The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-18
RISE OF CARRIE SMITH
PRETTY GIRL WHO BECAME THE
WIFE OF CHARLES &. FAIR.
story Told by the Sister of the Woman
Who Met n Tragic Death-once
Waitress.

NEWARK, n. j., Aug. 1.-THE rise Of
Carrie Smith from the position OF waitress
in Newark boarding house 10 the wife Of
a multi-millionaire whose estate will prob
ably furnish wealth hitherto unheard of 10
simple folk in New Jersey has few paral-
les. Men of wealth have taken humble
helpmeets from walks of life divergent
from their own, and there are many rich
women in society to-day who would shrink
from scrutiny of their beginning in the
world and their development. But none of
them comes to mind as the heroine of such
adventures as befell the woman who came
/ to be the wife of Charles Fair and who
was killed with him in an automobile &C
cident near Paris.
Mrs. Elizabeth Bunnell of Union. y. 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 to-day. All
/ of US were workers. | worked around the
/ house and my other sisters worked in fac
! torieS-all but Carrie. She did not like to
work. She used 10 read a 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 little
thing she always looked sweet and clean
and pretty, while we girls didn't care so
! much about our appearance. She eXas-
! perated my mother great deal, for mother
was most Industrious woman and finally
she sent Carrie away to Newark, where my
sister Sarah had a boarding house. Carrie
waited on the table and fiirted with the
| boarders and did fancy work for a store.
This quiet, neat little girl with a passion
for fine linen went 10 New York-ran away.
! The piodding, Woodworking sisters and
mother did not concern themselves much.
Carrie to them appeared TO be person
| apart They deplored her frivolity, her de-
Youon TO dress and pleasure.
1t is not eXaggeration 10 say that Carrie
Smith was ignorant when she ran away
from 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 career of which they did
| not approve.
One day Carrie came home to the hum
bic cottage at New Market, n. j., where
the mother lived and toiled. Ii was sum-
mer day. Mrs. NelsOn-she had married
during the absence of ner daughter-was
engaged in some household work. A shadow
fell across the kitchen floor. She raised
her eyes, and in the doorway stood
woman. A radiant woman she was indeed,
tall and fair and beautiful. Rich apparel
set off her faultless figure. Jewelry giistened
on her fingers and at her throat. But the
mother knew her at once-knew il was
her missing Carrie. Carrie remained fCr
short visit. Her brothers and sisters went
to see her. They were anxious TO ask her
questions concerning her prosperity, but
something in her manner Ddde them halt
I'VE never dared ask Carrie anything
about herself, said Mrs. Bum Ill She
had way about her that appalled, the in
quisitive. All we knew about her was
what she chose to TELL and il 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 or
New York and went West. In Chicago she
Ulman. In Denver size 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 US" says
Mrs. Bunnell. We thought IL strange
that she Travelled around Once we
heard she was married in Chicago and
wrote to ask her She wrote back telling
US never to mention the subject again. And
we never did All at once her letters
ceased and we did not hear from her for
quite a spell. Then she suddenly appeared
at home again. She said she going
TO Paris. We saw something in the papers
about Charles l.. Fair, a young man from
San Francisco, going abroad with Maude
Nelson, and thought maybe il might be
our Carrie But we didn't ask any ques.
tons
She stopped in on her way back and
the next We heard was that she had mar
ried Charlie Fair She wrote and told US
about it. She said he was hard case, but
that she intended to make a man out OF
MN, and l guess she did She had way
about her-Carrie habitat made men and
women dc she wanted them 10.
Now, what | liked about Carrie was
that when she married Mr.. Fair and came
to New York she did not forget us and
she was not ashamed OF us, even if we were
poor. She took me over to the Hotel
Netherland and kept me there for days I
was out Of place and knew IT, but that
didn't bother Carrie. She took me among.
all those finely dressed people Just the
same as if / had on silks and satns and
diamonds and nobody said anything
about il.
After her marriage she reformed Mr..
Fair. Then he got a lot Of money for being
a good man for long time. Carrie used
to write Us all about il. Whenever they
were I'm New York she used 10 send over
for of and board US at those
great hotels. She would come down here
too. and visit around.
Carrie was here a few months ago when
she went 10 Europe with Mr.. Fair She
had grown 10 be a fine. big woman and
/ was as pretty as she could be She told
US that Mr.. Fair had more than a
million dollars In a lawsuit and that they
going TO live in a mansion in New
I York, where she could have mother come
and stay as long as she liked Then came
the news that she was killed
/ Il don't want million dollars I told
mother that we shouldn't try 10 be hog
| sish. If Carrie left me anything all /
hope is that its enough 70 pay a girl 10 do
the homework and give me a little more
| II 70