Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-11-02
EVELYN NESB|T But
| ONE OF MANY METEORS
Josie Mansfield, Bettina Cirard
Clara Ward Also Had Flash
ing Careers.

purpose of terminating the existence /
which was fatiguing her.
At thirty-five, still good looking. |
not yet down to bare poverty, all /
though unable at the moment to pay |
debt of $500. the woman who four
teen years ago was the most discussed |
OF her sex I'm the whole world was |
desperate. She was finding conditions /
unbearable. She hated the past, and |
the future seemed to hold nothing |
for her.
She was saved Quick medical |
treatment removed the poison. She |
goes on facing the years to come. But
an unhappy death--of the sort which
has overcome many and many a once
beautiful girl who strayed early into
pleasures pathways very close
TO her
The incident of Evelyn Nesbit's at
tempt at suicide brought 10 the
memory of those who think of such
things n long succession OF women
who are now gone; women who rode
high on the waves of riches, popularity
and gayety. whose exploits and ex-
pressions held public attention at fine
focus. but who invariably in the end
crashed down to sorrow and death,
New York saw and knew many Such.
| IL is a long way back to the days of
Josie Mansfield. but many of the elder
of the citizenry can remember that
famous beauty who flashed dramati-
cally across the scene in the early
seventies. Helen Josephine Mansfield
she was originally; New England born,
brought up in California, married first
10 an actor named Frank Lawlor. di-
vorced by him. and then in 1867 be-
coming the protegee of James Fisk,
Jr.. known as Admiral Jim" OF the
Sound Steamship Line or prince
Jim" of the Erie Railroad. He in
stalled her in brownstone house at
No. $50 West 23d street and lavished
upon her money, jewels. gowns,
horses, anything that she desired.
So far did Fisk go in his devotion
that on one occasion. boasting Of his
political power and his affection for
her, he vowed: "Ill have New York S
name changed TO Helena in your
honor!"
But there was another man to whom
Josie Mansfield's attractions appealed
Edward S. Stokes, rick and power
full. like Fisk, whose friend he was.
She encouraged both men. A feud
grew up between the men. They
! fought in the stock market and in the
courts. On Jan. 5. 1872. they met on
! the stairway of the Grand Central
Hotel (later the Broadway Central.l
; there was a pistol shot and Fisk fel
: mortally wounded.
After an unsuccessful suit for S200..
600 against Fisk's widow. Josie Mans
= field fed America and went 10 Pari:
. TO live. in 1891. over there. she wa,
, married To Robert Livingston Reade
a society and club man of this city
, who told his friends: II am drinking
|. myself to death and only Josie car
save me-" They were divorced foul
. years later. Reade. reduced TO power
", died in this country in 1910.
: short time previously Josie Mansfield
faded and white-haired, returned OBJ
scurely to this country, and. in il
). health. went 10 Philadelphia and mad
her home with a married sister.
She is dead now. Just where, whel
or in what circumstances she passes
away were matters kept secret b.
her relatives. But there We're few Z
i..ourn and Josie is an almost for
gotten memory now.
Bettina Girard is another name viii
( which New York was familiar in
: somewhat later period. Betty Ordwa,
was the daughter OF Gen. 1-Ibert Ord
: way, L. s. A. At seventeen, tiring o
= convent life. she went upon the stag
: In Washington and her ravishini
s young beauty ad exquisite voice caus
ed a tremendous sensation.
She was the heroine of the frs
slipper toast" known 10 history.
Z young attache Of the French Embass
at a supper party told her: Il Wi
: make you famous" and pulling oi
Z her little pump he filled il with cham
payne and drank her health.
i Bettina Girard soon was Marie
? 70 Arthur Padelford. a handsom
: young millionaire. They went abroa
= 10 live. Three months later he wa
separated from her. and later he wo
a divorce and at the game time re
pudiated the fatherhood OF a chill
a born 10 her.
The woman came back TO Az eric,
. For a time she was an attraction o
the stage, but she began 10 drii
= downward She drank heavily. and th
z news that Betty Girard was pickle
up unconscioues on the street" becan
rather commonplace. Often she wa
arrested; oftener sent TO hospitals.
|. Man after man married her, onl
10 have the bonds severed in a shol
time. She had seven husbands aItt
gether, most of them actors. In 1s9
after a prolonged drinking bout, sl
n was placed in Roosevelt Hospital SUI
a. fering from acute pneumonia an
Il there she died. almost fricnoless.
Is Clara Ward was not a native ,
Is New York. She came from Detroi
N but she spent much time here ar
70 ker escapades interested the who
% United States. Possessed of a gre,
r. fortune left her by her father. 81
ns was married in the early nineties
3, the Prince de Chimay, Belgian n,
> bleman. Indeed, she was one Of II
y first American Princesses.p
= firing Of court life she ran away
~ Vienna and startled the world
= clipping with a Hungarian gypsy vi,
h lsnist, Jancsi Rigo, TO whom she lat
q vas married after Prince Chimay hs
rv divorced her. She layished a fortur
4 upon Rgo, but after a time left nj
re and took up With various other me
The Hungarian came TO this count
re and fiddled IN various restaurants al
10 cabarets in New York.
he In 1917 the former Clara Ward di
ed poor and unhappy in Padua, Ital
g the wife of Albano Cassolata, wi
;t' had become her husband after $
and Rigo parted.
A still more recent follower of I
ga CAV life who came 10 a naisara bla q