THE LANGWORTHY MARRIAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8020, 6 August 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE LANGWORTHY MARRIAGE.

'$. PLAIN NARRATIVE OP THE CASE. ; TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION. *The Pall Mall Gazette has republiahed in cheap pamphlet form its narratives and articles on the Langworthy case. It is the etory of a lady married by two successive religious ceremonies, which she believed to bo binding, to a man who know them to be invalid ; treated with systematic and revolting cruelty, cast off, repudiated, and declared to be only a mistress ; and baffled for nearly four years in the law courts, by erery lie and legal device which tho unscrupulous millionaire could contrive or buy, to prevent her C3tfl.bliab.iiig the position of herself and her child ; the end of it all being, so far as events in England are conoerned, that the wife has been reduced to the utmost destitution ; that tho man who swore to be "a loving and faithful husband" to her has " transferred his English property ; that ho has left tho country to place himself boyond tho jurisdtc: tion of the English courts; that there are judgments against him for considerable amounts to bo paid to his wife, and until they are paid tho marriage will not bo dissolved ; that tho law ho has abused ho now defies, aim live-sat hi 3 ease on his vast estates m the Argentine Republic ; that during all these years of struggle in the law courts tho public Lave hoard scarcely a word of this extraordinary case until quite recently, when the Pall Mall Gazette bad tho courage to publish its hiatory, aDd Dr. Cameron directed attention to it iu the House of Commons!. V\ c compile the following narrative of the case :— KIWIS LAVGWOI'.TIIY VAST WEALTH, Edwin Martin Laugworth, who comes of a Lancashire cotton - spinning family, parsed through Eton and Oxford, and was called to the bar. At tkoagocf twenty-one he inherited £100 from his ancle. lie got £00,000 more under tho will of his father. Ihese sums are said to bo triiloa compared with the fortunes awaiting him on the death of his mother and his aunt. In the Argentine Kepublic ho has cue et/tito of 22 square leagues, en which there is n colony of 230 families unci buildup, mills, tramways, etc., worth £120 000. lie has another estate of ,O,OW acres in the samo country : and an estate in Paraguay. These estates aro fertile and well cultivated, end yield a large revenue. Th" live stock alone includes 1030 horse*, 2000 cows, and 10.C00sheep. Mr. Langworthy married, first a sister of tho present Karl of Limerick, and that lady was afterwards iilaaed in a lunatic asylum, and died somewhat mysteriously. At the time of his second marriage In September. ls>-\ ho was about live-and thirty. When he met his present fFifo-for his wife she mt»t still be called-lie was in Europe, cruising in his steam yacht Meteor a floating palace that is said to have cost him some £9000. His headquarters when in London were at the Royr.l Thames Yacht Club, and ho was also a member Of the United University Club.

HS«. WORTHY—WHO SHE 13, f lira. Langworthy, whose maiden name was Mildred Sabine Palliser Long, ia tho daughter of Mr. William Long, agent on the estate of Lord O'Neill, in County Antrim. She i≤ highly educated, having passed with distinction first at Dublin University and than at Cambridge. Her family being well oil, she pursued her studies solely for the love of learning. Shortly .after her Cambridge examination?, h;*-ever, her father lost the greater part of his fortune ; and she, highspirited and independent, resolved to turn her education to account by teaching, so that she might not be a burden at home. She went to the High School a: Oxford, conducted by Miss" Benson, the sister of the Archbishop ox Canterbury ; and afterwards hold successive High School appointments at CsisTdck, Richmond, and .Norwich. In December, ISSO, she fell and broke her arm. It was badly set, she required rest, and in February, 1 SSI, she accompanied her brother to Paris'., where at the hotel at whicn they etayed she had the misfortune of making the "usqnainUDce cf Mr. Lang worthy. ■' ■ THE SECBET MARRIAGE. - The courtship which followed may be passed over. Mr. Langworthy seemed to bo greatly in love with Mise Lin,™, and ia London, in the summer of 1552, he proposed End was accepted. Mr. Langworthy'a mother opposed the marriage, and therefore Miss Long, though ehe loved her betrothed, decided to broak o*l the enticement. She was pnrsu3ded, however, to renew it. Mr. Langworthy then pressed her to take a cruise in ale yacht, under the c&re of an irreproachable ihaperon. She consented, perhaps eomerrhat imprudently—though she was then tvrcnty-iive, and qualified by her independent life to take care of herself; and in September, ISS2, she, the chaperon, and Mr. Langworthy proceeded to Dartsmouth—where Mr. Langworthy introduced her to several frie-da as his fiancee —and went on board the yacht, which steamed across to Cherbourg. A day or two afterwards the drove with Mr. Laneworthy to Caen to see tho Cathedral. Driving out into the country ho passionately pressed her to become his wife at once, adding that he had taaue arrangements to be married that very Coy. She loved him ; she believed he loved her ; she know nothing about French rr.ariiai;a law, though he as a lawyer mu3t have known ; and she was finally persuaded to enter the church at which the cairiago stopped. Thero a Catholic prieat went thrctigh pome eervice in Latin, and .Mr. Langworthy put a ring on her wedding finger. Mr. and Mrs. Langworth- returned immediately to England, and Mrs. Langworthy told her mother all about' her marriage. 'Husband and wife returned to tho yacht, and the, -who was & little dubious about the French marriage, insisted upon a Protestant cire'nony to make certain that she was legally married. To this he agreed. After cruising in the Channel for some time they •went to Antwerp, and were there married in January, ISS2, in the presence of witnesses, by the Rev. Dr. Potts, an American PreaJtfterian minister. A SHOCKING DISCOVERY.'

Shortly afterward;) they sailed for South America, accompanied by Mrs. Langworthy's Eist3r and ilr. Langworthy'a cou3in. Mrs. became aware that Ghe was likely to become a mother, and from the moment she informed her husband hia munner changed, and ha treated her with gross cruelty. According to the etatomenta made on oath by herself aud sister, the treatment was ao shocking that in the oaso of a woman of weaker constitution it might have ended In insanity or death. At length he told her that tho marriage was J 'an empty form," and that the certificate), of which ho had taken possession immediately after the ceretviony, was "not worth the paper it was "written on." At Buenos Ayrea, despito her tearful entreaties and appeals to hia honour, jhe flung her off, putting her and her sißtor on toard a dirty French ateamer bound for Havre, with tickets made out in a false name, a sum of £50, a box which ho said contained baby clothes (for which eho pleaded), and a letter. This v?aß in May, 1883. Fortunately the captain was a humane man, and ■uurßed Mrs. Langworthy tendorly. As eoon as ehe was able—on the sixth day of the -voyage—she crept to the box and opened It. The contents wuro ten ynrde of coarse calico and six yards of red flannel. The letter ordered her to £0 to Frankfort, to reaide there and never to use his name, or refer ta tmy connection with hire, if ehe adhered rigidlyStolchose conditions £'20 would be placed to hor credit monthly with a banking arm at that place, "in the name of Miss Mildred i\ Long;" if, she did not, " tho albwanco -would bo Btopped, and never renewed." HE3. XANOWOKTHY'S BETUI.N , TO ENGLAND. ' Mrs. Langworthy returned to Englaud, being then within a few weeks of her confinement, and consulted Messrs. Lumloy and Lumley, solicitors, London, who ndvised her to bogiu proceeding for restitution of conjujjal rights. For that purpoee, on 4th July, 1883, a petition was filed iu the Divorce Court. A letter to the eamo effect was addresaed to Mr. Langworthy at Buenos Ayres, end another a month later was posted to him atGeye House, Maidenhead, tho residence of ida mother. He answered neither. Mrs. Langworthy wont to her father's house in Ireland, where Bhe gave birth to a daughter. Aa soon aa she recovered she wrote to her husband and her mother-in-law announcing the event. No answer was ever returned by Mr. Lang worthy. The only response from Maidenhead was the return of her last letter unopened—it contained a certificate of the baptism of tho child, who had been named Elizabeth, after Mr. Langworthy'a mother. The letter waß enclosed in an envelope ad* dressed "Miss Mildred Long," with a note fromMeßsre. Birchamond Co., solicitors, deeiring that no further letters ehould be iddressed by her to Mrs. Langworthy, Geye Jiouso, Maidenhead.

AN EXTaAORDINABY LETTER, i Meanwhile the demand for the restitution Oi conjugal fights had reached. Mr. Law-

worthy in Sonth America. Hβ wrote in reply, not tc the solicitor, but to "Miss Mudred Long, "and the words of this " gentleman" were :— *' As you have dietincly disobeyed my instructions under which alone I promised to make you an allowance of £240 a year, from this day forth I abandon you utterly. Should you have a child, as I should be sorry it should ever assist you in maintaining your family by prostitution, I will pay for itJ education by respectable people" Uβ concluded by telliuK her to inform her solicitor "that I am domiciled in Paraguay, and that my lawyer, Dr. Joso Maria Rosa who is both jedgo and advocate, will speedily dispose of any caso he may bring into court" A citation was isaued by the Divorco Court in December, ISS3, and served normally on Mr. Langwnrthy at Buenos Ayros on 4th February, ISS-4. He immediately started for Europe, and arrived in London some dr.ys before the day ho was required to appear in court.

THE LAWS DELAYS. Then began the policy of "tho laws delay." Langworthy instructed Messrs. Biroham and Co., and that firm applied for an extension of time, on the ground that their client waa in South America, and that timo was necessary to communicate with him. But Mrs. Langworthy hoard that hor husband had been seen in London. After a long search, she discovered that ho was staying at Do Keyset a hotel. Bircham tnd Co.'s representative had to confess in court that his first statement that Mr. Langworthy was in South America was not true, and that ho was, in fact, in London. Mr. Lancworthy bolted, Bircham and Co. entered appearance for him, and made all sorts of objections, among them being that Langworthy, being domiciled iu South America, was outside the jurisdiction of tho court, that he had no property in England, aud that the "marriage falsely alleged to have been celebrated " and the cohabitation were not within the jurisdiction of the court. Mrs. Lanxworthy'a solicitors replied, and then a member of tho firm of Bircham and Co. filed an affidavit, in which ho swore that " the respondent denied in a most distinct and emphatic manner that any marriage was ever solemnised between him and tho petitioner, or that any form or ceremony of marriage, or pretended fora or ceremony of marriage, was at any time performed or gone through between him and the petitioner.' Langworthy thus got his statement sworn to. The object of tho affidavit was to bar the court from ordering alimony to bo paid to Mrs. Laußworthy as a wifo suing for her rights. No alimony could be granted iu tho face of a sworn denial of even a form of marriage ; and how could Mrs. l.angworthy carry on tho proceedings now that she was reduced to destitution ? She had sought employment of almost every kind in vain. Up till now she has been kept in the deepest poverty, but she has never given np the right for herself and her child, aud has been content to address envelopes or keep au exhibition etall when such good luck camo in her way, to keep herself from starvation. Her solicitors stood by her with rare fidelity, though they were paying expenses out of pocket, and carried on the proceedings, met at every turn by delays contrived by Langworthy s lawyers.

A RAY OF HOPR. At lenrrth there came a ray of hopp. The Rev. Dr." Potts, who performed the marriage ceremony at Antwerp, had left that place ami been living in America, but in March, ISSS, ho visited London, and his evidence was taken. He proved the marriage ceremony, and the vfitnessc3 corroborated. In June, ISSS, the case came into court, and counsel for Langworthy said, "We admit everything." After all the statements sworn to, the ceremony was admitted. Bat the validity cf the marriage was disputed. In oonrso of time. Langworthy's money brought lesal witnesses from Belgium, who stated that marriage in that country was a civil contract, and that in the absence cf the civil contract the religious service was of no avail. The marriage was invalid. Bit the question of alimony v.-as raised, and Sir James Hannon deferred judgment until that should be settled. The ultimate decision was that Mrs. Langworthy should have her coats in full, that she should have alimony at the rate of £1200 a year from the commencement of the proceedings, that she should have the custody of her daughter, that a suitable annual payment should be made for the daughter's maintenance, and that decree declariug tho marriage invalid would bo pronounced only on those conditions. They have never been compiled with. Langworthy has not paid his wife- a single penny. Bat thn time cime for tiip confirmation of the conditional decree. An affidavit was filed stating thit it was through an advertisement fer £40 "on personal security" that Mrs. L&ngworthy first obtained the acquaintance of her hasband. Another affidavit was tiled asserting that in August, ISS2, Mrs. Larigwortby (then Miss Long) spent a at an hotel in Winchester with Langworthy. Both these statements were proved to be false, and as alimony had not been paid Mr. Justice Butt refused to make tho decree absolute. Bircham r-.ud Co. appealed. The Lord Justices also gave judgment against Lanjworthy. The decree has not been made absolute, and never will bo cntil alimony and costs are paid, and maintenance provided for tho child. PRESK>'T rCHITIOX OF THE CASE. In April, ISS6, Langworthy ventured to return to England, under an assumed name. Thie was discovered shortly batoro he was going back by steamer from Southampton. Mrs.i Langworthy got a warrant and sheriifoilioers, and seized the gooda consigned to him there, but ho himself escaped to Lisbon, and there took another steamer for South America. Then Mrs. Langworthy, eenior, appeared upon the eccne, through Bircham and Co., aud claimed the goods as hern. She had to abandon hor claim t> her sob's trousers, boots, and such like; but as she swore to tho rest, tho court had to give judgment for her. Proceedings in bankruptcy were then taken against Mr. Langworthy ; bat a member of the firm of Bircham and Co. denied that Mr. Langworthy had been in England, in v.hiah cast), of course, he could not have left iho country to defeat hia creditors. Bircham and Co. had afterwards to admit tho truth. There was only one thing farther that Mrs. Langworthy could do. If her marriage was to be declared invalid, she could suo for damages for breach cf promise of marriage. She has commenced her suit for £20,000, and the case will como on in August next. Bat meanwhile 'the bankraptcy proceedings* have- boea ingen« iously delayed, and Mre. Langworthy, sen., declares that her son has no property in this country. She admits that in January, 1884-. ho had £47,000 in English banks or Invested in English securities ; yet he ha 3 nothing in England now, but Is indebted to his mother to the extene of £74,000, r.nd ia tranef&rriug to hor his South American property ! Proceedings are still going on bofore the Bankruptoy Court, in the meantime Langworthy remains in South America, defying the English Courts. Tho only way to roach him is to raiao an action in tho Argentine Courts. For the sake of her child, Mrs. Langworthy ie ready to go, and carry on proceeding there against him, but she ispenniloas. IWe have heard by cablo that Mra. Langworthy haa been awardod £1200 year, or £27,000 in hard cash, and her child £600 a year. J