EDWO. MARTIN LANGWORTHY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3647, 25 January 1899, Page 3

EDWO. MARTIN LANGWORTHY.

THE TRAGIC STORY OF HIS LIFE

Tho “Times” newspaper of October 31st contains in its obituary column the following item :—“Langworthy.—On the 27th inst,, suddenly, at the Grand Hotel, Paris, Mrs Mildred Sabine Palliscr Gangworthy, the beloved daughter of William Long, of Bedford Park, Loudon, and formerly of Belfast.” On tho following day, tho 28th, a report of firearms was hda'rd (says the •• Now York Herald'”) from Mr Lang worthy s room, and the servants, rushing in, found Mr Langworthy lying Wounded on the floor. Ho had shot himself, his mind having apparently been unhinged by the death of his wifer. He died soon afterwards. Before killing himself with a fowling-pieeo he wrote several looters, including one to tho Police Commissary. Ho explained to him that he liad no • longer any object in life and was disgusted with it. Ho had arrived wick Ins wife and daughter a few days before, and had sent tho latter—tho Gladys, wo suppose, of the famous ease—homo on Thursday. , ~ This double tragedy recalls memories of tho famous “ Langworthy Caso,” wn*cn figured so largely hi the columns of tno “Pall Mall Gazette” ip 1887. Tho story of “Mr Langworlhy’s Trials and ■ Triumphs” was told in a “Pall Mall” extra, and is certainly one of the most remarkable law court romances of our time. Mildred Sabine Palliscv ■ LangwortUy was the daughter of Mr William Long, formerly of Belfast, and now of Bedford > Park, Chiswick, Edward Martin ' Langworthy was, “at the time the story opens,” a widower, his first wife haying been a sister of the Earl of Limerick. Ho was about thirty-five years of ago, • and a very rich man, the nephew of a. millionaro Mexican trader. From this undo ho inherited, when he was twonty-bno, tho handsome fortune of £IOO,OOO. Edward Martin Langwortliy inherited- another fortune -of IHO.OOO under his father’s will,'but these sums, handsome as thoy scam to others, wore reputed but trifles- compared with the wealth that was said to bo awaiting him on the death of his mother and aunt. After passing through Eton he wont to Oxford, and when his 'University career was complete ho ate his dinners at the Inner Temple and was duly called to the Bar. At tho time when ho met Miss Long ho was in Europe, .spending most of his .time in his steam yacht Meteor, a floating palace of 236 tons,said to have cost him some £1)000. Tho Langworthy estates are ono of the mosl notable features in the sparsely-peopled Republic which was the scene of the, early "prowess of Garibaldi. ■ Mr Mulliall, in his handbook of the River Plato, gives a glowing account of tho magnificent., domain known as tho Lnngworthy Grant. It covers 32 square leagues in the north of Toacas. ’ , Miss Long qualified herself as a school- * mistress, and had occuuiod positions at Richmond and Norwhich, when, in February, 1881, she first , met Mr Lnngworthy in Paris. After- a few months | they became engaged, and in Soptemj bor, 1882, they were married in a Roman Catholic Church in the neighbourhood of Caen, in Normauby. /The yoting lady seems to have■ had-consider-able misgivings about -.no-: legality of. thovnarriago, and to -quieten her scruples a Presbyterian religious ceremony was subsequently gone through in Antwerp. Mr Lnngworthy, however, asked his wife to keep tho marriage secret for a. year, for fear that his. mother should disinherit him, and ho retained possession of, the marriage'certificate! Shortly afterwards they wont to South America on board the- yacht Meteor. On the voyage out Mr Laugworc-.y learned that his wife was likely to bopomo a mother, . and ho then, according to Mrs Langworthy’s account, began a systematic course of ill-treatment. At Buenos ‘Ayres he separated- from her, after de--1 daring that their marriage was a sham. Mrs Langworthy : returned to: her father, and after the birth of the child com-, monced proceedings against her husband, who pleaded that there had novel boon a lawful marriage. .Tlips, Antwerp ceremony was genuine enough, but the conditions did not comply with the Belgian Jaw. _ Tho proceedings had been begun in the summer qf 1883. They did not copio to an end till 1837. Wealth was on' Mr -Lnngworthy-s side, and ovory , pretext, every quibble, every misleading affidavit which legal ingenuity could doviso was employed to crush the unfortunate lady. . Tho most eminent ' counsel were retained, and the most respectable solicitors swore false affidavits “ to the best of their knowledge and belief.” The proceedings had begun in the summer of 1893; two years Jator they at last came before tho court. Thou Sir. Charles Russell, for Mr Langwoithy, said: “My lord, wo admit everything. Wo only i challenge tho legality of the marriage.” The Divorce Court do citlod that, although there had been marriage in fact, it was invalid by the i law of Belgium, and alimony ar- the rate of £I2OO was awarded to Miss Long, or Mrs Langworthy, which, however, was not paid;, for Mr Langworthy, fled the country. Mrs Langworthy was at litis time reduced almost to despair. It was sbo who at this stage of the case contemplated suicide. Bho appealed hero, there, and everywhere for help, -but without success. She took service behind tho counter of exhibition stalls. Ono day, as she was returning from the Law Courts along the Strand,, she happened to turn down Northumberland street, and as she passed tho office of the “Pall Mall Gazette” tho impu’sc seized her. to go in. and lay her case 'before Mr Stead. That gentleman took it up warmly, and gave it to tho world day by day in tho columns of his_ paper. All London, was interested in 1 it, and subscriptions flowed in for her. assistance. Eventually, the' lady, brought an action for broach of ' promise, and claimed £20,000 The case came on in August, 1887—more than four years after the first litigation began—with tho result that it was .settled by tho payment to Mrs Laiigworthy of £20,001) free of all costs, together wilt £6OO a year as allowance for the child. Mr Lau'gworthy’s ' “ Triads and Triumphs” wore summed up in parallel columns, thus—'THE STORY. THE SEQUEL. Two false marriages. £2O U 01) ti’ l mages. Tlir.es, months’ £12..‘-0U in Mint-narco honeymoon. iVi- 1 ho child. Four years’ litiga- .CIIUIO alimony - ' lion. ■- - ■■■ And . ' ■ ' A»d Bankruptcy. Apologies.. And now, after 11 years, and after there had apparently been a reconciliation between Mr Langwortliy and the woman whom ho wronged, the end of all has come in sudden death and suicide. Mr Langworthy V mind was unhinged, it seems, by the sudden death of his wife; “he had no longer any object in life.” The daughter alone survives.