R.M. COURT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1917, 17 February 1885, Page 2

R.M. COURT.

MASTERTON-MONDAY.

(Beforo H. S. Wardeu, R.M.)

(Continued from yakrday.) AFFILIATION CASE. Adams v Price.

Morgan Ward O'Meara deposed, ho knew Mary Adams by sight and also Mr Price. He overtook them walking sido by side in the direction of the Post Office from the Waipoua Bridge, Ho could remember quite well seeing them together on two occasions. He passed the brother Henry on the bridge, and bade him goodnight. This was on a Sunday between nine.and ten -o'clock in the evening, twelve or sixteen months ago. ...'He had also seen them together on week-day evenings in Chapel-street. Mr Shaw: How did Mr Bunny know you woukl give evidence ? , "■'■'\ . Witness: I was asked by Henry. Adams if I had seen them together and I said I had, and Mr Bunny-called me. ' I was in the Court and heard all the evidence. Witness continued: He was not certain whether it'was summer or wintor. He did not know when it was he saw them in Chapel-street. John G, Campbell, laborer, Masterton, deposed that he heard part of the case that morning. He knew the parlies in the present case. He had seen Miss Adams and Mr Price walking together before the new Waipoua bridge was finished about twelve or fourteen months ago, on a Sunday, between nine and ten at night. There was no one else with them. They were walking together. He had seen them round the back street on one occasion about twelve months ago in the gloaming. He had seen Mary Adams walking up'and down, in Chapel-street as if waiting for some one.

This concluded the case for both sides.

Mr Shaw said he had a few words to say with regard to the case, It had been well said no cases were so easy to bring, and no cases so hard to refute, as ones of the present nature. Illoji wore all very much at the mercy of any unscrupulous woman. A charge was so easily made, but so difficult to rofuto by any outside evidence in consequence of its being in secret. The evidence of tjje mother of the child unless materially corroborated by other ovidence, could not be acccepted. First consider her evidence; .she had told her story with minutenoss and exactness, extending over a period of eighteen months. She has sworn her acquaintance with the defondadt prigiriated at his shop, and for somo months attending the same place of worship, Mr Priori had positively sworn he had not' been there for two years. What could have been easier than to have brought someone outside Adam's ring to prove his story false ? In answer to that statement his learned friend, althpugh he had an hour's recess, could bring neither- parson, saint nor sinner in refutation. Mary Adams, ljogaij by swearing a deliberate lje, ; courtship existed. She tljen swore 'defendant almost every Sunday ascp : in'pa)iied'''her to the bridge, anil then in she says': '' Oji'twq ortljree qccasiqnsiiefoiidant did accompany pie .on. Sunday evening." There was an' alarmjng disprepancy bet\veenhpf'examinatjoninp)n"gfandhercrpsß- - She said the waJks. were always in company with her relations and at a certain point they turned back and he treated her with all respect and not withstanding all the inuendos of his learned friend, she could only say that upon one occassion he put his arm around her and kissed her. She wanted the Court to believe tl)at. slfo was to wait this amorous lovers' pleasure in tho street fftl' an hour and then lie' 1 took ! 'by i '.thy ; firi)i round to hjs studio. It was Hot alijcely s&y'that he wpjjii. gfl wjt|} her thrpuglf the' most frequented part qf ijje wjjgn he could hayp Men Jier thrpugh his shop unobsoryedi Why she had fixed qn his studio was because slip knew t-Jip w'ay it was furnished and could describe it, Bhe knew that there was a back entrance. Suppose three months after she wrote a, a letter for the sake of argument in August. Suppose for a moment she sent that letter. Dui}i)|a}lt||pgßnipntlis to January we hayc a and he living witjjinafejy walk a}id she did not come par him )>R r sep4 apy relative. The tumor theory of h|g learngdfriend was brought forward in his innocence, He himself had never in his exporlonce heard such a thcoiy advanced before. As regards the corroboration, he thought his learned /riew} would have been satisfied with the" brother 1 '?! and sister's evidence, but they found that taking' advantage of the recess other witnesses had been found but these witnesses had flatly contradicted the sworn testimony of Mary Adams that /she had not had an appointment with defendant Jjefpre April : ■ She had stated her case qn tlio Ist qf April, and it is impossible the two witnesses could have seen them together b.pforo' that if li'ev ovijionco was true, It wits a case-of )'. save mo from my friends," when it was important an admfssipn should be remembered. Notice the exactness of tljqse Siamese twins Kajic and Mary. His loped friend sajf] |/he .close similarity showed their memory was good'. "' If theyhad'difi'ere'd a little, more credenoe might have been given them, but they exactly, narrowly, and closely fixed the words used, At the first test question Kate Adams absolutely and flatly contradicts her sister that she was ordered out of the shop. Tiie little girl had also sworn that she never heard of anyone walking hpme with her sister, thus again contradicting hsr, 'j?|}o brpther was as bad as a Spanish husband tp gee out pf the way whilst his sister went intp tjie bank premises with a bachelor, Ho was not even roqueted to gp, but he went. If he was speaking the truth what was ho ? He had heard of a drunkard through his conduct reducing his wife to the lowest state. But a brother |—what could lie have expected was going to happen to his sister, Ho would ask the Court not to boliove it possible, The evidence of the mother wag not very material, He was sorry for the old lady. There was only ono element of truth in the whole ailair—that was the baby. It was not for him to suggest who the father was, but it did not follow because Miss Adams said Mr Price was the father of the child that he was so. His client was a bachelor in a good position, and located fortunately or otherwise in the im'dst of a lot of single ladies. It was quite possible'tliattp shield t]}e real father the girl had picked upqh aiiqtjjer man to father it upon. Did the Court think that a map in defendant's ppsition would face the gagp of that mob and the exposure by the press to Bave a paltry 10s a week unless he knew his Innocence. He would remind the Court of the good old rule that where a doubt existed the defen< dant was entitled to the benefit thereof. Mr Bunny rose to reply, but Mr Shaw protested that he had no right thereto as he had not called any witnesses for the defence, his only witness having been called by the prosecution. His Worship, whilst acknowledging the correctness of Mr Shaw's statement, intimated that he would hear Mr Bunny. Mr Bunny said his friend had not left a stqne unturned. He had Baid that a caso of this |prt fas easy to bring forward and hard' to refuto, Ho wpuld point out it was vory hard to prove from the same reasons, much more bo than'ti) refute. The girl's statement was a dear, connected one, supported by outside evidence, and the counsel for the defence, following the advice given to those having a bad case, "abused the other side."

He had started with tho girl and applied to her terms that wero shameful, fit only for the lowest of tho low, Ho ventured to say her. statement was given truthfully and not upset by any witnesses and was confirmed by testimony outside the Adams family, and if ever a man perjured himself it was the defendant in this case, and His 'Worship would be quito justified in committing him. He said ho had never walked with the girl in the streets of Masterton. The girl swore he had and her evidence was confirmed by outside witnessos and his learned friend with all his ability had failed to shake their credibility or impeach their testimony. If ho had been able to have done so he would. If it had not been for these witnesses his friend would have said the case was a trumped up one and a conspiracy. There had been no attempt to show her a strumpet and he submitted her tale absolutely true, He could not conceive why she should have fixed upon Price as the father unless it was true. It had been absolutely confirmed by the independant witnesses that he was walking with her and if he swore that he was not falsely, he would not hesitate to swear falsely that she was not-in his studio as stated, On two occassions ho had kissed her and he had given her the impression that he would make hor his lawful wife and by' a low cunning fashion he had secured his ends. Her reasons for not going near him from August to January was that she had used every endeavor to. induce him to act honorably by her and spare her the disgrace of an illegitimate child, and by his refusal she was rendered helpless, His friend was not warranted in making the aspersions he had,- The family had been residents in the districts for thirty years without a stain upon them, and were held in high repute, and no one would believe the insinuations of the counsel that the brother was a party to his. sister's fall. He submitted the oase was fully proved, and the order should be made. He left it confidently in the hands of the Magistrate. • His Worship in summing up said the birth of the child was an indisputable fact and there was no doubt as to the maternity, It was now sought to fix the paternity. The statute was very preqjso as, to the evidence required to support a phargo of this sort. They had the evidence of the mother of the child, positive and distinct and the only tiling to be considered was how far it was corroborated by material evidence that would carry conviction to the mind of the Court, The case was qf impqrtanco to one pe'rsqn—the father, fife character qf tho mother had gone,'no matter what the result might bo. In this case tho defendant was a bachelor. A married man would haye a very great motive in defending a ease' pf this sort, but the defaildant was' prepared "to moot the case without any attempt to evade a full enquiry. There was no powerful motive to repudiate the liability. The position was not one of those surrounded with any special circumstance. The motive on the other side had then to be considered, the cprrqborative ovidence and the value of it, outside of tho qijeatjqn qf whether defendant'haa 1 'Walked'out with the girl in the'streets or not.' If complainant ||ad shown defendant in constant attendance and 'admitted as, her lover, that is' what'jje would have expectetjfrqi'i) tlje openjng pf the cage by tqe cp,uns,el. That had, ngt been (Jcme, and the walk's had dwindled down ifl two or throe, T'h'e brother goes in and swears 'there wqro walks time without number, and this conies down to a dozen, that broke down the close intimaoy. Tho corroboration of the statement by Campbell and O'Meara fixed the time to upwards of twelve months ago, and the girl swore she was not with him at that time. There was, a want of reliability. ]mnqr]ant part was the girls' evidence qf tfie conversation, B,qth, pre sq identically ajjke in jho wgrcls njade'use of in ifljieajihijj (1)4 Qgnyersation,, and, he coujt} njjt djsaspgqjajie frpjn h|s, mjr,d that the sisters wer-e ljyjng tggethjr apd, that conversations must have accounted for their similarity of ovldeneo—not that each of them had a bright recollection of the conversation, Mr Bunny had tried to put another complexion on it, but he could not help feeling that the conduct of the brother had been such as to justify the appllpation, pf gtrpntf terms, That a bfotlief aftei'jtaijpjijjg by for half tin hour whilst hjs and lata Wreiiroiwii leaves, whilst the shutters aro being put ujj is imaooountable. A heavy responsibility rested upon him, and, if that was true, a burden on his conscience for the rest of his life. But so unbrotherly was such behaviour that he had been asked not to believe it. He w'qulf'ky »t pe tkt the corroboration of ! tlio mothdisevidetfoo was not s'uoh as to carry a conviction to his "kind and the case would therefore be dismissed.