The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-12-25
DUCHESS BACKS OUT OF CASE
BTT PEBLIC PROsErt TOR ~
STILL AFTER ma LBf.
No Moro sf the Letters ef Mrs.. Paine.
New sam~. de Gheiseus-Frasiin. To NE
Read On Csart -she quits Tours for 40.
Merit, witnesses for the "fount."

Special cio,, Despatch o. THE sun.
Tours, Dec "a. The trial Of the case
OF the Count and Countess d'Aulby
de Gatigny for swindling Mrs. Charles
Hamilton Paine OF Boston. now the Ouch
sss de Choiseul- Praslin. out Of s,O0,0Oo by
means Of alleged old masters was called
at y O'Clock this morning. II had been
reported overnight that the Duchess de
Choise,il Praslin had gone to ~. Morits
and would probably not appear in the
case again. and there was therefore no
s,irpris. when It was reported that Maitre
Stnrel. one Of her attorneys. was incis-
posed and would not be able To appear.
The opening Of court was postponed
until noon At that hour Maitrs Sturel
failed 20 appear. and NJ Piumon. the
other advocate Of tn. Duchess. was also
missing. At this point Mrs. Paine's
local lawyer. Maitre Dechene. stood up
and stated that the Duchess had with
drawn from III. case.
Maitr- Bernard. the leading advocate
for Count d'Aulby. then said that IN
view Of this statement Mrs. Paine's letters
TO D'Aulby would h.nC-forth be with
drawn from the case.
The public prosecutor announced that
he would continue tn. proceedings gainst
the D'Aulbys.
Nothing dramatic marked the collapse
Of the pro-..cut ION. II did not surprise
tho-.- who knew that tho Duchess left
Tours yesterday. Her action only bens-
fits her to IN. extent Of preventing any
more OF her love letters being read from
the large bund. which was lying IN front
OF the president of tfr. court Tn. with
drawal Of The Duchess does not finish thu
cas-. which remains based on tn. result.
OF the preliminary Magistrates iBvesti
cations. The public prosecutors ar.
always aver-e TO multiplying the MGgis-
trates work, especially when II has been
long and he case ha- involved hs lengt by
dst en- ion IN prison OF the accused The
procIreur words. spoken unofficially.
define his attitude He said:
All this il very sensat onal. but It has
no connect ION with he case
Solicitor Behrcnd who was the agent
Of D'Aulby for the sale Of Mrs. PaIne's
letters. was the firsst witness of the day. He
insisted on the ProCurator -GInerai read
ing in full the letter from a firm Of Boston
lawyers declining To- have anything to do
with D'Aulby's negotiations with the
letters. The reading OF this letter CAV. IA
distinctly different impression from that
which had been produced 10y the extracts
which had previously been cited. The
letter showed that the American lawyers
wished to distinguish between the con-
tract for the sale Of tn. pictures and the
question Of the sale Of Mrs Pains'S letters.
They did not want to have anything 10 do
with the latter part a the case.
The Procureur declined to confront
Behrends and OUTLET on their different
accounts of their interview. saying it
would be useless. as OUTLET is an i'm
beetle Behrends described how he was
shadowec for weeks by detectives and
how an attempt was made To commit
burglary at his London office, where
there were many more of Mrs. Paine's
letters.
n. Maratrny testified that he knew
D. Aulby well Once he asked him to
act "a trustee for "A relative his position
sivin z him control Of large sums Of money
D. Aulby declined. D'Aulhy bought Mrs
Paine a piano. she prufting from the ~
per cent. reduction IN prIc. ID Aulhy was
entitled to as a professional musician.
Maratray was in "a position To know that
D'Aulhy wrote music which was published
under Mrs. Paine's name.
Maitre Bernard made an effort TO show
there was a conspiracy against DAulby.
establishing that at the tim" of his arrest