Show b G 1 gr Zenaida I II II I I Death at the Devils f y 4 I v c w r f w L I I e O I G n Y r lL f The famous Devils Bridge at Andermatt Switzerland near which all trace of the missing prima donna was lost and where she may have bave flung ad e J fi herself into the icy gorge after taking taking poison and cutting the arteries in in s o her wrists with witha a razor blade HE news which cable dispatches I T from Switzerland recently brought of the mysterious disappearance of Zenaida the famous prima donna has aroused almost as widespread amazement in this country as in to all the capitals of Europe The strangely vanishes beauty is well known here having toured America for two seasons in 1922 and 1923 S She e sang operatic roles in New York Chicago and numerous other cities and was greatly admired for her charming voice oice and still stillmore stillmore stillmore more for her fascinating personality Nobody here can answer any better than her European friends the puzzling question of whether she really jumped to death at the Devils Bridge in the Swiss Alps or whether she only pre pretended pre pre- pretended pretended tended suicide to cover cover up her flight to some far away place with a man she loves better than her husband And if when spring melts the ice of the mountain torrent the Devils Bridge spans the prima donnas donna's body Is found on its rocky shore a deep mystery will still remain Why did she prefer death to the tri triumphant trio success she was having at the in Berlin Was it the unhappiness of her mar mar- mar mar- marriage marriage marriage that dro drove e her to suicide suicide or or was it her dread of some awful shadow shadow which has hung over her ever aver since the red days of the Russian revolution During her stay in the United States there were abundant signs that she was not at all happy in her married life AI Almost AI- AI most everybody suspected that she and her husband would soon be divorced divorced or that she would un run away from him with with- without without without out the formality of a divorce Her lIer husband impressed her friends here as a stern cold man utterly un- un unsuited unsuited suited un-suited-to suited to a woman of her temperament He was formerly the head of the Rus Rus- Russian Russian Russian sian secret service Then h he was known n nas as Colonel but since leaving Russia he has called himself himself Colonel and at times Alexander It has been said that he was driven to conceal his identity as far as possible by fear of deadly enemies he he had made during his hia career in the secret service He accompanied his wife to this jou coun- coun country coun country try and their stay here was marked by terrible qu quarrels caused by Iy his insane jealousy One particular object of his jealousy was w s teodor Feodor Chaliapin the fa- fa famous a- a amous basso baso Although his hia wife insisted that her ber interest in Chaliapin Chal was only that of a friendly fellow artist he he would not believe her One day an admirer of ot the prima s 's donnas donna's singing sent nt her a box of r roses ses Her husband flew into a passion declaring declaring ing the they were from Chaliapin He hurled the flowers from the hotel win window dow and created a scene so violent that guests in rooms rooms nearby thought murder must be imminent An American woman friend of naida Ze- Ze Ze naida happened to arrive i at the singers singer's apartment one afternoon when her husband was venting his rage on her After he had gone the friend said Zenaida how how can you ou endure such treatment Why dont don't you leave that man 1 Ah she replied sadly that is out of the question n I am his bis chattel his slave As long as he lives I must belong to him He H He has the right to-to to to to arrest arrest me-arrest arrest me at any moment for for- forThe forThe for The prima donna cut her sentence short evidently realizing she had said too much She refused to explain explain what strange hold it was she believed h her r hus hus- husband husband husband band to have on her Her best friends both here bere and ia is II- II think that whether she is dead or alive no one will ever be able to say whether she vanished because of her un un- un unhappiness un happiness in love or because of her haunting fear of punishment for things that happened long ago in Russia The secret of the intolerable torture that as- as assailed assailed as assailed sailed her soul sout is believed to have gone with her when she fled from the opera world orld where she was was so well welland welland welland and and favorably known and so muc much beloved There aIe are m many my among her per ardent admirers who cling to the hope and belief belief that Zenaida did not died at atall atall atall all and that the trail trail trail of blood blood that led down doWD f from om the rugged crags of v the Andermatt t mountains to the edge of a rocky ravine may have b been en placed there to cover her ber re retreat reo re- retreat treat from life as a singer and to mark the beginning of another and happier happer existence at the side Eide of theman the theman man she loves r At all events the body of the idol of of Bellin Berlin op has not been recovered recovered In jn spite of the most roost dar dar- daring dar dar- daring daring ing and persistent attempts to locate it it Those who think she she really killed herself b believe lieve that her her body may have floated down n toward the broader spaces of the glacial stream and and eventually drifted under a heavy crust of ice where it w will 1 remain remain until liberated liber ted by the sun sunshine hine of spring Zenaida went to Berlin from Russia immediately after the war She was one one of of the thousands who sought the German capital to escape escape persecution in their o I own n country With With her was her h husband the former secret secret service chief For For reasons reasons known known only to herself lo Zenaida had lost her love lo for her hus hue husband band long before they reached Germany He was unable to support her having no or talent that might have been helpful B But t Zenaida found quick quick quick rec- rec recognition rec recognition before the music-loving music public I of the city Her first fint appearance in opera in Ber- Ber Berlin Ber Berlin lin on the stage where Geraldine Farrar had sung and triumphed was was m marked rk d with such success sucCess e that th t thema agers for the state the largest salary ever paid to a foreign singer singer in Germany She Sho toured America successfully successfully Next Y I Tb The e singers 1 m in one of the ff a Russian op- op operatic op roles r in many of bel admirers was most suc- suc successful of a aall aU all Cb Charming an and d t r 1 I gt talented Zenaida whose e disappearance in the midst of ofa a triumphant f F Y career in the operatic world is an r enigma that will perhaps never be fir r I r F J Mme in the role of Martha in Flotow's opera of that name year she hoped to sing at the Metropolitan tan Opera House in New York Her poverty quickly passed and the money she earned was quite sufficient t to sup up support sup support port herself and husband Zenaida became the spoiled spoiled- idol of Berlin She had bad every apparent reason to be happy and proud but her close frie friends ds knew that som something thing was gnaw gnawing ing lug at her heart and making her life miserable Vaguely they knew that Zenaida had lost some dear relatives in Moscow w but the circumstances of their death or the reasons why their loss sh should make her so 50 perpetually sad were never r explained lined Of Often ten they would see her entering the house of a fortune teller in the Lutzow s strasse She became more more ald ad more t v iii superstitious more and more melan melan- melancholy melancholy melancholy choly Gloom would leave her only when she stepped on the stage at the opera There she never ceased to charm her audience with her marvel ous marvel marvel- marvelous marvelous ous voice and impassioned playing The music public ot or Berlin Derlin loved her more and more as the rumors spread of her mad infatuation for her husbands husband's brother and o ox Ol her de- de despondency de despondency over the rumor that the theman theman theman man of her heart had been shot in St Peters Peter's prison in Leningrad Noone No Noone Noone one could verify the report The Tho hus bus husband husband band Land himself denied it strenuously Several weeks ago things tame came ame to a climax Zenaida addressed a 1 telegram to herse herself and sent her husband with with it it to the general manager of the the opera opera house The telegram was supposed to have been sent by her sick mother at Dorpat Russia It read Am dying come dying come immediately On On the strength of this telegram Zenaida asked for tor ten days vacation b but t instead of going to Russia Russia she sn went straight to Andermatt Switzerland She engaged a a room in a small hotel and th that t tume same ume night wrote a farewell letter tober husband in Berlin Wh What t happened after that is shroud shrouded d din in mystery On the morning after her arrival at Andermatt the the singer was seen ascending the trail that le leads ds to the thep p peaks aks above the town About two two miles from Andermatt is the famous Devila Bridge which spans an abyss at the bot bot- bottom bottom bot- bot bottom tom tom of which roars in warm weather an icy mountain stream B Below low this bridge are protruding protruding protruding cliffs that partly hide the misty bottom of the gorge These cliffs and rocks are sometimes used by by by- moun moun- mountain tarn tain sheep or daring herders to climb down into the abyss It was there that the searching parties found the last traces of Zenaida Jur Jur Jun Her fur coat was discovered in a crevice near the bridge and beside it two empty flasks that had bad contained 1 hl Ue 11 n m J JoAm ln n ru l Ur i is s a powerful narcotic drug A few steps from there a mountaineer picked up the blade of a safety razor smeared with stale blood Some of the most venturesome Alpine guid guides s followed a trail of blood that led to the very edge of the abyss This was taken as proof that the luckless woman had cut her wrists before leaping to certain death There was no doubt in inthe inthe the the minds of the searchers that whoever had gone that way had perished by fall fall- falling falling ing or leaping over the edge of the precipice The first dispatches to Berlin papers were received by the public with in- in incredulity in incredulity credulity But the published accounts of Zenaida's lenaida's mysterious disappearance brought no response from the beautiful singer Then it was that the stories of her desperate love for her husbands husband's broth brother r rb b began gan to circulate among the womans woman's friends The theory was advanced by many that the suicide of the great diva was sham tragedy a daring feint that would permit her to join the man she she loved and live with hint him hilt where where where noone no noone noone one would know the truth about their past After two weeks of of fruitless search by Swiss guides guide both the German and Swiss authorities made an the official an- an announcements n- n that Zenaid had committed suicide Thero was There was noth- noth nothing noth nothing ing else Co to do Further search was ren ren dered impossible on account orthe of the dan dan- danger danger danger ger lurking at every turn in the ice filled gorge The authorities say tho body of the unfortunate unfortunate singer will bo be found early in the spring when the snows melt under the warm rays of the sun But among the friends of Zenaida there are arc thou thou- thousands thousands thousands sands who insist that she is not dead but has found somewhere a n romantic haven where love can be be hers and the forgotten past forgotten Many of Madame American friends and admirers must think there must have been something moro more than an unhappy marriage to to account 0 a r ii The vanished prima donnas donna's bus hus hus- hus husband husband band formerly head bead of t the e Rus Rus- Russian Russian Russian sian secret service for the extreme nervousness nervousness which she often showed sh wed and nd which frequently marred the success success of her operatic roles The critics who extolled her voice and her abilities as an actress deplored in inthe inthe inthe the next breath the fact that she was too nervous to achieve achieve the full success that should have been hers There have been man many many prima donnas who were ere unhappily married and nd who Ion still sUII managed to forget their love trou troubles trou- trou troubles bles bl s long lont enough enough to do do full full justice to their operatic roles In fact some authorities think these women have sung more more divinely and acted with ith more compelling comp power power just because their b hearts arh were so torn tom by lover love r hate or jealousy But the heart secret of Zenaida Jur Jur- Jar whatever was it was seems to have les lessened lessened ned ra rather her than increased the artistic ability she displayed in the the lead lead- ing leading roles of Demon The Snow Maiden by Kor- Kor Korsa or- or sa koff and the well known Martha by Flotow Th These se were the tho roles she sang In America and those who heard her won dered wondered why a singer with her ch charming voice and Yond wonderful personality should not have achieved still sUU greater triumphs What could have been the haunting secret that seems to have havo hampered the prima donnas donna's artistic success and that finally led to her mysterious disappearance d ante I |