GIRL AND THE RAJAH.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 221, 17 September 1924, Page 5

GIRL AND THE RAJAH.

AUSTRALIAN DANCER'S ROMANCE. SEQUEL IN COURT. CALCUTTA, September 10. An Australian girl, Elsie Forest, formerly Sit well, who came out to India in 1904 as a member of Eugene Sandow's Company, has been the plaintiff in a sensational action for maintenace at Gay a, j in Bengal. ] She was a dancer, and her husband was. iin the same company. She is said to j have attracted the attention of Rajah I. Tikari, a young Indian nobleman of 1 Bengal. When the dancer and her husfbaiid returned to Australia, they were j divorced. It is alleged that the plaintiff 1 returned to India, became a Hindu, and married Tikari. Some months ago she sued for maintenance before a judge at Gaya, claiming an annuity under a deed of gift alleged to have ibeen made by Tikari. The judge has now delivered his judgment, dismissing the suit, on the ground that she was riot entitled to recover arrears of the annuity* as the annuity was a deed in her favour, and not in effect a deed of gift. The judge found that the marriage ■with Tikari was illegal, [because the plaintiff's conversion to Hinduism was not- according to the Hindu law, and • also because the divorce she obtained from her husband in Sydney was fraudulent, and without the jurisdiction of the Court. The judge also found that her conduct after marriage was "such as not to obtain for her the sympathy of respectable society." The judge also declared that he believed that the claim of the Rajah for the recovery of the Tikari family jewels from the plaintiff was likely to succeed, as these were given for personal adornment only, and not as* a gift. Elsie'Sitwell (whose stage name was Elsie Forest) is a native of Melbourne, . and was recognised in Australia years ago as a good dancer. After her marriage with the rajah in India she returned to Australia, and, as the Ranee Tikari, she lived in Australia for a time in the most "lavish style.