A WONDERFUL STORY.

Waikato Argus, Volume II, Issue 103, 6 March 1897, Page 4

A WONDERFUL STORY.

At the South-Western Police Court London, a well-dressed young woman, who gave an address in Stonnont Road, Lavender Hill, attended recently before Mt Denman, accompanied by three children, and told a remarkable story when applying for process against her husband, whom she accused of having committed bigamy. She said she married her husband in December, ISDO. He had a brother, who was identical in appearance, hid a similar scar on the hand, while each had lost a linger. She had lived with both without knowing it, thinking each to be her husband. (Laughter). Mr Denman : A sort of Box am' Cox ? (Renewed laughter). Applicant : Yes. Mr Denman : Do you mean t > suggest that both brothers have lived with you as your husband ? Applicant: Yes. '.Mr Denman: It is a very extraordinary story. Applicant : He left me to go to .Marlborough, and returned n.uch stouter. Mr Denman : Perhaps tint was the result ot the country air. Tie appl : caut produced a portrait in order to convince the Magistrate that it was impossible to distinguish one brother from the other. Mr Denman agreed that there was a marked similaii y. The applicant added that her husband had obtained a divorce against her and married again. Mr Denman: You never saw the two brothers together? Applicant : No ; not until 1890. I never knew of the existence of the second brother, and always thought the man I was living with to be my legal husband. Mr Denman : You are in this difficulty. If yon cannot tell one brother from the other the charge of bigamy could not be proved. Applicant : But I can tell the difference when I see them together. (Laughter). The magistrate questioned the applicant further, and she stated that her husband, if he had not married her aunt, was living with her. Mr Denman said she v.as doubtful in one point, and probably she had made a mistake in another. Applicant : Oh, no ; I have not. The aunt forges my name, and personates me, as she is very much like me. Mr Denman : Does he think he is living with you all the time '! The applicant answered in the affirmative, and the magistrate, joining in the laughter which the answer provoked, said it was the most extraordinary case he had ever heard. He pointed out to the applicant that everything turned on the question whether her husband allowed his brother to personate him for purposes of his own. The applicant felt confident that there was tin's conspiracy. Mr Denniau : What is your husband'.' Applicant: When [ married him he was an engineer, but hi; has used my money in buying public - houses. Mr Denman thought the application had been made in a. bona-lide spirit, but was inclined to believe that she had been worried into a misunderstanding and had got hold of a mare's-nest. However, ho would have inquiry made. Inspector May, who was in Court, undertook to make the inquiry.