The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1915-09-22
STAGE GIRLS
TRAGIC END-NEW YORK BEAU
TY KILLED IN JOY RIDE.

Cortland. N. ", Sept. 22.-They
brought Ida Brown, a happy, dane
ing Broadway favorite. back to the
little town OF her birth In a walnut
box.
New York's great White Way was
just ending a hilarious night as a
train crept into the Cortland station
at daybreak bearing the body of the
~20-year-old girl who left Cortland to
become a great star" She had
been dragged, crushed and mangled
beneath a wrecked car on a New
York speedway in the early hours of
the day before as the climax to a gay
motor ride to a fashionable road
house.
God took Ida home to save her
from the wrong road" sobbed Mrs.
William Brown, her mother, as she
greeted her husband in the railway
station here. "She was a good girl
but, OH was so afraid she was get
ting into bad company.
II asked Mr.. Shubert to call all
his girls Of the Winter Garden chorus
together and cite Ida's case as an ex-
ample. 1t mey save some other girl
who is too anxious for a good time
after the show"
Mrs. Brown leaned forward into
her husbands arms and. supported
by her 22-year-old son Rufus, who
had accompanied her from New York
was carried into a carriage. Half
hysterical. she was driven to her old
home, where funeral services for the
girl were held. Burial was in a rural
grave nearby. Her last request,
When I die | want red roses on my
grave" was complied with.
Ida Brown was reared in this town
of fewer than 10000. where her
beauty was admired and where
church choir directors assured her
she had a grand voice" Before she
reached high school she was ambi-
tious for the stage.
Mrs. Brown at first discouraged
her. Ida was popular among her
schoolmates and had plenty of Eel
lows" Her mother tried in vain TO
steer her into a course of matrimony.
but failing. consented to accompany
her to New York. where she was to
become a star"
ut was to protect her hat went
to New York" the mother sobbed. II
believed in my girl, but I knew OF
the temptations that faced her"
The beauty of the girl attracted
theatrical managers in New York.
Her figure was marvellous: her ewes
soft and appealing. Within a few
weeks she had an engagement.
ntL~- !, n rawu q N mo hn~ - nd nnlu
q few days ago she realized the New
York chorus girls ambition. She be-
came a member of the beauty cho-
rus" that nightly danced it's way into
the hearts of New York theater
crowds It the Winter Garden. It
was only a little while. Cortland felt
sure. when Ida Browns name would
be flashed upon Broadway in big
letters.
81 don't know just what happened
after the show that night" said Mrs.
Brown. They told me that Ida and
Dorothy Hunt met two men at the
stage door. They asked them to take
a little ride. Ida didn't want to go.
but they coaxed her"
Then came the dash in a racing
car to the Pell Tree inn. Little SUP
per" at 2 o'clock in the morning, the
start back home and the crash that
ended the brief career or the girl who
had gone to gain fame on Broadway.
Old friends of Ida Brown crowded
the front yard for the funeral. There
were boys she used TO know in her
school'days, now clerks in the town
stores, who stood about in their shirt
sleeves and mopped their perspiring
faces. The preacher. who knew Ida
when she wore fluffy white dresses to
her knees. preached at the funeral.