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

A MELANCHOLY CASE.

In the Divorce Court the following case of " Patten-
den v. Pattenden and Herzfeld " has been heard, and
the case was of an exceedingly painful character, as
the following outline of it will show

The petitioner is Lunge ot oleaturd, Lincolnshire, and is
also head master of the glummer-school at Boston, in the
same county. lie became engaged to the respondent In 1844,
and they were married at the end of 1846, their ages being
then respectively 21 and 20. They cohabited upon the most
affectionate terms until 1055, wiles 8 circumstance otfeurred
whieh tor a time disturbed their happiness. In that year
two young men of the name of Kent became Mr. Pattenden's
pupils. A great intimacy sprang up between one of them
and the respondent, and this intimacy was continued
after he entered at l'ambridgs as an undergraduate.
It ease rise io lita m rli reark ; and the petitioner retinal-
'striae,' with his wife on her conduct, but site assured hint
that the intimacy was of a 'perfectly innocent kind, and that
the cldef subject of conversation between herself and Mr.
Kent was that of religion. Rome time after going to Cam-
bridge, howl r. Mr Kent died at consumption, and on Ms
death-bed he wrote a letter to the petitioner bearing forgive-
ness in the most earnest terms for the error he had committed
in estranging the respondent's affections from him. From
that time the petitioner anti respondent liveut unhappily
together. In January, 1865, Mr. ifalteudot vonagml the
co-respondent 50 a leacher et nnelein languages, and about
the same time one of his daughters 'there were ten children
in aff became consumptive find soon afterwanls died. The
co-respondent professed some skill in medicine. Ile con-
stantly saw Miss Kent during her illness : and It is alleged
that it was during this time and while the respondent was
also endeavouring to Mitigate her daughter's sufferings, that
the criminal intimacy sprang 41) 114we,:n them. no ca-
rebponduiC kit In Imoxiaiscr, 1865, and It Was not until
March, 1867, that documentary evidence came Into the pos-
sessbm or the petitioner which left no doubt in his mind of his
wife's guilt. Those documents included, among several other
letters in the handwriting of the respondent, one which she '
' addressml to the co-respondent while filling an engagement
: in a school at Exeter. lie had left, however, before the letter
• reached. The head master paid eiglitpence postage on it ;
lie rotained it but hOhle Limo In the :expectation of hearing
front Berzfeld, but receiving no communication from him,
and not knowing his address, he at last opened It. It was
not signed, built wits in the handwriting of the respondent,
and its terms showed that an intimacy had long subsisted
between them. The petitioner then' instituted inquiries,
and he found that not only was the co-respondent in
the habit of visiting fuel sleeping at his house in his absence,
but that he had received from his wife sums of money
which were given to her for school and household expenses.
The petitioner ceased to cohabit with her, sod she then not
only tTrealated letters containing gross calumnies against
his character, but endeavoured still further to injure hint by
printing and sending them to hue Queen's Proctor.
-

_ . .
After hearing the evidence, his lordship observed
that the letters clearly showed that she had carried on
a guilty and clandestine intercourse with the co-respon-
dent, and that she had no charge on earth to snake
:whist her husband_; and la: granted a decree 'alai,
with r•stil, agaiwit the ca-respondent,