AN AMAZING STORY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 217, 1 June 1918, Page 8

AN AMAZING STORY

GERMANY'S " INDEX" OF LIKELY VICTIMS FOR INTRIGUE

SENSATIONAL STATEMENTS IN LIBEL ACTION (ilec. May 31, 7 p.m.) London, May 30. At the trial of Mr. Pemberton Billing, M.P., on a charge of alleged libel against Maud Allan, the dancer, replying to Mr Billing's t|ur»ti M , Jlaii.l Allan adinilfed that her brother, William Durrant, had been executed in San Francisco for murdering two young "iris. The first witness, Mrs. Villiers Stewart gave evidence regarding a Mysterious book which she stated had been compiled by the German Secret Service, and was now in possession of the German authorities. She. sai'd it contained the names of forty-seven thousand men ami women in Britain, occupying social, political, and financial positions, with a record of their alleged moral, sexual, or other weaknesses, likely to render them easy victims in intrigues designed to assist German}-. She said she ha<l handled the book in company with the late Caploin the Hon. Neil Primrose and Major Rothschild. The names of Mr. Justice Darling, Lord Haldane, and Mr. and Mrs. Asqiiith appeared in the book.

Mr. J net ice Darling, before whom the case is being heard, reiVcd to allow Mr. Billing to ask Mrs. Stewart any furj thor questions, and ordered lipr to leave ! the box, saying that he must protect ab- ' eolutely defenceless people. I Mrs. Stewart shouted: "We will nevpr ! win the war while you are sitting there I helping the enemy!" The court was crowded, many women I being present. There was much excitei ment wbiJeMr. Billing and Mrs. Stewart were shouting at the Judge. Mr. Billing said he tvas going to call evidence to show the existence of a sexual ! cult and its political significance. Lord Alfred Douglas would be among the witnesses. Spencer, the writer of an article relating to the for,ty-seven thousand names, gave evidence that, lie was an aide-de-camp to Prince William of AVied when "the latter was King of .Albania. Prince William of Wied showed him the book. He could not get the Foreign Office to venlilnte the fact that Enslsiiid was in Germany's hands, so he went to Mr Billing. Spencer admitted thnt the doctors at Salonika had locked him in a hut on the ground that he was suffering from hallucinations, but he escaped—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

The above case originated in a eum- | mons against Air. Penibeiton Hilling, M.P., in which it was alleged that ha had published a defamatory libel upon Maud Allan and Jack T.homne Grein in the "Vigilante," of February Hi. Th« Magistrate committed the defendant for trial at the Central Criminal Court. The alleged libel was contained in a comment on certain aspects of the production of "Salome," it being suggested that it would have an unhealthy influence on public morals. The defendant in Court eubniitted that no libel had been proved on either of the complainants. The paragraph in the "Vigilante" referred to the fact that these two people, or, rather, one of them—and the other only b/ inference—were engaged in presenting a performance which was calculated to appeal to moral perverts and the practisers of unnatural vices. He stood there not so much as a public man or as a member of Parliament, but as president of a society which had been founded to fight for purity in public life, and whatever the consequences to .him or his fellow-members of the society, the fight would go on. Neither he nor tho society posed as guardians of the public morals, but in justification of the statements ho was called upon to answer for he pointed out that the practising of the vices referred to, holding as they did their devotees up to blackmail, had a national and international significance w.hich was not calculated to prosper our cause in the war. Tho alleged libel did not statethat either Mr. Grein or Miss Allan wns a member of the' cult that had been mentioned, but that, with or without malice, as the trial would prove, consciously or unconsciously, they had chosen tho moment when our national existence was at stake to select the most "depraved of the many depraved works of a man (Oscar "Wilde) who .had suffered the extreme penalty at tho hands of the law for practising one form of vice, to present it to a nation in sorrow as a j eolaco of the tragedy of this war. To say they were- ministering to the natural promptings in the minds of their audience was untrue. So great was this iseue, so wide and significant were the powers for evil which the cult possessed, that he welcomed the opportunity of presenting to a criminal court before a jury of his countrymen the facts not only which the Court bad heard, but such other fjicts as be might consider it in the interests of the country to submit.

Mr. Pemberton Billing has been frequently before the public. Re won his eeat in Parliament largely on the strength of certain allegations against the Air Services, and subsequently, when the inquiry was set up, refused to give evidence; and hia case went by default. On various occasions ho hns been responsible for mild '.'scenes" in the House of Commons, ami has earned for himself the reputation of being a sensation-monger.