AFTER MANY YEARS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 13 December 1912, Page 6

AFTER MANY YEARS

JBf MYSTKHI' (»' THE MISSING .HANKER.

LONDON. Oct. 25. In 1892 Mr \V. It. Litter-dale, mauiijrcM- for the llmister branch of Stuckey's .Hank, disappeared in romantic circumstances. From time to time application has been made in the Probate Court for leave to presume, death, but the. iusuranoe companies have objected, and so far have been unsuccessful. Now the matter has ' onco again come before the. court. It seem 9 that on January 8, 181)2, on the. eve of his marriage -with Mi«s Flizabcth Chapman., of Newbury, 'Berks, in wlioso favour he made a vill, Mr Lidderdale flrew from his < irivato banking account £IO2O and journeyed to London. ' According to i letter Miss Chapman received from lii.m on. tho following day, the. fh.«? person ho mot on arriving at Paddington Station was a Miss Yining, nv. old love. On February 10. 185)2. the following notice appeared in the obituary coin inn o,f a London naner:— "Littordalc—On .January 30. on Miss B. A. 11. Vining's yacht Foresight. William Robertson Liddcrdale, of Ihumster, the .result, of an accident on January 8 in alighting

from a carriage in motion." Subsequently Miss Chapman received a registered letter addressed in an unknown hand, n.ud containing £SOO in bank notes, a Christmas card, a marked Jubilee coin and some visiting cn-vdr: of Mi°s Vining's. On one of the latter was written in Mr Litterdale's .handwriting, the words :-

"WAS TRUE TO YOU." Advertisements after.va-'-ds rnipear-

c-cl nskiiio- for detaiVi cf tbo rh:;th. and <<; reward nf £2O v.t-i offered for an { authentic copy of the death certificate, but without .rcs-nlt. Tim implications to.' presume Mr Lidde "dale's death have been, necessary for probate purposes, and bavo been opposed, ■bv the insurance, companies, fn each of which the missing man wan insured for £IOOO. MISS CHAPMAN'S AFFIDAVIT. Mr Wipe], representing Mr Brock. the executor under the will, told Mr Justice Bargrave Deane tba.t Miss Chapman bad now made an affidavit for tbo first time. "It now appears" bo continued "that when Mr Liddcrdale came up to London just before bis wedding day. it was with the intention of completing tbo purchase of some property in Tooley Street a gentleman in Australia. Ho made an appoinment with Mr Solomon at the Great Western Hotel, Paddington, but the appointment was postponed. Mr { Lidderdalo 'was seen to enter the lintel and leave it. but nothing more was ever heard, of him. The day after his journey to London Miss Chapman received a letter from him, saying:—■ "Arrived safely. Am .sending this to Radloy to'you in caaa I .should not see you, my darling, to-morrow. As they did not tell me particulars, 1 fear tbo will is not signed (meaning, said counsel, the will of the Australian from whom he had expectations). Don't be disappointed, my darling, if wo are out cf it. I.promised if I over saw Misu Vining again I would tell you. Well, the finst person I met was she, and sho had found out that her old lover was dead. I soon told her what she wanted and got rid of her. She knows we are to be married, but does Tiot know the date. Xow, my sweot darling, good-bye. Excuse the Las-le, as .1. want to start off—Yours for ever, Willie." WENT OFF IN A YACHT.

"That there was a Miss Vining," said Mr Wippel, "can be proved byMr Brock, who was a directer of Sfruckey's Bank. Her full naano was Miss 'Beatrice Haseltlean Vining, and there is a book in which are the two names: Mr Liddrale's apparently written by Miss Vining, and here in the handwriting'of Mr Lidderdale to his sister, Mrs Atherton, since dead. Miss',' Tilling w»3 'a very eccentric and somewhat mysterious liady. She 'had no regular home, although apparently rich, for she possessed horses, a carriage ian<l pair, -and a yacht. She also travelled extensively." ,f W]iat nationality was she?" inquired Mr Justice Bargravo "Deane. "An American," replied Mr Wippel, '*aiHl although she has beoti •described as being beautiful, she was forty years of age. He,t" yacht was naimed the Foresight, which was the

motto of the Lidderdafc family, and the yacht was seen at Westgato in 18!K) two years before Mr Lidder- 1 dale disappeared. Thero was also an I accident there when Mr Liddeixlalo. l was living on the cliffs. Although it j has been. said, the yacht was not in .

existence, because it was not registered at Lloyds, there is the statement of a coastguard that ho remembers such a yacht at, Wcsrtgatc in 1890. He described her as a yacht of between thirty and forty tons, "dandy (rigged," and said the people on board were in tbo habit of visiting St. Mildreds' Hotel." I I "This evidence rather confirms my own view that- Mr Liddordale ami Miss Vining went off in the yacht," said the Judge. "Here is a man who took awav £IOO in English bank note.?. Tie sent (vie half to Miss C'hapman. Who sent them? T think the bank notes are most important, arj tlioy wero part of tlie £IOOO, and the numbers must ho known. If they could be traced it would probably he fonn dtbat the other notes were cashed in America alter Miss \ mmg I arrived there."

The Judge, referring to the. book with the names of Mr Lkldcrdalo and Miss Vining written in it, added: "T want to know the history of this book. Jt iy entitled 'Lost for Love.' Whoro did it come -from?"

"From Mra Atherton," replied Mr Wippel; "she is now' dend." "That4s unfortunate," replied the Jud«v "T am not satisfied with the evidence. T have always believed there was a Miss Vining who could throw light on the matter if sire could be produced. With, regard to Mr Lidderdale, there k. supposed to have been an accident from which ho : died." 'T do nnt ™ much rely on that. ' siid Mr Wippel, "as on the wasting disease from which Mr Liddordale wa.s suffering at the timo cf his fcfappsarancs." Mr Barnard. K.C.. for the irsurauce eninnnnie-s. pointed out that of the evidence was new. and he miirM dwire tn rcaie of the if tliev were filled. Accordingly the annlicitf^-' 1 j was crdercd to 'stand over for a. foi'l--1 tmdit for an affidavit to hj? filed.