Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-03-06
Ex-PREsrDENr rxLER's NIECE
She Dies a Pauper i'm New York
Her Unhappy Career.

Her Unhappy Career.
New York Star.
Ten years ago Jennie Tyler, grand
! niece to President Tyler, was one O
the reignlng bellies in Washington
She possessed also a comfortable
, fortune and had many admirers il
the first circle of the Capital. Yes
terday her dead body lay stretched
on a table in rickety and squalid
tenement of Brooklyn, her husband
being too poor to defray the eX
penses of burial.
The history of this unfortunate
woman reads like romance, and
the fact that she has wealthy rela.
tives in this city is striking com
mentary on the social life of New
York. Jennie Tyler was born in
Richmond, Va, in 1913, and until
the late war she lived on the planta-
tiOn OF her father, William w. Ty-
Ter. AT the commencement of the
rebellion Mr.. Tyler owned hundreds
of acres of land in Mississippi, and
employed many slaves to work his
large cotton fields. He became q
colonel on Gen. Lees staff and
fought against the Union, until, in
company with many Others, his
property was cOnfiscated and he
was a comparatively poor man.
His daughter Jennie had been edu-
Gated to music, drawing and the
languages, and had, in fact, received
every educational advantage that
wealth could give to the Southern
girl of that day. Added to an in
telligent and receptive mind were
remarkable graces of person. Her
BEAUTY AND WIT
gave promise of a brilliant social
career. After Richmond was occu-
pied by the Union troops, Col.
Tyler came North to retrieve his
wasted fortunes. His daughter at
that time became heiress to a large
sum of money through the death of
a relative in California. She was
sent to Washington under the pro-
lection of Gen. Custer. Through
the agency of the General and Sena-
tor John w. Stevenson, her cousin,
she obtained an e1tTee in the most
exclusive circles in Washington
society, where her pretty face and |
vivaciouS manners made her a gem |
eral favorite. She excelled as a
conversationalist, and could hold |
her own in discussion of the events |
of the day. Years passed, and in
1872 Jennie Tyler came to Brooklyn |
to live. There she became ac-
quainted with dashing young fell
low in fashionable boarding house,
whom she married. One day he
persuaded her to sign over to him
the remainder of her fortune, about
$4,000, and soon after she discov-
cred that she had been deluded by
a mock marriage, and that her sup
posed husband had
ANOTHER WIFE IN BUFFALO.
Her father brought suit to recover
this money for his daughter, and
the fellow was temporarily lodged
in Jail. He soon got out, however,
on straw bail, and through legal
technicalities escaped his Just des-
erts. The poor girl was then thrown
on her own resources, and being
from her relatives, she
about the streets, from
door to door in search of aid, and
sometimes begged nights shelter
in the station house. In 1875 she
met William Collins, an intelligent,
hard-working man, who had for
years been trusted employe in the
service of a Brooklyn gas company.
He was attracted by her fine
womanly qualities, and on July 13
Of that year they were married at
st. Peters Church in Barclay street.
They lived happily together until a
overlook them year
ago. Collins was thrown out of
had only odd jobs from the GdlRs
Dany. The contrast with her for
mer social position was too much
'or the high-spirited girl. Natural
y frail she began to drOop, and con-
.racting a cold, she sank into a de-
cline. On Monday afternoon she
lied of consumption.
A Star reporter visited the tene-
nent at No. 76 Hudson avenue,
yesterday, in which the
lie. The building is two
story wooden structure in an adj
yanced stage of decay, and the stair
,ase is riekety and rotten. On the
,op floor in a rear room, destitute of
l Cal pct anu uoCu JOlutAJ 40 hltCuCu
md bedroom, were the remains of
he once famous Washington belle
IN the kitchen table. A sheet COW
cred her person and a cloth was
)ver her face, while her long black
lalr hung down and reached the
1oor. The paper on the walls had
peeled off in spots. The ceiling was
imoky and the furniture of a rude
pattern. The little room was
.rowded by the bed, stove and
able, and, while neatly kept, the
evidence of extreme poverty was
manifest.