COLLAPSED IN COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 15, 18 June 1913, Page 6

COLLAPSED IN COURT.

MAN SAID TO HAVE MARRIED FOUR WOMEN. ASTOUNDING STORY. London, May 4. Amazing allegations of bigamy were made against Philip Hanbury Sparrow, agod 49, a smartly-dressed man of military appearance, at Bristol, on Thursday. , He was charged with marrying Margaret Mary Young, at Wraythorne, York, in November, 1912, and with marrying" Gertrude Dean Freshfield in February last, at Bristol, his wife, Mary Sparrow, being still alive. Miss Young, aged twenty-two, a lady of education and refinement, said that she met the accused at the York Hotel in October last year. The acquaintance ripened, and in November they were married. He gave her £SO, and treated her with the utmost kindness and consideration. The only wrong he had done her was marrying her. Miss Freshfield said that she was manageress of a Bristol hotel. Defendant visited there in February; they grew friendly, and when she married him in April she gave him £3O. Ellen Sparrow, a nurse, said that defendant was her father, their home being at Birmingham. Two years ago she saw him after ten years' absence. He enquired for her mother, brother and sister, and witness told him that her mother was alive. In September last he came into money, and gave her mother £IOO, her brother £25 and her sisters £lO each. The Registrar of Scarborough produced a certificate showing that defendant married his real wife there in 1879. ' Detective-sergeant Wall said that he arrested defendant at Otley. On the way to Bristol defendant said: "I can't say what possessed me. My mind seems blank." He had £5 in notes in his possession when arrested. Defendant reserved his defence, and was committed for trial. A solicitor on his behalf applied for bail, saying that he could offer substantial sureties. This the prosecuting solicitor opposed, saying that defendant had only lately returned from Australia, where he had another "wife" and two children. There was a probability that he might return. Just after bail had been refused defendant collapsed, and fell to the ground, apparently with a heart attack.

There was some sensation in court, and his daughter, with professional skill, massaged defendant's heart, but it was some time before he recovered.