AN UGLY STORY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19019, 15 November 1923, Page 9

AN UGLY STORY.

CASE CF ABRAHAM LIND. -5 REVIVED AT A PUBLIC MEETING. A large audience gathered in the South: Dunedin Town Hall last nyjht to hear al •statement by Mrs A. A. Lind regarding! the recent Vonviclion and sentence by tha Supreme Cclurt cn her husband. Mrs Lind was ■ supported on the platfornr by! Mr W. B. Arlidge, who acted as chair-, man, and by half a dozen women. The" audience, which filled three parts of the' hall, consisted mostly of women, and 'included a few children. Mr Arlidge said that Mrs Lind Wanted!, to say a few things about Mr Lind. I€, they were desirous of helping a lady in great trouble they would give her an attentive hearing.—(Applause.) Mrs Lind at the outset made reference ( to the many inquiries that had been made in Dunedin about the case, and said she', was very pleased to he able to give thcnjr ~ the other side of this sordid story. She said their lawyer had conducted the case very ably, but there had been 10 or 12 witnesses for the defence ready waiting who were not called. Mr Lind, she said, was a true-born Britisher, born in_ the city -of London, and a true British Christian gentleman.—(Applause.) She read from his military papers to show what a good record he had. She read from his discharge from the Second Battalion, East . Lancashires, the record that his conduct and character were good, and that he had no offence recorded against him. His total army service was 12 years, including nine years abroad. . Mr Lind had been “saved” 1 by reading a soldier’s New Testament, and left the army to take up mission work. She herself had lived with him for 12 years, having first met him at Pandita Ramabai’a mission. She had not found in him, she declared. ..any of these traits that these women had alleged against him. “Well, I have!” thundered out s mail from the back of the hall. “Make no mis-, take about that!” Mrs Lind said she was having her say. that evening, and the interrupter could have his another time. Continuing, the said she was a desperate woman, standing there for one she loved dearer than uor r own life, and for the honour of her noma' and her dear, sweet, innocent children. “So are mine!” asserted the man front! the back. “Ask the police to deal- with that gentleman,” said Mrs Lind. ' > The Chairman told him if he were not quiet he would have to go out. “Do you wish me to go out?” asked the man. “Yes.” said the chairman. “I want the lady to answer, not you,’! came the retort. ’ Mrs Lind went on to speak of the sufferings of her “crushed and broken-hearted” husband, her references eliciting considerable expression of sympathy from those in the front part of the hall. She proceeded to give an account of “how this trouble first began.” This consisted largely of a detailed and circumstantial attack on the characters of the principal witnesses who gave evidence for the Crown. She also read a letter from an aged woman whoh 1 had lived in the Lind’s home testifying that Mr and Mrs Lind had always gone out and returned together during September ” and October of last year. She traversed' most cf the evidence given, and all her", references to unsavoury., incidents were , • greeted with much laughter by the larger part of the audience. Even an account of f a very unpleasant experience she had had in’ Iter girlhood afforded food only for coarse amusement. When later on she referred to one of the witnesses as havingkeen wronged the interjector again made himself heard. “Yes, she has been wronged,’’ lie said, “and by your husband too!” ;. The chairman told him he must be quietC. Mrs Lind examined the particular chargeon which her husband had been found's guilty. and contended that even were’ true, the sentence was excessivp,-'" In the-. , course of her remarks she named one of - 1 the witnesses twice and mentioned • the - first name of another witness several times.",She told the audience something about Air Lind's Christianity, and described the meet-, ings at which the trouble originated. Those : ' who were living in sin were not happy in these meetings, she said. She also made,some unfriendly references to a -well-knosyn social worker in the city who has assisted the girls. She declared her intention ■ of.seeing this, thing through with the help of. ■ God, and said that if slip had the money . she would he off" to Wellington next morning to work for her husband’s release. She thanked the audience for their patient hearing and offered to answer, any questions. She produced and read a petition praying -for her husband's release on the grounds - of the harshness and severity of the sentence and the privations of his wife and' children. No questions were asked at the close of the meeting, which lasted only about* ail" hour, and it did not appear that more than two or three had any desire to append their signatures to the petition.