The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-08
MRS. WHILE ASKS DIVORCE, NAMING
 MRS. H|CHb0RN
Sequel to Society Elopement in Washington and Futile
 "Trial Reconciliation"

Washington, July 8.-Mrs. Elinor M. Hichborn, wife of Philip IS. Hich- born, who startled society here in 1910 by eloping with Horace Wylie, 8 veal thy clubman twenty years her senior, was named yesterday as correspondent in suit for absolute divorce brought in the District Supreme Court by Mrs. Katherine V. H. wylie.
 Sensational as the elopement was it was quite oatdone a year later. when Mrs Hichborn made the bizarre sug- gestion to Mrs. Wylie that she take her husband back for five months un- der reconciliation pact and deter mine if they could get along well enough to continue living together. She wanted to prove. she said, that the elopement was one of the perman- ent sort and not the usual escapade. , For the sake of her four. children. one student at Yale, Mrs. Wylie ac- cepted the proposal. and for five months lived under the same roof with her husband. It was the first trial reconciliation" Washington had experienced and the outcome was watched with keen interest. Mrs.
 
 limit expired Wylie went back to her. Mrs. Wylie states in her complaint that she was married April 30, 1895. and she and her husband lived hap oily together until Dec. IS, 1910, when wylie vanished, leaving a note in which he said he had gone away with Mrs. Hichborn. Mrs. Wylie was pros- trated, aa was Hichborn, a son of Rear Admiral Philip Hichborn, chief constructor of the United States Navy.
 Every effort was made by Hichborn and Mrs. tWylie to keep the elopement secret, but 1t became known and was discussed in the clubs. at the White House dances. where all four often had been the guests of the President at all social functions.
 Then Hichborn sued for divorce, naming wylie. The case was on the calendar for trial when, on March 27, 1912, Hichborn shot himself in the head. Death was instantaneous. He left note saying that for some time he had failed in health and most of the time was unaccountable fer his acts. It was generally believed his mind had been impaired by grief and the disgrace brought upon him by his wife's actions.
 x Mrs. wylie set forth that the trial reconciliation occurred in 1911. Wy lie, who had been travelling abroad with Mrs. Hichborn, returned to the United States and made the proposal suggested by Mrs. Hichborn. In the fall of that year the plaintiff and de- fendant, with their children, went abroad and toured the Continent. Then came the final separation. According to Mrs. wylie her husband left her Sept 26, saying he must go back and live permanently with the co-respop- dent"
 Since this date. Mrs. Wylie asserts. her husband has been constantly in the company of Mrs. Hichborn. living with her in places unknown to the plaintiff These places he has. Mrs. wylie declares. succeeded in keeping secret from her.
 As a further reason for the divorce Mrs. wylie says the possibility of her husband surviving her has influenced her in making the application. She fears, she says. that in this event Wy lie might claim paternal authority over the children, which in law and in morals he has forfeited"
 While wylie had been seen ire ouently in Mrs Hichborn's company society was not prepared for the latest development wylie was forty-eight years old at the time of his elopement and Mrs. Hichborn, who was twenty eight was regarded as one of the beau ties of society. Mrs. Hichborn before her marriage was Elinor .Hoyt, daughter of the late James Hoyt, who for quarter of a century was solicitor for the State De- partment Her sister, Miss Constance Hoyt, was the wife of Ferdinand won Stumm. then First Secretary of the German Embassy at Rome.
 Hichborn was a lawyer and writer of fiction and held quite as high a so- cial position as wylie. He was veal thy and provided lavishly for his young wife. All told. the match was considered an admirable one. The in timacy of the two families started shortly after the Hichborns settled In a beautiful home in Thomas Circle, short distance from the Wyiie home. n