| Reference Number | t18970405-320 |
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| Verdict | Not Guilty > unknown |
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| Actions | Cite this text Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 11 December 2023), April 1897, trial of CHARLES JONES (34) (t18970405-320). | Print-friendly version | Report an error |
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320. CHARLES JONES (34) , Feloniously marrying Annie Schaffer, his wife being alive.
MR. COHEN Prosecuted.
EDWARD BELL (Police Sergeant). On March 27th the prisoner caine into the West Ham Police Office, and said, "I wish to give myself up for bigamy"—I said, "Where do you live?"—he replied, "Harley Road," and that his name was Charles Jones—I had had notice that he was coming—this letter is addressed to the Superintendent of Police. (This was from the prisoner, stating that he had committed bigamy, but that it was forced on him.) I showed it to him, and said, "Is that true?"—he said, "Yes," and shortly afterwards I charged him, searched him, and found on him various papers, and among them this certificate of his second marriage, on March 8th, 1896, in which he describes himself as a widower—I obtained these two certificates from Somerset House, one of his marriage, as a bachelor, on December 26th, 1884, to Eliza Wynne, and the second describing him as a widower.
CHARLES MEATON (Police Inspector). I took the charge against the prisoner on March 8th—he was about to make a statement, and I said, "If you wish to make a statement, I must take it down"—I did so, and he signed it. (This stated that his wife was living in adultery with his brother-in-law.)
The Prisoner. My brother-in-law has told me, since my second marriage, that he is still living with my wife, and has had several children by her—I had not seen her for eight years and a-half, and did not know that she was living, till two or three months after my second marriage.
NOT GUILTY .