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VOLUME I.
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HISSING
(DDICIL
TO the long hidden romance in the
life of bachelor Lord Sackville,
which began when he, then a
young diplomatic attache at Mad
rid, fell in love with a music hali
dancer, there has just been added a
romance of another sort in the life of
another old bachelor, Sir John Murray
Scott, which links his name with the
dancer’s daughter.
The public offer of a reward of $50,-
000 for the discovery and return of an
executed copy of a codicil of Sir John’s ■
will signed subsequent to 1907 brings ;
the facts to light and presents a mys- ,
tery with many interesting angles.
On February 16 last Gen. Douglas Al
exander Scott, a grizzled veteran in
the British service, applied to the
courts in London for appointment as ‘
receiver of his brother Sir John’s es- '
tate, which is estimated to be worth
many millions.
When this application came up for a .
hearing in April a surprise was in j
store. Counsel for Lady Sackville, .
daughter of bachelor Lord Sackville
and of Pepita Duran, as she was known
on the stage, appeared in court and ,
asked for an order directing Lady .
Sackville to bring before the court a
sealed envelope which had come into
her possession following Sir John’s (
death. This order was granted.
With the sealed envelope was a let- '
ter from Sir John in which he said: “I ,
have left you, under my will and codi
cils, a sufficient sum to make you, I
hope, comfortable and independent.” i
The sealed packet was opened by Mr.
Justice Bargrave Deane and was found .
to contain a duly executed codicil '
providing for Lady Sackville, as the
' letter had shown. i j
Revoked Much of Bequest.
Sir John died January 17,1912, When :
an examination wi made of his prl- :
vate papers there was found a draft ।
of another codicil to his will bearing ।
date of October 26, 1900, bequeathing :
to Lady Sackville a much smaller sum
of money than is specified in the codi- ।
cil offered in court by the titled worn- ;
an’s counsel.
It is in the hope that Sir John exe
cuted the 1900 codicil at a date sub
sequent to the Sackville codicil and (
that it can be brought to light that ,
the big reward is offered.
As the story is told. Sir John had '
the habit of slipping important pa- J
pers between the leaves of the law- J
books in his library shelves, and it is ,
also said that in his bachelor lack of (
order in his private apartments he
sometimes secreted things in the
frames of old paintings.
With his death many of the books
found their way to the stalls of old
book stores, and some of these vol
umes, it is believed, may have been
picked up by American buyers. How
_s.< .-‘Jr
11 '■ ■ ————■ ■■ I
Pepita Duran.
Sir John came to know the present
lady Sackville is a story in Itself,
. and it forms a part of the story of
bachelor Lord Sackville’s romance as ■
well as of Sir John’s own lucky rise
to fame and fortune through an inci
dent of travel.
In order. Lord Sackville’s romance '
comes first. Back in the fifties Sir
Lionel Sackville-West, a son of Earl i
De La Warr, was sent to Spain as a
secretary of legation. He was then I
twenty-three years old. One night he
visited a music hall and there met <
Pepita Duran, one of the reigning 1
dancing beauties at the Spanish cap- <
Itai
NUMBER 3.
Knole House, Kent, the Ancestral Castle of Lord Sackville.
When the young diplomat was trans
ferred to Berlin the dancer accompan
ied him, and he did not hesitate to in
troduce her as his wife.
Children Born to Couple.
Children were born to them —a son
and several daughters —and in the reg
istry of births the mother’s name was
given as Mme Josephine de Ortega
and the father’s as unknown.
Upon his appointment to Paris Sir
Lionel established a home for his fam
ily at Arachon, where he was known
as Count West and the woman as the
countess.
One of the daughters of this union
was Victoria Josephine, another Flora,
and the son bore the name of Ernest
Henri Jean Baptiste.
Pepita Duran, the former dancer,
otherwise “Countess West,” died in
March, 1877, and there appeared in
the Paris papers of the time the fol
lowing:
“Lionel de Sackville-West, first sec
retary of the British embassy in Paris,
and minister plenipotentiary par in
terim, begs his friends and acquaint
ances to be present at one of the
masses held in the Church of Notre
Dame on August 21 for the repose of
the soul of Josephine, Countess de
Sackville-West, his wife.”
This announcement made the ro
mance public. It surprised the old
families of Great Britain and immedi
ately raised a question as to the status
of the children. The countess of
Derby, Sir Lionel's sister, threw the
weight of her social influence on the
side of the daughters and this estab
lished them.
John Scott’s Part In the Romance.
It was at this time that John Scott
came to know the elder daughter, Vic
toria Josephine, who was then ten
years old. He knew her only as a
child romping about the diplomat’s
suburban villa, but his fondness for
her continued throughout all the years
which followed, during which he be
came immensely wealthy.
From Paris Sir Lionel was sent
first to Argentina, then to Spain, and
in 1881 to Washington as British min
ister. The dancer’s daughters accom
panied him, and Victoria Josephine,
just turning into womanhood, became
the chatelaine of the embassy and a
leader in'Washington society.
Seven years thereafter, by the death
of his brother, Sir Lionel succeeded to
the title of Lord Sackville, and it was
about the same time that he, by writ
ing a letter advising a former British
subject living in this country how to
vote in the Cleveland-Harrison cam
paign, had his passports returned to
him by President Cleveland, and he re
turned to Knole Park, Kent, England,
discredited.
In the mean time Victoria Josephine
had married her cousin, Lionel Ed
ward Sackville-West, and had gone to
live on the Kent estate.
Son Demanded Recognition.
Now began a fight on the part of
Lord Sackville’s son, Henri, to estab
lish the legitimacy of his birth with
the view to succeeding to the title and
estates. The young man, who had
been educated in Paris and afterward
sent to South Africa by his father,
had returned to England after the
Boer war and demanded from his fath
er full recognition as his heir. This
was denied.
The son, therefore, set out to es
tablish the proof of his father’s ad
mission that he had married his moth
er, and Lord Sackville was forced to
come into the open with a statement
that while he had never married he
would have made the dancer his wife
had she not been the wife of her
dancing teacher.
After the first hearing in the case
and before final decision was made
Lord Sackville, following an Injury
from a fall while entertaining Mrs. O.
H. P. Belmont and some other Ameri
can guests, died, and his nephew, the
husband of Victoria Josephine, suc
ceeded to the title and estates.
The new Lord Sackville made the
She gwUdh
IRWINTON, WILKINSON COUNTY, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1912.
next move. He brought suit to have
himself formally acknowledged as the
heir to the estates and title. In fight
ing this proceeding Henri sought once
more to prove that he was the legiti
mate son of Sackville, the establish
ment of which claim would also prove
the legitimacy of his sister, wife of
the new lord pf the estates.
The marriage records of the Church
of San Milan, Madrid, were finally ex
amined and the entry there found
proving that the mother of Lork Sack
ville’s children had been the wife of
the dancing master, although there
had been an effort to erase the
names.
The final decision of Sir John Big
ham, president of the probate court,
denied the claims and settled the
case in favor of Lord Sackville.
It was the belief entertained by Sir
John Murray Scott that his little girl
friend of Paris days might live to
face some serious trouble, growing
out of her parentage, that prompted
him to remember her in his will.
Three of the codicils of his will
were executed shortly before the
court’s decision against the claims «if
Lady Sackville’s brother. Had the
claims been established she and her
husband would have been dispossessed
from the estates, which have an an
nual income of more than SIOO,OOO.
Sir John’s Good Fortune.
Sir John's life story also read like
a romance. He was the son of an
English doctor, who, while crossing
the channel to France was called to
the bedside of Lady Wallace, who was
traveling with her husband, Sir Rich
ard Wallace. In gratitude for this
professional service, which restored
her to health, the doctor’s son was en
gaged as secretary to the Wallaces
and adopted.
Sir John’s parish home was the fam
ous chateau and gardens of Bagatelle,
which is valued at close upon $2,000,-
000.
The third Marquis of Hertford, the
“Lord Steyne” of Thackeray’s “Vanity
Fair,” became the owner of the cha
teau and from him it passed to the
fourth Marquis and later to Sir Rich
ard Wallace. Through the will of Lady
Wallace it passed into the possession
of Sir John, who also received a be
quest in cash of $3,500,000.
If the search for the missing codicil
to Sir John’s will, which is being made
in three countries, fails to bring them
to light, a considerable portion of the
great estate will go to Lady Sack
ville.
One Had a Headache.
This story ought to amuse A. M.
Willard, who painted a celebrated pic
ture called “The Spirit of ’76.” It was
told by an artist who had just em
ployed a youth of about eighteen to do
odd jobs around his studio.
“Say, mister,” said the new boy, “I
seen a great picture onct Gee! but
it was fine. Sweetest picture I ever
seen.”
“What was the name of it?” asked
the artist.
The art critic knitted his brows.
“I dunno the name,” he said, “but
there were three soldiers marchin'.
One of them was playin’ the fife, and
another the drum, and the third one
had a headache.”
Allowed to Use Either Hand.
The principal of the Brockton
(Mass.) schools, having been struck
by the fact that seven out of nine
children who failed to be promoted in
the schools were left-handed, he or
dered that pupils be allowed to use
the left hand or right hand as they
found the most convenient. In some
schools the teachers make a great
point of insisting upon the use of the
right hand, which is a detriment to
the progress of the child.
Worth Trying.
Those who live on the mountain
have a longer day than those who live
in the valley. Sometimes all we need
to brighten our day is to rise a little
higher.
THE BEGINNING OF
A GREATER CAREER
The Yesterday, Today and
Tomorrow of Our Career
During the yesterday ot our busi
ness career, we anticipated the desire
of the people of this section of the
State, for an up-to-date store, with
modern ideas and modern business
principles. To this end we have
worked, we have spared neither mon
ey nor labor.
On July Ist, the old firm, under the
laws of Georgia, was formed into a
corporation, with Mr. W. S. Myrick,
who has been with the old firm since
its organization, as President and
Manager. Mr. T. H. Caraker, the
capable manager of the Shoe Depart
ment, Vice President, and Mr. J. W.
Daniels, former Manager of the
Clothing Department, as Secretary and
Treasurer.
This is a step forward. It has been done
that we might better serve you, that we might
make shopping more pleasant and congenial
for you in the future than it has been in the
past, also that the men who have worked to
help build up this great business, might be
identified with the firm.
Today we open the doors ot a great depart
ment Store to you that is at your service and
is up-to-date and progressive in every respect.
The tomorrow of our business career shall
keep pace with the strides of the most mod
ern and Progressive Stores in the Country/
The W. S. Myrick Co.
(Incorporated)
Milledgeville, Georgia
■———Ml—
Everything For Everyone to
Wear
SI.OO A YEAR.