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w ,% c T>z^W:J' h r y WHAF IS THE MATTER WITH WE Should Lea-Ve His MarK. W 1 ,IL 1 rt on JVo Less Than Fourteen of Amerh a’s 'Rich- \f ft Pi I lETOPI I iH§L / est. Most Widely Celebrated Clan? f fia i LI , THE recent divorce of Al fred Vanderbilt and the death of Oliver H. I’ Belmont, who married the di vorced wife of William K. Van derhllt, coupled with Cardinal Logue’a utterances on leaving this country respecting the men ace of the divorce evil in Amer ica, naturally provokes an ex amination into the divorce rec ords affecting the most promi nent family connected with American Industrial and social life. The result of such an exam ination appears astounding. No less than fourteen mem bers of the Vanderbilt clan have carried their matrimonial trou bles to the divorce court, and In most instances have obtained absolute decree*. What is the matter with the Vanderbilts? Aro they domestically impoa 6lble? Docs some law of hered ity or of circumstance make marriage mean misery to the de scendants of the doughty old Commodore, founder of the house of Vanderbilt? . // / . >|\'V , - / /y Of / fA y f/M * / 6/Sffr / ■ iff mm?, a. (/flMml ''rMTmtM mk :fP§ TJs\ Sr V . » vimasbk u Ur*. Cornelius Vanderbilt. JjHn® 11 HUM // ’ \ -i f ■ Jt> ,. '<\\ Col . V»nd*rbllt Aflen. on * ue ’ Duoheni of $® Hi s !:JflSSsySft Jwfi ’'& rror *''' ,H ; T^wn" mr~lM -»m mJW/f/ m g ■■■Jm-i ■■- v_ xsa£M| ' ffcT'WS %M' > i f ■lmmmr m§, - ■ p .. . . , vww JmrsMßw jg J%mSL 4 aßt '" * W X Z f ' * ~ ■ •. Si, zsEifflmW IB • ■ L-iiks . PailKSPif ii , fig -■’ ■&€ I— mm $" %■ -- m ‘ ■ v !P 4jf ' a* .aa t- /Homcorzuc/v cllu» Mr*. Marie A ae»o- &W GtSAIWI3JbP->AV >llt. Wllmerdlng. Only a few yeer* separated the divorce of Mra. William K v>nderb!!t from the marriage and early sep.. ration of her daughter, Conauelo, the Ducbt** of Marl lor* of h. * Ac epertflontar ac their marriage was the divorce of the youi.g Id:tot Rheparda, the nephew and niece In law of Cornelius Van derbllt Although there hare been no rumors of divorce hot wean the pair, the marriage of VafiderUU and Mlae Grace B? "l* V v ®I Zjtot- .S'J I, ft- B« ,mont - DIVORCE SUMMARY IN THE VANDERBILT CLAN. 1. W. K. Vanderbilt—divorced and married again. z. Consuelo, hie daughter. Duchess of Marlborough—aenarated from her huabn nd. 8 Elliot Shenard. great grandson of Commodore Vanderbilt—Honed. married, divorced! 4. Alfred Vanderbilt—dlvoreed. ft. Colonel Vanderbilt Allen, grandson of Commodore Vanderbilt—sep arated from HU wI \ »»* 0. Mra. Marie X underbill W llmerdlnc great-granddaughter—dllvoreed. 7. Mr». Clarence Collins, grnnddaughter—dlvoreed. ft. Coiintca* (»iivkow«kT. great grandtlaugbter—divorced. 0. Mrs. Fred > anderhllt—previously dlvoreed 10. Leroy Dresser. brother of Mr* George Vanderbilt—sued for divorce. 11. Mrs. Fernando Vanaga. *l»ter of \V. K. Vamlerhllf* dlvoreed wife —divorced. Mr>. n*or«* Tlirnnv. divorced .If,, of F.rnondo T.n.r«. dlvoreed. IS. Countess de Vontenllllat. her winter—divorced 14. Fernando Ysnagn. divorced husband of W. K. Vanderbllfa dlvoreed wife, married Mhi Mabel M right—dlvoreed. and »he married (kMint ztonr. "A crucible of shattered Vanderbilt domesticity which society contem- Cornelius plates In amazement." Vanderbilt. | Mra. Alfred Vanderbilt. tvilaon all beltered to ha the deathblow of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who died noon after the announcement of the engage merit and directly following n bitter quar rel ta*tween the father and sou on the subject. The atory of the beautiful Marie WII- Berdlng, daughter of Vanderbilt Allen and granddaughter of beautiful, willful Rth»i* ludii Vanderbilt, la one that rune the yamut of misfortune from n faahlotiable though haefy and I rooalder**! wedd ng to the Ufa of a social outcast Vet Mra. Wllracrdlng, who had been Marie Allen, had seen etamples of profll gaey from her ehlldbood flashing, un m rupulous Colonel Vanderbilt All* n had figured In divorce eases, had boen aevaral times married, and bed made hla daughter tb«* companion of favorltea of hla outalde the bond# of wedioefc. IHKiK Tlie long roll of matrimonial unhappiness rnnialna alao Mr. Frail V«ll<1»H)IU, vhn h.- f.irp h.r m.rrln,« to Mr. Vanilarbllt, hafl mart. an unhappy aacuralon Into motrlinony with Mr. Alfinl Torranr., nltiu » *r«nil ■on of t'oinntodoro V.ndnrbllt. Othnr tronblf. hr.wln* In tha wltrhru' pot IndloM" that th.r* will «onn boll In thr lop anal h.r, and parhapa Iwn. dlrorr.. In the Vand.rbllt family proper Tha marl till mla.rlM of the dlaiaht ramlllrntlona of tha family may bo bayond aalanlatlon. II la a amalhla of ahattaraii Vandarbllt douia.tlrlly tvhlah aoclaty ronUmplataa In amazement. When last month the newa went spin ning over telegraph and cable line* that O 11 V Belmont, the moat democratic of the miiltlmllllonnlrea. the man who wac known In poll!lea na well aa on the turf, who waa an organiser of gigantic bualneaa enterprises. and who put on linen coat and apron and Impersonated a bartender at a charity feta, had died, there waa mingled mourning and reminiscence Every one recalled the divorce of WUJIam K. Van derbllt and hla wife, aoon flowed by the irrlage of O. 11. I’ Belmont to the di vorcee, Mra. Vanderbilt, originally Mlaa Alva :c lh;. of Alfthatf a, waa of n reatleee til a mbit lone nature liar husband's • were quiet. Rhe declared to her friends that they were provincial, hlcfi > -t the persons addressed to computing tne relative population of New York nnd Mo Lite. Mr. O If P Balmont wa* of a temper ament the opposite of Mr Vanderhllt’e. lie waa vivacious and pleasure loving. A divorce from Mrs. Belmont, who soon be came Mra Osorge I. Blvea, scanted to hava degreased him not at all. tie and Mra. Vanderbilt became warm frianda. They even became confidante respecting t-wu other's marital dlslllualonmente. Thereafter the one became twain. Mr. Vanderbilt want to Kurope. fie lived In parts the life of a fashionable bachelor. Moon It waa observed that n famous woman of the half world drova In hla carriage and flaunted hla livery. "How unlike Willie K. Vanderbilt!" e* claimed hla wondering frlenda. "V/bat does It mean?" When, subsequently, tha name of * » notorious woman appeared In the suit for divorce filed by Mra. W. K Vender/lit. those who knew Mr. VsndrrMlt slid) "Aar Those who know Mrs. Vsndsrhllt ltd It with <iulto a different Inflection. Nellie Nenstretter, the flsnntliur o*«nty of I'srls, ndmltted to s few frtende thst ehe scarcely knew Mr Vanderbilt, that •he hid merely entered Into a business «b rsngement with him. the reason for nlch was not to her then npjmrent. When the divorce wes seenred she also stM “Ahl" The separation or Consnelo, Dnchess o| Marlborough, from her husband, tbs young Puke, after s few years of marriage, was an event deplored by London and Naw York society. Both had warm friends who •"ponied their Iniemiatrlmonlsl cause. Kneh faction blamed the principal of the other. About the event was drawn the all covering veil of Incompatibility of leek per. At nearly the same ttme that William K. Vanderbilt was being divorced, his brother, the then head of the family, Co»- nellua Vanderbilt, was talking In the library °f ld» palace like homo, at Vlfty-aeventh street and Fifth syenos. In sirloin vain Is Ms ton, the favorite one. who hesrs Ms name Their conversation coneernsd Mies < race Wilson, to whom young Cornelius whlehT r‘ •»<» *•' '•wo., which he then g.T. to h te sea ths elder Cornelias did oot wish hts son to marry Mlh Wilson |, too old for , wife for you. ray flr „ lo which argument the hoy made ready answer. Ha proaontsd other arguments, molly st Ural, heatedly afterward. After *hc argument, In which he had not pre railed, the stern old man. who bad amassod many mllliona. hut could not roq. trol the heart of a boy, was stricken with psru lysis, from which ha soon died. At the funeral men and women looked npon t ho grim, grey face of the deed, end whispered: “111 hick follows In eome form every Vanderbilt marriage," IU fortune preceded ret her than eeeotn pnnled the marriage of Mre. Fred Vander bilt, the \ anderhllt whom society knows leant, ami whose marriage la eutd to he the hepplnst ever contracted by one of the name. M!«s Bertha Anthony, daughter of tho distinguished Bonstor Anthony, of Bbodt* Island, aim. while very young, con tracted ono of the now unfashionable early marrlagss. Her young bridegroom was Al fred Torrence, tho grandson of Com me doro Vanderbilt. The marriage was eoon dissolved. Perhaps because sorrow had been her portion In bor first marriage the evil fortune that pursues the married Van derhllt* passes her by In her second mar riage to another of the clah. But Marie Y’aiirwrbllt Allen did not es cape It. It has been said of her that her mother shod tears upon the face of the bahy daughter at hor first sight of It It was, according to seers and eeeresses, an unfortunate baptism. It augurs 111 for the little one whose portion It would seem should he one of welcome But Vander bilt Allen had grown from n gay youth Into a dashing, brilliant man, contemptuous of his conquests, and holding womanhood of low value. The first Mrs. Vanderbilt Allen died of a broken heart, Hha had several suoressora, none of them a happy woman. And driven by winds of mood, iis an umnnnted vessel, Marla Allen grew up capricious, beautiful, fascinating n» her father, and lacking, ee ho did. character ballast. Her marriage to John Wllmerdlng, wae one of the me* mornhle cvente among the memorable weddings at Grace Church. In Naw York, yet had speedy end A separation con cluded a aorlea of bickerings culminating in the Indignant husband flinging a plate of lee cream into the face of his spouse. Mrs, Wllmerdlng was for a time an in mato of lllooiulugdale Asylum. Freed sos a time, she Joined the gay life of Broadway later she was of the army of Its unfortu nates. The marrlsge of young Elliot Bhepsrd was a marriage of the same sort, one of Impulse, lie fell In love with a pretty face, fie married. He repented. He was divorced. The Vanderbilt clan divorce record presents peculiar and ominous evidence of the activity of that malevolent germ In undermining domesticity wheraver the Vanderbilt* explore with matrimonial de signs For example. William K. Vender blit married Into the Smith family, of Alabama, taking for bis wife one of four daughters, who was to become Mrs. O. fl. P. Belmont by way of the divorce court. Thereupon the Vanderbllt-cultnred di vorce germ appears to heve fnstened Itself upon two other of the daughters Mia# Virginia married Fernando Tanaga. and soon followed her Vanderbilt slater through the dlvoree court to a finish. Then she married George Tiffany, only to repeat that experience. It wns Miss “Mlml’* Smith, the third daughter, who became the Fount#** da Fontellllat, whose unhappiness culmi nating In divorce was widely noticed In tb# newspapers. Apparently Fernando Tanaga was long enough married to the sister of the di vorced Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt to ao oulra the characteristic Vanderbilt afflic tion. Having been divorced, end having woed and won the famed aoclety beauty. Ml** Mabel Wright, he soon found hlm aelf freed by the court for the eecood time This second Mr*. Yxnaga shortly be came the Connies# Zlchy. T.*p to this present writing there la no public racord #f any trouble connected with that alllsr ce. One of the greet graodaughters of old Commodore Vanderbilt to be married and dlrored la Countess Csaykowrakl follow* Ing the example, perhaps, of har mot bar, who was divorced from Clarence Collins. Another of the collateral ylctlma of ths Vanderbilt divorce bug la Leroy Dresser, who h*% been eued for divorce by hie wife, a sister In Imw of Mrs. George Vsnlerbllt. Doubtless farther probing lote tbs records would swell this formidable Hat. What Is the matter with the Vender- Mlta? Considering that they ar# known the world over aa representing the great est achievements of Americana la a aortal and material way. Is It any wonder that fits Holiness the Pope, several cardinals, priests and clergyman of all craada. hart lately admonished this nation, on paia atf Irreparable dfsaatev. to reform tte aapirlitfl regulations?