The Washington times., 1923-08-30
FORTUNE.
MAY HELP OUT .
GREECE
Princess Anastasia's !. Death
Rouses Gossip as to Dis
poai Of Millions.
Continued from First Page.D

the remaining $4,000; 900 Of good
American. money.
In spite OF young Leeds en-
thusiastic assertion that he 10 100
per cent, American and intends to
live only In his native land, there
are good chances that Greece and
her tottering royalty will come in
for their share OF this pot of Amer
lean gold
\ The death of the Princess Anas-
tasia OF Greece, better known to
the world as the Dollar Princess.
brings again to the spotlight one
of the most spectacular careers
ever led by any American girl.
From al penniless stenographer
in Cleveland she became, In quick
succession, the wife Of q million
aire, HIS widow, the most sought
after woman in Europe, courted BY
half the royalty Of England and
the continent, and, less than III
teen years after her name was
known to the world, the wife Of the
brother OF the King of Greece; in
direct succession to the throne.
1t was In 1901 that Mamie May
Stewart, one of Cleveland's pref
test girls, although but q poor
photographer, met william B. Leeds,
then newly In possession OF his
fortune made in record time and
by skyrocket methods.
Made Fortune I'm Tin.
Leeds was at that time married
to Jane Gary, whose generous dover
had proved the nest egg from which
he had made his vast tin plate
Hn1sfr1nA2
Leeds himself had started only
a decade before as a poor florist
OF Richmond. Ind, and had risen,
by series of spectacular eoupe
and q definite idea that q tin plate
mill must have money In It, to the
head of great railways and COM
mercial centerS with a fortune va
riously estimated at many millions.
Then the tin plate king fell in love
with the beautiful little stenographeI
and divorced his wife to marry her
BY his first wife Leeds already
had a son, Rudolf Gaar Leeds, OF
Richmond, Ind. This boy later re
ceived 1000, 900 by his fathers will
and since then has been out Of the
running for any future windfall from
the ever-gr0Wing tin plate fortune
So Leeds settled q million dollars
on his first wife, and in the faY
of 1901. three days after the divorce
was secured, married the pretty
Cleveland girl.
The Typist's Cinderella.
For a wedding present he gave his
new bride mansion in Fifth avenue
valued at 100000. iewelry valued
at more than $1,000, 600, and an
ocean-gOing steam yacht.
These were the beginnings OF
the favors which fell at the feet
OF the little stenographer and the
dead Dollar Princess Of Grasce.
When the tin plate king and his
new bride sailed to Paris en- their
yacht they were pursued by Mrs.
Leeds No. 1, and there ensued he.
tween the two women one Of the
strangest rivalries in all history,
known as the war of the jewels.
In whatever capital Of Europe
wife No. was brought for exit.
bition, wife No. /, who was still
young and handsome, Immediately
made her appearance with gowns
and jewels to rival-her successor.
It was to put a precipitate enc
to this struggle for supremacy thai
Leeds presented wife No. 2 with
the famous $350,O0O pearl neck
lace: a necklace in which every
matchless pearl later represented
a battle with the United States
customs and finally ended witt
the payment Of more than $10O,0OC
duty.
About this time a son was born
William B. Leeds. jr. In his youth
he gained the name Of the Poor
Little Rich Boy because Of the ex
cess Of care spent guarding his
footsteps and the retinue of nurses
and private detectives whose spe
cial charge he became.
William B. Leeds, the elder, died
in France in 1908 after three years
of nominal helplessness from paraly.
sis. In the years which inter.
vened between his death and the
capture Of his widow by the Greeks
Mrs. Leeds. armored by the tin
plate millions, broke into Europe
and ysociety-real royalty's private
stamping grounds-as few Ameri
can women ever have done, either
before or since.
Rumors Of her engagement to
this Lord or that Earl were the
gossip of court circles in London
and on the continent. Artists
painted her and poets sang of her
beauty.