The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-05-09 00:00:00

A DOMESTIC ESTRANGEMENT.

A painful inAiniee of domestic estrangement has
been disclosed in the Court of Queen's Bench in Dublin,
upon an application for a writ of habeas corpus. The
applicant was a Mr. Frederic Acheson Montgomery
Moore, son of the deputy-lieutenant of the county
Tyrone, and entitled at his father's death to a property ,
of £3,000 a year. In 1859 he became acquainted with
Mr. Prosser, a corn merchent in Waterford, whose
(laughter he fell in love with, and whom at Christmas,
1869, he married, the union having been postponed
until then in consequence of the youth of the parties. !
For some time they resided at Mr. Prosser's, in Tra-
more, within a few miles of Waterford, but in 1864
Mr. Moore took a villa called Towerhill, near Water-
ford, and fitted it up handsomely as a permanent resi-
dence. After living with him in it for a while, his wife
became dissatisfied, and positively refused to remain.
She returned to her father's, and left him in the
sole enjoyment of his rural retreat. He sent, it is
said, many urgent and affectionate messages, and
friends tried to induce her to return, but she was in-
flexible, and he then resolved to dispose of the place,
and adopt other means of overcoming her obstinate
resolution. There were two children, a boy and a
girl, the fruits of the marriage, and one of his expe-
dients for bringing his wife to terms was to deprive her
of their society. In 1867 angry disputes occurred
between Mr. Moore and the lady's father, who
justified her conduct upon grounds which have not yet
appeared, and in the month of June matters reached a
crisis, when Mr. Moore, accompanied by a relation,

eallsTdit-Mi:Prosser's house and carried off one of the
children, whom he brought to Dublin. Mr. Prosser,
who had lent him various sums of money, then took
proceedings against him, and obtaining a writ of >lc eirent
regro marked for £l,OOO, had him arrested and lodged
in the Four Courts' Marshalsea until the amount was
paid. For eight months all communication between
the parties was suspended, but on the 31st of March
Lug Mr. Moore wrote the following letter to his wife :

17, Marylebone.roail, Loudon, March 31, ISGfi.
My dear Wife,—Over eight months have now passed since
you refused to come to my house or live with inc. I shall
not here refer to the unhappiness which you have than
caused me. My object in now writing is to ask you to re-
consider nay proposition, and to request that you will make
your arrangements to join me forthwith in Dublin. If you
name a time or day I shall meet you there. If, however,
you still decline to Jona site after this request and to live in
the house I out prepared to provide for you, it is only right
to state that nmtters cannot continue as hitherto, and that I
shall be compelled, as an act of duty, to assert whatever
legal rights I may, under such cirmuustances, possess—
among others, my right to have the sole charge and care of
my two children_ You will be satisfied to bear that our
little boy is quite well and strong I beg of you, before
replying to this letter, to calmly and carefully consider your
position as a wife and as a another, and the duties which
you attaeh It, both, as our futon, happiness and the pros.
lwata and interests of our children are involved in your
decision. May God direct you is the sincere prayer and is ish
of 1. on: IiCSBANI,
DS.—lf you treat thin letter as others of liable, with
silence, and do not reply before Monday, the tith inst., I have
Ito ,ther emese I pen to me but to accept your silence us a
set tool to live with me, and shall act accordingly.
A. M. MOOIE.
A friend of MIN. Moore called at the address stated
in the letter, but did not see her husband. Her
written reply was in the following implacable terms :

The Mall, April 7, Me.
Acheson Montgomery Moorc,—l received your letter, but
as I thought my relative, Mr. —, who was in London,
wottld be better able to speak and go after the subject on
which you wrote, I asked him to call on you, which lie did,
but pin were not at the address you gave me. Vim can now,
it you wish, meet him in Dublin, or me in Waterfortt
.

MART MOlcroommor MoonE.
The Mall, Waterford.
No other communication on her part had been re-
ceived, and apprehending that if he attempted to
obtain possession of the second child—a little girl not
three years old, named Mabel—she would be removed
out of the jurisdiction of the Court, he applied through
the Solicitor-Geueral for an absolute order for a writ of
habeas corpus.

The full court, after consultation, granted the
application, and directed that the writ should be re-
turned on an early day. Soule light will then be thrown
si the eircumstanct ...f the parties, and the repug-
nance entertained by the lady may perhaps be ex-
plained.