The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-01-26
TWICE DEAD!
The Story Of a Naval Officers Widow Once a
Belle III New York Society.
THE WIDEST N0vELISTS 0UTDoNE.
a Sane Woman Twenty-Five Years in a
luna;ic Asylum.
KIDNAPPED AND IMPRISONED.

KIDNAPPED AND IMPRISONED.
The other day there driven from Inc door Of a
lodging house In Fast Twcnty-eighih elderly
ing, aud who has twice risen from the dead who,
soundcr in body aud brain than the majority her
age has passed twenty-five OF her nifty years luna.
tic asylums. II was nearly dark and sho compare
tive stranger In tho city, alone dazsd by the recent
rawlings Of virago landlady. and nearly pcnnilcss.
Fortunately, while she wandering vaguely down
Fourth avenue, she met lady acquaintance, who
heard her story and interested herself procuring for
her. In u respectable house, modest hall bedroom
suited to her slender mcans-a pension amounting 10
three dollars week. the income Of small property
to equal amount, and her earnings from occasional
scraps Of embroidery. A legacy OF few hundred
dollars, just paid over to solicitor, has, tor tho
present, placed her in position OF comparative
afiucncc
A LODGING norsE ADVENTURE
Little more than u year ago the heroine OF the
strange story that will be related presently arrived In
this city and engaged rooms in Lexington avenue, paid
her three months In ADVANCE turnished her apart
ments with tho necessary furniture such add.
tional articles de lre as lady requires laid u full
stock OF groceries and coal Tor the winter, and
her vacant hours in embroiderng. Tho amount thus
expended was about $500 She had occupied the
apartments about six weeks when she Frustrated
with attack of dipnthea, ana taking advantage OF
her feeble condition, her landady caused her to be
taken Bellevue Hospital whore she fingered for six
months and was finally pronounced convalcscent
She Immediately returned to her former quar-.
tcrs, and paid the landady months rent
in advance On repairing to her rooms
she found them dismantlcd. Her furniture
had been removed, and no cew upon which to ground
action for replcvin could DO obtained She rcmon.
stratcd and inquired and was jostled into the street
at the expiration OF couple OF weeks, with tho inor
nation that her constant complanings injurious
her landlady's reputation for integrity, and could
tolerated by conscious Of the purity OF
intentions and OF the unblemshed rectitudc of her
dealings with dodgers What use to the arrest
OF person whom arrest novelty? Her first
experiment in lodging house had cost 500 In cash.
loss in clothing and vauabes OF not less than that
amount, and SIX months In pauper hospital. Doz
of such stcreotyDed dramas enacted evory week in
lodging house districts, and magistrates are tired of
listening them. Twice within year the heroine of
this narrative has played the losing part in the
drama II is easy to declaim upon the swindles of
landlades in Paris; but expert reporter could
parallel every hackneyed trick Of the Partisan adept
with some daring and ingenious originality in swind-
ling invented by New York parveyor Of apartments.
Having heard something in the gossip OF general
ciety of the incredible vicsstudes through which the
of the previous incident and Of the following
narrative has passed, the representative of the
HERALD called upon Mrs. Keith, at her present resi-
dence in East Twenty. fourth street, with a Wow to
hear hcr story from her lips, and to verify 1t by
documents If such evidences existed. An in
by the young lady who had befrendcd her at the
mination Of her last disastrous experiment with
lodging house landady acted as an open sesame to the
history OF one Of the most singular and advon
turous careers that befel a Tho lore Of
the Middle Ages contains nothing romantic than
the narrative rccounted by this desoae descendant Of
Of the ancient PATRONS Of Manhattan Island
while nrclight painted pictures
pnpered wall behind her. 1t was tho story OF sweet
and gentle lady in middle life, with such suffering In II
that an old stagcr in listening to sad nara
tives must have dropped a or two, by way Of
cleansing his eyes OF mistincss. " simply and
quietly told, with tho resigned and placid pathos Of
ono who has exhausted almost every aspect OF human
sorrow.
"Lifo fairy lard until the Captain died." said
the quiet elderly lady, rocking herself to and fro
the coscy freight In manner that appears to become
habitual with persons who are familiar with trouble
and suffering. "But since then have passed many
weary years in insane asylums that 1t seems to me
sometimes II had lived two lives. with long blank
between them-onc of youth wealth and tender
ness passed long ago. and another of age and poverty
ana neglect between them los a when for years
was us ono stunned, and lived kind of night
marc"
There comes time in every career when life is like
an empty bottle. and one ones personal
history as something dreamed. But it seldom comes
In iives nj WI Dcid cnt
Ing have boon crowded that recollection in detail
is dazed and ndistinct. One may live after that
by force OF habit but Is really dead. Only once
as the quiet, soft-voiccd lady told her story and
that when she spoke OF her daughter--now Mrs EN-.
NETT Vaughan, OF Macintosh Bluffs, Aa-were her
tones little tromulouA and the mother yearningthe
last thing woman ever outlivesmoistcned her placid
blue eyes.
'.he has the beautiful gray eyes and the face and
figure OF her ancesress, Mary stuart remarked the
mother parcnthctIcaly ind then she went to tell
in the walls OF tho Old Bcttcrton mansion, on the
Georgetown road near Washington, and OF the prayer
wilkins, formerly Of Phiiadephia now OF BROOKLYN:
OF the magn fccnt white velvet coverct, also bearing
the royal arms and quarterngs OF Groat Britain in tho
centre OF the field, intermxed with marvellous floral
embroidery heavy bullion fringe edges this
Gent heirloom, under which Queen Anne once slept
II Is preserved rs q relic IN the same family.
HER STORY COMMENCES
Mrs Elizabeth Mary Keith, nee sanxay Is a native
OF New York CITY, and passed her girhood, from 1927 to
lS4l In tho ancestral residence of tho Sanxay family,
in Mulberry street. Her father, r. u. Sanxay, married
the daughter OF Lewis Morris, Of the sgners OF the
Declaration OF independence and thus she lneally
descended from that Lady SCathcrrc Gordon, who is
tho special ancestral vanity Of the Morris family
Her iather was the son Of John Sanxay,
of the last OF the PATRONS. who
the grandson Of the famous Annckc JAMS the royal
ward of the King Of Holland. Anncke JAMS married
Jansen. daughter by this marriage was the grand
mother OF John Sanxay. The grant OF the King of
Holland TO Anneke JAMS Included the whole of Long
Island and almost halt oil Manhattan Island Commcnc.
Of he est
north, incning TO tho west, taking the landed
property belonging to the Trinity corporation. st.
Lukes Hospital lies within the limits OF the estate
Mrs Keith Is sister Of the third order Of ST. Francis
tho brown sstcrs) 1t thus follows that the Catholic
power In America mas very considerable interest IN
the claim heirs of Anncke JAMS TO the property
OF that corporation
ROMANTIC EDEN on THE HUDSON.
In 1S41 Miss Sanxay married TO her cousin Cap
tain LOUIE Gordon Keith naval otIcor in the SERVICE