Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-03

/ 70 nearly thirteen years since the
story of the pie girl was FIRST printed
in the World. The now celebrated din
ner was the sensation of the time, al
though the story did not come out un-
til long after the date Of the dinner,
May %, 1895. The hunt of Susie John
sons parents for their missing girl,
who was supposed to 'be a prisoner in
the studios, and the girls reappear-
ance, her marriage and her tragic
death after her husband had cast her
off, when he discovered that she had
been the plaything of a great artist,
were sensations in their day. None of
the sordid subsequent events had the
glamour, color and novelty of the din
ner.
Susie johnson is dead, Stanford
White is dead. But most of the guests
Of that dinner are alive and are hold
ing positions of honor or at the head of
their craft. The dlnner-at that time
referred to as the $500 champagne din
ner-was given by Banker Henry c..
Poor in the studio of James L. Breese
Of West Sixteenth street, in honor of
John Elliott Cowdin, the noted polo
player, who divided championship hon
ors with Foxhall Keene. Breese was
then the foremost carbon photographer
in the country Poor gave the dinner
to celebrate the tenth anniversary of
Cowdins marriage. The list of invited
guests, as given out at the time, was:
John Elliott Cowdin, the guest of
honor; Robert Bacon, now assistant
secretary of state of the United States,
then a member of ]. Pierpont Morgan
& Co., and brother-in-law of Mr. Cow
din; Stanford White, the architect;
William T. Lawson, the banker; Rene
la Montague, Thomas L. Manson, jr.,
the broker; James Barnes, author and
editor; r. Suydam Grant, man about
town. Arthur O. Collins, a Boston ar
ttst of repute; w. r. Mead and Charles
f. McKim, partners of Stanford White;
j. Carroll Beckwith and j. Alden Weir,
artists of reputation: J. Kennedy Tod.
a member of the reform committee of
fifty; George e. Perkins, a broker;
John H. TwaChtman, the landscape
painter; Whitney Warren, Henry w.
Poor and Henry c. Mortimer, Wall
street men; Augustus st. Gaudens, the
celebrated sculptor; John Ames Nit
chell, journalist; Cooper Hewitt and
Nicolo Tesla, the inventors; Robert
Reid, the mural decorator; Willard
Metcalf. writer; Henry w. McVickar. !
society man; John Greenough, partner
of Poor; John D. Cheever a business
man; William Astor Chanler, brother
of the present lieutenant governor of
New York, and Charles Dana Gibson, !
the artist.
Daughter of a Mechanic
Very distinguished company, indeed, |
into which was suddenly introduced |
the shrinking little girl from the Ninth .
avenue and Thirty-second street neigh
borhood. Sixteen she was then, OF
good American stock, daughter of a !
well-to-do mechanic, and a mother who |
had brought her up in the way she
should conduct herself-lessons that /
apparently left her small mind in the
presence of brilliant men and great dis
play.
Her Girlhood was like that of thou
sands of other New York girls until /
she came to her sixteenth year, and
began looking around for some means
of employment. In an unlucky moment
she met a girl friend who had been
posing as an artists model. II was
then she learned that for apparently |
easy work she could earn $40 or $40
a week, and have her evenings and |
spend money for amusements. When
she spoke to her parents about it they
refused to allow it, but
when she promised to pose only head
md shoulders they gave in.
1t was an easy transition from head
poses to figure posing. Susie Johnson
vas of medium height, plump, pretty,
brown haired, blue eyed, and had great,
even white teeth. The story of her
going the rounds of the studios is not
mike Evelyn Nesbit's own eXper-
ences. Susie became a fairly we'll
known figure in the studios.
Then came the turning point in her
career. She was invited to play a
small part in the entertaining at
novel dinner. 1t was the occasion of
Mr.. Cowdins tenth wedding anniver-