.,.., ,i.Ur - f.f .'I MVpWWrf WWWF EVENING PUBLIC 'LEl!)GER-PmtlAi)ELPHI; MONBAY. OCOBEB 2& 1922 ft,4 . SFF.E ALSOP FINDS GOSSIP REAL TRAGEDY 4 OF "DECEMBER-MAY" LOVE-SHATTERED CAREER Once Wealthy Child Bride, Called Drug Addict, Refutes Recriminations by Brightness of Girl, Who at 17 Wed Millionaire of 77, Quails at Fire of Publicity After Remance's Unhappy End, Her Eyes and Crimson Cheeks Fearing "Meddling" Will Kill Mether v?w ; v;' f& tBRLCj w m LIFE has net dealt kindly with airs, jmhc rope urn ;visep. Life has whirled her te heights of wealth and happiness, and life has l3a-ih whirled her te the depths again. iilMl Recriminations that she is a chug addict, a drunkard, have robbed UJft'iP hcr of much of the vcspcct of s B p p ib f?il Hi have stripped hcr of her wealth. ifjtwlli1 BUt there remains one thing which life cannot take from her. It is WiHf W her levc for hcr mother nnd th5s' under thc circumstanccs' sccms te be Hie Diueresi. nitn i ""' t- . J Today, alone and friendless, twenty-seven-year-old Effle Pepe Hill 1 cries from the depths of her tertmed heart: I "My shoulders can bear all this cruelty all these lies but eh, my i mother !" , ' ' Net many days age there appeared m the news columns of tne country this item: " , "The former Miss Efile Pepe Hill, of Macen, Ga., the gal who ten years age when she was seventeen became the bride of Edward B ai. ft, spvmtv-sevcn. a wealthy manufacturer of Pittsburgh and v.il, ..-.. --- .... 1 . 1 I f Washington, was removed by force from a ir.ngy-turnisheil room ana laKen i te Bellcvue Hospital, sutTering from aiconeusm ana drag poisoning. Immediately following the publication of thc bit et news, a pilgrim age of news writers sob sisters ; get out in the direction of the , ate. The following summer they "dingy-furnished room." And sub- lived together at their country place equcnt talcs appeared of the in Beverly, Mass. Mrs. Alsop "decline" and "dissolution" of this claimed that hcr husband insulted once most beautiful and charming her friends, and she left him forever 111 November, 19113. V i Weman. Se that the tragedy of Mrs. Kffie , Pepe Hill Alsop has become net only the tragedy of temporary de-, feat, but seemingly the tragedy also J of distorted facts. "These lies are breaking my mother's heart." says Mrs. Alsop, nnd they certainly are robbing tne young woman of much of her courage. "Whv don't people leave me alone? They hound me, they talk' 1 .Vinnt. me. thev write about me and . ' ii wi-" ...-, l It I nm forced te suffer their torturing. OTil'i' Why de these strangers hurt me?" tilths, i .... Age Gazes at i eutli With Wistful Eyes Thirteen years age a little golden haired child was playing en the perch of a hotel at Lake Toxaway, N. C. Her mother, Mrs. Jehn J. it ii:u .;viv nf n nreminent nhysician tJ. : llV f Wnhimrten. D. C. smiled at hcr, i U, v- fnr n moment lifting from ,J l J? Al. .jj w ? '1 h T. the pages of a book. fll'ii'li As the mother loel Jan: IS ensr-intK! th.it another nair of eyes $W t ' watched her daughter. They were YAi V these of a white-haired gentleman. J ' ', I TT r,,n cVln fnlinil later tO be ' Edward B. Alsop; she learned besides that he was a millionaire. ( Alsop was then seventy-four years old. In little Effle he saw all that ; . was beautiful in youth. December , In the meantime, Efiie had tried the stage. She attempted the triple tango with two ether partners, but her husband protested se strongly that she was obliged te give up the work. In 1916 Alsop successfully sued for divorce en the grounds of deser tion. Mrs. Alsop's "dingy-furnished room" is en West Forty-seventh street, up four flights of stairs. The apartment house is a comfortable and a clean one. "I am sorry, but Mrs. Alsop is indisposed," said a young woman from a neighboring apartment. "Under no circumstances will she. see any one. Reporters have said se much that isn't true about her that she is afraid te see them." The rather long and weary climb down the stairs was begun with a sense of defeat; the second fleer was no sooner reached, however, when the woman's voice en the fourth fleer called eut: "Mrs. Alsop will see you for two minutes only two min utes!" Back again te the fourth fleer te receive the invitation te enter the "dingy-furnished" 'room of Mrs. Alsop, verenal addict and alcoholic, if the newspaper stories were cor rect. Mm. Alsop's apartment was net dingy, though it was net in any sense grand. The furniture was new, the wallpaper bright and clean. It might have been the reception room in which anybody could live comfortably it had no individuality. It was neither suggestive of picturesque life, nor of joy or sadness until Mrs. Alsop entered from hcr bedroom. A Boyish Figure , in Loese Kimene In her slim fingers she carried a lighted cigarette. White arms extended from the looseness of a pink, hand palntcd kimono. The kimono was open at thc breast, revealing the dainty edge of a camisole or ttemcthlng of thc sort and her penrl white threat. Her figure in boyish and graceful. One expected a fnce ns boyishly fresh nnd pink, but it wbb net. It was rouged one felt, unnecessarily nnd rntlier badly and hi-r head was haloed In n tangle of yellow, frizzed bobbed hair. She dropped into a roomy armchair, her head renting en the buck and hcr cigarette hand linnging loosely ever the arm of the chnir. "Don't mind this kimono, please. I paint little pictures net geed ones and I've smudged up this old tiling." She spread out a fold or two of thc rink cover-nil te ahew the paint snots. Her voice is resonant nnd carries the drawl nnd softness of the Seuth he was born in Georgia. She broadens hcr Ti :u a i.nrait . K ffii. I IH1M.U4 t UUiKil, t J- I SMii! As the mother looked up she was 1 wen mill Mfp4m'l Gazed at May Wlth wlstful eycs- He NriCi! had chndren f his own two boys fl!J riii one as old as this little girl, one tetti-w 1 yeunKen But lle had never liad such '?i' r brilliant little child, such a merry lU'tim f MM tii Mtt.l llW'rl't Thei If "Mf t' little Mmt ; irtEfir, . Vf) it it one- . , !'- ' '(t ' Alsop seen became acquainted '? .1 !ii. if tun ,! tUA. ...ifl. ITfnn IWt ... ... ....v. ..u. ...... Their friendship grew. He gave the little girl many gifts, many courte sies and three years later, in 1912, "1 -1 TT'iT? ...nri rtrnltnn nnM fl f f, "wnijii r.iiiu wui Beciuccn . ..w AIM ( V ieventy-eeven, he married her. "I married Mr. Alsop," his young wife is reported te have said, "be cause I have the greatest admiration, the gi-eatest respect and greatest faith in him mere than I ever had in my life for any ether man, and be why shouldn't I have married mbw& hi? "As long as we lie I shall never regret the step, for he is all good ness, and has been during the three years I have known him two of Which I have been engaged te him." She called him "Dad," se gossip gees, and even "Ragtime Kid," be cause he was se spry and active for his age. His two sons, in 1912, then both students at Harvard, entirely approved of their stepmother. But two months after the wed ding December and May were re ported te be estranged. Mr. Alsop fcliSlV at that time transferred $1,000,000 'M,. f worth of his property te his two ft i K tf . ions. Se quickly had she gotten married, ee swift was the determination which carried this strange pair post haste te Trinity Church, New Yerk, that the new Mrs. Alsop declared 'he "even forget te tell her mother bout it until it was all ever." Kisses Drive Her , Inte Sanatorium Later, in her attempted petition ifer divorce, Mrs. Alsop asserted that he se showered her with kisses '"and caresses that she was forced ti enter a sanatorium, a victim of Hiarveus prostration. She said she went te n sanatorium ml Litchfield. Conn., en April 1, 1912, remaining there twelve days. She .returned te him, but, according te fcg Alsop was even "mero violent .'pejl peiere. in uuiid ux mc eumv iff1 year Hit went w Europe 10 recuper- r. daask leaaav aaaaaav w .iA vdaaaaKA. aaap- aaaaaav lviK ; MM HaS , j liji , mFmm .tHSf&BaaaaaKjeaE. 3. aaaaaaaaaMaaH . sBaaaaa- -'.."-; :ammt 'sv. , teanmnaaBwai'. &$ -: "fsaKTit aar - r- -v " . !t't - i ik r. mtmxsLVX.m .-. -.: ."& ' . .stv,ia s X HiJalaaW lve''- Si JrWJlBfct' -N " 'HKakaT Mm? - -3- BtHc Tm&.Sk?J'UP:tv f ' j aaaj uaBaaa.. aaaBaaaaaMfiMtKiS!caaaaaaaaaaaaaaajliBHia f m aaaaj iaaaaaa-Cj---j;:c Kra Basins s-Mi&j&im ji c- - . Br -:.?v ; j alHimHaiKBLLLLiLLLiLLLLLLLLLLLH JHNHRIH WiiMaMMHHlMWialaFt- ',, ' APylHirHHaaaBaaaaBBasnBaa f!!lKEMaBBE"WWTffWHBBti- 'JMsT .HH raRHHiH Eme Hiu aisep TjyHWMBIM :...:. ;m ifi SlfiiKdllBIHllSlB in various poses IPIifiBHSSa9lBLLLLLLLLBk MMfciHliiHHM at the height of 9IHSilHHHlHllallllllllHP''( vVw - PMHILil 11 lifeyBteL MBmMmmmm her fortunes :k$iWMMW , , mxmmeimBmi . - WKSHKKKLMI wit? Vri Sii 'Ml v JLWmM VTali ?i$iaJMl l HiWJSajfejiisar CAS F'm&ggraNKaaaaaaaHBaaaaaaaaaaaaaap" .aW'ttf'' -A V'". '' ? && ,,f fJ.imB '?" tii 1 W''''' '4l" r 1 'V bIIuKH!HbA 9K !aS?N4. kwfCf-''S'y:y4fXs':r ''''''SI leBSweBjBMJIvlBBBBSI'lu uft BBM r'X'teBBBflHBeBJSBBBBBaiBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBV vBjhkA. . . lyttFTi ,'y- j WbA. BEB?flwub(. s'"'Jt. , A' swear that I haven't taken mero than twice In all my n's, truncates her r's hc spenkn easily and well. "I didn't want te talk with you," she began. "I don't want te talk with an body. The only reason nm seelnu' jeu new and it will only be for two minutes is a hepe 1 feci that perhaps 1 ran nnd one newspaper that will publish what is se, and will net lie about me. "It Is terrible 1 Why de people trouble about mc why don't they mind their own business? If you believe what meet persons are made te think. I nm a drug addict and a drunkard. I nm neither. Denial et Addiction Berne Out by Face "I'll verenal life." Mrs. Alsop did net leek like an ad dict. Her face was painted net wisely but tee well j underneath the cetmietlc, however, ene could catch the beHiicm and the frCBlineHs of her cheeks, and hcr eyes were neither the dead nor hectic burning eyes of a drug addict they were bright and Intelligent and dis arming. "They said I was moved by force from n dingy room " Hcr lip curled a little. She pulled llngeringly at her clgnrctte, and then with a half gesture of Impatience resumed : . "But I'll tell you the real truth about that disgraceful businesH the ether night. I went out In the evening. It was a party of six. nnd we had a couple tit ildnbc WliAtAi nntliln.. ...-,..... i that, Is there' "It was vlle atuff, however. I didn't knew It. I had enlv a retmln nf ilplnlra but I became suddcpjyi very sick. When nomehew humlllati I get te my room here I was in horrible pain almost unconscious. "I called te the lady in the apart ment next te mine.' I asked her te please get me a doctor. And a doctor came or rather n man who wan bub. pesedly a doctor. This man wh ... supposedly a doctor," Mrs. Alsen said . , l. . BUBBCSUOn ei sneer. "did nothing for me, and I called for nn ambulance. I thought I was gelni te die. "They say I fought like a tiger when the ambulance came. Yeu can bat i fought like a tiger. Of course I did he& sa1,l,,,,they w"e in te take me te the Bellevue Hospital. Of course I fought like a tiger. I'm neither peer nor a drug addict, and I wasn't drunk , , 8utnyed ,n !le hospital only forty, eight hours. It's ridiculous te nay I stayed there ten day, and that I am under the care of a doctor. I'm under the care of nobody. , A hop Didn't Leave Her Pauper, She Says "And I'm net peer, and I never wai a stenographer nor a telephone oper ator, and I am net en the stage. Geed Lord, Mr. Alsop didn't leave me a pauper I I have a few stocks and bends and some real estate." Whatever she has left, it belles the fact that only ten years age she had rlche, a home en Fifth avenue, friends among the very wealthy and the rery old Knickerbocker families, servants se many that they became retinues, leisure and enthusiasm. In hcr young heart ten years age there was little sadness; even the disillusion of her marriage did net immediately dispossess her of her dreams. Today she has leisure left and a grest pain. That seems te be about all. She is still very young; most women of twenty-seven with talent ns she hai are laying the foundation for careers, and yet she must feel very old. Allusion te her marriage with Mr. Alsop and mention of the ten years since drew from her a sorrowful, though smile -flecked : "It seems almost a thousand years age!" What has made It seem a thousand years she did net say. Was it defeat, dreams unrealised? ner life was meant je ee nappy anu rich, as all children's lives are. Today, whether she feels it se or net, she gives the appearance of irrevocable defeat. Her heart has been trod upon, her life has been trod upon, crushed by gossip, scandulmengerlng, and perhaps the thoughtlessness of friends. Her ten or fewer years since Mr. Alsop divorced her is net a story she will tell, at any rate. Whatever these years have brought bcr remains locked within hcr breast. Whatever they have taken from her, her less is somehow manifested in hcr disgust with the in tolerance, the cruel thoughtlessness of people. "I wish I were back in England," she cried. "There I am left alone. And I want te be alone. I want te live my life with some divinity I don't want te be flayed by the everlasting In decent meddling of ether persons. "Why must they inBlst en trou bling me?" It gave, the public a generous oppor tunity te gabble, te predict dlre re sults as the public always does when one of its children docs "the extraor dinary." And new there is little question that the public viewed with mingled satisfaction and horror what seems te It the defeat of a person "who dared de otherwise." whnt .wiih te it a confirmation of Its always "dis interested and well-meaning" predic tions. Gossip Bitterest Part of Her Tragedy And the public doesn't realize that this attitude may be even a greater tragedy than the tragedy of Mrs. Al sop's life ; that it is this attitude which forces perhaps the bitterest and most unnecessary' portion of tragedy into the days nnd the hours of her life. Mrs. Alsop feela this. She Is poign antly conscious of It. And she begfed that no "mero lies" be told about her, that people leave her alone. This woman who wants te be left alone sat in the roomy armchair, a picture of pink and flaming yellow. Her mood needed black, deep breeding black. Thc contrast of the picture the eye bsw and the picture the mind saw was intensely dramatic. "After all," continued Mrs. Alsop, "the lies don't hurt me se much. My shoulders are young and strong eneugti te bear all this." Half lying In the chair, her shoulders appeared unusually frail In the Infor mality of hcr posture ene was conscious less of strength than of resignation and indifference. One thought et crushed flowers, of a soft bruised bird in the palm of the hnnd. "But it's breaking the heart of my mother." A mist filled hcr eyes when she said this. The cigarette In her hand was forgotten. She leaned for ward In her chair. t "My shoulders are big enough, I suppose, te bear anything," he said. "Anything!" There was something of deMierntien in her voice. "Hut my mMlier's aren't. All this Is breaking my mother's heart and that taav break? my lieurt." Mrs. Alsop reused herself. . "Hut you needn't bother mentioning that," she added quickly, as If te bide what might have seemed a weakening of will, a disclosure of intimate thoughts never meant for alien ears. "But If it Is lies which are breaking your mother's heart, why sheulan t your mother see the truth in a paper, she was asked, "especially since you care for her se much?" , . . . Her lips twitched. Tears rimmed nr "When you talk about my metner when you" Tears were In her voice, nnd her hand went sudden y te ner mouth as if te stay the twitching 01 It. "Please please that's that I can't " . . n,r She get up from the chair. fingers In her straw-colored hair, ins palm of her hand resting ever her eyes nnd forehead, she hastily walked te tie deer. i i,. At the deer her kimono wrapped n self around her slim body and as turned under the lintel into the ether room, it flowed out ngnin, - tiewer, suddenly dieuiiuhh. . ,. nee sne ic i - -. - She left, tee. a vhilter who sum. - A faint fragrnnce Hne left, tee. a visitor wuu -"""-th courage which can fight te epi most excruciating of pains ec",JS the heart; she left a vUM" wb0 " 18. F m iptr-n sv, ,,'!
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers