EXTRAORDINARY BIGAMY CASE.

Evening Star, Issue 3329, 21 October 1873, Page 3

EXTRAORDINARY BIGAMY CASE.

At the Central Criminal Court, London, on the 9th of July, Reuben Allender Bersen, 30. was indicted for feloniously marrying Ellen Sarah Boulton, Lis wife, Emily (lam bier Kidd, being alive. Ihe facts of the case, as proved in evidence, lay in a very small compass; the surrounding circumstances were <f a most extraordinary nature. The Rev. Jackson Smythe, Presbyterian minister at Armagh, said he knew the defendant in 1870 as .Bersen Rhcubon Ailender. He came to Armagh as assistant master in the Royal B c hoo. r Jhcre was living at Armagh a Justice of the Peace named Joseph Kidd, and the prisoner was married to the daughter of that gentleman, in 1871, by him, in his church. The Rev, A. Charles Price, Vicar of St. James’s, tlapham, proved that the prisoner in the name of Kbeubcn Allender Bersen. and Emily Sarah Boulton, the daughter of a retired naval officer, were mar ried by him on the 20i.h of February, 1873. This was the case for the prosecution, and the jury, without hesitation, found the pri soner guilty. Mr Poland faid that, as the prisoner had been convicted on the charge of felony, he would not proceed with the indictment charging him with endeavoring to commit perjury for the purpose of breaking down the bigamy case. Mr Williams said he thought it right to give the Couit a brief history of the prisoner, so far as it is known, and he must nay that it unfolded a career of the most unmitigated profligacy. It appeared that ho was an AusLian by birth, and in 18(59 he was assistant master at a college at Finchley of which a gentleman named Cox was principal. The prisoner proposed to Miss Cox, but his antecedents corning to her father’s knowledge, he was sent away, and he went to Oxford. He staged a short time there, and among his papers was a summons in bastardy for the maintenance of a child of which he was alleged to be the father ; and bis letters showed that he was engaged to a girl named Litzie. In Oxford he proposed to marry a young lady of the name of Allen, and in 1870 he went to Armagh, and represented himself to be a person of numerous quali ications ; and he (the learned counsel) was bound to say that representatien was correct. He forme i a Herman cl ss, which was attended by Miss Kidd, and he succeeded in inducing her to marry him. He left her in June, after treating her most brutally, and went to Dublin, whore he lauaed advertisements to be inserted in the lri<h Times and other papers, with a view to matrimony. The girl Morgan he seduced and left, after living with her three weeks. He went to Gibraltar, and on his return he advertised in the Matrimonial News, and by that means he became acquainted with Miss Boulton, and married her in February, 1873. The prirouer represented that ho was acquainted with General Frangini, and be arranged a meeting between the genera! and Mr Boulton. As the general could not speak English, and Mr Boulton could not speak Spanish, the prisoner acted as the interj retcr, and lie represented to General Frangini that he was obtaining with Miss Boulton a fortune of LBOO, and to Mr Boulton that he had got the appointment of 1.800 a-year as principal of the College in the Brazils. The learned counsel added that the prisoner took up with a German lady, and brought her to England. Mr Palmer remarked that Providence seemed to have deprived the prisoner of his understanding. With regard to the statements made by his learned friend, ho said the girl Morgan voluntarily left her grandfather’s house, and certainly Miss Boulton’s conduct was at least indiscreet, Mr Williams said the correspondence showed that prisoner was engaged with thirty young women at the same time. His lordship sentenced him to five years’ penal servitude.