TWO WIVES

NZ Truth, Issue 1146, 17 November 1927, Page 7

TWO WIVES

Bigamist Admits His Guilt

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Rep.) Kevin Francis Burns has been burning the candle of matrimony at both ends. In the Auokland Police Court the other day he appeared on a charge of bigamy, to which he pleaded guilty per medium of Lawyer Hall-Skelton. DURNS, who was on bail, while walting for his name to be called, found himself m the unique position of sitting between two wives. As would be expected — Burns having: separated from his first wife — it wa» the second Mrs. Burns who held tfoe place s qf honor at his side, while the rejected ' spouse was seated w*th her friends some few seats away on his other hand. Both wives and the dual husband appeared to be quite young folk. .' By strange coincidence or ottier caprice of events, it was on the day before the first 'anniversary l -of his. initial trip to the registry offlo<s that young- Kevin put to use his second wedding ring purchase. Linda Dominion Bowdler was tha first lady to pledge herself to Kevin's connubial care. This she had done, she told tha court, at the Auckland registry office on Juty 28, 1926. Her two brothers were witnesses to tha marriage. For about five months they had lived m Great South Road, then her husband went to Te Awamutu. i Before his arraet she had not Been ! him since last- June. She had a child eight weeks old. Kate Beazley, the other woman who had accepted Kevin's proposal of marriage, told a story a little more romantic than that of her predecessor. It was at a party m December, 192(5, that she first met Burns. "He took me out several times about Christmas and then he went to work at Great Barrier." In April of this year she advised him that she was m a certain oondition and he secured her a position at Tirau as housekeeper. "He told me he was properly divorced and on July 27, 1927, we were married at the registry office at Tirau," she continued. In a statement to the police when I interviewed on the charge of bigamy, Burns admitted his guilt, stating that he knew his first wife to be alive and that he had no right to marry the other girl. ■ , „"I had disagreements with my wife," read the statement, "and we did not get on well together. "She told me she did not want any more to do with me and would not live with me again . . . She seemed to be pleased to get rid of me." Burns was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. miimumiiinmmmmimmminniimiiiiniiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiniiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii