The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-05-30
From DaShing Society
Leader to Bread Winner
VividIy Pictured.
REMARKABLE STORY
OF HER SUFFERING
Dragged Through Divorce Courts
and Into Asylum, Rescued by
Her One Friend.
BY W. H. WILLIAMSON.

BY W. II. WILLIAMSON.
"All that woman wanted
was a little bit of love from
the people whom she loved.
and she didn't get it. | have
had more experience in the
world than she, and am prob
ably better able to take care
of myself.
"She is to me now Just as
my own sister would be. She
cares for me. She knows that
when she was in the greatest
trouble of her life I saved her.
when not one of her relatives
would raise a hand to help
her."
Tells Briefly
Story of Her Life
In those terse sentences lie the
germ of a story that encompasses the
entire progress of a brilliant and self
indulgent young matron of the smart
est society to a position of determined
self-respect as a wage Garner. In the
course of that progress the woman,
wealthy in her own right, and receiving
$500 week alimony from her divorced
husband, was east into a mad house
and rescued.
Help came TO her not from the gay
figures of the life in which she was
herself so bright star, but from an
other woman, wage Garner, and al
most stranger Rich brother, rich
father of her child, rich friends. all
failed her. 1t was an outsider sho
supplied the help from the outside, and
now has opened kAe door for her to
life OF new seriousness of purpose-and
freedom.
In phrases altogether too brief, this is
an outline OF the thrilling story OF Mrs.
TON" Pierce. the divorced wife of ue
young and well-known Boston million
aire. The feminine Damon who came to
her rescue was Adele Richie. an
actress known of. but not by, the whole
circle Of the Pierces
Ten Years
Covers Whole History
Less than ten years cover this whole
story, but that brief period has been
sufficient to convert the daughter of an
old Salem family, proud in an aristo-
cratic New England ancestry, into a
leader of the most dashing set of our
Eastern society. rich and unhappy
wife. mother in uneeasing peril Of tie
loss OF her child, a prisoner behind ssy-
lum bars. the subject of a romantic
rescue by Miss Richie. and last of all
a serious. earnest woman. consecrating
the remainder of her lie to an un-
spectacular, unpieturesque usefulness.
II is hard indeed TO rec 5ncHe the al
most pathetic figure who met the writer
at Beverly Farms, Mass, with this
history. She is a frail. 1.-THE. slender
woman. IN riding suit of khaki. her
piquant features half hidden in tan
gle of tawny tresses. she stood in the
doorway of her cozy cottage at Bev-
erIy Farms the other day. little more
than a slip of a girl, She has the bear
ing, the directness, the air Of absorp-
tion of one who has learned the last
ing rewards of serious pursuits.
Hard Rider"
Mildest of Epithets.
Yet this is the woman that only a few
years ago was called a hard rider and
a harder drinker." 'tomboy,'' but
terfy," a leader among the idle rich"
She is the woman the story of whose
divorce from Tom" Pierce in 1867 was
read with curious interest and more
curious speculation in practically every
city household in the United States.
and she is the woman whose Own
brother locked her in an asylum in
Long Island
Alice CrowninshieId Rogers became
Mrs. Thomas Pierce in 1899. As the
daughter of an old Salem family she
had been trained TO all the privileges
open To New England "Brahmins % But
she had not been able up to that time
to enjoy those privileges freely. What
culture and the highest social position
could get her had been hers. but as
Continued on Fourth Psge)