SECRET DIVORCE

Southland Times, Issue 19293, 11 July 1924, Page 5

SECRET DIVORCE

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HUSBAND. STRANGE STORY FROM FRANCE. (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) LONDON, July 7. The Paris correspondent of the Morning Post tells an extraordinary story of a husband who is alleged to have secretly divorced his wife in order to secure her fortune, and kept her locked up for seven years in the room of a house in which he lived with another woman. It was disclosed before the Courts that the parties were married in 1889. The husband was a young and briefless barrister, and his wife brought a settlement of 600,000 francs so invested that the couple could only touch the interest four years after the marriage. The husband persuaded his wife to consent to a formal divorce, and to continue living together. The husband was thus able to secure the control of the property as her agent. By 1914 she was penniless. Henceforward, having become a charge on her husband, she was kept locked in a small room, with a barred window. The only food given to her was a plate of boiled potatoes and dry bread every two days. She succeeded in escaping in 1920, and took refuge with her relatives, who communicated with the police. Thanks to the law’s delays, however, the husband was able to prevent the hearing before the Court until now. The Court ordered an investigation, with a view to a criminal prosecution.