SECRET SCOTTISH MARRIAGE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 84, 7 April 1916, Page 6

SECRET SCOTTISH MARRIAGE.

REVEALED AFTER HUSBAND'S DEATH. "Although he was devoted to her, he lacked the moral courage to tell his friends that -he had married the tablemaid, " said Lord Dewar, in. the Edinburgh Court of Session, in making a declaration, sought by Mrs. Mary Russell, or Mackenzie, of Duncarss, Bearsden, Glasgow, that she was the wife of the late Thomas Mackenzie, distiller, of Carron, Banffshire. Where it was proved that a man nad woman deliberately exchanged matrimonial consent, their marriage was complete, stated his Lords-hip. Mr. Mackenzie and plaintiff exchanged voavs, and he afterwards wrote a declaration taking her to be his wife. He gave her a wedding ring, but the marriage was never pubJicly announced, and she always assumed the' position of housekeeper when his friends were present. A child was born in 1905. He, with plaintiff's consent, registered it as illegitimate, explaining that when the marriage was announced the child would be all right. In a letter, to be opened after his death, Mackenzie wrote: "This is to declare that Mary Russell is my wife." His false pride was stronger than his devotion. He denied the marriage on his death-bed, but left a letter to his trustees asserting that it was true. Plaintiff said, and his Lordship believed her, that she -had raised the action for the sake of the child. His Lordship thought her an honest and truthful witness, and he was of opinion ; that '-she had established her case.