The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-28 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 28,

1881.

the printed book, which referred to scandalous I
stories about the lady's fair fame, and showed that
she did not write to Yelverton as the man to whom
she had been engaged to be married. He read a
passage—" Oh, if my dear sister Sarah were here,
she would get Ballemy to shoot any one who should
breathe a word about my reputation ;"—and another,
" Could you come to Smyrna, if I would go there for
the winter ?" She wrote again complaining of his
silence, and that brought out a reply which could
not have been received by any lady without scorn
and indignation, no matter, whether she had been
offered marriage or not. He did not justify the
conduct of Major Yelverton in this matter. Counsel
read the letter in question, in which there were
these words—" Touch me not ; if you do, you go
back infected." The lady explained that she did
not understand that language, except in a figurative
sense. If Major Yelverton were to be married,
would he not have said, " You are to wait for a
time ; my family would be inexorable ; we must
wait for a little time and then we will be married."
The question they had to determine was, were they
engaged to be married or not ? What was the use of
the word " infection ?" The use of that word by
Yelverton and other words referred to something
that was not right. He was not quite sure that she
did not intend to yield to the objects of Yelverton.
She had the most perfect confidence in being
able to effect marriage, though that did not at
the time pass through Yelverton's mind. This
was what prompted her to do many acts that she
thought would end innocently. He did not for a
moment attempt to justify Yelverton for his viola-
tion of the moral law. It was for the jury to say
whether such letters could have been written by
parties who contemplated marriage. The only
letter, he said, in which the word " marriage'
occurred, was that written by Mrs. Yelverton from
Bordeaux, when she began to doubt her position.
Mr. Sergeant Sullivan corrected the learned gen-
tleman, and said that this passsage occurred in the
letter:—" The only sacrifice which I could not
make for you was to keep the marriage secret."
Mr. Brewster resumed—He commented upon the
arrival of Mrs. Yelverton in the Crimea, and her
residence in the house of Mrs. Straubenzie, oppo-
site the hut of Major Yelverton. The visit to the
Crimea ended in a scene on board the steamer at
Balaklava. She gave a distinct denial as to that
occurrence, but a different account of that trans-
action would be gives. They agreed to live together,
but the terms of their connexion was to be con-
sidered as an element in the case. He always
understood that the most delicate reserve was pie•
served between persons about to be married. The
language used by Mrs. Yelverton in her letters
was not the language she should have used to a
person whom she was to admit through the gate
of matrimony to be her partner for life. The learned
gentleman read the following passage from Major
to Mrs. Yelverton :—" I still cannot counsel
you to wait for me if an opportunity offer
you may wish to embrace, for I feel
my self-command when we do meet, might
annoy you, as my want of it when we last met."
He (Mr. Brewster) would now come to the resi-
dence of this young lady in Edinburgh, and refer
to the marriages one after the other. Mrs. Yelver-
ton followed the defendant to Scotland, and her
case now was that Major Yelverton married
her there by what was known as a Scotch mar-
riage; but the case he was about to bring forward
in opposition to this was, that it was simply untrue
—that in point of fact no form of marriage ever
took place between them in Scotland, and that
circumstances occurred then and there between
them which had never before occurred. The case
of the defendant as to this was proved by Mrs. Yel-
verton's letter from Hull, after her Edinburgh trip.
It was plain she was not then his wife, that she
knew she was not his wife, and that she doubted if
he would ever make her his wife. The letter was
not the letter of a wife to a husband. It was with
regret that the defendant was obliged to make the
case that this Scotch marriage was a pure inven-
tion. If it was not, why was not Miss M'Farlane,
who it was said it was agreed was to be told of
it, was not present ? Why should there be no
witnesses when this young lady was in the next
room ? The whole story was incredulous, and the
letters proved its incredulity. Was a woman likely
to ask her husband to burn her letters ? Yet this
young woman, who alleged she was married, in her
first letter after the alleged Scotch marriage, asked
him to burn her letters. The truth was, she was
not married, but she had a passion for the defen-
dant which overwhelmed her. He loved her and
she loved him, but he could not marry ber, and
therefore he avoided her attractive company; but
at last she followed him to Edinburgh, where, un-
fortunately, circumstances occurred which did make
her position a dreadful one. When this occurred
she proposed to the defendant, who always refused
to marry her, that he should consent to have a
marriage by a Roman Catholic priest so-
lemnised, which would ease her conscience,
although she knew a legal union could not
be had between them on account of the difference
of their creed. The case was one of the most extra-
ordinary ones which ever came into a court of jus-
tice. In many respects it was so. It differed from
all other such cases in the world in this, that they
had a lady coming forward to vindicate the character
of the man who injured her.
The Chief Justice—The impression on my mind
of what she said on this subject was, that insinua-
tions were put forward of improprieties on her part
by the defendant's counsel, that she did not believe
Major Yelverton was capable of putting forward,
as they were wholly untrue.
A Juror—That is exactly the meaning of what
she said. She stated that she did not believe the
defendant had authorised certain questions to be put
to her that reflected on her character, and that were
unfounded.
Mr. Brewster stated that he was no doubt mis-
taken in this matter, having been out of court
when it took place, and would not further allude
to it, but at once proceed to refer to the visit
of the defendant and this lady to Malahide.
It would be proved that they had but one
sitting-room and one bedroom, and slept
together; and that in Newry also they occupied
but one bedroom. While in Newry Major Yelver-
ton proceeded to Rostrevor, and remained there for
Bor 10 days. Part of the time he was in Dublin ;
but when there they occupied the one bed. If Mrs.
Yelverton's case were true this would be no impu-
tation upon her, but her veracity would turn upon
it. She swore that no intercourse ever took place
until after the Newry marriage. If the Scotch
marriage had taken place at all, it was inconceiv-
able that the defendant would not have insisted on
enjoying the rights of a husband. Major Yelverton
most improperly consented to enter into an invalid
marriage at the lady's request; and he (Mr. Brew-
ster) would admit that the Newry marriage would
have been a valid one if the parties were both Roman
Catholics, but being solemnised between a Protes-
tant and a Roman Catholic it was undoubtedly
illegal, and illegal by statute. God forbid that he
(Mr. Brewster) should attempt to justify the con-
duct of Major Yelverton. The real question
was, was the defendant a professing Roman Catho-
lic for twelve months prior to the marriage ? This
all depended on the credit to be given to Mrs. Yel-
verton's evidence. if he had proposed for her, as
she said, would she not have inquired about his re-
ligion ? Every one knew theAvonmores were a Pro-
testant family, and that Barry Yelverton got his
peerage, and became Chief Baron of the Exchequer
at a time when none but a Protestant could be a
judge of that court. The truth was the defendant
was then, and always was, a Protestant, and it
would be proved that he constantly attended the
Established Church up to a few days before the
Irish wedding. Mr. Brewster, in conclusion, said
he had now brought this melancholy case to an end,
as far as ho was concerned. The result of the con-
nection between Major Yelverton and this lady was
what might have been expected. She was about to
become a mother, and he deserted her and married
another woman. If the case of the plaintiff was
sustained the defendant would be ruined. For
him, indeed, he (Mr. Brewster) felt but little ; but
he did feel for the woman he had since made his
wife, and for his children, the eldest of whom was
the right heir of the Avonmore peerage, and would
he bastardised if the plaintiff got a verdict. No
Scotch marriage ever took place, and the Irish
marriage was illegal on account cf his creed ; and,
under his lordships' direction, he had no doubt
they would feelconstrained to find a verdict for the
defendant.

At half-past 5 o'clock the court adjourned till the
following day.

DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY.

•
The evidence for the defence was commenced
this morning. Major Yelverton has been under
examination all day. The case is expected to be
concluded to-morrow.

THE GOSSIP OF THE " HALL.”—Great anxiety is
manifested by the crowds who congregate in the
Hall to see Major Yelverton. He has been in the
Hall off aril on during the past three days, but he
7as unrecognised, and was consequently not sub-
jected to the attentions of the curious. 'Major
William Charles Yelverton is now in his 37th year,
having been born in September, 1824. He is the
eldest surviving son, being of the second mar-
riage, of the present Viscount Avonmore with Miss
Cecilia O'Keefe, daughter of the late Charles
O'Keefe, one of the Registrars of the Irish Court of
Chancery. Major Yelverton is, therefore, the great
grandson of the noted Barry Yelverton—the firet
Viscount Avonmore. The lady with whom it is
staoted Major Yelverton contracted his second mar-
riage is said to be a constant attendant at the trial.
She was the widow of the eminent Professor Forbes,
of the University of Edinburgh, by whom she was