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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1919)
mm mmem Q J me Fashionable Society Awaits the Details of the Separation Suit of Mrs. Theodosius Stevens to Clear Up die Secrets of That August Afternoon When the Wife Was Found Among Such Tragic Surroundings ( - ZL- " n ..fit. : Young -" Q WL "; ' ' ", .pS-'s' Si (v 4ift7 I). at- I t -s' '.vaw- ' '-x THE recent published announcement that proceedings for diTorce bad been begun by Mrs. Frances Watts Stevens against, her bus band, Theodoslus IU Bterens, member of the Jashlonable Stevens family of New York and New Jersey and brother of the mas ter of the famous Castle Stevens at Castle Point, Hoboken, hae revived most Intensely the In terest of fashionable society in the attempt at suicide of this young and charming wife last August. The Stevenses have been married less than three years. Their match was considered, at the first, an Ideal one. and when the lit tle more than bride was carried from the Sea Spray Hotel at Easthampton, Long Isl and, unconscious from a drug she had taken and with the veins of her left wrist severed, great Indeed was the consternation In the high social circles in which she had moved. Many, too, were the conjectures. It was known that despite the fair augu Ties which had attend ed the launching of thoir marital craft it had sailed a year ago into troublesome wa ters. There were hints of estrangement. It was known that the wife was living alone in the Long Island hotel. Mrs. Stevens was tempera mental and Mr. Stevens was Inclined to be mat ter of fact. Yet, whatever Incom patibility existed be tween them, everyone was certain mai iu huBband could not pos sibly have given the wife any real cause to kill herself. Mr. Stevens is a gentleman of edu cation, cultivated and kindly. It is true he Is seventeen older than Mrs. Stevens. There was an explanation offered that grief over'the death of her father, the late Ethelbert Watts, diplomat and statesman, once Vice-Consul of Russia and during the earlr vears of the war American Consul- General at Brussels, had caused the tempt. It was whispered, too, that she had . never really forgotten a certain young officer of King Albert's staff who had been violently in love with her, with whom, It was said, she had been as much in love, and who had been killed in the first year Of strife. But the majority wondered whether the strain of keeping up appearances, of enter taining the smart people who were their own kind upon an entirely inadequate in come had not accentuated the differences of temperament and widened the rift be tween the two, until to the wife's over wrought nerves and high-strung tempera ment death seemed preferable to the life she had been leading. The mystery of Mrs. Stevens's attempt at suicide has never lost Its Interest, and sow fashionable society Is wondering whether In the papers which will be filed there will be revealed the true cause hints that Balzac might have used for an- ' other book of bis Comedle Humane, or which would have provided Thackeray an other chapter for Vanity Fair. Mrs. Stevens herself -says, "I have not Jet decided whether the legal action will e for separation or for absolute divorce." Still another curious factor Is added by the apparent friendliness of the pair upon all matters except as to living to gether as husband and wife. They met several weeks ago in their apartment at No. 10 East Fiftieth street, and divided their furniture between them, each mov ing to a separate domicile. Mrs. Stevens said, "I met Mr. Stevens a week ago and we both laughed together heartily over some of the rumors which bad been flying around regarding our dis agreement Among other things I had beard that Mr. Stevens is going to divorce me, which, of course, is absolutely un true." Mrs. Stevens waa Frances Watts, of the old Philadelphia family of that name. She conies from a long line of aristocrats who won honors in diplomatic affairs. Her grandfather was the American Minister to Austria, She herself is a beauty. ' During the most formative years of her life, from fifteen to twenty-one or two, the girl lived, in Brussels, where she saw and later became part of the brilliant cosmo politan society of that very gay city. She was thrown constantly Into the company of men of true continental training and tradition; her ideas of what a man should 1 t The Unconscious Form of Mrs. Stevens Wat Found, He? ' Left Wrist Slashed by the Blade of a Safety Razor and a "Medicine" Bottle at Hand. Jf tr.' '- ' ' . Joe A-f r ' v iS ft t. - 2 ' y "TV; - 4. i The Rotunda of the Interesting Old Stevens Mansion at Castle Point, Hoboken, and Portrait of Mrs. Theodosius Stevens. stan. it was no secret that this man bad, been a constant caller at the Watts home in Brussels, and waa with her more than any other. When war came he followed bis King, and was reported to be in the greatest danger. Later, when Miss Watts withdrew from all social life for several weeks, it was reported that this suitor, a noble man of fortune, had been killed. As no formal announce ment of an engage ment had been made, no formal rec ognition of his death was giTen by tne Watts family, and gradually Miss Frances slipped back into her former social niche. She became the leader in the relief work for the Belgians, and New York saw her frequently in the war tableaux and other benefits given for Belgian babies. Her dashing beauty and wonderful hair made her a spectacular figure in entertainments that netted large sums for the stricken country. Finally her activities led to a friendship with Mrs. Richard Stevens, of Castle Point, the historic home of the distinguished Ste vens family on the Hoboken side of the Hudson River. Mrs. Stevens, who was older than Miss Watts, was a striking bru nette, as beautiful in. her way as the Phila delphia belle. The two became great friends; they were splendid foils for each other, and were well nigh inseparable.' ' Mrs. Dick, as society called her, had been born a Stevens and had married her cousin. She had a younger brother, Theodosius- "Teddy" who, though very serious minded, was popular in his sister's crowd. Logically enough, he met Miss Watts, and eventually fell madly In love with her- Society did not take his love affair very seriously for the two were"o dissimilar In taste and outlook on life. The girl was used to the superficial but very delightful manners of the Continental men. Stevens, on the other hand, was a down right, rather stolid American, who looked upon women as more or less his equals. He had graduated from Columbia in 1900, studied law and was already well known In his profession. He was also deeply Inter- to a Belgian officer ested in politics, and had been appointed on King Albert's counsel to the Bronx Parkway Commission. larly in the brilliant young married set In New York, and naturally ' was be sieged by suitors. The war threw her into a fit of mel ancholy. It was . openly stated that she was In love, per haps even engaged, I be were formed therefore on a basis for eign to American ideals. She was past her twenty-first birthday when war broke out, and being in PhiladeR phla at the time could not return to Bel glum. At that time Miss Watts was a radiant, young beauty, with what Henner had called "glorious hair of red and fire." and her dash of foreign piquancy added to her charm. She was a favorite, partlcu- I. j. WlfcJfc: . . i 'V 4: i J 4 it E . -v, 2 mi . FY: : . The Famous Stevens's Residence. ff 1919, Inters Henri Ttor Sarrlc Zs ' Cnt Brltala Sffkts His family tradition was one of serious ef fort and splendid accomplishment. He was the grand-nephew of the Edwin A. Stevens who founded the Stevens Institute of Tech nology in Hoboken and whose engineering prowess had given him an international reputation Into his life, at forty-two, floated the .de lightfully brilliant yotfng butterfly from Philadelphia, a girl who knew little of and cared less for law and politics: Mrs. Dick saw her chance to make a match, and. woman-like, did her best to bring it about. Irrespective of what might happen after. With the passing of time and the press ing tragedies of the three years of fighting, Miss Watts had outgrown or controlled the sorrow brought to her by the death of her reported lover. She first became mildly interested in her new admirer, and later apparently fell in love with him. In January, 1917, their engagement was an nounced, and in March they were married. Following a short wedding trip the happy couple settled down in New York, and society having given them the once-over left them alone as objects of gossip. All looked most happy on the surface. And In the beginning they were happy. Several months went by before any un easiness was roused. Then it became evi dent that all was not well in the new house hold. Rumors of friction, of quarrels even, over money matters and over temperamen tal differences, went up and down Fifth Avenue. Finally these rumors reached the castle over on the Jersey side of the river, and great was the consternation in the family stronghold. The Richard Stevenses flew to the rescue, but the objects of their solicitude would not talk. They were patently unhappy, but would admit noth ing. Neither would they accept money from their richer folk. And in this regard it was recalled that young Mrs, Stevens had always been de terminedly Independent in money matters. Indeed, not long before her marriage she v found it difficult to get along on her own small Income and decided to go npon the stage. But so shrunken were her resources that although a position was open to ber, he did not have money enough to buy her costumes for It She went into motion pictures hiding her real identity and in a few weeks earned enough to buy the dresses and hats for the more ambitious part After that the play went upon the road, bu failed. Although her relaUves In Philadelphia are numerous and wealthy, she would accept no help from them. So it was not long after the, wedding that the clash of ideals and temperaments be gan. As a member of the, Stevens family Theodosius had a goodly income and this he added to with bis law work.' But there Is an appalling difference between what is necessary for a single man to be comfort able upon in fashionable society and what is necessary for at - young couple. They -were entertained and had to entertain in turn. Mrs. Stevens had known, of course, before she married that her husband was not in the multi-millionaire class. But she had not realized the difference between a "good income" and a really big fortune. Brought up as she had been by. Indulgent ' American ; parents, she bad been given everything in reason and assumed that her husband could, of course, give ber a great deal more She bad no dot, because Ethel bert Watts was in so position to settle a fortune on his daughter, but after her mar rlage he did continue her allowance. This, however, did not place her financially, on . a par with the young married women who formed her social setting. In plain English, even so early In her married life, Mrs. Stevens found that she could sot compete with the gay Long Island colony, led by Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney. Mrs. Willie- K. Vanderbllt, Mrs. George F. Baker, Jr, Mrs. Ooadby Loew and others whose Incomes ran into many millions. Being high spirited and fond of, giving as good as she received, Mrs. Stev ens became unhappy. One of her greatest complaints was that her husband's Interest in politics Interfered with his money making, and she tried hard to make him give up his ambitions and settle down to grubbing for wealth. Now, Mr. Stevens takes his public duty very seriously; he had Ideals and ha wished to preserve them; also he really longed to give bis beautiful .wife every thing her heart was set on. As a lawyer with a social background, Mr. Stevens real ized that while Greenwich Village may be a state of mind, Fifth avenue is undoubt edly a state of the pocketbook, but even this realisation could not make him change . his method of living and working. The seventeen years difference between the husband and wife suddenly became very apparent; he saw himself ten years from now a settled man of fifty-six, with a brilliant society-loving wife of thirty three or four, eager to be a real leader In her set and more than eager to have millions at her command. This depressed him. but served to make him work harden day and night. His wife, naturally, saw the same picture. She also saw her husband wearing himself out in, bis effort to live up to his ideals. She developed even greater unhappiness and depression. Last Summer she wanted to take a Southampton house and assume a promi nent position in that very smart and ex pensive colony. Mr. Stevens refused and suggested . that they spend the Summer quietly at Easthampton, just a short drive from the gayer place. There were many bitter discussions be fore this course was decided upon. Finally the husband and wife appeared at thi hotel in Easthampton and after a few days' visit the former returned to New York and business and the latter spent her days with her friends in Southampton, but mak ing the hotel her headquarters. Mr. Stevens, according to the hotel pro prietor, did not come down to Easthamp ton again. Shortly after noon on August 1 cries of a woman calling for help were beard on the beach and a crowd of bathers rushed toward the hotel. Mrs. Stevens, it developed, bad been found. in her room unconscious from loss of blood and from some Internal trouble, due, it was said, to poison. Doctors called, took ber Instantly to the Southampton Hospital, eighteen miles away, and superhuman efforts were made to save her life and to keep the trouble a complete secret Mr. Stevens was sent for, but he, like every public official and personal friend, refused to talk. And so for four months the "conspiracy of silence" has dons its fall work. Society talked for a while and then decided to awaK the course of events. The published report of Mrs. Stevens's divorce suit against her. husband proves that watchful waiting sometimes has its reward. Mr. Stevens, It is said, has entered no protest but will let the divorce go through unquestioned. Society smiles confidently . .and sayr tSat before long Its curiosity win be gratified and the true explanation of the Easthampton mystery will be known. It Is no puzzling thing for society-bred women to get divorces, bat attempted suV cide lsterr different. .
