EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF AN UNHAPPY MARRIAGE. (From "Auckland Star"Correspondent.) London, January 25.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 245, 10 March 1888, Page 8

EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF AN UNHAPPY MARRIAGE. (From "Auckland Star"Correspondent.) London, January 25.

Tiik story of Mr Goorgo S. Brockington, whoso marriage fosbivities at Hnsclor last week led to a public riot, roads more like a novel by Ouiila or Hhoda Broughton, than a romance of real life. Mr Biockingfcon is a schoolmaster by profession, and, according to report, if not exactly young, very handsome, lie was united on Thursday last to Miss Helena Bryan, a charming girl of about 18, her own brothorgiving her away. Numerous friends of the brido and bridegroom attended the cot oniony, and evuiy thing was done ttcriofcly in rq/le. Why, then, should an angry crowd have assembled outside the church doors and greeted the wedding party with groans, cat calls, and hisses ? The persons chiefly concerned appeared to know, for they took no notice of the demonstration. Mr Biockington, indeed, looked savage, and his wife was very pale, but noither the bridegroom nor any of his friends inquired the meaning of the loud cries of " uhamc " or of the abusive epithets hurled at the festal cortaje. After the scene of the morning, it may, perhaps, be thought Mr and Mrs Brockingto» started quietly oft" on their honeymoon, without exasperating public opinion by further rejoicings. Not at all. The day's programme included a danco at the villagej inn that evening, and it was strictly adhered to. Moreover, whatever may have been the feelings at the bottom of the i public demonstration against the bridal course, it was quite evident they hud plenty of friend* who iiuled to share them, tor the company at the dance was numerous and thoroughly sociable. Popular indignation seem*, howe\er, to ! have been routed to white heat by this festivity. Hundreds of irate hooting men and women assembled outside tho Inn j doors, and failing to drown the music by I discordant braying, made a violent rush with stones and staves. Windows wore broken and the furniture damaged. At the doors tho mob were met by

The Bridegroom, Pistol in Hand* who warned the " cowardly dogs " to stand back, or take the consequences. Disbelief in tho pistol's being loaded shortly becoming evident, Brockington fired it once or twice over the crowd's head. A scene of great disorder followed. The police were summoned, and ultimately about 30 arrests made. Tho explanation of this extraordinary riot at what should have been a purely festal party, lies in Mr George Brockington's pasts The bridegroom of Thursday last has been twice before tho Courts— once on a criminal charge, and secondly in a civil suit. About 15 months ago he, thon a married man, and the father of several children, was charged with abducting a young girl undei 18 ; but the girl, Miss Helen Bryan (now Mrs i Brockington) swore that she went to his house of her own free will and passed the night there, and that she voluntarily accompanied him to Wolverhamptou for three nights. It was also obvious that though Miss Bryan was really under 18, she might well have been considered by the accused as above that age. Brockingfcon's wife appeared in Court on that occasion and spoko bitterly of the treatment she had received, having been, she said,

Deserted after Twenty Years Ularriasrc, and loft with sovon children to support. Of course the magistrate couldn't kelp her, | The Divorce Court, however, did. A decree niti was granted last? May, and made I absolute in November. Mrs Brockington obtained custody of the children, and left almo3t at once for Canada. Those antei cedonts explain why tho £ood people of I Honley resented the extensively-advertised j wedding and wedding festivities of Mr Brockington and Miss Bryan. So far all is clear save the inconceivable lenifcy of the numerous respectable people who gave their i countenance to this extraordinary match. ! On Saturday morning la*t. however, there appeared in the Birmingham papers a highly original letter signed by Mr Brockington himself, and putting an

Entirely New Colour on the Case. He calls it an " Apologia," mindful, perhaps, of the " Apologia pro Vita Sufi," issued more than twenty yoars ago by a very distinguished resident in Birmingham, Cardinal Newman. In this he describes hU wedded life : " By the headlong folly of early youth I found myselt married to a woman of habits - and temper totally incompatible with my own. All efforts to bring about a happier state of things were unavailing, but year after year I steadily rosisted the advice of my friends to quit England and leave , her to her fate. At last I pub the children i — for whose sake I had . borno with her so long— to one of the best schools in France. She accompanied them to that country, and there I spent my holidays. She now exercised herself in writingslanderousletters to the authorities of the Grammar School and the Midland Institute. These were easily refuted, and consequently disregarded. After her final return to England a deed of separation was drawn up, each clause being mutually agreed upon. Being advised that this would enable me to curb her slanderous tongue and clip the wings of her powers of mischief, aho refused to sign. Nevertheless that deed has been strictly adhered to on my part, and we have lived wholly apart for six years." Here is a story miserable enough, and it is impossible to say how far it may be true; for the late Mrs Brockington is in Canada, and cannot contradict those accusations made behind her back. Mr i Brockington, however, goes on to explain how He "> came to be guilty of the abduction of Miss Bryan. After alluding to. his marriage as an "intolerable bondage, " he says : "The desire for freedom rapidly ripened into resolution with the appearance on the scone of Miss Bryan - To her I narrated the whole of the circum. stamps." "Picture to yourself/ he continues ; " I am bound to a woman who broke 'up Home after home, ruined my children, and tried to drive me Irom my profession ;v; v in fact, mado life a burden grievous to bo borne.' After atx years of total separation—in reality a mutually agreed I upon divoroe— l found a noble and devoted girl .who, was willing to faoe that

'fco' a wafclf^e^pUblio shame— for my sake,' • I'freed tnydeli by the only moans Mich ihe 1 laV left open to'nio frohi the soul-Bfcrifling bondag'o in whioh I was held. 'Pe»perute diseases tequire desperate reraodiei.'" If my readoKbe' 1 * lady I say, Examine wellyour 6wn Heart and nee if no chord' throbs responsive 'to the rare devotion of tbafcnobloprirlwhoserfthunciation of home and friends for the sake st^t man whom she loved— though ds an uot of marriage at OVer^wOtaan performed—was ir 1 ... i '. X r'^ii- 4 ■- • 'i . *

only to lead, as she well knew beforehand, to suffering and disgrace till the solemnisation of the ceromony of to-day." This, then, is Mr Brockington's explanation of his silence before the Divorco Court when his wife made a damaging statement against him. " Was I," he asks, " going to shut the gates of my wn deliverance by denying it then ?" Surely, never in the history of extraordinary marriages was such a proclamation issued on a wedding day. Nor is in loss curious to see that this very singular bridegroom, who went through so much to got rid of ono wife and to secure another, has still friends and champions. Ho found plenty of guests of both sexes to como and dance at his wedding. The young lady who defied fcho ordinary laws ot morality, the conventions of the world, and the ordinances of religion for his sake, has, it is said, always enjoyed find deserved the esteem of her neighbours, and is described as of " romarkable personal attractions, and of an exceedingly amiable disposition." Rumour adds — to complete the story of woman's sacrifice — tlmt she wih engaged to bo married to a young Guardsman, whom sho deserted in order to ho!p Mr Brockington to a divorce, losintr her own character to secure- his freedom. It is also a remarkable) facb that she was " given away " at tho marriage ceremony — a rite coming liftoen months lato — by her brother, tho very gentleman who prosocuted Mr Brockington for abduction.