The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-05-27
ENDS LIFE WORK
WITH ONE BLOW
Wife a Suicide, New York Sculp-
tor Skaters Masterpiece
of Years.
POVERTY AND GRIEF
CAUSE OF TRAGEDY
Loving Helpmeet Was Unable to
Bear Hopeless Struggle
of Husband.

NEW YORK. May 26.-With his wife
lying cold as marble, n suicide by poison
Robert T. Paine tho noted sculptor
protege OF Augustus st. Gaudens, last
night. mallet In hand, quietly entered the
studio in his home. which Is built upon
the brow of tho Palisades, and with a
giants strength. urged on by supreme
grief and halted ambition. shattered into
fragments his masterpiece and lifc-Work-
q heroic model In clay of Neptune and his
mermalds.
Start Life Anew.
Today the sculptor, broken in spirit,
With his four little girls. will follow his
dead wife to their former home In Val
paralso. Ind. with the announced inten-
ton OF forsaking his art and starting lie
anew In some other occupation
Years of Unrequited Work.
The self-infioted death of Mrs. Beatrice
Paine. gifted a painter and writer, a
woman OF charming personality. the IDOL
lied OF her husband and four ocautiful
children. proved the tragic elimination
OF ten years OF unrcQuited effort and en-
deavor by her sculptor husband in this
CITY. a sufferer from insomnia and de-
spondent over the strange uses OF adNer-
sity, Mrs, Paine swallowed carbolic acid
yesterday afternoon, while her husoand
was gone TO procure medicine
Found Wife Dying.
When he reached home he found his
Wife surrounded by her weeping daugh-
ters dying He summoned two physl-
clans, but she was dead when they ar
rived. Before taking the poison Mrs.
Paine had secured n pencil from her
mother-in-law, but no note OF farewell
has been found.
Made Death Mask.
In the grief that reigned in tho big
Grecian home OF the sculptor, built Ike
a Rhenish castle and fashioned out OF
huge blocks Of cement oy the persona SmsI
hand laid wax over the Icy features of
his wife and with unerring skill produced
her de0th-mnsk.
Talked of Broken Hopes.
Then. still wearing his apron and Just
come from his work of love, he talked
a man of giant stature, black, haired
dark-eyed. with the sinuous nands Oh d
worker In clay and marble. He silently
led his apeetioner INTO @ the huge hse whose
ceiling Is stained glass. the view from
whose windows extends straight down
the Palisades for 300 feet and up ana
down and across the Hudson river for.
'"'' No Heart to Finish Work,
Look" he said pointing TO huge
model in French clay OF Neptune and his
mermaids his chariot, horses and three-
pronged trident, superbly eNecuteu' Ueai
Ing in every line and curve the stamp
OF genius. This is my life work Sl
what use is It now? l have spent inc
ten best years of my lie IN creating ing
finished 1t never will be finished for
l shall destroy II tonight
Called Model His Ideal.
.I have called this model My Ideal.
1t was to have proven to the world that
the art OF expression in the marble re.
mains TO the younger generation OF
But / can work no moro My ambi-
ton is dead for my inspiration and my
fe has gone from me noidyed My art H,Ps per'sheS
"Alos, poor Noquet! l now know. too.
that when the helping hand is gone the
inspiration and the light of artistic
achievement is lost forever. II was we'll
that Noquct died as he did He had been
unappreciated despite his genius.
Genius Not Appreciated.
Merit has no appreciation IN New
York" continued the sculptor f1ercely. as
he gazed at the marvellous figure of the
enthroned God OF the Waves, whose
above the floor. Ten years ago l started
work upon this model. Five years ago
had completed It and asked for public
appreciation. II was denied me, and with
my malet I shattered 1t into bits.
Wife Only Salvation.
My vile alone saved me from despair.
Her faith and constancy alone urged me
to perscyere And now my wifo is dead,
a victim OF the hopeless struggle against
poverty Outlines we have lived on the
verge OF starvation"
II have made medals and executed
sculptures for other men whose reputa-
tions are now secure What matter IL my
ability went into the expression of their
works provided the bread could be pro-
Ylded for my wife and children? l cared
but little then: care less now.
Mrs. Wilkes Dangerously III.
Mrs. Maj Edmund Wilkes Is dangerous
ly III at the home of her daughter, Mrs