BREACH OF PROMISE CASE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2923, 23 March 1910, Page 15

BREACH OF PROMISE CASE.

AN IRISH LOVE STORY. An action for alleged breach of promise of marriage came before the Lord Chief Justice and a city special jury in the Nisi Prius Court, Dublin. The plaintiff, Esthei Keegan, who resides in Howth, claimed £IOOO damages from the defendant, Chevalier Hugh Bergin, who, it was stated, resided in Dublin. The defence was a denial of the alleged promise. Mr Serjeant Moriarty, K.C., in opening the plaintiff's rase, said he was anxious to know how the defendant won the proud title of chevalier, having regard to his conduct in this case. In September, 1908, Miss Keegan was in a convalescent home in Drumcondra, kept by the Sisters of Mercy. The chevalier was there at the same time and one day on the grounds he introduced himself to her. "I am," said he, "the Chevalier Bergin."—(Laughter.) After that I they met frequently. One day the lady told one of the nuns to tell him that she was Mrs Keegan, and the next day he met her in a state of anxiety, and asked whether she was really Mrs or Miss Keegan. She to'd him the truth. "For that," 6aid counsel, "the chevalier fervently thanked God." ■ —(Laughter.) That mysterious seed of love was sown in his heart. —(Laughter.) " Where it comes from," the serjeant went on, " no botanist has ever been able to tell us—(laughter),'—or how it blossoms, no matter on what kind of soil it may chance to fall." In December they became engaged, and, having kissed her, he said : " You are marrying a man of title and a man of wealth." —(Laughter.) They spoke of spending the honeymoon abroad, and before Miss Keegan left the home they plighted their troth in the gate lodge. "It reminds me," said counsel, "of the scene in the ' Bride of Lammermoor,' in which Raveraswood pledges his troth to Lucy Ash ton."—(Laughter.) They used almost. the same words, and thus showed the chevalier's romantic disposition. He told the lady to say these words after him: " From to-day Joseph Hugh Bergin and Ettie Keegan, in the presence of God and of Our Lady, promise to be true to each other while they live." NUNS INTERVENE. Afterwards he broke off the engagement, and said that the reverend mother of the nuns would not let him marry plaintiff. i Miss Keegan saw him, and said: " What Ido you mean? Are you not a man, and : what has the reverend mother got -to <ko with it?" Mrs Curran, who was Dresent at th* interview, said to the defendant: " " Didn't you promise that you will marry Ettie?" a*nd he said, "Of course I will." I He afterwards told plaintiff that the nuns ' would prefer that he did not get married, j Later he told plaintiff's solicitor that he j was' prepared to keep his promise, but that I he objected to Miss Keegan making arrange- | ments without consulting him. Eventually | the writ was issued. 1 'Miss Keegan was examined, and said she I was 28 years of age, and the defendant told her he was 50. After the proposal "she gave him leave to call her Ettie, but she never called him Joseph. —(Laughter.) When witness called at Beaumont she could not see him. She, however, met him every week after she had left, and they walked out together, but Mrs Curran always came with them. "Did the chevalier kiss you?"—Once. Cross-examined by Mr Campbell, K.C.: You have sworn that the defendant's declaration to you was, " Ettie, I will never forgive you?"—Yes. Arid having got that declaration from him yon went off to your solicitor?—Yes. I suggest to ycu that you made a false statement to the jury about your a£e? — That was the age I "told Mary Bergin I was. N»er mind Mary Bergin. Weren't you -born in 1863?—I could not answer that. You pretend yoii do not know what age you are? —No. Can you give a guess?—l might give a ■I Give me a' modest guess. —I might be ! | past 40. —(Laughter.) Is that the reason you swore the other ! to the jury?—l was asked what age I was, ! and I said 28. Mary Bergin asked me i what age I was. The judge asked you, after you were I sworn to tell the truth, what age you were, •and what was your reply?—l said I was 28. j- Twenty-eight and upwards.—(Laughter.) | I suppose it would be no discovery for you ! to know that you were born on April 25. | 1863 —46 years ago—that would be nothing I new to you? Witness did not answer. PROMISE OVERHEARD. Plaintiff, answering other questions, sa.id j that when she saw defendant at Beaumont : the chevalier always asked Mrs Curran to walk on, and they followed behind. Mrs Curran never remained within a few yards to overhear. Then she never overheard anything?—• Oh, yes, she did. She overheard the promise to marry. Just tell me what she overheard? —I said, " Chevalier, didn't, you oromise to marry mo after Easter?'' He said, " Yes, I did." Then he said, "W e will walk on a bit." So that what Mrs Curran overheard' was the promise to marry you?—Yes. That is what she was there for?—No. Then what was she there for?—She was always going out with me every day. And you have sworn already that the chevalier always insisted on her moving on ! in front. Don't you know that the chevalier was a chronic invalid, that he suffered from paralysis and apoplexy, and was never out of some institution or other?—He told me on his oath that he never suffered from : anything but rheumatism. —(Laughter.) I Just tell US what he said. —I asked him | what was the matter with him. You thought he was looking rather "dickey"?—"What is the matter with you, old Joey?' savs I " Upon my oath, ma'am," says he, "I neve:* had anything the matter with me but rheumatism." — (Laughter.) Did you believe him?—l did. Now, are you serious; would you love him still if I told you that this is his condition and was his condition at that time —• (counsel quoted from a document) —that he I is a man who has had paralysis and apoplexy, whose heart is at present, and has been for years, diseased, and whose internal organs are all disarranged?—No.—(Laughter.) Mrs Curran, Lower Drumcondra road, was examined in corroboration of the plain- . tiff's evidence about the promise to marry. | This closed the plaintiff's case.

] Mr Campbell, K.C, for the defendant, | said that never since the days of the nn- ' mortal Mrs Bardell had there seen a breach j c f promise to equal this. • Counsel described it as an a 1 .surd, and extravagant and trumped-up and ridiculous case. • The defendant was a doddering - individual, feeble in health, who had not been out of some institution or other for the last five or six years. Counsel asked the jury ■ to scout the case out of court. Chevalier Bergin, the defendant, was then j examined by Mr Mealy. I He said that the plaintiff rarooosed. marriage to him on several occasions.—(Laughter.) No matter where ho. went in the ■ grounds she was waiting for him. —(Laugh- , ter.) She asked him did he love her, and ; he said ho did. He took the whole thing ■as a joke. Plaintiff was constantly reading novels. Serjeant Moriarity: You are a brokendown old war-horse. —(Laughter.) Did you tell her you had passed a great many ladies through your hands?—l might have said that; Ido not remember it. The Lord Chief Justice: You think you said it because it was true. j The Chevalier: Yes, my lord.—(Laughter.) Sergeant Moriarity : Did you ever put your arms about her?—l did She put her arm round me first. —(Laughter.) You pressed a chaste salute upon her j lips?—She kissed me first.—(Laughter.) She .said it was the first lime she had kissed I anyone. Dr Kennedy said he had been treating the I defendant for five years. f There was no ' doubt he was in a state of senile degenera- ! tion. The jury found a verdiot for the plainI tiff, and awarded £llO.