San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-11-08

= OUR men wished to marry lovely
Lydia Locke, the opera singer, and
settle down. They all married her,
but nobody settled down for a minute, ex-
cept hubby number one, who did so per-
manently, with bullet through his liver.
Not a dull moment for these hus-
bands; something doing all the time. One
OF the most charming qualities in wife
is considered to be her ability to distract
her husbands mind from business cares.
All four husbands agreed that she out
charms all other women at this.
No matter what awful business prob
lem might be bounding these husbands as
they turned the latch-key of their homes,
little wiley Lydia sprang to meet them
with piece of news that instantly
knocked all other troubles out of their
minds.
1t might be a pistol bullet, bogus
baby, poison pen letter, divorce, or
just a fist fight she had had with the
janitor or a chauffeur, but it was sure
TO be new and unexpected and furnish
thrill. Yet none of the husbands seemed
to appreciate it. Every man applauds and
laughs at that kind of wife in a picture
or some other mans home, where she is
the life of the party, but not in his own.
Husband number three, dizzy and
batty-cyed at the hectic life, offered her
100000 if, for just one year, she would
quiet down enough to let him give little
thought to business. This was after they
had been divorced and she was not sup
posed to bother him any more anyhow.
Some people thought this was easy money,
but it was not. Within six months the
strain of sclf-suppression became unen-
durable to Lydia and she blew up worse
than ever.
Lydia Locke, some forty-odd years
ago, was born in Hannibal, Mo-, of modest
parents who little knew what they had
started. As "A little girl she developed
voice of great range and power which she
used successfully in getting anything she
wanted around the house. Later it got her
onto the concert platform and she had
some success in the Western towns while
she was still in her teens. That voice
caught the ear of Reginald W. Talbot,
known as Lord" and, sometimes,
"Princc" Talbot.
Talbot was tall, handsome English
man with lordly and even prncely man.
ncrs, and while his titles might not stand
investigation in England they were good
enough around Nevada, where he was a
successful and much-admircd gambler.
She married 'His Lordship" in 1908
and became known as 'Lady' Talbot, and
thereupon the trouble began. Lord"
Talbot, who was supposed to be descended
from the famous Talbot who fought with
Joan of Arc and got the worst of it, now
fought with his bride.
His life as gambler was vivid and
exciting enough so that in his home he
insisted, for a change, on peace and quiet,
the two things his wife would not have
in the house. At last he got down to first
principles and obtained quiet one night, a
wear after they had been married, by the
ancient method of beating her into silence.
In the morning she demanded divorce
and led him over to a Reno lawyers
office. Reno divorces are quick, but this
was the quickest that ever was. She OBJ
tanned her freedom right in that office,
with a pistol, and he also got his peace
and quiet forevermore.
The proceedings were little irregu-
lar and the authorities put her on trial
e., murder. The jury, after looking at her
sad sweet face and listening to her liquid
voice decided that the shooting was in
seIf-defense, an accident, and that the de-
ceased had, in fact. committed suicide.
The widow settled up her husbands
estate and as "Lady" Talbot she went to
Chicago and then to'Paris to study for
Grand opera. In both places she met Or
willie Harold, the grand opera tenor, who
also had come up from humble parentage.