A VILE PLOT.

Evening Star, Issue 12964, 8 November 1906, Page 2

A VILE PLOT.

[From On: O v; x Cduhlsi’oxdest.] LOXDOX. September 22. The tongue of tin- scandal-monger is ever w.iggina. and theatrical people art; especial iv subject i<> tho venomous m-inualions i.f'iiM' evi!-mi!jiU‘d. Fm some mouths past most outi.me us tides have been m circulation concert, big the popular young actor Mr Seymour Hicks, the husband of Miss KTaline Tni'is, arrl the younger of tho two skier.- Dare, whu-c piotogiv.phs ate to he oaii! in -viiy picture post-card .shop. Phvili- Dare. a pretty, winsome girl act-io--s. wl;o only remind her sixteenth birth* dav b. Align-i hist, is a daughter of a ir-'xi'alo’.r.iui avUo ucts -is tUnk Vo Ah JusAiev V.kj;ka\n. She vmuii'f'iicwi :n,ttrir ioncho'l litT t-ffTir l . ai;d at eleven yens of age -he was in tho c.isr of • Uiua ih II in Fa nkmil.' the company including Mr Seymour Hicks. The v ran from Ch l l jtina.s, 1301, to June, 1302. and shier thee. MUs Dare has not played veilh air flicks. Ko did not. in tact, see h.r again for a couple of yeais, and thin; only lor a few minutes in the presence of her motile;. Vet siyindalmomrers lari-xiatcd their names together in a manner that causal the deepc-t pain to the _drl and her family, and to Mu- Hicks and her husband. Mr Hick; received scores anonvmous communications informing him of the take told concerning himself and Mans Hate, and made every effott to trace the authorship of tho scandal. For a h.ng time lie could get hold of nothing y.bu;h would j(t.-lify him instituting a uritiiinal prosecution for oh. I. but quit*' recently he received nows from Liverpool wilieli enabled him to set the law in motion _ against n creature who. if not the actual inventor of the infamous stony--, has taken an active part in their di-semination. The uetorvnanager lost- no time- in getting the man .-.trotted, and on Monday fact a methapicaj engineer named Frederick Vernon WolfrioS aline Dare was arraigned befory the Liverpool stipendiary '|or‘“ unlawfully and maliciouslr pnbl.th fig ct rtain defamatory libels'” concerning Mr Hicks and Mist Phvllis Dare. The nun’s conduct, at- disclosed bv the evidence for the, prosecution, can only be dosciibcd as atrocious. Eaxj this year he came' to Liverpool, adopting Erst the name of Vernon and subsequently tho name r.f Dare. He told his landlady ibat the two Miss Dam- were his sisters'. ■He spoke from time to time'of writing to them, gave the landlady their photographs, and left letters addressed to them about Ilia' room, to as to give dolor to his claim of rcbuioiL-hip to the young actresses. Ho also b.-camo a customer at a bar in Lime street Hindi used by niepibcm of the llwio tiica 1 prohe-tipa. lie went there, passing iumscif oil' a* the brother of the -ML-sus

Ijarir, apd ia that way mado .an. ac.quainttlpca Willi 91M8 th® barmaids, and talked to jter ab.Qiit himself and his father. In proposing ipicriage to her. he told her that thefe was great trouble in the family ill connection one of his sisters [Aflea Phyllis Daie), and on September 2 Vr'ote to ’His fianpee tbos: “ Just a line tq ask you to meet me, if possible, at the hpuge, ' 27 "Faulkner street, as early as possible, to go for a motor drive at 11.30. I forgot it yesterday, but Wo can have dinner at one o’clock, and I have then some terrible news about. Phyllis to tell you. I will tell yon all I can when I see you.” The second letter, which was dated September 3, was more explicit: “My dear Phyllis is in trouble in Paris—-in fact, she is expecting to become a mother ; but, what is worse, a married man is the culprit—no loss a person than Seymour Hicks, a man who has a trice wife and children. , . Dad has gono to Paris. I have written, and shall go over as soon ns I can. I think Phyllis has noted very wrongly. The news in London is that Phyllis was drugged. If that is so, I am afraid there will bo a law ease. They only slate at home that dad has left for Paris. [ believe'that it is the talk of London, but I hope pot.” In another letter prisoner wrote to the samp young lady : “My darling,—l may tell vou that unfortunately the report about Phylis is true. I wish I had my own honie. Of course, I should not have had her homo if you did npl wish it- Poor girl! It appears she was drugged by something put in some syyeets, . . ' . and now I believe Mr Seymour Hicks has politely told her he does not iptend to help her. If I could only get hold of him ! Fancy a married man getting a girl—-a child—into that state j Horsewiiipping is too good. If he was single—well, no could marry her; hgt as it is, what can be done?” The writer pf these atrocious epistles is wholly unknown to any member of the Dare family, and when arrested readily ad: mitted that the girls, Phyllis and Zena Dare, were not his sisters. When charged at the police station he said: ‘‘l didn't rhink it was a libel. I was only telling fairy tales 'to "ia girl.” He was committed for trial at the assizes. Mr Hicks is now anxiously searching for tire original propagators of the scandalous stoiy. Ho hints broadly at the issue of further warrants, one of which will contain the name of ;v “very well-known man.” Apparently the cole foundation for the libel which has caused such pain te> the Dare family 7 and to .Mr and Mrs Hicks Is the fact that in May lad Phyllis DaWs father, Air Arthur Done, suit his daughter to Brussels tp finish her education'at the convent where her elder sister Zena—now a member of Air Seytpour Hicks’s company —completed her scholastic studies.