A SCANDALOUS SLANDER.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 August 1920, Page VIII

A SCANDALOUS SLANDER.

'young wipe suffers, magistrate heals breach. At the Eltham Magistrate's Court on Wednesday Mary Cecilia Keardon proceeded against iier hunband, Norman Keardon, for tl|e maintenance of herself and child. Mr. T. A. B. Bailey, S.M occupied the bench. Mr. I>. O'Dea appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. J. H for defendant. In opening the case Mr. O'Dea said ■v."! • f Was wllat mi « ht be termed a child wife. Keardon had married her only a few days before lie left for England with a draft of the New Zealand Jixpeditionary Force,-in July, 1918. From England he wrote her a number of husbandly" letters. In August, 1919 however, he wrote one of a very different nature. It was received by his wife in October, and. could only bp described as a most scurrilous letter. In it he stated that he had received two letters from "friends" in Eltham by the last mail which had reached hini m which the writers accused his wire of infidelity and mentioned the name of a business man with whom she was stated to have had immoral relations. The letter upbraided Mrs Keardon at some- length, and concluded with the express wish that' she should not attempt to meet him a»ain upon his return to Eltham. The letter proved quite a knock-out to Mrs. Keardon. The other letters, which Keardon had received in London, were shown to the Defence Department with a view to stopping Mrs. Keardon'* allowances, and the Department cabled, these allowances on "account of the immoral life she was leading." This was all directed against a girl concerning whom there was not the slightest rumor of ill-fame. Since he had returned Keardon had again written to his wife, informing her that he had been offered a good position on a' farm, and asking-her to return to him, but this letter contained no explanation. or apology for what lie had previously written; he apparently did not retract a single word. The girl now asked that the letters might be shown to her in order that she "should know who had defamed her. If this was done she would return to her husband, or, on the .other hand, if those letters were "a fake" then she asked Reardon to admit it, and she would still return to him. No girl would demand less than that. -Reardon should do the honorable thing by his wife. ( Defendant's solicitors had written staiing that defendant had always been prepared to provide for his wife, and declaring that he was at a loss to understand her present attitude. He had replied that she was prepared to return if he would divulge the name of the person who had defamed her. Defendant admitted that the letters were a scandalous 'slander against Jiis wife, and that the accusations contained therein were absolutely false. He had not heard from his wife for two months or more, and the letters received from his friends concerning her ''got on, his nerves" when he wrote the letter accusing' her. When he returned there was a lot of trouble between himself and the Green family, and it was due to this that he had refused to produce the letters. At the meeting at the presbytery he had apologised and admitted that he was convinced that the letters were absolutely false, and that he had been grossly misled. He then asked her to return to him; but she said she first wanted him to let her see the letters. He had said he was quite capable of dealing with the writers of the letters, and "he had left his wife that evening expecting to hear from her later, but he had never heard. He had taken no steps to deal with the writers of the letters, though he had been back for three month;.

The magistrate thought Reardon should tell his wife what she wished to know if she would promise not to divulge the name. He should then go and punch the writer's head. Defendant:: 1 will when she comes back to mc. The magistrate: You should not make surii a stipulation. Mr. O'Dea urged that the name should be divulged immediately, "and then a case could be brought against the person who had defamed the girl. The was of opinion that

no good purpose would be served by this. , 'flip magistrate then suggested that Kcardon should write the name of the writer of the letters on a pievc of paper, place it in a sealed envcbpe, which could he planed in the hands of the .clerk of the court, to be handed to jW-rs. Reardon on the day she returned to her husband. Defendant agreed to this proposal, and the cusp was. adjourned for one month to allow the parties to come to an agreement.—Argus.