THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 21; 1915,
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How the Blue Blood of the
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Famous Drexels Seems to Run Red and
White in These Strangely Opposite
Types Lucy Shocks Her Aristocratic
Antecedents by Renouncing the World
for the Cloister, While
Catherine, the Fastest Woman Driver in
America, Stuns Them With
Her Law-Breaking Antics in a
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Lvcy Drexel Dahlgren, who astounded the social world
. by taking the veil and retiring to a convent for the
remainder of her life.
iilwi
HO can explain tb
trangt paradox in
the Uvea of Lucy
and Katherlna
Dahlgren? De
scendants of the
famoua Drexels, In
whose blue blood
runs high pride
and social haughtiness, these girls have
upset family tradition to a' startling de
gree. Lucy has renounced the world for the
convent, while Catherine has shocked her
aristocratic antecedents by her wild antics
In a high-powered motor car.
The glaring discrepancy between the
cloister and the speeders' court has set all
the East asking why.
It has been a paradox of the most sen
sational form. One girl turns her back
upon the world (and a very pleasant world
it should have been for her, what with
wealth -add high society at her feet), while
the other maiden violates the canon of
dignity which the old, old Drexel family
cherished and gets "pinched" (plain, ordi
nary pinched) time after time.
Sensations Foreign to Drexels.
t, The Dahlgren sisters are granddaughters
of Joseph Drexel, head of the house uni
versally noted in financial and social cir
cles. They are members of a family that
has the bluest of Philadelphia blue blood,
the most cherished traditions of scrupulous
dignity and quietude.
Sensation played no part in the annals
of the Drexels until Lucy Drexel Dahlgren
suddenly Sought divorce from her husband,
Eric B. Dahlgren. The complaint came
like a clap of thunder to society, accustomed
as it was to holding up the Drexels as the
paragons of modesty and si exemplifying
the blessings of seemly demeanor. All the
world knew that the Drexels' proudest
boast had been that it had never had a
divorce among its members.
Society Stood Aghast
That was In 1912. Before the edge was
off the keenness of this bright piece of
gossip another of the Drexel daughters
went Into the divorce court Explosive
comment and excitement was redoubled.
Mrs. J. Duncan
Emmet, younger
sister o f Mrs.
Eric B. Dahlgren,
asked and ob
tained marital freedom.
"What Is the dignified old family com
ing to. anyway T asked the exclusive so
ciety folk of New York and Philadelphia.
Now, three years later? echoes of this
pair of divorces have come rattling back
upon the "400."
Two daughters of Mrs. Eric B. Dahl
gren have performed startling acts, the, re
sponsibility for which intimate friends of
the Drexel family attribute to the shatter
ing of tradition in 1912.
Miss Lucy Drexel Dahlgren, the eldest
of the daughters, is studying in seclusion
for the final vows that will make her a Sis-'
ter of the Blessed Sacrament, destined to
go down into the most miserable hovels of
the negroes in southern states and bring;
relief to the wretches there.
Two years younger than Lucy is Kath
erlne, "Katherine the Madcap," they call,
her. Even at the moment her elder sister
was meditating in solemn solitude Kathe
rine was setting all the countryside about i
Lenox, Mass., agog with her wild automo-'
bile escapades. .
Drove Officers of Law Frantic
The village constables grew frantic at
her defiance of all laws and regulations.!
They arrested her for speeding no less than
six times, fined her often, warned her again1
and again, and finally had to take her
license away. Once they got wind of her
proposed race with a motorcycle speed:
fiend and dragged her Into court again to
receive an official threat
To all of these admonitions, fines and
restraints of the law Katherine laughed.!
At her mother's pleadings she laughed, too.
At public indignation she laughed.
When the drawing-rooms first resounded
to these reports the old-time Intimates of
the Drexel family threw up their hands in
as these made la the inner circles of so
ciety in the East
Furthermore, Katherine has developed a
peculiar fondness for eccentric and bizarre
clothing, affecting flowing Grecian robes
and a jeweled fillet about her brow that is
in marked contrast to the Quakerlike de
murity of her family's traditional attire.
Made Brilliant Match.
In 1890 Lucy Wharton Drexel married
Erie B. Dahlgren. Their wedding was a
brilliant one socially. She, daughter of the
financial lord, Joseph Drexel, the heiress
to not less than $20,000,000; he the son of
Admiral Dahlgren, celebrated civil war
hero, and Inventor of the widely used Dahl
gren gun.
Each had been reared in an atmosphere
sternly opposed to divorce or to any action
that savored of a desire for publicity.
The strictest code of morals, veritably
puritanic rules, commanded the Drexel fam
ily. There bad never been a divorce in It
and there never would be, decided Mrs.
Drexel.
Her two daughters left at home were
married later,' one of them to John Duncan
Emmet and the other to Dr. Charles Bing
1 ham Penrose. The young, Dahlgren couple
were happy, so the world thought Eight
children came to them. All ere living.
Lucy is 23, Madeline 22, Katherine 21,
Ulrica 19, Olga 17, Eric 14, Joseph 12 and
Eva 11 years ef age.
Dancing Led to Divorce.
In Masch, 1912, the divorce papers were
brought out in court Eric Dahlgren was ac
cused of having been guilty of misconduct
with a Mrs. Bradley. He admitted having
dined her at Hector's and having taken
her to her apartments aiong in the "small
hours" of night. He claimed, however, that
the wine he had consumed overcame him
amazement "Since those two divorceL.ln 'the apartments and that he fell down In
trials things haven't been the same. When
the Drexel .reputation of freedom from di
vorce or scandal was broken Lucy Dahl-j
gren went Into a convent and Katherlna
became a htrom-scaraoi auto speeder." ,
Too may now hear Just such statements
a stupor, from which he did not recover
until 6:30 the next morning. The com
plaint charged merely that detectives had
seen him dancing with Mrs. Bradley upon
the street as they wound their way
homeward and that he hid lavished many
endearments upon
companion during the
leisurely Journey, and
that she had respond
ed in like manner.
The court decided
is favor of the com
plaining wife and
gave her both the de
cree and the custody
of the eight children.
A peculiar feature
of the case was the
departure of Mrs.
Dahlgren with her
daughter Lucy for Eu
rope upon the same
day that jthe com
plalnt was filed.
Throughout the trial
the girl, the only ma
ture one ot the chil
dren, remained with
her mother, counsel
ing and sustaining her
In all the difficulties.
When the separa
tion was complete
Airs. Dahlgren took
her family and settled
on the estate "Bel
Air," near Lenox,
Mass. From this
home the two daugh
ters, Lucy and Kath
erine, went forth upon
their errands, so
strikingly different
Did the heartaches
and miseries caused
by the divorce pro
ceedings turn Lucy
Drexel Dahlgren against the world
Also, did this break-up of a prorad tradi
tion make Katherine Drexel Dahlkren sayr
"I don't care'? Did she suddenly develop
"speed" manias and dashing daredevil man
ners because the century-old ntbVts jof the
Drexels were removed ? f
Lucy la now Sister Maria Xacia.' tJntUf
the summer c-t 191S, when sJtej smddanl
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KaUctTna
Drexel Dahlgren, who has shocked staid old New England by her ma&ariving of a
high-poweiJed racing car.
took the vows, she was looked upon as
one of the most brilliant of the society girls
of New York and Philadelphia. She was
brought Into the world of society by her
aunt Mrs. Penrose, In 1910 and for two
seasons was feted and sought for.
Often the "400" has awakened of a
morning .to find that one of their number
has gainsaid the laws of conventionality
as laid aown by their neighbors. In most
cases a ready explanation was at hand, as
hereditary traits were named as the cause
of the fall from grace.
In the case of the Dahlgren girls, how-,
ever, the time-worn ready answer cannot
be given, and so society knits its brow la
perplexity.
I Copyright 1915.' by J. Keslsyl -