The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-27
TITLED BRIToN DYING
DUKE OF NEWCASTLE RUN DOWN BY
A CAB AND FATALLY INJURED.
Lord Francis Hope VIII Succeed to
the Family Estate. and May Xohe
VIII Become n Duchess.

who, while resembling in personal appear
ance the little American humorist, Mar
shall =. Wilder, possesses neither the lat
ter's geniality nor yet his bodily vgor, was
knocked down the other day by a cab in
crossing New Bond street and was Sc
riously injured that the Duchess was at
once summoned from Melton, where she
was staying for the hunting. The matter
hs been kept very quiet, but, crippled as
TIE duke has been since childhood the in
juries themselves as we'll as the shock
which he has sustained, have beer of so
serious character that his life is in dam
ger and it is doubtful whether he will re-
cover. In that event his brother, Lord
Francis Hope, becomes Duke of Newcastle,
while May Yohe, the popular American ac-
tress, becomes Duchess of Newcastle and
mistress of Clumber, one of the most superb
country seats in that fair part of England
which is known as the Dukeries, for it is
hardly necessary to say that Duke Lennie,
now believed to be dying, has no children.
In fact, his marriage to the daughter of
Major Candy the wel-known sporting man,
aroused a good deal of unfavorable COM
ment. For, not only was Miss Candy en-
tirely dissimilar to the duke in tastes, be-
ing as devoted to dogs and horses as he was
to churches and TO ritualism, but, moreover,
she is as divinely tall and fair as he is
stunted, DETECTED and homely in appear
ance. Indeed, had he not presented such
pitiable appearance at the altar, his mar
riage ceremony would have evoked MEM
cries of that celebrated picture of his ma
ternal ancestor, Mr.. Hope, who, on being
painted with his lovely wife, and declining
TO pay the price stipulated for the portrait,
compelled to bring legal proceedings
against the artist in order to enjOin the lat
ter from putting 1t on public exhibition as
a picture of beauty and the beast.
No one showed herself more displeased
by the marriage than the Queen. and it is
worthy of note that IT, young Duchess of
Newcastle is the only one of the wearers of
the strawberry leaves except the utterly
ostracised and declaSsic DoWager Duchess
of Sutherland, who has never been honored
by the Queen with an invitation to Windsor
Castle. Lord Francis Hope is as good
looking and as dashing as his elder brother
is the reverse. and, in spite of his financial
disasters, is infinitely more popular. 1t was
to him that his grandmother. old Mrs.
Hope, left the major portion OF her enor-
nous wealth, as we'll as her beautiful coun-
try seat at Deepdeane, now occupied by
Lord William Beresford and by his Amer
lean wife, the ex-Mrs. Hammersley, OF New
York
PROFLIGATE AND SPENDTHRIFT.
Mrs. Hope, in bequeathing her property
to Lord Francis stipulated that he should
assume her family name and that is why
he is known as Lord Francis Hope instead
of by the name of Pelham Clinton, which
is the patronymic of the Newcastle family
In spite of the vast wealth that he in
herited, Lord Francis came to financial
grief, and about four years ago figured In
the bankruptcy court with liabilities to the
tune of $3,O00OO0. In fact, Lord Francis
seems to have inherited all the spendthrift
proclivities of his father and grandfather.
1T was the latter who accompanied the
Prince Of Wales to the United States during
the presidency of Buchanan, and who was
such an intimate friend of Gladstone, with
whom he sat in the same Cabinet. His son
was a poor, weak individual who married
Miss Hope, and who prior to his death,
was SO broken-spirited, and through his
own financial embarrassments in such a
complete state of dependency upon his rich
and eccentric wife, that he tolerated the
presence of the singer Tom Hohler, as a
member of his household, comedy Tom be-
ing Il parsonage of infinitely more import
ance in the domestic establishment than the
duke himself. AS soon as he died, which
he did despsed by all. even by his own
children, and regretted by. none: his. widow
married Hohler. Hohler has likewise now
passed over to the majority. and the &C.
centricity of the widowed duchess has now
taken her into religion. She has become
devout Roman Catholic, and devotes all her
time to missionary work in the slums of
the East End of London, where she has
established her residence What with the
wife of Duke I4ennie devoted to horses and
to dogs. being known the greatest woman
dog fancier in the United Kingdom and
stage and her extraordinary voice the three
Duchesses of Newcastle will present a
striking picture of contrast.
III spite of the indigency of the late Duke
Of Newcastle--that is to say. of the parent
of Duke Lennie and of Lord Francis Hope
Mr.. Gladstone remained his friend for his
fathers sake, and acted as the trustee of
the ducal property. both during the tnan-
cial difficulties of the late duke and during
the long minority of the Duke Lennie. So
we'll did Gladstone administer his trust that
he managed to clear off all the incum-
brances on the estates, and on the majority
of Duke Lennie to turn over to him C1um-
Der which is one of the most superb cOun-
try seats in England, not only free of debt,
but also with a large sum of ready cash,
representing the accumulations of the mi
nority.
MAY TURN CHURCH INTO THEATER.
Duke Lennie has spent his money. or the
major portion of it, in Transforming the
superb riding school, which was at one time
a theater, into a church, or rather ca
thedral marble columns supporting ala
baster cornice and entablature dividing the
nave from the aisles the seating being ar
ranged on the conventional system. two
rows of stalls running east and west. Mel
Their May Yohe nor her titled husband have
ever been noted for their piety, and no one
would be astonished were they to restore
the church, or rather cathedral at Clum-
Der TO its original use, namely. theater
where May Yohe would asSuredly be more
at home than in a cathedral.
In conclusion | may say that although
the next Duchess of Newcastle has earned
her living on the stage vet she stands an
infinitely better chance of being invited to
Windsor than either the wife of the mort
bund Duke Lennie or the widow of the late
duke The Queen does not object to ac-
tresses by reason of their calling. Actors
and actresses, while still belonging to the
profession, are debarred from presentation
at court. on the ground of official prejudice,
which dates from the reign of Queen Eliza
beth. who ranked even Shakespeare as q
taking the ground that all
and actresses were necessarily menias. But
soon ever they retire from the stage
they are qualified for presentation at court,
providing their past has been free from
scandal and while the Queens grandmoth-
er. Queen Charlotte, expressed herself as
delighted to receive at court the Countess
of Derby, who had been a popular footlight
favorite, and yet free from reproach, Queen
Victoria makes her most intimate friend
and confident the ex-ActreSs Helen Faucitt,
now the wife of Sir Theodore Martin. au-
thor and editor of the Official Life of the
Prince Consort.
The Queen has no prejudice against the
providing they are no longer facing the
footlights, and their past is free from re-
proach they are quite welcome at court.
There is no reason, therefore, why May
Yohe should not figure at the court of
| Great Britain. and bask in the glow OF
gree than the wife of Duke Lennie whose
marriage was little short of a public scan
dali and an offense against delicacy and
morality or than the Dowager Duchess,
whose welded life, at any rate until the
death of her first husband, gave rise TO
no end of unsavory gossip.
One of the cousins, by the by, of the pres
TAt,Ir. Of 1Gfl Dali an