World wide Race after a Wife.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 14 April 1910, Page 4

World wide Race after a Wife.

AUSTRALIAN l< AKMKR'S CHASM V KAH LONG IT RSI'IT. A prosperous stockfarnicr of The Prairie, J">o miles from Melbourne, is at present in London in pursuit if his wife. Having failed to find her in three cwitme.nts, Mr .J. T. .Mitchell non appeals to the I'rcss. Telling his story to a representative of the London ".Mirror," Mr Mitchell said:--

"She has several thousand pounds realised by the sale of property I had given her. She has not written to me since she left -Melbourne a year ago, and, though I travelled on the same ship from Adelaide to Colombo, I did not see her after the vessel sailed from I'ort Melbourne.

"I shall be forty years old next month. My wife, whose Christian names are Louie Susan, is thirtysix. Our fathers were Scotch, our mothers Irish. I was born in Australia, she in New Zealand. We were married on December 1 '2, 18!)"), ill St. Patrick's Cathedral, .Melbourne, being both Roman Catho-

"We lived happily together at. The Prairie, being constantly visited by my wife's sister, whom we brought to Europe with us on .a holiday in 1902, and who is now the wife of Mr Peter Stnckey Mitchell, a well known and wealthy racehorse owner, of Melbourne and Bringabong, on the Murree, 2o() miles from Melbourne. He has won the Melbourne Cup, and his horse Trafalgar ran fourth for that race last vear.

"After my wile's sister Jeannie married Mr Peter Mitchell, who is not otherwise related to me, though we have been friends for years, my wife tired of up-country life and went to New Zealand to her old homo with her sister for a nine months' holiday. We have no children. and T thought the change would do her good.

"On January 1, 1009, my wife and 1 met in Melbourne, and went to the theatre together. T offered to buy her a house .at St. Kilda, Melbourne, and. indeed, suggested that I should retire I'roni business, •is we had enough to live upon in a (piiet way, and enjoy a life of leisure together.

"1 left her in -Melbourne, and was thunderstruck when I learnt I'roni her bankers that she bad withdrawn several hundred pounds, and Lliscovered later, that she Inid booked a passage for London on the P. and O. steamer Morea, taking i two vears' return ticket at ji cost i.f C 123.

''At Port Melbourne I was just in time to board the Morea as she was .about to sail. I lound my wilY-, and said: "If you are determined to go away, at any rate, let us say good-bye.' I kissed her, but there was no time for explanations, and 1 rushed ashore as the gangway was being lifted.

""What to do F did not know. I obtained funds, lustily settled my affairs, took tin* train to Adelaide, iind boarded the Morea there, having booked a passage to London liy telegraph. ".\l.v hope \v;is that T could induce mv wilo fo leave the ship with illo at Colombo, hut I could never sift to see her. and the captain, perhaps quite naturally, took the view that as she did not wish to sec inn wo had better be kept, apart. TTe asked me to leave the .ship mysell at Colombo, and f refused. Very carefully i watched at Colombo to see if she went ashore, hut [ learned after wo had sailed for Aden that slit* lmd gone. ashore, after all, just as the vessel was moving out. "1 thought she would probably come on by tlie next boat, so f waited at' Marseilies a fortnight, scanning all arrivals and hoping against liopo. IX LONDON. "Then T came mi to London and not in touch with my Melbourne solicitor. Mr Arnott, and other friends, learning at last that niv wife mu.st have returned to Melbourne by t.lie next boat from Colombo, for she had certainly arrived back at Melbourne and had realised on some property. "fn April T left London again for Melbourne, via Marseilles. As my vessel, the Mooltan, was leaving Marseilles TTarbour the Moldavia arrived from the East, and T communicated with the Moldavia by signal, asking if Mrs Mitchell was oi? hoard. The answer was 'Yes.' but T felt very doubtful of this lady being my wife, and decided to go on. Tam now convinced that she was not my wife. "From tihe end of May till the end of June T searched lor mv wife in Melbourne. Thepolice could not help me much, for it was n private matter, though they did what they could. "Then T learned that she had written to friends from Suva, in the Fiji Islands, and T set off there a.t once. At Suva i found that she had sailed for Vancouver some weeks ahead on the steamer Mnktira under the name of Mrs Jeannie Smith, widow. There T again missed her. and my only hope now is from the aid of the Hriti.sh Press."