The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-05-10
Of 4 DUEEDOM.
TARDY CI.AIN o. An ALLEGED
SECRET MARRIAGE


In suite Of all assertions TO the contrary.
the Duke OF Portland is not taking any
steps whatsoever TO defend the claims
brought BY Mrs. =. alter T. bruce IN the
name OK her eldest ssa 20 n-S dukeaom
and estates. In fact tns-e Is no necessity
for his doing So since it - improbable that
pxetensten1 SO entirely prepostsroas have
ever been put forward 10 any British peer
age, although there are a few OF the latter
which have not at one time or another had
70 be defended against individuals who
were firmly convinced that they were law
fully entitled TO the noaors in question.
Mrs bruce, whose success in finding
reputable firm of lawyers 70 take up her
casa Is solely due 10 the fact that she has
no means OF her oEa, insists that her late
husbands father, Thomas Charles bruce.
DIR Harmsr and the late Duke OF Portland
were ali one and the same person. and de-
CiaEes that the duke merely led this double
OK rather treble, existence owing tc his
dread OF the legal consequences Of having
murdered his younger brother. the famous
sportsman. Lord George Caysnd.sh Ben
timex. in q quarrel about . Lady whom
they beth wished 70 marry, and who. ae-
cording to Mrs. bruce. ultimately became
the wife OF the late duke under his as
stunned name Of Thomas Charles bruce.
Now. the only point In common which
the latter had with DIR. HaTmer and the
late duke was that they were all three
eccentric r she verge OF lunacy. They
died at pen~~as far distant from one an
other. Thus Mr.. Druce's death took place
in December. 1854 at the age OF 20.
The Duke OF Portiand's death took place
In December, 1879. a; the age of 20. Mrs.
bruce gets over this difficulty by insisting
that her father-in-law, Thomas Charles
Druce's funeral was merely bogus one.
that his coffin was filed with lead and
that he survived under the name of the
Luke Of Portland, taking, however, the
alias OF DR.. Harmer. and pretending in
sanity to the expense Of getting himself
placed under temporary restraint in DR..
Forbes Winslow's private lunatic asylum
with the object. 80 Mrs. bruce declares, OF
beng able 10 excuse himself for the muir
der OF Lord George Cavendish Bentinck
on the ground OF insanity II ever arrested
for the crime.
DR.. Hammer was quite . well-known
physician, who was nearly forty years the
Junior OF the late duke, and who. after
being discharged from the asylum. died in
June. 1892. His widow still survives. and
has through her lawyers strongly protested
against the manner In which Mrs. bruce
has dragged her husbands name into this
ridiculous case. Nor from the evidence Of
DR.. Winslow himself. does there seem TO
have beeen the slightest point Of physical
resemblance between DR.. HaYuer and the
duke or between DIR Harmer and the late
Mr. Druce
Mrs. Druce gets over the trifing fact
that the late Duke OF Portland died I'M
married and without issue by the story
that he married under the name of Thomas
Charles bruce, the woman for whom he
had Quareiled with his brother, Lord
George. and whose name she declared to
be Anne May. the parish register of New
Windsor showing that in 1851 Thomas
Charles bruce had married Anne May.
Now the claimant insists that Miss Anne
May with whom she admits her father
in-iaw had been living sometime previous
TO the marriage) was one OF the Height
mate daughters OF the fifth Earl of Berke-
ley.
The latter. Il may be remembered. mar
ried publicly after his father and mothers
death the chambermaid OF his mother,
Mary Cole. and endeavored to explain the
presence Of a large family of children
which she had already borne TO him by
the fact that there had been an earlier
and secret marriage. producing documents
In support OF his assertion. At the time
OF his death. however, the committee Of
privileges OF the house of lords called upon
to pronounce upon the claims OF the eldest
son (born TO the public marriage) to sue
coed 10 his fathers peerage, decided
against him on the ground that the docu-
ence of secret marriage were mere
forgeries
King George Nv. who was very fond Of
this unsuccessful claimant, thereupon con.
ferred upon him the title OF Lord Ffts-
hardinge IN his own right. while society.
as matter Of courtesy. accorded to his
sisters, thus declared Legitimate like him.
self. the honorary prefix Of Lady" 10
their Christian aames. just as Il they had
been legitimate.
The two sons born subsequent to the
public marriage Of their father. and to
whom, therefore, In turn the earldom OF
Berkeley belonged, declined TO assume Il
or to take their seat in the house of lords
on the ground that by so doing II would
constitute reflection on the honor OF
their mother and on the honesty of their
father.
1t g one OF these illegi.imate daughters
of the fifth Earl OF Berkeley. not one oe
whom married any one OF the name OF
bruce. or Portland Or Harmer The eldest
daughter. Lady Marie Henrietta More
ton. died unmarried at q great age. and
was well known In society as the mother
OF Admiral Maxse, whose daughter is mar
ried to a son of Lord Salisbury, while a
third, Lady Emily. married Col Sydney
Cape.. uncle OF the present Earl of Essex
and died in 1891 at the age of almost 800.
Inasmuch as all these three sisters must
iAS[<SSdIliy nave pctl n0gn Dtfweeen lTa6.
-he date of their fathers pubic marriage.
they must therefore have been In the
neighborhood OF 60 years old. II not over
1t. al the time when I'm 1851 one of them is
alleged by Mrs bruce TO have married her
father-in-iaw under the name of Anne
May. al New Windsor. And the late Mrs.
Druce is on legal record as having borne
large family Of children 10 her husband
after their marriage In ISL, which could
hardly have been the case IL she had been
over 90 years OF age.
These are only few of the features OF
Mrs Druce's claim. which show how utter
iy ridiculous and prerosterous are her pre-
tensions, which / ina CINE to have partly
originated with the following Incident: II
seems that when her mother-in-law dfed
few years ago ard the Druce family
tomb was opened. Il was found that the
coffin containing and bearing the name OF
her fatier-in-law had fa,len IN, showing
nothing but a distorted quantity of lead.
which The good woman Immediately took
for granted 70 cDrSs4fFfts