A LONDON SCANDAL.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1587, 14 August 1885, Page 2

A LONDON SCANDAL.

♦ PROFLIGACY IN HIGH LIFE. EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS Recently we published a cablegram, which stated that there was _reat excitement iv Loudon owing to an article appeariug iv the Pall Mall Gazette regarding profligacy in hiidi life. It appears an attempt was made to exclude tbe paper in question from the Clubs aud tiie Railway stalh, butwith, regard lo the latter the public would uot allow suoh a step to be carried out, as the Pall Mall Gazette was asked for more than ouy other paper. The following from a London paper throws some light on tiie Subject : — Our readers will recollect that a few weeks ago a notorious procuress named Jeffries, who had long been carrying on her abominable calling was con v ie_*d at Middlesex Sessions, aad sentenctd to pay a tine of £200, which, of course, was instantly forthcoming. At the same Sessions a man who was convicted of a similar ofteuee was sentenced to i six mouths' imprisonment. In Parliament Professor Stuart brought the subject under the notice of the Home Secretary, who, however, DECLINED TO IXTKRFF.RB We have now before ns the J uue number of tbe Sentinel, a monthly penny periodical, professing to '*? the • organ of the Social Purity Movement,' published by Dyer, Paternoster Square, which contains the full particulars of this gross otitraj.- on justice. From an article head< d ' Tith d Criminals and their Protege' w-e make this extract : — ' The whole proceedings at that Middlesex Sessions ou May 5, in tbe case of the Woman Jeffries, were highly, if sadly, instructive. The trial was fixed for io.3oa.ni. Arriving thereabout ten minutes before that time, a mernb* r of tho committee which was pros«»cuting, with three friends (two of whom were representatives of the Press), only succeeded, with great difficulty, in parsing the policemen who were stationed to keep ont the public on various pretexts, onr p .lieeman insist ing that the Court was «l;vady crow-'ott. •\nd aii'thrr that he li ; o* admitnooue'. A ftevsi.c'i contra t „ slaw-menu, tho vi n.-u of the oom-

mittee was not surprised on entering to find that he was THE ONLY SPECTATOR in the space alloted to the pubiio. The next notable thing was that the jury and other persons in conrt were kept waiting for half an our, in the absence of Mr Edilu, Q.C., the presiding magistrate (somewhat misappropriate I y termed the • assistant Judge), and Mr Besely and Mr Montagu Williams, the leading counsel respectively for the prosecution and defence. On the latter entering the conrt at half-pas', ten, he 'at once requested Mr Besley. says the special reporter of the West London Times, 'to retire for a private consultation.' It was under stood in court that the Judge closeted himself with them— certainly AN EXTRAORDINARY TUISO, highly adapted to giye coloring to the report mentioned in a London evenin. newspaper, usually well iufo.-med, th at they were attempting ' to elfoct so n" method by which the case should not be heard.' For the Judge to have patiently waited half-an-honr while the •opposing couu--. arranged tim jeng j in the interests of the culprit and her clients would have been almost equally extraordinary. Certainly, the sul.sequent proceedings, including the speeches of conn! el aud Judge, and then tho verdict, fitted to each other so harmoniously as to unmistakably suggest to 'the spectator an exact preirrangement On re entering the court, Mr Montagu Williams said to his client, Mrs Jefferies, •• Say von are guilty," which she accordingly did. The likewise contains the speech, at Luton, of Mr Wook.-y, secretary of the Gospel Purity Association, wherein he made the following comments on the recent escape of Mrs Jeffries:— " We have in Eugland," Itsaid, •• n. -rlv 150 000 fallen girls who gain their ci. iiy bread by leading a life of sin aud sh_m». Tin- great majority of these girls are fatherless, MANY OF THBM MOTHEULESS. Where they come from or to what place tbey are going few want to know. They may go to prison and penitentiary, or die of the sickening disease in a Lock Hospital, or seek their death by A plunge in the muddy river. No one is any the wiser except the police, yet the male traitors, but for vhom these girls might still have beeu In the bright sunshine of those summer days, When not a cloud passed by to darken them, are allowed to w*lk in and out amongst the pure as if there was nothing in their soul-and-body murdering life of wbich they need be ashamed. Nay, more, they are oft times found sitting in Parliament, in iking law* hy which we have to abide. They have occupied tth« chief places in courts of justice. It h not long ago since one of her Majesty's Judges died in a house of illfame, and soon after tint a member of the House of Lords stood in the dock to be tried for an indecent assault upon _ defenceless servant girl. Working tnen, it is time you tose up in all your strength and looked these RICH SCOUNDRELS in the face, telling them to stand hack, daring them to rob their poor children of their character, which is their all. The Proceedings at Westminister Police Court have lately been the subject of much excitement in certain quarters. An old woman of infamous charactet, between GO and 70 rears old, has been upon her trial for keeping a number of human slaughterhouses. It was my painful duty to be present, and never shall I forget the sight. In front of the dock sat the old woman (Mary Jeffries), elegantly dressed. At her back sat A LONG ROW OP FaT.L'-.X GIRLS. Next tiiese stood eight or nine young men, wh >se fingers giis* r--icd with diamond rings, and wh-jse. feet were covered with patent shoes. Tlie evidence went to prove that these lions?* of infamy were used exel usi veiy by the aristocracy. George Bellcha<nb?rs, late coachman to the woman Jefii-l'-s, _>• • »: i.i»t! liameS of six C111b... amongst which were the Marlborough and Army and Navy, where be had taken notes announcing the arrival of girls. Since then I have had the painful privilege of looking through an immense quantity of evidence collcctec for the Loudon committee that prosecutes in this case, and I was not surprised to see that amongst the crowd of male debauchees the names occur of not a few of exalted rank." II re Vfi' speaker gives what he alleges is a its. '.f Mrs Jeffries' '•niSTIxGUISIIED CUSTOMERS." It contains the names of a reigning sovereign, four noblemen, one baronet colonels, captains, consuls, ii\u\ that of a conspicuous member of the English royal family, at the mention of which we are told an " immense sensation " was created ; also that all these names would have been mentioned in court had not the matter been got lid of in the way stated above. The list appears in the columns of our con nmporury. Indeed, the full detail.*; of tii« scandal j are boldly published in the pages of the Sentinel.