MAN OF 70-IN LOVE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 953, 22 April 1930, Page 9

MAN OF 70-IN LOVE

YOUNG WOMAN CLAIMS A CAR AMOROUS LETTERS A 70-year-old mail’s love for a young woman, a £IOO engagement ring, a £450 fur coat and a £I,BOO motorcar figured in an action in the King’s Bench Division in London last month. Miss Mary Belle Gavin, of Upper Gloucester Place, London, sued the Telephone Motor Works, Ltd., of Allsop Place, London, for the return of the car or its value. The car, it was stated, had been deposited with the works as security for a loan of £BS. The defence was that the car belonged to Mr. John Graham, of Maryville, Aberdeen, and it was admitted that it had been handed to its trustee. Serjeant Sullivan. K.C., for Miss Gavin, said Mr. Graham was over 70 years of age, and owned a motor-bus service in Aberdeen. Miss Gavin was in business in London in 1928 when she met Mr. Graham first. After they had corresponded for some time, Mr. Graham returned to London and they became engaged in October of that year. Mr. Graham said he would take her to the Motor Show, and that he had a surprise for her. She suggested that she was not suitably dressed, and he bought her a fur coat, for which he paid several hundred pounds. At the show she discovered that the surprise was a present of a beautiful car which he presented to her. The price was £1,836, but as Mr. Graham was in the motor business he obtained a discount of £275.

Mr. Graham also bought her a diamond engagement ring, and when he returned home be wrote saying that he had insured the fur coat for £450 and the ring for £IOO. He also wrote asking her to take a suite of rooms at a leading hotel, as it would not do him much good if it were thought he were marrying a girl in a humble position, but It would be to his advantage to have it thought he was marrying an heiress. Subsequently Mr. Graham became jealous, said Serjeant Sullivan, because of a rumour that Miss Gavin was going about with another man. “In the hotel you are termed ‘gold-digger,’ ” he wrote. “I believed and trusted you, and now I am broken-hearted, and consider life not worth living. . . . You do not know how much I love you.” In a further letter he wrote: “My Own Darling Billie.—To keep you going I send postal orders for £lO, which I hope will ease your mind. I hope you have now got your hunger appeased, as I cannot afford to starve you. “I do not wish people to think you are impecunious. People here say that I am marrying a millionairess Please let them remain of that opinion, as it will do no harm. I hope you will enjoy the car and make Lady ’s teeth water.” Serjeant Sullivan said Mr. Graham sent down a chauffeur for the car, and Miss Gavin went to the hotel. After-w-ard Mr. Graham had a breakdown. Miss Gavin received no money, and. as she had many bills to settle, she teok the car to the defendants and received a loan of £BS. Miss Gavin, in evidence, said Mr. Graham showed her the car, with the remark that it was one of a few wedding presents he intended to give her. After Mr. Graham became ill she sold the ring for £72. When she went to Aberdeen she was told Mr. Graham had become insolvent. Cross-examined by Sir Patrick Hastings, K.C., she said she had heard that Mr. Gregram had denied that they were engaged.