MRS CRAWFORD EXAMINED. Ghastly Series of Disclosures.

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

MRS CRAWFORD EXAMINED. Ghastly Series of Disclosures.

The balance of Mrs Rogerson'scro3S-e\amina-tion occupied tho first part of the morning oh Tuesday, and excited considerable interest, c-pecially when it beeume evident from Mr Matthews' questions that Mrs Crawford accuses her of being the author of the anonymous letters warning Mr Crawford against Sir C. Dilke. Tho old lady stout 1 y and indignantly denied the impeachment, giving her answers with marked emphasis, and looking very angrily in the direction of the respondent. Two maidservants and a spruce young footman (comical in his affability, coolness, and superfluous employment of the letter h) were the next witnesses. They had all been in Mrs Rogcrson's service, and deposed to having witnessed various affectionate familiarities between Forster and Mrs Crawford. The latter pair seem, indeed, to have made Mrs Itogerson's house their regular rendezvous. Thoy were several times discovered by the servants sitting on one another's knees, and often spent hours together in the drawingroom by themselves. Two young soldiers in Captain Forstcr's regiment followed the footman. They swore to having seen the gallant, captain and Mrs Crawford together in Dublin last year. Mrs Crawford was staying at tho Hibernian Hotel by herself, and Forster went to visit her there. Lady Dilke and another lady wer • then briefly examined as to what they remembered ot Sir • Charles' doings on the day Mrs Craw ford alleges he seduced her. Their evidence supplemented that of the private sccretm-ies and Sir Charles' servants, showing tho utter impossibility of his having acted as alleged on that particular day. A sensational hush fell on tho Court as Mrs Crawford slipped jauntily into the witnessbox, and having expressed her willingness to give owdence, was solemnly sworn. The ' Daily News," which is not. prejudiced 'as I fear I am) auainst tho lady, thus describes her appearance: — "Mrs Crawtoid was plainly attired in a stono-colourcd stuff costume dress, turned up with dark velvet, and a brown struw stosplc lfat. trimmed up the liont with white and black satin. She gavo her evidence from the first clearly and without embarrassment. Occasionally she dropped her eyes and played with her scent-bottle lying: on the desk before her, but there was never a moment's hesitation in answering or in volunteering confessions outside the answers put. On tho contraiy, very often in reply to a single question the witness delivered whole paragraphs of evidence, sentence following sentence fluently, coolly, confidently, and without a break in the continuity of the rccitnl. After the examination had proceeded about two hours Mrs Crawford, who is a lady of apparently lobust health, without any previous fsy.nptoms of exhaustion, suddenly sat down and seemed about to faint, the court be>ng very hot and close. \Vate< was adminis'ered by the usher, and for the rest of the afternoon the an it ness gave he evidence seated; after a pause of halt a minute. Mrs. Crawfords strength was restored. After tho cross-examination began tnerc was oo casionliylcss readiness of reply, 'especially in the confessions of guilty intrigue with Captnin Forsjter. Twice with prompt decision Mrs>. Crawford looked up at the judge and appealed to him as to wnether she was obliged to answer cc.tain awkward questions, and in a practical way f=hc at once accepted the position when his lordship laid it down. At such times the answers were given with lowored voice, hut still with marvellously little embarrassment, considering the nature of the admissions made. Tho story Mrs Crawford tells is a remarkable one. Sir Charles Dilke hardly noticed her before she married. The first time he met her afterwards he made love to her. The second time he, without apparently any preliminaries, suggested adultery. Mrs Crawford didn't • understand him at first, but directly she did so : she assented to his proposal, and agreed to meet i him at a house on the north side of Warrenstreet, which he, said was kept by an old, servant of his, and which he uSv'd for assignations. The ■ door was opened by a woman, presumably ■ Mdme. Dessonlavy, yet strange to say, when i Mra Crawford was asked whether shts recog- ■ nised the latter she said "No." Sir Charles ; Dilke was up in the bedroom awaiting her, this remember being 12 noon, when, according to i trustworthy evidence, he was busy elsewhere. After tliib Mrs Crawford visited Sir Charles • continually at his own house. She arrived - between eleven and half-past in the morning, coining in ahanfiom to the corner of tho street, 5 "where she got ont, and walked the rest o£ the - way so as riot to attract attention. Mr Matthews : Are those tho only persons who lot you in. cither Sir Charles himself, or i the footman ?— Yes. When you got into tho house in this way, where did you go? -I always went up to tho i blue-room on the staircase; but once or twice Sir Charles had not quite finished breakfast, and I sat with Mm in the dining-room whilo lie p finished. But I almost; always went straight up . into the blue-room, whether Sir Charles or the ? footman let mo in. The footman Used to take my name and show mo into tho blue-room. 3 And from the blue-room ■vvhoro used you to ? go ?— Sir Charles, Dilke always ,eanie to me in the blue-room, Did you go from there to any other part of the houso?— Yes, he used to take me up to hia bodroom. , , , ■ , i . , Was anything done to prevent your being t seen? Just describe how you used to go up.— r Ho always used to talk a little in the blue-room j firsthand then he .used to go upstairs to see that there was no ono on the staircase, and, to shut j Mr BodleyV door". He always 1 said.', " Bo&lo.v - leaves his door open. ' I must go anil shut .it." • Then he used to g6 down ana fetch nip, and I take me up, and J usedLto run .upstairs as gently as I could ; and as there wore very thick carpets 3 on the stairs, 1 d,q not think anyonecouid hoar.' When you went to Sir Charlqs D lino's i who - let you in T~Sqniothn.es 1 M^a's. lot iu*T?x wm* f oot> man— ifr was *al ways' 'the Bamo vfpdtman--and 5 sometimes Sir Charles let, me in himself. Ho used to tell me not to drive up to his house in a hansom, as the servants would get, to hoar ; so i I always used to come in a hansom and get out at the corner of Pond-street, which is close to, j his house, and -walk down to 'his place. 'Sir • Charles has a conservatory over his xront door, and he used to stand in tho conservatory when

h« know I was coming. The glass i« stained so that you cannot see through, but I could just see hl« head abo vo it. He used to watch until I camo round the corner, and I could ajee it he was there, aml'then ho used to come-down and let xne& without W havingrtq-ting the boll, As'soori as I got on to, the doOrttop he Used to, open the door. 'Sometimes when I rang, tho bell Sir Charloß Dilke be in the dining room, and then bo would comew tho door and let me in himself. He" always came with, his hat on and with his gloves in, bis hand to look as though he was going out in caso it was »ot me. You say the dining room. Do you mean tho front room or the back room?— The front room. Perhaps it ought more properly to be called the breakfast room. He used to call at tho top of the staircase* that it was 'air right atid their the servants knew that they need not come up. \ Mrs 1 Crawford never* saw any of tho maidservants at Sloane Street but Sarah ©ray, who helped her to dress. This is surely a very singular fact, considering the number of people there certainly were about the house at that hour in tho morning, and the f requent occasions she says she wont there. But that is how it is with all Mrs Crawfords assertions. She has not a scrap of writing, not 1 a tittle of >evidonco to back them up, nothing but her bare words. The assertions she calmly made as to what occurred between tho missing Fanny, herself, and Sir Charles, are peculiarly revolting, yet they were uttered without a shade of embarrassment, and in most fluent tones. Mr Matthews : During 1883 did Sir Charles Dilke over mention a person named Fanny to you?— Ye s; I think it was in the summer. . What did he say ?— Ho told me she was a girl who used to sleep with him. and spend the night at his house. And what olfio has he said ?— Ho told me that she was very nice, and that sho was qu>to young; she was younger than me, and lw asked me if I would not like to see her ut his house. I said I should not like to see her at all. He talked to mo about her sevoral times. He said she was supposed to be in service. I asked him how he had got hold of her, and he said through Sarah, his housemaid. She was supposed to oe in service at Brixton, and used to write nice letters to her parents. He told mo that blio lived in lodgings |noar Sloane-stroet, and that sho used to come to his house late in tho evening when the other servants were at Biippei*. Ho did not toll me all about it at one time. It came by degrees, I suppose?— Yes. Did you ever see the person whou»he called Fanny?— Yes. When did you sco her first?- 1 think it must have been in August, 1883 ; but I have no means of telling exactly. I must ask you to tell us the circumstances m which you first saw her, and where* you met?— I was at Sir Charles Dilke's. He had asked mo to meet her several times, but I never would. He said ho wanted to see us together. One day when I was at his house talking to him in the blue room he said that she was in the house, and asked me if I would sco her. I euid I did not want to, and that I would not. Then iwe went upstairs to the bedroom, and after I had been in the room a little while this girl came into the room out of the next room where she hud been. Was she dressed or undressed? Mrs Crawford (to the President).— My lord, is it necessary that I should go through all this? Mr Matthews.— Very well, then, I won't ask you farther on that. But I must ask you what happened.— He brought her into the room. He wanted me to talk to her, and I would not. She stayed only a fow minutes, for I burst out crying and asked Sir Charles to send her away. I could not bear her in the room. He sent her away, and told me I should not sco her again, us I did not want to. Did she go back to her own room ?— Yes, to tho adjoining room. When did you sco her again?- In tho spring of ISB4. He spoke to me about her several times, and askod me to see her again. I did not want to do so, but he always in«isted upon it. and one day he brought her into tho room while I was there. Khe only remained a minute or two, for I asked him to send her away, and he did po. ' Did you ever sco her amain ?— Yes ; I think about a week or fortnight again after that. At Sir Charles Dilke's?— Yes, in tho same way. He told me I was very silly not to like her. He wanted me to let her sleep with \is, and as he seemed vexed finally I let her stay a little longer. She was in the room about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, between Sir Charles and me. After Sir Charles left ske holped me to dress. Were you all three in bed together ?— Yes. She helped you to dress when Sir, Charles Dilke had gone? -Yes, and Sarah let mo out afterwards. Had you any conversation with Fanny at that time?— Yes, a little. She told me very much whut Sir Charles Dilko had told me about her. Did you know her surname at all at that time ? -No. I did not know either that she was the sister of Sarah. Juatlookat this photograph (pioduced) and tell us \t you can say who it is? — It' 3 Fanny. Equally cold-blooded Avas this astounding woman's confession that she had married Mr Crawford because she was miserable at home ; that she never cared for him ; and that they ere so wretched together that sho resolved to make a confession in order to get finally clear of him. > -