A ROMANTIC CASE.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1241, 5 March 1883, Page 2

A ROMANTIC CASE.

. — « — « The details of an interesting case which is expected to shortly engage the attention of an English Court of Law, and in which the chief actors include the descendant of an English peer, a quondam circus equestrienne, and a commoner who for the past two or three years has heen a resident in Wellington, are 'published by the • Post.' They oozed out in a somewhat peculiar manner. Some months ago "a party by the name of John son " — the name, of course, is a fictitious one — desired an acquaintance of his in this city to do him a favor. The favor was by no means difficult of performance, being neither a request to back a bill nor an application for tho loan of a small sum for a few days. It was simply a request on the part of Johnson that his Mend would endeavour to obtain certain information regarding the whereabouts and reoent history of a woman named Kate Walsh Brown, then believed to be living in England. Johnson informed his friend that she was married to George Manlay Brown about the year 1861, and that her husband subsequently became convicted of the embezzlement of several thousand pounds that had been entrusted to him for investment, and underwent a sentence of seven years' imprisonment. What Johnson wished to ascertain was whether this woman, on her husband failing into this trouble became a member of the unfortunate class and afterwards tho mistress of a circus rider. Failing to perceive the object for which this information -was desired, and recognising moroovev that when Johnson preferred the yq

■ quest he was slightly under the influence of drink, his friend paid no heed to the subject, beyond contracting a formal promise tliat he would en-, deavor to ascertain the desired information, and in order to satisfy " Johnson " on this head, entering a few notes inlnspocket-book. Months passed and the subject had been entirely forgotten, when the friend referred to — a gentleman occupying a public appointment in this city — became aware a few days ago of the sudden disappearance of " Johnson " from the place. Enquiry revealed'fche cause. It transpired that the woman Brown was in reality "Johnson's" wife, and that after completing his sentence for embezzlement in London he went to Australia, and afterwards came to Wellington. He being expert in figures and of considerable natural ability, succeeded in. finding employment as an accountant and* bookeeper, and at one time, was employed in the Civil ' Service, through' his dissipated habits occasionally led Jnm into trouble. Meanyhilg, his^.wif e; ■ wts is-dcsbrl6ed as a wotnro^p"dssessing unusual personal" attractions made the acquaintance of ai oircu&rider in Liverpool, and accompanied him on his travels, eventually adopting the | " spangles and sawdust " profession as }a means of livelihood. After a short time she excited the admiration of a member of the aristocracy, the motto of whose ancestor is, "Et decus et pretium rccti," and he ultimately made her his bride. Tim step naturally aroused the indignation of his relatives, who considered the family escutcheon had been stained by .a mesalliance, and inquiries into the' woman's antecedents resulted, in the. discovery that things were not as they should be ; that her husband was still alive, though in a distant colony ; and that in fact she was a bigamist. The Scotland Yard authorities were at once communicated with, and the missing husband was traced to Melbourne aud afterwards to Wellington, where he was living under an assumed name, which it is not necessary to state.. Quite recently a special detective arrived here from England, and Johnson is now on his way back to the old country where he will doubtless be called upon to give evidence against his wife, evidence that will doubtless be sufficient to. rid the noble man's friends of the ex equestrienne as to consign the bigamist to durance vile.