The age-herald., 1897-10-24
MATT MINORS
 GENTLE OBSERVATIONS


 daughter of Gen. Albert Ordway, of Washington, D. C. Betty, in a ssnse,
 became of national importance. A beau- | tiful girl, reared in luxury. Surrounded with refinements. Educated at the his- | toric convent for young women ct | Georgetown. Graduated in the early
 sos. perhaps in 'S1 or '82. Became great society favorite. Had hundreds | of young men kneeling at her shrine.
 She loved admiration. Nothing pleased
 her better than to be f1attered and H. mired by men. She had lovers by the | score. The last to call upon her was 1 always her favorite. She was not alone | beautiful. but she was brilliant. girl without any great strength of charac- ter Easily persuaded. Promised to marry every man who asked her She ! was engaged to a dozen or more at the same time. Every man believed he was 1 the favorite one. Arthur Paddelford, l young handsome and rich, captured the fair Betty. He loved her sincerely. No man was more devoted to a woman than he was to her. Not satisfied with the society of her husband, she still .craved admiration from other men. She
 was allowed to go to the mountains with risnds to spend the summer. This was about three months after her marriage. | At the springs she passed herself off as single woman. Crazy upon the sub- | ject of admiration. Believed to be a single woman, she was courted by | very prominent young man from Phila- | delphia She became engaged to him. | It was not long after that until hsr | husband went from his business in Bal | timore to join his wife for the remainder | of the sea son. To his astonishment, he was made to understand on the night Of | his arrival that she no longer loved him, | and that he must get a divorce. This | set Paddelford to thinking. He did more | than think. In the course of few days ! he said he would secure the divorce if she said she desired it. He informed | her that he had sufficient evidence to | name certain well known man in Washington as correspondent, to which
 the fair Betty replied, s"Why name that | one when here are others, and which one | of the lot will you name first?' The di- | vorce created a scandal but the fair Betty found her life in excitement.
 | TtFwas before the divorce suit was l granted that she created a sensation aa White Sulphur Springs when she filled | her dainty slipper full of champagne a nd 'ha lad to Io1 nar known Washington society man, who | drank the cont ,nts. Drained the slipper | dry. This incident was printed in every 1 ,nelwsp4pep in the country, and made I Betty famous. During the pendency of the divorce suit Mrs. Paddelford was the center of a certain social set It mads no difference to her. She had an ambition
 to do things differently from other girls. The divorce was secuted. Before the de- cree of divorce was entered upcn the court records, the woman was engaged to three other men. The papers had
 been full elf the scandal. Excitement had
 about blown over. Her desire for pub- licity got the bs.tter of her. She went
 upon the stage. Here she had lovers by the score. Five new ones tcGay. ten
 more new ones tomorrow. She took up
 
 whose lsal name was Johnstone, and
 whose father was a great friend and | neighbor of Wait Whitman, at Camden, N. J.. ard did net look unlike the Good Gray Poet" Raf1ial and Betty soon sep arated.
 Tn the meantime. she had changed her | name for stage purposes to that of | Eettina Gerard. After leaving Raffial | she had three huSba nds making five | husbands in all, and still she Is not more
 than S4 years of age. She went the pace | that kills. I have seen her in the cafes | in Washington and New York, the csn- l ter of admira tion, and drinking more wine than anybody. Betty wanted ex- | Icitement, and she got it. She could sing | a little ard acted less. She was the cen | ter cf attraction. Of one scandal after another. Fortunately for her, she mar | ried men who cared little when she was gone. She gave her fathsr and family l great modification. As a last resort, l her father sent her ito Eur5pe hoping | she would stay there. She secured an | engagement in a London music hall but l after ona week she was discharged Her | beauty had disappeared, and what voice l she had had in younger days was also | thing of the past. Ten years or dis 1 sipatbon had worked the ruin. Poorly clad, with but lit,le to eat, the once belle ] of the Nations capital found herself | friendless and without mears in the
 European capital American actors gave
 her money enough to return to America.
 She secured an engagement in New Yo-k, | but was not suoce essful. A few days ago
 she was stricken with paralysis, and is : TOW confired at Belleview hospital. It
 was the old, old story. She wanted ex- | citement She wanted to do things tha |
 ocher girls dared not do. She cared n5th-
 ing for public opinion. She toyed with
 honest mems affections as though they
 were pIaythings. Before she went upon
 the stage she had quarrelled with her
 mother, had no use for her father, rowed
 with her sisters and brothers and de-
 serted every husband she had. heart
 less woman. Thousands and thousands
 of other women have gone the same way. 1