A ROMANTIC DIVORCE CASE.

Evening Star, Issue 4120, 11 May 1876, Page 3

A ROMANTIC DIVORCE CASE.

One of, if not the most charming novelettes, published in 1873, was "Tent Life in Norway," which enjoyed immense popularity. But its author, Mr Herbert Smith, was brought more prominently before the

notice of the publio by his marriage a few months later with the heroine of his story. The marriage has turned out a very unhappy one, and the latest English papers ccn';ain accounts of the initiation by him of proceedings for a divorce. On March 1, in the divorce division of the High Court of Justice, before Sir James Hannen, Mr Smith applied for a divorce from his wife and for damages against the co-respondent, Mr Grooms. it appear.-, t'aat the petitioner is a solicitor and town clerk of Bridgenortk. He o. cupies some considerable property on the Severn, and on that property gipsies i were in the habit of pitching their tents. A family of them named Locke seemed to have had a particular liking for that locality. In fact, a fine secluded spot on the batiks of the Sevorn seemed to have been their home. The petitioner is a man of a literary turn of mind, and the Komany race seemed to have formed a particular feature in his studies. He became interested in the family thus located on his domains. He visited their encampment, and became familiar with them. The member of the encampment who excited the petitioner's attention most was a daughter, by name Esmeralda, whose charms ultimately captivated the petitioner, and they were married in Norway, in June, 1874. The co-respondent, who was stated to be an Oxford man and to have interested himself in the welfare of the Komany race, seemed to have made the acquaintance of the parties some time after the marriage. He was stated to have done so through having seen and admired the book which the petitioner wrote upon the subject of that interesting race. The intimacy turned out to be of a most fatal character. The lady became enamoured of Mr Groome. She went with him to Bristol, where she slept at an hotel, and after that the petitioner did not see his wife for some time. He got into bad health, and went to Spain, and while there he received a letter from his wife, stating that she was ready to be reconciled to him. They accordingly came together, and the petitioner forgave her. In January of last year his wife suggested to him that they were both bewitched, and she stated that in order to have such bewitchment removed she would go to the Gussoree Gorgio, a fabled deity in the Romany camp, who had the power to dispel the bewitchment and restore the parties to their statue quo. She did go to this famed astrologer, Gussoree Gorgio, who turned out to be none other than the same Mr Gioome, the co-respondent, with whom she was afterwards found living as his wife in Edinburgh. On the occasion of their being found there, Zachariah, the brother of the lady, accompanied the petitioner, and on finding his sister with the co-respondent he gave that gentleman such a " rubbing down" as he had never had before. The case having been heard, the Judge granted a decree nisi for a divorce, with costs.