The evening world. [volume], June 10, 1918, Final Edition, Image 10

About The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931

Image provided by: The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation

                
M ' MONDAY, 'jVlE 10, LUlii
3
m
4
I
Real Life Love Romance ' & WMIBMillfl '
jOf "the Forgotten Astor"
Outlived World's Memory
ptath of Henry Astor Closes Last Chapter in Story
of Rich Society Man Who Married Daughter of,
5 His Father' 8 Gardener, Was Spurned by His
Family, Lived Life of Seclusion From His Old
Friends, but Found Real Happiness With the
Woman of His Choice.
By Robert Welles Ritchie
HE was colled "the forgotten Astor" this Henry Astor, last of a past
generation of hi line, who died last Friday, full of yoars, on his
ostato ncur Wrst Copakc, Columbia County, N. V.
' This nppellatlvo would seem to carry with It a tlncturo of sympathy,
alf to be an Astor of the Astor and to he forgotten worn a conjunction
Ml'Mt-t';i-H-HM-H- of circumstances spelling heavy
,t
t
WtS'ir cWi't
3.HYaTo. s . , C.-- $
' Ns
MW-MH t H i-H
djlckim weann naa forged about uie
What philosopher would be bold
njJugh to say that when Henry Astur
xchanged the starched formalism of
Poclety and matrimonial convrntlonr
fcnaasured by the dollar mark for tue
MsfV love of a woman and life In a
green country, where holly blooms
freshly and tho smell of growing corn
ladtns the mornings, he becamo the
r? Hetter a palace In the ltlvlera
nd an opera box In the Metropoli
tan's "diamond horseshoe" or tn bo
called "Henry" by the blacksmith and
thi elder mill man and to go down the
hort hill toward the sunset with a
"wife's hand clasped In a husband's?
Consider the career of this man who,
Head at eighty-seven, la revealel as
ne who preferred to make his own
life and not be the slave of wealth to
jwhich he was born.
He was the sixth child of William
. Astor. himself son of that J"hn,,aln frultful acres. Thero he started
Jacob Astor. German fur trapper, who 10 bull(1 a ,,ou"
rounded the line. He was born to on I 11 wu" a vrry bB house-broad ind
Inheritance of at least $:8,000,00O '.m- 1
Idercd u monstrous fortuno In tho
days. His early life was very like tho
lives of his brothers, John Jacob in
.nod William. Ho received a bread
education, became familiar with Ku-J-?pe
and was duly Initiated Into his
liftce In New York widely, whern lre
AAtors already held sway through
llfelr great wealth.
illd-Vlctorlnn drawing looms and
lh ball rooms of London nnd Now
York did not carrj a strong nppcil for
,jeung Henry. He lind an analytical
m)nd, and this Instrument wns prono
todlnect and scrutinize thu sham and
the pretense that was bullded on a
Pedestal of wealth alone. Ills father
'and brothers noted a growlni; cynl-
fclsm on Henry's part a proncness to
t.lko the life to which he was bjrn
with a twisted smllo on his lips
'Scheming mammas trlej to throw
the rope oyer the head of this fractions
3'oung colt and insure u brilliant mar
riage for their darlings. Henry Astor
ptnetiutcd every artifice and dodged
tvery trap. He wns painfully run.
Clous that thero could lie no flnh
and-blooil love match for him umong
. the simpering debutantes In hoop
skirls.
'Twice he broke away from thh
matrimonii! branding pen and took n
trip around tho world. Hut earh thus
Trtien he returned he discovered that
,W Inheritance had saddled all obllg
tion upon him; It was to marry some
girl considered "it" to assumo tho
AJrtor crown and perpetuate a lino of
inheritors,
Hls father's estate at rtcd Hook,
N. Y., interested the Insurgent! he
went thero to take up his residence at
taanager. And there he met and came
to love Malvlna Dinehart, the rosy
cheeked daughter of his father's head
nraener,
)Ot simple peasant stock was MaN
vjna Dinehart strong of body, tdmpU
15 mina aim wnn tno primitive im
pplse to give alt her love to a mpto
.Wthout saying "by your leave" to ail
of his family, Henry Astor murried
tie girl.
-His father, In a great fury, cut him
eff disowned him In a violent eceno
Which Henry Astor never forgot. His
brothers followed the paternal lead
Hid forgot that Henry ever had ex
isted. In a day this prince of an
American line of fortune kings found
. fctasself without a crown.
I
trog.dy. Tho world learned at his
passing that there had been on As
.;. tor who had been cast off by tho
,1 rest of Tils family long years ago and
had struggled through a life of many
years without once gottlng his ntmo
In America's Almanoch de Ootha of
tho aristocracy 'of wealth. The world
learned this and shook Its head In
surface sympathy.
"Poor old fellow," quoth the
World's Wife. "Itn mi Aatnr nn.l
burled up there In tho country all
his life, with nobody evor to hear
alfout him."
Only Honry Astor could have
known whether he, the man whom
his kin discarded because he "mar
ried beneath Silm" many, many yean
J to ve In Arcadian simplicity
close to tho racy soil and In the
simple democracy of a rural nolgh-
borhood rather than be bound by tho
nccics or nis orctnren
But there was one anchor to thu
Astor Interests father nor brothiiri
rntllfl llnrnnt. Wtltlnm It A .. I..
... .........a. nniui( "'I
lsiM, had set aside a fund In trust for
his son Henry which ho himself couid
not rttiw destroy. This fund drew its
revenues from certain parcels of real
cstato In Now York 119 all tM--among
them the solid block bounded
by Ilroadwny, Eighth Avenue, 4Gth
and 46th turrets.
Tho Increment from this trust fund
s mounted so It whs estimated r fow
years ago to nomothing like $5,000
a week, Henry Astor, disinherited,
was still a very wealthy man.
Tho outcast son went to West r"o
pnke, which Is In the llerksbtros vury
nesr the New York-Connectlcut-Mas.
saohusetts lines, and four mlleg from
the village ho chose for himself cer
1omy anrt fl'd with dim recesses
whor'' ht could not penetrate In sum.'
mer. Xrlghbors came In to help Km
build It -actually to participate) w"h
tho nix-foot, broad shouldered man
with tho flaming red beard In tho
work of construction. Tho neighbors
thought Henry Astor was a pauper.
but they knew already ho had a great
heart and they turned In with a will
to help him,
When the Illg House, as West
Copsko still calls this relic of the
French Mnnsnrd school of architec
ture, wus completed Henry As.o?
moved In with his bride and began the
comfortable life of o country gontle-
mnn. Neighbors began to wondor If
Henry really were "dead broke" a'ter
nil. Henry smlted deep In his botrd
and said not a word.
Happiness seemed to bo his. He
was a great funcicr of horso flesh o.id
he bought a span of racing trottei.,
Tho countryside became accinlomod
to tho s.ght of Henry-so ho wn
rallid by everyono leaning over tho
spider xliuflH of his nulky and tooling
hi- fst blachr, his beard stic-mm.;
like a comet's tutl over his shouldon.
Ho built a trotting courso on his
"wn farm and Invited owners rf
speedy horses to come nnd r.u-o
ugulnst his blacks. At every county
fair Henry Astor was thcrn with en
tries, and many a purse did ho h.ing
up for .the local pony fanciers to
plunge on.
In short, his was the life of tho
Kngllsh country Mjulro. raoy of the
soil, full rounded und complete In
Itself. No, not qulto complete In
Iti-elf; for the woman he had married
always played a leading part In that
life, lletwecn tho millionaire who
had been a crown pitnce of Amer
ican money royalty and .the country
g'r' 'here remained until the day last
week when Henry Abtor died an abld
Ing affection, deeper than any other
roots of tho nun's life.
He had but two eccentricities, of
whleh Columbia County folk are
talking to-day. For years he would
not read n nowspaper, lest ho should
see the name of Astor blazoned In Its
headlines and have recalled to htm
the burled past.
He had u mania for collecting sil
ver half dollars. It ts said tho gar
ret In the Dig House Is stacked with
boxes and barrels of them.
I J '
Barnard Girls
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CopirlfM. 10IS. Iijr Tit frm I'uWWJns Co. CTbt Sen York Kteuliw WoiM.)
NOT sluco William Tell mlttcd Ills bow nnd arrow nud shot all thd
. huckleberries out of n plo without disturbing tho crust hn.i
such u Htyllsh furore been CKtabllshcd. Everybody U getting
utt-uuiod up. DUlhclm U aiming hU Ztppa and h'.s liu!;!,.; Nov.'
York. Of courso u Zcpp won't nnnoy nnybody who has ever been
kicked by a Jersey mosquito. And wo have bo many things In our
drinking water now that n few Kubbs won't make much difference
That Un't what cvorybody Is Rotting cooked up ovor. It's this antl
bummlng law- !' getting so thnt n gent who makes his living by
tho sweat of Romo other gent's brow is considered n loafer by our
best consldorers.
When Naw York nnd New Jersey crocheted thnt work law they
swung one from their hip pockets thnt landed right on tho beezor of
every barltono hobo In tho tournament. From now nn the nuitio of
New York and fringes Is I-J Plurlbus Workus. You're considered a
blooming dllletantn unless you have n sledgehammer In each hand,
one behind each ear nnd four morn coming In tho next parcel post.
Work Is no new melody to tho most of us. The reason why we
are wearing our noses very close to tho grindstone-ulu't because wo
aro nearsighted. Work Is nbout tho only thlug wo over Inherit from
our fathers. So that new law won't affect us any more than rain
affects a mallord's rhoulderhlades. Ynu cnu't crowd two horses Into
ono howj collar. We have been worklnt? over fliico Home smooth
guy with a rough conscience bought Manhattan from u poor Indian.
The prleo was twenty-eeven Iron men. History says that the Injun
was bilked, If that Is true, thnt Injun wna thu Unit real cbtuto agent
who was over trimmed. And nlto the lust.
Hut It wasn't true. While scalping hit front litwn with n bor
rowed lawn mower a fourlh-clr.sa postmaster In J.iibo County
etubbed his form-fitting shoes ngalnst a granite slab. l)n this slab
was some Injun gossip In bulnrss college Khorthand whleh gummed
tha wholo yarn. It seems that tho Indian cold Manhnttan for twenty
seven ducats nil right. Hut the rascal didn't own It In tho first
place. He was a Mexican Taraale Indian who was visiting his East-
t
Helping Uncle Sam as "Farmerettes'
THEIR CAMP IN BEDFORD HILLS, N. Y AND WORK FOR NEIGHBORING
FARMERS AT $2.00 A DAY.
'" I . !
Loaferettes
New York and New Jersey Anti-Bumming Laws Unfair Because Aimed
at Baritone Hoboes Exclusively, Providing No Penalties for Soprano Idlers
Rolling Cigarettes Will Help Win tWar as Much as Powdering Noses If
Loafer Who Plays Two Pairs Against Three Kings Is a Bum, So Is the
Frail Who Bids a Bridge Whist Hand Wrong Girls Have the Vote, Why
Not the Work?
BY ARTHUR "BUGS") BAER.
orn wltf. Ho tsnw a chance to pick
Bold Manhnttan for twcnty-bcvuu seeds but nUo tossed In the moon
nnd tho subway pickpocket privilege.
Which flattens that old myth and removos a stain from tho fair
numc-ot .Manhattan real cstato nsents. Nothing like killing two birds
with one pebble nnd starting two Fords with ono cranlc.
Hut, getting buck to the old work stuff, why don't the Uw knitters
pick on the Indies once In a while? All these, work laws are aimed at
tho men. Whero tlicro aro loafers there aro loaferettes,
If tho millionaire who brultes ceilings with chatnpagno corks Is a
loafer, so Is Mrs. Millionaire. If the guy who gets bald from wearing
silk hats Is n bum, so Is tho frail who thinks thnt fox trotting will tnako
tho world nnd Sullivan County nto for democrucy. If the lad who
wears a seven-bolted coat Is a drone, to Is the lady who does ull her
shopping at Jazzenwebher's. You might as well separato tho shcop
from tho gouts, even If you don't caro for mutton, If the barltono
who stakes two small pair against three kinks Is a bum, bo is tho
soprano person who bids a brldgo whUt hand wrong.
80 fnr as that work law Is concerned, there shouldn't be any bomb
proof shelters for anybody. Holllng cigarettes will help as much to
win the war aa powdering noses.
The girls havo tho vote, why not tho work?
Tho femlnlno of loafer Is loaterette.
RASMUS NOT ASHAMED OF HIS
REAL RELIGION.
The woolly-headed Undo Jtasnnu was
accused of disturbing the peace. OII1
err Mort Itudolph explained It as fol
lows; "Your Honor, this man wis runnlnc
up and down thu Mill 1 titer ltoaJ, wav
ing his arms nnd yelling at tho top of
his voice', and otherwise raising the
mischief, nt half-past ono In the morn-
Ing. Tli a people jof that district com
up some easy velvet, nud not only
plained, nnd they had a perfect rlpht
to." The Judge frowned at Itasmus,
"Im didn't seem to bo particularly wor
ried. "U'hat do you mean by sueh unbo
comtnK conduct?" bin Honor demanded.
"HellBlon, Jedrv." wns tho response.
"Hellglonl Are you a Holy Holler, or
something Hko that? I havo religion,
Itasmus, but I don't get up at midnight
and tell everybody about It." "Dat's
des' do dlffunco Jedgo. I ain't crshained
- ob mine." Cass and Comment.
What a Battle
Viewed From an Airplane;
Picture of Dante's "Inferno'
VMd Bird-Man's Eye View of Great Verdun Fight Described
in Book Written by James It. McConncll, Lafayette
Eacadrillc Pilot, Who Was Killed in Air Fight ;
Against Two German Warplancs.
By Marguerite Mooers Marshall
DANTE'S IIELLr-that, In two words, Is a battlefield of tho Great War
as seen from nbovo by those who fly, HUo tho ancient Valkyrs, aboT
the slain. Ono who himself no longer speaks from tho living--James
It. McConncll, volunteer Scrgcant-Pllot of tho Latayctto Escadrlllo
has given a memorablo description of the great struggle at Verdun i
watched from his fighting aeroplane, In his personal story of tho War,;
"Flying for France."
Tho book Is brief, but It should bo read for two
reasons its vision of Verdun from a sea of clouds nnd
Its finely lntlmato plotures of Klffln Rockwell, Vic
tor Chapman, Haoul Lufbery, Norman Prince and
others of tho aplendld band of American ndventurers
who were our vanguard In tho world struggle for lib
erty and democracy. Sergt. McConncll himself wns of
this band, and, llko nearly every other member, ho
has mado tho ultimate sacrifice. lie longed to lead a
United States Army aero corps In the western theatre
of war, but ho was killed in an unequal struggle ngalnst two German aero
planes Just boforo our formal opening of hostilities. He was over thera
before tho Allies had boon fighting six months, going from Carthage, N. C,
to drive nn American ambulance In tho Vosges and win tho Croix de.
Ouerre. Even at that post, according to Ms own naive admission, he felt
llko an "embusque," a shirker, and he was ono of the first Americans to
enter the French flying service, where ho fought loyally and successfully
until his death In battle,
'lie saw his first active servlcs In
a fighting Nleuport at Verdun, where
he flew dally, when the weather per
mitted. "Immediately east and north
of Vordun there lies a broad, brown
band," he writes In Flying for France.
"From tho Woevre plain It runs west
ward to tho 'S' bend In the Mouse,
nnd on the left bank of that famous
stream continues on Into tho Ar
gonno fore-it. Peaceful fields and
farms and villages adorned that
landscape a few months ago when
there was no Ilattlo o Verdun.
Now there Is only that sinister
brown btlt, a strip of murdered na
ture. It seems to belong to another
world. Every sign of humanity has
been swept away. The woods and
roads havo vanished llko chalk wiped
from a blackboard; of the villages
nothing remains but grny smears
where Btone walls have tumbled to
gether. Tho great forts of Douau
mont and Vaux, aro outlined faintly,
like the tracings of linger In wet
sand. One cannot distinguish any
ono shell crater, as ono can cn the
pockmarked fields on cither eldo. On
the brown band the Indentations are
so closely Interlocked that they blend
Into a confuted mas of troubled
earth. Of tho trenches only broken,
half obliterated links are visible.
"Columns of muddy tinike spurt up
continually as high explosives tear
deeper Into this ulcered urea. During
heavy bombardment and attacks I
have geen nhells falling like rain. Tho
countless towers of smoko remind ono
of (.ustavo Doro's plcturo of the fiery
tombs of the arch-heretics In Dante's
'hell.' A smoky pall covers the sector
under flro, rising no high that at a
height of 1,000 feet one Is enveloped
In Its mist-like fumes. Now and then
monster projectiles hurtling through
tho air closo by leave one's plane rock
ing violently in their wake. Airplanes
have been cut In two by them.
"For us tho battle passes In silence,
the noise of one's motor deadening all
other sounds. In tho green patclua
behind tho brown belt myriads of tiny
flashes tell where the guns are hidden;
and those flashes, and tho Bmoko of
bursting shells, are all wo sen of the
lighting. It Is a weird combination
of stillness and havoc, tho Verdun
conflict viewed from the sky.
"Fnr lelow us, tho observation and
range-finding pianos clrclo over the
trenches like gliding gulls. At a
fecblo altltudo they follow tho uttuck
Ins Infantrymen nnd flash back wiro
les re pur U of tho engagement. Osi:
through them can communication bo
malntulned when, under the barrier
fire, wires from tho front lluus are
cut.
"Kaid" Maclean, Soldier of Fortune, Now
Believed Dead
THE career of one of tho greatest
modern soldiers of fortune,
"Kald" Maclean, draws to an
end under a cloud, and may already
havo ended In his death. This Bcotch
adventurer, onco tho actual ruler of
Morocco, and later an object of keon
Interest throughout the world when
ho was h-eld for ransom by tho bundtt
Ilalsull, afterward mado bis home In
Austria. There he looked on In
fillcnco when tlreat Ilrltain, his native
land, becamo Involved In war with
the Dual Monarchy.
Tho Ktoiy of the adventures of tho
"Kald," whoso name olherwiso U Sir
Harry Aubroy do Maclean, K. C. M.
C, reads more llko fiction than fact.
Tho "Kald.'if ho is still ltvlng. Is sev
enty years old. As a lad he entered
tho Hrltlfh army, and whllo on duty
In Gibraltar visited Malta, where ho
mot the then tiultan of Morocco, Mu-Ul-el-Hasaan.
Mulal waa rauoh Jin-
Looks Like
"Sometimes It falls to our lot to
guard theso mnchlnes from Oermana
eager to swoop down on their books.
Sailing about high above a busy flook
of them makes one feel like an otd
mother hen protecting her chicks.
"We fly so high that ground details
are lacking. Where the battle ban
raged thero is a broad, browned band.
Trees, houses and even roads have
been blasted completely away. Th
shell holes are so numerous that they
blend Into one another and cannot be
separately seen.
"It looks as if shells fell by ths
thousand every second. There sure
spurts of smoke at nearly every foot
of the brown areas, and a thick pall of
mist covers it all. There are but
holes where the trenches rn, and
when ono thinks ot tho poor devils
crouching In their inadequate shelters
under such a hurricane ot flying metal
It increases onc'a respect for the stay
ing powers of modern man. It's terri
ble to watch, and I feel sad every time
I look down.
"Wo traverse the brown band and
enter enemy territory to tho aocom
pantment of an antl-alroratt can
nonade," Sergt. McConnell continues.
"Most of the shots are wild, however,
and we pay little attention to thm.
When the shrapnel comes uncom
fortably close, one shifts position
slightly to evade the range. Tho only
shooting we hear Is tho tut-tnt-tut
of our own or enemy plane machlns
guns when fighting Is at closa quar
ters. The Gormans shoot explosive
bullets from theirs.
'Principally our work consists of
keeping German airmen away front
our lines, and In attacking them wia
opportunity offers. One glanoes op
to see If there Is another machine
higher than ono's own. Low and far
within tho German lines are several
enemy planes, a dull white la appear
anco, resembling eand flies against
tho mottled earth. High above tham
ono glimpses tho mosqulto-llko forms
of two Fokkers. We approach tht
enemy machlnos ahead, only to And
thorn slanting nt a rapid, rate lata -their
own country.
"The boohes keep well within their
lines, save occasionally," Sergt. Me
Connoll significantly records, at the
end of his book, "and wo have to
go ovor and fight them there, Ths
only way to do Is to sneak up on
them. Though thero is a large num.
bcr of oxpert German airmen. I do
sot believe th average Teuton
makes us good a flier as a French
man, F-nglshman or American."
"Flying for France" I, published
by Doublcday, Pan,, & t"o.
pressed by Maclean nnd offered him
the position of Instructor Vf ms
with Ihe rank of Colonel In tho tiul
tan s liui VL-n.-irri i.-r. .1... ..
and for thlrt) yw,,, uflPri Klll(,.:
-iuiii-.il, wut prominent In .Moroccan
affairs.
lie (Illll-klV amsr. l. r.
In-Ohlet of t, ;.". J' for yoi;; "
-' "- ""in iiiiiiMftir. An "In
miel" Scot, he ruled w,tl, a T0li ot
Iron an army of about iu.o'ja txiutl
cal. (.'hrlstlan-hatlng Mo,1CniH wi en
Mulal died Maulean luv.uno the el,
ruler of Morocco. ult,ous Mula,. '
son was tho nominal head of ttio cov
eminent. In moi tg,
knighted and decorated fir L r'
vices to tho llrltlah Government f"
July. 1SI07, ho waa captured h ,J"
bandit ltalsull and held a h th
suffering cruel treatment foV wS
months. He was related when 2"
most dead of starvation on he Vi"
mont of a ransom of jiOO OOO W
J
if