The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1908-12-05

Paris. Dec. 3. - The Princess de
Sagan. who was Miss Anna Gould. OF
New York. had her innings in court
in the hearing of the case Brought by
her former husband. Count Boni de
Castellane. TO have the three children
If the union placed in the custody OF
His mother. the Marquise de Castel
lane. The first hearing took place last
week. and NJ. Bonnet, counsel for the
count set forth by statement allega-
tion and insinuation that the atmos-
phere OF the De Sagan household was
detrimental to the roper bringing up
Of the three De Castellane boys.
Hundreds of women literally fought
to gain admission to the crowded
courtroom. where the side of the prin-
cess was presented by NJ. Clemcnceau.
without essaying the impassionei
oratorlcal role played by II. Bonnet
last week. u. Ciemenceau met the &C
cusations brought against the Prin-
cess de Sagan. whose character. he
insisted. was blameless. He merci'essly
scored the record and character OF tie
Count de Castellane and said h was
wholly unfit to have the custody of his
children. He charged that the real
purpose of the count was 10 raise
money and satisfy his vengeance on
the Prince and Princess de Sagan. even
at the expense OF the interests Of bis
children. whose minds he had coatin-
ualIy tried to poison.
Counsel for the princess contended
that the testimony OF the chauffeur
discharged from the service of De
Sagan and the evidence OF private de-
tectives was utterly unworthy Of ere
dence. and he raked the count fore
and ait when he reached the subject
Of the fashion in which he had dissi-
pated his wife's fortune. spending at
the rate of 81 100000 a year for eleven
years. When Miss Gould was married
TO De Castellane she had a yearly In
come OF 800 900. During her married
life. with what counsel characterized
as Its countless follies, like the Mala-
koff palace. the sum of sl00OO.OO had
been spent. When she got her divorce
from the count there existed debts
amounting to s3.40O 600, in addition to-
the sum Of $4,000 that had been given
to the Marquis and Marquise de Cas-
tellane. This is the man. cried NJ
Clemenceau. who wants his children
educated like a De Castellane; man
without a profession. who married for
money and then devoted himself to
betraving his wife with his wife's fe-
male friends
Continuing. NJ. Clemenceau revealed
the exact terms OF the settlement his
client offered 10 make at the time OF
her divorce. These the count refused,
on the ground that they were insufi-
cient. and in so doing, said counsel,
he proved himself eligible for an In
sane asylum. These terms were $780,
600 in cash and an income of $4,000 a
wear. this income to be increased when
the estate Of his former wife was out
OF the hands OF the trustees, she TO
take over all the debts then pending.
NJ. Clemenceau took up one by one
the accusations made against the prin-
cess by the count regarding her trav-
els in Italy with De Sagan before their
marriage. II should be remembered.
the lawyer declared, that the princess
was not a young girl travelling with
her fiance. but a divorced woman In
the company Of the man she was going
to marry Furthermore, she Is an
American. NJ. Clemenceau said. "Con-
duct that would appear to be out OF
the ordinary in FraI ,e," he said, rs
perfectly proper on the other side OF
the ocean"
When NJ. Clemenceau had finished
II was announced that the case would
20 over to Dec 9, when NJ. Jumier VIII
speak for De Sagan and NJ. Rousset
for George Gould who, as trustee OF
his sisters estate. is q party to the
suit.