Evening star., 1924-11-30
LAW CLERK JAILED
IN PLOT ON PRINCE
Hobbs Denies Guilt in $780,
600 "Frame-Up" of
Potentate.

By Cable to The Star and New York World.
LONDON. November 2s.--William
Copper Hobbs. one Of the alleged Big
Three" conspirators in the Indian
prince blaekmail case, was sent to
prison without ball today on the
charge of having received a check
for 10000 pounds which had been
stolen abroad" Hobbs was arrested
last night at Gravesend as he was
boarding q channel boat for Holland.
I'm not guilty of these charges"
Hobbs said Indignantly as he was
being booked.
The warrant on which he was ar
rested is directed also against
another person." who 1t is runored,
is the now famous Capt. Arthur
Reads, aide de camp to the Indian
prince, whose identity was shielded
during the recent trial under the
title Mr.. A" Issuance of the war
rant, it Is explained, was for that
they on December 27, 1919, did with
out lawful excuse, knowing the same
the check for 10000 pounds) to
have been stolen and obtained in
such circumstances that IL 1t had been
committed in the United Kingdom,
the person committing 1t woul have
been guilty of felony or misde
receive and have in their Possession
a bankers check and order for the
payment Of 10000 pounds, the same
having been stolen or obtained in
France"
Prince stul Shielded.
There is much mystery as to the
next stage in the proceedings. 1t is
still desired to shield. the Indian
rajah. so none Of the six in the case
will be charged with blackmail.
Montague Noel Newton. third Of the
reputed big three" still is unmo-
Tested in London. However, 1t is be-
iieved the authorities intend to prose-
cute Hobbs for having converted to
his own use the check intended for
Charles L. Robinson, the boolSmaker
who was the plaintiff In the case con-
cluded yesterday against the Mid
land Bank.
The authorities believe Hobbs can
be prosecuted without bringing in the
identity of the rajah or the question
OF blackmail and Robinson is eX-
Dected to testify against Hobbs.
Capt. Reads. reported in Mexico.
is now believed to have returned to
the continent. Whether extradition
proceedings against him can be taken
or are intended. remains doubtful
NVniy D'sPotSh IN ~ III W.
morrow a story to the effect that
Reads was in London a month ago.
Trial Is Astounding.
For once, required to supply a
happy descriptive epithet for this
blaekmail suit, the language runs out
of words. To call the proceedings
astounding, extraordinary, supre emely
scandalous. superiativeiy sensational.
EzlI a Il,
the legal battle of century-the
forensic drama of an age. For sheer
grip and glamor, suspense and
strangeness. not even the superbly
staged Impeachment trial of War
rem w. Hastings could have surpassed
this struggle which has had all Lon
don by the ears for a fortnight.
It's adequate reporting would need
q Thackeray-that same Thackeray
who wrote of those who have mo
reverence except for prosperity and
no eye for anything beyond success.
Such people there are living and
lourishing in the world--faithless,
hopeless, charityless. Some there are,
and very successful. too, mere
Quacks and fools; and it was to COM
bat and expose such as these, no
doubt. that laughter was made"
hySterfOus ~Mf. A."
Much the pen which depicted, with
that unfailing touch of ironic laugh
ter, such folk as Becky Sharpe and
Rawdon Crawley. with his vices and
shady shifts, simple bravery and
Steyne and poor weak Osborne might
have made Of the material.
Greatly the mordant fancy of the
master satirist, himself born in CAL
cutta, son and grandson of Indian
civil servants, would have been
piqued at the e-ludicrous fig
ure of the mysterious Mr.. A." who
really is no mystery at all-the daz-
zling dupe, master of a whole prin-
cipality of languishing Oriental
houris, who incontinently yielded to
the wiles Of a plump little middle
aged Englishwoman, daughter Of a
meat vendor, wife of a bookmaker
with a strangling "Horsetrylian" ac-
cent. proprietress of "Grasshopper
Ointment"-who, in his fathomless
naivette, accepted her as q lady by
birth and breeding, q precious armfui
who in his boundless credulity let
himself be trapped with her in a Par
isian hotel by a fake husband, and
thereupon turned "as near green as q
brown man can," and pressed two
blank checks on his English aide-de-
camp, one of the reputed plotters. to
hush the matter up.
Doomed to Immortality.
If ever Lieut.. Gen. Rajah Sir Hurri
Singh succeeds his uncle as Maharaja
of Jammu, Kashmir. Ladakh and Gil
git. overload Of Chilas. Darel and
Tangir. he will have need of all his
state and pomp and titles and all his
hnlIn6la1C wealth nriAnto1
tentate, to live his past down and
make the world take him seriously.
He seems doomed to immortality as
the loser-to the tune of ESQ, ,000-in
the most regal example of the time
worn badger game on record.
Tried to Draw Tearx
Without this tragic-comic figure
Sir John Simon, the ever daring, even
tried to draw q few tears in "Mr.
AS" behalf in the courtroom by elo-
quent reference to the terrible pre-
dicament" In which he found himself
that Christmas season Of 1919 and to
his pitiabie state Of apprehension
and fear" following the violent un-
masking OF his innocent liaison-the
lawsuit would be incomplete as Ham
let sans its melancholy prince.
He supplies elements which would
be lacking In the case Of q less ex-
allied dupe-some millionaire pickle
maker from footing or Richmond.
Such tantaiizing elements, for In
stance, a. written testimony con-
cerning the amorous manners and
habits Of high-oaste Hindu-ths
kashmir rajahs were originally Raj
puts--whom his erstwh1le mistress
acknowledged in open court she
had found splendid" as lover. OF
ever Mrs. Robinson decides to write
her "reminiscences the publishers
agents will mob her)