New-York tribune., 1910-12-21
COUNT De GATIGNY'S TRIAL
With His Wife He Is Accused of
SWindlinr an American Duchess.

Tours, France Dec 2o-The trial Of tho
eelf-etyled Count and Countess de
Gatigny, who are charged with having
swndled the Duchess de Choiseul out of
100000 in the sale of spurious masterpieces.
opened before Judge Roberts in the Cor
rectional Court to-day.
The complainant was the widow Of
Charles Hamilton Paine of Boston. and was
recently married to the Duke de Choiseul.
whose mother was Mary. daughter of
Malcolm Forbes, of Boston.
In addition to the principal allegation.
D'Aulby de Gatigny is accused of stealing
a sum Of money from the pocketbook of
the defendant during her stay in Vienna.
The attracted large and fashion
able crowd, as the public is intensely in
terested In the fate Of the pair. who lived
SO iuxuriously in the Chateau de la Tour.
Many American and European journal
fists were also present, in anticipation of
absorbing developments in connection with
the fantastic career Of the son of an Eng
lish tailor who posed successfully Prince
Borgletto, Prince Luzignan and Count
d'Aulby de Gatignv and the revelation of
further details regarding the alleged black
mailing plot, based upon letters asserted
to have been forged. These letters, which
the defendants claimed TO have received
from the complainant, involve Alexandra
Tscherniedieff, who recently was arrested
in London. charged with conspiring to
blackmail the duchess.
NJ. Plumon and NJ. Sturel appeared for
the duchess and Frederic Allain and NJ.
Bernard for the accused. The countess"
was formerly Miss Francesca Monti Lunt,
of Boston. The two were married at Trim
ity Church, in that city in 1894.
Nine. d'Aulby. who is attractive
woman. was richly gowned in blue velvet
and wore a large bunch Of vioiets. She sat
beside her husband upon the accused's
bench On a desk 'ay the uniform and
sword of 1.-The Order Of Mulusino,'' in which
d'Aulby as grand master conferred decora-
tions.
D'Aulby said that he was the son of an
English musician. His wife was born
Francesca Lunt, in Boston, In 1869. At this
juncture NJ. Sturel, on behalf of the
duchess, requested the withdrawal from
the dossier of his clients personal letters.
NJ. Bernard objected, suggesting that the
duchess feared revelations that might be
made in these letters. The court, after
consultation, ruled against the plaintiff.
DAulby was subjected to a severe
ross-examination by the judge concern
ing his various tltleS ana al dlltScu
newspaper campaign carried on by him
in America in connection with the
ownership of old pictures. The Judge
also sought to ascertain under what
circumstances D'Aulby first met his
wife.
The defendant declared that the OBJ
ject of his life was to build up reputa-
ton as a musical composer. He as
serted that he was the close friend OF
Prince Philip of Bourbon, who wanted
to adopt him He said that he had sold
pictures, furniture and wine to Mrs.
Paine at her insistence, and that he had
never guaranteed the authenticity of the
pictures. She invaded his house, he said,
and eventually they became friendly.
D'Aulby was lIandicapp in his battle
with the judge because of his feeble
command of French.
The defence scored a point in their at
tempt to prove that D'Aulby was a
reputable artist, pointing out that a
Paris newspaper gave musical at
which only D Aulby's works were played. |
Neither the Due nor the Duchesse de |
Choiseul was in court to-day, although |
they are in the city.