AN EARL'S MARRIAGE ANNULLED.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue LIII, 13 April 1908, Page 3

AN EARL'S MARRIAGE ANNULLED.

COUNTESS OF YARMOUTH SUCCESS *UL IN OBTAINING A DECKED.

SKIRT DANCING HUSBAND.

After a hearing which lasted only twenty-five minutes the Coxunitess of Yarmouth obtained in the Divorce Court a decree of nitflity of marriage. The case was heard in. camera, only the judge (^lr Justice Gorell Barnes), counsel, the coiuitess, Sir George Lewis, and th€ clerk being in court. The coumtefes went into the witness-bos and was examined by Mr Barnard. Her eyes w«ine cast down nearly all tEe time, and she answered the questions quietly asd 'iwßmotionally. Occasionally sheglanround the court and once or twice b!er hand w«nt to her head, but for the most part she never altered her statuelike attitude. The Earl of' Yarmouth, -who was born in 1871, is th© eldest son aijd heir of tho Marquis of Hertford, and is a D.L. and County. Councillor for Warkickshire. He married in 1903 Alice Cornelia, daughter of the late Mr William Thaw, of Pittsburg, and sister of Han-y Thaw, who has been" sentenced to be detained in an asylum for killing Mr Stanford White in the Madison Square Roof. Garden at New York. - ' ift>out a dozen years ago the earl went to Australia, and became partner in a sheep fain. After a varied .experience, his henh': caused him to return home. During < v^ Boer war he "erved in South Africa v" "1 the Imperial Yeomanry. Later h visited the United States, where i • ncquired^a reputatic-n among Americ<! . interest*! in the doings of the anatocra / as the "Danciaig Earl." He appeared on the stage in skirt-dances, and supplemented Sis income by playing as a professional actor in New York. It was in Washington in 1902 that he first met Miss Alice Thaw, who had gone ; there as the .guest of her brother Harry, with whom the earl had been acquainted ! for some years. When Miss Thaw left Washington, on a visit to her sister, Mrs Carnegie, in Georgia, it is recorded that i the earl followed by next train. Not long after Mrs Thaw announced that she gave her consent to their engagiememt. The "wedding, however, did not pass off without some unusual circumstances. The ceremony itself was simple and unpretentious, but Harry Thaw,' who had hitherto been friendly to' the earl,, chose to celebrate the occasion by staying away and taking a drive in the country. To make this excursion he took the first conveyance that was leaving the house, which happened to be the carriage that was to take his sister to church. It was not found till half an hour later. Another Brother went to play golf while the ceremony was taking place. Their objections are understood to have related to the scheme of the marriage settlement. In answer tc them an offcial family statement was issued 1 to the effect that the earl was receiving only a "small complimentary income." The countess is believed to have inherited £29,000 from her father, while her mother's estate is estimated at about two million pounds. The earl and countess have mo children, a.nd the solicitors to the Marquis oi Hertford _ and the Earl of Yarmouth recently pubftshed a disclaimer of the statement published in- New York to the effect that the countess had signed an agreement to leave the whole of her fortune to the Hertford! family if she herself should be without issue. It will be remembered that when Harry Thaw was first tried for his life, the 1 countess crossed to America, and was con.stant.ly paiesent in courf^ She said, "Harry is my brother. I stand by him to the ■end."