New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-08-13
Miss Fontaine, Specialist
i'm Oriental Steps, AL
leges Breach of Prom
ise to Marry H e r
Romance Began
I'm 1919. She Says
Asserts She Met Him at
Ritz-Carlton Affair Given
by Mrs. w. X. Vanderbilt

| Evan Burrowes Fontaine, specials,
in Oriental dances, is seeking to re.
cover 1000, 900 from Cornelius Wander.
bilt Whitney, son of Harry Payne Whit
ney and grandson of the late Corne.
lius Vanderbilt, alleging breach o1
promise to marry.
| Legal action was started in Saratogs
County by Miss Fontaine's attorney
Edgar T. Bracket, a month ago, but
! the nature of the suit was not dis.
closed until yesterday, when Charles
Firestone, counsel for the dancer, men
| toned it in the course of argument on
was to have been filed yesterday after,
| noon, it was said, but the papers did
not reach the County Clerks Office un-
til the closing hour.
Mr.. Firestone was arguing motion
| for an order to show cause why young
Mr. Whitney should not be compelled
to accept the complaint. No decision
on the motion was made. Judge Borst
gave the attorneys until September 8
to file additional afRdavits.
The action was characterized BY
James A. Leary, Saratoga Springs, ap
pearing for the defendant, as "black
mailing plot" In an opposing mott on
he requested the court to delay decision
until opportunity could be given Whit
ney's attorneys to secure affidavits from
persons living in Texas, where, he said
Miss Fontaine formerly resided. Elk
planning his request, Mr. Leary sale
that the affidavits were to show the
reputation and method of living of Miss
Fontaine while she was in Texas, add
ing that he also desired to offer docu
mentary proof that the dancer had beer
married while there and that the mar
riage had been annulled.
Dancer Has Infant Son
In the course of his argument Mr.
Firestone said that Whitney had been
courting his client since May 25, 1919
and asked her to marry him October
%, 1920. She consented, the attorney
continued, and the wedding was set for
October 81, but never took place.
Whitney had made repeated prom
ises to marry the dancer, said Mr..
Firestone, during his courtship, and
she was still ready to marry him. She
is the mother of son who was born
in the Lying-In Hospital in this city
December IA, 1920.
Mr.. Firestone asserted that the case
was started year ago, but no attempt
ildu Deth AlduS uliIil TeCeuIly 10 serve
papers, when the defendant refused
service.
Miss Fontaine is Greenwich Vii.
lage dancer. She introduced Indo-Chi
| nese dances in Europe and in this
country two years ago and met with
great success. During her stage career
she confded her romance with young
Mr., Whitney to reporter.
She said she met him in March, 1919
at dance given by Mrs. w. K. Wander.
bilt at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and that
he had been assiduous in his attentions
visiting her every week end for months
afterward. In April, 1919, She declared
he proposed to her at dinner at the
Vanderbilt Hotel, but she felt that she
ought not to accept him because she
was still the wife of Sterling l.. Adair
of Houston, Tex.
Her marriage to Adair was annulled
In July, 1920. Two months before, she
said, she had suggested to Mr.. Whitney
that, as annulment was certain, he
ought to be getting ready to marry her
Whitney then was sophomore at Yale
where he was captain of the varsity
crew last year, and, according to Miss
Fontaine, replied:
Well wait until after the Harvard
Yale boat race and then I'll come down
and we'll get married"
Family Objection Is Blamed
To the reporter whom she made her
confidant Miss Fontaine said that she
did not see her young swain again
until October, 1920, when he told her
that he would have married her except
that his family objected.
Mrs. Florence E. Fontaine, of 181
Lefferts Place, Kew Gardens, Queens
the dancers mother, was quoted during
the period when rumor was busy with
the Fontaine-W Whitney suit, as saying
it was boy and girl tragedy brought
about by the objection Of the Whitney
family to the marriage. This state
ment was repudiated later by Mr.
Brackett.
Mrs. Fontaine, according to dis
patches from Los Angeles, was TO have
Joined her daughter there yesterday
with the latter's son, but was marooned
in the Nevada desert by the railroad
strike. Miss Fontaine was quoted as
saying that she knew of the contem
plated suit, but did not know it had
been fled.
81 wanted to drop the case entirely,
she said, "but my attorney advised
against that"