DARBY AND JOAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20602, 28 June 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

DARBY AND JOAN.

TRAGEDY AT SEASIDE.

PEERESS' DEATH MYSTERY, GRIEF-STRICKEN HI&BAND. ' -

One of the strangest mysteries "on re. cord was investigated by the Brighton Coroner a few .weeks ago, when he held an Inquiry into the death of Lady Hsddon, , wife of the third Baron Haldon, the victim of a cliff tragedy at Black flock, Brighton. v ■ After leaving her apartments... m Acre Lane, Brixton, London, Lady Haldon made a secret trip to the seaside, where she met a tragic fate by falling. 100 ft. down the Cliff face. > Following the discdvety of the body by a 13-year-old. schoolboy, it remained unidentified while extensive inquiries were made by the police. ' It was not until the following day;- when Lord Haldon called at the Brighton police station, that this part of the mystery was-cleared up. " My wife is missing and her published description tallies with that of the Woman founds under the cliffs,"' Lord Haldon told the police. He was taken "to the mortuary, and when he saw tho' body his worst fears were realised. The shock was so great that he.nearly collapsed with grief. ' Lady Haldon, who was aged 61, was Lord Haldon's second wife. She married." him orily last year. They had been living in one room at Aero Lane, Briiton, as "Mr. and Mrs. Haldon," and were known , to neighbours JJarby and Joan." i y ' Good-bye to Landlady, Mrs. Sutherland, with whom Lord and ; Lady Haldon stayed, told an interviewer that " Lady". Haldon 'would; sometimes press her hand to her forehead and say: * Qtt f ,* My dear, it . is left the liouse about mid-day on'Thui's--day, and I was thejast person she Spoke to. She ; was carrying a book> aqd I thought she "was going to the library. She seemed much' the same as usual ;and -said, -i-good-bye, dear/ to moas-ishe left." '■' '$ ' •" vi , . Lady Haldon, who married Lord Haldon on January .25, 1929, was -the widow of Mr. El-nest Charles of Gotham Park, Her maiden namat was ;• -J 4 ■ • • .s£ ;J Edith iCastle Briggs, and- she . Was, a daughter of Mr. William Ball Briggs* of Clifton, BristoL Lord Haldon had himself been previously.y'ftiiatried-r-tp '.-the daughter of a in,-fche Imperial Russian Army—bub his first wife/ whom ho married in 1893, diod,: ; leaving a son. 'He succeeded to the title estates in 1903. The third baron, he htid a distinguished Army career in fSoulh Africa and tho Great War. Tense Scene at Inquest. > : Thero was a dramatic scene at the inquest when the coroner asked Loi-d Haldon if he ahd his wife had lived happily together. Breaking into tears Lprd Haldon buried his face in his hands and bowed his head on the desk in front of him. In a sobbing Voice he exclaimed, "We were like Darby and Jo3n. Wo never had a quarrel." There was silence for a few seconds, and it was obvious that Lord Haldott was doing his best to master his emotion's; A friend at the back of thfe court- leaned toward him and whispered, " Steady, steady," and the coroner's officer , 3 fcsfed a consoling hand on his shoulder. t The Coroner: Had she any cause -.io - take her life ? Lord Haldon, looking'up quickly from the desk: " Oh, ; no, Mr. Corqner," ho replied. "She did not inform me slio ' was coming to Brighton, and I don't know what she was doing here. -This,was a pure accident. She would never have taken her life." Then, in a voice which Was barely atidiblej Lord Haldon said: " The whole thing—l cannot understand it. It is an accident, I am sure of it. What on earth could she do down here. Oh, dear. I had better say no more."

Open Verdict Returned. . • • A constable gave that- he' found the woman's body at tho foot of a cliff 60ft. high. He searched the woman's clothing, but found nothing. Near •the; body, however, was a ".man's grey Trilby hat. • 4 ' ■ ■ ." : ' r "*' Georgo Ashfield, who Was Oil holiday ' at Brighton, related that he was walking in the Rottinedean district two . nights, previously. The wind was very high, and . his grey Trilby hat wai bloWn over the 7 ' cliffs. He searched the rocks tmdtfr-"' neath until it was nearly dark, but ~srt!l could not find ii. The lmt which, ".'-'as , found near Lady Haldon was his. The" hat was brought into court, AshfLcld tried, it on, and the coroner remarked' that'that cleared that matter up. . . The coroner, observing that there Was.. no evidence that Lady Haldon.irittenfcl ; to commit suicide, recorded an open verdiet.