r perjury and attempted fraud--a fraud which, if
successful, would have secured him estates worth between L20,000 and
L30,000 a year.
A romantic divorce case came before the High Court of Justice in
England in 1876, in which the superstitious element was strongly
blended. The proprietor of an extensive estate asked for a divorce
from his wife, belonging to the gipsy tribe. The petitioner became
interested in a family of gipsies, who were in the habit of pitching
their tents on his ground. He visited their encampment, and became
familiar with them. The member of the company who most excited the
petitioner's attention was a daughter, by name Esmeralda, whose charms
ultimately captivated the petitioner, and they were married in Norway
in June 1874. The co-respondent, stated to be an Oxford man, and who
also interested himself in the welfare of the gipsy race, seemed to
have made the acquaintance of the parties some time after the
marriage. The lady became enamoured of the Oxford gentleman. She went
with him to Bristol, and after that the petitioner did not see his
wife for some time. The husband received a letter from his wife
stating that she was ready to be reconciled to him. They accordingly
came together, and his wife suggested to him that they were both
bewitched, and she stated that in order to have such bewitchment
removed she would go to the Gussoree Gorge, a fabled deity in the
Roman Camp, who had the power to dispel the bewitchment and restore
the parties to their _status quo_. They did go to this famed
astrologer, Gussoree Gorge, who turned out to be none other than the
co-respondent, with whom Esmeralda was afterwards found living as his
wife in Edinburgh.
The petitioner, on being examined, said the respondent complained of
being bewitched, and went to Cardiff to consult the wise men of the
tribe. On another occasion she went again to consult the Gussoree
Gorge, or wise man, and brought back two letters from the astrologer.
It occurred to witness that they were in the co-respondent's
handwriting. He, on receipt of another letter after his wife left him
again, went to Edinburgh, where he found her. She threw herself on her
knees and craved forgiveness. He promised to forgive her. She asked to
go home at once, but there was a difficulty about the train. That
night they slept at Melrose, and in the morning she said she had had a
dream that her lover whom she had left in Edinburgh had committed
suicide. Witnes
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