The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-05 00:00:00

THE BARON DE VIDIL.

The public are already aware that the application
which was made to the Chief Justice at chambers
to admit the Baron de Vidil to bail, upon the
chat ge of feloniously wounding his son, Alfred John
de Vidil, was refused, and the baron, consequently,
will have to remain in Newgate until the session of
the Central Criminal Court, on the 19th inst. The
following additional facts, however, in connexion
with this extraordinary affair, and which have been
obtained from a source on which the fullest reliance
may be placed, will doubtless be read with interest.
Although the Baron de Vidil stands committed
upon the capital charge of feloniously wounding
his son with intent to murder him, it appears that
ever since ha has been in custody he has asserted
that there is not the slightest foundation for such a
charge, and the account he gives of the transaction,
and which he will attempt to establish if he should
be put upon his trial, is this :—On the day the
occurrence took place the baron states that he and
his son were on the most friendly terms, and they
agreed to ride to Claremont to pay a visit to the
Comte de Paris, and the other members of the late
French Royal family who are residing there, and
they afterwards agreed to go to visit the Due
d'Aumale at Orleans House on the way the baron
asked his son to stop and dine with him at Hamp-
ton, but he, without assigning any reason, refused
to do so, and the baron was very much annoyed at
the obstinate manner in which he persisted in his
refusal. Nothing particular, however, occurred
until they arrived in the lane where the transaction
took place, and here, either by accident or design,
the young gentleman struck his father somewhat
sharply with his riding whip. The consequence
was that the baron, under the influence of
momentary excitement, struck his son two
severe blows on the head with the butt-
end of his own whip, but he had no idea that
he had inflicted any serious injury upon his son.
Young De Vidil is of very weak and nervous tem-
perament, and there appears to be no doubt that
when he first applied for a warrant against his
father he had not the most remote idea of charging
him with committing a felonious assault upon
him, and that his object in seeking the protection
of the law was that he might not be liable to any
further attacks of violence from his father. After
the occurrence had taken place the baron states he
treated the matter so lightly that he hardly even
thought of it, and his journey to Paris was quite
unconnected with the affair. It was here that he
first became aware that a charge of some kind or
other had been made against him in England, and
he at once applied to the Procareur-General upon
the subject ; by this functionary he was informed
that his son had made a charge of a serious charac-
ter against him to the British authorities, and that
although there was no treaty that would justify
his extradition, and there was no intention on the
part of the French Governmant to give him up, still
it was suggested that he had better leave Paris. It
seems that pending the proceedings, and while the
matter was under consideration by the French Go-
vernment, the baron, who had been placed under
temporary restraint, expressed his determination to
go to England to meet the charge, whatever it
might be, that was made against him, and he made
a personal application to the Procurier du Roi to
that effect ; it was upon this requisition that he was
brought back to this country, and upon his arrival
in London he, for the first time, learnt that he had
been accused of a capital crime by his son.
As a good many incorrect statements have been
made with reference to the property to which the
baron's son was entitled, and the interest the Baron
de Vidil had in this property, it may be as well to
state the exact position of the parties in reference
to these matters. It appears that by the marriage
settlement executed upon the marriage of Susannah
Jackson, the late baroness, with the Baron de Vidil,
a sum of £20,000 was vested in trustees, who were
to pay the interest upon this sum to the baroness
during her life, and after her decease to pay over
the interest to her husband, the baron. The
marriage settlement went on further to direct
that upon the death of the baron the prin-
cipal sum of £20,000 should be paid over
to such issue of the marriage as should
attain the age of 21 years, to be equally divided,
and in case of there being no such issua the money
was then to be paid over to Miss Sarah Jackson,
a sister of the deceased lady, or her issue. With
regard to a further sum of money in which the
Baron de Vidil was supposed to have an interest, it
appears that by a will and codicil of Mr. John
Jackson, tha father of the late baroness, a sum of
£lO,OOO was bequeathed to Alfred John de Vidil,
the baron's son, upon his coming of age ; that sum
has been paid to him and is now at his absolute dis-
posal, and the Baron de Vidil would have no inte-
rest whatever in this money, unless in the event of
his son dying without making a will, or bequeath-
ing it to him by such an instrument.
Since the proceedings that took place before the
magistrate at Bow-street, the son of the baron,
who, it will be remembered, positively refused to
give evidence against his father, and who was
threatened to be committed to prison in consequence
of that refusal, has been staying at the residence of,
Mr. Parker, his relative, at Ware, in
Hertfordshire,
not to give any evidence, although he is
and it is said that lie still adheres to
his determi-
nationbound over as a witness for the
of proceeding,
Ac-
before the grand
proceeding, he
cording to the ordinaryevciodueirevseeee
would have to give his
compel him ; all they could
any evidence they
jury; if he should refuse tomg
application to
improbable that in the absence
woulddo w would
uld havebe noto
mpowerake ato n o
the Court,
by the prosecutor, and on his
or to explain
and it is not at
.alln
of any informatio
refusal to give such evidence,
alleged under
what circumstances thecrime was commit-
in an ordinary cass, this would un-
doubtedly they would feel themselves justified in ignuring
°food that. no further attempt will be
the course *Lac would be taken.
undbdeer
procure the liberation of the baron on bail,
thenabo il 1,
It is
and be will consequently remain in Newgate until
his case shall hake been disposed of in due course

of law, either by the grand jury ignoring the bill,
or his being tried by a jury. He does not appear
so much affected by his confinement as would be
imagined, and during the last few days he has been
visited by several persons of distinction, who seem
to take the greatest interest in him, and to bo
strongly impressed with the conviction that he is
entirely innocent of the crime of which he is ac-
cused.