The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-12 00:00:00

BRBA6ZI OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE.

HINCK V. LlNS.—This was a case tried in the Court of
Common Pleas, on Tuesday. The plaintiff was a widow,
about forty years of age, and the defendant was a German
sugar refiner. The action was brought to recover
damages for a breach of promise of marriage, and the
defendant, by his plea, denied that ho had made the
promise hS alleged. Mr. Joyce and Mr. Talfourd Salter
appeared for the plaintiff ; and Mr. Serjeant Thomas
and Mr. Charnock were for the defendant. The plain
tiff's counsel, in opening the case, said that in
March, 1852, she was residing in Brunswick street, Black_
friars-road, and her husband had been dead about 17
months. The defendant at that time desired an intro-
duction to the plaintiff, after which an intimacy sprung
up between the parties.:::The defendant at this time was
in the habit of visiting the plaintiff three times ar week,
and he was desirous of taking a public house, and said
that if he got into a house he would marry the plaintiff
directly. In October, 1852, the defendant entered
into an engagement to manage a sugar factory in the
West Indies, and accordingly he went to that country,
and remained there for three years. The defendant
said, when he came back, he should be possessed of £7OO or
£BOO, and having obtained from the plaintiff an engage-
ment that she would wait for him, he promised that ho
would marry her when he came back. When the
intimacy began the ' plaintiff had two children, and she
was thirty five, so, of course, time was an object
with her. (A laugh.) When the defendant returned
to England, which was in 1856, he again talked about
marrying the plaintiff ; but in October of that year he
found a lady who was possessed of a public house and
some fortune, and be married her. The defendant gave
as an excuse for not marrying the plaintiff, that she had
given birth to a child while he had been absent, but there
was no pretence whatever for this assertion, and the
defendant might, if it had been true, have pleaded it in
answer to the present action: Evidence was given, of
which the following is a summary :—A Mr. John Lins
said he had introduced the defendant to the plaintiff, and
after that they went to his house, and the defendant, in
his hearing, said that ho would marry her directly,
and then take a public-house. She was satisfied with that
arrangement. The defendant went to look at a public house,
and said if he g)t it he would get married by license directly.
He however, did not take the house, but went to the West In-
dies to perform the engazement he had entered into, promis-
ing to marry the plaintiff as soon as he came back. Witness
earned 20s. a week, and the defendant got nearly as much.
He did not bear the plaintiff tell the-defendant when be
was going to the West Indies that she did hot care, so long
as he did-ntit bring any little blacks home. (A laugh)
Mrs. Salter, the plantiff's daughter, also gave evidence of
the intimacy between her mother and the defendant, and
that the defendent had said he would marry her as soon
as he returned from the West Indies. She knew a
Mr. Audley, who visited at her mother's, and she
had no doubt he would have been happy to pay
his attentions to her mother if she had been free.
(Laughter.) Other evidence was given of the promise
to marry. It was also stated that when the defendant came
back from the West Indies, he and the plaintiff were on
friendly terms, but soon differences arose, and she sent for
her letters back. They, however, bad been destroyed. The
defendant told a mutual friend that he would not marry the
plaintiff because she had a child whilst he was away, and
he did not think ho should be comfortable with her. Mr.
Sergeant Thomas called no witnesses, but addressed the
jury in mitigation of damages. Verdict for the plaintiff.
Damages £5O.

TEE VIOLRT.—The subscriptions in aid of the fund in
the course of collection for the relief of the sufferers by the
loss of the Violet now reaches over 4,ooo.—Dover
Chronicle.