A Cruel Elopement.

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 24, 6 August 1885, Page 3

A Cruel Elopement.

A village scandal has arose at Murton, near Sunderland, England, by reason of a cruel case of elopement, the facts of which are narrated as follows:— The delinquent, George Dawson, is a man with a family of nine children, the youngest being a baby in arms, and he has resided at the village named for a long period. He was looked up to as a pattern to others, being a class reader and local preacher iv connection with the Primitive Methodists, aad only preached at the colliery chapel a couple of Sundays ago. The women has left a husband and three young children behind her; she is the wife of a man named Stoker, living in Woodsterrace, Murton Colliery, where she carried on an extensive millinery business, having a large and well-fitted shop. She left home ostensibly to go to Newcastle to pay the tradesmen's accounts and to buy new goods, taking upwards of £100 in cash. It would appear that the flight of the guilty pair has been contemplated for some time, as all Mrs Stoker's wearing apparel is gon<from her late home. I'awson left home, stating he was going to Silksworth to seek medical advice, but he had taken nothing with him. There is no clue as to where the man and woman have gone to. Mrs Stoker has left her husband and family in comparative destitution ; also her father aad mother, an aged couple, who lived in the house with her husband and herself. It was at first thought the woman bad gone amongst some friends, as she did net return as early as expected. Her non-appearance caused inquiries to be made, with the result stated.