The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-12-04 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER

girl sitting with Lord Colin on his bed. She was
apparently on his knee, and she had herarms round his
neck. She spoke to him about this afterwards.
He said that what she had asserted was a lie. Mr.
Humphreys said it was a very ugly circumstance.
She also said to Lord Colin that if he persisted in
going on with his petition it would be her duty to
tell Mr. George Lewis what she had told Mr. Hum-
phreys. She afterwards did so. Lord Colin said
also of Mary Watson, "She is a good little thing.
She is very fond of me. She has very nice hair, and
I take it down and play with it." Witness had seen
letters from Mary Watson to Lor3 Colin. She knew
they were from Watson because he told her so. They
were signed "Your affectionate Mary.' She told him
he ought to send her away, as she was a very
awkward person to have in the house, He declined.
Various letters were read which passed between
witness (who was called " Muzzy " by the Campbells)
and Lord Colin (whose nickname was "Coco ") rela-
tive to the attempted arrangement of the unhappy
differences that existed between the latter and wife;
and the case was then adjourned.

The tr'.4l of the suits was continued on
Saturday. Lady Miles was cross-examined by
Mr. Finlay, mainly upon two points—her account
of the act of familiarity between Lord Colin Camp-
bell and his servant, Amelia Watson, and an to
whether a passage in one of her letters did not mean
that the divorce proceedings by Lady Colin Campbell
were initiated by the then Marquis of Blandford
Asked whether by a sentence in one of her letters she
meant to suggest to Lord Colin that he should com-
mit adultery in order that his wife might get a di-
vorce, Lady Miles warmly and indignantly repudiated
the proposition. No other witness being called for
the petitioner,
Mr. Finlay opened the case for the respondent.
He said :—lt was a matter of inexpressible relief to
Lord Colin to at last have the opportunity of defend-
ing himself in open court from the gross and cruel
imputations which had been so long hanging over
him. The jury now knew what evidence it was ln
which this trumped-up charge was made against Lord
Colin Campbell, and their eyes had been opened to
its character. The parties were engaged in 1880, and
after that Lord Colin took a sea voyage to get rid of
an Eastern fever he had caught while in the East with
Mr. Goschen. On his return from the voyage the
marriage was brought on the tapis. With regard to
Lord Can's health, he was suffering from a stricture,
but his illness was in no sense of the term as had been
described. It was quite true that the stricture was the
result of indiscretion many years previously at Cam-
bridge. The state of Lord Colin's health was an
obstacle to the marriage, and both his surgeons ad-
vised him not to marry, not on account of any possible
danger to his wife, but on account of danger to him-
self. These facts were communicated to Mrs. Blood,
but she continued to urge on the marriage, saying
that Lord Colin's state of health needbe no obstacle, as
her daugher would be perfectly satisfied to be his
nurse only. Mrs. Blood wrote to the Duke of Argyll,
who did not approve of the engagement, and had not
at that time called on the Bloods or recognised Miss
Blood in any way. The way Mrs. Blood urged on the
marriage was inconsistent with the most elementary
sense of decency or propriety, and in an evil hour the
marriage took place on the 21st of July, 1881. It was
for them to consider whether such a marriage was
likely to be a happy one. The marriage was not con-
summated until nearly the end 40 November or the
beginning of December, 1881, and for that Sir Charles
Russell had denounced Lord Colin and held him up to
execration as the basest of men for not being wiser
than the two surgeons who had made these matters
their special study. After that marital intercourse
between Lord and Lady Colin Campbell was only very
occasional, and it ceased altogether after the 10th of
June, 1882. He should next show what sort of a
nurse Lady Colin made. In September and October,
1881, Lord Colin was laid up in bed for a fort-
night with a bad cold, but what did this young wife—
not more than two months married—do? She
was out all day, dined out frequently, and had her
own visitors and led her own life. On that occasion she
was called on by Lord Blandford (now Duke of Marl-
borough), who remained with her about an hour.
Afterwards Lord Colin said to his wife in a pointed
manner, "I don't know Lord Blandford," she re-
plied, "Oh, we only had a talk about Gladstone."
(Laughter.) In November, 1881, Lord Colin went to
Scotland and caught another bad cold, which made
him extremely ill. Two days after that Lady Colin
left him in bed and went on a visit to Lady Miles at
Leigh Court. Lord Colin was ill again from Decem-
ber, 1881, to January, 1882, but on the 27th Decem-
ber Lady Colin left her husband in bed and went
sway again to Leigh Court. In fact, the title of
"Lady Cohn "was only a warrant for that liberty
which an unmarried woman could not have by the
usages of society. At Easter again she went to Leigh
Court, and at that time Lord Blandford was there.
Their bedrooms, either by accident or design, were
next to each other. It was alleged that Lord Bland-
ford committed adultery with Lady Colin during that
visit to Leigh Court. On April 30 the visit came to
an end, and then Lady Colin went to Paris with a party
of friends. Lord Blandford being one of the party. They
remained there until May 13. Lady Colin's chaperone
was Lady Miles, and it was for the jury to consider
whether the austere control of that estimable lady was
sufficient to prevent mischief at Paris any more than
at Leigh Court. In tho following June Lady Colin
came suddenly to London and packed off her
maid Rose Abear to her home in Switzerland.
That was a point which must be considered. He
should call evidence to show that while Lord Colin
Campbell was lying ill from the effects of an opera-
tion performed on him at Leigh Court Lady Campbell
was continuhlly running up to London from that
place, and it was during that period that the alleged
intimacy with Dr. Bird took place. Lady Colin only
just looked in during the morning to Lord Colin's
room, and during the remaining part of the day she
was away, and was perpetually in the company of Dr.
Bird, walking about in all sorts of weather, and in
fact more of her time was given to that gentleman
than was judicious. She was then certainly in his
society, and during this period she was also known to
visit Lord Blandford. On the ieturn to Cadogan-place,
after Lord Colin had sufficiently recovered, the alleged
intimacy with Colonel Butler took place. He called
one afternoon, on the 13th of April, and went to
the drawing-room, where he remained some hours.
A. lady friend of Lady Colin's called, and at this
time Lady Colin, with hair disarranged and face
, flushed, called out to her maid that she was not at
home, so the lady left without teeing Lady Campbell.
After Colonel Butler had been in the house for over
three hours, and although Lord Colin was then in
his apartments, having returned meanwhile, he left in
the most silent manner, slipping downstairs quietly
on tiptoe—(laughter)—certainiy not in the manner
one friend would leave the house of another. That
evening Lady Colin was taken ill. (Sensation.) Re-
verting again to the charge against Dr. Bird he asked
the jury whether it would be believed that any
medical gentleman would, after the serious charge
made against him, remain in the house of the person
making it without the most absolute apology and com-
plete retractation of the charge, and felt certain that
the theory that had been put forward on the point
would not be satisfactory to the jury. He then
referred to the illness of Lady Colin, and
the course that was pursued by herself
and Dr. Bird. Lord Colin at that time
knew nothing, but she had a guilty conscience, and
got Mr. Lewis to write a letter charging Lord Cohn with
communicating to her a disgusting disease, declining
to live any more with him as a wife, but offering to
remain in the house in separate apartments. Lord
Colin refused, for he had never heard of the charge
before. Coming to the story of the cabman and the.
letter from Lord Blandford, he insisted that the
version of the affair that he had attempted to put
before the jury was the correct one. He then referred
to incidents that took place on July 13, two days
before the family meeting at Zion House, and said
on that occasion Lady Cohn Campbell came home
late at night with a gentleman who remained in the
house some time and then left. He then dealt with
the proceedings at the Zion House meeting, and in-
sisted that many of the letters that had been read
during the proceedings had been written with the
sole object of intimidating Lord Colin Campbell.
At this point in the learned counsel's speech the
court adjourned until Monday.

On Monday Mr. Finlay, resuming his address, re-
capitulated the statement that marriage was pressed
upon Lord Colin, notwithstanding his state of health.
The Blood family took advantage of his pasrion ti
virtually coerce him into marrying Miss Blood. The
charge of cruelty against Lord Colin had not been
breathed until after he had intimated to Lady Colin
his suspicions of her infidelity. -There was no doubt
that during a portion of the married life Lady Colin
was suffering from a disorder, which, however, did
not prevent her from enjoying the pleasures of town
and country life. If she had reason, as she now pre-
tended, for thinking lila it came from her husband,
would she not have told him so herself? She never
did anything of the kind.
Mr. Justice Butt pointed out that the cruelty had
been proved in a former action; and he should tell
the jury that they must take it as a fact that a
malady of some sort was communicated by her hus-
band to Lady Colin. Judgment was based upon that
fact and that fact alone. He could not, therefore,
allow that to be contested as a fact.
Commenting on the fact that Lady Miles's letters
to Lord Colin had been so freely used, Mr. Finlay
pointed out that they had to be disclosed on affidavit
by Lord Cohn; and therefore, though Lady Miles
had said that ladies' letters ouglit to be kept sacred,
and that she thought she was writing to a man of
honour, there had been no breach of confidence
Could any husband's conduct have been more con-
siderate than Lord Colin's? His wife asked that for
the rest of their married lives they should never live
together as married persons. Lord Colin said in
effect that he could make no such bargain, for those
were not the principles on which English married life
was generally conducted; but he would, he said,
never press Lady Colin against her will. He would
trust to time, to kindness, and to the supervening of
better state of feeling on her part, for a restitution
of that state of things which ought to characterise
every married life. Lord Colin behaved with
perfect propriety, and yet this was the man who
for the last two years had been held up, as Sir Charles
Russell had also depicted him, as a pariah unfit for
human society. Mr. Finlay, continuing, expressed his
obligetion to Lady Miles for a phrase in one of her
lettem. _n which she enoke of the family. council of
4- 4 -

the Blood's at Thurloe-square, as an "odious and most
unfair seance." At that interview Mr. George Lewis
required Lord Colin to sign a paper containing, not
only the promise that there should be no future co-
habitation between himself and Lady Colin, but ad-
missions also that he had behaved to his wife in an
infamous way, which Lord Colin very rightly refused
to sign. A document of that kind would have been
sufficient to have practically exonerated Lady Colin.
It would have been a complete indemnity to her
for all misconduct in the past and future. The
petition was filed on July 28. Was that petition
filed for any other purpose than for carrying out
the game of intimidation, and holding a pistol to
Lord Colin's head? Did not those who instructed
Mr. Lewis to make the allegations contained in the
petition, Mr. Finlay asked, know that they were un-
true? Yes, for when the case came into court everything
in the petition was withdrawn. In the case in which
Lady Colin obtained a verdict, it had perhaps in a
great measure been obtained by two circumstances—
his learned friend's advocacy and the presence of a
lovely woman in the witness-box. Again, he should
dread this were it not for the fact that he had evi-
dence which would shed a flood of light upon Lady
Colin's character and antecedents, and it would be
for the jury to say whether, if Lord Colin had
in the previous case been possessed of the evi-
dence he had since collected, the jury would
not have given a verdict in his favour.
As to the proceedings taken" in Paris for the
arrest of Lady Colin, Mr. Finlay urged that some
allowance should be made for a man who believed
that his wife was there living in adultery with Lord
Blandford. Lord Colin acted upon legal advice, and
applied for a summons, not a warrant, and Lady
Colin could not have been sent to prison, if the case
had been proved against her before a magistrate. Mr.
Finlay, therefore, asked the jury to discharge from
their minds any impression which the statements of
Sir C. Russell might have produced; for what might
have occurred in Paris had nothing to do with the
case before the jury. There were four persons
charged with having committed adultery with Lady
Colin—the Duke of Marlborough, Dr, Bird, Captain
Shaw, and Gen. Butler. As to Lord Blandford Lady.
Colin corresponded with him and addressed him as
"Dear George." One m)rning in the spring of 1882
Lord Blandford brought her home between one and
two in the 'morning, went upstairs, and remained 20
minutes. Another time he came to afternoon tea, and
the e'er-rant bringing the too rather more quickly than
usual found the drawing-room door locked. Coming
a second time she found the door unlocked and the
furniture of the room disarranged, and Lady Colins'
face flushed. The jury would be asked if there was
any doubt that adultery was committed on those
occasions. Lady Colin's maid would prove that Lady
Colin's bed at Leigh Court was certainly slept in by
more than one person. The alleged adultery at Fur
-
fleet Hotel would be proved by a servant and two in-
dependent witnesses. Coming to the case against Mr.
Tom Bird, Mr. Finlay stated that he had been on
terms of friendship with Lady Colin before her
marriage. He and Lady Colin were continually in
each other's company. After Lady Colin's return
to London Dr. Bird was a frequent caller, and Lady
Colin gave orders that they should never be inter-
rupted. On one occasion, returning from. an East.
end charity concert, they were seen by the cabman
who drove them caressing each other. They drove
to the doctor's house in Brook-street, and the clb-
man remained outside in the hope of getting a job,
but she remained so long that he drove away. Mr.
Bird when he visited Lady Colin would stay by her
bedside for hours in a darkened room. Coming next
to Captain Shaw, Mr. Finlay said that in October,
1881, Lady Colin met him in Cadogan-place, and re-
mained in an unfurnished drawing-room with him for
an hour. In June or July, 1882, they were in the
dining-room alone under circumstances which could
leave little doubt on the mind of the jury as to
adultery. With regard to Col. Butler, the evidence
only referred to the colonel's extended stay with Lady
Colin on April 13, when he remained with her in
the drawing-room for two hours. During that time
, the servants had orders to state that Lady Colin was
I not at home, and though Lord Colin returned to the
house the colonel escaped without seeing his lordship.
En conclusion, Mr. Finlay reverted to the charge
made against Lord Colin. It was, he said, a matter
of life and death with Lord Colin, for on its settle-
ment depended his future existence. The charge of
having committed adultery with Mary Watson,
founded upon the miserably weak evidence of Lady
Miles, was an infamous falsehood, and would be
denied on oath by Lord Colin, Mary Watson, and
every servant in the house. It was a wicked con-
spiracy concocted by two shameless women against
Lord Colin. Mary Watson had been medically
examined, and was pronounced to be a virgin. It
woild be an absolute impossibility that anything of
the kind that had been stated could have taken
' place. What, he asked, did the jury think of the
conduct of these two women—of Lady Miles, with
her virtuous airs and her Prayer Book? The asser-
tion was an infamous falsehood concocted by Lady
Colin Campbell and Lady Miles—cousins, confede-
rates, and associates—to ruin the character of Mary
Watson, whose bread depended on her character.
Commenting on the evidence of Lady Miles, counsel
I insisted that untruth appeared on the feee of
I cause no two persons would have the effrontery to
commit adultery with the door of the room standing
wide open for every patter-by to see what was going
on. Then, with regard to the Prayer Book, it be-
longed to her daughter and not to Lady Miles.
Lady Miles (excitedly) : It is my Prayer Book.
Mr. Finlay said that on opening it there was the
following written: "Violet Miles. From her
loving mother." He did not hesitate to say that
the two crosses at the Morning Prayer, referring
I to Lord Collin and Mary Watson, were made for
the purpose of this ease. In conclusion, Mr.
Finlay said he could only rely on the strength of the
evidence he should adduce. _

Dr. Clement Godson, physician to the City of
London Lying-in Hospital, first, and subsequently Dr.
Gibbons, physician to the Grosvenor Hospital for
Diseases of Women and Children, stated that they
bad examined Mary Watson and found her nrgo in-
tacta. _ _ .

Mary Watson gave evidence totally denying the
alleged familiarities between her and Lord Colin
Campbell. In cross-examination she admitted having
stated that she had never seen any impropriety on the
part of Lady Cohn; but she spoke to the frequent
visits of Lord Blandford to Lady Colin and to
numerous:letters passing between them. The furthe2
hearing was adjourned till Wednesday.