CHAPTER XLV.

Otago Witness, Issue 1865, 19 August 1887, Page 9

CHAPTER XLV.

MUZZLING ' THE TIMES.' We have received the following letter :—: —

It would be very interesting to the readers of your graphic story of the Langworthy case if you would mention in your next issue where they can find a report of the proceedings which resulted in the decision that the marriage de facto was invalid. I have tnrned over the files of ' The Times' for the date named in your summary of yesterday, but cannot find any record of the case.— Your obedient Bervant, L.E.X. The inquiry is natural. The answer sheds another stream of light into dark places. But before explaining the mystery we give the following references sent by another correspondent as to where the reports of the case may be found, which may be useful : —

You are, of course, aware that the appeal in this case is reported in the " authorised " and other reports ; but many of your readers may be glad of the following references :— Law Reports, 11 Probate Division, 85. B5 'Law Journal 1 Reports (P., D. and A.), 33. bi ' Law Times' Reports, 77b. 34 ' Weekly Reporter,' 35 b. In some of the reports the facts are stated pretty fully. Argus, with his hundred eyes, is accepted as the mythical prototype of the modern Press, But Argus for all his hundred eyes, was charmed to sleep on the fateful occasion by the rogue Hermes; and soitis sometimes with the newspapers. Thereisno place in the world like a law Court for publicity, and yet, although the Langworthy case has never been out of the law Courts for the last four years, the public has been in almost as total ignorance of the facts as if the case had been tried in the law Courts of the Argentine Republic. This was due to a variety of causes, some of which we have already detailed. But some of the modes by which a too inquisitive public was kept from poking its nose into the cupboard in which stood the family skeleton of the Langworthys have still to be described.

Needless to say, the Messrs Bircham figure as conspicuously and— from their client's point of view — as creditably in this as in all the other operations which have been set forth in the course of this Strange Irue Story.

The zeal of the great firm of solicitors in the cause of their client Langworthy is indeed almost beyond belief. But nothing that we have hitherto described can have prepared the reader for their crowning exploit. • The Times ' is no longer what it was in the days when Kinglake sang its almost supernatural might. But ' The Times ' still continues to be regarded as " the asylum of the world." As Mr Kinglake described it in one of the most familiar passages of his inimitable prose: "The prince who was claiming a kingdom, the servant who wanted a place, the mother who had lost her boy, they all went thither; 1 thither Folly ran hurrying, and was brought to wholesome parley with Wisdom; thither went Righteous Anger ; thither also went Hatred and Malice. Over all this^ throng of appellants men unknown sat in judgment, and — violently, perhaps, but never" corruptly—- a rough sort of justice was done," How, then, did Messrs Bircham bar the door of this " asylum of the world " to Mrs Langworthy, so that not even a whisper of her sorrowladen cry should be heard ? " Upon paying the sum required by the company," said Kinglake, " any person could cause whatever he chose to be inserted in the paper as an advertisement. " But even its advertisement sheet was closed to Mrs Langworthy — and closed by Messrs Bircham.

To describe how this was done, it is necesto retrace our steps and revert to the year 18S3. " The alleged child," born in August, seemed likely to die, and the doctor doubted whether it could be reared. Mrs Lang■w orthy, even in the midst of all her trouble, never lost hope that if her husband knew that a loving child was born to him, the evil demon that possessed him might be exorcised by the baby's smile.

Little Gladys had not been born two days before her mother, all weak and worn as she was, insisted on being allowed to write a passionate appeal to the father to return and see his child. She posted it to "Mr Langworthy, care of Messrs Bircham, to be forwarded." Messrs Bircham promptly sent it back, saying that they had no instructions to forward letters.

Then she wrote to Mrs Elizabeth Hannah Langworthy, enclosing a copy of the little granddaughter's certificate of birth and of baptism, and also addressed another letter to her husband, at Maidenhead. Both these letters came back unopened. Meanwhile the baby, poor wee mite, which she was unable to nurse, from extreme exhaustion, was ill. The doctor doubted whether it could be reared. The thought that it might die before ever its father knew it had been born, haunted her sleeping and waking. How could she communicate with him ? All avenues seemed closed, and then the thought occurred to her, Why not advertise in ' The Times ' 1

She sat down and wrote the following advertisement : —

EDWARD Langwortht, cruising in the Plate, is asked to communicate with his wife, aa his child is ill.— —Address Mrs Langworthy, office of ' The Times.'

She enclosed 5s for the advertisement and la for receiving the answer. She waited

with feverish anxiety to see the advertisement in ' The Times. ' It did not appear the first day. She thought perhaps it had been crowded out,

But the second day and the third passed, and still she looked in vain for the appearance of her advertisement. Nearly a week passed, still no insertion nor any reply from Printing House Square. At last she wrote to ask them what it meant. She received the following reply : —

Madam,— There has been received a letter from Messrs Bircham and Co , who act professionally for Mr Langworthy'a family, and they object to the advertisement being inserted in its present shape. We, therefore return the 6s.— Your obedient servant, John Knight, Chief Clerk.