The Washington herald., 1910-07-03
CURSE OF GOLD IN BURNES' MILLIONS

The curse on the Burnes millions has
registered once more.
/ Sidney Love is down and out" Wife
| less. moneyless. without friends TO aid
him financially, without the prestige Of
success and good fortune behind him.
and without the glamour that his luck
! Loves luck has thrown around him.
Love to-day is at the bottom of misfor-
tune. while his beautiful wife. who was
/ Marjorie Burnes, hides with their child
in London, a prey to fears for its safety.
The young meteor of finance, the erst-
while pet OF fortune. is going West TO
start life anew. He is going as hundreds
/ of young men are going every week. prac-
tically broke. And those who know the
inside tale of the Burnes-Love romance
and tragedy shake their heads and say:
Just another victim of the curse on
the Burnes money Love married a
BuTnes-Marjorie Burnes. He was doing
wen until then. Now look at him. The
curse has come true once more. Love Is
| its latest victim"
Scoff as one may at the power OF curses,
| circumstances in this case certainly seem
to bear out the belief of those who are
| convinced that the Burnes fortune is
| crused. Love is the latest victim of the
chain Of misfortunes that for some rea-
son or other has pursued those connected
with the fatal millions. says the Chicago
Tribune
Loves rise In the world OF finance and
society was Ike the rise Of the proverbial
! rocket. From clerk at $50 a month he
became a millionaire. Success seemed TO
| follow his steps as a matter of course.
Gold fell upon him In showers with only
| the slightest efforts on his part Society
| opened to him its gilded doors and gave
him its choicest beauty for bride. And
then-as soon as he had come under the
alleged power Of the curse-the blaze
Went out and the rocket came down 10
earth like a dead. charred stick.
Love Pays Like Many Others.
And Sidney Love, say those who know,
has paid. like dozens of others. for the
alleged wrong OF a man long since dead
to the husband of the woman who ap-
piled the famous curse.
Upon this money lay a curse and
upon the men who own it, and all who
have aught to do with it and with them.
and upon their heirs, and those who come
after them even unto the third genera
| ton"
With these words Mrs. James O'Brien,
widow of James O'Brien. one time part
ner Of the founder of the Burnes fortune,
/ Calvin F. BuTnes. called down the wrath
| of the gods for the wrongs she alleged
/ had made her husband penniless and
| driven him TO suicides grave.
This is the curse which friends of the
| family say has pursued the Burnes for
tune OF 100000. which has left death,
ruin, insanity, and all manner of nnhap-
piness in its wake. and now has caused
| the matrimonial and financial wreck of
/ Sidney Love because of his marriage with
Miss Marjorie Burnes. Chicago society
| favorite and declared by Sir Phillip
! Burne-Jones to be the most beautiful
| woman in the world.
story rs Weird as POe's.
The story. true 10 the last word. is as
weird as any effort of Poe. as consistent
as the best yarns of Kipling. In the
| Counting of Dinah Shadd" the latter
author relates the history of a curse laid
on couple because of a sighted love.
In real life there is the story of the
Hope diamond. which apparently bears
| out the theory that cursed objects do
carry harm to those who own or have TO
do with them.
But in none of these Instances has the
influence of the alleged curse been so
widespread, so unerring in its results, as
| in that OF the Burnes fortune
The history of the cursed fortune has
| its beginning in the pioneer days of Mis-
4 EH,N~
dalton In ventures In. zinc mines and
| farming lands near Cranky. AS his part
ner in the first of his successful ventures
Burnes had James O'Brien, like Burnes
at that time. a comparatively poor man.
Luck favored them. They struck It
rich. Then came the schism which Mrs.
O'Brien averred cost her husband his
fortune and his life.
( The details of the trouble are hidden in
the past. One thing is certain: Burnes
came out of them with fortune: O'Brien
found himself penniless. Driven desper-
ate by his losses, il is alleged, he told the
story of what he considered his wrongs.
and, giving up the fight. committed sui
eide.
To his widow he left nothing but the
hate that his story had inspired. Over
his grave the bereaved woman delivered
her curse
You have the money" she cried.
Take 1t! Keep it, You'll find that you'll
wish you never saw a penny OF what
should be miner
Years afterward she died, still pennl-
less, in Denver.
So much for the origin Of the curse.
Little attention was paid to II at the
time. Calvin Burnes was not supersti-
tious. Mrs. O'Brien's words were looked
upon as the maunderings of a woman be-
side herself with grief and for years the
matter practically was forgotten. The
Burnes fortune now under the dual man
agement of Calvin F. and his brother
James NJ Burnes. muitiDlied and grew