Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1904-05-21
knife IS PUT TO
SPORTS CHARACTER
Sensational Testimony Is Ad.
duced In a Famous Libel
Action In London.
HE COULDN'T BE LlBELEO
So Sir James Duke Claimed in DEFENSE
of Suit Brought by a Noted Turf
man, He Presented Enough
Facts to Prove H.

London, May ia sensational libel
suit brought by the we'll known race
horse owner, r. S. Sievier, against Sir
lanes Duke, also well known on the
turf, was concluded today with a YER
dict for Sir James. Sievier charged the
latter with calling him a thief, card
sharper and murderer, and that SieVie
caused his famous mare Sceptre TO be
pulled in the Derby.
Sir James pleaded privilege, as the
statements were made within he Raj
eigh club, but he ~endeavored TO SHOW
that Sievier's character was such thai
he could not be libeled. The jury today
decided that Sir James had not com
mitted any libel and mulcted SievieI
in the costs Of the suit. Sieyier, who
was remarkably cool throughout the
case. broke down toward the end of his
counsel's speech and sobbed bitterly.
Justice Grantham in summing up was
very severe in his structures of SieNier,
He said the late Queen Victoria would
almost ather have given up her throne
than have such a mar presented 10 her.
The case attracted considerable inter
est owing to the fact that Sievier's past
IIe WdS vi Il ! u
scarcely ever equaled I'm a similar case.
He confessed to having been three
times bankrupted and to being several
times in police courts, but for tritiing
assaults at card games n billiard
matches. Bets running into thousands
of pounds were from the
witness stand with a frankness and In
numbers that somewhat amazed the
hearers. On the long run, Sievier de-
I orn1 hn yrnG n hp1NV loser IN gam
bling transactions.
American Sharper in Game.
One game in particular, when the
Duke OF Braganza lost about $4,000
while PLAYING with SievieT at Monte
q famous American card sharper, nam
ed Burns, brother of a nan imprisoned
for robbing J. Pierpont Lhorgans house,
participated in the game, but SicVier
declared he was not aware OF his lden-
tity until after the game was over,
when the Duke OF Braganza himself
and Guy Chetwynd came to an ar
rangement satisfactory to all. Chef
wynd is a son Of Sir George Chetwynd
and married Rosalind SeCor.
On another occasion Sievier won $50,
900 from a friend at cards. n the
losers wife wrote him n pathetic letter,
and Sievier accepted S12, 900, "a pretty
large sum for n card sharper to let
anybody Off" remarked Sievier on the
stand.
After his return from Australia
Sievier was presented at court to Queen
Victoria, but some months afterward
the court circular announced that the
presentation was cancelled. This Sic
vier attributed entirely to the fact that
he had been a bookmaker in Australia,
Through all the phases Of his check
cred career, from the time he "smacked
Lord Deerhurst's face" i'm n Melbourne
racing club (the same Deerhurst who
married Miss Bonynge of San francis
CO., and who then was aide de camp tC
the governor), up to the present day,
Sievier's life was mercilessly disseCted
But Sir James Dukes counsel did not
put forward any evidence to show that
SieVier was guilty of card sharping
pulling Sceptre, or other horses, THEY
Ing or numbering.
Weds Lady Mabel Bruce.
Sievier married Lady Mabel Bruce.
sister of the fourth Marquis of Ayles.
bury. She had arranged to marry an
other man, and two days prior to tbs
wedding she ran off with Sievier.
Bob" Sievier, the former owner OF
Sceptre, is classed as the most daring
Spectator ever seen on the English
turf. w. X. Vanderbilt in May. 1902
was reported to have offered SieVieI
$2l0, 900 for Sceptre, WHINE Of the Two
Thousand Guinea stakes and of the One
Thousand Guineas stakes that ear. Sic.
Vier is well born and well educated
| and has been in turn a bookmaker, &C.
tor and manager Of a betting agency
He has been stranded financially, blu
is now a wealthy land owner and pos
SCISSOR of the best horses on the turf
all acquired with the results of sensa.
tional plunging. In his younger days
Sievier was a celebrity on the turf ~
Melbourne, where he was a bo0kmakei
until he became involved in a differ
ence with Lord Deerhurst. He ha,
travelled in most of the British c~olonie.
and is we'll known as a dead shot, bot
In elephant and in lion hunting.