The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-09
CORA POTTER CUT OFF
ACTRESS las No SHARE IN FATHER
IN-LAW's S6,ooo,Oo0 ESTATE.
story of the Society Darling-Drfven
to the Stage by POverty and Mar
row-Nifnded Relatives.

The will of Howard Potter, who died in
London on March "a, was filed in New
York last week and Cora Urquhart Potter
gets not even a bread crust, according to
the reports in the New York papers. Mr..
Potter was the brother of Bishop Henry C.
Potter and the father of James Brown
Potter. So he was the father-in-law of
Cora Urquhart Potter, the actress. His
will absolutely cuts off Mrs. James Brown
Potter from a penny of the estate, which,
it is estimated, is worth between Sc, 000,000
and 81, 900, 900. The fifth clause in the will
reads thus:
Il also give to each of my sons and
daughters power to give, devise and be-
queath the rents issue and income of said
part of my estate SO held in trust for him
or her, to be paid during his or her life,
to any husband or wife he or she may have
at his or her death who was in being at
the time of my death, as to him or her
may seem proper, excluding, however,
Cora Urquhart Potter"
The eighth clause Of the will nraves even
more plainly the artistocratic Old gentle
mans deep resentment against his daugh-
ter-in-law, the actress. Here is the eighth
clause:
Having in various clauses Of this will
specifically referred to this clause, / hereby
declare it my intention to, and l do hereby
exclude from any participation now, or
benefit in my estate any or all such of the
children OF my son, James Brown Potter,
as may be born to him by the said Cora
Urquhart Potter after July l, 1880, and also
the issue of any such child"
FTEo,vG NI;r- EEUN;fosg Dnffov Ior,plfOp ~
James Brown Potter and Cora Urquhart
Potter, who is now about eighteen years
old, who has remained with her father, is
permitted to nave inheritance in her
grandfather's estate. His will was exc
cuted on July %, 1895. 1t further ORDERS
that advances of 5000 to James Brown
Potter, $780, G0 to Howard c. Potter, $40, 900
to Ashton H. Potter, and 10000 to Eliza
shares. Mr.. Potter's children are James
Brown Potter, Maria Howard Tod, Eliza
ton Howard Potter and Bertha Howard
Potter.
TIL executors of his will are the widow,
Marie Louise Potter-Who was Miss Brown,
whose father and brothers compose the
firm of Brown Bros. & Co, bankers-James
Brown Potter and Clarence Cary and John
Kennedy Tod, who married Howard Pot
ter's daughters.
KNEW HER FATE.
AT the moment Mrs. Cora Potter walked
from her husbands house she knew she
was cutting herself off from all inheritance
in the Potter fortune. She is the daughter
of Colonel David Urquhart, of Louisiana.
She is a beautiful woman, with a thought
full and amiable face. She has a gorgeous
hair of a copper bronze hue and a most
melodious voice. OF course, she moved i'll
the most exclusive society in this city. She
was intensely fond of admiration. 1t is
said that the walls of one room in her resi-
dence were hung with pictures and photo
graphs of herself in various poses.
New York society made a pet of Cora
Urquhart Potter. She was a born actress,
or she was born to be an actress. Soon
she shone in amateur theatricals here.
Her friends loudly applauded her in The
Romance of a Poor Young Man" The Old
RUse anu H {n3 NeM, a ne CaR a. MOI,
Marriage Her Rotations added to her
reputation. Her style wasaneW, her voice
delightful, her delivery effective and pecul-
iarly her own.
At William c. Whitney's house in Wash
ington Cora Urquhart Potter recited " 'Ost-
Ter joe" The surprise CONNER that reel
tation aroused was mos agreeable to
the Potter family. In 1886 Mrs. Potter
went abroad, with her mother as chaperon.
Then it was whispered here that she was
going on the stage. She herself early in
1887, confirmed the rumor in a cablegram
to a newspaper, in which 1t would surely
This cablegram is peculiarly interesting
to-day. 1t explains Mrs, Potter's motives;
it explains the fifth and eighth clauses in
her father-in-law'S will. Here is part OF it:
II am now at liberty to say on the au-
thority of Mrs. Potter herself whom L
have seen this week in Paris, and with her
approval, that she has definitely resolved
on adopting the. career OF. a professional
actress. Her reasons for this step are mat
ters with which the public ordinarily
would have no concern, but Mrs. Potter'S
position is such that they have already
been publicly discussed and are sure to
them, may as well, therefore, be stated
before explaining her preparations and
mitted that her husbands family, though
not her husband himself, are strongly OPP
posed to her course, and they nave taken
care that their opposition should be known
in New York and elsewhere.
THE grounds of it are obvious. An tpis-
copal family of high social rank must pc
expected to entertain prejudice against the
which, nevertheless, is as much of
a. profession as the church itself. The fam
lily is wealthy, but its wealth is u9n9hq nriyf
compelled to choose etween the two alter
natives. She might yield to the persuaslons
of the Potter family, with something like
noverty before her as a permanent reward,
or she might follow her own inclinatlons
with every prospect of an ample and in
dependent income won by her own eXer-
lions.
NATURAL BENT TOWARD ART.
$50 much for the worldly point of view.
What weighed. / imagine, more strongly
with her was her natural and perhaps ir-
resistible bent toward art. She has a love
of the drama, which may be called passion
ate. She has long studied the theater,
though without a settled intention of act
ing. She felt it to be her vocation, and
thought life would be empty without it.
She has the same feeling for dramatic art
that a poet has for poetry. She has post
poned her decision out of Difference to the
Potter family's opposition, but at last
she finds nature stronger than the argu-
ments of her husbands relations. Perhaps
they may presently see reason to doubt
whether personal feeling ought to stand
between the public and an artist willing
to share her Inspirations with the public,
1t is right to add that her own f~amily-her
own father and mother and other rela-
approve of her present re-
solve, and the doors of the American lega-
ton at Paris are as wide open as ever.
The American minister there, Mr.. Nc
is Mrs. Potter'S cousin"
Mrs. Potter made her professional debut
in London at the Haymarket Theater on
March 20, 1887, as Ann Sylvester, in Wilkie
play, Man and Wife" She had
modeStiy taken a place in the general COM
was the star of the distinguished people
in the crowded theater. The Prince of
Wales was in a box. Mrs. Potter had been
presented to the prince. lie greatly adj
Prince and Princess of Wales, as she had
before the poet Browning, and Bret Harte.
After the play that night his highness
congratulated Ann Sylvester.
have done very we'll indeed. We were
all very much delights and entertained"