The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-04-23
WAS It A CONSPIRACY?
VIM. Henry Hurlbut Claims That
the Recent Case Against Him
Was Such.
Mrs. Hurlbut Disproves Many of
the Instances Alleged
Against Him.
Gladys Evelyn Proved to Be of Bad Char
acter-Jackson, the Co-Conspirator
-Wiifred Murray.

that proved of most interest in the social
and political world of London has been the
suit of she woman who calls herself Gladys
Evelyn, or Gertrude Ellis. as best suits her
convenience. against William Henry Hurl-
but, we'll known in Europe and America rs
a literateur and journalist, for breach of
promise of marriage. The suit, which re-
suited in the defeat. of the conspirators, is
the result of one of the most extraordinary
and dangerous conspiracies that has ever
come within the cognizauce of an English
court. No one who knows Mr.. Hurlbut,
and of his most pleasant domestic relations
with a charming and cultured wife. would
consider the charge of this prostitute and
her paramour in any other light than that
of the ridiculous if the desperation of the
conspirators had not driven them to
bring the matter into court. The woman
Ellis charges that she met Hurlbut
In an omnibus in the fall of 1887, and that
he followed her home and made her &C
quaintance. telling her that his name was
Wilfred Murray, and that on May 6 of the
following year he proposed marriage to her.
Her paramour, jackson. one of the lowest
of vulgar Adventures. supports her asser-
ton that Hurlbut often called on her at her
home in Kensington, and that improper re-
lations existed between them. This same
jackson has been forced to admit that at
the same time he and the woman were liv-
ing together as husband and wife. Hurl-
butts explanation is that his one time sec
Rotary. Wilfred Murray, is the person who
had the intrigue, and that the letters to
Miss Ellis, which were said to
be in the masters handwriting, were
really from the pen of the man.
This might be proved easily enough,
if Murray were at hand, but he disappeared
from Mr.. Hurlbut's sight & year and a
half ago, and although search has been
made for him, he is not to be found. OF
course there is any amount of evidence
brought forward to prove the woman's
charges including a journal covering the
period OF the intrigue she alleges. there is
nothing in the journal, however, that might
not have been trumped up, nor is there
naught else in the testimony offered that liz
definitely corroborated. On the contrary,
the letters offered in testimony are not only
of so vile q nature that none of Hurlbut's
friends can POSSIBLY believe that he wrote
them. but "Wilfred Murray's'' use of the
English language is of a nature that it
would be out of the question for a man of
Hurlbuts culture even to Initiate.
The CORRESPONDENT saw Mr.. and Ms.
Hurlbut at their home III Devere Gardens
this evening. MIS-. Hurlbut has only Just
arrived from Rome. She would have been
in London to testify during the week only
that Mr.. Hurlbut did not expect the trial to
come off before july. When it was set
down ~forlast Monday he at once teleeraphed
for his wife, whose testimony would dis
prove many of Miss Ellis statements, but
although she started at once for London
she was unable to get here in time to APP
pea in court, Mrs, Hurlbut was not bound
By this convention.
at is monstrous,'' she said. that the
English laws are such that an infamous
woman like this plaintiff is able to bring
my husband. If could only have reached
Lordon in time | could have proved alibis
on several of the most conspicuous charges.
We first learned of this conspiracy in Sep
TENDER 1888. On the 9Th of that month we
paid a visit TO Lord North, in Oxfosdshire,
and remained there until tho 10th.
On the day of our return | received
q letter addressed to mo in a strange
handwriting. 1t was handed to me Just as
We arose IA the morning. This letter con
tanned two Enclosures. One was & letter
purported to have been written by Mr..
Hurlbut to this woman, and the other was
a letter addressed to MIR. Huribut. | ear
ried this to him in his dressing room, and
a IN after he brought it to me in nv
room. 1t was written from Albion hotel,
in Bordeaux, and the writer said that un-
less Mr.. Hurlbut was prepared to send GOO
at once by draft on Credit Lyonaise more
letters of the same sort as the one rurport-
ing to have been written by Mr.. Hurlbut
would be sent to me. He was directed to
address his reply to Sancho Nunez, poste
restante at Bordeaux. This communica-
tion proves this blackmailer guilty of two
lies. In the first place. the letter alleged to
have been written by Mr.. Hurlbut in London
was dated September 6, and on that dav
We were both at Lord North's place in
Oxfordshire. Then she testified in court
that she did not know Hurlbut to be a mar
ried man until 1889, and yet this very letter
written in 1889 was directed to Mrs. w. Fl.
Hurlbut, to orr home in Southwell Gar
dens. This woman also testified that Mr.,
Hurlbut proposed marriage to her on Nav
6, 1887. That very day Mr., Hurlbut Joined
me In Paris and we went on together to
Florence, so that it is impossible that he
was in London at the time. | am able to
prove her testimony false in a score of sim
liar instances. | am very much suprprised,'
said Mrs. Hurlbut, that the justice should
have considered a similarity between the
handwriting of Mr.. Hurlbut and his score
tary SO remarkable. In Talleyrand's
memoirs that have just been published, the
similarity of his secretary's handwriting,
Percy, to that of Ialleyrand, is noted, and
] was reading in Raike's journal. only u
short time ago, that the handwriting
OF Grenfell, secretary to the duke
of Wellington, was so much like
that of HIS master that Wellington himself
could not tell the difference. Only a short
time ago | opened one of Mr.. Hu lbut's
books that had been packed and STORED for
a long time, and a letter fell out. l picked
Ut up, and to my surprise it was addressed
to MIR. Hurlbut in what ] supposed to be his
own handwriting. | wondeied why he
should have been writing to himself. and |
opened the letter. 1t was from Wilfred
MURRAY. written at the Metropolitan club
at WASHINGTON. This was the first time |
knew that his writing was so much like nv
h~usbano's.''