Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-03-15 00:00:00

EXTRAORVJNARY

A somewhat remarkable action for divorce came be
the First Division of the Court of Session at Edinburgh,
last week, for judgment. Mr. John M'lver, banker, in
Dingwall, Rosshire, and provost of the burgh, is the
pursuer (plaintiff) in the case, and seeks to obtain divorce
from his wife on the ground of adultery. Suspicion
against his wife was first presented to his mind by a
letter written and placed in his hand by his wife's sister,
Ellen o!Doherty, on the 25th of February, 1857, which,
while professing deep sorrow and repentance for having
aided her sister in corresponding and meeting. with her
alleged paramour, t discloses circumstances of a painful
nature, and leading to the assumption that, in a pre-
arranged interview between Mrs. M'lver and Dr. Gor-
don, of Port Stewart, Ireland, in the Royal Hotel,
Belfast, on the 12th of July, 1856, an act of adultery
had been committed. It would appear that, in early
life, Mrs. M'lver, then Miss Eliza Doherty, became
acquainted with Dr. Gordon, and that a strong attachment
had arisen between them—an attachment which seemed on
both sides to survive the separation of their fortunes caused
by circumstances, and even the- marriage of both the lovers
to different partners. Dr. Gordon, who first met Miss
O'Doherty in 1837, addressed her under the• romantic name
of Una, in songs and sonnets (one of which appeared at the
time in the Dublin University Magazine), and also in highly
romantic love letters. But Dr. Gordon married another
lady, whom he describes in his correspondence with the
defender as his " loving, true, and faithful wife ; " and by
her he had three children. Mrs. M'lver married the pur-
suer in 18f3, and is the mother of five children. Twice
during her married life she met Dr. Gordon, once a fermi
months after marriage, and the second time on the occasion
above referred to. Dr. Gordozr who had for-
• been in declining health, died in
a year after the alleged' adultery.. The
statement of Ellen O'Doherty is that, on her sister's ac-
count, and at her instigation, she kept up an occasional
correspondence with Dr. Gordon, and was the medium of
conveying loving messages between him- and her sister :
that in May, 1856, Dr. Gordon, who then proposed' to go
abroad to recruit his failing health, expressed a wish to see
Mrs. M'lver beThre doing so; that, on pretence of Ellen's
illness, the two sisters went south to Edinburgh, professedly
to consult Dr. Simpson, and that, while there they (mina
that Dr. Gordon was unable to come so far, and that he
appointed Belfast as the place of meeting. Miss O'Doher-
ty's description (given in the letter referred to) of the scene
that took place in. Belfast was the chief groundwork orthe
The judge-ordinary in the case (Lord Benholme)
I'lver guilty of adultery, and granted divorce,

some years

1857, about

found Mrs.
but the cas,

being brought under review of the Judges of
the First Division, they decided by three to one that not
only was there no renal proof of the wife's guilt, but that
the evidence did not even amount to moral proof:

Lord Ivory stated- his opiniorrat some le _
out that several of the witnesses, including Ellen, appeared
to be animated by a strong feeling of hostility to the
defender, and that a very unusual intimacy appeared to
subsist between the pursuer and Ellen, and that Ellen had'
actually abstracted from the custody of others some of the

th; pointin

proofs .she now offered of her sister's guilt. He had no
single word this witness spoke, and would

confidence i

not use it against her sister on so heavy a charge. She
professed great purity, and was shocked at what she saw
pass between her sister and Dr. Gordon, but she was equally
free with the pursuer, her brother-in-law. On the whole,
he thought there was proof enough of much bad taste, but
he considered moral delinquency very doubtful, and it was
not upon evidence like this that a woman. was to be
divorced from her husband and thrown a victim of poverty
and helplessness upon the world.
Lord Curriehill took the opposite view, and believed in
Mrs. M'lver's guilt.
Lord Dens expressed the same opinion as Lord Ivory,
and even in stronger terms, and stated that within his own
knowledge he knew of a case in which an early attachment,
which had ceased- to be a passion, had remained a deep-
seated feeling ; and he believed that had a like meeting
taken place, as for forty years it was wished for, no meeting.:
could have been more *free from sensual thoughts, nor could
the nature of the sentiment still subsisting be better de-
scribed than in Dr. Gordon's letter, in which lie said, " My
heart is my only priest, and it sanctifies me the remem-
brance of my love, and makes Eliza holy." A meeting of
such a kind and there was proof of no other—was far
more conceivable than that a married lady, who for thirteen
years had led an irreproachable life, should dedicate a single.
day of her life to adultery, and never seek a repetition of it.
This was not the usual history of an adulterous connexion,
but savoured more, to say the least of it, of a farewell
meeting, sought in the belief—which it was clear enough
the defendant entertained, and which she expressed to her
iterrnother at the time—that Dr. Gordon "was dying,"
and under the impression, however delusive, which the
s Ellen says she expressed to her, that "she would
Make a dutiful and affectionate wife to her husband when
she came back," and that, "although he had not the
first place in her ,heart. still she would do the best she
could to make up for it." He was far from denying either
the folly or the impropriety of the meeting. There were
sufficient to give it an unsatisfactory character. But, on
the other hand, the consciousness of these features in it
sufficiently accounted for the cloak of relationship said
to have been cast over it, and many of its other inci-
dents, without the necessity of supposing adultery. His
lordship then referred to the evidence of allowing that
still greater feelings appeared to have subsisted between
the pursuer and Ellen than even between the defender
and Dr. Gordon. The pursuer and. Ellen slept habitually
in adjoining rooms, with the door open between. When
he was ill, she lay in the same bed with him ; when
she was.ill, he kissed her and cried over her from morning
to night, and the very flannel chemise next her skin
was taken off and replaced by his very paternal hands.
He was not disposed to thick that there was any guilt
in all this. He did not believe there was ; but surely
one must pause before leaping to the conclusion of guilt in
the one case any more than in the other. His lordship
concluded by referring to the correspondence and evidence,
as showing the high character of Dr. Gordon, and as show-
ing. that his were not. the letters of a man writing for the
ear of a wife whom he wished to debauch. On the whole,
he was not, on moral grounds, prepared to affirm the defen-
der's guilt, and certainly he could not do so as matter of
legal evidence.

The Lord President also gave his opinion at some length
in favour of the defender ; and

The Court, by a majority, recalled the interlocutor of the
Lord Ordinary, and refused the divoree.

Mr. William Smith O'Brien met with a warm and en-
thusiastic reception on landing Nev York from the
steamer Prince Albert.

By an ordnance voted by the city of Hamburg yachts
and pleasure-boats belonging to clubs or private individuals
are free from al navigation dues when they enter the port
or leave it without merchandise on board.

A' letter from Wiesbaden states that the reigning
Duke of— Nassau, who is one of the best horsemen in
Europe, was lately thrown from his horse while on his way
to Biberich, whither he was going to see some ball-firing.
He met with some very severe contusions, but his life is not
in danger. _ _ _ _ _

Thefirst stone of a villa which Rossini intends building
at Passy, was laid on Friday last. The maestro himself
officiated, and placed under the stone an inscription and a
medal which had been struck in honour of his " .Stabat."
Madame Rossini concluded the ceremony by planting a
rose tree. Among the persons present at this little fete
were the Mayor o(Passy, and MM. Vivier, H. Lucas, de
Pompery, and other intimate friends of the composer.
ENIPTOYER. AKD EMPLOYED.—We learn that Messrs.
Spencer and Moore, spinners and manufacturers, Burnley,
made . special arrangements by which they gave to the
whole of their workpeople, numbering fifteen hundred, a
treat on Saturday last, viz.: a railway trip to Manchester and
back, and a visit to the Fairy Fountain and dissolvine-
views. The directors of the Mechanic's Institution, to
facilitate this kindly project, arranged to admit this large
body in two battalions, viz : half at 11.30 a.m., and the
other half at 4.30 p.m. This plan is worthy of extension.
—Bury Times.
SUPPOSED SUICIDE OF Two SlSTERS.—Considerable ex-
citement has been, during the past weak, created in the
neighbourhood of Camberwell, in consequence of the dis-
covery of the bodies of two females in the Grand Surrey
Canal, under most extraordinary circumstances.
oAoedi_rotnninanqi:u:tetehsdte,
was held on Saturday morning by Mr Carter, coroner
for the eastern division of Surrey, in the board-
room of Camberwell Workhouse, and from the evi-
dence adduced it. appeared that both the bodies
were discovered floating in the water by a, police-
constable, named Collins, by whom they. were secured, and
conveyed to the dead-house of the parish. Shortly after-
wards the same officer observed a basket in the canal, and
upon draging it to the bank he found that it contained
the body of a large black cat. Although Mr.
coroner's officer, made every inquiry, the unfortunate women
were not identified, and the inquiry was adjourned. Iritehne
Elizabeth
afternoon, however, a female, most respectably
reeogni,ed both of them as her nieces, Sarah arnrdil
wereeirfohrmisteorrlyy
Buckle, aged respectively 34 and 36 years,
is strange, and not without interest. They
what is termed "fancy ironers," and by their exertions
hall-rooms,
obtained a most excellent living.ceased A
roo relation, however, left
to
them a legacy of 1,040 t.,
and they
ma,waonrak,sluirch places
guapeeosn
that, sum, frequenting theatres, ,
until the whole was speedily expended. They were after-
Nr, ards unable to obtain work,: and no doubt their extreme
'poverty, as shown in their wretched clothing,i led them to
terminate their- existence. The moste ,
wsi h sin
uatrhepatrt oeko f thewith
affair is, that the sisters had a pet at
them wherever they went, and which no doubt wyas the one
found' by the constable in the basket. The inquiry will be
r.e.sunied,to.to-morrow (Wednesday).