The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-01-29
ROMANCE OVER,
MISS HARDING
SHOT SELF
Friend Tells How News Of
Engagement Made Her
Commit Act.
CONTINUED from First Page.l

AtOS 06Sst
taken her life in the South some
years ago. Death of the girl he
called This baby" came on the eve
of his being sought for an interna'
tional honor, to supervise for the
League of Nations a $1O.OOO.0OO loan
to Hungary.
Miss HamIin refused to divulge
the contents of farewell letter
that Miss Harding wrote her.
''Her condition and the shock
were too much for poor Margaret
to stand" said Miss Harding's
loyal and bereaved friend. .'She
was q wonderful girl and loved
her like q sister,"
Miss Harding's body was ere.
mated. The ashes will be taken
to Alabama for burial In the
spring.
Father Gives Out Story.
BOSTON, Mass, jan 29.-An un.
expected development in the mys.
FERROUS death OF Margaret Harding
came during the early hours of this
morning when her father. former
Gov. VIM. P. G. Harding, of the Fed.
eral Reserve Bank, sent for news
paper correspondents that he might
relate in detail the facts of his
daughters death and clear away
the mystery which he feared would
cling to her memory always.
ITS better, guess, II all the
facts were known" he sobbed.
''Then these suspicious and whis.
perings will no longer live"
Governor Harding related q most
remarkable story. His daughter
died a victim of society's mad
whirl, a beautiful girl. wrecked in
health after q ceaseless round Of
gayety, dances, and late hours,
wrote farewell notes and then shot
herself to death.
The young woman promised her
father to relinquish her butterfly
existence and stay at home, yet per.
sisted in leading the life she loved
until she realized 1t was too late.
Then-she went to Washington for
her final fling, returning home ex.
hausted and ready to die.
Wrecked Her Health.
The pace of society had wrecked
her health and when she knew
this was SO she came back to her
home at 81 Beacon street. There,
writing four notes Of farewell, she
locked all the doors, lay down.
and took her own life with her
fathers pistol.
Too long had the baby Of the
Harding family "a girl who had
everything money could buy) dis.
missed, light-heartedIy, the plead
Iings OF her father that she give. up
her life of a social butterfly "a
round Of balls, parties, cigarettes,
late hours, and mad .daahes between
Boston, New York. and Washing
toni, and settle down to a more con-
sentative role in society as mistress
Of his house.
When she had listened and had
promised that a few weeks in
Washington would be her last whirl
in the gayer set, the flame that had
lured her scared her. and she fled
home all alone and killed herself.
Father Broken Hearted.
All this her father, broken-heart'
ed man, told The Washington Times
correspondent. He told the story,
simply and quietly, while his hands
twitched and tears rolled down his
cheeks, at times, because he said,
the vile tongue Of scandal had in
timated, since his baby died, that
things which never entered her
care-free head were responsible for
her death.
No man ever loved his family
more than did Mr.. Harding and the
three girls whom he reared and
watched over since the time when
their mother died a suicide when
Margaret was child of eleven, he
priced above all other things. In
dulgent, even to an extreme, in his
efforts to see that they had every
thing they wished he too often al
lowed, he confessed his alteration
Of his children and especially Mar
garet, his baby, to overrule his bet.
ter judgment.
The note that Margaret left for
him probably best explains this.
Dear Father" she wrote. IT am
going to cause you more trouble
and you have had troubles enough,
but I can't help 1t. Lots Of love,
Margaret"
And as Mr.. Harding slowly re-
peated he didn't have to read any
paper. He repeated 1t, word for
word, from his memory, where Il
noon when a weeping maid hand
ed it to him as he came, in from
New York to find his young
daughter cold in death.
Not ReprOachful.
Not once, as he barred the whole
story Of what brought on the girls
death, did MIR. Harding utter a
word of reproach for the compan.
ions who led her on. His story.
one of the most amazing tales of
the inner life of society devotees
ever barred, was told entirely in the
manner of father explaining how
one of his children had made q
mistake.
And while he told it the man
who was really the father of all
the great Federal Reserve system
and whom politics cheated into be.
ing sent here In subordinate po-
sition In that wondrous system OF
finance was far different figure
from the commanding parsonage
who il known all over the world
as one of the great brains in bank.
ing.
Margaret Harding. he said, loved
excitement and she loved parties.
While she grew up, a motherless
little girl, while she was in her
early teens, she watched with en-.
vious eyes her older sisters a they
went to parties and to balls.
And when she had been "pre.
scented" and had her chance, with
all the money she wanted to spend
behind her, she flung herself into a
round Of gaiety that for some time
gladdened her fathers heart. She
was having good time; she was
happy, and that was his chief aim
In life. But the pace began to