The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-04-12
idle HOUR BURNED
William X. Wander
bilt, Jr., and His
Bride Escape.
HOUSE TOTAL LOSS.
Young Couple Reach New
York Alfred in Strange
Costume.

Oakdale, l. l., April 11.-William K.
Vanderbilt's magnificent country res
idence, idle Hour" was totally de-
stroyed by fire, which was discovered
shortly after o'clock this morning.
Not wall of the great building re-
mains standing. All the costly oil
paintings and valuable bric-a-brac
were consumed. They were priceless,
and the amount paid for them reached
many hundreds of thousands of dol
lars.
William X. Vanderbilt, Jr., and his
young wife, formerly Miss Virginia
Fair who had been at Idle Hour since
last Tuesday, April 4, the day of their
marriage, made their escape from the
burning mansion.
The flames spread with the greatest
rapidly and though SCI rs ran out
to summon help and to 'er, the
building was seen to from
the first
There was no fire Z
hand and the fire buc.
apparatus which We're PIE
the house and stables for u.s.
emergency could not obtained.
Mr.. and Mrs. Vanderbilt, Jr., s,
on the lawn and watched the progress,
of the flames. They had had to make
a hasty exit, and provide themselves
with whatever clothing first came to
hand.
The first knowledge of the fire con-
veyed to Mr.. and Mrs. Vanderbilt was
at $3.50 o'clock. The Waterman about
the place discovered the cellar to be
ablaze. Whatever the source Of the
fire may have been, all trace of 1T was
already obliterated by the flames. The
Waterman ran to the sleeping apart
ments of Mr.. and Mrs. Vanderbilt and
aroused the occupants. Mrs. Wander
bilt had time to dress. She was then
taken by her husband and the watch
man to the stables.
AS soon as Mr.. Vanderbilt saw that
his bride was saNe. he ran back to the
house and saw that the ten or twelve
servants were awakened In a few
moments he had improvised fire de-
partment of his own.
Mrs. Vanderbilt could not long be
content at her station within the sta
bles. She heard all the noise and the
excited voices without. Unable to re-
main where she was. the young wife
wrapped herself up in her coat and
ventured out on the lawn. She took
up her station about a hundred yards
away from the burning house, on the
lawn.
A little after Z o'clock they got in a
wagon which Mr.. Vanderbilt ordered
from the stables and were driven to the
station at Oakdale, where they took the
7.30 train for New York.
The scions of houses of millionaires
never entered the Waldorf Astoria
hotel before in such strange costumes
in which Mr.. and Mrs. William K. Van
derbilt, Jr., appeared upon their ar
rival. 1t was plain that they had gone
through an extraordinary experience.
Young Mrs. Vanderbilts maid had
seen to it that her mistress was pro-
vided with proper head-dress, first of
all. A fashionably milinered black hat
trimmed with black plumes, and a
black veil, worn by Mrs. Vanderbilt
indicated nothing unusual. She wore a
tan colored tailor-made short street
coat, buttoned tightly. A blrY cloth
skirt completed the incongruous cos
tune in which she made her escape
from the burning villa at Oakdale.
Mr.. Vanderbilt was even worse off
for clothes than his wife. 1t was es-
pecially to be noticed that instead of a
shirt the young Millionaire appeared at
the Astoria with white sweater.