Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 114, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1914 — WAS SOCIETY QUEEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WAS SOCIETY QUEEN

Mrs. Marie Vaughn Siegel Declares She Is Penniless. \ • , Wife of Former "Merchant Prince,” One Time a Newspaper Reporter, Developed Into Leader of the Ultra-Fashionable Set. New York.—Mrs. Marie Vaughn Siegel, wife of Henry Siegel, head of a former banking concern at Boston, took the witness stand when the grand jury investigation of her husband’s former business opened in the latter city. Mrs. Siegel, a former society leader in the Massachusetts city, revealed to the world the fact that she is practically penniless. Thie investigation came as a climax to Mrs. Siegel’s social career, which began three years after her marriage to Henry Siegel on April 24, 1898, and continued partly in this country, but particularly in London and Paris, almost contihuously until 1912, 'during which time she spent great sums of money. Mrs. Siegel, who was at that time Mrs. Wilde, came to New York in 1896 with her two daughters. Misses Georgine and Dorothy. They came from Virginia where their family name was prominent, and Mrs. Siegel became a reporter on the New York Press for which she wrote fashion articles. While engaged in thiß work she was given as an assignment a display at the Siegel store. Shortly after a position was offered her in the store, and she accepted it at considerable

more pay than she received as a newspaper writer. The marriage of Mrs. Wilde and Siegel, "the merchant prince,” followed the next April. Then Siegel began spending money as though there was

no limit to his resources. His own daughter, Miss Julia Siegel, and other relatives, began to take *a hand in his New York affairs. A beautiful New York.home, show places and establishments in other parts of the country were secured.

Mrs. Siegel’s first social coup came at the yacht cup races in 1903, when she met Sir Thomas Lipton, and she was invited to be a guest on his yacht. Later she was one of his guests on a trip to Chicago. Prominent people began to be entertained her at her home at Driftwood at Mamaroneck. Among her guests was Lady Sweetenham, wife of a former governor of Jamaica. On her trip to London in 1904, Mrs. Siegel was sponsored in society by Mrs. Arthur Paget. One of her first elaborate and costly entertainments was in honor of . the duchess of Sutherland, and later Mrs. Siegel was one of the few American women present at a reception given by the duchess to Joseph Chamberlain. Her greatest stroke was on the occasion of a bazaar at'the Victorian hospital, when, in charge of the book stall, she determined to get several famous autographs, and succeeded in securing the signature of Queen Alexandra of England. Meantime her stepdaughter, Miss Julie, became the bride of Tyrell William Cavendish, a relative of the duke of Devonshire; (and in 1906 her own daughter, Georgine, was married to Count Carlo Dentlce de Frazzo, an Italian nobleman. The year 1912 was the banner year for Mrs. Siegel In a social way. First she entertained the Infanta Eulalia of Spain at her elaborate apartment in the Avenue Malakpff, Paris. Then came as her guest the Countess Esterhazy of Austria and Princess Hohenlohe of Germany. Then came the fall of the house of Siegel, the story of which was revealed before a grand jury at Boston. The Siegels found, to their surprise, that their bank roll was not unlimited, and the inevitable downfall was the result

Mrs. Henry Siegel.