A PAINFUL CASE.

Evening Star, Issue 4081, 25 March 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

A PAINFUL CASE.

A woman who was found under distressing circumstances in Fort street, Auckland, on March 15, turns out to be the wife of a gentleman connected with a newspaper published in Manchester. She came out in the Dunedin last year, having been estranged from her husband by her bad habits. The ‘ Star ’ publishes her history, from which the following is an extract: —- Some fellow passengers now gave her a helping hand, and succeeded in gaining her a situation at Brienly’s Hotel, Onehunga. Here she came across a laborer named Thompson, who, in spite of her well-known drunken

habits, took a fancy to her, and made her a proposal of marriage; and the woman—who had written home only a few weeks before, had told her loving husband, who still pined for her, that she intended to come back to him, and that in all her wretchedness she bad remained loyal to him—consented to accept Thompson, and the farce of a religious union took place. But it can easily be understood that in her false position her terrible vice came back stronger than ever. She had only been married a few days when she came up to town with a few pounds in her

pocket to get some things for her new house. The night found her still in town, her mission forgotten, her money gone, and herself rolling drunk. The picture is completed by the meeting between herself and Thompson, which took place that night in the drunkard’s cells. He had come to town to look for her, and himself fallen a victim. Prom this her fall to absolute ruin has been rapid and unchecked, and her bloated face has been often seen looking appealingly from the dock to the magistrate in the Police Court. Yesterday’s scene was more wretched than any previous one, and Brings her miserable

career up to tne piresent time. a.oout two months ago she received a letter from her husband in England. In this may be traced the yet loving longings of a great and noble heart, crushed to dust by his wife’s infamy, but yet striving to rise and lift her up. It is a letter which), if published, would

do more to reform some of our incipient drinkers than any- teetotaler’s harangue. It is written by an intelligent and well-educated man. Its language is well chosen and appropriate. He paints in pathetic language the condition of his new home (he had left the old one, it was too painful), and calls upon her to come back to him, and be his fond wife once more. No matter what has taken place, no matter how low she has fallen, if she will only promise to try and amend, he is willing to take her back. He says, “ I would not have the children forget you,” and we are told that when the wretched woman read bis words she cried out with a loud and bitter cry. No wonder.