The Yelverton marriage case : Thelwall v. Yelverton : comprising an authentic and unabridged account of the most extraordinary trial of modern times, with all its revelations, incidents and details : specially reported.
- Avonmore, William Charles Yelverton, Viscount, 1824-1883.
- Date:
- 1861
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The Yelverton marriage case : Thelwall v. Yelverton : comprising an authentic and unabridged account of the most extraordinary trial of modern times, with all its revelations, incidents and details : specially reported. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![88 Did you write this letter ?—“ Carissiina, I liiid forgotten the photograph. I depart to the other side of the water to-morrow, D.V. I hope you had a pleasant passage and dreams. I am sulky, hate uncertainties, and believe in nothing. Addio. Penso a te.” Is not that the first letter you wrote to her after she left Edinburgh in the steamer ? I believe it was. This is the original letter in my hand. Do you see at the bottom of it a hand pointing as it were to something on the other side ? I do. [After some hesitation]—I don’t think I drew that hand. Do you swear it.!' Having looked at the paper for several minutes, the witness said—I cannot swear. Look at this sketch—Did that go with this letter, upon your oath ? Yes, I think that is my touch—that is one of my sketches. Did it go with that letterI can’t remember. Is not that what the hand refers to Upon my oath I cannot recollect. I won’t swear the hand was drawn by me. 'The sketch is mine. Is not that a sketch of a woman rejecting the advances of a man—refusing him? She seems to be running away from him. And he imploring— is that not what it is intended to portray—a woman rejecting the advances of a man pressing on her ? Yes. There is some writing on this which I never wrote. I cannot make out what it is. Do you see the last few words in the letter now produced from the lady to you ?—'• I will give you timely notice of my approach. The excursion in the autumn will be just the thing when we come back from our ” What would read after that ? I cannot read it. You know her writing well. Is that letter an “ h” which you see ? I think it is. Do you see a space after that, and then do you see an “m” ? Yes. What would you read that ? “ When we come back from our h m.” It is h m. What does it mean ? I don’t know. What, it reads h m ? It is a very bad “ h.” Good or bad, what does it stand for ? I do not know. Do you swear that ? How can you swear what it stands for ? Do you form any opinion what it isinteudedfor ? What it is intended for ? Ay. Well, with an explanation I can. Answer me first. AVhat is it intended for I think she intended it for “ honeymoon. ’ And why did you not say so ? I am going to explain. I have seen these printed letters ; I have been examined on them before, and I have seen the word “ honeymoon” put in by Miss Longworth or her agents, as the reading of the h—m, and to the very best of my recollection I never discovered it before. Will you swear when you got the letter you did not know what it meant ? I am afraid I never took the trouble to guess at it. • Is that your answer ? That is all- Had you an autumnal trip after your Irish marriage ? That never took place you know. That is not my question ; had you an autumnal trip in the Highlands after your marriage in Ireland ? Yes ; only you caU that a marriage in Ireland which I do not. Don’t be too sure of that; we shall see. But you never took the trouble to guess at this? I saw this letter, and I saw this explanation of it, and accepted it as the right one. And it is the right one, of that you have no doubt now ? Now I have no doubt. The letter of yours I now place in your hand was written after Mrs. Yelverton left Edin- burgh ? Yes, In it you say, “ How are you getting on in health, carissima } * * * What and whep is reality to be ?” What is that? When was she to come to live with me entirely as my mistress, and give herself up to me completely and entindy. I believe in the same letter you have some mention of sending a prayer-book ? There is, Miss Longworth gave me a commission to send a prayer-book to Miss M‘Inrland; it was to be a Koman Catholic prayer-book, which could be got in Dublin better than where she was going. The court was then adjourned to this morning, when the cross-examination will be resumed. 'The bearing of the defendant during the exceedingly severe cross-examination of Sergeant Sullivan was very cool and collected. Erequently he paused for a considerable time before answering the question put to him, and many of his replies were characterised by caution. When the court adjourned there was assembled in the Hall, outside the court, a large crowd of Eersons, who, unable to obtain admittance into tho court during the da}', were most anxious to ear how the trial was proceeding. Those who had been in, and who now came'pouring out, were everywhere met with inquiries as to what the defendant was like, what he swore, and how he got on generally, and any one who was obliging and communicative enough to stop to answer these questions, found himself immediately surrounded by a numerous auditory, w'ho listened with the ^eatest eagerness whilst the proceedings of the day were detailed to them.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28408214_0092.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
