A TALE OF SORROW.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 567, 12 April 1876, Page 2

A TALE OF SORROW.

THE HISTORY OF THE WOMAN VTHO WAEf FOUND ILL IN FORT STREET, AUCKLAND. {Auckland Star J) Rarely do the annals of crime and misery* present such a vivid picture of the fearful,' fatal effects resulting from a passion for drink being indulged in by a woman as the story of the wretched outcast who was a few days ago " ditch delivered" in Fort street. We are enabled to present our readers with a few particulars of the life of Anne Thompson, alias Aniiio Clancy, alias No ; there is no necessity to bring fresh fbame and disgrace upoa a heart-broken, respectable English gentleman by revealiDg the unfortunate creature's true name. Six years ago this being, in whom the features of womanhood arc fast being eradicated, was married to a well-to do young fellow, connected with one of the newspapers published in Manchester. She was then a clearoomplexioned, bright-eyed girl, of cheerful I disposition and active habits, and her husband, a steady, hard-workiog man in hia profession, thought himself fortunate in having secured such an ornament and blessing for his home. As time passed, she be•came the mother of four children, but each birth was as a milestone on the road of her •descent from honor and virtue to the depths •of infamy. How she first acquired her propensity for drink, we are t not informed, "but certain it if, that within four years Bhe Ihad become a by-word to her neighbours on account of her beastly excesses in this direction. After the birth of her fourth child she became so confirmed a drunkard that she was nnore than once subjected to the indignity of "being turned out of the houses of her hua■.land's friends, During her sober momenta, MI ibis time she waa keenly alive to tha

miserj of her condition, and one day proposed to her husband, who bore bis fearful trial with true Christian fortitude, and had treated her with unfailing kindness through all, that she should go to New Zealand and try by hard woik to reclaim herself. Her husband consented, and she came out as an immigrant on board the Dunedin last year. She appears in the list of passengers as Anne Clancy. But she had miserably miscalculated her strength if she had at any time any honest intentions to reform. On board ship, though liked at first, she soon became the bane of the voyage by her dissolute cnnduct. More than one hitherto happy couple weie estranged by her means, and in one instance a husband and ■wife parted solely from a quarrel caused on her account. Arrived in Auckland she was not long in procuring a situation, but this she lost by her intemperate habits. Situation followed situation in this manner. At one time she was barmaid at an hotel, at another time she was servant in the private house of a well-known upholsterer in Shortland street. Here she got on very well till one day she was found lying on her back in the kitchen and greeted the entrance of the master of the house with a very irreverent expression. Her departure from this house followed as a matter of course, but it did not take place before it was discovered that she had broken into the children's money-box and stolen the contents to supply food for her loathsome craving. Some fellow-passengers now extended to her a helping hand, and by their means she succeeded in gaining a situation at Mr Brierly's hotel, Onehunga. It was here she came across a labourer named Thompson, who, in spite of her well known drunken habits, took a fancy to her and Proposed marriage. And the woman who ad written home only a few weeks before and told her loving husband, who still pined for her to come back to him, that, in all her wretchedness she had remained loyal to him, consented, and the farce of a religious union took place. But it can easily be understood that, in her false position, her terrible vice came out 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 lomc things for her new home. 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 her husband, which took place that night in the drunkard's cell. He had come to town lo look for her and himself fallen a victim. From 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, more wretched than any, brings her miserable career up to the present time. About two months ago she received a letter from her husband in England. In this maybe traced the yet loving longings of a great and noble heart crushed tothedust by her 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 teetotal harangue. Written by an intelligent, well-educated man, its language is well chos?n and appropriate. He paints in pathetic language the condition of this new home (he has left the old one, it was too painful) and calls upon her to come back to him and be bis fond wife once mire. 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. " I would not have the children forget you," he adds, and we are told that when the wretched woman read the words she cried with a loud and bitter cry...,Jtfo wonder.