The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-24
WARFARE AMONG THE 400.
DIVIDED As TO SOCIAL RECOGNI-
TION OF MRS. BELMONT.

Exclusive Circles of New York.
From the Chicago Tribune.
New York. Jan. 1.-THE Four Hundred
are still divided into factions on the inter-
esting question: "shan we be nice to Mrs.
oliver H. p. Belmont, or shall we look
the other way as we pass by?'
Mrs Belrnonts Champions
Mrs James P. Kernochen.. $40, OOO,OOO
Herman Oelrichs ....,.......,.,... 6'UOO,VVO
Mrs o. H. p. Belmont. 1o,WO'OOo
Mrs Belmonts Opponents
Mrs. Ogden Mills 'So'VVO'VOo
Perry Belmont .................''..' o'VOo'VoO
Mrs. Henry Sloane ......,........' S'OVoVOo
The glamour coming from the marriage
of her daughter to the duke and the prom
inent part she played at the horse show
and at the opening of the opera season
led outsiders to believe the divorced wife
of Willie X. Vanderbilt had remounted the
social hight she lost as the result of the
unpleasant complications of her first mar
rage. But all is not yet plain sailing for
"the Lady Alva." Her brother-in-law,
Perry Belmont, refuses to receive her into
the family circle or put her in society, and
his friends have taken uncompromising
ground with him in turning succession
of cold shoulders on the mother-in-law OF
a duke.
Mrs. Henry Sloane and by Mrs. Ogden
Mills. Mrs. Belmont was conspicuous for
her absence and Mrs. Mills was so fearful
that her absence might not be suinclehtly
noticed she sent a courier the ROUNDS OF
the newspaper offices the afternoon before
her reception and ball to make the an
nouncement that Mrs. Belmont woulu not
be among her guests.
1t is certain Mrs. Oliver ii.
p. Belmont will not be pres
ent at the ball her brother-h
law, Perry Belmont, is to give next Thurs-
day, and 1t is not generally known Whether
or not she will have the pleasure OF oelns
a guest at the bal to be given tomorrow
night by Mrs John Jacob Astor, who is
generally accredited with being part and
parcel of the circle within the circle that
Mrs. Mills, Mrs. Sloane, and Perry Bel
mont have formed. Their friends are her
friends.
But the situation has its compensations
for Mrs. Belmont In the first place, there
is reason to believe she rather enjoys So
cial scrimmage, and she is certainly good
fighter. She does not need to worry over
the fact that Mrs Ogden Mills made an
emphatic point of not asking her to the
dance. She has hosts of friends, and it
Her special champion is Mrs. James P.
Kernochan, than whom there is no more
ardent or formidable adversary anywhere.
Mrs. Kernochans action in refusing to
meet young man who had spoken
s.ightingly of Mrs Belmont may be taken
as a fair Roland for the Oliver of Mrs.
Ogden Mills. Mrs. Belmont can comfort
herself too, with the reflection she was
prominent guest at the great ball given by
Mrs. William Aston. but her detractors
would explain this by the assertion she
was invited because of Mrs Astor's pique
at the attitude of the Vanderbilts towards
! the marriage of Cornelius Jr to Grace
! Wilson. her son-in-law's sister. Consid-
! ering what an indomitab.e fighter Mrs. Bel
/ mont is herself, the possibility of peace
under existing conditions is indeed remote.
The lines are drawing closer and closer all
the while, and with each succeeding en-
counter the bitterness between the factions
becomes more and more intense.
AS the situation now is Mrs. Oliver Bel
mont has for her most aggressive allies
Mrs. Kernochan and the set of which that
woman is the acknowledged leader-the
| Herman Oelrichs and the rest of the gay
set at Newport outside the Vanderbilts
Against her are Perry Belmont, as per-
sistent and uncompromising a fighter as
society knows, Mrs. Henry Sloane and
Mrs. Ogden Mills, a combination that is
| indeed powerful. On comparatively neu-
trail ground are the great Astor and Van
derbnt influences-the former active in en-
| tertainment, but undecided-the latter
passive through domestic affiiction, but
still formidable.
Mrs. William Astor as have said, has
already formally recognized Mrs. Oliver
Belmont. What Mrs. Jack Aston will do
remains to be seen.
Cornelius Vanderbilt, ST., is said to be
absolutely unyielding in his determination
Ao M fOr
marrying against his wish, and that
time serves only to make him harder and
more unrelenting toward the boy. If that
is the case it is not probable the presence
of Mr.. and Mrs Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr.,
at Mrs. Ogden Mills Friday night will
tend to make the Vanderbilt pere side act
lively with her in any warfare she may
make on Mrs. oliver Belmont. All in all,
the battle wakes so hot many people who
have no part in ii now are fast becom-
ing excited to the point of taking sides.
What the end will be nobody knows, but
a cessation of hostilities is out of the
question when couriers are trotting
around Printing House square to announce
who will not be present at entertainments.
AS the fight keeps growing hotter peo-
pie are recalling the history of its earlier
engagements. At the time of Mrs. Van
derbilt's divorce there was a disposition
in society to frown down on her but she
over the Duke of Marlborough and mar
ried her daughter Consuelo to him, and
that rehabilltated her social functions. 1t
was and is still her trump card. Prior to
that marriage Consuelo had been left off
the list of guests at the wedding of her
own cousin, Florence Adele Sloane to
James Abercrombie Burden, Jr., the great
social event Of June, 1895. At that time
the divorced wife of Willie X. Vanderbilt
was in hard straits socially. But she
brought over the duke, and later she mar
ried Oliver II. p. Belmont. That mar
rage made the conjunction of the oppos-
ton to her of the Vanderbilt and Belmont
families. Perry Belmont was particularly
opposed to the wedding, because he felt
Mrs Vanderbilt's large property was OBJ
tanned by settlements made upon her in
consideration of the settlement of her d.
vorce case against her husband Perry
Belmont is a proud and bitter man, and
he did not relish the idea of his brother
enjoying the proceeds of matrimonial COM
pIications Of that kind. His brother Au-
gust Belmont sided with him In that POSI-
ton.
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