The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-06-13 00:00:00

A REMARKABLE BIGAMY CASE.

REMARKS ON PASSING EVENTS.

tents of that letter tolls daughter, who, inconsequence,
went into mourning, and 'he himself put on slight
mourning. He had never heard of Reeve nor seen
hint shies the receipt of that letter, and he was con-
vinced his daughter honestly believed he was dead.
Being cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant Pallantine,
witness said he heard at the police-court that Mr.
Reeve was alive and at Exeter. Witness had for
years been engaged in the malt and hop trade, fist as
a merchant, andjatterly as a salesman on commission.
NI ills ran off with his daughter. He was never a
major in the army, but four 1 his rale ives had been
majors and one was a colonel. His daughter's
Viridian name was Annie. and that was the only one
she was christened by. He had beard 14 berlieing
called Annie Laura. That might be either her hus-
band's fancy or her own. She was not divorced from
Mr. Mills.

The Recorder told the jury the prisoner was indicted
j under an Act I d. Parliament %shish enacted in effect
, that any person who being married, shouhlmarry any
j other person during the life of the former husband or
wife, as the ease might be, should be deemed ',milts' of
felony. There was a proviso in substance that nothing
contained in the Act should extend to any second
martiage where the husband or wife of the first
should be continually absent from the other for
seven years, and did not know that either wan living
within that time. Supposing the rase of an absence
for seven years, and that neither knew the other was
alive, the Act would not apply. He should certainly,
until he was otherwise inkrmed by a superior Court,
direct them to convict the prisoner if they believed she
married the second husband during the lifetime of the
first. The first marriage was in 1863, and the last in
ISCA ; therefore the priviso as to seven years could
taut apply in this case. If, on the other hand, they
'bought the witness Mr. Pierpoint might have been
mistaken as to seeing the first husband in April last,
the prisoner was entitled to an acquittal But he
Jusked them, supposing they were satisfied that the
first husband was alive at the time of the second mar-
riage, whether they thought the prisoner honestly
believed he was dead. 'there was strong evidence that
-he slid believe him to be ,lead on the receq4 of the
letter Irons his mother. Then, again, on the second
marriage, she culled herself a spinster, gave a new
Christian name, and altered the description of her
fa' her. Those were the only circumstances cal-
culated to throw doubt on her belief at the time of the
,econd matriage that the first husband was dead.
. .

The turf aisasten aud turf scandals of the past year have
visibly elected the niarket price of blood stock. On Satur-
day last, at the li,ouptou Court sale, the attendance was
conntaratively thin. tool no gevuine •. noblemen and gentle.
'acre to be seen bidding 2,000 and 2.5 A) guineas a Moe*
for yearling, the i neat)- ' lots submitted to the ham-
mer realised 0,515 guineas—but 225 guineas each ; the .• top
lot" being a bay colt hy King Tom 14It of Celia, knocked
down to Sir al I 4111 lb,y for 1.350 guineas. The link,. of
Newcastle purchased a hay filly by St. Albans, out of Julia,
for 2ed guineas a tiro. n colt by St. Alharis, out of
Aquamarine. tor 00 guiese.; citric bay colt by Ely, out of
Stater to i ittle I.ady, for 54) guineas ; and Nil.. John Day
bought four other lots at an average of lfle guineas each—a
sari falling off from former sales.

The jury returned a verdict of Guilty, believing the
first husband was alive at the time of the second
narriage, that the prisoner had no evidence of his
death, and that she did not believe he was dead.
Mr. Ribton, the prisoner's counsel. stated that after
marrying Mr. Mills, belicAg her first husband was
dead, she lived with him as his wife at Salisbury, and
Dr. Blackmore, who had instituted this prosecution,
was the person who had given her into custody at the
Waterloo-station. He WM a physierm, and attended
Mr. Mills and her, and knew she was married to Mills,
or supposed so. Mills eventually represented ti her
that her marriage with him was void, because at the
time of the marriage he was a married man. That
was communicated to Dr. Blackmore, and he (Mr.
Ril don) had letters of Dr. Iflaek more in his band show-
ing that he had asked her father's consent ti a man
riage. The father refused, and they went to Scotland
and were married. Now Dr. Rlackmore alleged that
the Scotch marriage was illegal because certain for-
malities had not been observed. 'There was now,
I esides, a suit in the Divorce Court On the petition of
Dr. Blackmon., and to assist that suit this criminal
pnsiecution had been instituted, the fact being that
nolssly had been injured, or, if anybody, the lady at
the bar. He submitted this was a case not deserving
of any punishment
Mr.Serjeant Ballantine sail he hail reason to believe
that many of those statements made on the part of
the prisoner were entirely without foundation. At
the same time, he had no desire to press unnecessarily
against this lady, who had violated the law.
The Ihs3order told Mr. Ribton that a good deal of
what he had stated was perfectly irrelevant to this case.
Addressing the prisoner, he said the circumstances
under which the prosecution bad been instituted were
no doubt peculiar, and the offence of bigamy in respect
to the injury inflicted on another person was very dif-
ferent in the case of a woman front that of a man. At
the same time, she had been guilty of a grossly immoral
act, and he could not treat the violation of the law. soul,,
offence. He sentenced her to one month's imprison-
ment.

The grossing prosperity of Canada is illustrated by SODA
returns quoted (some of the pals to of the Dominion. In
nine years just past the illlpollt had increased upwards of ell
per fent , and the eeport, 94. The e•ports of nrinufactnrea
rose from :MAO dollars to t19,(100 dollars. and the impel&
thin had been enlarged annually by :t!, per cent A tact
which serves to Ming out in a still more still:tug manner the
comfortable condition] of the people is that. in ten years. de.
posits in banks have increasel Val per cent. These figures
deserve to be considered by working teen who are thinking
of trying their f rinse abroad. Let them also compare the
rate of wages in Canada end the United States the cost of
living, the price of all articles necessary for personal coin.
fort or domestic use. end ifliUl e es to the feeling with winch
they would be received in the two countries—n.l they may
probably be led to the conclusion that there is vety in
reason why the Republicans at thicago Amnia have ackmar -
linked the importance of owouraging torah. lininigintion"
into the States. At any rate, the hard-working man uho
tried Canada tint is never likely to cross the (Pallier.

Archdeacon Denison addressed a Church and State meeting
at Taunton on Sunday. Ile spoke of disestablishment os "•
sin," and refused to make any distinction between the Irish
Church avid the Church of England lie affirmed that the
United Church of England and Ireland was "a divine trust,"
and as such ought not in he given up. " If," mid he, •' they
took it away, they would dishonour Christ, and make the
Government of the country a Godless Government " The
venerable Archdeacon declared. farther. that Mr. Gladstone
IS:. Iron Workmg the greatest tunehief which was ever
worked to this country, and we are told that this statement
was loudly cheered 1,2,. the Church Witl State nice of Somerset-
shire. The belligerent Church functionary proceeded to talk
of "revolution," and said that unless Churchmen w ere up
and doing "the chalices would be that many of theta would
have to fight with the sword before this matter was done
with."

The funeral of Tolbert Chamber., the en-champion of thot
Thames and the Tyne, took place Ott Sunday aiternoon at
Walker, near Neu eadle-on-Tyne. From 50,000 to 60,000
persons were present, including some 3.0 0 who walleil lii
the procession. Among these were some of the most
celebrated oarsmen of the day, and members of atialY
friendly societies. The procession was headed by a volun-
teer rifle hand playing the •' Dead tlarch in Saul." Every
Piece of elevated ground Mimi the node front the ilci•casi•A's
residence, Si. Anthimys, Tyneside. to the burial-animal, a
distance of about a mile and a half, Wan thrmiged. The
Wittig aall Laken leading to St. Anthony's and 55 alker pre,
settled the appearance of a great mustering towards a mee.
course ion a popular race day, being mow ded not only viith
persons who had been conveyed by rail and by steamboat,
but by cabs :Mit vehicles of every character. In
with ilia own %lab, Chambers Ca. buried by the slue of his
mother.

EARL GROSVENOR ON THE OPEN
CHURCH MOVEMENT.
A conversazione of the Chester Diocesan Open
Church Association was held at Chester, last week,
under the presidency of Earl Grosvenor, M. P., when
there was a large and influential attendance of clergy,
including the Dean of Chester, and nest of the
county gentlemen who had been present at the meet-
ing held to consider the restoration of the I 'athedral.
A paper was read by the Rev. A. Lodge, M.A., rector
of Wavertree, Liverpool, on "The Free and Unappro-
priated System," which led to a discussion.
In the course of the proceedings, Earl Grosvenor
said :

According to a return puhlished on Monday morning. it
appears that the average number c,f paupers receiving relief
in England and Wales during 1507 was 931.34 of which
number 20;9 were lunatics confined in asylums or licensed
la iu.es. The total avei age shows an increase on that id' tha
year lot Alia a deereaFe on the previous three 'ears, tho
iii s ill 1-6344 being considerably over a million. The
. .

total runt expended for the relief if the p-or only aas
1:6,959,840, a!rich was in excess of the expenilitnre of the
ten years over which these ri turns extend. inn the metro-
polis alone there was last year a very marked increase ut
pauperism, having rimin front £104,499 in 141.41 tnt £12,1.".4 nit
,56., anal the expenditure shows a proportionsate increase,
having risen from £976,2,2 to £1,1.75,363.

An unprecedented occurrence took place In the Court of
Queen's Bench on Monday. Lord Chief Justice Cockbunt,
4in the judges ta leg their seats, gave a lengthen." statement
of his reasons for dissenting OH a number 41 p i,, ts from tine
charge of Justice Blackburn to the gram! jury upon thernia
of Mr. Eyre. Ills lordship stated as an excuse for 81101 an
unusual curve, that when the senior puisne judge delivers,
in pursuance of long-established c.toto, the charge to the
grand jury of Middlesex, the charge he so delivers is that .of
the Gout, not that of the single judge who pnmounces it.
Ile speaks not of his own authority or on his 41.1 respioisi-
MID y alone, but as the organ alll mouthpiece 41 the Court.
Justice Blackburn, hi a few ditmitied and simple st,tences,
stated aid before delivering the charge be hail, as be
thought. fully eXIIIIIIO4I into rivet tin bin 1,1,111cr uiign n, and
that they concurred hi them; tort it now appear.' that that
explanation hail not Igen sufficient. Ile, however, still held
the opinions, conscient ly, deliberately, and lalsolously
formed, an mini ice had 101 l 141W0 iii that charge. but they
would not HOW have as much weight as if they had come
from the full Court.

According to a Board of Trade return Just published, the
importation if wheat Into France during the first quarter of
the present year WAS three times as great As in the coma
molding portal if last year. In Belgium iit was at,. lit 75
per cent, e than in 1867. The value id the cotton im
ported Into France during the first moaner if the in csent
year was 417,448,000 in excess of the total for the same
quarter of 1867, and, looking at this fact. and the en, invus
sums paid for foreign wheat, the a.c lat. 14. math ma
of gold at the Ban:: of intact becomes more than ever
remarkable.

-- •
He had not hitherto taken any public part in the question.
but had contented I ' self •‘ ith subscribing to the funds,
believing that the objects of the association wer • good.
He thought the fact coblil hardly be disputed that
the pew system was an evil, and ed to the exclusion
—it might be said, the almost entire exclusion—of the
people from the parish churches of our country. As a
great evil did really exist in this respect, and a large
body of those who should be inembets, soil probably mould
be members, of the Church of England. were, so ti speak,
forced out by not being telowed, thrungh want of capon,
supposing they were to go there to obtain as entrance
into the church, to take part in the services of the Church
of England. 'that cvii Con-i-ted in the exclusive system
of the rental ot pews. Applau.e.:, Fortunately for the
poorer classes of our country, the 41-venting ies had
given them facilities for attending olivine service, other-
wise the people of this country would lie In a worse case than
they are now. When we had done with the numbers which
the church does aernimenslate, mid the numbers which the
dissenting chapels accommodate, there still remained
what hail been termed lately a resia Mum of those people trial
IleVer—for want it opportunity in many cases—attended
the service of the Church. .Nlany would, 110 doubt, re-
member the facts lately mentiosed in the metropolis. where
a meeting took place as to the spiritual destitution of LOllllOll.
The !ballot-rot London there soil that there were at least one
million of people sills, in the metropolis, never went to any
church. If that fact applied to London, it applied sag° to the
other largetow na in England ; audit was a fact for serious reflex,
ni in regard to the fut lire of this country, that so many of its in-
habitants lived w about frequenting any place of public woe' The Iniffe of Buckingham has written to the Lieutenant-
ship. Mast gentlemen present at that conversaxione had Governor nit Natal, stating that her Majesty's GovermueLt
attended the meeting held that day to enlist the sympathy looks with " great apprehension and regret upon the
of the puldic towards the restoration of the cathetind of . retain- d intention of some colonial bishops to conse-rate a
the Ilicence, and one of the great arguments in support bishop to the IOCC.C. of :satal, on the aii-uniption that Dr
of the 1110V011ent, and which encouraged theni to pro- Colenso has lieen depoaed. 'I he lieutenant•govesnor is to use
reed in that matter, was that the cathedral was all his legitimate influence to prevent such con- ecration, and
now practically a free anal open church— loud applause should any ecclesiastical idticer with a salary held alining the
and it was (mind that the services there were attended by I pleasure of her Majesty be a party to it, tile Queen st ill be
the poorer classes, who probably would not have sipper- I advised to cancel his appointment.
tunnies of attending at other places of worship in the
I town. The Church of England, he believed, was pretty
strongly fixed in the affections of the people—'applause
111111 111 this thee of transition and change in the ls if
men it should be sought to make it stronger. Witlmut
introducing politics, lie might say that the Irish Establish-
ment—the tree which grew in Ireland—had no con•
nection, or very little relation, to the Mee which grew
11l England. Ile was not afraid of any danger to the English
Church as a State establishment, for its roots were pretty
straingly implanted in the feelings of the people of England.
At the same time it might be materially strengthened, and
its roots laid deeper in the affections of thin people ; anal
lie tin meld this society had that object in eh W. to maclle its
roots to extend wider and wider. and deeper and deeper, on,
that it might be made what it ought to be—the church of
the people of England. Loud applause.

A Constantinople correspondent, in a letter of the nth
save:—.• Alarming rumours were set afloat during the
week with reference to the Sultan's health, A ohm p Greek
speculator having apt end a report that his MO sty was
actually dead, a momentary deflection took place in the
price of funds to the adv,intage of a chosen few ; the canard,
however, raving been F4lOll detveted lind traced to its sonrce,
the Greek was arres,ed on the chirge of spreading fid.e tens
for dishonest purposes—not a new offence, unliapidly, ill this
mmiter. The Sultan had a slight apoplectic at some days
since, hot all danger was speedily arrested and lie is now
, unite convalescent. The strange etnitoin of the Ottoman
Court is always to conceal the illness of the radishals, and
even on the occasion of his death it is not made public until
after his interment.

A petition to the House of Lords is in course of signature
by clew) teen only. It declares that the petitioners are
•leeply convinced that to maintain tine present Eget.fished
Church in Ireland as the National Church of that country is
an injustice which legitimately offends the majority of the
Irish people ; and your petitioners therefore humbly pray
your lordships to aliOpt such measures as may appear best
suited to remove the cause of offence." The petition has
already been signed by Archdeacon sanilford, Pr. Temple, of
Rushy, Professor Maurice, the Mteter of St. John's College,
Cambridge, Dr. Butler, of Harrow, the Revs. W. Rogers,
Stopford Brooke, W. 11. Fremantle, and J. LI. Davies.