The Washington times., 1922-08-27
Mystery of the Dream Baby" Grandson of England:
Recent Viceroy Of India and the Curious Revelation
Of After-the War Customs the Quarrel Over 1t Brought
LONDON, Aug. 10.


THE divor6 suit of the Hon. John
Hugo Russell, son and heir Of the
rich and powerful Lord Ampthill,
recently England's Viceroy of India, has
raised question more puzzling than the
Biblical Judgment of Solomon"
When. two women claimed to be the
mother of one baby, the great Israelite
settled the question by ordering the child
cut. in two and divided between the
claimants. The real mother then revealed
herself by offering to give up her
child rather than see it killed.
But an English jury, assisted by
he-greatest array of legal talent
in England, was unable to decide
the fatherhood of Mrs. Russell's
baby. The verdict showed the
utmost confusion of mind. The
jussrs agreed that the father of
the-ehild was not one Of two men
naned by Mr.. Russell as CORE A
spondents, but they failed to agree
as TO whether or not it was Mr..
Russell.
Perhaps the most amazing fact
OF the case is that both husband
and wife asserted that they were
both unconscious of how the baby
ried life with the understanding
that their companionship was to
be :Platonic, and both kept to the
understanding.
cit seems to have been a dream
baby-not a child of man," said
one of the women witnesses.
A vast mass of medical evidence
was introduced. Counsel regretted
that blood test of father and
child would not help to establish
the paternity until he was over
year old. Lady Ampthill, the grandmother,
declared emphatically that the baby did
not resemble her son or any of her family
in the least. The jurors had an oppor-
tunity to examine the baby privately.
The case has caused q profound impress
sion, not only on account of the medical
and legal points raised, but because Of the
great social prominence of the persons and
the revelation Of remarkable customs in
after-the-war fashionable society-young
men and women going to Paris and stay
ing.at hotels unchaperoned, men and wo-
men dressing up in one another's clothes,
mep dressing in women's clothes, and so
forth. .s->.sa--r-.- .-s.e'' ..a" - =,
The young husbands father, Lord
Ampthill, recently, as said, Viceroy of
India, holds the highest position in the
aristocracy and belongs to a branch of the
Duke of Bedford's family. The young
mans mother, Lady Ampthill, is "Lady
of great honor at court. The Queen is
undoubtedly much distressed at the ex-
posure of current tendencies in the
younger element of society.
The petitioner married his wife, Miss
Chfistabel Hulme Hart, daughter of
Colonel John Hart, Of the Leinster Regi-
meht, British army, in 1918 against the
wishes of his parents, Lord and Lady
Ampthill. The day before the marriage
be Platonic, and this agreement, the hus-
band said, had been observed.
The baby was born on October Is,
1874. This year Mr.. Russell brought suit
for-divorce, naming as correspondents two
young army officers, Gilbert M. Bradley
and Lionel Leslie Cross.
Mrs. Russell had lived much among
artists and war workers and was ex-
trernely unconventional. That was shown
by the testimony of her husband, which,
however, revealed many peculiarities of
his own:
Owing, to the Importance of the prin-
cipals, all the London newspapers devoted
pages to the printing of the entire testi-
mony in the case, and from these the fol-
lowing excerpts are taken:
On the stand Lord Ampthill's heir was
asked:
Q.-Would you describe your wife as
absolutely fearless?
MR.. RUSSELL-Yes, and absolutely
independent in her dealings with every
body. She said she did not care what
people said or thought about her. She
worked in Woolwich Arsenal and was
managing secretary to the Whitworth En-
gineering Company. She flew to Belgium
with pilot on business.
Q.-She used to do odd things, did she
not? On one occasion, having lost or left
behind the key of the fiat, did she not
climb through the basement of the fiat
and up the fire escape?
A.-Yes.
Q.-Did you go sliding about on the
roof of the house in Curzon street?
A.-Yes, went on the roof for
breath of fresh air, and she came out.
But she could not have slid more than
two or three feet before going into the
street. There was no danger, because
there is a large parapet.
Q.-Were you from the outset jealous
of her going out with other men?
'A.-Yes, at first she told me who she
was going out with and where she was
going.
Counsel read letter from the wife to
her husband from Switzerland in 1920
IDarlingest Old Thing-Your wife is so
Il. = Il ok k..x ktw,ar x.sAI,