A LOVE-LORN LASS.

NZ Truth, Issue 138, 8 February 1908, Page 5

A LOVE-LORN LASS.

SALHRMV SOLDIER SWEARS m uid not sin, Julia Benson's Baby Beiher. Nt Corr,bc-ati__ *t Har Sad Stwy. A Salvation Arair love mat ah led to dire results m Chris fcchur oh lately, and it ended disastrously for the girl with a past, or they say so, at all events. But whatever they may say there are backsliders m the Harmy and some of them make the future just as lurid and bright and happy as the past. For sin is attractive and picturesque, and lends temporary happiness to persons who may be living m a cold, grey landscape with extremely i unattractive surroundings and no pleasure worth speaking about. Julia Benston, ot Christchurch, is a member of the Army of the Loard, or was, and has prayed for the salvation of sinful sinners m Cathedral Square and at the Citadel, and other places where the big drum is beat m the abdomen and the lasses scramble for pennies and other riff-raff of the common monetary order. But Julia, despite her prating, has fallen by the wayside twi^e, a - has had two children and neither apv*ar to have fath-ers—lecifcim-ate fatVers, that is. But she had a cut at a fellow Sal* vationist at the Ohristciiurch Magistrate's Court, on Tuesday, when she asked for m-jiintcnanco. for her darling child, of which sisc All-ged he was th" father. The josser's name m Edward Edgar Taylor, -\w\ he is junior lifter on the railway. The gentleman is just 21 years of age, and his alleged sin happened a while back. But he doesn't sin, so he says ;.©ot with women, at all events ; sins of impurity are foreign to hM and the thought ot them ' ' r,' SEARS HIS INMOST SOUL. Mr Flesher appeared for the girl, ahd he put the defendant Taylor (for whom Mr Hunter appeared) m the box. The witness said that he had known the lady for three years; Weren't you engaged to be married to her ?•— Yes. Aren't all these epistles, or love letters, m your handwriting ?— Yes. Didn't you write to her every day m the week ?— Yes. j Weren't you supposed to marry'her ! m Wellington on the 24th of May of last year ?— No date was fixed. j Didn't you give her .a ring with] both your initials oh ?— Yes. And " didn't she take a house m Pea-cock-street and didn't you and her sister live there •. m front, rooms ?— Yes, I lived* there until the third ; week m February of last year. And did you ever have immoral relations with Julia ?— Never., . i When did she tell you she was preg- ' nant ?— Not until after I left the j house. , Letters were • here produced by counsel, and witness said they were his, but the dates on the top had been altered. He admitted breaking Off t'ho engagement with Julia m May of last year. It stated, m effect that he didn't think they would be happy when married. She was too old for/ him, and he thought he would be only hindering her cn-ance if he bound himself to her. However, be Wished her well m the world, and henceforth they would meet as "soldiers" only. "GOD BLfiSS YOU." This epistle from one Of the saints of tlie Salvarmy seems to have got the girl's back up, because she wrote him earnestly soliciting a meeting. In one letter she said that he w/ould be unable tto go out to work during the following month ' as she would be too stout, and people would notice her maternal condition. Something would have to be done m the near future for the baby, as she was four months gone. '■> Counsel : Why did you break off the engagement ?— Because I was young, and she was too old for me, and I thought it would better if she married someone of her own stamp. Didn't you desert her because you found she was iaa certain, condition) ? -ISfo. Did you ever tell another girl you wished you had £30 to square the thing ?— No. Did you -ever\ wafrt to marry that other girl ?— No. Didn't you receive a letter con taming this sentence l "I can't attend the Salvation Army meetings any longer owing to my condition ?"— Yes. And another one saying t "The child is yours. I give it to you because I thought the world of you. What are you going to do. I'm now too stout and can't go to work ?' ? ~ Yes, the child wasn't mine. Did you write a reply to that ?— I didn't. ■■■'.. Mr Hunter : x Did she tell you she had a. child previously ?— She did. ; How old. was she when you first met her ?— Twenty-six years ot age. Did she ever TALK TO YOU OF SUICIDE ?- Yes, she was m a very despondent frame of mind when I met her ahd said that if I didn't see her home, ot some one else hadn't done so, she would have thrown herself m the river. / She was thoroughly upset ?— Yes. , How did she ■ gain your confidence < and sympathy .?— By working on mvi feelings. Were you ever m her room at< night ?— No. Was she ever m yours ?— Never. You're a Salvation Army man?— Yes, I play m the band. Did you ever take her to ,the Park after the Army meetings ?— No. The S.M. : There is surely no impropriety m goihg into the Park is there ? Witness : We went straight home. When did you see her last ?— At her own house. Was there any love-making ?— No, ,1 stood by the mantlepiece all the time, and I was there half an hour. Mr Flesher told the Court, after witness had stepped down, that he could only put the girl m the box ; he had no other evidence. A witness who could have corroborated wasn't m attendance. The Magistrate said that there must be corroborative evidence adducod. Mr Flesher said that it the Bench only heard the woman's sorrowful tale he would say that the defendant wasn't telling the truth. Mr Bishop said that the man had denied the yarn, and as he was on oath his evidence was just ns mufii +o he believed as hers. He would dismiss the case without prejudice, i