The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1923-12-30
Dixie Girl
Fights for
Her Honor
Southern Beauty Spends Her
Entire Fortune to Disprove
Charges of Husband in
Divorce Action.
Big Wall Street Banker

New York, Dec. 29.-Because a wo-
mans honor is her most priceless
possession, Mrs. Elaine Lee Harris,
27-year-old southern beauty, says she
has:
l. Given up her claim to being New
York's best-dressed woman.
2. Spent her private fortune of
F15o,ooo.
I" 3. Travelled $4,000 miles to attend
hearings in nine courts in five states
Mrs. Harris-who at 19 was married
to Beverly ID. Harris. then senior vice
president Of the National City bank of
New York, 27 years her senior-was
defendant in the annulment action
brought by her husband.
Harris has just lost the suit by de-
fault. When he failed to appear be-
fore Justice Tierney, who was to try
the case, the court instructed the jury
to bring in verdict in favor of the
defendant.
But Mrs. Harris says she will fight
on until her name is cleared.
In a telegram, sent to her aged hus
band from the courtroom. Mrs. Harris
branded as cowardly and contemplate
Harris failure to appear to press the
action.
You will pay behind bars If you
live that long" an excerpt from the
telegram declared.
He charged:
/. His wife, instead of being a south
ern belle. as, he says. she alleged, was
the mistress of a man he charges to
have been one of the south's most
notorious gamblers.
2. Instead of having spent her girl
hood under private tutors and in the
care of a black nanny, she was a
telephone girl in Memphis. Tenn.
Mrs. Harris, In a signed and sworn
statement, answers:
There is not Lee or a southerner
who will permit this sluf. He is
lucky to have escaped thus far with
his life.''
Whether Harris or his wife Is right
in their contentious is now up to the
:, New York supreme court to decide.
y Mrs. Harr.s' story carries all the
color of movie thriller.
Reel One.
southern plantation. The "best fam
lies" including 'the Lees of Missis-
sippi." to which Mrs. Harris says
she belongs. Darkies in their cabins.
The Mississippi. with its Lee lines of
steamboats,.
Reel Two.
The scene shifts to San Antonio
and It's winter gayety. Mrs. Harris
dimlnutive. black hair in curls, flash
ing eyes, the soft organdies of Dixie's
bellies. Banker Harris arrives. Love
at first sight. Marriage.
Reel Three.
New York. The Harris home. Din
ners costing $4,000. Broadway night
life. The little southern girl the
queen of all.
Reel Four.
The separation. Real thrillers here
"One night" Mrs. Harris said under
oath. my husband wrapped me in a
sheet and suspended me out Of the
10th floor window Of the Plaza hotef
New York's most exclusive apart
ment dwelling.
Reel Five.
The court scepe in which the in1pa.
tient young wife waited vainly for
her aged husband to appear to press
his charges. Her dramatic resolve to
move heaven and earth to vindicate
herself and erase the blot from her
name.
Harris, the banker. former busi.
ness partner OF James A. Stillman, Of
!, fers an entirely different scenario.
: 1t might we'll be called:
From Rags to Riches"
MY wife was a telephone girl In
Memphis. The small pay of her trade
could not give her the clothes she
craved--clothing for which she spent
money like water during our married
life. She took the easiest way. She
deceived me. I loved. We married.
] gave her my name and my place In
New York society. But not all the
money In the world would have been
enough"
Harris who left the National City
bank following the estrangement,
moved to St. Louis.
Now i am almost in poverty" he
declares, adding:
Man may conquer Wall street
Then a woman's wiles conquer