MRS ROGERSON CROSS EXAMINED.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 170, 18 September 1886, Page 2

MRS ROGERSON CROSS EXAMINED.

Do you remember telling Mrs Ashton DUke about Mrs Crawford?— l should beliere what Mr« Ashton Dilke said about it. JXou acted upon her confession by enforcing a* sofiaration between her and Sir C. DilkeT— M spoke of separation from,the ftrst day. I said, *^»f y6to^tf§tesoujght*.fo bp never tojsee him again, k • ,4,' S 5, , .C, ,!. . '» "' Did she tolryott »ne had slept in his housed Yes, not on the first obcasion,' i How much later ?— I do not know. ' A day or two J-I do not know. , Twlce'did ihe tell you she had slept there?— She told me she had slept there twice. Have these confessions been referred to more than once?— Yes. She never professed 1 the slightest attachment to Sir Charles Dilke, and •he saidJthat he had noMtoohment for her. He, had never written a line to her in his life. She 1 had never been more than ten minutes with him I at any time. But she had frequently committed adultery with, him?— Yes. , Did she tell you also the adultery was committed in her own house as well as in his?— I inferred so from what she said. ' Did you gather from her when this intrigue had begun?— What she said wag that the first time he saw her he made love to her, and the second time he seduced her. You have remained an acquaintance If not a friend of Captain Foster?— An acquaintance, not a friend. , He seems to have treated you as a f riendi Mr Matthews road the following letter from Captain Foster to Mrs Rogeraon. It has been torn, and was now pasted on glass... Richmond Barraoks. Dublin, Friday. My Dear Mrs Rogersoo,— l don't like sending you a letter for any one else. It feels like asking you to do a thing somebody else should do. Of course you know for whom it is. lam very sorr^ for the catastrophe. It will be a scandal in any case. Some day a writer of anonymous letters will bo caught and drawn and quartered before boing gibbeted, as an oxamplo to others. I know you have been very good to tho victim. That is the only word for her. Don't you wish you had met her first and given her another life? If you think there is any course I can take for Nia's good you will toll mo, will you not? I may have tho pleasure of seeing you in Soptoniber. It would, indeed, be the greatest pleasure to me. May I congratulate you on a diminution of your acquaintance ? I hope you are endlessly gone on that grandchild.— Believe me. yours very sincerely, Hknkv Forstkr. Mr Matthews : " May I congratulate you on a diminution of your acqunintance." I presume that refers to Sir C. Dilke ?— I presume so. You believed it at that time?— l went up and do»n in my belief. At times I believed it, becauße I did not believe anybody would say such thinps ; and at times I did not bclicye it, because of the improbability of the story itself. We know that Mrs Crawfords first introduction to Captain Forster was at a ball on the 25th of February, 188 1. Did you yourself perceive any intimacy between Mrs Crawford and Captain Forster until 1885?— I never saw them together until 1885. , Did you ever havo nny conversation with Mrs Crawford about Captain Forster till 1885 J— Yes. Pleaeo be particular about the date. How soon will you say you hud uny conversation at all with Mrs Crawford about Captain Forster ? —Within a fow daj sots ot her speaking to mo about Sir Charles Dilke. That was in August, 1881 —The end of July or bejtinninß of August. I may mention that the evidence of Sir Charles Dilko's secretary, backed up by old diaries ana engagement books, conclusively proved that he could /ioHi*ve visited Mrs Crawford on many of the dutos she assorts he did. On one occasion, for example. Sir Charles was attending a Ictec at St. James's Palace at the precise time Mrs C. avers be was at Madame Dcssonlavy's with lier.

In cross-examination, Mrs Itogerson said it vraa in 1881 Mrs Crawford confessed committing adultery with Sir C. Dilke, and not till 1885 she spoke of Captain Foster. < Mr Matthews: It was in Aiigust, 1884, Mrs Crawford confessed to youaboufSir C. Dilke?— 3Tes. A confession of adultery?— What I imagined to be a confession of adultery. ' Did she tell you she had, slept twice in his ' house?— She told me tha't later. • *'•■ "<' , -, Did she tell you.tho various details* she after■vrai'ds told her husband „,,: } ,',,*, « Some of thorn?— Some of them,' I think she aid. Sarah dressing her?— (Emphatically) No. Just think. Don't lose your temper. Did she mention about Sarah dressing her— oh?— No. , Not at any timejf— l cannot recollect anything OC that kind, and I certainly should have recoiHctcdit. >