Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-11
WIDOW OF CALIFORNIAN
WEEDS 0RAT0RI0 SINGER
BIG FORTUNE FOR
MAN OF HER CHOICE
First Husbands VIII Provides That
Money Shall Revert to Other
Heirs in Event of
Remarrage

Special to The Herald.
NEW YORK, Aug 1O.-Charmed by his
voice. Mrs. Frederick r. Hoyt, the young
widow of a California mining man, now
in this city, has given up a $250,000 for
tune to marry j. Humbird Duffey, choir
and oratorio singer. The marriage came
as the elimination of most remarkable
romance
II love my husband so much more than
the fortune which our marriage has cost
me- said the bride to an intimate friend,
that am absolutely happy to give II up.
Had 1t been ten times greater l would
have surrendered it just as cheerfully."
Mr.. and Mrs. Duffey at the present time
are living in remote corner of the White
lake region of the CatslSill mountains.
Their wedding took place at the Church
of the Strangers, in West Fifty-seventh
street, where the Rev. d. Asa Blackburn,
the pastor, officiated.
Barred by viii of Husband
The loss of the fortune through marry
ing again is made compulsory by the Will
of Mrs. Duffey's first husband, who died
in this city about seven years ago. 1t
was stipulated that the widow should
receive the income of her $250,000 share
of his 100000 estate as long as she re-
Trained from a second marriage. There
upon the entire revenues Of Mr.. Hoyt's
properties should go to his other heirs.
Friends of Mrs. Duffey say that the
Remuneration of her fortune appeared In
evitable to her as long ago as November,
1903, when for the first time she heard
Mr.. Duffey's voice at a concert in Car
negie hall She was sitting in a box
near the stage, when smooth-faced.
blue-eyed, f1axen-haired young man APP
peared beside the orchestra leader and
began to sing "Wotans Farewell from
Wagners "Walkure."
1t was a powerful voice to which she
listened, and, as she said afterward, 1t
made an irresistible appeal. She led in )
the applause for an encore and after the
soloist had made his final bow she in
uuired among her friends If anyone knew
him. One did, and an Introduction fol-
lowed.
Mrs. Hoyt told the singer of her in
tense love for music and how she had be-
gun in her teens to take lessons In voice
culture because of her childish ambition
to be a prima DONNA. Then there was
a time her hopes of being a singer were
crushed out. But of late her old longing
had come back, and to appease it she had
been devoting herself arduously to mu-
steal studies, having gone abroad for the
purpose of working under eminent teach
ers.
Other meetings followed, and together
the two attended concerts and opera, UNI
It'll one evening the singer learned from
the heress the fact that a marriage would
rob her of her fortune.
upon this discovery said an intimate
friend of the former Mrs. Hoyt yesterday,
''the young soloist sought to end their
friendship by saying that each should go
a separate way and try to forget the
other" To this Mrs. Hoyt at last as
scented.
Drawn to a Wagner Shrine
Only a few months had passed, how
ever, before the two were brought to-
gether quite accidentally on the lawn of
| the Triebsehen villa, near Lucerne,
Switzerland, hallowed in the minds of all
music lovers as being the home of Wag-
| ner in that eventful six-year period of
his life when he wrote 1.-THE Meistersing-
err" "Gotterdammerung' and "Siegfried."
Both the heiress and the singer had been
pilgrims to a common shrine.
Before they separated they agreed that
neither should ever again try to forget
the other.
Mrs Duffey, however, is not the only
person who will suffer financially as the
result of her recent marriage. Ever since
she became the widow of Frederick R.
Hoyt she shared the income of her fort
une with her sister, Miss Mettie Stewart.
who lives at 81 East Eighty-flrst street,
and also with her father and mother,
whose home is at Spokane, Wash The
father has position there in the govern
ment service.
The heirs of Mr.. Hoyt who will receive
the fortune which the singers bride
loses are two married sisters, one of
whom is in Europe at the present time.