A PRINCE'S LIBEL SUIT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 184, 4 August 1900, Page 5 (Supplement)

A PRINCE'S LIBEL SUIT.

HOW SOME SERENE HIGHNESSES LIVE.

DAMAGES : ONE FARTHING.

(From Our Special Correspondent.)

LONDON, June 29, 1900.

Prince Charles de Looz et Coswaren, the Belgian potentate who endeavoured to clear his stainless character by bringing an action for libel agaist the "Tit Bit" Company, Limited, last Monday, did not prove over and above successful. The jury gave him a verdict indeed, but the damages—one farthing—seemd so inconsiderable that His Highness failed to wait for them.

Mr Marshall Hall. Q.C., the Prince's counsel, explained that the Prince de Looz was nearly related to people of the highest position, both in Belgium and England, and was heir presumptive to a great estate. On Bth July, 1599, "Tit Bitspublished an article headed "Convicts Who Wear Coronets. Ten thousand aristocratic prisoners in the gaols of Europe." Then came these words:

"In one of the Belgian penitentiaries a Prince and Serene Highness is undergoing a long sentence of solitary confinement. His full title is his Serene Highness Prince Charles de Loozet Coswaren, and he is a descendant of a long line of ducal princes, one of whom was Prime Minister of King Charles 111. of Spain."

The Prince could not have been in prison on that date, for he was actually in London.

served notice in mitigation of damages, served notice In mitigation of damagesl, under which they contended that the Prince had suffered no damage, and that in short if he was not in prison ho ought to have been. With the putting in the libel, the plaintiff's case ended.

Mr Gill, Q.C., for "Tit Bits," asked: How were the jury to learn the amount of "incalculable damage" said to be suffered by the Prince? By considering his previous character. Yet it was thought wise "in his interests" not to call the plaintiff. THE PRINCE'S COMPANION. Then Mr Gill proceeded to se.t forth the result of Inquiries. In May, 1893, a young man who called himself Charles Moreno left London, a warrant having been issued against him for passing bogus cheques. In Paris this "Moreno," who was quite a youth in comparison with the Prince, a man of 40, was found in his company by those who were interested in "Moreno's" -whereabouts.

At this time the Prince was, said Mr Gill, engaged in obtaining money by fraud, the rapresentatlon being that he was on the eve of a marriage with the Princess Demidoff.

Mr Gill desired to say at this stage that this was a scandalous libel on the Princess, for he did not know her.

PROCLAIMED IN DUE FORM.

He represented that the marriage with the Princess Demidoff. was to take place In Nice, and he went there with a Paris lodginghouse keeper, 'Mrae. Julien, and her husband. He actually had the notice of his approaching marriage with the Princess publicly announced according to law from the steps of the Town Hall at Nice. Finally the Prince admitted that he got away from Nice by making an excuse that he must fetch some important document from Belgium; and he was unable, to state how much money he got out of the Juliens. THE PRINCE'S EQUERRY. In January, 1894, the Frince came to the Victoria Hotel, London, with "Moreno," who travelled as his equerry. He wrote then to Mme. Julien and M. Duoy, of Brussels, inviting them to come over to his marriage to the Princess in London. His object, Mr Gill said, was to get more money out of them. CARRYING ON THE "ALLIANCE." The Prince went to a registry office in Covent Garden and gave notice of his approaching marriage with "Alexandra Princess Demidoff, formerly Princess Troubetskoi, widow," as he described her in the particulars. His own description was set forth as "Charles Emmanuel Prince de Dooz et Coswaren, divorced husband of Helena Princess de Looz."

Mr Gill stated ,that the Prince had committed a serious offence in giving false particulars for this certificate. It stated that Princess Demidoff had been resident for more than 15 days at the Buckingham Palace Hotel, while as a fact she had not been in London at all.

On June 31st. 1594. the Juliens and M. Duoy wenti to the registrar's office to see the marriage take place, and found neither prince nor princess there. They went to the Belgian Embassy, and were sent to Scotland Yard.

The police were interested in him because there was still a warrant cut against his equerry Moreno. When the police went to the Hotel Victoria they found that the Prince and the equerry had both vanished.

The pair next turned up' in Paris, where the complaints came so frequently to the Paris police that proceedings were taken, and the Prince was convicted in his absence of fraud-and larceny as a bailee on May 22, 1894, and a sentence of five years' imprisonment and a flne of 3000 francs was recorded against him. BACK TO LONDON. London was dangerous. Brussels was difficult, and Purls was impossible for the Prince and Moreno, but men of that type seldom did much away from great cities. They risked coming to London, the Prince describing himself as "Moreno." They went to the Midland Hotel (a little out of the way), occupying the same room.

Mr Gill l^emarked that the Prince, the owner of one of the finest estates in Belgium, as'Mr Hall described him, was in low water. THE PRINCE DE BASSANO ARRIVES.

While in London Moreno was arrested, and stated that he was equerry to the Prince de Bassano. At Westminster Police Court the Count de Bassano attended and offered to become ball. Unfortunately the solicitor who appeared let slip the name Prince de Coswaren. Detective-sergean{ W'lllamson, of Scotland Yard, who was in court, at once' recognised that it was the name of a Prince who was charged with swindling in London in the previous January, and he objected to the Prince of Bassano's bail being taken. * A METEORIC CAREER. Leaving London the Prince went to the Continent. At Antwerp he w,as Charles JHvarts, at Cologne he was M. Chas. de Bassano, ftt the Hague he used the name of Pondoy, at Alx-la-Chapelle he received, letters at Count Palacclo, and passed as Count de Bassano. At Liege he was plain Crow. (Laughter.) Then he was passing as Count Godoy.

Final'y the Prince was tried in Brussels In April, 1895. . There were 16 charges of fraud, with witnesses from Paris, Brussels, and Ghent. Steps were taken to set up the defence of 'insanity.

The Lord Chief said the judgment of the case was a curiosity, and It should be read. It waß as follows:—

"Whereas it appears from the private examlnat'on as also from the medical experts to whom the accused was submitted for- lnqniry that he Is In a condition of hereditary i psychical degeneracy, ana Is affected with;

an ambitious monomania—(laughter)—which dominates and controls all his acts, and removes from him entirely nil moral responsibility in connection w.ith the fraudulent acts which he has committed; taking into consideration Article 71 of the.Penal1 Code, which runs:— " 'There 's no infraction so long as the accused is in a state of mental alienation at the time of the act, or when he has been constrained, by an impulse, which he was unable to resist.' "For these reasons the tribunal acquits the accused with costs." The judge, after some suggestive evidence regarding the relations of the Prince and Moreno, asked Mr Hall if he meant to call his client. Counsel replied he had refused to conduct the case unless Prince Looz was called. Now, however, he had received a note from His Highness saying he was too weak and unnerved to appear.

The jury thereupon considered what damages could salve such wounds, and /ultimately estimated the amount at — one farthing.