“ENTERPRISING!”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 306, 17 March 1928, Page 12

“ENTERPRISING!”

PROPOSED TO NINE WOMEN ALREADY HAD A WIFE In the belief that they would soon be happily married, says an English exchange, four young Sheffield women gave up their situations and spent money making bridal preparations. They did not know that their lover was the same man and that he had proposed marriage to five other girls. Neither did they know that this heartless Don Juan was already married and had actually been convicted for bigamy among other crimes. This was the tale of woe revealed at Sheffield, England, when Robinson Petherick was sentenced to six months’ hard labour for obtaining a ring valued at £2 by false pretences from Mrs. Kate Read, and £4 from Mrs. Bertha Bingham. Petherick had advertised for a housekeeper and had received 106 replies. He proposed marriage to nine of these women. Mr. G. H. Banwell, prosecuting, said Mrs. Read was among the women who answered the advertisement. She received a reply from Petherick, and a meeting was arranged. The man proposed to her, and suggested that they should be married immediately. He represented himself as a widower with one child, and was very anxious to be married again. As a matter of fact, Petherick was a married man living with his wife in Sheffield. Borrowed Her Ring He continued to visit Mrs. Read and asked her -what kind of ring she wanted. On the pretence that he wished to get a wedding-ring he borrowed one which Mrs. Read was wearing. He took the ring away for measurement, and fixed the wedding for December 22 at Stocksbridge Register Office. Mrs. Read arranged for witnesses for the wedding, but the defendant failed to appear. In a letter he sent to Mrs. Read, Petherick said that he was a builder living in his own house at Stocksbridge, and had six men working for him. Mrs. Bingham also answered the ad - vertisement, and got into touch with the defendant, who said that he wanted a mother for his child. Mrs. Bingham would have nothing to do with the suggestion of marriage, and Petherick then said that he wanted some money to pay his men, who were working on the Longley Estate. He took Mrs. Bingham to me estate and showed her some houses, which he said he had built. On the strength of the story she advanced him £4. Mrs. Bingham said that when she saw Petherick he remarked: “It’s a wife I want now that I have seen you; not a housekeeper.” Detective Jubb said that he visited a house in Leadmill Road and saw Petherick with three letters in his hand Petherick said that his name was Briggs and that he intended to return the ring. He declared that he never told Mrs. Read that he had put up the banns or that they were going to be married by special licence. Addresses of 106 Women “I found a book containing the names and addresses of 106 women, a large number of whom I have interviewed,” added the detective. When he questioned Petherick about the book he said that hte names and addresses were of women who had ■written in reply to the advertisement; lie had not seen or written to all the women, and had had nothing from any of them except the ring; the £4 from Mrs. Bingham was simply a loan. Petherick, the officer explained, had one child aged eight. He was a painter by trade and had been out of work since February, 1926. His story that he was a builder was quite false. The defendant pleaded for another chance so that he could “start the New Year with a clean sheet.” He denied that he had any intention of stealing the ring. Mr. Banwell said that Petherick had had correspondence with some of the women. It had been ascertained quite definitely that Petherick had made the women had given up their situanine proposals of marriage. Fotir of tions, and had incurred expense in preparing for the marriages. As a result of efforts by the police two of the women had regained their situations. A list of convictions r | inst the man for bigamy, embezzlement and theft was proved.