• Born: 25 Sep 1881, Wuuluman, New South Wales, Australia ³
• Married (1): 1903, New South Wales, Australia ¹
• Married (2): 1937, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia ²
• Died: 29 Apr 1958, Redfern, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia ^{4 5}

  Research Notes:

From: Arrow Sydney, Friday 2 December 1932 Page 4

World's Strangest Breach ot Promise' .

' Case Involves- Old Man of, 72 Years

WOMAN CLAIMS -£2000

IN EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES'

But Strangely Enough Her Husband' May Still Be Living!

A VERDICT OF ONE FARTHING

JANE BOHLSEN, of Hopetoun Street, Camperdown (NSW) is 50 years of age, square jawed, and as talkative a body as ever stepped into a witness-box; and she honestly believes that she is a widow. She said so over and over again in the Causes Court this week when Mr. Justice Milner Stephen and a jury of four gave ear to her as she advanced reasons why Octavius Victor Redaelli, a man 22 years her senior,.should be compelled to disgorge £2000, that being the price she assessed her broken heart when the old chap allegedly failed to marry her,

UNFORTUNATELY for Jane, the jury regarded her claim as too preposterous to entertain and her jaw dropped noticeably when, after a fairly lengthy retirement, they filed into court and announced that Jane's feelings had been, outraged to the extent of one farthing! It was perhaps, the most extraordinary, claim for breach of promise ever heard in a NSW court and the verdict made his Honor ponder for a full minute before he remarked 'Yes, gentlemen, I think I can accept that verdict.' For centuries it has been the privilege of woman to suffer from temporary loss of memory where her age is to concerned and Jane, when she advertised for a husband, did no more than conform to custom by setting hers down as 46. As a matter of fact she was 49 at the time but, as she explained when barrister J. W. Shand taxed her upon the subject, I wasn't on my oath then. At any rate Jane's little fib didn't appear to worry Redaelli very much because, after he answered the advt. he called upon, her, found her playing the pianola and forthwith commenced to take her here there and everywhere, But he stoutly maintained that, at no time during the 16 months that he had known her did he mention the subject of marriage albeit the letters that he wrote to her were couched in more or less affectionate terms. In fact, he swore he looked upon Jane as woman of spotless character and had everything, gone well with his business, possibly would have married her. Jane, on the other hand was apparently deeply in love with the old man and she wrote him one letter that, as he said himself, made him suspicious. Jane, to his way of thinking, appeared to be in too much of a hurry and, when, he. didn't reply to her letter right away, rushed into Sydney and placed the matter in the hands of her solicitor. His attitude thereafter may best be summed up in the succinct sentence that he used: 'You are trying to put the inevitable on to me.' First day of the hearing dragged along without anything in the nature of a surprise but when the court assembled on Monday, Mr. Shand, appearing for Redaelli (or 'Pop,' as he is known to his friends) dropped a bombshell when he raised the question: Is the plaintiff a widow at all? Upon Jane, then, was left the onus of proving that her husband was actually dead and the greater part of a whole day was taken up in trying to settle such an Important matter; and in the resultant discussion, the part that 'Smith's Weekly,' the 'Arrow's' contemporary played two years ago came under the spotlight. . On that occasion, 'Smith's' released one of the most extraordinary stories ever printed concerning the AIF Away back in 1915, the Henry Otto Bohlsen whom Jane had married in 1903, was employed as a carter by the Fresh Food and Ice Co., Ltd. A native of London, he had served in the Boer War. In April, of '15. however, according to his wife's evidence he found him self in a quandary. He had allegedly embezzled some of his employer's money and, fearing arrest, announced his intention of enlisting. To do so, however, he would have had to obtain his wife's consent and this Jane was unwilling to give. In her own words: 'I thought I couldn't live without, him and if he got killed his death, would be on my shoulders,' and, she said the same argument explained satisfactorily the reason why she had never received a penny of his allotment money. Anyhow, whether he enlisted or not, Henry Otto Bohlsen faded out of her life, and his wife was unable to say definitely whether he had joined up. She said that she had never seen him In uniform. Her husband how ever af the time, of his disappearance, had taken, out: a life assurance policy with the M L.C.' for £100 - It was Jane's desire to recover this money 15 years later that led to startling disclosures. And there' is no doubt Jane considered she had a valid claim against the company. Opening the 'S.M. Herald one day late in '15, she was astounded to read in the casualty list that a Sgt. H. Bohlsen had been killed on Gallipoli, and, forthwith, put herself forward as his widow. The Defence and Repatriation Departments accepted her as such and for years Mrs. Bohlsen drew a dead soldier's pension, gratuity, etc. amounting, in round figures to £2000. But the M.L.C. resolutely declined to accept Henry Otto Bohlsen's death as authentic, because they were able to produce evidence that the Henry Bohlsen killed on Gallipoli was not identical with Jane's husband. In the first place, there was a marked dissimilarity in the ages of the two men; secondly, the dead man's attestation papers gave the town of Deniliquin(sic) as his birthplace. But. the trump card they held concerned the date of Bohlsen's departure from Australia. Defence Department records proved conclusively that the date of the soldier's departure' was February, 1915. During that month, and for some time later, Jane Bohlsen's husband was in Sydney and on the payroll of the Fresh Food and Ice Co., Ltd. It was unfortunate for Mrs. Bohlsen that Smith's' delved deeper ' into the mystery than the assurance company, because . Repat. conducted a most exhaustive inquiry, and satisfied itself that Mrs. Bohlsen, for years, had been drawing a pension to which it said she was not entitled; Two years ago it was terminated, and the other day in court Mrs. Bohlsen, while maintaining stoutly that her husband had been killed on Gallipoli, admitted to Mr. Shand that she had made no further effort towards the re-establishment of the pension. 'I could not fight the Government,' was her reason. There is no doubt that Mrs. Bohlsen became deeply attached to old 'Pop' Redaelli; so much so, that, after one Easter Show she had a conversation with him, during which she allegedly re marked: 'I like your people. 1 like little Myrtle. ('Pop's' granddaughter), and I want you to marry me.' Pressed for the reason so much said Redaelli said he thought it a bit of a joke, and changed the subject! Peculiarly enough, there was no mention of marriage in any of the letters old 'Pop' had written, and1 this bore out his assertion that such an important matter had never been advanced in conversation, by him. Several members of the Bohlsen household, how ever, gave evidence that they had heard the old fellow announce his intention of marrying Jane, and concluded that it was only a matter of time, before Mrs. Bohlsen embarked upon a second marriage.
The verdict deeply affected Mrs. Bohlsen. As soon as the jury bad assessed the damages at one farthing she left the court, and sat on a bench outside to regain her composure. During the hearing, the present whereabouts of Jane's husband cropped up, and In cross examination, counsel suggested that, as recently as 1926 he was residing, in Queensland. Defendant however, would: not accept that suggestion.
'I believe that my husband is well dead,' she declared. 'He would not stop away from me if he wasn't . . My word I do. ⁷

-----------------------------

Jane Sheehan, late of Redfern