The Express.
London, England, 1861-06-12 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY MARRIAGE CASE IN

IRELAND.

A case which was partially heard in the Court of
Chancery, Dublin, on Monday. is likely to ex-
cite coosidemble interest, both from thb posi-
tion of the parties concerned, the legal queetrooa
involved, and the feels le ism between the parties.
The kb neaps Obiedee litenert Corry was, at the time of
Ids death. paraewel ales minis co‘iii&inrising over 4,130 acres
mat Meekeeny, in liseeseoty lt i .
Xis. Mary Steuart
ai eitereds• WAWA lobe dowry as his widow,
le lite_ petitioner in Me ems. The petitioner avers that she
was duly married to Mr. Corry on the god of April, 187.3. No
settlement was executed, and she maintains that at her
beehend'a death she was entitled to dower oat of hie
estates, which bad been conveyed to Lord Blaney and
John Henry Clements, and the trustees of Lord Cremortie,
then& minor, and are now in possearion of the latter noble.
man. Mrs. Cony applied to his lordship for dowry
Met Illeptember, but be paid no attention to the de-
ment Lord Creniorne's ramose. to the petition is that
there was no mama between the petitioner and Mr.
Carry; that a certain lady lived with him, as is genendly
the case with persons in his position ; that she was a per-
son of pry inferior position in life—a menial in his employ-
ment ; end that be did not believe there was any marriage
between the parties. The second point is, that Mr. Corry
had agreed to sell to Lord Cremorue all his remaining
estates in the county Mooaghan, for the sum of 43,500 f. ;
and it being rumoured that the petitioner was the wife of
Mr. Own, she was made a party to the deed, and thus de-
barred herself from any claim upon the property. Lord
Cremona, believes that Mr. T. C. S. Corry denied the
truth of the remoter in question, but he says :—" Rh agent,
with a view to prevent any question on the subject, in-
sisted es the petitioner joining is the deed of coeveyanoe,
and in acknowledging the game, pursuant to the statute in
that case made and provided ; which she accordingly did.
by deed bearing date August 31, 1840, and duly executed and
aeknowled die same." In that deed Mr. Whiteside
understood there wee a formal assertion of her marriage—
• distinct recital of the fact ; and she was, in fact, made •
party to the deed in the same way as wives usually are in
such sees. In reply to the disparaging allegations of the
respondent', Mrs. Cony states that she was thedaughter of
Mr. George Bretoall, a retired linen merchant and farmer, in
the county of Suffolk ; that her father's family being large,
she was Induced to accept a situation in the family of Mr.
Cony, as a oompenion to has children, he being a widower
sloes August 1821. She denied that she was ever in any
menial capacity; whenever took her meals with the servants,
or associated with them. While residing in Mr. Curry's
house, he made proposals of marriage to her, which she
accepted. The marriage ceremony was performed on the
Mad of April, 1823, and it was performed in a room of Rock-
eorry Castle by a Presbyterian minister of the sect called
Seceders, named John Caldwell, who was a duly ordained
clergyman. The witnesses were the butler and the prae-
keeper. She received • certificate of bee marriage as soon
as it was celebrated ; but at that time Presbyterian minis-
ters were not in the habit of keeping any register or other
recor lof the marriages they celebrated. She relied upon
the fact that Mr. Corry always acknowledged her to be his
wife after the ceremony. Mr. Corry left one sou, the fruit
el the marriage in question, Dr. Thomas Charles Steuart
Cony, a medical gentleman in large practice in Belfast, rho
claims his father's estates from Lord Cremoree. Mr. White-
side read • number of letters from Mr. Corry to petitioner,
for years subsequent to the ma • ,in which he acknow-
ledged her as his wife. In November. 1827 writing from
Hillsborough, be calls her his " most fondly loved wife." In
other letters he repeatedly speaks to her as his wife, and in
most respectful and affectionate term'. Writing from Bel-
fast, Sept. 8, 1828, he says :—" My dearest, fondly loved
Marl, wife of my bosom and fondest affections." if. is all
anxiety about her health, end he says he could not nines,
on paper all he feels about hie " sweet, fascinating little
treasure." If the marriage be established, Dr. Cony will
be the inheritor of the estates, and of property amounting
to about 100,0001. The main point therefore to be estab-
Bribed is the validity of the marriage. Then there will he
the question about the deed of onnveyance, to which the
lady was • party, and the lapse of time, which she &Inite
to her ignorance of the fact that there were other estates
conveyed by her husband without her concurrence. The
object of the petition in Chancery is to have the matter re-
ferred to the Master, and to have an account of the pro-
perty taken. Before this is done an issue will he raised
with regard to the validity of the marriage. With mend
to this she states that she lived with Mr. Corry Scotland.
and was known and acknowledged as his wife for three
years, from 1826 to 1830. There they got married according
to the Scottish law, lest the Irish marriage should prows
invalid. After that they lived together, from 1630 to 1831,
in a handsome house and demense in the county Down,
where the was publicly known and acknowledged as his
wife. When the case comes into a court. of law, and
nesees are examined and cross-examined, it will probably
excite an interest as deep as the Yelverton marriage case,
thouch Mrs. Cony lacks the fascination of youth, beauty,
and talent. But, on the other hand, a peer hail to &feud
his property which he purchased, and ii professional gentle-
man is to contend for a magnificent fortune and a position
among the landed gentry.
The foregoing summary of the case is extracted from the
Dublin Erpress, which also publishes the evidence, includ-
ing the correspondence that passed between the parties. !t
great length. The letters to Mrs. Curry are entichol in
the most affectionate terms. One of them begins as
follows :

" Belfast, June 23. ISM
" I hero at last the happiness to summon my most fend",
loved Mary to hasten to the longing arms of her anxiously
impatient husband. I have been, an usual, day after .11[
delayed, and as each coming day I expected to set off.
consequently deferred writing to my darling wife. lk'd
grant my silence may not have caused you too flinch us-
relines& I canoot express to you the anxious state of my
present feelings in anticipation of the expected rapture of
soon, I trust very soon, being enfolded in those doa
arms whose delightful embraces confer a happiness
rior, in your husband's idea, to any other this world cm
begin's-. I enclose my darling girl s draft of :'s 1. which,
being dream by one of the first bankers in Nati oo rant
equally creditable in London, you will, I trust, find uo diffis
suite in procuring cash for."
Another runs thus :
" Rockoorry Quitle, Nov. 9. IsM•
" Mrs. Steuart Corry,—l duly received my ever deanost m.
fondly loved Mary's welcome and truly affectionate letter, let
from theconstant daily attention I have been compelled to sle
vote to the settlement of J. rhambers'svery 'nursemaid., I
really have not been able to steal a moment either to Mai
• letter or even take that exercise which is so earent.al to
my health, otherwise you, my darling wife, should not Lot
been so long without hearing from me . . • • •
"T. C. STErART
"I cannot on paper express to my fascinating little troll.
sure bow ardently I long for a return of your delicious mir
}emcee, or how much I feel disappoints,' at the pastPatto
meat of our—l believe I may say—mutual bliss."

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBMON, 1862.—her MA'
jesty's Commissioners give notice in yesterday's i;a:eqr
that no demands for space, either from local co emitters rK
individual exhibitors, in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man.
or Channel lelnods, will be received after Timeluy', the lift
d October, 1861, and that the allotment of space then
be made on the returns sent in up to that date. Wilern
local committees are formed, provincial applications for
space will be referred to, and determined by, national or
metropolitan trade committees.
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton is to commence' "
Strange Story" in AU the Year Round on the 10th
August. The publication of the story is to be condu.l4
in six months.

Au
tia
be 1
wog

etre
cod
not
bee
Ms
COM

In
grOn'

Th
of HA

drip-
comp
in tti,
Deno
Prom

Th,
ands
from
moo,

Tb
nerAtt
by H
asseti

bankr

Thi
in the
anint

part o

Au
11DSUDUI
one o
Nevis;
in ex*
• !err
before
that e
dale,
Condit

A el
the sol
law pr
meat.
heard•

matnot
up the
on the
%solve
aline 0
out pn
A tic

C 1761;
• hall
Sujtic

1671
due
amouoi

The
Tate pa

. -tim7;
interewl
HillOVI

-----
The i
lumpy
WWI lII'

The I
Lad rat

Mr.
within
Meirix
[be c

CPPropn
andnttem,
It will
ten yeah,
be had ti
of the fir
nom, hu
took pis
*so *Wee
thing th
Etiberev°7,l
been abet
istablish,
the dime.
be at ono
Peered, h
inaanfaci
with the
tbs 7 lad
Ott or ot