Evening star., 1935-05-25
WIFE Of AUTHOR
COMMITS SUICIDE
Mrs. Emily Whitfield Shoots
Self in Bed on $4,000
Acre Ranch.
5y the Associated Press.

6y the Associated Press.
LAS VEGAS, N. Mex, May 25.-The
full pattern of the bizarre life OF Mrs.
Emily Whitfield, New York Soclallte,
former wife of William H. Vanderbilt,
lettuce fancier, and moody mistress OF
a l5,000-acre ranch, was unfolded to-
day by her suicide.
Attendants assertions that the es-
tranged wife of Raoul Whitfield, the
author, feared her eyesight was fail
ing and that she was anxious to see
the daughter Of her marriage to VAN
derbilt filled in the outline etched by
witnesses at a coroner's inquest. The
coroner's jury pronounced her death
suicide.
Some friends disputed the state
ment that her sight was affected, say
ing she always had worn glasses with
thick lenses and that she occasionally
did not care to recognize persons who
approached her.
Pictured as DespOndent.
The inquest testimony pictured her
as a deSpondent woman in her 30s
pressing for third divorce in as many
society marriages.
Il want my daughter" she told a
handyman and bodyguard, he related,
when he asked the cause of her worry.
The child, about 9 years old, now
Is with Vanderbilt in Cannes, France.
The outside world began unravel-
ing the strange story yesterday morn
ing when Mrs. Whitfield, clad in
pajamas and a flowing robe, was
found dead upon her bed. In one
hand she grasped a .36-calibre re-
volver.
The scene was Deadhorse Ranch,
25 miles west of here, the once happy
home she and Whitfield acquired
nearly two years ago.
Filed Divorce Suit.
This was the rambling, adobe es-
tate, complete with polo field and
quarters for blooded cattle, for which
Mrs Whitfield virtually deserted
Newport and Palm Beach. Suddenly
out of the outwardly harmonious
menage, in which Whitfield wrote a
successful movie and his wife de-
veloped a vegetable garden, came
word in February that she had filed
suit for divorce.
Fresh from a New York visit, she
went to Santa Fe Thursday to dis
cuss the suit with her attorney. Whit
field was in Hollywood
When Victor Chervet, her body
guard and ranch manager, returned
from purchasing eggs Thursday night
he found, he said, that she had fired
three shots from a window with a
revolver another attendant apparently
had loaded for her. Chervet said he
refused to load the weapon at her
request.
A Las Vegas friend, Mrs. Virginia
Hayden Stone, visited Mrs. Whitfield,
but was unable to accept an invita-
ton to spend the night at the ranch.
Receives Massage.
As was his nightly custom, Chervet
related, he gave Mrs. Whitfield mas
sage prescribed by her New York
physician.
Turn the radio on loud and give
me another drink, need relaxation, -
Chervet quoted her.
Last (Thursday) night seemed to
be like any other night except she
seemed to be despondent and tense" 4"
recounted the employe. Her ranch
hands said she had been finding it
difficult to recognize persons more than
five or six feet away.
Mrs. Whitfield had often appeared
afraid of something unknown to
me-" said Chervet.
He recalled she had asked often for
a loaded pistol and had remarked that
the revolver made too much noise.
And her last command for the night
was to turn the radio on loud-it still
blared in the bed room in the morn
ing when another attendant, EseQuiel
Segura, lighting open fires, found the
body. Mrs. Whitfield had retired about
II pm. and investigators theorized the
shot, unheard by the rest of the house
hold, was fired near midnight.