Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-04-06
CLARA LOUISE KELLOGG.
The story About Her Poverty is De
MED by Il Friend.


Jeanette L. Glider in the Critic.
friend in Washington sent me few
days ago a clipping from The Star of that
city. which had been copied from the Phil
adelphia Times. The head lines over the
extract read: Wealth to Poverty. A Once
Gifted Songstress with Barely Enough to
Sustain Life" and this was the opening
paragraph:
I'm that stony region given over to
boarding houses near 10th street and Sd
avenue, in the city of New York, there
lives in small hall room gray. withered
woman whose gifts once made her famous.
Her face is pallid and drawn, and around
Ter sunken. black eyes are dark circles.
She speaks to no one and only gees out In the
evening to get a meal at some cheap res
taurant on the East Side. And this wo-
n an Is Mrs. Strakosch, nee Clara Louise
Kellogg. There is hardly a music-loving
Philadelphia who will fail to- recall her"
Now this was startling news to me. Mrs.
Strakosch and 1 have been intimate friends
for some twenty-five years: so you can
imagine that such a statement as this
gave me something of a shock as well as
surprise. l was particularly surprised
as only on Sunday last had lunched with
her at her apartment in the WestmoreiaEd
at 18th street and Union square-a very
eood luncheon, too. for her cook is an ad-
U:rable one, and I had not suspected the
approaching change in her condition. 1t
must have been terribly sudden change,
indeed. for while her dark-brown hair was
vas not unmixed with gray, there were
no signs of whitening about her. In fact
should have called her decidedly plump
Her race may have been ''pallid," For she
never at any time had much color, but her
eyes We're not "sunken," neither We're
there dark circles under them. She
speaks to no one" says this paragraph,
" &c Of lrtt
for she talked good deal to me. especial
ly about opening her country house earlier
than usual this spring, and promised me
long drives behind her team of bays if !
would pay her a longer visit than ] usually
do. after the laurels had begun to blossom
| remember now that she did say some
thing about going out at right; she had
bought seats to see Rejane Cat $50 EACH,
not matinee
OF course. after reading this statement,
L went at once to the WeStmoreland to see
what had caused so sudden a change, not
only in Mrs. Strakosch's personal appear
ance, but in her financial condition well.
and to offer what small assistance l might
to my old friend. The apartment looked
just the same. There were the Turkish
rugs on the floors, the costly paintings on
the walls. the cabinets filled with silver
gimcracks. the silk embroideries. the Vene-
tan glass. the fine old Notwithstanding
had happened to them, at least. The prma-
donna's voice called me into the library,
where, spread on lounge and chairs, We're
a lot of newly imported gowns she had
just bought and wished me to admire. She
had not withered a Bit never saw her
looking better. l looked at her bright eyes.
but could see no dark circles. She was I'm
the best of spirits and seemed very pleas
ed with her purchases. l could not under
stand it. There were no signs of poverty
here. and yet the newspaper had been very
explicit. and newspapers are so careful
to be correct when making statements
about people. l made some excuse to get
into the music room. and there. undetect-
ed 1 drew the newspaper clipping from
my pocket and read the closing paragraph
She now had an estate amounting to
half million and took good care of 1t I'M
til 1881, when she met an Englishman
named Durfee, a plausible fellow, who
wanted to establish In England a big pub
fishing house like Norman Munro & Co.'S
turn out the same class of literature. and
Mrs. Strakosch put in 100000. Her re-
turns were 20 per cent. paid out of her
money it was afterward discovered.
About SiOOOO was obtained from her and
then the smash came. There was still a
moderate competency left, but this went
into bucket shops and mining shares and
with this came the end"
Now here was something like truth at
last. This statement had some foundation.
and here it is: At the time that Mr.. o. NJ.
Durham bought out the American interest
of Cassell & Co. of London he organized a
stock company, and Mrs. StrakoSch bought
81 800 worth of stock. For one or two years
she got 10 per cent interest. Then came the
crash. Mr.. Durham fled. and she was
"cut" just the $500 she had put into the
business. She did think of buying more
stock when the company was reorSaniZed,
but decided that she had better not sell any
of her railroad stocks and bonds at that
time. for they were all paying a fair rate
of interest. The "Englishman named Dur
fee is probably the American named Dun
ham. and the 100000 should be $500. No
reporter would spoil a good story for such
slight differences. I only wonder that,
| while he was at it. he did not make it just
| a little more picturesque by saying that the
| old crone sitting on the curbstone at 14th
| street and 4th avenue. grinding her hurdy-
| gurdy with one hand and holding out a tin
| cup for pennies with the other, was none
| other than the once famous prima-donna
| Clara Louise Kellogg.