The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1861-03-27
The PeriIs OF Female Letter.
Writing.


A curious page OF social life has been re-
vealed by the proceedings in an Irish court
Of law. As it bears mora of as much sig.
nficance here as on the other side OF the
Atlantic, we CondeDse the leading facts from
the VoluminouO reports in the English pa
pers. -..f .. -..
10 1862. theresa Longworth, young,
beautiful and accomplished English lady, Of
good family, was coming, unattended, from
France, where she had been to visit her sis.
ter, to her English home. On the steamer
she met the Hon. Charles Yelverton, n Of
fcer in the Army, and heir to the peerage
of Avonmore. A speaking acquaintance
wos formed and Capt. Yelverton afterwards
paid her short visit at her home. In 1853
Miss Longworth was sent to complete her
studies 10 Italy. Having letter to send to
cousin at Montenegro, which bad to be re-
m,iled at Malta, she enclosed it to Captain
Yelverton, who chanced to be at the latter
place. From this incident correspondence
sprang up which extended over several years
neither OF the parties seeing each other in
the mea ntime. The tone OF the letters
passed from mere civilities to warm friend
ship, and eventually to a"platonic love."-
In 1855 Miss Longwortb, who was Roman
Catholic, Joined band OF Sisters OF Mercy,
who volunteered to attend the hospital at
GaIatz during the Crimean war. Six months
had been passed by her in the most self.
sacrificing devotion to the holy cause in
which she had engaged, when, in an evil
hour, Capt. Yelverton arrived in the Crimea,
heard of her, and sought her out. Accord
ing to his own confession, he no sooner saw
her than he conceived the idea of her ruin,
emboldened to do 80 by the endearing tone
of the "platonc epislles" he had received
from her. Neither the place she was in,
the dress she wore, or the holy missicn in
| which she was engaged, enid his sick and
dying brethren ia arms, prevented him rom
laying his vile plans. Protesting warm
love, he obtained her consent to leave her
occupation and become his wife.
He proposed a secret marriage by such
priest as he might fad, 10 whcn she object
ed, and the ma!riige was deferred til their
arrival in Engl rd Some weeks were
spent in the Crimea, Miss Longwor,h vi it.
ing with the wife OF genera offieer, and
Copt. Yelverton making frequent calls on
her. He still urged secret marriage, but
she retu1ed uDtil they arrived in Sc 'tland.
when, it appears. they performed Scotch
marri ge, which consist, merely OF the two
parties conserving to take ch oth2s, such
a marriage being binding in Scotch law.
The conscience of the bride was not sat
i.fjed at this, and subs Iently the marriage
was duly performed by R,man Catholic
priest, YeIve'ton's injunction being that the
marriage should be KEPT secret. They lived
together as m n and wife in several parts OF
Great Britain and the Continent, he always
forbidding her to m Ike the marriage public,
although her coed name began to suffer in
consequence. Eventually he threw her off
md married lady OF rank and wealth -
The validity Of the marriage is denied by
| Yelverton on the ground that he was n Pro
testant, and the lady Roman Catholic. that
the MARI age ceremony was not performed
! in proper manner, and that there is stat.
ute in Ireland annulling marriages perform
ed by Roman Catholic priest. when one OF
the parties is protestant. He also boldly
claims that he was careful throughout that
she cluld hsvo no other claim on him than
| tn at of mistress. The clse has not yet
been decided.
| The moral contsined in this story is plain
enough to be discovered. Had Miss Long.
worth been more cautious in allowing chance
acquaintanceship to ripen into closer friend
ship, and had she ahstained from entering
into injudicious and uncalled for correspon.
dence with man of whom she knew little,
she would have been spared her present un.
fortunate position. Capt. Yelverton con-
| hat ho
boldent d . seek the ruin OF the girl had 1t
not been for the indiscreet avowals of "Pla.
tonic" affection contained in her letters
Doubtless there are similar cases ranspiring
almost every week, but the rank OF the par.
ties in the present case gives it unusual
prominence Cleveland Herald.