Omaha daily bee., 1889-05-22
WITHOUT PAINT OR POWDER
Glance at the Real Life of Beauty
Maker.
NOT EXACTLY WHAT SHE SEEMS.
Alleged Moral Degradation OF Mrs.
Harriet Hubbard Aver
She Even Lied to
HERSELF.
BeautY but Skin Deem.

New York, May 21.-[Special Telegram
to THE BEE. l-Arguments in the motion Of
Mrs. Harriet Hubbard Aver, against James
M Seymour, Allan Lewis Seymour his son
and the husband Of Mrs. Ayers daughter,
and the plaintiffs Daughter, Mrs. Harriet
Seymour, for an interlocutory injunction re-
straining the defendants from voting on 40S
shares of stock of the Recamier Manufactur-
ing company, were heard in the common
pleas court yesterday and decision reserved.
Before April 9, 1887, Mrs. Aver was en-
gagged in manufacturing Recamier prepara
tions. AT that time Seymour, she alleges,
induced her to form company for the more
extensive manufacture and sale of proprie-
tary articles Her recipes were transferred
to the new company, and as a working capi-
tai to be used at once she paid into the COM
pany's treasury $1,000. For the recipes she
received 1000 shares of the capital stock
Of the company, each share of the value
of $50. But in order to float the stock, $50, 600
was required, and this Mrs. Aver says was
procured for her by James M. Seymour and
was secured by her by the transfer to him OF
49S shares of the stock to be held as collat-
eral, and as she says, by agreement be-
tween herself and the defendant, not to be
used for voting purposes.
While she was in Europe in 1888 she
affirms that her daughters husband and his
father conspired to secure possession of the
shares, to destroy her reason and her health,
and to deceive her daughter in regard to her
condition. Both here and in Stuttgart she
says the defendants caused to be admins
tered TO sher dangerous drugs and endeav-
ored to persuade her daughter Harriet that
she was insane She also charges that her
certificate for 49S shares was cancelled and
a new one made transferring them.
Seymour in his reply, makes general de-
NAL of the charges Some of the evidence
introduced by the defense is in the form of
letters, which promise to make this case
cause celebre. Among these letters is one one
to O her sister in New York, while
Mrs. Aver was abroad, IN which Margaret
says her mother had just left for Paris and
that she (MargareD is glad to be left alone
to resume her studies. She vaguely refers
to dreadful habit her mother has (Which is
presumably the morphine habit), finds fault
with her for "tellIng so many lies, and says
in one place:
"How l wish our mother was good. IT'S
awful, and the only thing we can do is to try
and make ourselves as much unlike her as
we can. / don't think she is pretty, either,
for if you ever got all the paint, rouge, white
wash and dye off, you'd see she is much diff
fcrent than YOU thought she was. think it
was very mean of her to leave papa as soon
as he lost his money!
A letter to Mrs. Seymour from Miss How
ard, who was governess to Margaret, is also
caustic. She says of Mrs. Ayer:- ~ consider
her without any moral sense-morally in
sane. She hes to herself. She cruel, sell
fish and ignoble. have watched these traits
for one month, in which she has not taken
one drop of alcohol. l may be wrong
in my representation, but l believe
that only death will cure her excesses
or her lies Her low notions are IN her bones,
fibre ana blood. l am willing to attribute
much to the long use of morphine, although
confess cause and effect are tangled up L
simply say, from the start she had no prin-
ciple, no sell control, no truth, no pure, no
unsefish love. She sent her little daughter
for brandy at Rouen, and continually after
drank in her presence. She took Margaret
into cafes and gave her cheese and beer, told
lies, and bribed her with presents to deceive,
etc. But Margaret Is far too keen not to
finally connect these scattered facts and draw
her own conclusions, especially when she saw
her mother drink tooth wash and hello
trope"
Mrs. Ayers career in Chicago as leader
in high society, as the wife of the great IRON
merchant, up to the time of his financial
crash, was one of great magnfcence. Her
doings as writer and the manufacturer of
various lotions, etc, since leaving Mr.. Aver,
are well known to BEE readers. 10 many of
her friends these proceedings are a Jremen-
dous surprise, and the outcome will be
watched with great interest.