Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1921-06-19


Copyright, 1921 by the Daily News. New
| York;
New York, June 18.-(Special Tel
egram. )--One asks, What sort Of
person is Mrs. Stillman?"
Such a question may we'll be
asked. .....
Many photographs of her are
printed, each portraying some fleet
ing expression, some making her
appear very young and charming,
others clearly showing marks OF
growing cares.
She is accused of things that
would drive most women to hiding
yet we see her about in the same cir
cles she frequented before these
charges were made.
Sc it is quite natural that people
should ask, what sort of person is
Mrs. Stillman?"
In an effort to answer this the
New York Daily News assigned an
understanding writer to study Mrs.
Stillman, to converse with her, to
associate with her acquaintance and
friends and to write not only his i'm
pressions and observations, but also
her life story. The story begins:
ANNE URQUHART STILLMAN,
Her Personality and Life Story.
Back of New York's most notori-
Gus divorce case stands a PERSONAL
ity which has supplied direction and
inspiration for the drama-Mrs.
Anne Urquhart Stillman.
And back of Mrs. Stillman is half
century of romance.
The extraordinary career of her
mother, Mrs. James Brown Potter,
the unusual circumstances of her
childhood and young womanhood
and the hereditary tendencies of the
family into which she married, make
up the Kaleidoscope background
against which her drama has been
played.
The personality which emerges
from this surge and conflict of ele-
nents is an arresting one.
1t is personality which makes it.
self felt in the very arrangement and
decoration of her house. Waiting for
her in the drawing room of her spa
cious apartment at 910 Fifth avenue, I
felt (as was said in a recent play), "as
if she stood in the room" The place
was broad, uncluttered. quiet, with
wide fireplace and chintz-covered fur
niture. The electric lamps were price
less vases of porcelain, brought from
China and made into lamp stands by
some deft and tasteful American ar
fists.
Never Interviewed Before.
On the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
bare-were two beautifully matched
pieces of Ming ware. heavily in
scribed in Chinese. And on the floor
no rugs-4just, many square feet of
beautifully polished wood, stretching
off into shadowy corners of the cool,
quiet room.
At this time Mrs. Stillman had |
never yet been Interviewed by news
paper reporters, and it was matter
of much effort during weeks to be
admitted to see her. Only her own
breaking of silence, after 10 months
of determined seclusion. has made it
possible to put the story into print.
Perhaps she heard my gasp of sur
prise.
"A biographer ought certainly to
know what his subject looks like"
she said, smiling.
| confessed that l should never
have recognized her. After which
we said disparaging things about the
science of photography
"In my darkest hours / think l
could get some amusement out of
the pictures of me which appear in
the papers," she laughed.
Appearance Has Distinction.
Her personal appearance has dis
tinction which no photograph could
present. Slight, youthful
and naughty, she carries herself with
that unstudied grace which one ex-
poets only in young princess or
gazelle.
Above the olive pallor of her face
her black hair is piled in fashion
all her own. 1t looks as if it were
bobbed,. and yet the coils above the
forehead declare it is not. Rouge,
powder and jewels are not in the
picture. This fact, coupled with the
extreme simplicity of her dress, adds
to the impression of direct and un-
womanhood.
II do not give interviews and / do
not give photographs" she said with
sudden earnestness. "And yet real
ize that the public has legitimate
in any case which involves
such large human problems. l do
not resent that. On the contrary, it
seems to me necessary. This case in
wolves the whole social question
the conflict of classes, the problems
Of equalization of wealth and oppor-
tunity.
Nothing to Conceal.
Publicity, of course, is merely in-1
cidental to the main issues. Ny
friends ask ME why / attend the
hearing Why should l not attend
it? | have nothing to conceal. My
are at stake, and l defend
them"
Then, more slowly. as some prin-
cess of the old days might have said
it, she spoke again.
"Unsought publicity can never hurt
Turn to Page Two, Column Two.)