BIG LIBEL CASE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18500, 22 February 1930, Page 17 (Supplement)

BIG LIBEL CASE

HEAVY DAMAGES AWARDED. (United Press Association—By Electrlo Telegraph—Copyright.) (Received, February 21, 8.25 p.m.) LONDON, February 20. After thirteen day's hearing before the King’s Bench, the Roumanian, Barbu Jonescu, who was Prince Carol’s host during his stay in England, was awarded £12,000 damages in a libel case against the “Evening Standard,” which had alleged that his name originally was not Jonescu, and that he -was not really a Roumanian, but that he was a Pole, who w r ent to England with Belgian refugees in war time.

Jonescu’s counsel said that he was respected and prosperous until. . ' the allegation, but thereafter people regarded his as an imposter, resulting in bankruptcy. Lengthy evidence, much on commission, was brought from Roumania to support the declaration that plaintiff’s name was always Jonescu, and that he was born in 1885. A plea of justification was entered for the defence, which alleged that the name was Moritz Lieba,- that he was born in 1891, and that his father was of Polish descent. The cMs of the case are estimated at £20,000.

(A cable message received from London on May 18, 1928, stated that the exCrown Prince Carol of Roumania left Dover for Belgium the previous day. His departure from Godstone was the occasion of a “wild goose chase,” in which all the English newspapers were hoodwinked. A motor-car piled with luggage suddenly dashed through the gateway of M. Jonescu’s house. “That is the prince,” shouted the police. Ten waiting cars, the occupants of which included a French detective, a representative of the French Government, a number of agents of foreign Powers and English and foreign journalists, dashed off in pursuit. The car tore along at a speed of 60 miles an hour. The chase continued through the dense traffic of London as far as Hyde Park corner, where the chased car stopped. The blinds were run up and the car was found to contain a friend of Carol. In the meantime the Prince, with no attempt at secrecy, had entered another car and sped toward Dover.)