Amusing Breach of Promise Case.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 181, 29 April 1873, Page 7

Amusing Breach of Promise Case.

[London Daily News, 30th November.] (. That a gentleman should bring an action against a lady for breach of promise of k marriage appears to us to be almost a per--1 version of the order of nature, and on that )f account legal proceedings of the kind deserve, perhaps, more attention than those j, in which plaintiff and defendant occupy the u, usual relations in such matters towards 5( each, other. In the Court of Common e Pleas, Dublin, on Wednesday, Mr John tl Knox sued Pierce Arnold and Margaret 0 Arnold, his wife, for that “ he was willing ’ and ready to marry the defendant, Mar- * garet Arnold, until she married the male defendant ; and that in consequence of his l 8 agreement to marry, he left his situation e and sustained damage to the amount 1( stated,” (£100); The defence was that c ' “ although the promise was made, it was 1 made in consideration that the plaintiff * would within a reasonable time become a Homan Catholic, to which religion defendant belonged.” Mr Knox was by profession a butler, and had attained the ripe J age of forty-five. Close by the house in which Mr Knox officiated was an hotel, conducted by Mrs Trully, a widow, with ai what was described as a “ snug business” b; to manage. The butler used the hotel when off duty, and ultimately made love s to the landlady. The correspondence, as read by counsel, did not disclose a very . passionate attachment on the part of the a widow for Mr Knox. Perhaps the most 81 affectionate passage in her letters was one in which she said, “ Dear John, you seem to be in want of cash, but, my dear friend, i f I had it you should not want it.” “ Write - often,” she elsewhere says, “ write often, hi as I do be fretting about you.” Mrs Trully, it seemed, required an amanuensis to help her in communicating with the faithful and ultimately jilted Knox. This 1 function was discharged by another fre--18 quenter of the inn, named Michael Lynch, w who held a mounted commission in the u Royal Irish Police. Things were appad rently moving towards the instalment of ' k Mr Knox in the place of the late Mr Trully, when the widow marries Mr A mold, iai represented as a youthful loafer ; andcounjn sel for the afflicted butler drew a touching picture of the loss sustained by his client, 61 who was so near being landlord of an hotel, ia and who saw his affections and 'his-“pros-pects blighted by the whim of a fickle woman. Mrs Trully, who is ungallantly mentioned in the report as “not at all 16 over fascinating” made out a strong case j for herself on examination. Mr Knox j. was of a convivial turn, and was more freer quently drunk than sober. She admitted, j, however, that she had promised to marry him if he would renounce Protestantism, hi was then given in evidence that John a | Knox, with a spirit appropriate to his it name, had inquired in the presence of withe nesses, “ How could he disgrace his father ie- hy becoming a Roman Catholic?” Finally, he the judge left it to the jury to decide whether the promise to marry was given at unreservedly, or conditionally on the plaintli tiff becoming a Roman Catholic ; and a of verdict was returned for the defendant, be who was cordially cheered as she left the ai court.