The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-07-11

New York, July H,-Florence schenck
to-day gave a graphic story OF her life
as she lay I'll in bed at her hotel. she
is there under an assumed name 70 es-
cape notoriety. Speaking Of Charles H.
Wilson, with whom she eloped from her
home at Norfolk, she said:
i am glad that it is all over. don't
want TO punish him. II is too late. I
want 10 forget that I ever was such a
silly girl TO be taken in by such a brute.
viii study and work hard and Try to
make a success on the stage, and then
some day if I meet a man that I really
love I Will marry and settle down.
/ would like a home and little chill
dren. and peace, and-and-and perhaps
some day my father and mother viii
forgive ne"
On table near the bed was a heap Of
letters and telegrams from phfIanthropic
persons who want to play Samaritan to
beauty in distress.
One writer offers 10 marry her and love
her forever. beginning to-day. Another
offers her all the money she needs and
signs name which the little lady SAYS
she has never heard before. Theatrical
managers have offered 70 let her sing a
little song and do a little dance for a
large salary and part Of the gross re-
eeipts. and several whole-hearted persons
give their banks as references and hint
al broughams and rUbies and what they
euphemistically term their fatherly care
and protection
Southern ChiId-woman.
The object OF all this soHcitude looks
rather sad when she tells YOU all about
( II She has the gentle, ingenious manrar
/ OF the typical Southern chlld-woman who
never grows up. and an equally ingenious
/ seI-conplacency which IS almost anus
ing. so simple and unsubtle Is il.
She is slender. 1.-THE. and girIlsh in fig
/ ure, and her face Is a delicatelv tinted
oval. Her little nose Is straight and baby
ish, and her small mouth has lips a bit
too thin and teeth Ike those which CLEAN
between the painted lips Of a French den.
/ her eyes are wide. gray-blue back
Irlnged, and Wistful in expression.
vas twenty years old a few davs
ago, sns said. 7 was educated ia an
/ Episcopal convent at Chatham, Va, and
ny father is DR.. Powhatan Schenck. of
/ Norfolk He was a surgeon in the navy.
have brothers and sisters and a mother.
but they have all cast ne of.
| Ny father has threatened TO Kill ne.
and ne telephoned me last night that lie
never wanted 10 see me again"
The little lady sighed L did seem
pretty hard, and the interviewer was
silent. The white-capped nurse sighed.
also, however.
I haven't been away from Charley
Wilson. until last night. since I met him
ten months ago." continued Miss Schenck.
/ We met during the horse show at Nor
folk last autumn. He was introduced to
me at a dinner party at the Hotel Lor-
raine.
EIOped to Richmond.
Within a week we eloped to Richmond
and were married at a hotel by special
| license-at least, he said 1t was a special
/ license. We had a lot OF champagne. I
never suspected that he would deceive
me, of course.
We came &c New York and stayed at
Breton Hail. We went TO the Waldorf.
/ and there it was that Mr. Wilson told me
/ that he had another wife. OF course IL
1 WAS terrible shock to ne
! I thought it over. and saw that there
was nothing for he to do. If / had gone
back 70 my father he would undoubtedly
have killed both Wilson and me. 7 had
no friends in the North. I had no money.
Mr.. Wilson said that his wife was
| going 10 divorce him and that. as soon as
/ she Gid So we would be married, and he
would love me fOrever-and I loved him
I rfrrh Ia q = g-s-
| than am. and common cad, as 7 know
now"
why didn't you have him arrested for
bigamy?"
I used TO threaten to. but I couldn't
have him put In Jail I am a thorough
bred and he is the only man ever cared
for-the only one who ever laid a liuger
on me-and / couldn't make up nv mind
to send him TO prison
| He registered me as Miss Schenck and
mother at the Waldorf, and then he
/ brought his wife 10 see me. He told her
that I was the beautiful and charming
daughter OF an old friend Of his. and that
my mother had Just left me, and that he
wanted his wife to ask me to Newport 10
visit her.
Mrs. Wilson is a good-looking woman
Of about forty.
Forced 10 Go with Mrs. Wilson.
I'VE all started for the Vanderbilt farm
together. On the way up in the train,
Mrs. Wilson and I sat together and talk
ed. and saw that she was not happy.
I didn't know what to do I was in a
terrible position for a. young girl who
had been brought up as I was. But
where could I have gone?
1--WE were at the farm at Middletown
nearly all winter I used to ride horse
| back with Mr. Wilson and take long
country walks with Mrs Wilson.
| "One day Mrs. Wilson said she thought
she would have 10 divorce Charley. I
| asked her If she had any suspicious of
any woman, and she said she had. and
/ that the girl he was in love with was a
| gentlewoman. Then. of course. I knew
she meant me-
| And the little lady in the bed straight
ened up proudly. The troublesome night
gown, that had kept slipping off her
shoulder-a very pretty little white shOul-
der-slid down her arm and she pulled il
up and looked attentively at the arm.
/ Charley Wilson still loves me and
would marry me to-day IL he could" she
continued, after a moment. "He told
| every one that 1 was the most beautiful
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