The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-01-15
Was DumbfOunded When Duke Asked Her to Mary Him
SHE WAS SEEKING 4 LOAN
Title to Her Texas Property Was Not Clear and She Wanted to Pay Off All Claims
 Against 1t. IF

New York, January 14-Mrs. Brodie l.. Duke, whose marriage to Brodie L. Duke, half brother of the president of the American Tobacco company, was fol- lowed by her husbands commitment to a sanitarium and proceedings to inquire into his sanity, made statement of the circumstances under which she met and married MT. Duke to-day.
 Mrs. Duke declared that she wanted to be set right before the public. She told how she met MT. Duke as the result of an effort to secure loan on tobacco lands in Texas. said she was dumbfound- ed when Duke proposed marriage to her, and that Duke had promised to give her stocks and bonds, but has never given them.
 Mrs. Duke said that she had been largely interested in tobacco raising in- terests in Redfield, Tex, that she former ly was promoter in Chicago with Charles F. Taylor, and that she was a land and immigration agent of the South ern Pacific company
 She Needed $18,5oo.
 Mrs. Duke said that she had required the sum of s1S,500 to pay for the Red field land, as, though she had possession of it. she did not have clear title be- cause the land belonged to the bankrupt firm of Sully & Co.,, which could not de- liver deed to her. Her first introduction to MT. Duke was the outcome of her attempt to secure a loan from him to develop her lands at Redfeld.
 MT Duke came up and saw me in New York, and three days afterwards he asked me to marry him." said Mrs. Duke. T was dumbfounded at the request, but he insisted that l become his wife, and I finally consented, and we were married on December 19.
 When Mir Duke asked me to marry him, we discussed his family affairs. The fact that he was twice married and had four children made me realize 1t would be unpleasant for me to marry him and enter into his family. However, I told him that I would sign an agreement not to accept any of his property in case of death, only securing for myself my own property at Redfield, which is situated four miles from Nacogdoches. In reply to this Mir. Duke said:
 "T believe in you now, and will never doubt you any more. l shall trust you and I will find way to give you while I am alive stocks and bonds, and what is left after my death the children can fight over If they want to- .
 Did MT. Duke give you any stocks and bonds?' was asked
 NO. he never did"
 Not Afraid to Go to Texas.
 Mrs. Duke then told of her marriage by Rev. W. w. Coe in New York. They lived at hotel until MT. Duke was taken away on January 6, she said. 'I have nothing to fear in Texas she added. T am not afraid to go back there, and while I have no knowledge of any in- dictment against me there, I can con ceive of no reason for one. This prop erty of mine in Texas l have improved by building houses for my help. and I have stocked 1t with cattel and made 1t self-supporting. I have also raised a crop of tobacco
 Mrs. Duke produced letter which she said was written by her husband to her father, in which he wrote of her in affectionate terms.
 Mrs. Duke said she was born near Buff falo thirty-seven years ago. and came to Mrs. Despaines boarding house in this city when she was 12 years of age.
 Her mother, she said, was Helen E. Chapman, a daughter of the professor of languages in the University of New London. Her father was Thomas S.. Webb, the father of Free Masonry in this country, she declared. She also told of her marriage fin 1885 to George W. Hop kinson, which marriage she says was an nulled, and of her marriage in 1897 to Edward F. Powell and her divorce from him in 1903.