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Show I ARe9l-LifefeIodmma inf9shion9ble5ociety I How a Distinguished Newport and New York Family, Relatives of the Vanderbilis, Have Been Real j Actors in a Strange Domestic Tragedy Quite' as Surprising as Anything in Mo vihg Picture Dramas II URELY "truth is stranger than j fiction." Nothing in the Bow- ry melodramas or the matrl- ! . monlal mix-ups of the motion picture pic-ture films Is more surprising than ' t the domestic drama in real life of the AmoB Tuck French family, wealthy members of the Vanderbllt j set of New York, Newport and , Tuxedo. The announcement of the divorce proceedings brought the other day by Mrs. Amos Tuck French against her husband is the newest act in this ' , domestic melodrama. The curtain i of publicity has been rung up on several previous actB and scenes from time to time in the last few years, and it is probable that the final scenes of this real-life play have not yet been enacted. Friends of the Frenches Insist that the elopement ot Julia French with Jack Geraghty, the Newport chauffeur, chauf-feur, formed the opening scene of Act I. in this drama of domestic un- happiness and reality. They are wrong. The opening scene was set over twelve years ago, when Ellen French, the younger sister of Amos Tuck, married Alfred Gwynne VanT derbllt. This carefully brought about marriage with the youth destined des-tined to be the head of tho Vanderbllt Vander-bllt family raised the Frenchs' social so-cial ambition to the highest degree. Before the real drama opened, however, there was a prologue, in which appeared the older members of the French family, and in which the seeds of social ambition were planted in their breasts by the marriage mar-riage of Elizabeth French, Amos Tuck's older sister, to the present Major-General Lord Cheylesmore. This marriage had been arranged by Mrs. Francis Ormonde French in order or-der to further her own social plans In England. "Just at this time, too, occurred the marriage of Amos with the very rich and very pretty Pauline Pau-line Le Roy, daughter of Mrs. Stuy-vesant Stuy-vesant Le Roy, on,e of the proudest and wealthiest members of New York and Newport society. These marriages might have satisfied Mrs. French's ambition-, but there was a young daughtei. .small girl with j Judy, the "Silly Sister," Who Married Out of Her Social Station a Chauffeur. Titian hair, .who was still In the nursery. As this girl, Ellen, grew up, her mother planned to marry her to a man of great wealth and prominenco in the society into which her so'n had married. Of all the ellglbles she selected Alfred Gwynne Vanderbllt, the youth who had been made the head of the Vanderbllt Van-derbllt family. And this brings us to the opening scene of this real-life drama. This scene was set in the beautiful beauti-ful Newport mansion belonging to Mrs. Francis French, and In The Breakers, the magnificent homo of the Vanderbilts. In her campaign to win a Vanderbllt for her son-in-law Mrs. French was aided by her daughter, daugh-ter, Lady Cheylesmore; her son Amos and his wife, and, of course, by Ellen, now called Elsie by her own request. Opposed to them were Mrs. Vanderbllt,- Mrs, Harry Payne Whitney and Reginald. Alfred was In a way a non-combatant. The senior Mrs. Vanderbllt had other plans for her son, but Elsie and Alfred were in love, and Mrs. French wanted, the match,0 and the Vanderbllts were beaten. This marriage realized Mrs. Ftenchs greatest ambition. The wedding .was the most talked-of affair af-fair of the year, and everything promised well for the future. iBut with this scene ended, a new development arose. Amos French became infected more deeply with his mother's social ambitions, and he began to build castles in the air. He was aided by his mother and his sister, Mrs. Vanderbllt. There was a pretty girl growing up in the French household, Pauline, the oldest old-est child. She had attended her Aunt Elsie as a bridesmaid, and her head was filled with visions of a future husband who should be as rich and as important as Uncle Alfred. Al-fred. Her Prince Charming must be 8f high social standing, for at that period the Frenches could not. afford to'marry into any but the best social cireles. When . Polly was . eighteen Aunt Elsie gave a wonderful coming-out ball for her, and during that year showered her with gifts and pleasures. pleas-ures. All this was done because Aunt Elsie intended to marry her satisfactorily. Tho husband chosen for Polly must be of good family, and have a fortune which would allow al-low her to have her Winter in town and her Slimmer in Newport. This act centres around Mrs. Alfred Al-fred Vanderbilt's superb house in Newport, and her equally superb town house, with occasional excursions excur-sions In the steam yacht, and in the Vanderbllb private car to Alfred's Al-fred's beautiful Adirondack Camp. Dances, cruises on Aunt Elsie's yach't, trips to Europe with Aunt Elsie, house parties at Oakland Farm and Camp Sagamore filled Polly's days and nights. She had aer own motor cars, her own maids, everything that wealth could give. And, of course she must marry as Aunt Elsie ad Father French decreed. de-creed. Amos French, socially ambitious father, was proud of his oldest daughter and was just as sure as his sister was that Polly Bhould . make a good marriage. When,' therefore, young Sam Wagstaff, the son of Colonel Alfred Wagstaff, appeared ap-peared as her suitor, he was accepted. ac-cepted. Great' delight on all sides was expressed because ho was so " suitable " and be- cause Polly was k wise and virtuous ' enough to follow W& h 6 teachings of I her worldy wise MB Grandm -other mfr French, of Aunt mk'i Elsie, and of her (jfe father. fcS "Dp to the time of this marriage, . '&$tk which took place X,3k years ago, no domestic d i s cord had been notice-able notice-able in the French gQSsI household. M-rs. IjBk . French aoemed ppfjHL perfectly 'satisfied $W$Km wlth her husband's plans for poiiy. &y$P!w and ln fact en- wk courased the good- tfp IookIng young Wag-y Wag-y ,',.453 8ta& m his courting. t&J -he marriage Ui3 was celebrated in Newport Aunt Elsie showered her obedient and complaisant niece with jewels and added a largo check to her other contribution's. In this scene virtue was ro warded, and the curtain rang down on a most harmonious har-monious and delighted f"-- Gopyricht. 1313, ' K;V . Characters in the Amos' Tuck French Divorce RStf' ' 'IW . Brother of Mrs. Elsie French Vanderbilt and f0n WSM, M'- ' AM0S TOCK FRENCH. ... . . ;0f the rich Mrs. Wagstaff and the poor Mrs fXiJS? . Wl'feF' vv y ' who is being sued for divorce by Mrs. French, ! 'M JHBtef V ' k ' - The mother whose heart proved stronger thm l..S jpBBS&fttft kJ3 " MRS. AMOS TUCK FRENCH, .pride, who is suing her. husband for divoL beCau ' 8 he would not forgive their daughter. B JlilSft' VK& -vlfe -w '-f fefeK Pauline ("Polly") French, the obedient daughter filfe Wlvt, MRS. SAMUEL WAGSTAFF. .lived up to her training by marrying the son of th 1 1 wSi ''ffe ' wealthy Colonel Wagstaff. 1 We I Hf ' ' I ! -0--MMk The "silly" daughter, Julia,' who obeyed the dicta W ! 'r'::' MRS. JACK GERAGHTY.. . , .of her heart and nrried the honest young working ,g ' jte fellfi ' The oldest son of the Frenches, who threatened in H fflSm' p "CSSiplp FRANK FRENCH horsewhip young Geraghty and who refuses to forglvo Sm'MW The first wifc of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, whom sh P IKiWW MRS. ELSIE VANDERBILT. . .divorced just Before her niece Julia eloped with Get 10- W-mfW' WmW aShty plai,nGd a weaIlhy mar"age for Mia! -fe BtSSflSi'SM Brother of. Mrs. French and uncle to Pauline andJI W4lr STUYVESANT LE ROY' Julia, who showers the' obedient niece with" jewels H XWMmWS and refuses to recognize "silly" Julia Geraghty C SCENES OF THE DRAMA Mrs. Alfred G. Vanderbilt's toiun and country req- C m, t, t. t i. a. mw denccs the N ew York, Tuxedo and Newport homes of Mr. Amos Tuck French :K And why should they not bo pleased? Is there not always great joy in a family when a daughter makes a "suitable" marriage, a marriage which increases . her wealth and which reflects added glory on the family itself. But the suitably married Polly is not the only girl in thp French household. There is a younger daughter, Julia, who was twelve years old when Polly married. And now the family ambitions settled on "Judy." She was trained to. marry a rich man, preferably one in the Newport colony. Much money was spent on her education. She was taught French, the modern dances, how to be a gracious hostess and other necessary things. She had her tutors and her own maid, her valuable dogs and her horses. In every way she was being trained to hold a high position socially. Aunt Elsie promised to do as much for her as she had for Polly. Unluckily, Aunt Elsie had been forced to di-vorco di-vorco Uncle Alfred, and thus Judy could not have house parties at Camp Sagamore, nor a big ball at Oakland Farm. But she could have everything else, including a London season with Lady Cheylesmore. . And now we come to the third act Judy is barely eighteen when before her dazzled eyes are dangled all the. joys that wealth can bestow. She is told that to uphold the family position po-sition and tickle her father's pride she must marry in accordance with her family's wishes. And what does Judy do? Poor, foollBh Judy followed the dictates of her heart and ran away with Jack Geraghty, an hohest young working-man working-man of Newport Oh, how the pride of her parents was shattered! Grandmother Le Roy, a proud and haughty matron, who felt that her daughter had married beneath her In marrying Amos Tuck French, almost al-most died of shame and chagrin when hqr granddaughter married the hack driver's son. Grandmother French, eager to have Judy's marriage mar-riage equal Aunt Elsie's and Sister Polly's, was mortified, angry, .cruelly hurt Mr. French was angry with Judy and even mor$ angry with his wife whom he blamed for the whole affair. af-fair. His pride as a f&ther was outraged, out-raged, his pride In his social importance import-ance was tumbled In the dust his proud confidence In his .family's future fu-ture was shattered. He blamed his wife for not having more carefully protected Judy. Mrs. French, whose pride was equally lacerated, replied that he, as a father, was equally responsible for the elopement which they called a "tragedy." Mr. French was not In Newport when the elopement occurred. He was having a very gay and festive time in his handsome Tuxedo home. His virtuous daughter, the wise and provident Pollj', and husband, were with him. They had been entertaining entertain-ing a house' party for several days. Mr. French had just completed elaborate elabo-rate plans for Judy. She was to be sent to England the next week to spend a few months with Lady Cheylesmore, and perhaps to be presented pre-sented at court All arrangements were finished, and Mr. French sat down to dinner at tho Tuxedo Club with the Wajjataffs, extremely well satisfied with himself and his plans for his family. While explaining to his guests his delight at being able to send Judy to England, a servant whispered in Mrs, Wngstnf's ear that she was wanted at the telephone. She left the table, all smiles and composite. She returned re-turned shaking like a lea,f and hardly able to speak. "Judy has run away with that Geraghty," she gasped. With these words al' Mr. French's rosy castles in nlr collapsed, and the curtain fell on another act of this real life drama, just in time to prevent pre-vent our seeing the lengths to which "a proud society father's despair-and rage could carry him. . Then came days of frantic anxiety. Mrs. Vanderbllt berself led the pursuing pur-suing party which started hard on tho heels of the fleeing elopers. They were in a high power motor car, and so wnc Mrs. Vanderbilt. But the by tho Star Company. Groat Britain I search amounted to nothing. JacTc and Judy were legally married when they were next heard from and perfectly per-fectly happy. But there was no happiness in tne home Judy had run away from. The qua r re' between the father and mother was so bitter that even a temporary tem-porary reconciliation was effected only with the greatest difficulty. The father's feelings were more intensely bitter than the mother's. His blasted pride gave him suffering enough in a way, but other instincts suffered also. The mental picture of his carefully nurtured Judy serving Jack Geraghty, the town chauffeur, aB a wife and housekeeper brought a bitterness to his soul that nothing could temper. Every fatherly feeling was outraged out-raged as he contemplated what this ' marriage meant to Julia and to the French family as a unit. All this added to the bitterness of the quarrel quar-rel with his wife. He refused to stay in her Newport home. He removed his belongings to his Tuxedo home. He would not admit that his wife's heart might be breaking all he thought of .was his injured nride and the damage tho elopement might do to his social ambitlonB. For the year following tne elop-ment elop-ment things were, at a frightful ten-' sion. Whenever he saw his wife his reproaches grew more cutting Ms. French, on her part, was just as .unhappy. She "feared the worst for Judy. She saw her washing dishes, cooking the meals, washing Jack's clothes. She saw her going without the luxuries to which she was used. She saw her friends smile pityingly whenever they met her. She overheard gosBlp about her daughter and the plain uneducated Geraghtys. It was all very hard to bear, -and to relieve her overwrought feelings she threw the blame for the tragedy on her husband, just as he was trying to throw it on her. Then news came that a baby was expected. And suddenly the mother weakened in the attitude she had assumed toward Judy and Jack. She began to study ways to approach her girl. But the logical result of tho runaway match did not weaken the father, nor young Frank French, the brother. They were made even .more bitter. The baby would mean a final and complete link between Julia andithe Geraghtys. It meant the start of a new branch of a family tree In which the blood of the poor Geraghtys blended with that of the aristocratic Le Roys and Frenches. Mr. French by this time refused to meet his wife, even outside her home. He had forbidden her approaching Julia or giving her any money, but the mother ignored his orders and helped prepare for the baby. Then the baby , came Mrs. French swept the baby and Judy in her arms and defied h9r bysband. This was the HltfiSS 'jSl affairs widened daughter, Mrs. ' - Wagstaff. She . S alas, has no children, but she is a Jeader socially, and what morecouId a father ask? The Geraghtys, after the Daby came,- moved to Woburn,- near Boston, Bos-ton, ,to live. Mrs. French bought a lights Reserved, farm for them so that Baby Jack might have country air and country living A few months ago, Mrs. French and her mother, Mrs. Le Roy, went to Boston to see for themselves 'how JuQy, the disobedient daughter, was prospering. There was a bad accident and . Mrs,. French was seriously injured. During the weeks that she was ill, Judy devoted herself her-self to caring for her Mr. French did not go near her, nor did her older sons. And now tho last act of this dfc mestlc drama begins with the flllaK of the divorce papers in Newpflflp There is no doubt as to the out s come of tho suit. When tho ca . is settled there is every evident that the tie between the mother ai( . her s.tupid but happy daughter Judj y will grow stronger. For Judy. In ha humble little farm house, with he; baby, is happier than many, child ' less women in their Newport man sions. , J FJpUy, Who Married a Social Equal, to the Satisfaction m Of ?r?V. Tm-V L |