A WILY TURK.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13420, 18 March 1914, Page 8

A WILY TURK.

An action for breach of promise came fcefore Mr. Under-sheriff Burchell and a jury in the London Sheriff's Court, remitted from the High Court for the •assessment of damages.

The plaintiff was Miss Madeline Woolfe, a saleswoman, formerly employed by a well-known millinery firm in Paris, and residing at 131 Harlesden voad, N.W., and- - the defendant was Nino Hassan, an ostrich feather merchant, of Hilltop road, Hampstead. Mr H. C Gutteridge, for Miss Woolf, said it was an undefended case, and the only question for the jury was one of damages. It was a cruel and heartless case. Miss Woolf, a young girl, had been cruelly deceived by thedefendant. who was a married man, and who kept that fact from her. She wan Alsatian, smd had been adopted by an official of Thomas Cook and Son, in Paris. Hassan, who was 40 years of age, was a Turk, but naturalised in England, residing at Hampstead, and with large places in Paris, where he kept two motor cars and lived in considerable style, a well-known dancer being a member of his household. He had made the acquaintance of Miss Woolf by going to her business place to buy dresses for this lady. He waa very insistent in his attentions, and eventually proposed marriage. Being accepted, he was introduced to Miss Woolf's triends as her fiance. On February 20 he persuaded her to leave her situation, and five days later, whilst her adopted mother had gone to Alsace to get the necessary papers for her marriage from Germany, persuaded her to stay with him in the flat which had fyeen taken in view of their approaching marriage. Directly afterwards he ieit for London, writing to Miss Woolf stating that he was obliged to go^ as -something had happened which might bring about a temporary change. The next.day he wrote that he was troubled, and had had no sleep all night, and that he had written to her adopted father explaining things. Miss Woolf then went to London, and by a chance telephone message learnt that Hassan tvas a married man. On March 9 he

wrote : Dear Madeline, —I feel sure you feel just as rotten as I do; but, de&r girl, 1 could not help it. I am not going fco be sentimental and make all sorts of excuses and givo explanations. I thought things were going to be different, but fate decreed otherwise. . . . For the present things must- remain as they are. . . . You need not ask me any questions. Believe me, I am not a blackguard, and regret more than you the circumstances. I will see what can be done, but cannot be pushed by scenes and threats. ... Exemplary damages were asked for, \ £5 Hasssn was a very wealthy man. Miss Woolf, a good-looking, dark- j complexioned girl, dressed in a grey fur<oque trimmed with black velvet, and • heavy wollen ulster trimmed with far, gave evidence bearing out counsel's statement. The jury returned a verdiqt for the plaintiff for £500, and judgment was entered for that amount, with costs.