SLINGSBY ESTATES.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 March 1916, Page 3

SLINGSBY ESTATES.

A STORY OF ROMANCE. A QUESTION OF LEGITIMACY. The cables recently stated that the Appeal Court Iraa decided the Slingabv case, the judges deciding that "Teddy" was the child of Lilian Anderson. It was impossible to believe Mrs. Slingsbv's story. The husband, as guardian ad litem, was condemned to pay costs. This sensational legitimacy case has been much before the courts in America and England. It involves the possession of the estates of an ancient English family, descended from John de Slingsby, who died of wounds received in Flodden Field in 1513. They are at present settled on Charles Slingsby, and in the event of his death without 'a son and heir they descend to two of his brothers. The case has given lawyers and detectives on both sides of the Atlantic much work to do. Charles Slingsby, a lieutenant in the British Xavy, sought to establish the legitimacy of "Teddy," his flve-year-old son. His two brothers claimed that Mrs. Slingsby (an American lady) was not the mother of the child. Main interest was centred in Master "Toddy," a handsome little boy. At the trial before Mr. Justice Bargrave Deane last year Mr. and Mrs. Slingshy sought a, definite declaration that the boy was their heir and waa born in 1910. at San Francisco, where Mrs. Slingsby was th"i» living. On the other side, it was declared that the child was the illegitimate son of a woman named Anderson, and was procured by Mrs. Slingsby to take the place of her own baby, who died. An important witness was Dr. Fraser, of San Francisco. He testified that Mrs. Slingsby did not give birth to a child, but adopted the illegitimate boy ol one Lilian Anderson. Dr. Fraser added that ho gave a certificate, in whioh he called the child by the surname of Slingsby, in order to protect the good name of Miss Anderson. A remarkable incident of the trial was the testimony oE Sir George Frampton, E.A., the famous sculptor. He had been asked by tlie judge to exercise his professional skill in comparing the features of the child with those of the parents. Sir George discovered that Mr. Charles Slingsby had a round face, with a pecu-liarly-shaped jaw, which was reproduced in the boy, and that the child's ears bore an unmistakable resemblance to those of Mrs. Slingsby. Assisted by these coincidences. Mr. Justice Bragrave Deane pronounced judgment in the boy's favor, declaring him the son and heir. The appeal just decided was from that decision.