The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1913-08-07

Begins Suit In London to Establish
His Claim to the Msrquisate and Big
Estates of the Head of the Well
Known 6eresferd Famiiy-His Birth
Concealed.
According to dispatches from Lon
don, the courts there may have to de-
eide whether or not George Tooth. a
London jobbing gardener, Is the son of
a cook or of the fifth Warehouses of
Waterford.
The first step In what may prove to
be a sensational fight was taken re-
Gently In the ~ehancery court. 1t con-
cerned the technical point of proce-
dure referring to the perpetuation of
evidence taken before an examiner
which would be uni~nteresting to the
general reader, but behind these tech
meal preliminaries lies a romantic
story, the truth OF which will require
much dlsentangling.
Tooth's claim to the marquisate of
Waterford and the big family estates
Of the head Of the well known Beres-
ford family Is briefly this:
The fifth Warehouses of Waterford,
who died On April 4, 1873, was first
married to Captain (the HON. John
Vivian, but she eloped to Paris with
the fifth Marquis Of Waterford, who
married her after Captain Vivian had
secured a divorce at the registrars Of.
fee at st. Georges, Hanover square,
on Aug. 8. 1872. On March 20, 1873,
the marchioness at Gresham place
bore a child. 1t was reported to have
been stillborn, but Tooth declares that
the child was born alive and is him
self. He suggests that the existence
Of he child was concealed because the
Waterford family objected to the
marchioness.
Tooth's Strange Story.
"The death of the warehouses" says
Tooth, was registered at Somerset
House, but the death certificate lacks
the signature OF any doctor. At 8
o'clock in the evening OF the day I was
born ! was taken to my first foster
mother, Mrs. Duncan, now dead, who
lived in Seymour place. Fulham. My
mothers maid. Priscilla Kynaston, and
the doctor took me there. I have
gathered this information from Mrs.
Duncan's daughter, who is now Mrs.
Godfrey Thorntogeath and who was
my foster mother after the death Of
her mother.
Il remained In the care of the Dun
cans until I was about sixteen years
old, my father, the Marquis OF Water
ford. paying them 2 guineas per
month. AS often as not, especially as
l grew older. he visited the house per-
sonally on the 9Th Of every month
and refused to hand over the money
until he saw that / was alive and well.
Mrs. Duncan called me George Tooth,
but my father always called me
George. I went to his house on
Charles street, of Pail Mall, about a
dozen times, and always before he said
goodby he would pull out some
money, rs or f10 generally, saying:
Here is some money for you. II you
want nor let me know I used to
write him and address him as Dear
Father and he wrote to me as Dear
George His last letter to me was In
1895 shortly before he shot himself"
A Workhouss Child.
There is another side to the story, Of
course. Georgtna Tooth, a single wo-
man. who was a cook In the service Of
the marchioness when she was Mrs.
Vivian, became the mother Of a child
In the Holborn workhouse infirmary
on Jan. rs. 1872. She died there
on Feb. 3 Of the same year. Mrs.
Vivian caused the child, who was
named John Tooth, to be taken to the
franciscan monastery at Porto Bellord
for a few days. Then q maid placed
him In the care of a Mrs. Jones, whose
address Is unknown.
1t is asserted that the child was
afterward placed in care Of the Dun
cans and Is the present claimant,
George Tooth. The various dates CIV
en- by some people are disputed by
others. and the usual contradictory
statements are made. Efforts to find
a record OF the birth Of John Tooth
on Jan. %, 1872, have hitherto failed.
The sixth Marquis Of Waterford was
the son OF the lfth marquis by his
second marriage. He was drowned In
1911. His son, a boy Of twelve, is the
present marquis.
About a year ago Tooth created a
sensation by appearing In Fleet street
In a frock coat and silk hat carrying
sandwich boards. on which was in
scribed: II am the sixth Marquis of
Waterford. do this to forward my
cas- and obtain justice"