Hide Article Text (OCR)
EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE OF ASSAULT AGAINST THE EARL OF DUDLEY.At the Hundred House Petty Sessions, Worcestershire, on Saturday, the Right Hon. the Earl of Dudley appeared in answer so a euimaoqs charging him with Laving assaulted Maria Ann White at Witley Court on the 12th of March last. The court was densely crowded during the, hearing of the summons, and there was an unusually large bench of magistrates, including Sir Thomas G. Winnington, Bart.., Rev. C. J. i’oriey, Rev. W.T. Eayman, Rev. H. J. Hastings, ana Mr. Edward Yemen.The prosecutrix aaid—My name is Mary Ann White, I reside in Worcester with Mr. Southey, and am commonly called Mrs. Southey. On the 12th of March, at about noon, I went to Witley Court for the purpose of speaking to Earl Dudley. I was shown into a little room on the right-hand side of the hall. I gave my name to the servant aa Mrs. Southey, and asked to sneak with his lordship, When the servant returned he said Lord Dudley was engaged. I then said that I very much wished to see his 1 Ishi and that time was no object to me, and I could wait half an hour or an hour. On this the servant went again to Earl Dudley, and on his return said Ms lordship refused to see me. As I was very faint and weary, I then asked if I could see the housekeeper. The servant went out to inquire,,and I went to the window to see that the fly in which I had been driven over was waiting. Whilst I. was looking oat of the window Earl Dudley entered the room, When I saw his lordship I thought he had relented and was willing to hear me. I went towards him, and was astonished by hearing him say, “ I have already sent to the police at Worcester to have you watched He then in a very violent manner ordered me to leave the room, He seised me by the arm in a mfirmer which caused me great pain, and dragged me towards the door. I asked him to loose my arm, but he refused to do bo, and called for his servant, Wicks. As ho was giving me much pain, I seized hold of his whiskers with one hand, on which he twisted me nearly of my feet, so that I was powerless to defend myself. He pushed mo into the hall and along the hall. By this time the servant had come and opened the door and I went out. The flyman, who was waiting outside, could see what took place jn the hail. I had not been desired to leavo the house either by Lord Dudley or any other person before I was assaulted.Cross-examined by Earl Dudley—I have been at Witley Court before, I have also sent in a note to Lady Ward, asking her to see me and have been refused. I have been to Kidderminster to see Mrs. Claughton, and have used the name of Lady Shaftesbury (by her permission) in order to obtain an interview. When I first saw you on the 12th of March, I said “ I have come from Mr. Southey respecting a claim he has against a member of your lordship’s family.” The claim was for .£1,100 won from the Hon, Dudley Ward at billiards, when Southey was a billiard-marker at Brighton. You said, “ Do you mean the man who called on me in July,” and I said it was the same. You said you would not hear me, and were leaving the room when I said the claim, if not a legal one, was a moral one! You said you had mode no your mind not to pay it. I know that Mr. Southey called on you at Dudley House, London, in July last about the claim, and that you refused to listen to him. I thought that, if you would not pay the money, you would perhaps do something form I had before asked Mr, T. G.Curtler, (depnty-ehairman of the Worcestershire Sessions) to interfere. I. a ad a letter from Mr. Gurtler, in which he said he had seen you and laid before you the circumstances of the claim, and that you refused to pay it. In spite of that letter I went over to Witley Court. I am not married to Sonthey, but I have a legal separation from my real husband. It is not true that I was gaining my living as a common prostitute when Sonthey made my acquaintance in Brighton.The clerk read a long statement forwarded from Southey to Earl Dudley, asking the latter to pay the money lost to Southey by his brother, the Hon. Dudley Ward.F. Phillips said he had driven the prosecutrix over to Witley Court in the fly. He saw Earl Dudley push her in the face.Ann Page, the servant of Southey, spoke to the arms of the prosecutrix being much bruised, and she could not use one arm for more than a week.The Earl of Dudley then addressed the Bench, and said—I will occupy your attention only a very few minutes. The beginning of this matter waa in July last when a stranger, named Southey, came to me and made a claim about which there can be no secresy. He said a brother of mine had lost money to him at billiards, and grounded ais applicatioto to me for payment on the fact that I was the head of the family. I knew nothing about the man, and did not even know if he was speaking the truth about his alleged elaim, I said that if a tradesman had entrusted goods to one of my brothers he might perhaps be entitled to payment from me, but that I thought I did not fail to maintain iny position by refusing to pay such a claim as that.-My brother, it was also said, had borrowed money from Southey, and this money I paid, at the same time refusing to pay an -exhorbitant charge for internet, I told the. man at the time that his other plaim was on a gs-mblingtransaction, and could not be recovered by law. I said tlmt if I were to pay such claims as that' f might soon be rendered a dependent man, as no fortune could stand it.' I told him emphatically that I would not pay the claim, and ordered him to leave the house. Subsequently on the same day, when I was at the tailway station about to Btart for Scotland, Southey came up to me, touched xne, and eaid, “I hope you will reconsider' your decision in the case of that business of tins morning.” 1 told him that if he interfered with my privacy any further I would hand him over to the police. Six months passed away and I heard nothing more of the man. and then Mrs. Southhy came and handed in the nanie of Lady Shaftesbury. I saw her, not remembering who she wha. At first she appeared confused, and whispered something about having come on business affecting the honour of my family. I said, “ For Heaven's Bake, speak up i” and she then said she had ohms about tbs affair of my brother. I repeated my decision that I Would not ■ pay the claim. 1 ordered her cab to be sent round and left the room When I returned to the library I found that she had soribbkl on an envelope some incoherent threat against me, and was surprised to find her, talking with my servant, I told her to leave the house, and she refused. The end of it was that I had to put her out of; the ■ house; but, although 1 committed an assault, I used no unnecessary violence. . .A man named Wicks, one of the servants of Earl Dudley, corro- ' borated this statement., The court was then cleared; and when the public were readmitted Sir Thomas Wmningfon said the Bench, after having given t!ie , closest attention to the case, had arrived at the unanimous cenolu- 1 eion to dismiss the summons. ,T he Earl of Dudley said he would not proceed with a counter sum-mom he had taken out against Mrs. Sonthey. His object in taking , it out was, as they would readily understand, to enable Mu, if aecses-sary, to be put on his oath.
Newspaper Details
Penny Newsman
London, Middlesex, GB
Sun, Apr 10, 1864
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Wikimedia F.
California, DZ 09 Dec 2024
Other Publications Near London, Middlesex
Bingleys Journal
Arminian Magazine
London Daily Mail
London Stars and Stripes
London Daily Universal Register
