3 Mar 1860 Grantham Journal
BIGAMY: Superintendent Sharp has been engaged during the last week in investigating a case of bigamy, the second husband Wm. Taylor of Barkston, applied for a warrant against the woman, Esther Bescoby, the last marriage took place at the Independent Chapel, Grantham.
16 Mar 1860 Lincolnshire Chronicle
Bigamy at Little Gonerby
ESTHER BESCOBY, 35, married woman, was charged with having, on the 16th November, 1857, at Little Gonerby, feloniously married William Taylor, her former husband John Bescoby, being then alive - Mr Yeatman appeared for the prosecution, and briefly opened the case to the jury. The prisoner was not defended by counsel - From the evidence it appeared that 1846 the prisoner married John Bescoby at Quarrington parish church under the name Esther Watkins. This was proved by the parish clerk, who produced the marriage certificate- William Emblem, registrar of marriages at Grantham, proved he was present at the marriage of the prisoner with William Taylor at the Independent chapel, Little Gonerby, on the 16th November 1857 - Mary Robinson, sister of John Bescoby, identified the prisoner as the woman whom her brother was married to in 1846 - His Lordship summed up, the jury, without hesitation returned a verdict of Not Guilty.
The Louth and North Lincolnshire Advertiser
…article starts the same as above…Mary Robinson deposed: am the sister of John Bescoby, and remember him marrying the prisoner in 1846. I saw her the summer after, but never since. My brother came to my house in 1858, and I have not seen him since that time. By His Lordship: They lived together about two years, and my brother then went to America. The prisoner was to have gone with him, but she returned back again. Wm Taylor deposed: I married the prisoner in Little Gonerby chapel, on the 10th Nov, 1857. She told me that her husband went to America and that he died there. The statement of the prisoner before the committing magistrate was put in and read. From this it appeared that Taylor knew at the time he married her that the former husband was alive. His Lordship said the prisoner was charged with the offence of bigamy, but the statute provided that if a man and his wife lived separately for seven years, and did not know whether either of them were dead or alive, they might marry without being liable to an indictment of bigamy. Nothing seemed to have been seen or heard of the prisoner from 1848 - 1857 - Two years longer than the statute required and therefore he did not think the charge was fully made out. It was however up to the jury, to decide whether they found her guilty or not guilty. The jury immediately returned a verdict of Not Guilty.
