HUSBAND’S CRIME

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19057, 9 July 1924, Page 11

HUSBAND’S CRIME

EXTRAORDINARY STORY. WIFE LOCKD UP FOR SEVEN YEARS. LONDON, July 7. The Morning Post’s Paris correspon dent tells an extraordinary story of a hasband who is alleged to have secretly divorced his wife in ordfer to secure her fortune, and kept her locked up for seven years in a room of the house i in which he lived with another woman, ilt was disclosed before the Court that the parties were married in 1889. The husband was a young, briefless barrister, and the wife brought with her a settlement of 600.000 franc; ( so invested that the couple could only | touch the interest four years after their marriage. The husband persuaded his wife to consent to a formal divorce, and continue living together. The husband was thus able to secure control of the property as her agent. By 1914 she was penniless, and henceforward, having become a charge )on her husband, she was kept locked l in a small room, with a barred window, her only food being 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, her husband was able to prevent a hearing before the Court until now. The Court has ordered investigations with a view to a criminal prosecution.