THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 31, 1921.
Society Ga?ps
at Lotd Eimw' HathjiRonmee
The Recent Tragic. Death and Burial at Sea of
Lady Furnew from Hi. Lordship'.
Yacht Is Followed by His Reported
Engagement to a Lively
, American Girl
2flRp
1
The Fascinating, Lively Mrs. Julie Thompson, Once of
Philadelphia, Whose Surprising Engagement to the
Immensely Rich Lord Furnesa Is Reported.
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The Late Lady Furnesa, Whose
Tragic Death and Burial at
Sea Occurred Recently.
PARIS, July 7.
I fHH fashionable, wealthy and high
I society of London, Paris and Cannes
faias gasped with astonishment at the
announcement of the forthcoming i marriage
of the English multimillionaire. Lord Fur
nesa, and the lively and beautiful Ameri
can divorcee, Mrs. Julie Phillips Thompson.
Headers of this page will remember the
peculiarly sad circumstances of the death
recently reported of Lord Furness's charm
ing -wife on board his great ocean-going
yacht Sapphire, and the burial of Lady Fur
nesa la the ocean off the coast of Spain.
If fashionable society gasped at the sud
denness of this new romance of one of the
wealthiest peers In England, It gasped
with still greater astonishment when it
learned that the new bride of Lord Fur
ness would be Mrs. Thompson, and not a
few of the fashionable women of high so
ciety gasped still a third time when they
realised that the woman they had osten
tatiously cut and spahbed weald now be
in a position very thoroughly to punish
these short-sighted ones.
( For Mrs. Thompson ass recently been
the subject of a social fued. Originally aha
had close associations with the most con
servative set in Philadelphia, but owing
to divorces and other circumstances so
ciety has been somewhat divided between
those who admire her warmly aad those
who endeavor to ignore her.
The death of Lady Furness occurred
eniy four months ago. She had fallen
seriously in tn England as a result, it is
said, of her war labors, and had under
gone a grave surgical operation. When
she was recovering it was decided that
she shonld take a trip to the Mediterran-
ta hasten her convalescence. Lord
west in advance to Cannes to pre-
ace for his wife.
Es then returned to England on the
Sairnhhra, one of the greatest aad mast
soagstaCcsii steam yachts afloat, and made
ate to sail bach to the Mediter-
wtth his sick wife. It is an later-
iim iiiimtm that while motoring
from Tsmdna to embark at Plymouth ha
was push ii for spending and pleaded that
his haste was nu sawiy to save his wife's
lite. Ms was ei rased with a nominal tine.
ke Sapphire began her tragic journey,
fa the Bay of Biscay she ran into stormy
weather and Lady Fnmess suffered from
violent sea-sickness, which caused her old
Viscount Fumes. One of the
Richest Noblemen in England,
Who la the Leading Man in a
Remarkable Social Drama.
wound to reopen,
producing severe
hemorrhage. On the
following day she
died off the coast of
Portugal.
It would have been
possible to put the
body ashore In a
Portuguese or Span
ish port, but Lord
Furnesa decided to
run on to Gibraltar
in order that the re
mains might be en
trusted to a -British
undertaker for suit
able care.
Unfortunately, the hot weather made It
impossible to carry out this plan. About
thirty hours after Lady Furness's death,
when the yacht had passed the Spanish
port of Cadis It ws foand necessary to
commit her body to the sea. The captain
read the burial service, and the body,
wrapped In a new canvas, was lowered
overboard before Lord Furness's grief
stricken eves.
The nobleman then continued his voy
age to Cannes, where his two young chil
dren were waiting for him.
This prominent nobleman is now
thirty-eight years old snd a man of great
physical vigor. His grandfather, who
founded the family fortunes, began as a
common laborer. The present nobleman's
father became the greatest ship owner la
England and was created a baron. His
aeeessor, who is now hesd of his family,
WAS raised to the rank of Viscount during
the war aad continued to increase the fam
ily fortunes.
Shortly after the war ended Lord Fur
nesa sold out his interests in the Furnesa
sad other steamship lines tor f3,Mfl,ooe.
By this transaction ha showed himself a
brilliant business man. for ships were
then at their record high prices and are
leas. At present he has
holdings m railroads and ail
Lord Furness's Magnificent Steam Yaeht the Sapphire, on
Which the First Lady Fumes Died a Few Months Ago and
from Which Her Body Was Committed to the Deep.
now worth maoh
And now after these
enaHSae
a new surprising event in
the life of this modern Croesus his re
ported engagement to the beautiful Mrs.
Julia Phillips. Thompson within a few
months of his wife's tragic death. Mrs.
Thompson has for several years been
noted for the con
quests she has mad
la high society in Paris
snd for her obstinate
refusal to enter the
bonds of matrimony a
second time. It Is ssid
that she ha been
courted by more dis
tinguished princes
and noblemen than
any American woman
la Europe.
Just before the oat
break of the war the
Grand Duke Boris of
Russia, the gayest and most extravagant
of the unhappy Czar of Rusaia's cousin
was the most devoted of her admirers. At
that time she hsd last obtained a divorce
from her husband, George Lee Thompson,
a Philadelphia millionaire, it was said
that the Grand Duke wished to marry her,
but it could only be a morganatic mar
riage. "To offer morganatic marriage is to in
sult me," replied the beautiful American.
The Grand Duke then went down on his
knees snd assured her that he would do
the utmost his imperial family would per
mit, but be could not overcome her ob
jections. Strange to say, when Boris had regret
fully abandoned his suit another cousin at
the Csar, the Grand Duke Alexander
Mtcheelovlteh. tell in love with her, bnt he,
too, was turned away with a gentle "No."
In Paris she lived for a time with her
sister, Mrs. George Bacheller, of New York,
who was ones Mrs. Casaatt, wife of A J.
Cassatt, the noted president of the Penn
sylvania Railroad, whom she also divorced.
It is a curious fact that Mrs. Thompson,
her sister and her mother, Mrs. A. Fuller
ton Phillips, all beautiful women, are all
divorcees.
Mrs. Thompson is considered exception
ally beautiful by many mea. An admirer
described her face as "an enchanting floral
exhibit violets for eyes, lilacs for brows,
sweet peas for cheeks snd s mouth like a
half opened rose bad, the loveliest mouth
In the world." She is an accomplished art
ist and has had much success as a portrait
painter. She Is rich in her own right
apart from the Income derived from her
millionaire former husband.
Mrs. Thompson's prospective marriage
to Lord Furness Is in a way more brilliant
than any of the others could have been,
for none of the earlier suitors was as
wealthy as he. The marriage will enable
her to take a tweet revenge upon a large
number of her former society friends who
have recently shown a tendency to look
the other way when they have seen her
passing by. Her greet popularity has nat
urally msde some enemies among women
who have not been surfeited by nature's
gifts to the same extent as the beautiful
Philsdelphisn.
When the engagement was first report
ed s friend asked Mrs. Thompson about it
aad she replied:
"Mow eaa you think of such a thing
when his wife has been dead only three
month V
But since then his lordship's ardent
courtship and irresistible devotion have
overcome her inbred sense of the conven
tions and her natural disinclination to wed
in haste. The marriage may be an
nounced at any moment.
Behind this event lurks an astonishing
series of social complications. For some
years the most devoted, although not the
most highly placed of Mrs. Thompson's
admirers, baa been huge-hearted Willie
Isaac, the son and heir of an Immensely
wealthy English . money-lender, whose
spectacular expenditure of several fortunes
has caused a sensation on two continents.
It wss until recently believed that if
Mrs. Julie Thompson ever married any
body it would be the faithful Willie
Isaac. He had gamed his matrimonial
freedom aad his friends thought be had at
last captured ths heart of capricious Julie
Thompson. To day he is a picture of sor
row and desperation at the thought of her
impending marriage to Lord Furness.
Willi Isaac ha been distinguished a
the most liberal spender of his day tn
England. He weat through four fortunes
in succession. Meet of bis extravagances
were due to his Illimitable desire to give
pleasure to the women he most admired.
He is credited with having aided many
charming girls to make brilliant mar
riages. Among them are Edna May, who
married Walter Lewisohn; Lily Elsie, who
married the immensely wealthy English
man, Ian Bullough, and Charlotte Ives, the
Th ? Beautiful Mrs. Willie Isaac, Who Is Said to Have Given Her Hue
band His Freedom in Order That He Might Woo the Winning Julio
Thompson While His Wife Could Find a More Congenial Mate.
American actress, who hsa Just married
Jean Boissevsin, son of a great Holland
banker. And now, perhaps. Julie Thomp
son may be added to the long list of those
whom Willie Isaac has served a mascot.
When Willie Isaae had run through his
earlier fortunes his father decided that ft
would be a good thing to send hrm to
America on a small allowance. While
there enjoying the hospitality of his many
American friends he met the winning Mis
Florence Carney.
She thought htm rich, as wall as attrac
tive, while ha thought her attractive as
well ss rich. Both were somewhat mis
taken. He hsd used up most of his wealth
for the time being, while Miss Carney's
only fortune was her extreme beauty,
which enabled bar to rise from the posi
tion of a telephone operator la Washing
ton, D. C, to a conspicuous social position
in New York.
They were married, aad. when a new
fortune fell to Willie Isaae, he took her to
London, where she won aa immediate so
cial suoeses through has beauty aad
cleverness.
She slso became a popular agar at the
fashionable Bummer and Winter resorts
on the Continent. At Blarritx she ac
quired the friendship of genial, susceptible
King Alfonso of Spain. Bo marked were
His Majesty's little courtesies to the
American beauty that even the amiable"
Willie Isaac grew rather offended and
society believes that his estrangement
from his wife was started la the first
place by the King of Spain's Innocent
fondness for her society.
Mm Willie Isaac, at her husband's sus
gestion it is believed, asked for a divorce
in the English court. The English Judge,
thinking there was collusion, refused the
relied asked. The couple than returned to
Paris, where a divorce wag Quickly ob
tained. .
It was generally understood that Mrs.
Isaac's mats object la seeking a divorce
wss freedom to marry again, just as Mr.
Isaac's desire for freedom was due to his
wish to marry Julie Thompson. Mrs.
Isaac's choice of next husbaas when she
began her proceeding was thought to be
Bofer Whitburn, a wealthy English
banker.
Before the litigation was concluded her
choice seemed to be pointing to Marshall
Roberts, another wealthy Englishman.
And now her engagement to Senor Alfredo
Pena, one of the richest men of Argentina,
is aaaovneed.
Peer Willie Isaac is left alone for the
present and can only console himself with
the thought that be has been serviceable
in helping his idolized Julie Thompson to
wed Lord Furness, one of the wealthiest
men of our time
to xtn.
a