TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Star, Issue 13102, 7 November 1908, Page 10

TOPICS OF THE DA Y.

[From Ode Special Correspondent.] JOYLESS LIVES. Yesterday (September 24) was the first i day for putting in claims for old age pensions, and many a pathetic figure of age and poverty was to be seen at the post offices in the poorer districts. Some of the aged claimants gave their humble life i stories to the newspapers, and to read I these records of poverty and grinding toil is to wonder whether in any other country in the world the poor man has so joyless an existence as in the big cities of “ Merrio England.” Take the case of one, William Sparks, who has lived ninety-three years in London, and seen—nothing. He was the son of a butcher, and worked at the bakery trade. “ I had to work day and night, day and night,” said the old man, in a high, plaintive voice. “ Never had no time for anything. A few times I had a boat on the river on a Sunday. But never no other pleasure. I had no time. I was always tired with work when I crawled home. I’ve never been to the Zoological Gardens even. People coming up to London from the country would see more than I ever see of London in all my life. I been for a bit of rowing on the river cn Sunday, but nothing else. I been hard worked all my life until I was going on for seventy. Then I was compelled to go into the workhouse.” The poor old fellow could only remember one holiday outing, and that was in 1851, when someone gave him a ticket for the great Exhibition in Hyde Park. It was a great treat for him, but as he had to go back to work all night he could not stay long. A crippled shoemaker, over seventy years of age, told a similar life story of joyless and laborious days. “ Lived in London,” he said, “since I was thirteen, working all the time. I never went to any festivities. I’ve never seen a Lord Mayor’s Show. Been to the theatre? I think I went about twice. But there was the work, the work, the work. Day and night I had to stick at it. I was at low-class cobblin’! Got very little, and had to keep my mother and'sisters. So my whole hobby was the work. I was thankful to crawl home; I lived in the Borough for years and years, and didn’t know my way about it, except to and from the shop. I’d have been lost if I’d gone a few streets away. It was hard to be working from morn to night, morn to night. But I worked, and I buried my mother up Yonder. And I fixed my sisters right. Then I was finished. Will you believe me, I could hardly tell you the name of a street in London, except the one or two I lived in. It must be very interesting to know about London. I daresay a lot of interesting things happened in my time—over sixty years since I began to work in the Borough. I never heard of anything—never saw anything. It was all work. It seems strange to me now to say I’ve never seen anything in all that time.”

Some of the aged claimants for pensions have had lives full of color and adventure, but in the case of the vast majority life had meant for them the dull drab monotony of mean streets and work, work, work. One old man of eighty-five said the pension of 5s a week each for himself and his wife would give him a bigger income than he had ever had in his life. It meant, with 4s a week from a benefit society and the few odd shillings he was able to earn, an income of 18s a week. This man married on 10s a week, and brought up a family on 12s a week. The pensions will enable his wife and himself to live better than they ever did before. Consider what sort of life must theirs have been—with a family to keep on 12s a week ! One poor old woman applied for her pension form three days before the opening day. When told that she would have to wait three days she fell fainting on the floor as she turned to leave the post office. She was seventy-four ,and she had had no foor for twenty-four hours. One could go on multiplying instances of the pathos that underlies these glimpses into the life of the very poor. It is a life that is often illumined by courage, unselfishness, and determination; but it is for the most part a life of terrible monotony, a life without joy and without hope, a life that is only a mockery of what life might be under happier conditions.

A TRAGIC CAREER. The death last Tuesday at Maidenhead of Mabel Count-ess Russell, at the early age of thirty-six, removes from this world’s stage a woman whose adult life was one long tragedy. Mabel Scott was the daughter of Sir Claud and Lady Selina Scott, and years ago shared with her sister considerable notoriety as the most charming of up-river sirens. “Babs” and “Giddy” Scott were experts in managing a boat, punt, or canoe, and were prime favorites in the boating world. Mabel was quite a girl when she attracted the notice of Earl Russell, grandson of the famous Lord John Russell, who in February, 1888 married her. Never was a'more unfortunate matrimonial venture made. On returning from the church the bride was taken ill, and had to be put to bed, and whilst on the postponed honeymoon she was again stricken down, and for a time her life was in danger. The earl and his countess proved an ill-assorted couple, and before many months had elapsed she was petitioning for a judicial separation, basing her suit upon charges against her husband of such a character that they were never made public. The earl strenuously denounced his wife’s allegations, and the petition was dismissed. - Four years later the countess gave point .to the Court’s dismissal of her: petition, jby asking ■ for restitution of conjugal rights. Her petition was met by her husband by,one for a judicial separation on the ground of his wife’s cruelty, which consisted of the charges the countess‘ had against mm in her- first petition. Again the earl was successful butthe matrimonial troubles of the unhappy couple were by no means at an end. Iri '1897 Earl Russell prosecuted his mothj&Wn-law and throe men at Bow street for criminal libel. The case was sent, for trial-, and while the proceedings were in progress one. of the pri-

soners, a man named skst, died. The others were convicted by Mr Justice Hawkins. When next the countess came before the public eye it was as all. actress in hit George Edwardes’s ‘ Runaway Girl ’ touring company. From the provincial theatres she came to the Lonuon variety halls, and appeared at the Tivoli in coon songs. Her stage career, -however, was a brief one, and as soon as it was ended the countess obtained a divorce from her husband, the earl having meanwhile divorced his wife in Nevada, and there married Mrs Molly Somerville. Earl.Russell was tried by- his peers for bigamy, and sentenced to a short term of imprisonment, after which he remarried' Mrs Somerville in England. The countess was now free to marry again, and soon' became - infatuated with a young man who posed as Athrobold Stuart, Prince of Modena. In reality the “ Prince ” was simply William Brown, the son of a coachman. This, however, the countess did not discover till after she had married him at Portsmouth. The “ Prince ” was another “ bad bargain ” matrimonially, for he deserted his wife a week after the wedding. He was arrested later, and imprisoned for making a false entry in the marriage register. But Mabel loved him still in spite of his deception and desertion, and on his release from prison joined him again. But Brown proved an unmitigated brute, and his cruelty and unfaithfulness drove tho countess into the Divorce Court once more. She had no difficulty in obtaining the desired decree. Broken in health and impoverished by years of costly litigation, the countess now sought for some healthy occupation, and finally decided to go in for poultry-farming, and established a small farm at Bray. Her intention, if the scheme had proved successful, was to open a shop in the West End for the sale of the produce of the farm, but tho undertaking did not prove so lucrative as had been hoped, and the business seems to have been confined to the sale of poultry and eggs for the market. Three months ago tne countess developed symptoms of consumption. The fell disease rapidly developed, and finally- ended her tragic career.

THE TRAGEDY OF IGTHAM KNOLL.

The suicide of General Lugrd, husband of t-hc lady found murdered near Igtham ICnoll, .Sevenoaks,' was the pathetic climax of a tragedy which has not yet been unravelled. Letters left behind him by the general indicated that- he had broken down under the strain of the insinuations

• nd charges made against him by anonynous correspondents in regard to the death of his wife. It is almost incredible that numbers of people should act in so mean and cowardly a fashion, making their awful accusations behind the veil of anonymity; but so it proved. Hundreds of unsigned letters were received by the general himself and by the newspapers, the coroner, and the police, charging General Luard with the murder of his wife. If the strain was greater than he could bear, it was not so very surprising. General Luard spent the night of September 17 at the residence of his friend Colonel Warde, M.P., at Barham Court, Teston, Kent. His intention was to travel to London next day to meet his son (Captain Luard), who was arriving from South Africa. He left the house at 8.45 on the morning of September 18, as though going for a walk before breakfast. Passing the lodge at the gate, he walked down a country lane to a five-barred gate about 50yds down, and after scaling the locked gate it was but a short walk to a level crossing. Here the general must have waited for the next train. As the train thundered past soon afterwards, a passer-by saw an elderly gentleman dash out from the gate at the level crossing, and throw himself right in front of the engine. The driver, too, had seen him, but before he could pull up the train had passed over the general’s body, and cut it in halves. In one of the general’s pockets was found an envelope with the following message written thereon : “ Please take my - body to Barham Court.” _ Meanwhile Colonel Warde was waiting in the breakfast room at Barham Court for his guest. It was 9.45, and he was just sending a servant to inquire for the general when a policeman came in with the terrible news, of the discovery of the body. In the general’s bedroom was found the following letter addressed to Colonel Warde ;

My dear Warde, —I am sorry to have returned your kindness and hospitality and long friendship in this way, but I am satisfied it is ..best to join her in the second life at once, as I can be of im further use to anyone in future in this world, of which I am tired, and in which I don’t wish to live any longer. I thought my strength was sufficient to bear up against the horrible imputations and terrible letters which I have received since that awful crime was committed which robbed me of all my happiness. And it is so lonely. And the goodness, kindness, and sympathy of so many friends kept me going, but somehow the last day or two something seems to have snapped. The strength has left me, and I care for nothing except to join her again. So good-bye, dear friend, to both of us.—Yours very affectionately, C. E. Luard.

. I n the course of his summing up at the inquest on General Luard, the coroner made an important statement with reference to the murder of Mrs Luard. He said that there was no doubt that General Luard had been greatly affected by the base insinuations that 'had been levelled against him in anonymous letters, suggesting almost in so many words that he was responsible for the death of his wife. These letters were innumerable. “ These anonymous persons have not been satisfied,” the coroner proceeded, “to leave the general alone with his grief, and to a sensitive and honorable man such as the general was they made his life almost unbearable. That, no doubt, was a great factor in .his determination to rid himself of his life. Let us hope that the writers of these letters, if they have any conscience at all, will realise they have contributed to the doom that he has met.” As to the_ general’s evidence at the inquest of his wife, the coroner said it was due to the dead man and to the public that the insinuations that had been made concerning his movements on the day of the murder should be disposed of. The general had accounted perfectly well for all his movements during that timef and could not possibly have been near the spot when the crime was committed. After a short consultation the jury returned a verdict of “Suicide w Mist “in a state of temporary insanity.”