AN UNHAPPY HOME.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 305, 17 May 1913, Page 8

AN UNHAPPY HOME.

AUCKLAND DIVORCE CASK. I IiKMARKABLK EVIDENCE BY BOTH PARTIES. I WELL-KNOWN MERCHANT'S : ACTION. ! Auckland, May 1.1 | An interesting divorce case is at present being heard at the Supreme Court, i the parlies being well-known Auckland people. The petition is that of Thomas John Craig, merchant, against Zillah Aurora Cra:-g. and Henry llargi'eaves, | bank clerk, Sydney, is joined as co-re- ' spondent. j Dr. Bamford, for the petitioner, said ■' the couple had been married on December 31, 1896, and since then had lived in practically everv pari of Auckland. It was not until 1012 'lint there had been any serious trouble between them, but it was alleged that in ' July, August, October, November and December that j year Mrs. Craig had been guilty of mis- ! conduct with Henry Hargreaves. It , was proposed to place before the jury, he i said, certain circumstances from which it would be asked to infer that misconduct had 'taken place in Sydney. The j parties had been married for about 17 j years, but it was sufficient to say that from the first Mrs. Craig seemed to have been unsettled, and insisted on i frequent chances of residence and , lengthy trips. In November, 1911, when' I returning from a trip to Sydney, she had brought Hargreaves with her, and after some dissent on the part of tne petitioner, the Australian had been allowed to stay at the Craig's house in Beach road as a guest. Certain incidents had occurred, and ultimately the j petitioner bad ordered the co-re.spon- ' dent out of the house. Very soon afterwards Hargreaves had returned to ' Australia. On April 8. 1912, respondent, against the wishes of her husband, had I I !"(>. for Svdnev. taking only a single [; ticket. Letters had passed between bus- , I band and wife, and the petitioner had "' sent his wife money. During the followJ | ing August, Craig had become very ill, 1 and his wife had been called back 'to j j New Zealand, had assisted in his nursi ing, and had made inquiries as to the will. Soon after the husband had found ' I his wife writing to Harsreaves. The ]| letter commenced, "Darling Mine," it 1.1 <as punctuated by many terms of en- _ i dearment such as "Darlie," and there _ | also appeared the sentence, "No, dear, I do not let him kiss me." When' taxed , two days later with writing this letter, • Mrs. Craig had replied that if she did not write Hargreaves would commit sui j cide. A search of the respondent's trunks discovered many letters. ' The first batch showed that the co-respondent and respondent had been in almost daily I communication, and contained terms of • endearment sandwiched between details ~ as to the writer's health and tender enI | quiries as to Mrs. Craig's condition. The '. other letters referred to trivialities, but i I one of them expressed the hop& that ~ "H.," apparently the husband, ■ would i ( ; be found by Mrs. Craig in awful pain /and nearly dead, "if he. is to die." One (> letter read "I hope it will be the mq ! st (i awful death imaginable." Still, another „ made reference to "Your loving Tom, . curse him," while a query, "You don't let him kiss yon, do you, dear?" h{id apparently inspired the reply contained in the letter discovered earlier. <j)n September 30 last, counsel continued, i Mrs. Craig had left Auckland for Syd- < • ney, and since then had not been seen by petitioner until the commencement of • , the nresent proceedings. Before leaving ; l Auckland, however, she had a convir- , sation with Mr. J. J. Craig in comrecf fcion with the proposed divorce proceed- , ings, and had remarked that if Hart greaves was brought into the case she f I would fight it tooth and nail. ' She had' ] j added that if 'he were left out of lit . . she was quite prepared to hand ovjer letters from other men.I "NOT A HOME, BUT A HELL'." " Thomas John Craig, the ■petitioner, ' gave evidence in accordance with-;-, the ! j outline of the case given by Dr. Baihr( ford. He said that he had'found' Mrs.' > Craig in Hargreaves's room When the ■ latter was staying with them in Beach • I Road, and had also found Hargreives on , I one occasion sitting on his wife's bed. ( Under cross-examination the petitioner J admitted having come home-under the j influence of liquor. ( I Mr. Prendergast: How many times-r-The petitioner; Several times,' but it [, was not a home, it was a hell. Mr. Prendergast: Yet you were will- ' ing to remain?—the petitioner: Yes; I ! was fond of my wife; I loved her. Joseph James Craig, merchant,- of ' \nekland, and ,a brother of the petit- ■ ioner, gave evidence as to the illness ■ iof his brother, and mention! incidentalI ly that he had instructed the .mirse tio > [keep an eye upon Mrs. Craig, because he J was satisfied that shr lid not want her husband to live. Continuing, lie gave evidence as outlined bv Dr. Bam- ; | ford, making reference to Mrs. Craig's , order to hand over letters from other , [men if Hargreaves were left out of the ! i case. He produced a letter written by ■ respondent after she had. left Auckland i for 'rood, in which she said she did not mind being blamed for what she had done, but would not be blamed unjustly. She also remarked that she had only accepted a little affection when she was in need of it. Mr. Prendergast: Did you not tell respondent that unless her: husband mended his ways he would have to go out of the firm?— Witness: No. I said I would speak to him, and that he would have io behave himself. He admitted that the respondent had always denied that there had been any- misconduct on her part. . Edward Hadfield, photographer and inquiry agent gave evidence. Witness took a snapshot of the couple on the liondi beach. The picture was produced in court. ; "ADDICTED TO DRINK." I The respondent, Zillah Auroa Craig, stated in the witness-box that a few weeks after her marriage she discovered that her husband was addicted to drink. They were living at Mount' Eden then.. lie used to come home go to bed without having any dinner. She did not know what was the matter at first; .she had not been used to drunkenness, and she oalled in the doctor twice. He did not prescribe, but said that her husband would be all right in the morsing. Ho ''sed to drive home and take a very j long time to get the horse out of the . trap, and then he went to bed. About once a fortnight this sort of thing used 'to happen. She used to arrange to go

along Hip road to meet him. but when) In- was driiiik In; did not sec her, and I when he w.is home he used to swwu \ at her. When they moved to Terrace ab:>ut nine years ago, lier Ims- "j hiind had been moved to-the shipping' department, and she thought that was a great temptation to him. .She hail written to his brjt'iers asking them to shift her husband from the shipping department, and she had written to capihis asking them not to place temptation in her husband's way. In Selwyn Terrace he hail' punched her one night in the hall, and lw,<l afterwards punched ' Vt mi bed, and the people next door heard her crying. One of his playful pastimes was to sit in an armchair smoking. He was reallv smoking matches, not tobacco, and he used to throw the lighted matches at h"r so that sometimes they would stick to her arms and clothiivjr. IMore she first | took a. trip nwav from home she had i seen her husband sitting in their din-mg-room with the maid on his kne-\ 'I'll" maid had said that lie used to pester her when he was drunk. Witness had told her husband she would leave him. and would go to her people. He had said he needed a trip, and would go with her, so they went together, Going on the train from Sydney to Melbourne he was so drunk that he could not find the tickets, and she had to take them out of his pocket book. She was also' warned to watch him lest he should fill from the train. She first met Hari greaves at a boardinghouso in Svdney. lie V\as ill and was being attended.to bv a doctor, and she took an interest in j him. Afterwards she went to Newcastle, and when she returned to Sydney she found • that Hargreaves was again away from the bank on sick leave. She asked him to come to Auckland because he did not have enough money to go anywhere else or to pay his board. Her husband knew that Hargreaves was coming to stay with them, and came to the boat to meet him. Hargreaves stayed with them for about four weeks. One night her husband did not come home to dinner, and she and Hargreaves went out to post a letter. "SHE'S MY WIFE." . Witness, continuing, said that they met her husband staggering down the street. The letter was posted, and the three of them returned .to the house. Craig pushed her against the wall, and she went into the dining-room and cried. Hargreaves remonstrated, and Craig said: "She's my wife." Hargreaves said: "I cannot stay and see a woman ill-treated." .Respondent told Hargreaves she was frightened and asked him not to go that night. He stayed that night, and left in the morning. Craig had never found Hargreaves in her bedroom, and she had never taken a cup of coffee to Hargreaves in bed in J the morning. Reespondent said, she remembered her husband going to the Beach road house while she was writing the letter that had been produced. Ho did not need to take the letter from her —she gave it to him. She did not want him to have it, of course, but fshe did not wish to 'upset him before her departure from the house. There had been Some talk of divorce proceedings, and she had agreed that it would please her to be separated from her husband. She had suggested that it might be effected through desertion, but he- had pointed out tliat they would have to wait Ave years. Then her husband had hinted that they could bring in Hargreaves as co-respondent, and to this she replied: "Dont you daTe to bring trouble on the head of that boy because he is innocent | and delicate." Her husband then said: "What about that fellow Kettle, of the . Straits Settlement if" She replied: "There is no co-respondent in the caße." He. said: "I have one letter of his." Respondent then replied: "I have some more of his letters in Sydney. 11l send them over to you if you wish.!'' Respondent described' the disposition? of ■the rooms of the house in which Bhe lived at Bondi. Her sister and two child-' ; ren were staying at the same pla'ce, and her sister and -sometimes the childrenas well were always with her whenever Hargreaves visited her. She and her sister shared a double bedroom. Sh&' strenuously denied ever having committed any impropriety. ' RESPONDENT CROSS-EXAMINED. Cross-examined by Dr. Bamfdsd, respondent said she supposed that Harr greaves felt the sentiments he expressed in his letters! When did he first tell 'you that he cared for you?— After I wen*: over in April. Then when he stayed withi> yo* arts Beach Road you were just friends?— Yes. At that time I was. under the impression he cared for someone else. ' Continuing respondent said'that Har.greaves had told her he cared for someone,- and she was under the impression that he referred to a nurse. Referring to a declaration in one of Hargrove's earlier letters, respondent persisted that she did not >know he referred to her at the time. Sh« had since learned that he must have meant her. When he said, "Do you remember that night at 25?" he 'was referring to the boardinghouse where she first met him in Sydney. She did' not know that lie loved her then. He told her he cared for somebody. She did not know he cared for her. She would not have brought him had she known he entertained these ardent feelings towards, her.. Describing her own feelings towards the co-respondent, ' respondent said that she felt very sorry for hinu. He was very delicate," and he did not have much money. She called him "My Darling" because he had been very good 1 to her in many ways, bringing her letters from Mr."Craig from the post office, and posting her letters for her. His Honor: Couldn't you get any persona m tWe boarding house to carr" your letters without wanting to> call them "Darting?" Further cross-examined by Dft. Bamford, the respondent said: When he first told me he cared for me T told him not to be silly. Hf '■> years and years younger than I am. She explaoiaed that she did not want hargreaves to love her, but she supposnd she meant it when she wrote that she would like to have h-im to be able to lean her head on his shoulder. That w»s the first time she had ever confessed her love for him. His Honor: What do you mean by "wanting to recline your'head on his shoulder?"— Respondent: I was very much worried. His Honor: Do you want to lean your head on a man's shoulder every time you are worried?— Respondent: I have no one else's shoulder to lean on. I could not lean on my husband's shoulder. Dr. Bamford: Did you mean it when you wrote this: "I would like to kiss you to hits, and then kiss the bits back into Darling"?— Respondent: "I do not deny that he has kissed me. I deny everything else." Counsels' addresses will be taken temorrow.