A DUKE'S DOUBLE LIFE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7807, 11 September 1903, Page 2

A DUKE'S DOUBLE LIFE

- * -«♦ — — — QUICK CHANGE WOKK. Other points in tho life of the fifth Duke of Portland- which go to prove how easily he could have personated at one and the b.wk) time the two characters of his Graca of Portland and Thomas Charles Druce, of the* Bazaar, have been supplied to an "Express " representative. The- Duke had only two meals served him in his house each day. One of these was breakfast at an early hour in the morning. Tlie other .was a light and simple dinner in the evening about seven or eight o'clock. A confidential servant declared that in an experience of over ten years he .never remembered the Duke having a meal in tha middle of the day. Druce of the Bazaar Had only one meal at his place of business, and- this was in the middle of tho day— the one that the Duke did' not have atf home. Old employees of Druce state that no' matter h<»w late he stayed at Baker Street in the evening, lie never ordered dinner tbcr. In this re■pect the two lives fit in with the assumption that there was only one man. After he had his dinner the Duke was never Been by his servants at Cavendish Square. They always know that after dinner their time was their own. Druoe's partiality, for late engagements has been vouched for by those who were fully in his confidence. It would, therefore, also be easy for tb© Duke after dinner to play the part o} Druce without any of hl« servantß being aware of it. If the Duke wished to personate Druce at night he would be able to do so on account of the peculiar form of his bed and the orders given to his servants. No one could tell whether or not the Duke was in his bed when its doors were shut, and no servant approached the room until gent for. A further order was that no servant was permitted to address the Duke until, spoken to. One of them states that on j one occasion, in answering a bell, !he said: "Yes, Your Grace." The Duke angrily replied: tt Wait ! Wait ! It's time enough' to say that when I have told you what I want." This, again 1 , is a characteristic known- to have belonged to old 'Mr Druce, who would allow no one to speak first. The stories told about the wigs would., again, seem to point to two personalities adopted by one man. Indoors, the Duke was clean shaven, performing the operation himself each morning. Out of doors he frequently wore a wig with bushy hair and full whiskers as a disguise. TWO BUSINESS METHODS. ' In Duke's business habits there, is the satae loophole for anothen life. A tradesman of Oxford Street- was employed by him to carry out very considerable works at Welbeck. He was freely admitted 1 to Welbeck to take orders from the Duke- in penson. In London all their business dealings ( were carried on solely by letter. In his own house the Duke^ would never have wine. Once, about tTie time when h« succeeded to,, the- dukedom, he. had some samples sent to Cavendish Square and numbered. After tasting one or two of these, he gave orders that they were at once to be taken away, and never to be brought near him again. In connection with this aversion to wine there is a mystery which can only be solved on the assumption that there was a. very great deal in the Duke's life which didl not come to the knowledge of his immediate friends and x'etamera. v * He bought two houses in H}"de Park Gar. dens, one of which he sold soon afterwauds. The other he kept and furnished. A caretaker and his wife were put in, but the house was used ostensibly for nothing els© than to stock the files of news-papers which the Duke accumulated and preserved. Yet a considerable amount of wine was always kept in the hou&e. Old Mr Druce haid the same dislike of wine, and again in the same way, although he neven drank it himself, he bought considerable quantities from a relative of his first wife, who was a wine merchant. These purchases are on record, and may play an important part in the pending proceedings. Apart fnom all the close and remarkable coincidences that have been established between the Duke and Druce, statements have been made which directly affirm that the Duke and Druce were the same person. Some of these were made long before there was any litigation pending or any knowledge of the vast issues at stake. The following «tatement was given to the claimant in this connection .- "Some years ago," the statement runs, "a fidend of mine, a landscape gardener named Gibson,' who was in cha^re of the gardens of Hyde Park, visitec! Welbeck to inspect the grounds from a business point of view. " A friend of his -was m charge of the gardens at Welbeck, and while showing Mr Gibson over the place he made a. number vi comments on the eccentricities of the fifth Dukn. Among otherjhjngs, he distinctly stated that the Duke was*ealiy Druce, of the Baker Street Bazaar, and that lie had taken a fancy for going into the furniture business. "He also affirmed that a subterranean passage had been constructed the whole way from the bazaar to Cavendish Square. The Duk?, he continued, had no idea that anyone knew about the existence of the passage, bub nevertheless, it was very widely known." statement that has been made is to the effect that many people in London knew in 1862 that Druce and the Duke were the same person.