The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-26
SUES FOR CHILDREN
CasTELLANE MAKES CHARGES
 AGAINST ANNA GOULD.
Contends That the Atmosphere of the ae sagan Household is Not Proper for His Boys--Wants
 Them Supported.


 Paris. Nov. 25-The suit of Count Boni de castellane against his former wife, who was formerly Miss Anna Gould, of New York. and who is now wife of Prince Helie de Sagan for the custody of his three children. was open ed here today The court room was damned to the doors.
 Count de Castellane occupied prom inent place in the room. This Is the first time the French newspapers, which are forbIdden to publish divorce proceed ings in court, have had an opportunity to ventilate this scandal. and they were represented in force by reporters and artists.
 N. Bennett, representing the count. was the first to be heard. He presented the general grounds upon which his client contended that the three chill dren be confided to the care of their grandmother, the counts mother, ana that the Princess de Sagan be compelled to contribute sso.0D0 annually to their support, namely that the moral atmos- phere of the de Sagan household was unht for the children. This allegation was in three parts:
 First: The alleged scandalous con- duct of Prince de Sagan in the past.
 Second: That he had not reformed since his marriage. M. Bennett said he was prepared to show that the prince had seen two of his former. mistresses since the date of his~marriage-and
 Third: That the conduct of the prtn- cess before her marriage to de Sasan had been improper.
 Proceeding M. Bonnet developed this theme, keeping constantly to the fore the claim that the count was seeking only the welfare of his children.
 To prove that the princess had con- templated seeking 6 separation from her present husband, M. Bonnet re- counted certain alleged consultations had on November by the Prince and Princess de Sagan and the counts law yer He said the princess on this occa- sion admitted the difficulty of having the children live under the same roof with the prince and proposed. to turn two of them over to the count and keep the third herself, The prince. a4 this was a separation his creditors would de- scend upon him and seize his effects. Two days later. however. the princess publicly denied that separation was contemplated and this ended the hope of . compromise.
 M. Bonnet declared that his client de- sired to respect the dignity of his for mer wife. He said that If the count had committed a grave wrong in the past, this had been fully expiated and that he would not intervene now had the princess married a man of reason able moral responsibility; but by her marriage to the prince, she had forfeit cd her right to her children.
 Turning to the Prince de Sagan M. Bonnet said that before his marriage he was reduced to a pitiable plight. He was bounded by his creditors and re. nounced by his family; he had no abode and he was living in questionable com pany.
 profession of love for his future wife. counsel for the count referred to the nrincess' alleged improper conduct win de Sagan before their marriage. He said she received him intimately in her house on the Avenue Ma1akoff, rode and dined with him alone in Paris and That while in Italy they travelled togeth- CT and carefully concealed their where abouts.
 Furthermore, M Bonnet went on, de saxan last summer. in he name of his chauffeur, rented an $500 villa at St. Cloud and received his future wife there secretly While in New York. the nem- hara of the Gould family declined to re. ceIve de Sagan. hence the clandestine denarture of the prince and the countess From New York on different steamers.
 A1 Rome they tried to secure an an- muiment of the marriage of the count and countess by the Pope and falling in this. de Sagan became Protestant In order to make a marriage possible.
 M Bonet dwelt at length upon what ba termed the demoralizing influence of De Sagan upon the Princess. he had dragged her into the Bohemian life which he loved, to the complete neg feet of her children, and after the Count entered his first suit Tor the re- covery of his children, the Princess declared in public, according to M. Bonnet. that 1t would have been better if she had not been divorced, but had taken aSlover. ,-
 see to what a mental state" M. Bonnet cried, Association with the Prince reduced this woman.
 Conduct ScandaIOus.
 The lawyer then declared that the conduct Of the couple at the Hotel Des Reservois at Versailles was so scandal ous that the other guests refused to ai- low their children to play with the CasteIlane children. De Sagan spent his evenings fin the apartments of Mme. Gould After he left Versailles for England under the name of Thompson, one of the children fell i'll ana the Count had this child removed by force: The Countess, thereupon telegraphed the physician that she would not pc responsible for his bill. No relative of either the Prince or Mime. Gould was nresent at their marriage in London on July of this year. but De Sagan sent a telegram to Berlin requesting that Emperor William be notified of the ceremony.
 Since the marriage, the children had complained to their grandmother, the Marduis de Castellane that the conduct of the Prince was distasteful to them, %xiving examples and incidents. Going back to the record of the Prince before his marriage. M. Bonnet reviewed his escapades, recounted' the assault case between the Count and the Prince in