OCR Text |
Show H TWO WIVES CLAIM BILLIE ROCHE H OAULINE Lord, emotional actress, became on H Saturday last the central figure in a domestic H tragedy that, with uncanny fidelity, parallels the H role she is playing. H Papers were served on the actress in San Fran- H cisco naming her as defendant in a $15,000 damage H suit for alienating the affections of Billy Roche, Bj prize fight promoter and referee, long known in H San Francisco, and in recent years in New York. H Mrs. Nellie Roche, the complainant, sets up in H her bill of particulars that her husband has failed H to provide for herself and her four children for H four years and has been squandering all his in- H come on the actress. B Her brown eyes flashing in anger, Miss Lord, H after accepting service of the papers, declared that H she had been married to Roche in Newark, N. J., H sevon years ago, and that she had no knowledge K that he had another wife until three years later, H when he told her he had been divorced. H Declaring that she knew nothing of the four H children of Roche, the eldest of whom is her senior H by several years, the actress almost shed tears H as she was told about Roche's San Francisco fam- B ily. She said: B I was but 17 years old when I married Roche, H and if he went through this ceremony with me H without having Becured a divorce I shall try my H best to put him in jail. I don't believe he did H such a thing, however. I'm sure there must have H been some kind of a divorce proceedings, for ho H showed me a printed publication of one in a Chi- H cago paper. Billy Roche may not be perfect, but H I don't think he would trick me into such an out- H rageous performance if he did not have the right H to marry me. Unitl this very minute I never H heard he had children living. H Neither Mrs. Roche nor her attorneys, accord- H ing to their representations, have any knowledge H of a divorce secured by Roche. H Roche, who used to be a familiar figure in San H Francisco, has been living in New York for eight H years. According to his wife, his intimacy with H the vivacious Miss Lord dates back to 1907, when H he left San Francisco and became interested in H promoting ring contests in the east. H Mrs. Roche declares in her complaint that, H while she was suspicious of the infidelity of her H husband since 1907, she had no inkling about the H identity of the woman in the triangle until four H months ago. Letters and telegrams were then un- H earthed by herself and her 19-year-old son, Harold, H she says, that proved that Miss Lord was the ob- H ject of Roche's attention. H Nothing whatever is said in the complaint B! about a marriage between Roche and Miss Lord. H Throughout to complaint, in fact, Mrs. Roche H. takes 'the position of an aggrieved wife. H Harold Roche, the son, Is the youngest of four V four children. He is a clerk employed by the H Western Union Telegraph company and said he H had been assisting his mother for years in trMng B' to solve the riddle of why his father rowuined H away from home and failed to aid his family. Hl Miss Lord, a California girl, is 25 years old. She is playing the leading role in 'On Trial," recently re-cently soon here. In "On Trial" Miss Lord assumes the char-actor char-actor of the wife of Robert Strickland, who is charged with the murder of Gerald Trask, his friend. The play, which is presented with a stagecraft stage-craft that elevates its melodramatic theme into something almost new in the theatre, starts out by giving the impression that the motive of the murder was robbery. Shifting scenes on a revolving .sto go enable the audience to gather piecemeal a stirring chain of events that antedate the shooting and to reveal the secret that Gerald Trask, the slain man, had taken advantage of Mrs. Strickland under promise prom-ise of marriage before she became the wife of the defendant on trial for murder. The girl in the play is the same age as Miss Lord actually claims to have been at the time Roche took her to Newark, N. J., and had a justice jus-tice of the peace marry them. The actress says Roche, and that at the time she did not know he Roche, an dthat at the time she did not know ho had previously .been married. In "On Trial" the jury acquits the outraged husband when the mandacity of Trask, who had tried to renew his relations with Mrs. Strickland after a lapse of thirteen years, become known. Mrs. Lord, although cast as the deceived Mrs. Strickland in "On Trial," Is given an exactly opposite op-posite role in the proceedings begun by Mrs. Roche. Mrs. Roche charges Miss Lord with having "maliciously enticed the said Billy Roche, the plaintiff's said husband, away from the plaintiff herein, and has over since and now does continue con-tinue to cause the Bald Billy Roche to live away from the plaintiff." In the evidence to be submitted 'by Hamilton A. Bauer and E. B. Harrington, counsel for Mrs. Roche, in support of her declarations about the intimacy existing between Roche and Miss Lord, is the following telegram: New York, October 17, 1907. Billy Roche, 1515 Ellis Street, San Francisco. Goodwin matter O. K. Have been sick. Send money. Will explain. Don't tell. PAULINE. The Goodwin referred to in this telegram, ac-! ac-! cording to Mrs. Roche, Is Nat Goodwin, the comedian, co-median, who, through the Intercession of Roche, used his influence to secure theatrical engagements engage-ments for Miss Lord in New York. Mrs. Roche said: My husband has not provided a penny for the support of myself or our four children for four years. He has a very good income, but all of it has been spent on Miss Lord. I have supplied my attorneys with a mass of documentary evidence to support my claims that Miss Lord has broken up my home and 1st solely responsible for the alienation of my husband's affections. I hvao been married to M. Roche for twenty-five years, and had no cause to complain of his treatment until un-til Miss Lord came into his wife. Seated in her dressing room at the conclusion conclu-sion of "On Trial," Miss Lord, after declaring that she would put Roche in jail if he had married mar-ried her without having secured a divorce, commented com-mented bitterly on the language of the complaint filed by Mrs. Roche. To think that I could be accused of enticing a sophisticated man of the world like Billy Roche into neglecting his homo! Why, I was only seventeen sev-enteen years old when I married him. That was eight years ago, and I have virtually supported myself since through my professional engagements. engage-ments. He never squandered his earnings on me, and is at the1 present time living with my own people on their Long Island estate. I don't know what to think of this entire thing. I am grieved and disappointed, and I accepted ac-cepted service of the papers simply be . ie I was advised to do so by my counsel. I learned from the counsel of Mrs. Roche that I was to be named defendant in some kind of a suit, but had no Idea what is was until just now. When I received the notification I retained Joseph D. Redding as my attorney, and he told me to accept service of the papers and await developments. I saw Mr. Roche last week In Salt Lake City when I was on my wuy to fill my engagement here. He had business in Salt Lake City and he returned to New York about tho time I was ready to leave for San Francisco. Examiner. |