Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-23
LONDON Is SHOCKED
By Another Scandal That Dwarfs
Others Already Exposed.
IT AFFECTS HIGHEST CIRCLES
And Polite Society Is Now Discussing II
in whispers.
BOUND TO COME UP IN THE COURT
rnY CABLE TO THE p1spArcH.I ]

rBY CABLE TO THE DIsPATCH.l
LONDON, Dec. 22.-[ Copyright 1-Polite
society is just now discussing with bated
breath one of the most shocking scandals Of
the many that have suliied its history. The
scandal will soon occupy the attention OF
the divorce court in the form of petition
for the nullity of a marriage which was
presented on the 14th inst by the Rev. Ed
ward A. Chichester, vicar of Dorking, Sur
rey, on behalf of a most unhappy girl.
The scandal had its origin in 1874, when
Miss Aline Marian de Hoghton, daughter
of Sir Henry de Hoghton, baronet, head
of an ancient and noble family, became the
mother of a female child in Milan, Italy.
Its father was Alfred Aurelias Clark, a
wealthy man who moves in the highest
society, and whose name figures in the
Court Directory. Clark refused to marry
the confding girl, the birth of the child
was kept secret and the mother returned
to society, nobody being the wiser. She
married in January, 1875, an Irish gentle
man of good family. She spent the greater
part of her time until her death few years
ago on the Continent. Clark meanwhile
had married.
The Terrible Plot of Fiend.
There is reason to believe that the mother
heavily lowered her daughter born at
Milan, 1t is not disputed, at any rate,
that Clark posed before the world as the
girls guardian. Every care was taken
with the girls education, which until a
few years ago was received mainly in
France and Italy. In 1887 Clark brought
this daughter from a French nunnery to
Little Hampton, where they stayed atthe
Beach Hotel as guardian and ward. No
pains or expense were spared in pertecting
the young girl of IA in the various ac-
complishments. French and Italian she
spoke naturally and perfectly, and special
teachers were engaged for music and
English, her supposed guardian taking the
keenest and apparently fatherly interest In
her progress
This life, with occasional trips to neigh
boring places and short school lite at
Clews, near Windsor, continued until 1890,
when the guardians wife died. Some
months afterward he proposed marriage to
his supposed ward and actual daughter and
was accepted. The marriage took place in
London, and father and daughter thence
forward lived together as man and wife.
In>March, 1892, the girl, then only 1S years
of age, gave birth to baby boy, and in
Jnly following the unhappy child-mother
discovered that her guardian was not only
her husband but also her own father and
father of her infant.
Also Led Double Life.
The awful discovery nearly deprived her
of her reason. She was practically friend
less. The fact of the marriage had been
kept secret. Clark's own two legitimate
daughters, with whom he resided in a
charming mansion in Kensington, knew
nothing of it, and he and his daughter-wife
had lived in another house. Every effort
was made by Clark to coerce the girl into
remaining with him, but she resolutely
refused, and finally obtained the shelter of
family, some members of which had as
sisted in her education. These people,
after grave consideration, placed the matter