The Romance of a Voyage.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 149, 23 June 1894, Page 9

The Romance of a Voyage.

Love on the P. and O. Steamer Carth

AGE AND ITS SEQUEL.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

London, May 4,

A teip in a P. and 0., an Orient or a New Zealand liner, is notoriously a dangerous experiment for a susceptible bachelor. Hearts on board ship are like tinder (especially in warm weather), ajid the number of men who have made fools of themselves, trying to find the Southern K Cross on a starlighb nighfc, or watching \the phosphorescenb streak behind the wheel, must be legion. The writer's experience—the experience of six or seven voyages —is that all such attachments, or at least moaji of them, are absolutely unstable and unreliable. The divinity whom amid the glamour of the tropics seemed adorable, too often becomes ashore a very ordinary body. I remember ! the love aflair of a cabin companion of mine, who came home with me in the Cuzcp some years ago, was nipped ab Port Said, under extremely painful circumstances. He was romantic, and she was an .'airy tairy little widow, who despite appearing well nourished, ate hardly anything ab table. They went ashore together, and the lady slipped into a drug store for a bottle of scent. Curious to know the name of the strange and sweet perfume which his goddess affected, the ardent lover slyly followed, and this is what ho heard : 1 Would you please give me three boxes of Cockles Pills, a bobble of Walker's Cure for Flatulence, and some Aureoline Hair Dye.' Then she turned round and saw him. A painful scene followed.and the b>om was off that courtship. Possibly ib was some such tragedy which finally shattered the affection of Mr James Price, of Glamorgan, for Miss Grace Mitchell, of Norwood, whom he mob and in five days fondly loved, whilst) aboard the P. and 0. Carthage, in May, 1892. Be that as ib may, Mr Mitchell's affections changed, and on Friday lasb he was sued in the Courts for breach of premise. Mr Marshall Hall, in opening the case for the plaintiff, who is only 19 new, said that Mies Mitchell was the daughter of Mr .Taraoß Mitchell, formerly of West Norwood. Her mother's Bister was the wife of the Rajah Rampal Sing.of Oude.lndia. Both her parents ware dead, she being their only child. Ihe Rajah was her godfather and bad acted as her guardian since she was very young. In the month of June, 1892, the plaintiff wenb by the Peninsular and Oriental steamer Carthage on a visib to India, and she joined the vessel ab the London Docks. She and the defendant were first-class passengers. The parties became very well acquainted with each other, and conversed frequently and freely. A day or two before the vessel gob to Malta, the defendant proposed marriage with her, and she told him that sbo mueb have her guardian's consenb firsb, and afterwards told him who her guardian was. Previous to bhe proposal she bad told the defendant she was going out to see her aunt in India. The defendanb lefb the vessel ab Suez, and promised to write ab once. A greab deal of correspondence passed between them during the time Miss Mitchell was in India, bub when she returned to England on Jan. 11, 1893, the letters from the defendanb ceased, although the plaintiff wrote to him several time?. > She then wrote to Mr How3l J, J. Price, an uncle of the defendant, and afterwards received the following telegram:—• Poor nephew died very suddenly at Bristol on Dec, 15 of blood poisoning.—Price.' During the voyage, counsel continued, the parties, with the doctor and the captain of the vessel, had a trip in Malta, where the defendanb appeared anxious to purchase half the jewel shops in the place. It was at Suez that the promise to marry was acoepted. Mr Price returned home overland, and stopped ab Shepheard'a Hotel. He wrote from thab place stating that he had mob with an accident, and continued, ' In the first place, my darling Grace, I would nob have made you the offer had I nob been in a position bo treat you as you deserve.' He went on to say thab from landed estates he had an income of £1,000, besides what he earned in his profession. The letter was couched in terms of ondearmonb, and concluded:—'All I want is you, and nothing more, and I promise you the happiesb home thab ever a girl had. Many men marry without the means, bub I have the cage, bub no bird inside. (Laughter.) I have a song of yours —"It was a Dream"—set to my music' So far as he (counsel) knew, the cage was still eu-pfcy, although the bird was in Court. In another letter the defendanb addressed the plaintiff, ' My darling little Grace,' and said that sho did nob know how much he had suffered from not seeing her. In a further letter he said, • I'm in domestic trouble again. I've had to discharge my housekeeper, who, in my absence, I find has been driving about in my carriages. I always thought that she was a tile off, bub never 'thought thab she would acb the goab. (Loud laughter.) Well, I said, "Here's enough of house-keeping, I'm off to Bombay for you know who."' (Laughter.) Then followed a letter from India, in which plaintiff accepted the defendant, and he wrote : — 'My own Grace, — You don't know how happy you hsrve made me. , . . I dared nob open the letter for a long time. If'l had nob received the joyful news you mighb have had a black-edged card.' (Roars of laughter.) Mr Price then proceeded to deal with his private affairs, stating thab lie had a spanking tandem team, and finished with the following verse :— Tho' new in another country, And many miles apart. I cannot see my darling; Bat no other has my heart. (Loud laughter.) Counsel proceeded to read a large number of other letters. The last one was a very ehorb epistle, but its terms were affectionate. Ib stated thab be had sent her a scenb bottle and monogram card case. Then followed the telegram announcing the death of the dafendanb. A more scandalous, disgraceful piece of chicanery he (counsel) had never heard of. The man had nob the courage to do the breaking off in a manly fashion. Miss Mitchell wrote a very touching letter to the uncle, in which she thanked him for sending the sad news, and concluding, •My poor Jim. My bearb is broken. I cannob write more.' Some time after thab the young lady happened to be ab Somerset House on business, and thought that she would like to see the death certificate of her lovor, buts when it was produced ib was found to be the certificate of the death of a relative. Then Miss Mitchell, seeing that she had been duped, placed tho matter in the hands of her solicitor, and the present action was commenced. In conclusion, Mr Marshall Hall said thab he did nob ask for vindictive damages, but such damages as would compensate plaintiff for the cruel manner in which she had been treated. Miss Mitchell, the plaintiff, a prepossessing young lady, stylishly dressed, wearing a large feather boa, was then called, and substantially corroborated Mr Hall's opening statement. Sha

.added thai: her mother married a second time, and her step-father, who was now alive, was an officer in the German Army. After she had commenced this action a solicitor on behalf of the defendant called on her. He said that she had bettor accepb £20. She said that she was determined to go on with the action, and the gentleman then .said thab the judge and jury would laugh ab her, and that her posi- _ tion would be revealed, A newspaper re* port was pointed to, and the solicitor laid she would geb nothing, and would have to whistle. .- Cross-examined by Mr, Evans, who ap« peared for the defendanb: The gentleman who called on her cast insinuations. Ho said that he supposed that she wanted a little pockeb money. The acquaintance spread over some five days. They were a«- . quainted before they reached Gibralbar. Mr Marshall Hall: And had ib not beea for this action, would you nob have returned to India long ago, and is not your aunb simply waiting for 6he end to take you back ?-Plaintiff: Yob; Mr Evans, for bhe defence, commented , on the facb thab the whole period ~ of' acquaintanceship did nob exceed , a week. There was no glossing ib over. Mr Price did tell bhe young woman a lob of lies. He gave her a highly-inflated accounb of his affairs, and as a matter of facb,he had no. landed property. Be certainly had a horse, and * lived alone in a cottage of five rooms, rated ab £20 per year. As for the defendant's position as a solicitor, it was a facb that four years ago he bought a practice ab Neath for £400. Ab the present ' time his gross income to cover all expenfM was bub £250 per year, and his business, instead of increasing, was decreeing. Openly he (the learned counsel) said ib was , a foolish thing for the telegram announcing defendant's death to have been sent. The defendant Knew of the facb, but took no notice of it, wstead of writing and contradicting ib., Ab bhab time Mr Price was in financial difficulties, and was bo at the present time. S bill he would endeavour bo pay any reasonable sum of money that might be awarded to the plaintiff. • The defendanb was called and swore tbab he had nob a square inch of land. All his letters about property were pare nonsense. His uncle, who had land in Glamorgan* shire, vms sold up and went away. Witness had not heard of him for six months. The practice was brought by ' > him for £300, but he had only paid £50 of thab sum. In addition to that, he owed his predecessor about £80 for rent. When he commenced the practice he had to borrow £200 from his eister. The practice was worth £250 a year, and beyond that he had no other means. He was assessed in the income tax at £300. He began his banking accounb in 1887. He never bad two horses. , Mr Marshall Hall: Now, what about this telegram? Did you not write the original telegram yourself? Now, mind !— Defendant, after some hesitation, admitted thab he did. (Sensation.) ■ In addressing the jury, Mr Hall eaid that he did not hesitate to say that a man who in a police courb went into. a witness box and Bwore that be did not know of the telegram until the evening, whereas he himselt had written the original, was capable of resorting to any trick in order to deprive the plaintiff of a verdict. Perhaps, continued the learned counsel, thei Incorporated Law Society might take tht matter up. ('Hear, hear,' from the back of the court.) It was certainly a pitiable sight to see a professional man entering a courb of law in such a way, and the de« fence had endeavoured to shift the reeponsibility of everything from the shoulders of , the defendant onto the shoulders qf the disappearing uncle. He urged the jury tc award to the plaintiff Buch a sum of money as would compensate her for the ruthless manner in which she had been treated. The learned Under Sheriff, in summing up to the jury, said that the receipt of the defendant b letters," all of which wertf couched in^ most endearing terms, by the plaintiff, must have greatly influenced her. , There was a feobal absence of the laet cooling letters which were so common in such cases. '. Ab for the telegram, he bad no hesitation in saying that it was concocted between the uncle and the nephew. A more disgraceful, shameful, and cruel deed bad never before come to light before him during tha many.years lie had sat in a court of law. The telegram announcing the death of tha lover and stabbing the poor girl in this manner, to his (the Under Sheriffs) mind, greatly exaggerated the case and the damages that should be awarded. The position of the defendant* was not to all appearances a glowing one. The plea was poverty, and that was the only feature in the case thab induced him to advise the awarding of moderate and reasonable damages. The jury had firsb to say what bad the plaintiff lost; but he could not help saying that happy is the woman who had escaped becoming the wife of euch a man as the defendant. (Cheers in courb.)—The si, jury assessed bhe damages ab £300.—J.ndgment was accordingly entered witheoeta.