Omaha daily bee., 1888-01-22
AN UNPOPULAR MANSION.
The A. T. Stewart Palace and Its
Weird Dwellers.
JOSEF HOFFMAN, AT vANoeRsILT's
A Judge Who Makes Tin Imagcs-An
G Unfortunate Woman-P. L. Bar.
mum on a Pleasure Trip
Clara Bellies Letter.

New YORK, Jan. 19.-[Correspond
enco Of the BEE. What q white ele-
phaDt the famous Stewart man sion
seems likely to become! Within the
past twelve months rumor has placed
half dozen tenants in it. yet none has
taken possession. and it is uninhabited.
1t is too formidable le-positively appal-
ling in the light of liability. There is
little reason to suppose that the latest
rumored tenant, the Manhatton club,
will ever get there. There is money in
the organization, but the day for Tweed
investments in the club line has one
by. Clubs go it rich nowadays, but they
go 1T cosy. also; and imposing"
is too much like imposition" to
there are ghosts about Thirty-fourth
street and Fifth avenue. The spooks OF
both Alexander II. Stewart and Mrs.
Stewart are to be matcrialized in court.
If appearances 90 for anything, ex-
Judge Henry Hilton is losing confidence
in his own ability to maintain intact
upon its merits alone, the will of the
late Mrs. A. Il. Stewart. A tremendous
battle over the vast property is to begin
in March. The broad shoulders and
towering head of Roscoe Conkling will
appear in the front rank of the eminent
counsel engaged in defense of the docu-
ment. He is new acquisition. and
Lord Roscoes fees fly high in these
and rumors about the Stewards and
their forty millions, and there will be
astounding revelations, it is expected.
This week the excitement upon MUIR
ray hill, however, is about
MRS. CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.
1t is said that in the absence
of her sister-in-law. the much
gaycr Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, she
meant to entertain and dazzle society.
But there was doubt about it, for she
had never seemed to care about social
effulgence and had busted herself in
stead with liberal charities and domes-
tic pursuits. The first mentioned ex-
pectaton is what has been realized and
so magnificently that no previous occa-
sion of the kind will bear comparison
with it, not even in the always brilliant
light of recollection. Mrs. Cornelius
Nandcrbilt's s entertainment was IL musl-
cal. Many hostesses had previously
followed the English fashion of employ
ing professional performers to come in
and sing, recite or do something else in
their particular lines. Now the
unreasonable adulation of Joseph
Holman, the ten year old prodigy,
pianist, had made him the desirable
thing for this purpose. Nothing like
the furor over Holman has been music
ally known here since Jennie Lind.
Manager Henry F.. Abbey is his lucky
possessor and with him is much more
than balancing the loss entailed by the
management of Wallack's theater this
season. 1t happened that the afternoon
of Mrs. Nanderbilt's affair was one OF
which a Holman matinee was to have
been given at the Metropolitan opera
house. So when Mrs. Vanderbilt sent
to Abbey for Holman the reply was that
the rental sum of a 81 900 and the prob
able profit of 81 800 would make it neces-
sary to demand at least $1,000 for that
particular half day of Holman. Why
should that price make any difference
to the wife of eighty or ninety millions?
means splurger:; But when she wants
will buy there is no reason
on earth why she shouldn't
have it. Therefore she paid $1,000 for
Hoffman. Not only that but she hired
Lii Lehman, the principal prima donna
of the opera, at $500, to sing two songs,
besides several minor vOcallsts ana
musicians. l calculate that her little
variety matinee cost her not less than
81 600, merely for the talent employed.
AS the Cornelns Vanderbilt mansion
was on this occasion for the first time
wholly opened to guests and 1T was
turned into garden of exotic flowers
from garret to basement, to say nothing
of such new embellishments as a new
GOBELIN TAPESTRY,
purchased at $4,000, and two
nypopSiya pcnhncfraS IL iS hnr61
possible to count up the outlay.
We Americans are accustomed to esti-
timete values by dollars and l don't
suppose that less than one
hundred thousand were spent by Mrs.
Vanderbilt to show to society what she
could DO. When l add that good taste
characterized all the expenditure, you
can be safely left to your imagination
| for the details OF splendOr.
How did the ladies dress? Well, beau
tifully. The novelty was that mnny
wore gloves two sizes too large. That is
now IL freak of fashion. Such gloves
easily drawn over the hand. AS to the
general toilets, they may be described
by n bit Of actual dialogue.
"What do you want the girls to wear
ut your reception?" asked prospective
guest of u vivacious leader in society.
II want nothing but the most eX-
quisite dressing" was the reply, land
mighty little of that"
Police Justice Maurice J. Power, the
| present boss of the county democracy, is
naturally well-seasoned political bird,
and can stand any amount of personal
hOt-shot. But he Is also a connoisseur
in art-or prides himself that he is,
which goes about as far nowadays-and
this is his vulnerable point. Since
| prosperity marked him for her own, the
| judge has purchased several good
| pictures, each labeled with distin-
| guishcd artists name, but his hobby is
the bronze fine art foundry which he
owns, he having been the first to intro
duce that industry into Now York. A
| few evenings ago Boss Power was sur
rounded ny friends an the reception
room of his home, when the front door
bell rang. The servant announced a
woman who insisted on seeing the
"jedge." The great man whose heart
is as large rs his rotund person, issued
forth to the hall, where waited an ALI
cient Celtic dame with IL shawl over
| her head.
"Jedge, yer honor" said she, ''me
boy Jimmy got thirty days this marning
fer sthrikin' me whin he had a drop too