A Boarding-house Romance.

Hastings Standard, Issue 46, 19 June 1896, Page 4

A Boarding-house Romance.

ADVENT FRF.S OF A MAN FROM COOLOARDIK.

A cr.se*in which a man from C'oolg*sp]ic figured, remit toil from the High Court (London) for the ment uf uamag-'S in si breach uf promise of niarriag • suit, was tri.'d at the Under Sheriff's Court on April 21, reports the St. Jamos'.s Gazette. The case had been adjourned on two previous occasions, owing to the whereabouts of defendant being unknown, and the consequent inability to serve the writ. The plaintiff was a Miss Ellen Kelly, and the defendant Mr Llewellyn Williams, a company promoter, and managing director of the Cardiff Castle Gold Mining Company. Damages to the extent of £IOOO were claimed by the lady, who at present is managing a Brighton hotel. Previously she was housekecjier at a boarding establishment in [Bedford place, Russell square, and it was there that the parties first met. According to plaintiff's counsel, Mr Williams made desperate love to the lady—in fact, it became the talk of the establishment. He took her to the theatres and balls, and subsequently proposed to her. Notwithstanding that he a married man, lie arranged that the wedding should take place ill -Fanti-iry of \< 11 and the honeymoon should be pt*-- d on the Continent. A few days b -tore the (lav of the marriage, however, the plaintiff made an important and startling discovery in the defendant's room. She found a letter addressed to " Mrs Williams, Coolganlic.'* She at once confronted the defendant with the letter, and he admitted that he was married ; but what was more astonishing still, notwithstanding that his former wife still lived, he actually asked the plaintiff to take no notice whatever of the barrier that existed, but to marry him without delay. The plaintiff indignantly rejected such an outrageous proposal, whereupon the defendant offered her £BOO in cash and €-">00 in shares in the Cardiff Castle Gold Mining Company. Finding that the boarding establishment was getting rather hot for him, Mr Williams left it and went to a rival establishment and was seen by the plaintiff' with another lady, whom he said was a " lady guide.*' The defendant had been pressed for payment of the £"500 in cash and the I'oOO in shares but had not paid up. The defendant's whereabouts was now surrounded in mystery. After the plaintiff had given her evidence, Mr McLean, a mining expert, said he had seen the defendant with several ladies, but could not say whether he was a married man. The jury assessed the damages at £550.