A ROMANCE IN LOW LIFE.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 33, 14 November 1871, Page 3

A ROMANCE IN LOW LIFE.

Most of the materials necessary for the construction of a moderately sensational novel or drama could be obtained from the suit of Grirnmett v. Grimmett, heard in the Equity Court on Monday. There arc, for instance a couple unblessed with children, an adopted son about whose parentage there is a mystery, a dead secret,'a monthly nurse, a disputed will, a connubial separation, a flight, and a false name. Add to these, that and the husband wife who separated died, unforgiving and apart, and that it was not discovered by the irrepressible relations that the adopted son, or rather the doubtful heir, was not the child of his reputed parents till after their death. The only drawbacks are that nobody, above the rank of a butcher is spoken of in the suit, and there is not so much as a light, leave alone, a heavy, villain in the whole piece. The plaintiff in the suit is Theophilns Grimmett, and the defendant is William Grimmett, One Emanuel

Grimmett and his wife, Margaret Grimmett, arrived here from the old country in 849. There was no issue of the marriage then or subsequently, and, in the same year, they adopted as their sen an infant about nine mouths old, who had been christened under the name of William Taggart, and Avho is the present defendant. Emanuel Grimmett tried his fortunes as a digger at Ballarat and elsewhere, and as a butcher at Northcote, bnt, in 1857, he quarelled with his wife, and left her and the colony. He assumed the name of William Timms, and after wandering about Queensland and New South Wales, he died in Sydney in July, 1865. Margaret Grimmett, his wife and the adopted son, who wan called William Grimmett, and whom both she and her husband had always been accustomed to speak of as their own child, stayed in Melbourne together..,, She pursued the occupation of a monthly nurse, and the defendant, William Grimmett, became an assistant in a tobacco manufactory. According to the defendant, he and Mrs. Grimmett together saved out of their earnings rather more than £3OO. which they put into the Saviugs Bank in her name. Mrs Grimmett died, in February, 1865, some few months before the decease of her husband, Emanuel Griinniett, and, by will, she bequeathed all the money standing in her name in the bank to the defendant. The plaintiff, Tlicopliilus Grimmett, is the brother and sole next of kin in Victoria of the intestate, Emanuel Grimmett, and as such he has instituted this suit with the view of obtaining letters of administration to the estate willed by Mrs Grimmett. The defendant, who is now upwards of twenty ouc years of age, seeks to obtain probate of that will in his own name. The plaintiff’s case is that Mrs Grimmett could not legally make the will while her husband was alive. Mr Webb appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr Stephen and Dr Madden for the defendant. Arguments were heard, and his Honor, Mr Justice Molesworth reserved judgment. Melbourne Leader.