BRANDED A COWARD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21876, 11 August 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

BRANDED A COWARD

SCION OF NOBLE HOUSE Sobbing continuously while his advocate called up the memory of his illustrious forebears, the Comte Guillaumo de Segur, husband of Cecile Sorel, the noted French actress, was sentenced in Paris to a year's imprisonment for manslaughter recently, without possibility of reprieve. He was also fined 500 francs and ordered to pay 2000 francs damages. Last May the Count knocked down and killed a woman, mother of five children, with his car, - which drove on without stopping. In sentencing

him the Judge said dramatically: "You fled in cowardly fashion —you, belonging to a family with a reputation for bravery." "It is quite true," sobbed the Count. " I am unworthy." Cecile Sorel was 52 when she first met her husband —a young and handsome private in the _ French Army. They were married, in spite of the strongest opposition front his family, one of the oldest in France. The Count was kidnapped to prevent the marriage. He escaped from tho de Scgur Castle in tho Ardennes and was driven away iu a fast car, which Cecilo Sorel had waiting. Fashionably-dressed women struggled and fought to gain a seat in tho court before the proceedings opened, and when the unexpectedly heavy sentence was passed many screamed and fainted.