m one case the petition was dismissed m consequence of the death of the petitioner. Ono case only was heard m camera. A TINKERING TINKER. McLeod, Motor Car, And A "Missus." Hastings James Churchill is a tailor, and when, having married Sissy Blanche Hepburn on March 11, 1897, 'and subsequently settled m Carterton, a child, Hilda, being born the following year, ali seocned •to augur well for the Churchill fajn,ily. Xt happened, however, that v tinsmith named Henry McLeod li\«d m a right-of-way near the bowlinggreen, some distance from their home, and some few months ago ■- Churchill's suspicions wero aroused regarding his wife's intimacy with McLeod. On January 27 Mrs Churchill went out for A RIDE IN A MOTOR CAR and did -not come home till one o'clock next morning. This set hubby thinking. Ho used to go to work m the day, returning home m time for tea. On January as, on returning as usual, his wife was not at hoane. He waited for her till 11 p.m., and then he went m search of her. About midnight a motor car drove along and m it were his wife, her sister, McLeod, and a man named Mutch. The quartette, drove to McLeod's house, where they all went inside. From an outside inspection of tho premises, Churchill ascertained that McLeod and Churchill's wife went into the front room, ■while Churchill's sister-in-law and Mutch went into the back room. Listening for a while, Churchill hedrd his wife say that she wanted, to go home, to which McLeod replied that it was not a fair thing. Churchill remained outside till 1.45 a.m., and, as the parties made no mpve to come outside, he then went •for >a constable. Returning with the constable at 2.30 a.m., they found, before entering, that Churchill's wife was playing the piano and singing-

while McLeod had j HIS ARM ROUND HER NECK. They then entered the house, the occupants, on the alarm, dispersing. Churchill and the constable, found McLeod, and Mutch talking together, but they could, not see the women. Going into an adjoining room they found 1 Churchill's wife hiding under the bed. Churchill asked her to I come out, and, ,on her refusing, he I pulled l her out by the leg. McLeod said, to Mutch, "We'll have to face this." ' Chui'chill then went home, and he never saw his wife again. A few days later he found a hat belonging to McLeod m his own house. On Mi- Wilford's application, a decree nisi was granted, returnable m three months, with costs on the lowest scale against McLeod. TRUANT TIMOTHY. "Has Anyone Seen Kelly i Johannah Kelly is a natty little woman, simply but tastefully attired, and she told her tale of woe m a becomingly simple manner. Married at Westport to Timothy Kelly on April 28, 189a , she . had lived with her husband first at Westport and then at Reefton, there being born of the marriage two children, Myrtle and John. Timothy was a canvasser, a sort of Autolycus or picker up of unconsidered trifles, and his good lady had got him sundry jobs which he liacl' promptly lost through the Vboozelum." He was all right when he was sober, ONLY HE WAS- NEVER SOBER. On August 16, 1904, Timothy departed without stating his destination. Since then she had never sot eyes on hini, and. had maintained herself and the children by working as a milliner and saleswoman. Myrtle, a sweet ' young thing m green land a hat with a feather about | three feet (more or less) m length, who stated she was 19 years of age, | but who wore her hair ala sweet sixteen, informed ■ the court that her mother was telling the truth. On Mr AVilford's application, a decree nisi, returnable m three months, was, granted, with costs (for what the order may be worth) on the lowest scale against the truant Timothy. MITCHELL'S MISERIES. A Wife Who Was Extravagant. Robert Allan Mitchell is a warehouseman and agent, and he married Alice Maud' Walker at Taunt on, Somerset , England, on August 12, 1890. They lived successively at Birmingham, Bristol, Ealing, and London. One child, Bernard, was born of the marriage. Soon after the marriage, the wife showed signs of discontent. She was very extravagant and f,oml of excitement. Coming m for between i-3000 and £4000, m 1809, she invested it, much against her husband's wishes, m a public house at Clifton, Bristol. It was not a 'hotel m the sense of being an accommodation house, but SIMPLY AND SOLELY A GROG SHOP, and thereafter she spent most of her time at it and serving m the bar. Among her customers was a man named Bradley Martin, who, whtn he was sober, used to take, her out, but when he was drunk, which was much more frequent, he used to hangabout the premises and go t,o sleep, much to the discomfiture of her husband, who warned her of the scan- ! rial it was creating. Tie urged her to give up the business, but she said she did not care for private life, and wished to remain m the trade. 3n April, 190-1, nhe left him for good. j He later on came across her by accident at llfracombo, an& again tried lo persuade her to return to | him, but without avail. Tie ask.-d her if she would accompany him to Mew 'Zealand, if he obtained a posii tion there, ''but, she rcfw.sc.-d. He got |an appointment m New 'Zealand. j came out to the Dominion, and then wrote and renewed his appeal, but received no reply. He wrote

several letters to her, but these were subsequently returned to him through the Dead Letter Office. He made inquiries, and ultimately traced her to Beroiondsey, where she voluntarily submitted herself for service of the petition m div,orce. On the application of Mr Wilford, a decree nisi, returnable -m three m.onths, was granted. OF UNSOUND MIND. No Hope Of Recovery. '' I Kezia- Jane Thomas is an elderly | woman who was married to Charles 1 Thomas before the Registrar of Marriages m Wellington as far back as January 18, 1879. One child 1 was born of the maixiage, but that one had died 25 years ag«. : She claimed a dissolution of her marriage on the ground that her husband had been a pers.on of unsound mind for : . ten years and upwards. Mr Wilford appeared for the petitioner, and Mr T. E. Neave, of the . Crown Law Department, appeared ifor. the Solicitor-General as^guard- ■ ian ad litem of the respondent. j It appeared from the evidence of David Souter, chief clerk m the Mental Hospitals Department, that Thomas had been admitted to. the>Mental Hospital at Auckland on November 20, 1880, and had been there \ ever since, the medical opinion bei ing that there was no possible hope of his recovery. The petitioner last saw him 20 years ago. On Mr Wilford's application, Mr Neave concurring, a decree nisi, returnable m three months, was granted. RELEASED FROM REYNOLDS. An Elderly Woman's Petition. Christina Jane Reynolds, an elderly woman, was married to Edward Brown Reynolds, formerly of Wellington, on January 22, 1870, at Auckland. Five children were born of the marriage, all being over the j age of 21. In 1886, her husband dej serted' her, and since then she h-ad ■ never seen him. He sent her £20 within the first year of his deser- \ tion of her, but nothing since. Alice (.lane Pilkington, a married, daugh- | ter of the petitioner, corroborated i her mother's statement. j On Mr Wilford's application, a ! decree nisi, returnable m three S. months, was granted, with costs on the lowest scale against the respondent. ' THE SHORTEST ON RECORD. ! • A Peculiar Position. j Arthur Easterby St,okes, a butcher !at Aramoho, Wanganui, and Ada I Rosina Stokes were married at G is■biorne on- February 15, 1906.' The marriage was one ot the shortest on ! record, the parties never living- to- ! gether, and practically parting for ever immediately after the ceremony. According to Stokes's story, as soon j as the marriage ceremony had been | •completed, Stokes's sister told the j bridegroom that m her opinion HIS NEWLY-WEDDED WIPE was m a certain condition. In con- | j sequence of this he questioned her, and, on" her confessing that it was true, he asked her to accompany him to his house for an explanation, but she refused and thereupon left him. The next he saw of her was on June 10 last, when he served her with the petition m divorce. There 1 were two grounds named m the pe- | tition, one of them being desertion for the statutory period. Mr Kelly, who appeared for the j j petitioner," intimated that he pro- j posed to drop the other ground, relying- upon the desertion. ' * William Henry Philp, a pastry- ; cook of Wellington, stated that the i had known the petitioner for ten j years, and was well aware of his j peculiar domestic circumstances. ; His Honor said that he could not | grant a decree without corrobora- j tion of the petitioner's story. Mr Kelly submitted that the circumstances were so peculiar that j corroboration might reasonably be i dispensed wiih, and he reminded his : Honor that another ground was | ! sf nU>d m the petition. ! j Mis Honor remarked that Mr Kelly \ ! had stated that he proposed to j I .i^nmlon the other ground. I Mr Kelly said that it would lie possible for him to obtain evidence m support of the other ground, but he refrained from doing so as A PUBLIC DISCLOSURE [of the relations of the parties would !

lead to one at any rate losing his position. His Honor replied that that difficulty could be met by his -hearing^ the case m camera and or'deringj suppression of the evidence. '; The case ' was ordered to stand^ i down for further consideration. ' PROCTER'S PECULIARITIES. -J Divorce Due To Drink. Marcia Subina Procter was mar-* ried on March 22, 1893, to Thomas J Vibona Procter, formerly a puhlii can, with whom she lived at Wellington and Palmerston North. In f,ormer years, Procter had been well off, but he had exhausted his means m drink. He had obtained a position at Petone, but had lost it through drink. He took a hotel, but he was so habitually drunk that the business came to grief. Then he went to Levin. He drank continuously, and twice within eleven months he had the horrors. For the past four years he has practically •never been sober, and is now atFoxtOn. There were fortunately no children of the marriage. He had given his wife absolutely no money during the past three years. On the application of Mr Wilford, a decree nisi, . returnable m three ■months, was granted,, with costs on the lowest scale against the respondent. SHORT AND SWEET. Jessie Not A Jewel. Richard James Moore Lang, labor^ er, of Masterton, was married to Jessie Ellen Elizabeth Flan, on Sep- ■ tember 10, 1903. No children were ! born of the marriage, and m June, ! 1906, Jessie fled. On Mr Wilford's j application, a decree nisi, returnable .- j m three months, was granted. MERRI GOLD'S MISSUS. An Ear«ly Morning Discovery. I William Marshall Merrigold was married to Beatrice Bushby on August 8, 1900, and the parties lived - together at Wellington until 3902. In June of that year Merrigold discovered a little stout dark man inhis wife's room at four o'closk m: the morning, and he bundled him out, neck and crop. The little man was Andy Dann, who is now living ! at Rintoul-street, Newtown, Welling- j ton, with Beatrice Merrigold, who ' goes by the name of Mrs Dann. There were no children ; born of' the marriage. On Mr Wilford's application, a decree nisi, returnable m three months, was granted, with costs on the lowest scale against Andy Dann. DETECTED BY "DEMONS." A Wife's Wrong-doing. Harold Douglas Barton and Henhrietta Eloyse Ida Barton were mar- | ried at Pietermaritz, Natal, South Africa, on December 0, 1906, and soon afterwards came to New Zeajland. The husband's suspicions be- ' ing aroused, he employed a private j detective to watch his wife, and, on March 28 last, at 11 o'clock at night, the private detective and' a companion discovered the wife and a man named George Henry Williams m the Nairn-street Reserve. The wife hart since gone to Sydney, New South Wales, taking with her the only child of the marriage, a. boy born m 190 S. On Mr Wilford's application, a de- ! cree nisi, returnable m three months, was granted, with costs on the low- ;!, scale against George Henry Williams. IN CAMERA. The Mystery Of The Milligans. Victoria Milligan petitioned for a dissolution of her marriage with William John Milligan, and, on the application of Mr Wilford. who appeared for the petitioner, his Honor heard the case m camera. We s'i'iisequently gathered that a decree nisi was granted ; further particulars were not available. DEATH INTERVENES. A Petition Dismissed. Among the cases set down, for hearing was the divorce suit of Richard Evans v. Emily "Henrietta I-'vans, but, when the case was called on, Mr Wilford. solicitor on the record for the petitioner, informed the court that the petitioner had died on August 31. The petition was \her&fore dismissed.