A LEVANTING BIGAMIST.

Observer, Volume 6, Issue 151, 4 August 1883, Page 3

A LEVANTING BIGAMIST.

Still waters run deep. I'uur houyy-netukd sinner is ever the worst of sin/ierrf. T1...- shockhaired ruffian with a low retreating forehead, a sinister cast in his eyes, a coarse ijiouUj, and. cruel massive jaws, carries an index of-eliaracter in his face. Nature has. stamped her warning on his countenance, and he who runs mny rend. It is your smooth-spoken, sleek, smiling hypocrite in broadcloth and an expansive display of shirtfront that baffles suspicion, and runs through a career of villiany unscathed. Mephistopheles is always a civil-spoken affable sort of gentleman, who conceals his vices under a smiling countenance and a fashionable tout ensemble. As the French proverb says : — " II y a bien des gensqiCon estime, garce qa'on ne les commit poi?it."

These remarks form an appropriate introduction to what follows. Not long ago it was rumoured about town that a gentlonian who held a position of trust in a firm in this City had come in for a lucky windfall, and was about to proceed to England to join his brother. He was congratulated by his numerous friends on his good fortune, for he was regarded as a man of unimpeachable character, being a regular churchgoer, and free from moral blemishes. As a family man he excited general admiration by his habit, of wheeling his latest addition in a perambulator about the suburbs. He sold off his effects, bade farewell to his friends, and took passage for San Francisco. But he had only been gone a few days when some ugly rumours were afloat. A few Auckland tradesmen who had been unaware of hia intended departure had been honoured with lasting reminiscences of his regard, and the firm, in whose employ he had been, discovered by an examination of his accounts that there were sundry defalcations.

Gradually also it leaked out that he had been induced to expedite his departure in consequetoeo of an impending prosecution for bigamy. He had left a wife and grown up family of daugbtors in Victoria, and, while she was still living, married another woman in Queensland. His whereabouts having been traced by the first wife, the police authorities in Melbourne had communicated with Mr Superintendent Thomaon on the subject with a view to a prosecution for bigamy. A difficulty had arisen, however, in obtaining the necessary legal proofs of the" second marriage sufficient to justify a prosecution, and thus while no blame is attributable to the police, the delinquent, haviDg got wind of the matter, took time by the forelock, and sought refuge on foreign soil.