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Show LIBEL SUIT AROUSES ENGLAND German" vice PLOT IS BARED MRS. ASQUITH, at left, who figures fig-ures in libel case, and Mrs. Keppel, queen of society in the time of "Edward VII, who also is named. The German crown prince was one of her admirers, and was constantly in her train at St. Moritz a few years ago, when she entertained lavishly. Hun Directory Contains the Names of 47,000 Offenders, Offend-ers, It Is Alleged. LONDON, May 30. Noel Pember-ton Pember-ton Billing:, member of parliament parlia-ment for ICast Hertfordshire, and publisher of the newspaper Vigilante, Vigi-lante, opened his defense in his trial In the Bow Street police court today on the charge of libeling Maude Allan, d?ncer, and J. T. Grein. manager of the Independent theater. Mrs. Villiers Stewart Stew-art was called to testify to the existence of a book which Pemberton-Billing jsaid had been prepared by German secret agents, containing (he names of 47,000 British persons alleged to be addicted to vice and held in bondage to Germany through fear of exposure. Mrs. Stewart, under examination by Pemberton-BIHing, said the book which she had seen, but was not produced, contained con-tained the names of ex-IYemier Asquith and Mrs. Asquith, Viscount Haldane, former for-mer secretary of war, and Justice Darling, Dar-ling, who is trying the case against the member of parliament. Another witness, Captain Harold Spencer, Spen-cer, said he was shown the book by j Prince William of Wied In Albania. He said he did not remember seeing Mr. Asquith's name in it, but declared the names of Mrs. Asquith and Viscount Haldane Hal-dane were there. Say They Were Menaced. Both Captain flbencer and Mrs. Stewart said they had been threatened, the former for-mer after he had communicated the fact to the authorities, and Femberton-Billing Femberton-Billing asked the judge for protection for himself and his witnesses. The Judge referred him to the chief commissioner of police. Captain Spencer, before giving the names of Mrs. Asquith and Viscount Hal- ' dane, said he would give only the names of those who had been approached and had succumbed to German temptations He had placed the information before tne foreign office, the war office and the admiralty. ad-miralty. "There was great political pressure brought to bear," said the witness, "and I was told that if it were published it would undermine the whole fabric of the government. I then took it to the political politi-cal machine." Captain Spencer declared that pressure had been brought to bear to suppress the matter in September last, when "a political po-litical crisis was on and they were trying try-ing to bring Asquith back to power." Mr. Pemberton-Billlng explained that his object in calling testimony as to .the existence of the book of names was to prove the existence of the "cult" referred to in the alleged libel, and its political significance. Charges Asquith Plot. Continuing his testimony. Captain Spencer, who was a member of the in- ternational gendarmarie in Albania before the war and aide-de-camp to Prince Wil- I liam of Wled and is now a member of I the Royal air forces, said he wrote the 1 article which contained the alleged libel and which was based on a letter from Marie Corelll, the novelist. Last September Septem-ber he had heard of a camarilla in financial finan-cial circles, whose object was to get Asquith As-quith back in power and make a German peace. As a precaution he informed (Continued on Page Two.) GERMAN VICE PLOT IN LONDON LIBEL SUIT (Continued from Page One.) American naval headquarters so that the plot might be frustrated. ' "Admiral Mayo and his secretary came to me and got the whole statement," he said. Asked whether he knew of operations of the camarilla between England and Germany, the witness replied: "They have had messages sent between be-tween England and Germany with this intelligence." Mrs. Keppel Accused. One of the principal messengers, he learned, from persons who had reported to the intelligence department, was a well-known English society woman, Mrs. George Keppel. He had seen Mrs. Keppel Kep-pel come back from Holland. Captain Spencer was ultimately passed out of the flying corps as physically unfit. un-fit. Under cross-examination he said he had never been in the secret service. He was born in America and had never been naturalized in England. In the German book to which he had referred there was a note after each name indicating the particular in which the person could best be approached. The charge against Noel Pemberton-Billing, Pemberton-Billing, member of parliament, of libeling libel-ing Maude Allan, an American dancer, and J. T. Grein, manager of the Independent Indepen-dent theater, which now is being tried in the Bow street police court, arose out of the publication in Mr. Pemberton-Bil-ling's paper. Vigilante, of an attack on Miss Allan such as was unworthy of any man to make upon a woman, according to the prosecution. Highest in Land Figure. The meaning of the passage complained of was that there was some connection between nameless vice and the performances perform-ances at the Independent theater. This was made clearer by a cryptic reference suggesting that, if Scotland Yard were to seize a list of the members subscribing subscrib-ing to the Independent theater, there was "no doubt they would secure the names of several thousands of the 47,000." The explanation of this reference was discovered in an article in the previous Issue of the paper, in which the alleged al-leged libels were directed against whole classes of people, not excepting the very highest in the land. The writer said there had been many persons who had been prevented from putting their full strength into the war by corruption and blackmail and the fear of exposure; and that there were reasons for supposing that the Germans were making use of the most productive and the cheapest methods. Germans Spread Vice. The paper went on to state that there existed in the "Cabinet Noir," of a certain cer-tain German prince, a book compiled by the secret service from the reports of German agents, who had infested England, En-gland, spreading vice and debauchery. More than a thousand pages of the book were filled with the names mentioned by German agents in their reports, including includ-ing the names of 47,000 English men and women. Then there was the suggestion that the most sacred secrets of state were threatened. threat-ened. It also declared that German agents, by certain liaisons, could obtain information as to the disposition of the fleet, and that "the thought that 47.000 English men and women were held in i enemy bondage through fear, calls all clean spirits to mortal combat." Maude Allan figured in the affair for the reason that she had been engaged to play the part of Salome, in a play called "Salome," originally written by the late Oscar Wilde. The play, which included in-cluded a dance, was to be put on at the Independent theater under J. T. Grein 's management, but the dance did not pretend pre-tend to be that danced by Salome in the Bible story, but was supposed to represent repre-sent a vision seen by Salome after she had given the dance for which the head of John the Baptist was the reward. In the early stages of the trial, Mr. Grein, who was born in Amsterdam, but is a British subject by nnturaliza t ion. said he had founded "The Cor man fair" In London, and that he held the fourth class of the Order of the German Kagle and the Order of the Prussian Crown. Miss Allan had no German associations to his knowledge. |
