The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-08-28

NO BETTER THAN BESSIE BELL
WOOD.

WOOD.
The late Duke Of Manchester, who died
on the 18th inst. In his goth year. belonged
to class of titled English rakes who are
rescued from oblivion chiefly by their
infamy. As Lord Vaudeville he came to
New York in 1875, o notorious roue and
spendthrift. A few months afterward the
married to him with great display. The
reputation of Lord Vaudeville was known
70 his bride and her family. but the young
woman determined to marry him for the
sake Of his title. . very mean and immoral
ambition for . decent American woman,
for the character Of Lord Vaudeville was
so bad that without . title he could not
have been admitted to the circle Of
respectable family, much less encouraged
to marry one Of its daughters.
Vaudeville, like all roues, soon tired Of
his handsome wife. When she had borne
him two children he voted her . stale,
fat. Improbable person, and returned to
one of his mistresses. music hall singer,
with whom he openly lived until 1883.
whom he accompanied his wife to the
United States to escape his creditors.
Here he was made much of in swell So
ciety, because he was q lord and son Of
duke. He soon went back TO his mistress
in London. Bessie Bellwood, big, mus
cuiar, barmaid type of young woman. and
in 1889 he went through bankruptcy.
owing 100000.
In 1880 his father, the Duke Of Man
chester, died, and the new duke behaved
worse than before; he quarrelled with his
mistress, who sued him for money
she had loaned him and for his board
and laundry for several years. Mean
while all these years his wife
had been compelled to shift for
herself and live on her dowry Of $l0o. 600
given her by her father on her wedding
day. Finally the Duke Of Manchester's
health broke down under his incessant
dissipation and he retired to one Of his
Irish estates to die. His wife was with
him In his last hours. and now she is the
Duchess Of Manchester; the dissolute duke
10 dead and she has her three children and
the title TO console herself for the loss of
ono Of the most contemplate creatures
that ever disgraced coronet.
No sympathy need be wasted upon
American women who make such mar
riages because OF any assumed suffering
or disgrace that becomes theirs when their
titled husbands treat them neither better
nor worse than they do their other mis-
A NM hat
ricd Lord Vaudeville with full knowledge
that he had always led q most disgusting
life, was, in proportion to her lights. no
better at heart than Bessie Bellwood. She
gave herself in all her unsullied youth and
beauty to a man who had disgraced
an honorable name by the most disgusting
excuses: by course of vice that made
nj case Of moral death to any pure
minded woman. Vaudeville not only was
drunkard. roue and gambler, but he
borrowed Of everybody and paid nobody; ;
nc was titled dead beat and debauchee.
And yet this woman of good family. of
liberal education, of refined associations
and tender nurture. gave her sacred body.
the temple of her soul. into the arms of this
man simply for the sake of his title and
his expectations. In other words she sold
herself to q detestable man deliberately,
because she knew that If she outlived him
she could queen il in comfort az the
Duchess of Manchester, the mortgage of
her miserable marriage lifted from her
neck by the death Of her repulsive hus-
band. 1t has taken her drunken lord
about sixteen years to kill himself and at
last his wife has what she married him
for: she is Duchess OF Manchester with no
duke living TO modest her or make her
afraid.
When her dissolute husband left her for
Bessie Bellwood he probably made no ex.
cuse and she certainly had no cause for
complaint. for she knew in her heart that
she had sold her person fox prospective
title TO dirty brute the day she married
him, and she knew that II her depraved
lord did not know this when they were
married. he would soon find IL out When
he did find IT on. Of course such a coarse
fellow would rate her as a mere mistress
that he was tired OF, and so back to Bessie
HOLLYWOOD. and possibly his wife WAS quite
willing he should go. He could not get
divorce; she would never seek one.
Now. If marriage means anything better
than legal prostitution. what was there in
the marriage of this American woman TO
this wretched English rake that entities il
10 any respect, or the Duchess of Man.
chester 10 any more moral respect than
Bessie Rellwoodf Bessie Bellwood, big,
coarse. handsome girl, was born and bred
20 low associations. became q music hall
singer, and earned a large salary. Il. wss
no violation OF her early education and
experience TO become q peers mistress
she had no expectations Of title. and she
appears 90 have supported the spendthrift
lord out Of her earnings much Of the time.
Under the circumstances 1t is not remark
able that of hi. two missresses the de-
PRAYED lord liked Bessie the hest. for &c
cordiug 81 her lights and training she had
rot done s more degrading thing than the
American Woman who violated all her
best lights and educated womauiy in
siincts by selling herself to the deprs,ed