The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-10 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

ROME CIRCUIT.—GUILDFORD, AUG. 9.
(Before Mr. Justice Wales and a Special Jury.)
GORDON V. WOOLRIDGR.

This was an action to recover damages for a breach of
proisiseof marriage.
Sergeant Ballantine, and Mr. Worsley, were for the
plaintiff; and Mr. E. James, Q.C., and Mr. Hannon, ap-
peared for the defendant.
Sergeant Ballantine, in opening the case, said that
the plaintiff, Mrs. Annie Gordon, was a widow, and the
defendant, Mr. John Woolridge, was a chemist, and carried
OH his business at two estatnishments, one in the New-
road, and the other in Holborn. The intimacy between
tita parties first commenced in the year 1856, and
at this time the plaintiff had been a widow six or seven
years, and she had one child, a girl, about seven years old.
He was not aware exactly of the nature of the plaintiff's
means ; but he did not believe that the slightest imputation
would be cast upon her character. She was about 34 or 35
years of age, and the defendant was about 50, so that so far
as age went the jury would see that the parties were
quite suitable to each other, and when the jury had
heatd the evidence he should lay before them, he he-
litved they would not entertain any doubt that the
defendant had made a promise of marriage to his
client, and that he had deliberately broken that promise.
He was not able to make out clearly how the connection
first took place between the plaintiff and the defendant, but
he believed that the plaintiff had gone to the shop of the
defendant to have some prescription made up, and the de-
fendant was smitten with her, and an intimacy at once
sprung up between them which ripened into affection, and
ended in the defendant desiring to make the plaintiff his
wife. He need hardly rewind the jury that promises of
marriage were not always inaJe on positive and distinct
terms, and the defendant in the letters he had written
had undoubtedly been very guarded in his expressions;
but when they looked et the correspondence they would say
as reasonable men whether any other conclusion could be
come to than that the defendant intended that the plaintiff
should ht conic his wife, and that his letters contained matter
:hat amounted to a promise to that effect.
The learned counsel then read portions of some letters welt-
ten by the defendant to the plaintiff. They all c untnenced
" Dear Annie," but were couched in very general ambigu-
oue terms, ref:tering to the excitement he had suetained dur-
iug sonic of their interviews, and one of them referred to a
request he had made to her, to which he said she had re-
turned the monosyllable "No," and asked her whether she
persevered in that anewer. It also appeared that upon one
occasion the p'aintiff had gone down to Go-port, and the
defendant accompanied her to the railway station ; and upon
the eext occasion, when the defetalant wrote to Ler, he ex-
pressed his regret that he was not with her during the
tourney, particularly the latter part of it, when he said they
should probably have been alone in the carriage, and
the "shades of evening approaching ;" and this letter
concluded by stating that the
plaintiff had given him a part-
ing gift in the shape of a "blossom" on his under lip. The
learned sergeant proceeded to state that there could be no
doubt that for a very considerable time the parties were on
the most intimate and affect innate terms; but, lie said, to-
wards the latter end of 1857, the defendant's letters be-
came eaorter and cooler every time he wrote, and at length,
oa the 27th of February, in the present year, the defendant
wrote a very extraordinary document on a slip of paper, in
which he stated that he had put this and that together, and
that Ile could not see the advantage of affecting that
which was a mere form aad asking the plaintiff
whe-
ther this was not bee own opinion -upon the sanie
subject. The intio acy, he said, was thus broken off,
between them, and the plaintiff had no alternative but to
bring the present action to obtain redress in the shape of
damages from the defendant for the breach of his promise to
make her his wife.
The following evidence was then adduced :
Mary Anne Gough said her husband wa, a tailor, and
they lived in Getrard-street, Soho. She farmerly lived in
Church-street, Soho, and the plaintiff loaged in the house
upon t to occasions,
once fl. nine mouths, and the second
thne for 12 months. The first period was in 1856. The
plaintiff hed a little girl, and she understood that she was a
widow. The defendant used to come and visit her gene-
rally twice a week—on Wednesdays and Sundays—and
sotnetitnea he used to take tea with her, and ranteined till
10 or 11 o'ch ck at night. Ile seemed as though he was
going to make her his wife. (A laugh.) What site meant
by that was that when he went ry.vay from her be used to
appear very affectionate and used to kiss her. She thought
the old gentleman was • Mrs. Gordon's sweetheart.
(Laughter.)
Cross-examined--The
plaintiff lodged with witness and
her husband for eight weeks. Did not know where she
went to live after that. She had seen her in Guildford
during these assizes.
Madame d'Albert, a Frenchwoman, said she lived in
Wardour-street, and the plaintiff lodged with her 15
months ago. She was in her house six or seven months, but