Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-08-06
AN OLD SCANDAL.
Revived by a New Claimant
of BerkIey,
HOW MARY COLE BECAME A WEE.
A Mothers Plot TO Prove that
Her Children were Born
i'm WedlOck.

LONDON, Aug. 4.-The commit.
tee of privileges of the house OF
lords met to-day at Westminster for
the purpose OF deciding upon the ar.
rangements for the forthcoming
hearing Of the case of the new claim.
ant to the Earldom of Berkeley.
Contrary to practice the case will be
heard with open doors and will
bring out a.good deal Of the scandal
Gus history connected with the fam
lily, and which has been vented at
various times dur nG the past cen
tury. There is already an Earl of
Berkeley but he enjoys little more
than the ancient hOnDrs Of the house.
The present hearing however, means
a rsopening of the famous Berkeley
peerage case which was vice heard
before the house of lords in the early
part of the present century. The
Berkeley estates consisted Of about
10000 acres of rich la"d in Glouces.
tershire and two adjacent counties,
and the ancestral seat of the fam.
lily was the famous historic
castle of Berkeley, where
Edward II met with his
horrid death, the grant having been
made as far back as the reign of
Henry II. The death of the fifth
Earl of Berkely in 1910, his eldest
son presented Il petition to the crown
for writ of summons as Earl OF
Berkeley, which was referred to the
house of lords, which came to the
conclusion that the claim had not
been substantiated. The fifth earl
had married Miss Mary Cole,
daught Of butcher at Wooton,
near Gloucester, and the case chiefly
turned on the question when ne was
first married to her. Beyond all
doubt, on May II, 1896, Frederick
August Berkeley, "batchelor," was
married to Mary Cole. "spinster," 4"
at st. Mary Lambeth, by which
time the said Mary Cole had born
the earl several children, but it was
alleged that an earlier marriage
took place at Berkeley in March,
1855, which had been kept secret.
In 1888, at her fathers death, Mary
Cole came to Lopdon to live with
her sister, who was q woman of
loose character. a little after she
became servant with a family in
Kent, at the wages of S35 per an
mum. Then her sister sent for her
back again. According to one ac-
count her sister was about being
taken to prison for "A debt of one
hundred guineas, when Lord
Berkeley came to the rescue
with the money in hand,
aud Mary Cole hencefor-
ward became his mistress. She
.ook the name of Miss Tudor, and
ived in PARK street, Berkeley square,
where half a dozen children were
BORN, who were registered as illegiti-
nate offspring of Augustus Freder-
ok Berkeley, however, alleged that
he was all this time the lawful " ile
# Lord Berkeley, only the mar
iage had been kept secret ON account
# the light character of her sister.
She always went by the name of
Mss Tudor and once when a ser
ant addressed her as though she
we're a countess, the earl blamed
lin for his blunder. The marriage
'egister of Berkeley church was
roduced showing the entry of
marriage i'm March, 1875, the entry
TO be made by clergy.
lan who had since died, and the
witnesses to the marriage were
larry Coles brother, a boy of l5 who
ad signed himself civilian Tu-
Or" and man who never had an
Nistence. William Tudor swore
hat he had heard the
ans of the marriage published
church, but nobody else
ppears to haye heard them. The
>liciter general in 1871 described
ne case as "a dreadful measure Of
erury and guilt;' but Mary Cole,
fterwards Countess of Berllley, al
'ays Indignantly repudiated the
harges Of fraud made against her,
nd letters are now being published
'hich she addressed 10 Lord Frs
Inc, in which she passiouately pro-
'sts her innocence. II was ALLEGED
the time that, 10y repeated threats
nd importuuities, she at last pre-
allied upon the earl to make her
Is wife, and that then she prevailed
pom her husband to join her IN a
lot to legitimize her elder children
y trumping up the story of a secret
larrlage at Berkeley. The proofs of
lis marriage, however were Insult
cient TO satisfy the house OF lords.
lac earl of Berkeley, who had mar
ed Mary Cole, bequeathed the ,
estates TO his oldest son,
ho In vain claimed the title. How
yer, he received in 1881 a sort of
lnsolation peerage, being called
, the house of lords, under the title
Lord Seagrave, lie died unmar-
ed IN 1857 and his next brother
lcceeded To the estates aud was
lbsequently created Lord Fitzhard-