"RUZZIE" AND "BRUNY."

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 287, 2 December 1911, Page 17

"RUZZIE" AND "BRUNY."

■ ■ II I VERDICT FOR DEFENDANT. After a patient bearing, some details of which were published on this page last week, the Jury refused to give RusseU Gris- . wold a single cent of the £10,001) he clalmled from Miss Helen Smith, a middle-aged ; American society woman well known in ; yachting circles, who had, lie alleged, been '; guilty of breach of promise of marriage. The correspondence '-i "Ruzzle Lami" and "Brunnhilde," the signatures adopted in the days of courtship by the mercenary [ plaintiff and the mature defendant, were of the most romantic character, but the jury, after hearing them ad nauseam, and also Inspecting cabinet portraits depicting . the plaintiff attending a ladder 'outside the verandah of defendant's country house to see his Juliet pose in which, plaintiff's counsel urged, defendant loved to be represented— that although Ruzzle Lamb I may have suffered from a wounded heart, still there was, legally, no cause for action, and consequently there Is to be no balm. ! j The verdict, In which Mr Justice Brown i ! whole-heartedly concurred, came after the fate pf "Ruzzle Lamb," or "Siegfried," as ■ ihe sometimes signed himself, hung for . J hours In the balance. Several jurymen contended strongly In favour of substantial damages, alleging that woman nowadays claims equality with man, and therefore man is as much entitled to his "rights" as woman. 1 From noon until late in the evening the i jury deliberated, one section being of ! opinion that a "young, Innocent man," dls- ' appointed in the hope of marrying a rich ■woman, was certainly entitled to redress. "If this were the case of a girl against a Tian," said Mr Gordon, for Ruzzle Grtswold, "tier? would be no doubt of the ver- .' diet the jury would return." The Judge's charge made it plain that tie law was the same whether the litigant was , female or male. , There was practically no defence. De- , fendant's counsel referred lightly to "Brim- • hlldc s" ardent letters as "mere slush and mush. Plaintiff he denounced as an imI postor, ii'-canse, although he had expressly . I wiltten to "Darling Brumibllde" declaring ,; that all her letters were destroyed, he . had. in fact, carefully preserved them, and produced In court in the portmanteau. Counsel Moran suggested' that "Itnzzle Lamb" was mercenary, and, while making love to his client, was also flirting with a mysterious widow of 60. "I leave It to you, fellow-citizens." he declared, "whether this plaintiff is a Siegfried or a despicable creature. It is for yon to decide whether both the parties were Indulging in a lot of slush and mush, or In solemn promises of marriage." The Jnry decided that "Ruzzle Lamb" must go hack to chorus-singing at £3 10/ per week.