BREACH OF PROMISE

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17964, 8 March 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

BREACH OF PROMISE

Concrning the changed attitude of her fiance, a girl made extraordinary allegations in support of an action' for breach of promise heard by Mr Justice Humphreys in the King’s Bench, says a London paper. Plaintiff, Miss Lilian Eleanor Rogers, 28, of Grove Vale, .East Dulwich, insisted that her erstwhile sweetheart, Mr Horace Walter Sales Pitches, 26, poster designer, of East Dulwich, jilted her after “treating hpr like a dog" and making cruel comments upon her appearance. Mr Pitches admitted that he promised to marry Miss Rogers, hut pleaded that she, and not he, broke the engagement. Mr G. F. Kingham, for plaintiff, stated the pair became engaged in December, 1925, and the promise was broken in January, 1929. Mr Pitches was in demand among his friends as a vocalist, and Miss Rogers, who played the piano, became his accompanist. They were a great deal in each other's company, but a rift in the lute became obvious at the end of 1928. This was because defendant seemed to flag in his attention to plaintiff. Miss Rogers surmised that his mother had something to do with that change of attitude. The mother had said, “I cannot see what young people want to get married for.” Mr Pitches ceased to kiss his sweetheart, and seemed anxious to quarrel on any pretext. He would not allow her to dance with anyone except himself, and when he was busy arranging social functions in which he was interested, all she could do was to sit and talk to his mother. Autocratic Ideas. Mr 'Kingham added: “Mr Pitches seems to have had some autocratic and ancient ideas about the privileges of future husbands. lie suggested that 'Miss Rogers should not go out with him, that she should not play the .piano -unless he was present, and (hat she should only play things he liked. Plaintiff did her best to obey him, and then he went so far as to destroy all the musio she possessed which he did not care about. Defendant became casual and indifferent, and, in January, 1929, the couple just walked about, neither speaking nor looking at one another. Indeed, Miss Rogers walked behind defendant “like a dog.” Defendant announced that he was “fed up” and wanted a holiday. “If I had not got you I would clear off to a boarding-house for relief,” he had told her. Counsel added that Miss Rogers would swear that Mr Pitches made cutting and cruel comments upon her appearance, and was mean in his actions. He suggested she should pay for her own ticket when they visited a cinema, and when she told him his conduct was breaking her heart, he replied, “I will buy a tube of stuff to mend it with.” At Christmas, 1928, he announc

EXTRAORDINARY ALLEGATIONS BY DISAPPOINTED FIANCEE. A LOVE THAT COOLED. GIRL AWARDED £2O DAMAGES.

that the wedding would have to be ' postponed for some years. He told plaintiff it was a pity to waste her time, and suggested she might like to find somebody else. On December 27, 1928, he wrote her.—My own darling,—lt is with sincere regret I now see the wretched unhappiness I have caused you. I have suddenly realised as if in a, dream the cruel fellow I have been ... If I can give you a reassurance that I can and will be the old Horace, you will go on more and more, won’t you? . . Will you promise me, dearest, to start once again? Let’s make life a pleasure once again . . . Let’s have the "old rut” back again. Will you allow me another chance to make a fresh success of everything? “ IWy Precious Gem.” Not long afterwards defendant was calling Miss Rogers “My precious gem" and writing: “Although there has only been the passing of a few hours since I last saw you I have emotional feelings that there has been a gap of an eternity which seems unbreakable. The realism of our love has got sublime. Were you capable of imagining and realising so profound a love? When I pause to think of our happy union something strikes me that, apart from the human instinct, there is a, divine influence acting for our happiness in the future. The thought that some day you will be near me eternally is a soothing consolement which only comes to those who know the meaning of true and real love as we do. Oh, Lil, this absence is intolerable after having you continually for Christmas. —I remain, yours very earnestly, Horace. A few weeks later, added counsel, Mr Pitches repudiated the engagement, and the writ was issued. Miss Rogers, a slimly built young woman wearing rimless pince-nez, and clad in a brown fur-trimmed coat, showed some agitation while giving evidence. At the end of 1928, she declared, Mr Pitches seemed to take little or no interest in her. She added: “When he kissed me it was not really a kiss, but just a peck on the side of my face.” When he told her the marriage would have to be postponed indefinitely she cried, _ and he observed cruelly, “I am sick of you alied ways snivelling around me." Cross-examined by Mr Lionel Jel-

iinek for defendant, (Miss Rogers admitted that she might have offered her ring hack to defendant once just after the engagement commenced, when they had had a “tiff,” but she had not told him he could have his freedom. Mr Jeliinek: Did you not exclaim, “I can always get plenty of other hoys"?—No. I never mentioned other men to him. “ Walked Away As If Ashamed.” Miss Rogers remarked, "When Mr Pitches took me to a cricket match he deposited me on the ground and walked away as if he was ashamed of me. He asked me to live in a little world of our own and not have conversation with anyone about our love affairs.’' Counsel: After the way you say he treated you, are you not very glad you are not going to marry him? —No, I cannot express my feelings on the matter now. I have looked forward to being married to him and planned my life accordingly. I did not expect him to be an angel. Miss Rogers asserted that defendant called her “tramlines face.” Mr Pitches, in evidence, swore that Miss Rogers offered him his freedom and slated she had plenty of chances with other boys. Her father said to him, “If you break off the engagement I’ll breach you.” (Mr Justice Humphreys: That did not mean what it would have meant to a younger boy. Defendant stated that during that interview Miss Rogers kept saying, “Don’t hurt him, father.” “I didn’t know what she meant,” remarked Mr Pitches, “hut I knew there was some gunpowder in the house, and I didn’t know whether he was going to blow my head off. He looked very cross and vicious.” Witness added he was earning £2 18s a week at the time of the engagement, and had saved about £25. He alleged that Miss Rogers complained of too much of his time being taken up in his secretaryship of a football club. He had always been desirous of continuing the engagement and marrying her at the earliest opportunity. The jury found in favour of plaintiff with damages amounting to £2O. Judgment was entered accordingly with costs.