LACEY'S LAPSE.

NZ Truth, Issue 74, 17 November 1906, Page 5

LACEY'S LAPSE.

"ALICE, WHERE ART THOU?"

Pretty Eighteen -year-old Alice Hagon.

Meanders With a Married Man.

Cowardly Desertion of a Young Wife and

Two Sweet Babes.

An Impudent, Aggressive Jade.

On Monday week, at the Magistrate s Court, a young woman named Mary Jane Lacey obtained a maintenance order against her husband, Alfred John Lacey, who recently conducted "The Electric Academy" m Willis-street and formerly had' " The Bazaar" m the same locality. The Magistrate (with consent of defendant) allowed Mrs Lacey 15s a week and 5s a week for each of two lovely, children ; a girl of three years and a baby boy .of twelve months— children that no father with a heart, even if madly m love with another woman, should be able to find it possible to cruelly and callously leave unsupported, or abandon at all.

Very little evidence was given be* fore the Magistrate, for the reason that, failing to kid his wronged young wife to "settle it out of Court,'" the fellow's lawyer advised him to consent to an order, with a view to, avoiding publicity.

In this endeavor he succeeded, as far as the two dailies are concerned, fon neither the "Morning Crimes" noc the

"EVENING SLOP-JAR"

mentioned the case ; but "Truth was on the trail and became seized of particulars that are published hereunder m the interests alike of the outraged wife and mother and the general public, who ought t 0 be made aware of the despicable character, of Alfred John Lacey and that of the vile, evil-minded, brazen and utterly, shameless hussy with whom he has been living m adultery.

It appears that, while running the "academy" on Willis-street, m Martin's buildings, Lacey became acquainted with an 18-year-old, handsome, fair-haired entrancer, named Alice Hagon, or Hagen, who visited the place. His wife sa,w her there on one occasion and warned her husband that she was "no good"— she had known her since childhood— and suggested that he should pu« a stop to her visits ; but he pretended that she v/as a customer and he had nothing to do With her. The usual "dear friends," however, apprised the wife that Iter husband and sweet Alice were too familiar and Alfred John began to stay out "till all hours," his .young

wife and the mother of his two pretty children being meanwhile put wise to the fact that he had teen seen, on such highte, waltzing away with Ihe girl Hagon, "up the gully." Finally, on June 7 last, Lacey took a trip to Christchurch and his ;

I FAIR-HAIRED MASH I went on the same boat, though hoc poor, suffering ra.other, who has been aware of the "tangle her daughter lias got into with a married man, for months, past, says she had no moneys of her own to pay -her;'. fare: <, On Jiily ; 7 both . returned by the same boat, • but this time LacSy Vbooked as "Mr ";. Levien." The wife 'was made aware of this trip and taxed him with his infidelity, the outcome of a serious quarrel and a violent assault on his wife by Laeey being that Alfred received a black eye.

Will it be believed that the partner of his sin had the gall, subsequently, <to bail up- -Mrs Lacey m the street, ask her if she was dooming her, and threaten her that if she laid hands on her own delectable husband again she would disfigure her face m revenge. As this

BRAZEN, SHAMELESS ' SLUT is about as big again as the wronged and neglected wife of the man she openly claims as her own property, and whom she says she- loves devotedly., this threat is serious, cspcr tolly as Mrs Lacey rarely goes out without her babe m her arms.

Lacey finally and entirely deserted his wife and children and at the Same time the girl Hagon vanished from: her mother's roof and the mother was distracted, though she had previously been aware that her daughter had hee«, "on with" a man on board H.M.S. Pegasus, and had transferred herj affections to Lacey, alias' Levien, alias : Peterson (he has used hoth the latter, names and was known by the last, at , the Hagon house, m Mltcheltown)! • and she has visited the deserted wife to ask tidings of her damnable daufth-* < ter, who claims the right to console,, . by her "love" the man whose wife ' "does not love him." Meanwhile, the. Wife is supported and housed by hex? parents— to whom the unmanly, cruel., heartless Lacey owes £5 1 for boar 4 and lodging— and his sweetly pretty little daughter wails for "daddy" and talks of the "nav.ghttfi woman" who beguiled him from her.

This same fellow Lacey was before the Magistrate last September on charges of forgery, but the square was got to work and he escaped with a. naltry fine and an order for restitution," so that he is a delectable character nil-round ; a wife-beater, foraec and wife-and-children deserter of the most degraded type. The first payment under the order -was due on Monday, but up to Wednesday it had not been made at the Court. It is to be hoped that the police will te.Ke s caie that Lacey does not "do a guy.