Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-03-08
EVENING STAR,

EXCITEMENT IN IRISH HIGH LIFE.
Charges against Cabinet Minister of Fraud
and Perjury.
The Dublin correspondent of the Lon
don Times of February IL, gives the de-
tails of a trial which is going on in Dub.
lin, involving very larges estates, and in
which revelations are made which,, if
substantiated, must stamp with indeli.
BILE disgrace not only the memory of the
dead, but cast serious slur upon the
reputation of the living.
The case alluded to is that of Hand.
cock against Delacour, otherwise De
Burgh, which first came before the
Chancellor as far back as Tuesday, the
oath of January. The arguments occu-
pied several days, and all the available
ability of the Irish bar was enlisted on
both sides, the attorney general and soil.
citor general leading for the petitioner.
and Mr.. Henry Marty, G. c., and Mr..
f. Fitzgerald, @. O., for the respondents.
The petitioner in the case was John
Stratford Handbook, the heir-atlaw of
his neice, Miss Honoria Handbook, who
died on the 18th December, 1853, intes
tate. On coming to take possession of
his property he found that certain deeds,
executed by HonoHa and her two elder
sisters, who had pre-deceased her, Ger.
tain judgments entered up by ono of
them, Josephine, and certain charges
created by her will, would have the effect
OF depriving him of the estates and vest
ing tn m in the respondent, Delacour, a
natural son of the mother of these Young
ladies' . minor. The petition was, that
these deeds and other charges should be
set aside. AS the case is not without
its lessons both in morals and politics.
we lay before our readers short abstract
OF it, taken from the opening statement
Of the petitioners counsel, the attorney
general. The statement is, indeed, eI-
parte, but it has not been answered-un.
less an agreement to give the attorney
generals client all he asks, for a consid-
Grafton of f20, 200, can be called an an.
swer.
1t appears that certain Miss Catha.
rine Josephine Kelly was great beauty,
and also very ambitious and designing
woman; and it was alleged that she,
with the assistance Of ord Clanricade.
formed the project of allying herself to
MIR. Handbook, gentleman of consider
able property. She succeeded, and the
estates, after life use, were settled On
the children in tail, with a jointure of
f7OO year for the widow. Mr. Hand.
cock s friends were averse to the mar
riage, yet it took place, and three daugh-
ters were the issue. From 1928 to. lS4O
there were no further children. In this
latter year, in consequence of suspicion
OF too great an intimacy between Lord
Clsnricade and Mrs. Handbook, there
was a separation, and Mr.. Handbook
went to France.
In October of that year, Mrs. Hand
cock was the guest of Lord Clanricarde
at Fortuna Castle. This fact seems,
however, to have escaped the recollection
OF Lord Clanricar6c, as bis affidavit STATE s
that it was impossible fTr him. to have
seen her during that year, as he passed
the winter in Russia. A deed of separ-
alton was executed in July, lS4l, and il.
the same year, when Mrs. Handbook was
on the continent, and after she had been
some time separated from her husband,
she gave birth to an infant, the present
respondent, but no one could say who
was his father or when he was born. In
1912 Handbook returned, dying man,
to England, and took up his abode in
Michael's road, BromptOn. There was
reason to believe that when he first came
there he was not anxious to have renewed
intercourse with Lord Clanricarde or his
wife.
Lord Clanricarde, however, prevailed
upon him to accept of his good Offices.
He reconciled the husband and father, a
few days before his death, in lS43, to his
discarded wife and deserted children.
Which of US would have thought, asks
the Morning News, as we returned
through Michael road, Brompton, on a
winters eve in 1843, disseminated per-
haps after day of fruitless toll, that at
that moment good Samaritan, in the
shape of fashionable marquis, was in
that humble suburb, restoring the out
cast, reconciling the estranged, and par
taking of the exquisite enjoyment of wit
HCSoih6 suC AoPpiuCcS VI WulCu uc WAS
himself the author. Alas there is an
other side to the picture! Hear the At
torney- General:
"a notice had been served on the re-
spondent in this cause to produce diary
which the eldest daughter, Josephine,
appeared to have kept, and he (the At
torney General had examined it, and |
anything more touching than the account
so given by that young lady of the mis-
erable scenes she then witnessed, he |
never heard. The father was in the Gus
tody of spy in the pay Of Mrs. Hand |
cock, her object being to acquire the Gus
tody of those children and the control of
their fortunes. 1t was known that Mr..
Handbook had made a will by which his
brother in law was to ave been entrust-
ed with the most delicate office of pro-
tecting his children, and this spy was
placed about him, and like persons in
his condition, he endeavored to betray
the person he was employed to betray
IL Al ho yha