TWENTY SWEETHEARTS,

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8835, 11 June 1907, Page 4

TWENTY SWEETHEARTS,

Tlio Now ' York police have captured a young gentlemen who for the last two years has been boasting iu Non,' York o£ his family pedigree, as well as of the distinguished mission to the United Spates with which King Edward and Earl Grey between them had hl ™ - He rrave his name as Alexander hit /?hinstone, of Oatford, Kent with a supplementary address at Saokville Street, Picccadilly. Ho scems to have had very little trouble interne put up at the best hotels in the cUy oven the University, probably the most exclusive club m the Unit d

States, opening its doors to him. ine young man had all the airs and man Sms of an English lord and soon tnok the fancy ot isew Tiork .society, the belles of which idolised him no fewer than twenty being regarded as sweethearts. Ho assured everybody Ive was a kinsman ot Lord Llphm- j stone, a nephew of the late Earl. of 1' Duft’erin, and a relative of the Chet wynds. Ho said he was m New York en route to Ottawa to convey Government despatches from i British Sovereign, and that ho was shortly returning to Europe to take up a post under .Sir Francis Bertie, in Paris. Only recently there was a . reception at the Waldorf As ona, where he was the centre of an ad miring throng of notabilities. Ho had a remarkably glib tongue, and was always ready to faik nhout li aristocratic associations left behind in the Old Country He even confessed that he had left England to forget his grief at having, so he said, been jilted by his heautifu! cousin, who had preferred the Marquis of Anglesey. The police do not deny the young man’s credentials but they somewhat brutally assert that he is “a hotel heat. At any rate, several managers appealed m the police court, faying that ho had forgotten to pay his bills. E1 P“ in stone, who repeatedly consulted a watch which he wore round ins wrist, pleaded not guilty, saying ho was expecting homdy his mother in Kent. H° Y />rno moved to the police cell till £( 00 hail was forthcoming. Mr Charles Warner, the actor, now in New York is interesting limiseli in tne case of Elphiustoue. Mr .Warner says his son was at school witli Elplnustouo, who is a captain m the British army. A large number of cablegrams have been received from

England requesting information. Mr Warner adds that Elphmstono fell from his ]torse in a cross-country steeplechase several years ago, and received injuries to his head. The New York American publishes an amusing interview 'With Eiphiugstoue. Elphinstoue gives, according to this story, a number of interesting details of his campaign to obtain an American heiress for a w ife He says he won the affections

of 20 different wealthy yonng ladies. He has got as far as sitting on tlio back step with these young ladies but the uncertainty of lus financial position and the attitude of the narents presented a proposal, tie thinks New York is an easy place for “graft.” Another Englishman backed him in his heiressdiuntiug expedition, on the condition that he received a share of the bride s fortune Elphiustouo confesses his real love is a little milliner whoso name lie will not disclose. Ho says that fortune-hunting is_ regarded as perfectly legitimate m England. “We exchange titles and lineage he says, “for American dollars. Elphiustoue attributes his failure to the rolatvies of the young ladies whom he courted. “I flatter myself,” he said, “that I can ho agreeable, but there was a brutal air about the fathers and brothers which would have disconcerted anybody. I met, danced and dined with charming girls, sat with scores in conservatories, and used to have a lovely time. Probably they would not recognise mo now, for I’m in a heasti> =crape ” “ How on earth, he was asked, “did you meet Mrs lories Mizuer and the rest of Non h.ork society?” ‘ 1 yLy dear hoy, reply, “when once a rich hew Yorker gets scout of a scion of one of the aristocratic houses of Europe, she is like a wild'bcast which smells

blood. Why, when I stayed at the Manhattan Hotel, I had _ a heap of invitations on my dressing table every morning, almost as 3ngh as the Tower of Babel. Smart women 311st kept me busy eating dinners and saying soft nothings. It may sound ridiculous, but there is sometmg redeeming about oveu a prison, tor there are no social bores there. Keferring to the story mentioned above that be bad been jilted for the Marquis of Anglesey, ho said : IV c were simply good friends, that s nil. I know, will sympathise with mo m this fix. But how the fellows at White’s, the Travellers’, and the Junior Carlton will laugh ad me! The Elphiustoncs have three tauiuy I seats and an unsullied name I don t think a little escapade like this will , besmirch it. They are not rich, bat 5 they have lots of pride. As for those hotel bills—that’s a small matter. 1 am chiefly interested m what mother will say when I got home. ”