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 Abt 1923 - Yes, date unknown
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| Family 2 (Divorced) |
Basil Leo SPILLER, b. 17 Oct 1916, Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia  , d. 31 Mar 1996, Bolton Point, New South Wales, Australia (Age 79 years) |
| Married |
8 May 1944 |
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia [2, 3] |
- Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 22 July 1945, page 17
Amazing Tangle Of Lovers
SHE BEGAN AT 17!
THE spirit of Salome, super siren of screen and story— she is credited with having possessed a male harem of the bare 1000 tall'n handsome men in "The Tale Of The Wandering Jew' - must surely have a kindred kink with that of Mrs. Ena Olive Spiller, in the light of revelations in court.
For the Spiller "siren," finding herself in an unfortunate predicament at the age of 17, was forced by her parents' command, to send the father of the expected babe - later, her husband, Basil Leo Spiller - packing; the parents then married her off to a man named Allen, "to give the child a name"; soon after that Allen died, so Ena, a widow at 18, picked up the threads again with Spiller, now a soldier at a Northern battle station: And thereby she continued a series of some of the most amazing and extraordinary matrimonial and romantic situations ever to be uncovered!
SPILLER told all this to Senior Puisne Judge Macrossan in Brisbane Divorce Court during the week, when he requested very earnestly to be got out of this tantalising tangle.
Spiller told the judge that he had married Mrs. Ena Olive Allen, a widow, at Wickham-terrace, Brisbane, on May 8, 1944, and that there were no children of that union, but he had lived with her before that, and there had been a child then.
"After our marriage in May, '44, I lived with her for only one night at Marr's boarding house, before rejoining my unit," the soldier went on. "When I had gone away in 1942, I got an allotment for her, as a de facto wife.
Mr. L. Brown (for Spiller): You had known her for two years before you married her, and when the child was expected, you wanted to marry her?-- Yes, I did, but her parents objected to me and would not let her. Eventually she married a man named Tom Allen, in order to give the child a name. Soon after that Allen died and she was a widow at 18.
While you were away at a Northern battle station, did you receive a letter from your wife, dated July 26, 1944?-- Yes.
Witness then tendered this letter, which read, inter alia:
"Dear Leo...... I am not quite sure whether I want to forget John. It isn't that I have no confidence in you, but I think that John has a right to care for his own child it he wants to, and also for the one who bears his name.
"Leo, I'm telling you the truth, I love John, and it can never be any other way, but I just can't get him, as he's married back home. I married you for Tommy's sake, hoping I would forget John and learn to love you like I used to.
"John will soon be going away. Their outfit is supposed to be leaving here in August. I'll really know if he cares for me, Leo, and for his child, which is not yet born.
"I'll admit, Leo, that I want John and his child more than anything else in the world, but I guess it just isn't laid out that way for me. Leo, I often sit and wonder how you'll treat John's child when it grows up...
"I'll say cheerio, with best of love to you from your loving wife and son, Tommy."
His Honor: Who is John?--He's an American, John Reid, my wife knew before I married her.
She has a child to him, too, as well as a child to you?--Yes.
This is another child?--Yes, born after we were married.
How old is the child, Tommy, you say is yours and hers.--Three years and nine months.
Spiller also referred to a letter he received from his wife, dated January 15. 1945. This was produced by Major Portley, of the Army D.F.O., and read, inter alia:
"Dear Leo. I may as well come straight to the point. I'm asking you to divorce me..... I'm keeping company with an Australian soldier, and I'm deeply in love with him. As far as I am concerned, there is no one in my estimation I could love better. I've committed adultery with him and will again.
"Leo, I'll never live with you as your wife, as I would be so unhappy, and so would you. I've adopted the two children out.
"Well, I trust this will find you O.K. as it leaves me. Signing off and hoping you'll do the right thing, your wife, Ena."
His Honor: You allege in your petition that she committed adultery with another man, but she says that she lived with another man?--But I don't know who the last man, the Australian, was.
Did you know she was pregnant to Reid when she first married you?--Yes, she wrote and told me that she was, and that's why I married her, and because the first child was mine and hers. I asked her to register the second child in my name, but she christened the child in the name of Reid. And now she's got herself in trouble with the other man, the Australian fellow.
Where is the first child--your child?--In an orphanage. She put him there herself.
His Honor granted Spiller a decree nisi for divorce therefore, on the grounds of his wife's adultery with a man unknown.
Mr. Brown was instructed by Mr. Leo Power (Messrs. Leonard Power and Power). [2]
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| Divorced |
Jul 1945 |
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia [2] |
| Children |
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| Last Modified |
9 Mar 2019 |
| Family ID |
F5352 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Sources |
- [S2] Queensland: Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages, Marriage registration: Thomas Jacob Henery Allen, Marriage date: 09/05/1941, Spouse's name: Ena Olive Walton, Registration details: 1941/C/2504.
- [S342] Australian Newspapers, National Library of Australia, 1945 'Amazing Tangle Of Lovers', Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), 22 July, p. 17. , viewed 06 Oct 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203120171.
- [S2] Queensland: Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages, Marriage registration: Basil Leo Spiller, Marriage date: 08/05/194, Spouse's name: Ena Olive Allen, Registration details: 1944/B/59556.
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