Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1912-03-30
H|CHBORN SUICIDE
OVER LOST LOVE
Grief Of Departure Forces Him to Self
Destruction After Separation Of
More Than a Year.
More Than a Year.

Washington, March 2S. - Philip
Hichborn, a young lawyer, and son OF
the late Admiral Hichborn, committed
suicide by shooting himself in the
head with a revolver.
Dependency over the elopement
last summer of his wife with Horace
l.. Wylie, a prominent Washington at
torney, probably was the cause.
Wylie and Mrs. Hichborn were last
heard of in France.
The tragic death of Mr.. Hichborn
recalls the elopement OF his wife, who
is a daughter of former Solicitor Cen
eral and Mrs. Henry M. Hoyt, and a
granddaughter of former Governor
Henry NJ. Hoyt, Of Pennsylvania, and
also the late Morton McMichael, of
Philadelphia. The incident at the time
created one of the greatest scandals
Washington has eve known, and has
been revived from time to time by
parties.
Early last year Mrs. Hichborn and
Horace l.. Wylie, a wealthy clubman,
suddenly eloped and the mex heard
of them they were in Europe. There
they resided for some time, travelling
under the name of Mr.. and Mrs. Henry
Wise, the initials being the same as
Wylie's correct name. Some time af-
terward, however, Wylie returned to
Washington.
When the couple left, Mrs. Hichborn
left behind her husband, a son of Rear
Admiral and Mrs. Hichborn, and her
only child, an infant. Wylie was also
married, and left behind him his wife
and three children.
1t was his family, namely, his wife
and children, that caused Wylie to re-
turn to Washington. He did so under
the advice of Mrs. Hichborn, who adj
vocated a trial life with his wife after
he had fed with her. 1t was said al
the time that she told him that if
after a period of reconciliation he
found that he preferred being with her
she would again flee with him.
Wylie made the experiment. Try as
he might to be the husband and father
that he once had been and to resume
the position he once held, the tempta-
ton Mrs. Hichborn held for him was
too strong to be resisted, and so he
went back to her.
But before he went he effected a
transfer to his wife and children of
tate holdings, amounting to something
like $500, 900, and settled upon her,
further, half of all his personal estate,
her share coming to more than $780,
900.
Then he resigned from those clubs
from which he had not been sum
marily dropped and. eluding pursuers,
went to Europe by way of Boston,
where he was joined the first week in
last November by Mrs. Hichborn, who
after being in retirement, kept her
tryst with the man she had chosen by
sailing from Montreal later.
On Jan. s Mr.. Hichborn made appli-
cation for divorce. AS yet no action
has been taken on his application, the
matter still resting in the District of
Columbia courts.
The engagement of Mr.. and Mrs.
Hichborn was announced on Oct. s,
1906. This was just two years after
she made her debut in Washington
society. The couple were married on
Dec. 10 of the same year by the late
Right Rev. Henry Satterlee. bishop of
Washington. The affair attracted CON
siderable attention In Washington So
ciety. Until the time Of the elopement
of Mrs. Hichborn 1t was believed by
everyone that their married life was
everything that could be desired.