The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-08-19

From the st. Louis Dispatch.
Newark, N. j.. August 17.-Thc rise of
Carrie Smith from the position OF
waitress in a Newark boarding house to
the wife of a multi-millionaire whose es-
tate will probably furnish wealth hither-
to unheard of to simple folk in New
Jersey, has few parallels.
Men of wealth nave taken humble help
| mates from walks of life divergent from
their own, and there are many rich wom-
en- in society today who would shrink
from scrutiny of their beginning In the
world and their development. But none
of them comes to mind as the heroine or
sucn adventures as befell tho woman
who came to be the wife of Charles Fair
and who was killed with him in an auto
mobile accident near Paris.
Mrs. Elizabeth Bunnell of Union, N. j.,
sister OF Mrs. Fair, gives an insight
into the character of the young woman
who made her way so successfully in her
description of Carrie as a child.
''She wasn't like the rest of u.s." said
Mrs Bunnell today "AI of us were
workers. 1 worked around the house and
my other sisters worked in factories
ell but Carrie.
'She did not like to work. She used to
read great deal and had a way Of
making us do things for her. She was
always particular about her clothes. l
remember when she was a little thing
she always looked sweet and clean and
pretty while we girls didn't care so much
about our appearance.
"She exasperated my mother a great
deal, for mother was a most industrious
woman, and finally she sent Carrie away
to Newark, where my sister Sarah had a
boarding house Carrie waited on the ia
BILE, f1irted with the boarders and did
fancy work for store.
This quiet, neat little girl with a pas
sion for fine linen went to New York
ran away. The plodding, Woodworking
sisters and mother did not concern them
selves much. Carrie to them appeared to
be a person apart. They deplored her
| frivolity, her devotion to dress and pleas
ure.
1T is not exaggeration to say that
| Carrie Smith was ignorant when she ran
away Tom Newark to try her fortunes
in the city. She had been schooled but
little and had been but little out in the
world But she had intuitive shrewdness
and an apt mind. The mother and sisters
toiled along for five years after Carrie
went away. They heard from her seldom.
Rumor had 1t that she was an actress.
They had in her the interest that a
mother and sisters feel for one who has
gone from them and embarked on a ca
reer of which they did not approve.
"Ono day Carrie came home to the
humble cottage ar New Market, N. J.,
where the mother lived and toiled. 1t was
summer day. Mrs. Nelson-she had
married during the absence OF her daugh-
ter was engaged In some household
work. A shadow fell across the kitchen
floor. She raised her eyes and in the
doorway stood a woman.
"A radiant woman she was indeed; tai;
and fair and beautiful. Rich apparel set
off her faultless figure. Jewelry glistened
en- her fingers and at her throat. But the
mother knew her at once--knew it was
her missing Carrie.
IL
brothers and sisters went to see her. They
were anxious to ask her questions con-
corning her prosperity, but something
in her manner babe them halt.
I'VE never dared ask Carrie anything
about herself" said Mrs. Bunnell. "She
had way about her that appalled, the
inquisitive. All we knew about her was
what she chose to tell, and it was not
often that she spoke about herself
The next time Carrie Smith went away
it was for a longer period than had
marked her first step into the world She
tired of New York and went west. In
Chicago she was known as Maude Mel
son and Maude Ulman. In Denver she
was known as Maude Thomas In San
Francisco she was known by all these
| names. as well as by the name of Maude
Corrigan.
"She wrote often to mother and u.s."
says Mrs. Bunnell I'VE thought IL
strange that she Travelled around so.
Once we heard she was married in Chi
cago and wrote to ask her. She wrote
telling us never to mention the subject
again. And we never didA
"All at once her letters ceased and we
did not hear from her for quite a spell.
Then she suddenly appeared at home