Omaha daily bee., 1921-04-05
Mrs. Leeds to Fight
To Protect Her Son

! Continued Prom Page Ons.I
Stillman brought with him some lit
tie trinkets or playthings for th'
child. There were many character
istics of the child that resembled Mr.
Stillman.
"On his visit to the Leeds houst
| Mr.. Stillman was always very digni
fed and at times it was difficult to
believe that he was leading such 3
life. He did not hesitate to go ii
public with Mrs. Leeds. For Ions
time | never dreamed that he was
married and had any children. II
was all news to me later on.
Mrs. Leeds on Yacht.
During Mr.. Stillman's visit Mrs
Leeds would be away from the
house for two or three days at d
time. | understood that on these
visits she was aboard the yacht, oi
which she was very fond. The Leeds
villa was ideally built for the pur-
pose of entertaining guests, although
in the absence of Mr.. Stillman there
were very few visitors. Mrs. Leeds
was most OF the time by herself.
Everything went along lovely un-
til Sunday, March 13, when a close
friend of Mrs. Leeds came over from
West Palm Beach and had talk with
Mrs. Leeds. She told Mrs. Leeds
that her whereabouts had become
known in New York and that she had
better make arrangements for de-
parture at once to escape the news
paper men and detectives. Mrs.
Leeds was terribly disturbed. She
decided to 60 to Havana and the
next day took passage on the City
of Miami.
"She left Jay with me at the
Halcyon hotel and told me she ex-
pected to be gone for couple OF
weeks. But she evidently changed
her mind. She returned on the same
boat without touching soil.
Mrs. Leeds Bewildered.
Con her return she was more be-
wildered than ever. / happened to
call up the Flamingo hotel to secure
a book I left behind and Mrs. Leeds
accused me of betraying her. She
didn't want anyone to know that she
had returned from Havana. After
one day in Maimi she took young
Gay and Bertha Potter over to West
Palm Beach, where they visited the
friend who had warned her and then
started north. .\ r.l..
Mrs. Leeds did not seem to be
overburdened with money when she
returned from Cuba. She was I'M
able to pay up all of her expenses
incurred in Miami Beach and bor-
rowed several hundred dollars from
the Potter woman, out of which she
paid to me an advance of $l0O.
Mrs. Leeds is also in debt to the
Jap servants. They permitted their
salary to accumulate and it amounted
to more than $1,000 when Mrs.
Leeds went north.
"One incident which | thought
was very strange occurred the night
before Mrs. Leeds sailed for
Havana.
Tore Up Photographs.
"She ordered all Of the photo
graphs of Jay and herself and Mr..
Stillman destroyed. Snapshots and
everything else were torn up.
Mrs. Leeds had evidently re-
ceived instructions to carry out
these plans. She was anything but
happy. She seemed to be suffering
some mental trouble. At one time
she said to me in a rather pathetic
tone: But | do try to be good
"On another occasion Mrs. Leeds
gave me to believe that there was
another child but that it was no
longer living
Once before the arrival of Mr..
stillman asked Mrs. Leeds where
her husband was.
She intimated that the bows fa-
ther disappeared when the child was
nine months old. | never knew or
saw anyone by the name of Leeds. |
The only caller was Mr.. Stillman
and ne was too we'll known here to
masquerade as Leeds"
{ Chicken" Will Fight. |
Mrs. Leeds has retained counsel
md is on the verge of taking de- |
'isive legal action to protect her in
erests and those OF her 3l-months-
I'D son. She is considering the DOS
ability Of actively intervening in the
ilvorce suit on behalf OF her son and |
nay even apply to the courts for the
appointment of guardian to deter
nine the parentage of the child and
lx his place and rights in the tangled
,tillnan proceedings.
Now is the time for me to fight"
he is reported to have said, "and |
m going to fight. | can get along.
'ut my baby must be protected"
Mrs. Leeds, her friends say, now
ealizes that the chances of eventual
marriage with Stillnan have gone
and she feels that MS at
itude has forced her to take pro-
cctive measures.
Has Been Threatened.
A very few days ago, when in the
icinity of New York, she received
message saying: "If you put feet
I New York Mr.. Stillman will have
othing more to do with you" She
5 said to have regarded this as a
old-blooded threat and to have felt
hat efforts were being made to sac
ifice her and disavow Sti1lman's par
ntage of her son.
Another surprising development is
nat Stillman is alleged to. have con-
called from his lawyers the story of
is association with Mrs. Leeds and