The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-11-29
MRS. OSBOURNE:
TELLS HER SIDE
Wife of Stepson of Robert Louis
Stevenson Breaks Long
Silence.

SAN fRANClSCO, November IL
The news that Mrs. Lloyd Osbourne,
wife of the stepson of Robert Louis
Stevenson, had at last come to an open
break with her husband was received
on the Pacific Coast today with no
surprise. Those who have known of
the troubles within the Osbourne house
hold have been awaiting such move
for years. The writer s wife has come
out with a statement, for the first time
giving to the public her side of the
case. There is much criticism in San
Francisco at the action of Mrs. Ste
venson and her son.
For seven years gossip has been rife
concerning the family relations of Mr..
and Mrs. Osbourne. During that time
the writer's wife kept silent. The
public was treated largely to recital
of the other side of the case. On July
80, 1908, Mrs. Osbourne was forced to
sue her husband for maintenance. That
was the first public avowal on her part
of what was going on within her house
hold.
From Mrs. Osbourne's statement
and from what seems to be accepted
as common knowledge il has been I'M
derstood during the last few years that
it was Mrs. Stevenson who had come
between them. She disliked Mrs. Os-
bourne, it was said, and she did not
seem to hesitate to show it in ways,
according to Mrs. Osbourne, which
made her life a veritable torture.
Mrs. Stevenson came to San Fran
cisco last week and found herself in
immediate trouble with the attorneys
of her daughter-in-law The elder
woman went to her residence at Santa
| Barbara, but the deposition in regard
to the financial condition of her son,
which she tried to escape, will be taken
| to her there.
The real cause of the trouble has not
been fully known to the public since
It's beginning seven years ago, but to-
| day Mrs. Osbourne. saying that she
had suffered in silence long enough,
stood mp to right herself again ga
legion of rumors and lies.'' 1t was
necessary, she said. TO tell the story
from beginning to emu.
"We never quarreled in our lives, -
said Mrs. Osbourne, referring to her
| husband. eve were happy. | think
he was happy. We had no cause to
quarrel. But Mrs. Stevenson took a
dislike to me.
'There would have been a difference
| if there had been cause for the sep
aration. 1t was not sudden, not the
result of any particular issues but
gradual.
"There was friction between Mrs.
Stevenson and myself. Why9 For the
| life of me | can not tell. She is a
woman who dominates everything and
| | refused to have my home dominated
! by anyone. And there was the rub.
Out of the midst of this petty little
| life my husband went to- New York.
| No, there was no agreement to sepa-
rate, but l suppose we both felt that
he had Joined his mother and given in
| to her pleadings to leave me-
81 tried once to stir this indiffer
| ence after he had left me. | sent him
a photograph of the baby. On another
occasion the youngest boy-he could
not remember his father, being les,
than a year old when he left-wantet
| IN h,
old then, and as my attorneys thought
no harm would result from the meet
ing, / decided 20 arrange matters
There was some curiosity in my mine
as to whether the sight of his voun
gest child, whom he had not seen TO
five years, would awaken my husband
from his Indifference. l believe h,
held the child 5 hand
Such, according to her, was Os
bourne s demean0r. The trouble broke
out anew over the question of thu
property at Hyde and Lombard streets
After her husband went to New Yorl
and there was no hope of his return
ing she went to Italy, taking the chill
dren with her. Before going she en-
gagged attorneys and took pTecaution.
to prevent a legal coup.
The whole story, together with Thu
letters, will be produced in court dur
ing the hearing of the suit, if it i
necessary said Mrs. Osbourne. s.I'n
asking for nothing more than is Just.
intend to hold back nothing. / hav,
oorne with this state of affairs 70
seven years and that is long enough
My friends and others have heard moth
my hut one side Of the story. | fee
a. 4 / have come 20 be regarded as
: woman with whom no man could live
The sense of anger and humiliation
. winch the circulation of such storie,
iproduces can he well understood. A