The Washington times., 1923-01-19

LONG VIGIL
Tells ON
WIFE
Continued from First Page)

years ago. Miss Davenport gave
up her stage and screen career to
make the Reid home one OF the
most delightful in Hollywood. She
was with her husband constantly
during his, fight, braveiy and with.
out reserve gave the news to the
world Of his battle, and night and
day nursed in his last illness. He
died in her arms.
Kept Faith Till End.
Almost until the last Reds
thoughts were conferred upon re.
turning to work. In moments Of
delirium he would call for his
chauffeur to take him to the
Studio. But few days before his
death he was visited by Teddy
Hayes, trainer to Jack Dempsey
and who had been Reds athletic
adviser. Reid wanted to know when
Jack Dempsey would box again and
had Hayes play on the phonograph
saxophOne records-Wally's favorite
instrument.
soon as word OF his death was re;
ceIved ana the entire film world
is -pected to cease activities
Mon..ay as a final mark Of respect.
The pretentious Reid home is
reported to have been slightly
-mortsaeed during the last days of
Reds illness. However, the star
y As said to have had $4,000 life
: Insurance.
Fought for Two Years.
For two years Wallace Reid, six
feet two. a tower Of physical man
hood, fought against the double
enemy, whiskey and dope.
Last October he took the fight
into his own hands. Put on half
nav by the Lasky Corporation be.
! ring for 'sNobody's Money" Reid,
supposedly q victim Of ''Kleig eyes"
an affliction due to the intensity OF
the KIeig lights under which certain
scenes are made, was really a
broken-down, hopeless victim OF the
1eprosy Of morphine.
Whiskey added 70 his torments
or relieved them sometimes, but
without morphine Reid, at thirty
two, had become chattering, raw
ing. drooling maniac. With it he
was q dull, morse, futile actor,
/; sour on the world, eager only for
more Of the poppy, for one more
hour Of mildness, to be succeeded by
Doomed by Second Fan.
Reid went out ON q self-imposed
: campaign Of recovery. He pledged
his word as q man to his wife, his
mother, and his ufiknowing son that
had brought him 80 low.
: For six weeks he stuck Il out in
the mountains, with q physical
trainer, abstaining from booze and
/ dope, and living the life Of the open.
{ Then he came down to the lot
again and was welcomed, for they
were awaiting his appearance as
the star in "Mr. Billings Spends His
Dime"
But spirit, though willing, was
too weak, and the flesh also. Once
: more Wa1ly Reid fell, and In twenty.
four hours from his fall doctors al
most pronounced his doom.
That was early in December. At
the hospital to which he was taken
It was given out that he was SUI
/. fering from influenza. threatened
with pneumonia, and that his pres
ent illness was not due to liquor or
dope.
But the doctors privately shook
their heads. They marveled at
the resistance which a body, once
Weighing 200 pounds and built In
proporti6n, was offering to the
mysterious inroads of q disease
which had dragged him down to
40 and less. They marveled at
the mans devotion to his family,
at his olgerness to live, at his re-
eponSG to every effort the phyei-
clans made to bring him back from
the Valley Of the Shadow.
Hard Battle for Naugi1t.
( Mrs. Reid and her mother-in-law
lived at his bedside. Will II. Hays,
car Of the movies, came and shook
Wally's hand, saying he would be
the first TO welcome him back on
the lot, having fought the big fight
and won.
70 But it was all for naught. The
dysentery/ which brought De Quin-
eye to his grave, which eats out the
system Of every morphine addict,
had taken too great a hold. upon
the body that once had capered
and pranced so eagerly for the en-
tertainment of a million movie fans.
He never knew that the great
public which worshipped him and
for which he lived so eagerly, had
been made aware of his weakness.
he wanted them to know, but in his
own good time, as he told his wife.
Some day, he said, as she sat be.
SIDE him, driving back with cheer.
1ul smiles the tears that rose un.
bidden, the public was going to
know all about how he had fallen
all about how q score of other I'm
the film game had fallen, were fall
ing and were slipping down the
path toward the precipice over
which he had gone.
Now he 10 gone and the public
knows II all.
Causes Widespread Sorrow.
Not since William Desmond Tav.
Tor was shot In his bungalow here
last February 1, victim, as all be.
heVe, Of man or woman or both
who hated him for his sincere opno.
sttion to the dope system as It then
prevailed-and still to q large meas.
ure, though more secretly, prevails
has death caused such universal
sorrow in filmdom. The murder of
Taylor was shocking; the death of
Wally Reid is tragic.
John Bunny was the only other
great movie star whose death
brought tears to the lots. But that
:. was some years ago, and WaIly
Reds death hurts the profession,
hurts the men and women who have
been trying 50 hard to profess that
all the stories of HoIlywood's we'll
curtained depravities We're fearful
exaggerations.