The Washington times., 1922-10-01
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crystalized in the phrase Human
Triangle"-or sometimes, Eternal Tri-
angle" This peculiar figure invariably
consists of either two women and one
man, or one woman and two men. In
each case one of the men or one of the
women has legitimate right to the undi-
yided love and care of the single factor
in each of the triangles. The other man
and the other woman have no right to the
love-but possess it nevertheless.
And the motion pictures have made us
familiar with the operation called "vamp-
ing" which consists of one woman win
ming by arts of fascination the love and
affection of a man, most often when that
love and affection are the legitimate pos
sessions of some other woman.
No more extraordinary Human Tri-
angle" has ever been revealed than that
brought to the attention of the public by
the recent death of James Frank O'Con-
nor, wealthy business man of Rochester,
New York. O'Connor died after a dis
graceful quarrel in which, according to
the police records, owen Dew tit,
wealthy real estate dabbler and clubman,
also participated.
Dewitt, despite his wealth and infu-
ence, business and social, was arrested
charged with the murder of O'Connor,
who had been one of his best friends. He
has said that at the time of the alterca-
tion both he and O'Connor were under the
influence of Intoxicating liquors-syn-
tthetic gin masquerading under the we'll
known name of Gordon. He has further
explained that it was O'Connor who
struck the first blow. and that whatever
blows he struck were in self-defense. The
guilt of Dewitt, the question of who was
to blame for the killing of O'Connor, will
be threshed out by the courts in the full
ness of time.
The killing, involving though it does
two of the most prominent families in
Rochester, is a more or less ordinary af-
fair simply one of many similar tragedies
since the prohibition amendment. But
the amazing story of family tragedy which
came to light after the arrest of Dewitt
and the frantic efforts of his aged wife to
bring about his release, has few, if any
parallels in the long history and multi
tudinous aspects of the Human Tri-
angle"
For, it appeared, more than sixteen
years ago, in Brooklyn, the young man
who now awaits his trial on the charge of
tiful, talented, popular daughter of the
present Mrs. Dewitt.
And not very long after that the moth
er, desperately in love with her own
daughters husband, broke down by two
divorces the barrier between herself and
young Dewitt, won him away and mar
ried him!
Before her marriage Mrs. Weber, the
present Mrs. Dewitt, was the daughter of
an enormously rich French family named
Renard, and she inherited a spectacular
fortune. Her first husband, during their
years together, had managed her property,
and to them had been born four children,
of whom Maude was one. To get Maude's
husband, the mother, who was then more
than twice DeWtt's age, had to divorce
the father of her children. 1t was also
necessary that Dewitt be separated from
her daughter by similar legal proceedings.
Both were accomplished. Mrs. Weber,
the mother, went to Reno and got the
easy divorce which that community hands
out so generously.
After a scene in a Buffalo hotel, in
which daughter confronted mother, charg-
ing grave things, the former threw up her
hands, secured q divorce from Dewitt and
fully opened the way to the speedy mar
rage of Mrs. Weber to her former SON.
in-law.
Penniless, dying, the discarded wife at
last came back to the great house in
Rochester where Dewitt had wooed her,
and there spent the last few months of
her life watching with eyes grown dull