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SICILIAN PMCESS' SUIT
of strange allegations were put forward on
behalf of a Sicilian Princess Jeannie
Augustine Noel, Princess Di Formosa, who
in the Kings Bench Division of the Eng-',
bah High Court, before Mr. Justice Darling,
sued Mr George Granville Hope
Johnstone for damages for alleged slander
and false imprisonment. Counsel for plain
1 tiff said that the issues were very serious
indeed. . - s i
'A Charge of Theft.
In October last, Mr. Hope-Johnstone
gave the lady into the custody of a police-
man on the charge of having stolen £6
from his rooms The words it was alleged
he used were I took this woman
to my chambers when she left
I missed the money. She has robbed me
of £6.'.' ' ' "~
At first defendant had set up the defence
that he did not give the Princess,
into custody, and did not speak the words. I
But afterwards, said counsel, he amended
his defence, and declared that the words
used were true, and that he had good
cause for giving the lady into custody, He
had made a counter-claim, in which
he accused the Princess of being a blackmailer,
who had threatened to make accusations
against him of cheating. She
had got sums of money from him, he said,
The questions to be decided, wept on j
counsel, weren't) Is this lady a common
thief? " (2) Is Mr. Hope-Johnstone justified
in saying that he took her to his
rooms for the purpose alleged? "
Highly Connected.
- Counsel then gave a history of the, relations
between plaintiff and defendant.
The Princess, he said, is a member of a
very old French family, and her father
had held one of the highest positions
under the Empire. She was at first married
to a French count. This marriage
was unhappy, and had ended in a divorce.
She then married the Prince Di Formosa,
a Sicilian noble. After this she became
a friend of Mr. Hope-Johnstone and his
wife. Mr. Hope-Johnstone became in-
fatuated with her, and persuaded her to
go with him for a trip to Ceylon. They
lived together as man and wife. Mr.
i Hope-Johnstone, counsel went on, was a
man of very * curious temper, changing
1 from moment to moment. He was Borne
times guilty of the grossest violence.
I "Extraordinary Letters.
Counsel read extracts from letters. In
February, 1911, defendant wrote: You
are a cruel, bad, wicked woman. I want
you to have no thought except for me.
. . . I have told you so many times,
I love you." In another letter he said:
"Sweetie, will you forgive me for making
myself ridiculous? I am loyal and true
to you." Counsel went to to tell how
Mr. Hope-Johnstone and the Princess returned
to Italy from Ceylon together. As
she was starting to go to Sicily to join
her husband defendant entered the train
with her. When husband and wife met
there was a row, and she left with Mr.
Hope-Johnstone. When it came to
financial matters," said counsel, he says
he wants to help her, but there is really
a large balance due from defendant to this
lady' He added that Mr. Hope-John-
stone wrote from Chiltern Manor, Win
chester, to the Princess while the latter
was staying at a well-known place near
Scarborough with people in the best
society in England." The judge asked if
it was necessary to read all the letters,
and said he saw that in one defendant
said, "In Paris after you left
I Kissed the Cat
instead of you." (Laughter) Writing
from his club in London, defendant said.
-"Sweetie, Darling-How pretty your
flat will be, darling. I look forward to
seeing it finished. ... I am so glad
your money troubles are cleared up. I
wish it could have been me to do it for
you." In another letter defendant called
the Princess "the most despicable creature
I have ever known," but added, "Still
I love you." Later he wrote "What
ever misery you suffer, it is nothing to
the hell you have left to me. . . I
trusted you, you trusted me! . . . You
are a low traitor without one spot of
honor in you."
Counsel then described a scene at the
Princess' flat in Paris. After writing
those abusive letters," he said, defendant
goes to Paris to her flat. He knocks at the
door and is admitted. He goes in and finds
the table laid for dinner for three persons.
He takes hold of the tablecloth address
moves the whole of the dinner, breaks a
bottle of champagne against the wall, goes
to the door and insult a lady who is com
1 ing in, strikes the lady's escort in the face,
and then shuts the door on them." Before
he left Paris, ? counsel stated, defendant
struck the Princess, and so bruised her that
she had to tell bar of friends that she had
been in a motor accident. For six months
afterwards the' Princess saw nothing of defendant
but then, when she was dining at
the Berkeley Hotel one night, she saw him
and he afterwards wrote to her. The friends
ship was resumed.
Alleged Outrageous Conduct.
To come to the occasion when the matters
took place which, resulted in the present
proceedings, counsel added, it up
Feared that plaintiff was told defendant
ad-. taken a flat for her. He did not
meet her so she called at his office, where
she was told that she was to call at a place
in Hanover-square and give the name of
Hope-Johnstone. She went, and was shown
into a small flat. She noticed that another
flat opened out from the one she was in,
and that it was occupied by
Mr. Hope-Johnstone. She at once
objected and protested against' his?
conduct, saying that she ~ would
not, have it known that she was living in
London in a flat as Mrs. Hopf-Johnstone.
There was a row. The same evening they
dined together, and one of the first things
defendant did was to borrow 2345 from
her. She stayed in the flat that night.
[ Counsel then described a scene which oc-
curred that night. Defendant came to
her room from his own," said counsel. He
dragged her out of bed into the sitting
room, forced her down to the floor, and
rang the bell. There in a i half-clothed
condition, he held her while a man-servant came
and. when the men had seen
her he told him to go. He did this to humiliate
this lady of high birth and refine-
ment." The next day she looked for
rooms elsewhere. Defendant told her that
if she left he would '"
, Follow Her Wherever She Went.
In the afternoon of October 16 she called
at the defendants offices to tell him that
she had obtained rooms. She preferred to
go outside to talk to him, and they walked
down the street. He was talking to her in
a loud voice, and she protested, saying that
if he did not alter his tone she would have
to go the policeman for protection. He at
once, counsel stated, walked to a policeman
standing near and said, "I give this
woman in charge." "Why?" the police-
man asked. "Because she has stolen £6,
was the reply. They drove to Vine-street
police-station, where the same statement
was made to the inspector. When he was
asked whether he would prefer a charge
defendant altered his tone, and the matter
was not proceeded with. The whole charge
was a sheer invention. Plaintiff commenced
her action after visiting the French Consul.
At first, counsel went on to say, defendant
endeavored to get her to return to
him. professing love and affection. They
wrote, and all the time he tried to
get her to settle the action. They came to
terms, and defendant gave her a cheque for
the £340 he borrowed from her. The same
day be wired to his bankers stopping payment,
and said he would not apologise. He
sent her
Fifteen Telegrams in One Day,
rang her up continually on the telephone,
employed detectives to watch her, and
bragged that he had spent hundreds of
pounds on telegrams. Finding that that
would not do, he insulted her, her friends,
and relations. Plaintiff gave evidence cor-
decorating her counsel's statement. She
said she married the Comte Castries in 1902,
and, after divorce proceedings, married in
London the Prince di Formosa. They met
defendant some years ago, and had met his
wife and family after. The case was as
journed. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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