The Third Trial: 18 June 1891

Here is the London Times excerpt from the last day of the third and final trial in which German governess Valerie Wiedemann sued the Hon. Robert Horace Walpole for breach of promise of marriage and libel.

In this segment of the proceedings, the jury makes its decision—one that is as much in favor of Walpole as it is against him, given that £300 didn't come anywhere near covering the costs of the series of sensationally lurid Victorian trials.

By the way, my Phillies went belly-up against the San Francisco Giants last Saturday evening, thereby pushing me into an ever-darkening, baseball-less world of late autumn and early winter that won't lift until the first crack of the bat next spring…

The Third Trial: 17 June 1891, Part 3

The days are shortening here, despite the United States clinging to Daylight Savings Time. The sun no longer possessses any of its mid-summer ferocity, and the cool nights are wonderful stretches during which to sleep. Rising in the blackness of the night and driving to arrive at work at the crack of dawn is depressing, but there must be some important political reason for it—and, remember, the answer to almost all of your questions is "money"—so I suppose I must soldier on. I just wish I saw a bit of the money!

Anyway, autumn also brings with it baseball's exciting post-season. Once just the seven-game World Series between the National and American League pennant winners, it's now a complex, drawn-out tournament fed to the public by television networks who decide in advance the entire schedule, not logically or with a sensitivity to the ebb and flow of the sport, but with an eye toward profit.

My Philadelphia Phillies have been champions in 2008, were defeated in the World Series in 2009, and are vying to become the first National League team to play in three straight World Series since World War II. They trail the San Francisco Giants three-games to two in the best-of-seven series that leads to the World Series, and the sixth game is tonight.

Anyway, that's the reason I've fallen so far behind in adding to Who Is George Mills? Stir the daily drama of these play-offs in with (once again) hefty new requirements for schoolteachers this year (read: much more paperwork) and I've been busier than a one-armed paperhanger!

That said, I'm back today, and here's the latest installment of the third trial pitting Valerie Wiedemann and the Honorable Robert Horace Walpole, heir to the Earl of Orford. The trial is drawing to a close, and next time there'll be a verdict.

See you then!

The Third Trial: 17 June 1891, Part 2

The Third Trial: 17 June 1891, Part 1

The Third Trial: 16 June 1891

Here's another set of excerpts from The Times of London regarding the third trial pitting German governess Valerie Wiedemann versus Robert Horace Walpole, heir to the Earl of Orford, the latter being sued for breach of promise of marriage and libel. These images are from 16 June 1891 as the trial is nearing its end.

Click to enlarge each image in a new window.

And greetings to the 5000th visitor to this website!

The Third Trial: 15 June 1891

Notable Sussex Women

Let's take a break from the proceedings of the third trial pitting plaintiff Valerie Wiedemann against defendant Robert Horace Walpole and consider something else.

In her book, Notable Sussex Women, author Helena Wojtczak has written biographical sketches of 580 women of Sussex from Annie Abram to Nellie Sheail. As a tease, women within are also listed anonymously by accomplishment: "a woman with terrapins in her bra," "the wealthiest prostitute in London," and "Siamese twin entertainers," for example.

Included among these notable women is our Lady Dorothy Mills [née Walpole], daughter of Walpole and Louise Melissa Corbin. I'm uncertain how her accomplishments might have been described in the book's tease, however.

Is she "the white woman who led a protest march of 20,000 black Africans"? If she is, I'm unaware of that event, although Lady Dorothy certainly spent a great deal of time in Africa living among its native people.

Was she one of the "writers of books deemed 'obscene' and 'grossly immoral'"? I know that not every reader was in favor of her adventuring among the savages and even prompting marriage proposals from many.

Could Lady Dorothy's travels in the East have made her the "the titled lady who bred silkworms," a prize she may have returned with after one of her excursions?

With 580 biographical sketches in a 366 page volume, many of the sketches are bound to be exceptionally brief. There are 189 illustrations and 63 glossy photographs. Is there an image of Lady Dorothy Millls? And would it be an image of the young, globe-trotting Lady Dorothy, or of the aging Lady Dorothy who lived away from the public eye in Brighton from the publication of her last book 1931 until her death in 1959?

If you own the book or have borrowed it from a library and can summarize her biographical sketch, or if you own it and can e-mail me a scan of any information on Lady Dorothy Mills [pictured, right] it contains for the purposes of my research, I would be most grateful. Having already spent a couple of hundred of dollars on this strange quest of mine—most of it on shipping from the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand—I hesitate to tell my financial advisor [read: my wife, Janet] that I plan on spending well over £20 (with shipping) to catch a glimpse of a paragraph or two in a book that may or may not be of any use to me at all!

Please e-mail me at will19008 [at] yahoo.com if you can help, and thank you in advance for your consideration!

Baron Pollock & Mr. Lockwood, Q.C.

I've discovered a couple of images of the principals in the trial. Here are Judge Charles Edward Baron Pollock [above, right], who presided over the third Wiedemann v. Walpole trial in 1891, and Frank Lockwood, Q.C. [below, left], who stood up on behalf of the defendant, Robert Horace Walpole. They certainly are a couple of severe looking fellows!

Click to enlarge each image in a new window.

The Third Trial: 13 June 1891

We now come to the third day of the third trial pitting Valerie Wiedemann v. the Hon. Robert Horace Walpole. Walpole is at the time the father of a young daughter who will grow to marry Arthur Frederick Hobart Mills, half-brother of George Mills. This London Times article, from 13 June 1891, is shorter than most. It must have been an abbreviated day in the High Court.

Click to enlarge each segment in a new window.

The Third Trial: 12 June 1891, Part 5

This concludes the lengthy second day of the third trial of Wiedemann v. Walpole. Tune in again next time for Day 3!

The Third Trial: 12 June 1891, Part 4

The Third Trial: 12 June 1891, Part 3

The Third Trial, 12 June 1891, Part 2

The Third Trial: 12 June 1891, Part 1

It's the second day of the third trial pitting Valerie Wiedemann v. the Hon. Robert Horace Walpole. Walpole is at the time the father of a young daughter who will grow to marry Arthur Frederick Hobart Mills, half-brother of George Mills. The London Times article of 12 June 1891 studied here is lengthy and will be revealed in a series of posts.

Click to enlarge each segment in a new window.

The "Who Is George Mills?" Mailbag: August 2010

Now that we've concluded the first day of the 3rd incarnation of Wiedemann v. Walpole, let's take a look at some comments that have accumulated on the website. They constitute a "mailbag" of sorts for this website. Let's take a peek at its contents....

● Here's a comment received on 24 August 2010 regarding what appears to have been a wedding gift to Robert Horace Walpole and his first wife, the parents of Lady Dorothy Mills:

Charles said...

Wow!

Have just been researching and old silver trinket box of mine. On the bottom it reads Tiffany, Paris. Around the sides there is worked floral decoration and on the top it reads Louise Melissa Corbin, Robert Horace Walpole Married May17th 1888.

What a surprise to come across your work!!

Charles, I'd certainly be interested in the history of your box, and most especially about Miss Corbin [pictured, above, right], about whom little is known. I do hope you'll share any research you discover!


● Here's an anonymous message from 26 August 2010 regarding a mistake I'd made in the early summer. In researching London phone directories of the 1920s through the 1940s, I'd assumed a "G. R. A. Mills" I'd been tracking was the George Ramsay Acland Mills [left] of our interest here. Not so:

Anonymous said...

George Robert Alexander Mills is part of a family tree I am researching - born 1903 in Brockley and dies in Canterbury in 1981. I stumbled across your research for the simple fact that your George Ramsay Acland Mills and Vera Louise Beauclerk also added some difficulty to my research! My George Mills was a stockbroker and married in 1927 in Lewisham. He lived at 51 Wickham Road, which had also been the family residence of his parents. I am afraid I cannot shed any light of the further addresses however, as I am unsure how long they continued to reside in the area.


● Finally, back on 10 August 2010, I received this comment regarding my search for a person who seemed to be named "Barbara Mills":

andrewbore said...

Hi there,

Henry Valentine Mills married Frances Georgiana Miller on Jan 27, 1917 in Radway. He was 35 and she was 22. They were married by licence. A Selina Mary Mills was one of the witnesses. I just happened to be indexing the marriage for Family Search Indexing and decided to do a search for the couple. Sorry I can't help more with Barbara Mills.

Henry and Selina Mills were, indeed, relatives of George Mills. Barbara Mills, however, appears to have been created as a result of a transcription error made while Mrs. Barton Mills [mother of George] was ordering flowers [right] for the funeral of a relative, Maj. Reginald Ramsay Wingate, in 1938.

Thank you, Andrew, for the information, and for your interest! It certainly is greatly appreciated.

As always, if you have any information about George Mills or anyone in his family, I hope that you'll contact me via the e-mail address at the upper right of this page or via the option to leave a comment on any posting you see here.

Thanks in advance for your help!

The Third Trial: 11 June 1891, Part 3

Here is the third excerpt from the first day of the third and final trial in which Valerie Wiedemann, a governess from Germany, sued the Hon. Robert Horace Walpole for breach of promise of marriage and libel after they had an affair in the city called Constantinople.

In this final segment of the day's proceedings, court closes at 4 o'clock with the defense still laying out the details of the plaintiff's case.

The Third Trial: 11 June 1891, Part 2

Here is the second excerpt from the first day of the third trial in which Valerie Wiedemann sued the Hon. Robert Horace Walpole for breach of promise of marriage and libel. Walpole would become the father of Lady Dorothy Mills, the author and explorer who would marry Arthur F. H. Mills, brother of George Mills. It seems unlikley that these proceedings could not help but to have shaped the rearing of Lady Dorothy, and subsequently influenced Arthur's life, career, and subsequent divorce from her.

I apologize for the article sometimes being broken into segments that divide sentences.

The Third Trial: 11 June 1891, Part 1

A real difficulty using the London Times for research is the capriciousness of its search engine. It seems to give one's desired result upon a whim. Regarding the third trial and final trial pitting Valerie Wiedemann v. the Hon. Robert Horace Walpole, not much surfaced, but I was able to work out the trial dates and search through the paper, page by page, until I had found and took a "screenshot" of all of the pieces of all of the article, which was quite an undertaking!

The real downside of this is that, when the search engine delivers results, it also provides the article sought in text format—something that was suddenly unavaliable to me. Now, even though that text can be largely drivel, it was still useful in that I could cut and paste it into a Word document and spend an hour or so correcting it.

[Here's an brief example of an available 'text' from the London Times: "tiree of wvhom were called. 'to the Bar-and three daughters. The eldlest son, Ir. Courtney Terrell,- was appo>inted-lust- November Chief Justice of the High Cotur t of Judicature at Patna." There would be some corrections to be made there!]

Anyway, that's the method I used in patching together the previous entries regarding Trails 1 & 2 that are found here. It was faster than transcribing them in their entirety myself: I type with only two fingers, and given the length of some of those article, I'd have been transcribing them all day.

Since I ferreted out the next series of articles myself, there wasn't even a poor-quality bit of text for me to cut, paste, and edit. I don't have the time or the energy right now to sit and peck out the stories regarding the third trial in their entirety. What I've done is cropped the screen shots of them down to size and I'll post them for you to peruse at your leisure.

The downside of posting them like this is that they will not be searchable via Google, Yahoo, Altavista, or Dogpile. The upside is that I can get them on-line without spending days slowly re-typing them.

Another issue with viewing the articles in this manner will probably be that they may appear to be of different sizes on the blog. If they do, simply click on the article and it should appear enlarged in a new window, of the same size, and will be much easier to read.

You'll find the first excerpt of the trial from the 11 June 1891 issue of The Times above left, and the second to the right. I'll try to post an excerpt each day until we reach its conclusion in the 18 June 1891 issue.

More soon…

Back to School

My word! I blinked, and the summer was gone! It was a cocktail of house problems, health problems, a bit of travel, and trying to get some rest in advance of another grueling school year—I turned 52 on Wednesday, and I'm feeling every year of it!

While preparing to return to school, I went out to lunch with my grade level partners on Wednesday to a crowded little breakfast/lunch place called Scrambles here in Ocala [left]. The waitress, who was insanely scurrying around keeping track of orders and requests, serving food, filling water and drink glasses, and calculating the bills of fares for each table seemingly all at once, told us she'd used to be a teacher—but it was too stressful!

It's funny, children come into my class knowing less each year, I teach less to kids these days than ever, and with paperwork and requirements and new law after new law, I'm working much harder than ever to try to produce a single-digit score on a high-stakes achievement test that is alleged to sum up a child: Here in Florida, a 5 is a smart child, and a 1 is woeful.

There's a prescient episode of the classic sci-fi series, The Twilight Zone, which summarizes humans in exactly that way by their appearance [right]. This isn't too far off, only completely summarizing the learning of a child.

Well, c'est la vie! I still have to break down some information about the last of the Walpole v. Wiedemann trials and tackle to later lives of George, Agnes, and Violet Mills as they lived out their Golden Years in Budleigh Salterton. I also received a copy of Stanley Elkins's book, George Mills, for my birthday from a dear friend [and former student!], and while only marginally related to our subject here as previously discussed, it still may make an interesting subject for a blog entry or two.

We're really coming to a close in our study of George Mills and family, unless more information comes to light. Without assistance from his taciturn closer relatives and several outside sources that have simply haven't responded to requests for information, there'll eventually be little left or nothing to examine or reflect upon.

Until then, however, I'll do my best to both prepare for my first lessons on Monday and gather more information to post on-line for you this week!

Wiedemann v. Walpole 2: The Aftermath

Last time we attended the final installment of the proceedings brought by Miss Valerie Wiedemann against the Hon. Robert Horace Walpole on the grounds of breach of promise and libel. The coverage was , however, entirely from the London Times.

For a slightly different perspective, let's once again pick up a paper from the southern hemisphere. Plucked from the wire service on 20 June 1890, New Zealand's Star offered a summary of the sensational case for readers down under. It offers up some interesting bits of information.

In it, their "London Correspondent" takes an obligatory swipe at W. T. Stead of the Pall Mall Gazette, an interesting act given how very loosely tied to the correct facts and details of the trial the actual Star article below is.

We do become privy to some interesting details here: Prior to the trial Wiedemann had dismissed her own solicitors, who had been unable to persuade her "to accept their brief." Walpole's child had been named "Minnie Valerie Margaretta," and that by the count here in the Star, the baby had been her third illegitimate child. It was alleged she had threatened Monsieur Logothetti with death for testifying against her. And when Walpole refused to give her more money than the £100, she pitched a public fit, threw herself on the floor, held onto his coat, and had to be shaken loose "with difficulty."

There are no images of a youthful Walpole available, certainly none depicting his the age of the trial. We do, however, have written descriptions. You may recall that the Melbourne Argus of 5 January 1889 had described Walpole as a "handsome young man, with the usual F.O. repose and insolence of manner." Here we find a differing [and less than flattering] glimpse of Walpole's appearance, this article describing him as "a thin-faced little man, with a bald head, large nose, slightly receding chin, and harassed expression."

Most interestingly, the article below contains this bit of information from the trial: "Walpole, horrified, took [Wiedemann] to the Hotel Luxembourg, where they stayed for some days," after he had seduced and made love to her at the Hotel d'Angleterre. I wonder how many days they might have spent together, shacking-up in the second hotel where he had registered as "Mr. and Mrs. Boston," had he not been "horrified" by the entire ordeal.

Nonetheless, this is the story that went out across the wires after the conclusion of the trial, which had ended quickly in a 'hung jury.' One wonders how apoplectic Mr. Justice Mathews must have been to find out that four days spent on what had appeared to the learned judge to be a slam-dunk of a trial evaporated in a just a couple of hours when six jurymen for the plaintiff simply could not agree with six jury members who'd sided with the defendant.

The only thing we know for certain as a result of these proceedings is that—You guessed it!—we'll be having yet another trial: Wiedemann v. Walpole, Part 3.

And next time, it'll be for all of the proverbial marbles…


THE WIEDEMANN CASE.
Star , Putanga 6919, 31 Hōngongoi 1890, Page 2

-♦ The Plaintiff's Past. Startling Disclosures. The Berlin Baby. [From our London Correspondent.] London, June 20.

It will be remembered that, when the fair Valerie's outburst of temper brought the first trial of the Wiedemann-Walpole breach of promise case to an abrupt termination, the defendant declared that the unexpected stoppage was the greatest misfortune which could have befallen him. How true this was and how undeserved the obloquy which "that good man Stead" and other enthusiastic champions of the much-injured plaintiff heaped upon Mr Walpole we now know.

The second trial commenced on Saturday last, before Mr Justice Matthew (perhaps the most painstaking judge on the Bench) and a Special Jury. Miss Wiedemann, whose solicitors had proved unable to persuade counsel to accept their brief, conducted her own case. She spoke fast, and with such a strong accent, that it was often impossible to comprehend. Fortunately her story was familiar to most in Court. On Monday the Solicitor-General rose to cross-examine, and then (as anticipated) the proceedings grew distinctly lively. Miss Wiedemann's past according to Sir E. Clarke was not that of a simple nursery governess, but of a crafty adventuress with numerous amatory passages of a distinctly discreditable character. When Mr Walpole met her at the Constantinople Hotel his name appeared in the visitors' book as Lord Walpole, and, believing him to be a big fish, the lady tried her best to land him. She beguiled the young man into her room at night, and deliberately arranged matters so that her reputation should be publicly compromised. Next day she posed before him as a girl who had been seduced and ruined. Walpole, horrified, took her to the Hotel Luxembourg, where they stayed for some days, and where the fair Valerie's behaviour enlightened the man as to her real character, and convinced him that he, at any rate, had not robbed her of her virtue. He gave her £100 when he left, and considered that sum ample solatium for any harm he might have done her.

The Solicitor-General, enquiring into the fair plaintiff's past, asked her if she knew M. Victor de Crenville.

She said she had heard of Mons. Victor de Crenville, who was in the Austrian service, but she had not seen him in Constantinople. She did not go to his apartments in December, 1881. She did not know of another Valerie Weidemann [sic] in Constantinople. It was not true that Mons. de Crenville made complaint against her to the German Consul. Such a statement was an infamous scandal.

The Solicitor-General : Do not be too strong in your expressions.

The Plaintiff : It is infamous ; I will not allow it.

The Solicitor-General : You had previous acquaintance with. Mons. de Crenville, and said he was the father of your child.

The Plaintiff :

IT IS FALSE.

The Solicitor-General : I will give you the date when the child was born, and the name of the person who attended you on your confinement. Were you ever in your life in Cyprus ?

The plaintiff : No.

Sir E. Clarke here read a statement by M. Crenville, to the effect; that he had had passing relations with Valerie Wiedemann through the payments of money, and that she charged him with being the father of her second illegitimate child. He caused lots of money to be paid her through his Vienna advocate, but at the same time contested the- paternity. On the utterly false assertion that he bad promised to marry her, Valerie Wiedemann went to his parents and to the Consulate at Constantinople to extort fresh sacrifices of money from him, and then came to his rooms, and tried to strangle him, and threw a heavy teapot at him. The witness, with great indignation and violent gesticulation, declared that the whole thing was false unless the Valeric Wiedemann referred to was a person who had

USED HER NAME,

which was not impossible, as she had lost her passport.

Then Sir E. Clarke came to that part of the cross-examination at which the case broke off so abruptly before, the question of whether, before the end of 1881, the plaintiff had had a child. At first she again showed a disposition to refuse to answer, pleading that the question was offensive and insulting, but at length she denied the allegation. Sir E. Clarke gave her the alleged date, number, and name of the street in Berlin, and the name of the person who attended her, and the name which he alleged was given to the child, "Minnie Valerie Margaretta," but the plaintiff persisted in denying the allegation. Then the Solicitor-General handed up to her an official German certificate of birth chronicling the confinement of Valerie Wiedemann, but still the witness

DENIED THAT IT REFERRED TO HER.

Coming to another stage, Sir E.Clarke read the statement of M. Menosis, which • alleged that plaintiff called on M. Menosis and said she had not expected his father-in-law, M. Logothetti, the Constantinople hotel proprietor, to give evidence against 1 her, because M. Logothetti had always been "gallant et gentel" towards her. If she lost her case, she said, she would kill Logothetti, according to this state-ment by Menosis. Plaintiff denied this altogether, and said she only said she should proceed against Logothetti for his lies, and get him punished as he deserved. She was giving a piano lesson to one of her pupils when she saw Mr Walpole. He was inscribed in the visitors' book as Lord Walpole. He made love the first evening he saw her. She did not ask Mr Walpole to take her to England. He asked her to go, but she declined. There had been no arrangement that the defendant should come to her room on the night in question. She went to the opera with Mrs Manuso and her daughter that night. Mrs Manuso slept in the next room to hers. The defendant entered her bedroom about half an hour after she went into her room. She was undressed.

THE KEY HAD BEEN TAKEN AWAY,

but she had bolted the door. She did not open the door to let Mr Walpole in, but she did not understand how he got in. She thought the bolt could not have caught. She was sitting with her back to the door when he must have entered. The room vas only lighted by moon-light, and she had not the slightest suspicion that anyone would enter. She was seated near the window in a dressing-gown. Mr Walpole was also attired in a dressing-gown. She was not only frightened, but shocked and indignant, and she would have turned him out, but he was too strong. There was an actual struggle of physical strength between them before he overcame her. She tried the door between her room and Madame Manuso's. She shouted and screamed, and as no assistance came to her she believed there was a conspiracy against her on the put of Madame Manuso and the people of the hotel. Mr Walpole held a handkerchief over her mouth. She had said nothing of that at the last trial. She tried to get at the bell pull, but he pulled l her arm away. She complained to the proprietor of the hotel as to how she had been treated. She only yielded to the defendant's overtures on the second day when he again promised her marriage. The proprietor of the hotel said someone in the place had complained. He had placed a man to watch at the door, and Mr Walpole had been seen to leave the room. Mr. Walpole enclosed £15 for her fare to Liverpool. He gave her a cheque for £100 at the Hotel Luxembourg, but it was ridiculous to say

SHE EXPRESSED HERSELF AS BEING GRATEFUL.

He told her his mother was at Cannes, at the Hotel Continental, and he gave her the money to pay her expenses there on the journey. She stayed at an hotel at Malta for two or three days. She also stopped two weeks in a convent at Borne before proceeding to Cannes. She went by the name at Cannes of Madame Valerie. She had never heard from Mr. Walpole since 1882.

The defendant, who is a thin-faced little man, with a bald head, large nose, slightly receding chin, and harassed expression, told the story of his fatal liaison with Miss Wiedemann. Never, he swore, from first to last, was marriage mentioned. He gave her £100 to go to Liverpool with. She was delighted with it, and said it was very kind,

AND KISSED HIM.

How ridiculous," said the plaintiff, with a laugh. "It is a downright lie."

Sir E. Clarke here read a letter from the plaintiff to the defendant, in which she said their little boy would one day ask his birthright of his father, and that if he did not break his hateful silence he would make of her a modern Brunhilda or some outraged woman.

Then the plaintiff proceeded to cross-examine the defendant.

"WHY DID YOU NOT ANSWER

any of my letters ?" she asked. " Because in one of your letters," said the defendant, " you threatened to make my life a burden unless I gave you thousands of pounds.

Did I tell you I was engaged to a German gentleman ?— She said she was engaged to the German officer who had brought her to Constantinople, and then she pretended to cry, and I did not ask her anything more.

Do you hope I can ever forgive the insult you have offered me by not answering my letters? Do you regret bringing these irreparable sufferings on me? Have you conspired with others against me — Logotnetti and the Manusos?" These were some of the questions which followed, but the two former were disallowed, and the defendant denied the last.

Have you anything to do with

THE ANONYMOUS LETTERSwritten to persons with whom I have been in service? — No.

In answer to a Juryman, the defendant said that on the night of Sept. 26 he received a note from the plaintiff from the Hotel Imperial at Constantinople. He went there, and saw her
DRINKING WITH SOME GERMAN' OFFICERS.

She has cashed the £100 cheque, and told him she wanted some more money.

The plaintiff : " How shameful."

The defendant went on to say that the plaintiff behaved very violently, threw herself on the ground, took hold of his coat, and it was with difficulty he got rid of her.

The plaintiff said the statement was untrue. She was not at the hotel.

THE RESULT.

The Judge summed up dead in favour of the defendant, pointing out clearly enough that Miss Wiedemann's allegations regarding there having been either a forced seduction or breach of promise were absolutely without corroboration. On the other hand, a number of different people told quaint stories of the lady's past, and her own family appeared to have held themselves conspicuously aloof from her.

The Jury were expected to agree forthwith, but, to the surprise of all concerned, were locked up for several hours without deciding on a verdict, and had then to be discharged. Strange to say, too, six were for the plaintiff and six for the defendant.

Wiedemann v. Walpole, The Second Trial, Part 4

I found this, the fourth and last installment of the second trial pitting Miss Valerie Wiedemann against the Hon. Robert Horace Walpole, by far the most surprising—looking at it from the vantage point of the United States in 2010.

Justice may, indeed, be blind, but Justice Mathews certainly was not. After the counsel for the defence, Sir Edward George Clarke, made his closing remarks for the defence in a succinct and gentlemanly way [presumably to avoid seeming like an angry legalistic mercenary of a paternalistic society coming down hard on poor, wronged Valerie], Mr. Justice Mathews—whose duty here would seemingly to have been merely to explain the points of law involved—broke out a metaphorical sledgehammer and pounded his personal suppositions, feelings, and prejudices home into the jury.

Behavior like that today would have been the most shocking aspect of a trial of that nature. Perhaps the lawyers might have indulged, but I feel certain that judges now would have to keep at least some sort of veneer of impartiality in place during proceedings such as these.

Using words like "incredible," "inveigled," "concocted," and "persecuted," contrasting Miss Wiedemann with a "modest woman," pointing out her alleged divergence from the norms of "human nature," and asserting that the gentleman providing critical evidence on behalf of the plaintiff, Uriah Cook, was "untrustworthy" and a "perjured villain," Mathews hammered his opinions home. He even took a verbal swipe at the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, W. J. Stead, and all of the readers of that paper.

Mathews even took issue with "the way in which she denied" an allegation by the defence, directed the expectations of the jury, saying "One would have expected," in regard to Wiedemann's actions, and even pointed out the telling fact that, given a note for £100, that check had been very suspiciously "cashed at once" by the unemployed Wiedemann.

When the speed at which a person cashes a cheque is open to criticism and supposedly a point of law, it isn't surprising then that Mathews also offers a critique that would have made the defendant's case far more air-tight: "It would have been better for the defendant to have left Darlington alone." Apparently Walpole's 'unnatural' inclinations, especially in that case, were simply a matter of stupidity, while Wiedemann's had been malicious. Mathews's opinion of the intellect of the jury must have been quite low, and he seemed to determined to frame these proceedings for them in such a way that the plaintiff 'couldn't get away with it.'

But here I am, spoiling it all for you. Read it for yourself. I don't mean to be making a case for or against either Wiedemann or Walpole, both of whom seem to have been involved in a dirty little affair that mushroomed out of control and had gone poorly in the long run for them both. What shocks me about this 'shocking' case, however, is actually the leading summary by Justice Mathews.

Oh—and I actually haven't spoiled the real surprise ending!

Read for yourself the surprising events of 19 June 1890, as recorded in the London Times:


(Before MR. JUSTICE MATHEWS and a Special Jury.)

WIEDEMANN v. WALPOLE. The trial of this action, which was brought to recover damages for breach of promise of marriage and libel, was resumed and concluded to-day. At the close of the proceedings yesterday the Solicitor-General had concluded his address to the jury on behalf of the defendant. The plaintiff then addressed the jury. The question of corroboration was a legal question with which she could not deal. If defendant thought her bad or wicked, why did be wish her to go to England with him? The people at the hotel could have found out everything if they had liked. When one looked at so many people who spoke well of her, it was impossible that she could have lived the life they said she did. The Count had not been called as a witness against her, although the defendant had plenty of means and could easily have called him. Her family had suffered very much by the conduct of the defendant. The defendant had not answered the Ietters of herself or her relations, who were in good positions. It had been said she delayed the trial. She did not delay the trial; she pressed the trial on. The letters she wrote showed she did not intend to extort money, but to claim the right of legal wife. In all her letters she wrote saying she had a right to be his wife, and the defendant never wrote and contradicted it. In the first trial she said her child was alive. She then thoroughly believed that it was alive. Her parents refused to correspond with her till she became the legal wife of the defendant. She had not corresponded with them since 1883. As to the petition of Count Cieuneville, it was a libel upon her. When she wrote to the Consulate they would not allow her to look at it. The defendant's evidence was altogether inconsistent. He said that when he gave her the cheque for £100 she was delighted, and almost in the same breath he said she told him she would make his life a burden to him. As to the ring, if she had stolen the ring, as suggested, the defendant could have properly claimed it, but he had never once written to her to claim it. He had asked Darlington to try to get it from her. The plaintiff then gave a full description of her movements from 1878 to 1882.

MR. JUSTICE MATHEWS summed up. He must say he thought the jury had heard the plaintiff's case with exemplary patience. He had had to interrupt her, not against her interest, but because if she had referred to documents not entirely evidence, a new trial could have been obtained, and the time of this trial would have been thrown away. He did not think that the jury, when they heard all, would have very much difficulty in dealing with the case. The action was for breach of promise of marriage, under which promise the plaintiff alleged she was seduced and became the mother of a child, of which the defendant was the father, and that then she was cast off. She told the story so simply that it was difficult to believe that it was not true. She represented herself as a modest woman. She was a talented and graceful woman. She said she was the victim of the violence of in Englishman; that, following it up, he induced her to live with him for three days. That was the story told by plaintiff, and that story she repeated to-day. The defendant asked them to take a very different view. He said it was a strange story, and there was not a scrap of evidence to support the promise of marriage. He said she was a woman who could not give a satisfactory account of herself. She was 32 at the time of the alleged seduction and defendant was 26. The Solicitor-General said the plaintiff inveigled the defendant in the first instance, and got a large sum of money out of him, and then persecuted him, his mother, and innocent wife. The Solicitor-General said they ought not to act on the statement of plaintiff or defendant without some corroboration; that in dealing with a woman like the plaintiff they should act with care and vigilance. Before he spoke of the facts, he must tell them about the law. A few years ago it was enacted that the plaintiff could give evidence in support of her action of breach of promise of marriage. Before, it was thought that it was unwise to depend on the evidence of the plaintiff. In 1870 it was thought the law might be relaxed, and it was thought that the plaintiff might be examined, only on condition that her evidence was corroborated in some material matter. The plaintiff's evidence would have to be discarded unless there was other evidence in support of plaintiff's statement. In this case all hung on one single thread. The plaintiff could not be heard, and plaintiff could not get a verdict unless they believed Cook. The plaintiff's advisers told her the difficulty of her position. She might have written letters, but the law imposed on no man the obligation of replying to them. The whole thing, therefore, turned on the evidence of Cook. Cook's recollection was precisely in point. If the evidence had been made for the occasion, it could not have been more exactly what was wanted. Cook said before he entered into a contract he had doubts as to the defendant's position with regard to the plaintiff. Cook said the defendant said to him, "I am not her husband, but I may have promised to marry her when I seduced her." The Solicitor-General asked them not to act on that evidence. Who was Cook? A retired policeman. Cook was compelled to admit he had to retire from the force for giving untrustworthy evidence. He had since been an inquiry agent. He made a claim on defendant which defendant refused to pay. The defendant had to pay money into Court which Cook took. Then this confidential agent handed the defendant's letters over to the plaintiff. The Solicitor-General said they helped the defendant as it showed the defendant, when he wrote them, told the same story then as he did now. It was clear that Cook, if not a liar, was a traitor. There was one point more against him. The plaintiff told them that Cook was a perjured villain: that he tried to take the ring by violence, and inflicted injuries on her. He denied that. If the statement by Cook was not true, there should be a verdict for the defendant. The Solicitor-General said the plaintiff's statement should not be accepted. Some of the plaintiff's statements as to her antecedents were tolerably clear. In 1869 she was 18. She had been educated as a governess, and earned her living as such during the early part of her career. In 1878 she said she came to England. The plaintiff gave the name of Pastor Wagner [pictured, right]. There was nothing that appeared in the case discreditable to him. He had taken up her case. He probably heard the story she told them now, without her then being under cross-examination. He saw her in 1883, and wrote to defendant, repeating statements made to him, and asked defendant to come to her assistance. He added she was starving. The plaintiff repudiated that indignantly. When the pastor wrote that letter, had he heard about the trip to Rome, and that she had stayed at a convent, and then went to Constantinople, where she did not know the names of the superiors? The pastor was not called. He wondered whether he knew all about that. The jury should bear in mind that no one who had spoken about the case knew so much about it as the jury, whether it was the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette or other editors who had been writing about it. After 1878 certain obscurity descended on the proceedings of the plaintiff. His Lordship then referred to the persons mentioned by the plaintiff. It was a singular thing that no single relative had been examined on her behalf. It appeared she had an uncle, an aunt, and two cousins at Innsbruck. A commission was sent out, and their evidence could be taken. Why was she left without the aid of a single relative? The plaintiff's answer was that they did not want their names mentioned in the case. If her relatives believed her story it was inconsistent with human nature that no relative should come forward to assist her. According to plaintiff's statement she went to her relatives. From 1880-1881 she went to other relatives in Pomerania. There was no explanation how a lady so accomplished as the plaintiff was should remain all that time doing nothing. Was the explanation that she was travelling with the young man she said she was engaged to? She then said she went to Rome with a countess. There were so many countesses mentioned he could not say which one it was, but he thought her name was Winsky. That lady was going to found a convent, and thought the plaintiff just the person to become a novice, forgetting her engagement to the young man. She said she was at the convent of Sacré Cœur from February to March. There was one person above all others in the convent, and that was the lady superior. The plaintiff could not tell the jury her name. She said she went back to Innsbruck, and then went to Vienna. And in February, 1882, the said the countess advised her to go to Constaninople. That was the account of those years which the plaintiff gave them. The Solicitor-General thought it a curious story that she should select, of all places in the world, Galata, to wait till the convent was ready for her reception in Rome. Did they think she was sent by Countess Winsky to wait at the convent at Galata till the countess's convent was ready? He must now turn to another part of the case. It appeared from a certificate that in 1880 there was another Valery Wiedemann in Berlin. The statements in that certificate were not evidence against the plaintiff. Their attention must be confined to the way the plaintiff answered the suggestion that she was the person mentioned in that certificate. She denied absolutely the suggestion that she was the mother of the child whose birth was recorded in that certificate. The Solicitor-General called their attention to the way in which she denied it. It appeared at one time as if she were going to admit it, but ultimately she denied it. There was another Valery Wiedemann, whose history was brought home nearer to the plaintiff than the first. It appeared that in December, 1881, there was a report of a complaint by Count Cieuneville that a woman, Valery Wiedemann, charged him with the paternity of her child, and also used threats towards him and that ultimately he had to call in the assistance of the consular office for protection. Oddly enough that woman's name was Valery Wiedemann. The plaintiff's account of that was that a person had picked up her passport and made use of the name. It appeared from the document that the Valery Wiedemann who was the subject of the proceedings had an introduction to the nuns at Galata [pictured, left]. So much for that part of the case. He would now go to the main incident. The plaintiff swore positively that she was not in difficulties as indicted by the statement in the document and that all the statements were trumped up, and that defendant, who was the evil genius in this case, had got these documents, which were concocted as to her journey to Constantinople. On the first trial she said nothing about her becoming a Catholic, and going to a convent. She then said she went on the invitation of German families. There was apparently no truth in that statement, as in this trial she told another story. Which of these stories was true? He need not go through the different weeks in September which ended in the plaintiff's employment by Logothetti. As to the evidence of Logothetti and Monoussos, he thought their evidence ought to be laid aside. It was clear that when the plaintiff was in the hotel, after the employment of the children was over, she had no means. One would have expected she would have gone back to her convent, but she remained in the hotel. The plaintiff was very likely to attract the defendant. The defendant said that he asked leave to go to her bedroom, was allowed, and remained there some time; that in the morning an occurrence took place, and the hotel proprietor sent her away; that the plaintiff told him what had happened, and that she wanted to go to Liverpool, and he sent her the money. That she left and stayed with him at the Luxembourg, and that no promise of marriage took place. Was his story likely or not? Now contrast it with the plaintiff's story. She said he kissed her and was repulsed, and was told of the young man in Germany; that she had been at the opera with the daughter of the house, that she retired to her room and that she noticed the key was gone; she now said that was a part of the conspiracy against her virtue; that she suddenly became aware of a man in the room; that he rushed upon her, overcame her, and committed a rape upon her; then she conveniently fainted. Next morning what happened? The plaintiff, upon whom this awful indignity had been perpetrated, went after the defendant to a neighbouring hotel. The defendant said that he determined to return by Varna [pictured, right, ca. 1877], so he drew a cheque for £100, and gave it her. The cheque was changed at once. The defendant then said that she threatened him for more money, but he got away. According to plaintiff's statement a promise or promises of marriage were made, after the possession of her had been obtained. Was that likely according to human nature? She also said he invited her to go to Cannes. Two months elapsed. She found her way to Cannes, and told the unhappy mother of the defendant that she had been overcome by the violence of the defendant. Was not that the last thing one would expect a modest woman to do? Mrs. Walpole said that plaintiff never said one word about a promise of marriage. At that time Valery Wiedemann wrote that letter of November 27, which he thought a most repulsive letter, suggesting she was pregnant with twins. The threat contained in that letter has been continued since. His Lordship read : —"I tell you this, since it is necessary for you to know it. I am indifferent to such things; I only regard my own self, and he who would dare to injure me, dishonour me, and put me to shame before all the world, would pay me for it with his life. I could not live in shame; I would sooner avenge myself, and I should seek after death." The mother telegraphed to her son. The defendant put himself in communication with Captain Darlington. It would have been better for the defendant to have left Darlington alone. The defendant perhaps thought he was in the hands of a woman who would stick at nothing. Was not that natural for a man who had read the letters she wrote him in November? Darlington went to her. The plaintiff had a signet-ring of defendant's. He instructed Darlington to get it. She said Darlington tried to get it by force. Darlington denied it. She said Darlington treated her with every indignity. Darlington had denied it. It was said against the defendant that the plaintiff had been treated very badly when Darlington left her on the railway journey. It was fair to defendant to say there appeared a telegram showing that defendant intended her to be taken to the Hotel Russie, and Darlington said she was left alone by mistake, and not intentionally. It was only fair to defendant to say that it was incredible that plaintiff could have a baby by him at that time. He believed her to be an adventuress, and acted accordingly. If plaintiff had been put to unnecessary pain by being asked about her confinement, who was to blame but plaintiff herself? On the former occasion she made a statement that the child was not dead. Did she mean to deceive the jury? It appeared now that the child was dead. The defendant's counsel said how could the jury act on the evidence of the plaintiff in this critical matter? Why did she say, the child was alive? In 1884 she wrote a letter saying that the child was alive. They would see that at the last trial, if she had said it died at the confinement, she would have been confronted with the letter, and therefore she refused to answer. Her explanation was that she knew nothing about it, as her family had discarded her, whereas in 1883 her mother brought an action for seduction. Every eight days, the plaintiff said, she wrote to defendant. If ever the sins of a man had found him out, that man was the defendant. Why did she not bring her action at once? In 1888 the defendant became engaged to another lady, and this action was brought. They had to see what sort of a woman they were dealing with. What possible reason could there be for insulting that innocent lady? The Judge here handed to the jury the picture [left] of Miss Corbett [sic] written, over by the plaintiff. His Lordship next read one of the postcards written by the plaintiff to Mrs. Walpole, and continued, —The plaintiff walked about outside defendant's house. What greater persecution could there be than that? As to damages, they must deal with that. There was a charge of libel in the letters to Darlington. The jury had heard the letters read. If defendant wrote them in the honest belief that they were true, then plaintiff could not recover damages for that. The question for them was, did the jury believe there was a promise given by the defendant to plaintiff. If they did, then give her a verdict by all means.

The jury retired to consider their verdict at the adjournment for luncheon at 1 40. At 3 30 the jury sent word into Court that they could not agree upon a verdict.

The jury were sent for. The learned JUDGE, to the jury. —Have You discussed the case thoroughly, and is there no chance of an agreement ?

The Foreman. —No, my Lord.

The learned JUDGE. —It is so very important that you should come to an agreement. Is there no chance of your agreeing?

The Foreman. —The jury are so equally divided that there is no chance of their agreeing.

The jury were consequently discharged without giving a verdict. The plaintiff again conducted her own case. The Solicitor-General and Mr. William Graham were for the defendant.