THE LANGTRY-GEBHARDT AFFAIR.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1257, 11 April 1883, Page 2

THE LANGTRY-GEBHARDT AFFAIR.

. . The New "York correspondent of th& jVfelbiourne Argus writes as follows :-— • Tliie> sfcar.pf, • M^s La-ugtry. pales -as its rather irregular orbit sweeps towards the West and South'* It* obtained, however, a.mpment of aj.'tji6cial glow in the city of St. Louis, from an in- ! eident ■ 'whioli so strikingly illustrates the mceurs of that section of oar bt!loved country £hat your readers will,. I hope, pardon a reference to it. On her wes»toru 'Journey Mrs Laugtry was accompanied' by -a gentleman from . Ngw York, named Mr. Fred. Gobhardt r-^yoiing, .good-looknigi rich, a ''man about town," not burdened with brains, and not dver-senstfve, on his own or the lady's 'account, v to the kind of tal^ which his bohaviour . was sure to cailse. His rather ostentatious gallantry towards the English actress was tlfe stibject of club gossip hi this city and in Boston, hut did not receive any notice in the Press, which happUy, lias more important" if not more interesting m.'itk'i^ to,, discuss..,- But in St. Louis, whovo the Southern and Western : el(jhnints form a curious combination, the chiftf journal of the -town seized on luVfreimunt appearance at the side o'i" Mrs Laiigtry -as a bright opportunity for the exercise of its peculiar "enterprise." On the second night of her phiyMg in the town the Globe Democrat caused to be distributed among the audience hundreds of cards each bearing live questions with a request for an answer from those who received them. Of these questions the last was the delightfully iinpcrtmmitone. "What do you thiuk 9f .'Fwd.dui f Selections." from the alleged answers— which were collected by the ushers aitiie Uieatic— wcro

published .the next morning. With them appeared a singularly gushing comment on Mrs Langtry's acting, her personal appearance, and her social qualities, which the dramatic critic of the journal had teated in an interview. In the same journal was an elaborate account of Mr" Gebii'ardt's rolations to. Mrs Langtry, as gathered from currentgossip, and what pretended to be a diagram of the rooms allotted to her and to him at the Southern Hotel, where both were staying., the diagram represented the suites of rooms as separated by a corridor and two " six-foot walls," with a Gatling gun stationed at the respective entrances and a sentry-box in the corridor. On the evening of the publication, Gebhardt approached the reporter of the Globe Democrat in the large hall of the hotel, accused him of being a "'liar" and a " scoundrel," and challenged him to stand up in order that lie (Gebhardt) might .have the pleasure of knocking him down. The reporter one «'• Colonel " Cunningham, who Tiad been in the Confederate cavalry— ' declined the invitation to this rather superfluous ceremony, and intimated tEat Southern gentleman did not fight with their fists. The two separated, and the •* Colonel " afterwards sent a challenge to Gedhardt, winch the latter refused to notice. As the New Yorker can box well, and cannot use the pistol, and the Southerner is a dead «hot, but cannot use his fists, they have spent a fortnight in vain thirst for a " meeting." But Gebhardt has left the company of Mrs Langtry, and gone buffalo-hunting in the North-west. The whole affair is pitifully absurd and vulgar, but it filled the columns of nearly all the " news-papers " west of the Ohio for a week, and occupied much of what their editors are pleased to call their " minds."