The Washington times., 1921-04-10
MIR. Montanye, Who Denies He
Tilted Pretty Miss Clara and
Says He 10 Ready to Marry !
Her Any Minute.

DRETTY Clara CARROLL is only eighteen
years old, but heart broken. Gifted
= Mr.. Carleton s. Montanye is twenty
six and unhappy. Miss Carroll and Mr..
Montanye had been engaged to be married.
They were to be welded this June.
But to Miss Carroll one day came let
ter; 1t was short-only lines and AZ
words 1t was a mysterious letter and
cruel one, and brief as it was it broke at
one time the heart Of pretty Miss Clara
and her engagement, set in motion suit
for 100000, which Miss Carroll believes is
about right to repay her for her injured
feelings, and will provide the courts with
one of the most unusual problems ever en-.
countered in breach Of promise suit
This is an extraordinary amount of dam
age to be packed in one brief missive, and
it makes one wonder what would have ever
happened had the letter been "a words
long, and what on earth would have oc-
CURED had 1t been 1873 words long.
This was the letter:
Somebody has related to me what oc-
CURED on tour. know what happened
to Jean and nearly happened to you. II
seems as though nobody 10 on the level
any more. Well, all Is over for us any
way.
"And a chorus man, too! OF all per.
sons on earth!"
Although the letter bore no superscrip-
tion nor signature, Miss Carroll declares
she knew at once 1t was written by Mr..
Montanye There was no one else, she
says, for "all'' to be over with. Mr.. Mon
tanye vows that 1t was not, and declares
that he is not only ready to marry Miss
Carroll at any minute, but the sooner the
minute the better so far as he is concerned
because he cannot be happy without her!
The problem to be solved by a Jury,
then. is how Miss Carroll can claim $780,
900 damages from Mr.. Montanye for not
marrying her when Mr.. Montanye is, as he
says, ardently desirous of marrying her
right away. If Mr.. Montanye refused to
go on with the engagement, which 1t is ad-
mitted by both sides existed. then there
would be clear case of breach Of promise,
but how can a breach of promise claim
hold when the party accused OF doing the
preaching says that the breach exists only
IN the mind Of the plaintiff and that he is
ready to marry her before the suit, during
the suit or after the suit? This is the per-
plexity with which Jury must struggle.
Miss Carroll herself has very clear ideas
upon the point.
"He offers to marry me now because he
thinks It would be cheaper to marry and
support me than 10 pay that 100000" she
says. But nothing would induce me to
marry a man who would write such let
ter. l do not love him row. He has in
suited me. He has Tilted and humiliated
me. He must pay that 100000 or what
ever the Jury awards for the damage he
has done to my feelings. bring the suit
in the interest Of all girls II will teach
men to know their own minds before they
ask girl to become BRIDE"
To all of which Mr.. Montanye sorrow
fully and stubbornly reiterates that he
never wrote the letter, never Tilted pretty
Clara. is ardently anxious to marry her
and that therefore II her heart is broken
II is not by his doings.
IL Mr.. Montanye did not write the cruel
letter, then who WAS II that so wickedly
severed these two loving hearts? And
what could have been the motive?
Miss Carroll. as the observing reader
will gather from the mysterious missive,
is on the stage. She is, indeed. chorus
girl and has been much admired on the
Century Roof. Mr.. Montanye is novelist
and librettist of considerable fame