SOCIETY SUIT IN COURT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14679, 13 May 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

SOCIETY SUIT IN COURT.

TWO ACTIONS FOR SLANDER.

BARONESS'S INFATUATION.

Two society slander suits, which have been referred to more than once in '.ho High Courts, were heard by Mr. Justice Darling on March 27, and dramatically collapsed before the day closed. They had been brought by the wealthy Baron" do Forest, the adopted son and coheir of the late Baron Hirsch, against Mr. Marcus Henry Milner, M.V.0., D.5.0., who was mentioned in despatches during the South African War, and is comptroller to Lord Derby, and against Lady Gerard, whose husband, Lord Gerard, is the Baroness de Forest's brother. Mr. Milner is uncle to the baroness on the maternal side, The court, to hear the evidence, was Crowded with well-known people, while fashionably-dressed ladies thronged the judges gallery. Lady Dorothy Nevill, whose volumes of social gossip relating to the last three-quarters of the century, came with the Duchess of St. Albans. t Lord Derby sat at the solicitors' table. Next to him was Lord Gerard, by whose. side was his sister, tho Bareness de Forest, in a long sealskin coat and a hat covered with green feathers. Lord Newton sat on the Bench. Baron do Forest contested Southport as a Liberal in January, 1910, and was elected as Progressive for Ivennington at the last London County Council elections. It was during tho contest at Southport that the baron found certain rumours in circulation, nnd he brought his actions to vindicate himself from suggestions of cruelty to ms wife, who, after the election, ran away from him, leaving on the hall table an mvelope containing her wedding ; ring. Beside the baron, the witnesses ' were Iho Karl of Derby, chairman of the Southport Conservative Association, and .Major Dalrymple White, M.P. The slanders complained of were not proved ever to have been uttered, and the suits, therefore, fell to the ground. The baron told a sad story of a. chain of incidents which preceded his wife's departure. The baron fought in the South African War as a second lieutenant in the Staffordshire Imperial Yeomanry.' The total monetary bequests to tho baron have been stated by the executors to amount to £1,000,000, beside large estates in Eiehborn, in Hungary. Baron Maurice de Hirsch, the financier, made millions out of Turkish railways, and was probably worth £3,000,000 when he died. When, in 1904, Baron do Forest married tho Hon. Ethel Gerard, a former marriage had been declared void and annulled ; a decree of nullity was also granted by the. Roman. Catholic Church. It was his steam yacht, the Honor, over 1000 tons, which became "stranded" in the Mediterranean last year, whilst Mr. Winston Churchill and Mr. F. E. Smith, K.C., were guests aboard.

Baron do Forest, who is a sportsman and an owner of racehorses, held the motoring record of 96 miles on hour, run at Phoenix Park, Dublin. He came in :Becond in. the International Paris-Vienna race, and has also twice driven in the Paris-Madrid and Gordon-Bennett contests. In Switzerland he came in second twice in the National Tobogganing contest on the famous Cresta Run, once breaking the record for time. In 1902 his yacht the Magdalen was unbeaten in a race round England. : Both Lady Gerard's family and that of Lord Gerard are Roman Catholic, and her Jadyehip is her husband's first cousin. Lord Gerard's family, which has large estates in Lancashire, goes back to the time of Edward the Confessor.' The present peer's father several times entertained King Edward at the family seat, Gars,wood Hall. •'.. ■■:• , The Trial. Stated categorically, the allegations said to have been made against Baron de Forest were that he assaulted his wife, treated Iter brutally, kicked her downstairs, be- . haved towards her with so much brutality as to make it practically impossible for her to continue her matrimonial residence with him.

Sir Edward Clarke, for the baron, pointed out that to anybody in a position in society such accusations were matters of the most iserious gravity. The baron was educated at Eton; then he went to Oxford. -He was now 31 years of age. Seven years ago he married Miss Gerard, whom he met at St.Moritz. Baron de Forest had a house in St. James's Place, and in the London seasons they took part in the gaiety and enjoyment of society. Two boys ; were born of the marriage, one early in 1905 and another on March 31, 1907, and the happiness of the home was apparently complete and unbroken up to .very late in the year 1908. The baron was then and still was devotedly fond of the woman to whom he gave his name*. He loved her with an affection that had survived those incidents counsel had to recount, and which had destroyed the happiness ot his home without destroying the affection he felt for the woman he had asked to be his wife in 1903.

In the autumn the baroness unhappily met a young man named Ashton, who was in the Guards. Ho was a good deal r younger than the lady, being under 20 years of age and was looked upon as a boy friend. . On May 24, 1909, the baron and his wife went to a ball at Carlton House Terrace, and.young Ashton was present. The baron, early in the morning, expressed his desire to return home, and called on his wife to accompany him. To his surprise "She refused, and said she was determined to stay. Mr. Ashton was by her side, and had her arm at the moment, and they both turned away to take port /in ■ the ball again, leaving the baron to go home alone. When he got to his house he, intending to let his wife in himself when she got back, locked the door and • took the key with him upstairs. Presently he heard the bell ring, and, looking out of the window, saw his wife there. She at once got into a cab and drove . away. When he saw her next . morning at her mother's house she told him, to his surprise and deep sorrow, that she was not fit to be taken back, and that ; 'she could not under those circumstances come back to his home. He was overwhelmed with grief, and absolutely broke down. Lady Gerard and Mr. Milner, the defendant, who were at the house, sympathised with him, and endeavoured to comfort. him in his distress. Mr. Milner spoke of the way ]>*> (plaintiff) had treated his wife, and paid in tjio odd jargon of society that he had been "too good to her for words." The baron succeeded in persuading his wife to go back with him, and she went. 'Of course., Mr. Ashlou's case, was dealt with. The colonel of his regiment was communicated with, ho was given three months' leave of absence, and left the country ..for a time, and ultimately the baroness promised that at all events .she. would not see him for six months.

V* In spite, of the circulation of statements of which he complained, the baroness urged her husband to continue his candidature. She stayed, working during the whole- of December, 1910, and taking a most ardent and affectionate interest in the baron's political fortunes. Tho statements complained of came to the knowledge of plaintiff and his wife directly they entered upon the work of canvassing and conducting the election. The baroness was extremely indignant; she absolutely rind indignantly denied that there was any sort of truth in them, and took apparently a whole-hearted interest in her husband's candidature.

Nothing could have been closer than ,the family relations during the years up to this point. and if there was any suggestion that the baron had not treated bin •wife with the fullest consideration and affection, he should call Viscount Castlereagli and Mr. Winston Churchill, who ■were both of them on terms of personal "friendship with the baron and his wife. Wife Flies, Leaving Wedding Ring. Unhappily," the tie with Mr. Ashton had teen in some way revived —it was probably never broken. The election on January 24 resulted in the baron's defeat, and his •wife- was bitterly disappointed, and showed ■ it keenly. They came to London, and it was arranged that they should go to Switzerland for a -time. On January 27 thoy

lunched at the Ritz Hotel, and went to the theatre together to see " Arsene Lupin." The next morning arrangements were made for the daw The wife was going out to call on some friends, and the husband was expecting to see her again later in the clay. When he came hark in the afternoon ho found his wife had not returned. Time went on, and after six o'clock he was wondering where she was. doing to look for her, ho went into the. hall of his house. On tho table he saw an envelope, which he found contained his wife's wedding ring. She had gone. Mr. Ashton seemed to have joined her the following day, and thov left England. Then tho family came to the baron's assistance. There had been a little difference, a little coolness, for some trifling reason, between himself and Lord Gerard. But Lord Gerard cam© to him, and they shook banc's again, and started in pursuit of tho fugitives. Baron do Forest, in the witness-box, said that Lady Gerard, against whom he had brought one of his actions, was a good deal at his house. She married from his house, and was staying there in 1906 when she became engaged to Lord Gerard. Baron de Forest said that when at tho ball ho asked his wife to go home she spoke to him in a way she had never spoken to him before in her life, and told him she would not go home. Ho told her that if eho did not come home ho should lock the door. A discussion about "Mr. Ashton had taken place between them the day before. When, next morning, ho ascertained that his wife was at his mother-in-law's house, he went off there at once in his pyjamas. Did your wife on that occasion make an admission to you that she had committed adultery?—My wife did not admitthat, she had committed adultery—not on that occasion. The baroness came back reluctantly, her husband said, telling him that her | affection for Mr. Aehton made it impossible for her to live with her husband.

After he made a speech at Southport on June 25 ho saw Mr. Milner only once at the Marlborough Club, when ho said ho would make it" hot for him at Southport. That was in July. Describing the pursuit of his wife, after she left him in London, Baron de Forest said that he and his brother-in-law traversed Europe for a fortnight together. They overtook "the fugitives at Parma. Lord Gerard brought the baroness back to Paris, where she rejoined her mother, and with her mother she afterwards returned to his house in London, though he himself did not stav there at that time. Sir Edward Clarke asked that at this point the Court would adjourn, as he wanted to call a witness who was not then present. The Court accordingly adjourned for lunch. On its resumption, Sir Edward intimated that the witness for whom he had waited had not arrived. Judgment was then entered for the defendants, with costs in both cases.