Divorced Without Knowing It.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3337, 17 October 1889, Page 2

Divorced Without Knowing It.

A Southern contemporary, referring to American affairs, saysWo havo heard a good dual about the fucility with which divorce is obtain-;' able iu America, but until a. recent i case came under our notice we were notawaro tim it was possible for a woman to be divorced in that country without knowing anything about it, This is, however, the leading feature of tho great. Flack caso which has recently been convulsing New York society. Mr Flock is Sheriff of New York, and had been married" thirty years. He managed to got released from his matrimonial bonds, howovcr, with such secrecy and despatch tho other day that Mrs Flack was as \ ignorant of what was going on as any -A. native of Iwmschatka. An editor of a New York paper found it out long before sin; did, and in fuct was tbs first person who conveyed to her tho astounding intelligence. However, it is only fair to add that divorces in ' New York are not usually conducted in this "painless dentistry" kind ot fashion—the operation over without the patientknowing anything about it. A fraud was at the bottom of tho Flack case, Mr Flack, besides being Sheriff of New York, is one of the great men of the Tammany organisation, a political ring, which has all municipal business of New Yorl' JL under its thumb. "Sometimes, thougl mm notoften"says tho correspondent of the ~ Melbourne Age," an opponent of Tammany may be olected to office, but it is safe to say that nine-tenths of the judges on tho bench, and all other city and county officers, hold their places at the pleasure of the head men ot Taminany." In this delightful state of affairs, Fleck j, intimated to a member of the ring, one Meeks, his wishes regarding a divorce, and Meeks, knowing that if be refused to comply, his office, which he held through Flack's influence, would slip from him, proceeded to follow ou». his instructions, fraudulent papers, including a written request purporting to come from Mrs Flack's counsel, were concocted for the occasion. These were laid before Mr Wright, a counsel of repute, who believing he was acting for Mrs Flack, duly made application on her behalf to Judge Bockslaver for a divorce. Tho papers appeared all regular, and as, of course, Mr Flack mado no opposition to the application, a decree was at once granted. By somo means the editor of the New York World heard a whisper that, there wera "slight irregularities" in the case, and sent a reporter tcufa& ask Mrs Flack how it was. Not 1 tho reporter called on her and showed ' 1 her copies of tho documents did Bhe know that she lwd been divorced, She had employed no counsel, mado|j no application for divorce, and the only paper alio had signed was an application for a legal separation, in [ which divorce was not mentioned or considered. In brief, she bad been 1 divorced without her knowledge, and ■ the proceedings wore conducted by a 1 lawyer whom she hud never seen or : even heard of. Mrs Flack at ones employed counsel to upset the 1 fraudulent Proceedings, and the Bamo ' Judge who had granted the divorce | annulled it.llrFlackwasnotpresent in " l Court,but had fought hard through hia 1 counsel to stop the annulling of the; ' decree. Even Tammany, it appears, Eis shocked at the affair—not by any ■ mean 3 at the fraud, but at the clumsiness whisli allowed it to bo found out. Consequently Mr Flack has had to resign from the organisation, and it is said will quito likely be ousted from i his place as Sheriff, There is no , guarantee, however, that his successor in office will be any better than himself, The frightful state of corruption which exists in Municipal* politics in New York is almost beyonift' , belief, and it is only when cases of ti^yFlack type, and that in which Mi'- [ Fisk figured so prominently about ! eighteen years ago, come to tho front , that the outside public gets any idea . of the utter rottenness of the systom ■ under which tho New York citizens | are content to bo governed.

Scotland Yarl

Up to 1877 the London Detcctivo Police was a closo corporation, irrei. ponsible and independant, managed entirely from within, In that, year oc:urred the "great detectiyo scandal,' 1 in which three members of the force were proved beyond all doubt to bo in regular patnersliip with an organised gang of swindlers, The usual remedy for all the ills that civilisation is heir to was appliod—a royal commission, namely—and the present system is the outcome of tlio work done then by Mr Howard Vincent. Plain clothes men werft first put on tho force in 1842. Thoy wero formerly attached to each station. Now they are under tho central control. There nro 400 in summer timo and 700 in winter, the ft, the ranks being filled from uniformed »■ force, Still, these do not mako the body, which is usually referred to as Scotland Yard, These aro a cboscn : corps of about eighty men, of whom

each lias tho rank of inspector. Tlioy form a division by theui-j 6elves called "o.o,and are under the immediate command of the. AsiistantCouimissioneßofPoliceofthe Home Office, Their general duty is confined to the Metropolitan area, but they aro constantly at work on investigations for the Government, and for foreign Governments. About twonty of the men aro employed on political matters solely, Rnd of these ten bavo mado a speciality of Irish affairs, both in Ireland and America.

Tlih political detectives have the bestcf it, Thsy are entrusted with tha spending of the secret service money* and much of it of course is expended without vouchers or accounts, Sometimes they receive handsome presents from foreign Governments. ' One London detective was £2OOO in 188(1 for information furnished tbp Russian Minister which is said tq have the Czar's life, The secret service fund is a largo one. Indeed it is as large as the J}ome Office may

at any lime demand. In the yearn 188}, 1882,1883, JBB4, 1885, when dynamite activity was at its worst, bills for '< information" reaching £5,000 wore onscvoral occasions paid, according to the BUleiiiPHts of thq

' officers themsolvos, Smaller sums, from £IOO to £GOO, are paid out freely to smaller infctmcra, Tho pay of the Scotland Yard men proper averages £23 a month, a large Bilary for London, whore 5s a day are considered fair wages, and expert clerks and salesmen are said to make £lO a , month, Besides the salary, there is always a liberal travelling allowance, and all oxpenses incurred in tho lino of duty am paid without question. 4 Vouchers are seldom asked for, nor ™ even itemised accounts. Sometimes these expansivo bills aro heavy, especially wlion there aro ocean voyages to bo made. The ordinary travelling expenditure is about £2 a day. tfßf As tho seerot service is ™cly political, one function of Scotland Yard is tho foroign correspondence, whioh is carried on invariably in the language of tho country to or from which tho letters aro directed, As England's relations cover tho whole world this part is exceedingly interResting, Polyglot translators who * ltnow every tongue under the sun mo - constantly at work turning Russian, Hindustani, Persian, and Chineso into polico English, and vice versa, There ' oro also employed expert cryptologists, . who aro supposed to be able to unravel tho blindest of cyphers; and it is ja . fact that the aid of tho English exports has more than once been called in by both Russia nnd Germany in this work. Tho cypher used by Scotland Yard itself is the old mov-key-word, the key generally being the narno of the place to vh'ch thomcssagoisscnt. Most of tho English detective work in America isdonothrough the Pinkertons; but there aro always three or four Scotland Yard meninthe country . watching the dynamite societies and looking after their Irish friends in . ■ different parts of tho country. These men aro chosen with great care, and | have privileges and pay beyond th air fellows, Ono of them, who was stationed in New York last year, is said to hive been paid o,ooodols a year and expenses. How thoroughly the prevontativo work in America litis Vbeen done is proved by tho fact that not one dynamite outrage was planned or executed without in forma tion more or less full being cabled beforehand to Scotland Yard. In some cases shadows 1 ■ have accompanied dynamitards from tho quay in New York to tho gaol door in England, as was the case with Dr Gallagher, Through tho same iigoncy explosives and infernal Amaehines have been found in spite of the most ingenious concealment, 1 Some interesting particulars are to ' hand which show how tho nativos of some localities in the South Pacific lalandß manago to retain their strength and number of population, while inhabitants of othor islands are fastdying out. Statistics compiled by tho French Colonial Government, and published lately in tho Tahiti Journal Official, show that during the year 1888 tho numbcrsof the Socioty Islands natives, at least those of which a census could bo taken, had slightly increased in number, the deaths numbering 393, whilo the births wero 408. This increaso, however,anions; somo thousands ofpeoplo, is very slight. In tho Littlo Gambier or Mauisirowa Group, south of the Tuamatous, and under French rule, thenativesseein to bodying out at an ' extremely rapid rato, tor tho deiths last yoar were twico tlwse of tho births. In the Marquesas, too, tho nativos aro fast ' from their beautiful islets, T for 188 deaths last year wero recorded • as against 87 births, in the Tuauiotu or . Low Archipelago, tho population seems to just keep on an even balance, for the births last year wero 59, while tho deaths I ■jgpiumbored 55.