| Show 1 i 4 VI o t I tZi o f ful ul hrs Russell dept k 9 JIL x t Her Vow t Obtain Justice 4 for the Son Whom a Jurys Jury's a J Verdict Left With N It 1 4 r r run ck pp e eS eHe He Legally un A T b w i s t Y L S J e eIt J 3 Jj S j c rv al His Hist Own A F t J faS m s St A 1 y t may bS t t J r M Mt MJ t ts tJ f ft tr trIv t Iv I 1 4 h A y W L n M w 4 AJ w lr p Ch f fM 3 Mry s C r yr se m i a ja ti r y rv f i a r Y y yAA 4 n i r 5 Yr yg t F P RY w u 04 x N tS AA AArI rI ro roe e tt 4 3 z Y i 4 v S 4 e tat r ff yx s 's r b y r Y R y t a yi k T 4 1 ei rt r q a d Z S 'S 3 LL LLe y F lr V r y 4 L he ItI y yi tI h t e t e t n e lt 8 S S i c cn Ii I 1 j fr t J Ji Jl I 4 k k r y 4 YV J I 13 k x 64 i l The young Englishman who the House of Lords Gays has a perfect right to call the Hon Mr Russell papa and i I some day to inherit Lord Ampthill's title Devoted Mrs Russell with the Dream Baby and andone one a- a aL at L t i nets tt l 4 lIEN HEN the Hon John Hugo Russell Rus- Rus RusEell Rua W sell cell won the divorce suit that Branded his wife a very gay and indiscreet woman and left her ht- ht lit little tle tie son with no name he ho could legally call his own Mrs Russell rowed owed she would never rest until part of what she sho thought the cruel wrong done by the jurys jury's verdict was righted As far as she herself was concerned she fhe was quite willing to accept the tho laws law's judgment with mth a smiling shrug of indifference and go her way in m peace but she could not endure the thought of her baby's being disgraced for life and robbed lobbed of the brilliant future which she thought should be his hia by every right If It the jurys jury's verdict was vas allowed to stand without any further opposition OU oa the wife's part the baby would not only remain a B nameless child but would have no claim to the peerage which the lion Hon John Russell will wul inherit when his father Lord Ampthill dies and which would later pass on to Russells Russell's son The first Jury that heard the Russell dh divorce orce suit was unable to agree The second one brought in a verdict for the husband and declared that he ha was not the father of Mrs Russells Russell's little son II U had been unable to accept the allega allega- allegations allegations of her husbands husband's propensities for sleep walking which the wife advanced to prove him the father of the tho child he domed Mrs Russell walked out of the court court- courtroom courtroom room vowing that she ehe would fight If need be to her dying day to have her son recognized as the legitimate child of the tho lIon John Hugo Russell and the tho right right- rightful rightful rightful ful heir to the Ampthill barony and the seat in the House of Lords which this carries with lt Jt it It was a prodigiously difficult task which Mrs Russells Russell's mother love set for her Many of her rich and fashionable 1 frIends had been alienated from her by her husbands husband's Her lIer charges personal fortune had been swept away in m fight fight- fighting fighting ing the two divorce su suits suits- ts In order to support herself and her baby and wage the fight she was det determined to make for hIm the tho young beauty who ho had once been a prominent figure In some of Eng Eng- England's England's lands land's most fashionable drawing rooms was forced to go to work work-to work to take a po- po po position in a London dressmaking estal establishment She carried her case to the Court of 1 Appeals and this upheld the verdict of the 10 lower er court Then she sho took tool it to the House of Lords Lards A And AId id now Mrs Russell has her reward for all the tho painful sacrifices she has made during the last few years In the tho House of Lords the tho other day I u u- u o she heard the verdict granting a divorce to her ber husband on the ground of mis mis- misconduct misconduct misconduct conduct with an unknown set aside Lord Birkenhead reading the decision of a majority of the tho court that had considered the case said Eaid that the husbands husband's testimony denying that ho was as the father of his wife's Ifo's child sh should uld not be admitted This decision gives Mra Mrs Russell the victory she has been striving for It establishes the tho legitimacy of tlc the dream baby and recognizes the boys boy's right to inherit the Ampthill barony and take tako his seat in the House of Lords The Hon lion John Hugo Russell Russel may sue his wife again for divorce but hut there never again agam can bo any question of the legitimacy of the Russell baby on the grounds given in the divorce case With the full force of tho the Engli English h law the dream baby is declared entitled to succeed in duo due time to the peerage Lord Lard Ampthill now holds Th The inquiry of the tho House of L Lords centered on the Hon Mr Russells Russell's tes- tes testimony tes testimony in m the divorce suit as to the im- im impossibility im impossibility possibility of his being the father of the dream baby Did the plaintiff in a divorce case have tho legal right lIght to give testimony of this kind This was the tho question on which the decision of the House of Lords hinged Lord Birkenhead vas was quite clear tha that eVIdence of this kind was not nd ad sible ad nis sible from sucha such a source It would not be permitted in a legitimacy suit brought by the child himself and the House of Lords if it sanctioned its use uso usein usein In divorce orco proceedings might find itself pronouncing the same indivIdual illegitimate In 1924 and legitimate is in 1925 Lord Imlay agreed with Lord Bir- Bir Birkenhead Birkenhead Bir pointing out that neither hus hus- husband hus- hus husband husband band nor wife could be p to testify as to the possibility of their be being be- be beIng ing parents of a child Such evidence was not accepted in peerage legitimacy cases and in actions for ejectment from lands It would reduce the law to an extraordinary state If it it were allowed in divorce suits he said Lord Dunedin also concurred thus giving Mrs Russell a majority of the tho court but Lord Sumner disagreed Lord Carson also dissented from the majority opinion saying he could find no rule of law which made a husbands husband's evidence Inadmissible Every Ivery reader of the Old Testament recalls how wise King Solomon settled the parentage of the baby that hat was VaS claimed by two mothers by ordering the child cut in m two and divided between tho the n w t two 0 claimants This solution of the problem v was as more mora than the real mother fir t could endure and she promptly revealed f herself by offering offering f a to give up the chIld 2 fi fito to the other y woman u uy rather than th sea it itc c r F k killed led r But the wisdom of v vw a w i f rA of the English Inglish where ti s I where the Russell di- di divorce di dl divorce r s sr r vorce suit was tried y yr was unable unable to sug sug- suggest suggest 3 gest any such ti o trio 0 method of deciding deciding de- de deciding the father father- fatherhood fatherhood t tx et t lw r ss hood of the dream Jt 1 sJ baby The matter a 74 t i f wH was complicated by bythe bythe u u nj y the fact that both fib a the Hon Mr Dir Rus Russell eil eiland and y and hia hla wife denied dented c y 1 4 s r r all knowledge of the childs child's origin tars f At the tho time of r kai their marriage they had entered I into n t o 0 a n na a agreement g r e e ment that their r companionship w was a s to tobe t tobe o- o obe be entirely platonic and neither of them w B a s sable r able to recall ever ha having i of great honor honorat broken LordT that agreement The Hon John rHugo at court Lord The T h o only theory Mrs Irs Hugo Russell and his hiJ Ampthill way waa wa re- re re recently Russell was able ablo to offer mother m ther Lady Ampthill Gently Viceroy ofin of in III support of her claim and be- be be was wag legal son and heIr of the lIon Hon John Hugo Russell was WI based on her testimony concerning her husbands husband's propensity for sleep walking It seems to have been a dream baby baby- baby not a child of man said one of the women omen witnesses at the trial Aside from the amazing legal and medical problems which the divorce SUit involved it was for the light it threw on the unconventional habits of life which had come into vogue ogue in Eng Ing- Ingland's Eng Eng- England's England's lands land's smart set bet immediately after the war Witnesses testified und under r oath to young men and women going to Paris and staying at hotels men and women dressing up in one an- an another's another's an another's others other's clothes and many other which scandalized the moms mOle conservative elements clements of English society Queen Mary is s said to have havo been par par- particularly particularly shocked by tho the revelations brought out by the Russell divorce case for they camo er very near to the tho royal household itself The mother of the plaintiff Lady Ampthill is a Lady of the Bedchamber to tho the Queen QueeD a post I longing to a branch of the Duke Duke of Bed Bedford's fords ford's famil family holds one of the In highest hest positions in the titled tIlled aristocracy Some extraordinary facts acts concerning the sort of life Mrs Russell led after her marriage were revealed in letters WI writ wilt ten it ten by her and introduced as eVIdence One of them written after the tho birth of 01 the dream baby read as follows I am having a priceless time lime John her husband after evincing the great greatest est delight over the child and writing pages of joy toy and deciding even that the Duke Duko of Bedford should hould bo be its godfather is now trying to divorce mel me I As I base o ha o never done anything hs he was not aware of and since I have havo al a always ways told him of all my flirtations and he he snows knows of all nil my week weekends ends I I dont don't see sea that he ho has s a leg to stand on I would rather old Satan himself were tho father But it cant can't be helped and If it Iam I am mother of a horror with Ith out out sticking teeth and adenoids we e would all feel pretty sure suie SUI e about its parentage I long for the tho fray Come darling wont won't you and and take tako a box or whatever It is ia at the Russell vs Russell case ease Ift If t 0 Ic Y I H ww a d a wI ew W co Mrs Christa bel Russell who went to work in a dressmaking shop to earn money to carryon carry on her battle for her sons son's rights and who now has succeeded in having her husbands husband's divorce set aside only I could take it seriously it H would be more seemly but the tho last few days I have been wildly over it Every Ivery one kno knows s of it now Do think of the rows of lined up for forthe forthe the trial In another letter read on the witness stand Mrs Russell wrote Of course my husband can make up upa upa upa a thousand things against me without going an inch out of his way Every week end I hll hate ha e been with George Cross Cros and Gilbert Bradley the two I stayed at Bradleys Bradley's tat flat at ono one night because I had lost my key G had to togo togo togo go out and phone for Stilts her hus hus- husband hus- hus husband husband band to bring me some clothes in the morning so that I could get horn home a I have the tho evidence of Johnson my maid at CUI Cuizon zon Sheet that thai he used to burst into my room at all hours of the tho He lIe has hen I en found out already aheady In two ant lies hes to my solicitors so 50 soI soI I see my Iny caso is frightfully strong I have havo been so indiscreet that he has enough evidence to divorce di voice vie me twice a II week One of the respondents co-respondents Lieutenant Bradley told the court that before Mrs Russell was married lie ho was in m hove lovo with mth her and they traveled tra by night train to Edinburgh with Ith the object of becoming roan man and wife but on al they found they could not be mimed Their engagement was broken off about a fortnight later When he knew the lady was as married to a brother officer officer officer he ho put all thoughts of love lo e for her herout herout herout out of his Ills mind He had ne er kISsed her since her marriage Ho lIe testified concerning the occasion when Mrs Russell out late lato one night lost the tho latchkey of the flat where here she and her husband lived Jived When she arrived arnved at Lieutenant Bradleys Bradley's flat in the middle of the night he e gave her his hia bed and made up ono one for himself on two chairs t Ne morn morn- morning morning ing mg they e explained the situation qUite frankly to the tho ladys lady's husband r 0 1 The other respondent co-respondent Lieutenant Cross told ofa of a trip to Paris he once made with Mrs Irs Russell a trip that was later discussed ed quite fully and good good with Ith her husband Owing 0 ing to an tun ate mistake on the part of u I a London hotel porter they found when hen they boarded the train tram for Calais that they had been assigned to the same sleeping compartment It was too late to remedy the tre mistake and so they did not have the berths made up but lay down fully clothed on the seats This was one of two trips which the tre lieutenant and the and the defendant had made to Paris together While the plaintiffs plaintiff's attorneys laid stress on these of the tha wife nife Ife hers emphasized her husbands husband's surprising fondness for masquerading in women's omens omen's clothing On the witness stand the Hon lIon Mr Russell admitted that he often drs r ed sed up like this and that sometimes he had gone to the flat of a woman friend to have her bar help him lum get into his e In spite of all Mrs Russells Russell's admissions concerning her with the Lieutenants Cross and Bradley and what they themselves had to say about it the Jury that finally decided the case caso refused to find the two t officers guilty of any miscon duct misconduct But it also refused to pronounce the lIon Hon John Hugo Russell the father of the disputed baby t l The House of Lords recent decision makes it necessary for the lIon Hon Mr Russell to base an application for a II new trial of his divorce suit SlUt on entirely dif dlf ferent gl grounds If It he obtains a new trial it is Ct e that Mrs Russells Russell's counsel will insIst on samples of the husbands husband's and the baby's blood being subjected sU to chemical Sucha Sueha ana Isis and comparison Such Sueh a procedure would have been useless at the atthe time of the first trial because the dream baby was not then old enough to goo O the tho character of its It blood any anN j JP J l y r |
