VALETS WHO BLACKMAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 243, 13 April 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

VALETS WHO BLACKMAIL.

About an hour later, wnen i ivas sitting in the morning-room, which was opposite the library, I saw D. (that is the valet I have been speaking of) go into the room and shut the door after him. After a few minutes I heard Lord his master, exclaim at the top of his voice: "You scoundrel!" I at once went to the door and listened. It was rather difficult to hear what the valet was saying, for lie spoke in a low voice, but I could hear a good deal that his master said, who was very much agitated. To cut a long story' short, the valet had got hold of some letters which affected "the honor," as the valet put it, of Lord 's family, and he coolly offered to sell these letters to his lordship for £IO,OOO. "If you do not buy them," I heard him say, "I will offer them to your father."

(This threat drew forth the rejoinder: Td kill you, you ruffian, if VO u dared to! from his lordship. I heard D. laugh and saw "Well, I am_ offering them to you first:*' Then their voices became very low, and I could not hear much more" But I heard

I D., in reply to some remark of his mas- : I ter, say: "I'll wait until then, but not a day longer." That evening Lord told mv masI ter that he had to go up to London on urgent business at once, and he and D left the house the following morning f never saw the valet again, but a,t a house party where I was in attendance on my master about six weeks later I heard one young gentleman tell another that 7° rd ha(l paid his valet £IO,OOO for a packet of letters that the latter had stolen from him. There ig a well-known M.P. who was blackmailed for several years by his valet. The servant discovered that s master's son had once stolen a valuable piece of jewellery. The matter had been hushed up, the

, stolen jewellery, which had been pawned , was redeemed and given hack to the , owner. Some years later the M.P.'s son [obtained an appointment in a public , office. Whatever may have been his conduct m the past his character and reputation were now entirely blameless '

■But such a matter was not iikelv to enter into the consideration of a blackmailer. The MP. at that time engaged a new i valet W h o , by reading some private letters, learnt enough to be able to f ighten his master. He told the M.P. I all he had learnt about his son and I hinted that he knew much more, and point blank demanded money.

[ _ The M.P.. instead of giving the man m charge of the police, made the fatal error of paying him, I believe, £25 (During the next five years the blackmailer had extracted nearly £4OOO from his luckless master and made the unfortunate man's life almost intolerable j>.v ever threatening to bring disgrace on

At last, m despair, the M.P. went to >s legal advisor, a thing he ought to have done long before. When he return«l from the consultation with his lawyer he M.P. called hi, valet into his study,' told the mar. to clear out, of the home n .five minutes, and swore that if ever he showed his face near the house a<min he . would give him in charge of The man saw the game was up, and went, and lucky he was to be allowed to go so easily. I heard that afterwards the man got into service with a wea thy American, whom he tried to blackmail, with the result that he got ment in New York. T witnessed once a rather dramatic incident when I was staying in Paris r was then in service with a nobleman who was married to a very famous beauty We were staying at a most expensive hote that was filled with a crowd of wealthy and fashionable people, Tmong

One evening her ladyship's maid got a wire asking her to , 0 homo to see her mother in London, who had been taken sudden y .11, and of course her ladysh p" allowed her to go. Another lady in the hotel, hearing of this, offered to let her mistress have the services of her maid Wen he g.r, came into her 1 adyshipt ioon. I W!l s m my maßter , s d 4 s .P X ,nT tT° n T S ° penod off each Hi Lo ~ear. d her ladyship scream. His o dship ra,i ,nto the room and saw wife m a sort of fainting fit on the P •„ T I,Par<l Ilfir ™J to him: "It was

Then his lordship rushed off in a J »- maul .and the result was that the girl disappeared next day. I i eftrnt attenvardg that the maid had been in her employ before and had tried o blackmail her. She had been prolpt y fenced and her ladyship h ; ?d nS seen or heard of her again until lie £™ "P tl,at in the hotel in to T t V L? re ; T belieTe ' moro blackmailers to be found among ladies' maids than men-servants, perhaps because ladies are a n s7r,r ily l f, ' ig,ltene<l thnn ?il4 m t. tinclarpmorerf ' adilyvictim^ It is indeed wonderful how nervous some ladies in society are about this sort lv 7- , \ mm Who Was ' m emP oy of a duchess once told me a curious sory about her grace. A lady was in the duchess' room one evening before dinner when the maid was dob," her grace's ban-. The lady and her Vice began to _ talk about playing cards and the lady jestingly remarked: "Don't yon every cheat, Duchess ?" Her grace only laughed, but directly the lady left the room, she turned to the maid and said: "For goodness' sake

IXTOLENABLE SERVANTS. There is no doubt that very wealthy people are sometimes .blackmailed by their servants, but the lihiekimuling servant is. so far as my experience goes, on the whole a rarity*(says a writer in a Home paper). Still, I have known some very bad eases of blackmail by servants, and it is small wonder that many I wealthy ladies and gentlemen nowadays I when engaging a dressing maid or valet make specially careful enquiries as to whether the servant was ever guilty of blackmailing his (or her) employer. A very bad case of blackmail by a servant came under my notice some years ago during a big shooting party at the place where I was then employed.

A very bad case of blackmail by a servant came under my notice some years ago during a big shooting party at the place where I was then employed. | Among the guests was the eldest son J of one of the wealthiest peers in tb« kingdom, and he had with him as Ms attendant his father's second valet. He was a first-rate servant there was no mistake, and had been employed, it was easy to see, in the 'best establishments where everything is done on what servants call "top scale." In the servants' hall lie was very free-and-easy in his manners and gave" great oflence to some of the older servants though I for one took rather a dislike to him from the moment I saw the man One day his master did not go out shooting; he had a lot of letters to write, I think; anyway, he stayed at I home and went into the library to write after the rest of the party had gone out to the covers.

<l'»it li-ti-ii to what |„«,],!,. |ik,, t !, al |. ulv say to me!" "I don't believe fur an instant.,'' said the maid, "Hint her grace was a .-heat, lint, she was awfnly frightened lest I should think she wa>--ihat whs clear, and if .L had been one of the bku-rfiiiailing sort 1 could have made (lungs very unpleasant for her." 1 know of one very well-known lady in society who was 'mercilessly blackmailed by her maid for several years. I The lady was extravagant and 'owed | i much more money than her husband suspected she did, a fact her maid found out, and then the unlucky hulv had to pay her maid to keep the fact a'seerct. She went on paying the maid money until one evening in desperation she told lier husband the whole truth; the maid overheard the conversation betwei n them and promptly left, the house and wisely never troubled to return for her lug-