SOCIETY DIVORCE CASE

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 487, 21 April 1909, Page 5

SOCIETY DIVORCE CASE

SCATHING COMMENTS BY THE JUDGE. IDLE SOCIETY-LIFE.. Amid breathless silence .Lord Guthrie delivered his reserved judgment in the Stirling divorce. suits on March 10. Mrs. Stirling's petition was refused. Mr. Stirling's petition was granted. The partiesj it will. be remembered, are Mrs. Clara Elizabeth Taylor, or Stirling, and Jiihn' Alexander Stirling, of Kippendavie, Perthshire. The trial extended over three weeks, and created widespread interest bj reason of the light whicn the evidence threw on, the ordinary daily life of certain people . in society. , Lord Guthrie, after announcing his decision, added: "Mr. Stirling is entitled to the. custody of, theVchild.. That will leave two .questions on: which'l will be glad to hear counsel—that of access to the child, and the question'of expenses." "After referring to the length of the trial and the waste of time and money, Lord Guthrie delivered an extraordinary series of strictures ,on the methods of life of the parties. .Beyond, a. few introductory facts, the whole period embraced, he said, was only a little over .four months, from May 20 to September 24, 1903. The incidents happened in- Paris, in and near London, and in the Isle,of Wight. The case had no legal, and ought to have had no public, interest. . Most of the evidence was taken up with 'petty incidents in selfish, idlelives, containing nothing that was not much $ia,t was even mock heroic, : .'and little that was legitimately, interesting. '.; Whatever :'might be said about Mr.'.: Stirling and Lord :Northland, it .was necessary -to remember '—in considering the conduct .of Mrs. Stirling and. ..of ; .;Mrs.. Atherton—that.- their mental endowments could not be. ranked high, nor their Vcommon sense, good taste, or right fooling. ■ . v;-;'. 7 .Speaking of Paris, they • mentioned the Louvre, not the great museum : and gallery, but the shop. Mrs. Stirling, young and in good health, breakfasted in bed at eleven o'clock or, at midday in summer in the country, while her, husband went regularly, to business in London by an 8.30 train. At Amberley. Cottage,-near Maidenhead,' in the latter part of June and in July, the only .useful occupatio i ; of' Mr; and: Mrs. ' Stirling. Mrs.. Atherton, and. Lord Northland seemed to consist _on . Sunday in ; manicuring , . each other's nails;- When on a voyage alone to America in July, taken under painful circumstances brought- about by herself which ' threatened the breaß up of her home, Mrs. Stirling, .according to her own account, , spent her time, on board tho Adriatic in: playing bridge with, a total stranger, with, whom she 'flirted,Vand .from whom she entertained an invitation to sing at his house., ;7 Mrs..Stirling's only letter to her husband was written to make a selfish proposal for a separation to suit her own. convenience, coupled with a condition that she should get an annual allowance, of £750, apparently for the. rest, of her life. ,On heri.return; she frei quented V restaurants and - theatres.; with the 1-man. on'-account of whom 'she hatl, separated herself;-from her husband./; She courted public attention, while her.conduct-was the subject. of -talk. .Both: Mrs. Stirling, .arid- Mrs. Atherton appeared to have a poor opinion of their own sex.'

For.*..the /coolness which arose, after -mar"nagb,':V his ;. -.Mrs. Stirling was mainly "responsible,'more 'perhaps from her-naturally unstable and ; totally undisciplined character and her want of consideration for the feelings of: others than from de'liberate - intention. "She had no relations in this country,, and -her most congenial friends were her old theatrical friends, who wero not in the higher walks of ,the profession.' .'Mr. Stirling tried his best ;to' introduce her !to his friends, 1 but she proved unfit;' arid they drifted-into -the- Bohemian life in which she She'remained devoted to her husband so long as ho put no check upon her extravagance. When he urged a more domestic life; ..and moderations in expenditure, 'she'/resehttd hife-'interference and revealed

full blown the unreasonable' and .ungovernable,, temper, she more than once: displayed Coming to Mrs. 'iA.therlon and Lord Northland, Lord Guthrie pointed out that Lord .Northland had been a Green Boom and midnight supper party "acquaintance of Mrs.' Stirling in her theatrical days. For the in-, traduction of Mrs. Stirling to Mrs.' Atherton, who was divorced in 1900,' and was plaintiff in an action against her paramour for breach of promise of marriage- made to her while still a wedded wife, his lorctship held Mr. Stirling responsible. He welcomed an introduction which, on every ground of common sense, good ! taste, and ; rightfeeling he should have shunned.

One was a lady by birth, fitted naturally and by education, : to .take : "a conspicuous place in society, (but. ostracised, by her-own wrong-doing from wholesome people; and the other: Tyas, ostracised, by, society,, by her ..own incapacity 'to'adopt or apo its manners, to taie or affect interest, .in its conventional pursuits, 0r,,t0 adhere to its standard. .Mrs. Stirling's' case was . founded''on the plea that x hcr' husband, "alone or/in concert with Mrs. Atherton, had formed the. idea of getting rid:of her. He found 110 evidence to support.'this;. '• The-;idea was impudent/and rinoomsistent. Mrs:. Atherton-.wiis abundantly endowed with; the.;kind "of beauty which a .inaii like Mr.. Stirling admired, and i along with tact, perfect • control of temper, ' and gracious y.manners, tho sort of fascination which captivated-men .with his ideals, or absence of. ideals, and -indeed, apart from -past history,'-to which' Mr. Stirling seemed to, attach no importance, she was fitted to grace any society. .

Lord Northland' had described-his conduct

as entirely platonic.* His Lordship held that, lie had 'not: only, failed to prove that, -;but that his..previous and subsequent conduct convinced nim that'the; letters he wrote re-

presented, his feelings towards Mrs: Stirling. Ho could not doubt that the 1 other: letters passing between him and Mrs! Stirling,' those destroyed, were couched in similar terms of endearment. He looked upon these letters as the crux of the case. Lord.Northland ldolced a kindly, Ecnsible,; and straightforward man, but no mere friendship or- humanity' could account for his playing with Mrs. Stirling for the. ring given : by, ,his .own/ mother, or for his-acts of incredible folly in .connection with Mrs, '[-Stirling. ; These."parties were riot normal, in so far as both showied themselves highlj;, susceptible , and weak-. in .will; both .-.were'/ indifferent, to Teligious sanctities, moral prohibitions,, and moral and ;social consequences. . .' I - ' 'i.

: In .an interview; Mrs. . Stirling's solicitors' said tho .decision, would bo appealed against. I/ord. Northland's . 1 solicitors- make the. 1 same statement.—London;"Daily,News."