A NEW ZEALAND ROMANCE.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 83, 21 August 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

A NEW ZEALAND ROMANCE.

COURT OF PROBATE AND DIVORCEMarch 7. (Before Sir C. Cresswell and a Special Juvy.) SCOTT AND IIATIIUSON V. GREENWOOD. 11l this Cti-ii* the plaintiffs propounded a will, of which they are the executors ; and the defendant who is the widow of (ho testator, opposed it, on ihe ground o f the incapacity of her husband at the time of making the will and also that undue iniluence had been exercised ov.er him. Mr Coleridge. Q.C., and Dr Spinics were counsel for the plaintiffs ; and the Queen's Advocate, Mr Hawkins, Q,.C, Dr Swabey, and Mr Archibald for ihe defendant. Mr Coleridge, Q. C, in opening the plaintiffs' case, said that the testator, Joseph Greenwood, who had been a captain in her Majesty's service, executed the will in question in August, 1559, and died in July 1861. He was the son of a gentleman who had made a large fortune on the Stock Exchange. During the life of his father he entered the army, which he joined in India, where he greatly distinguished himself, under Sir G. Pollock, in the war in Afghanistan. He was a clever mm, of unusual abilities, and wrote book on that war which had been consid ered a work of standard authority. In 1815,0n his return from India, he joined the depot of his regiment (the 3lst) aJ. Chatham. He had, while n India married Miss Greenwood, his cousin, the defendant with whomhe lived for some time in perfect harmony, and a son was born to them in Chatham. In 1847 be went to New Zealand as brigade mojor on the staff of General Pitt, and in the same capacity he served General Winyard on the death of General Pitt He remained in New Zealand ten years, and l>ein^; a man of considerable ability, obtained a property in Auckland wor'h between Llo,ooo and 1/20,000. While there he formed a connection with a native woman called ■Miriam, the result of which was a son, lo whom, by the disputed will, he has left his New Zealand property. He returned to England at the end of December, in lss7i and was then a man of unrestrained habits of drinking and of profligate manners. He came to his mother's house in Regent's Paik, and in the following January, under the authority of his wife, mother, and brother, he was removed to Dr Slil I well's asylum. In consequence of this the captain felt deep resentment towards his family. He escaped from the asylum, but was recaptured, and he remained there until November ISSS, when he was allowed to leave with a certificate stating that he had very much improved. During that time Dr Stillwell h.ul also Mr lluck as a patient, who was discharged in August, ISoS. and wns the plaintiff in iho case Huck v Stilwell. On

his leaving the asylum the testator went on si visit to Captain Scatt, at Strontian, in Argylcshire, who had taken some shooting there, and who" had been in the same regiment with him. Some of the letters written by the testatqr on lousiness were read, to.show what^his-capacisy was. In all such letters he wrote sums of money not in figures hut in -words, 41s is the frequent habit of 'business men. On his relurn from Scotland lie wanted some advance nl" money, and Mr John Whitline ton. si solicitor ;nt Bristol,"': before? he would negotiate the matter with him, re-^ quired that he should be examined as to his sanity before Urs ICing,and Allen, of Brighton, where he was then staying, with Captain Hco it. They reported that they were satisfied that he' was £al sane ijifan. Mr John Greenwood the brother deceased, negotiated on the part of the wife of the ' testator -terms of mutual separation,- sind it was contended that he negotiated with his brother as a sane man. After the testator's decease, Mr John Greenwood, in a letter, dated 23rd .December, 1861, to >, Mr Whittington, said iha*t;his;brotli«r hairljleffc another will, made subsequently to the one disputed, and executed when- lie was better able to do it. Thus, continued Mr. Coleridge, the defendant has two strings to her bow. But the other side could not embarrass him with the second will, as they had elected to say that the will propounded by the plaintiff was a bad one. By the will the testator gave LIOO to each of his trustees ; his New Zealand property he left to his son by the New Zealand woman; all his other property he left to his legitimate son Colin Halketh Greenwood, charging it with an annuity of LSO a year, payable to his wife, and another LSO a year, paybfc to Catherine M'lntyre, <i woman of loose character ! with whom he had , contracted an intimacy while in Scotland. • Captain Scot*, Mr John Whittington, the solicitor, and the two medical men, were examined, and they all concurred in thinking the deceased was a sane man ; but Captain Scott and. Mr Whittington admitted that be was of very profligate, and intemperate habits, and he suffered at times from delirium tremens, and was not cleanly in his person and habits. '1 he case which commenced on Friday, was concluded to-day (Saturday), the defendant, the vvilovv of the testator, giving up her opposition ; and the court pronounced for the will. — Telegraph.