Evening star., 1933-01-26
MRS. BELMONT, g,
EXPIRES IN FRANCE
Leader of New York's 400"
to Be Returned to Amer.
lea for Burial.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated FreSS.
PARIS, January 26.-Mrs. Oliver H.
P. Belmont, leader of New York's 400"
for a period Of many years before and
after the turn Of the century. died to-
day at her residence here She was 80
years old.
Mrs. Belmont. who lived in France
since. 1924, suffered paralytic stroke
last May and again last November She
passed away peacefully at>e5o am.
Her daughter, Mrs. Jacques Balsan.
the former Consuelo Vanderbilt, was at
her bedside.
DR.. Edmund Gros. head Of the
American Hospital, said her death was
due to a gradual weakening following
the paralytic strokes She seemed ready
to pass quiet night and slept fairly
peacefully.
Sons Are Absent.
> She was conscious at the end, but
uttered no final words.
Her sons are William K. Vanderbilt,
in New York, and Harold Vanderbilt,
understood to be on a cruise.
Mrs. Belmont's death occurred at her
home, 9 Rue Monsieur. where she has
lived a number of years.
The funeral services here were set for
IL am, Saturday and will be held in
the American Cathedral The body will
be taken to the United States on the
steamship Berengaria, sailing February
4, accompanied by Col. and Mrs. Balsan.
After another service in New York.
interment will take place at Woodlawn
Cemetery in that city.
Was Suffrage Leader.
When Mrs Oliver H. P. Belmont "lent
a hand" to an emancipatory movement
for women, tea-table tacticians threw
up their hands in deprecation-and
usually defeat. A forceful person from
early girlhood, Mrs. Belmont demanded
action in a campaign. and plenty of it.
When she acted in her belief that the
only way in America to gain the vote
for women was to fight politics with
politics. the emancipatory movement
received an effective impetus.
She linked arms with the militant
Alice Paul and helped draft the plan
Of attack" One Of the first women OF
great wealth publicly to espouse the en-
franchisement cause when it was not
fashionable, the Lady Rhondda" of
America was realist and tactician.
With the nineteenth amendment,
granting suffrage to women, incor-
porated in the Constitution in August,
1920, Mrs. Belmont began a drive
through the militant organization, for
the repeal or amendment Of various
laws, State and Federal. limiting wom-
ems rights as to inheritance, employ
ment, night work, compensation and
other similar subjects.
Went to France In 1924.
Then In 1924 she went to France
and made her home In that country
thereafter. She dropped the social life
which she had followed in the United
States, but from her home in Paris
and her chateau at Augerville -Rivi-
era directed many charitable and fem
mist activities.
Working through the League Of Ma
tions, she was instrumental In obtain
ing appointment of women delegates to
the codiflcation Of international law.
When, as Mrs. w. K. Vanderbilt, she
took the fort of New York's exclusive
four hundred, in the elegant days OF
'79, her weapon was q. show OF power.
It won the -Astors.
The young Mrs Vanderbilt, nee Alva
Smith, born in Mobile, Ala, January
II, 1853, daughter of cotton planter
Murray Forbes Smith, and fresh from
schools in France, captured the leader
ship of New York society five years
after her marriage by having behind
her the power Of the invited list OF
Everybody of Importance" in it-with
the exception of the Astors.
Divorced In 1895.
When emissaries were sent to find
out why the admitted leaders Of the
select 400 had been omitted, Mrs. Van
derbilt said she could not invite per-
sons who had never called. The Astors
called on the forceful young woman,
belated invitations were hurriedly dis
patched and the new leaders became
hosts to the old. The history OF the
four hundred turned q corner.
Divorced from Vanderbilt IN 1893.
Mrs. Vanderbilt was married IN 1896
to Oliver H. P. Belmont, who died IN
1908. A reverberation Of this point IN
her career went through society as late
as 1926, when Bishop Manning. Episco-
pal prelate, asked her to resign, be-
cause OF ueI uIVOGCe AnN Aeu1 s-eS'
from q board Of dictatorship OF . Sea:
side Home for Children which she had
given to the church.
/ She Withdrew, but berated the bishop
and continued her philanthropic ano
enfranchisement work on q scale which
became more and more international.
A hint Of her dominance IN home
nfe came to light in 1926 when the
marriage of the Duke of Marlborough
to Consuelo Vanderbilt, daughter Of Mrs.
Belmont, in 1895, was annulled by the
Roman Catholic diocesan court at
Southwark, England, and the action was
Confirmed by the Holy Rota tribunal
81 Rome. The petition for annulment
set forth that Cpn01elo had been forced
tntn the rnarriaaAI - her m0khec md