The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 31, 1902, Page 11

THE SUNDAY CALL. Two Bealtiful Qalifornians Whe Bave Risgn in a2 Few Short Years 1o the Prold Emingnce of Leaders 1 the scgial Werld UT of a series of strange and re- markable incidents, more sensa- tional by far than the most fervid imagination could create in fic- tion, two California women, the pr Fair girls,” have risen in a few short years to the proud eminence of “the b, n soclety women in America.” phrase is quoted wherever the names of Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs and her Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt Jr., spoken, and just now, more than at other time before, while the whole world is aghast at the horror and sud- of the automobile accident in ce, wherein their brother, Charles L. beautiful wife were instant- names have become house- st the sort of an accident that en expected. For all the pomp, r, and the swagger air that goes automobile, the great mass of never accepted it as alto- It is the popular fear that y new invention. It was he first engine, the first t. the bicycle, the submarine trolley car, machine gun, and, more sly just at present, the fying s well as the automobfie. There ds pessimists who fer- I told you s0” when the e great automobile catastrophe There are thousands waiting to say the same Santos-Dumont’s aerial experi- of jon and dare-devil experiment. around the great Eiffel races across the bre of Europe by rich ic scions of prominent fami- ve becdome of common occurrence., a firma the automobile is the rival of the mile-a-min- ymotive, and, in consequence of rivalry between enthusiastic the speed tests along the bou- stretch through the suburbs tests d balloon gers ©f the gay French capital have been car- ried to spectacularly daring lengths, but itisa ing circumstance that the long predicted smash-up should have carried on 2nd daughter-in-law of the most rkable millionaire in the West to ir deaths. was a terrible fatality, and even if there had never been anything sensation. al before in the family life and associa- tion of these two charming Western women this last wild exploit of their ec- centric brother would have made them talked about wherever an automobile or even a picture of an “auto” has ever been seen. Nothing like it has ever been heard of before in the history of fast riding. The unexpectedness, the suddenness of it all, was simply appalling, and the name of Fair will ever be synonymous with the danger of the sport. However, it is pleasing to note that these two sisters have become “the best known women in soclety,” not through the notoriety that seems ever to have at- tached to the family name since wealth began to pile up in fabulous fashion, but despite it. Their progress to the posi- tions they now occupy was more like the triumphant procession in a fairyland spec- tacle than chapters from a real life ro- mance. There are hundreds of women who will remember “Jim” Fair's daughters when they were pupils at the Denman Gram- mar School on Bush street in the days, not so long ago, when they were beloved alike for their fresh young beauty and democratic spirit. In sentiment as well es in beauty they have not changed since then, even though they have risen to the greatest sccial prominence amid the most luxurious and gorgeous surroundings that wealth can supply or the spirit of extrav- agance that governs Eastern soclety dlc- tate. Even in those days their father was rated among the richest men in Ameri- ca. He sent his daughters everywhere and they journeyed to and fro about the world until they were better known for their own personal charm than for their father’'s great wealth. Then “Tessie,” the eldest, married Her- mann Oelrichs, a rich New Yorker, pop- ular clubman and all-round athlete. It was a brilllant marriage and carried the Fairs into Gotham’s swagger set. It was the first notable union of Western beauty and wealth to Eastern culture and posi- tion and the two sisters were talked about throughout the length and breadth of the continent, Then followed their brother's sensa- tional runaway marriage, which es- tranged him from his father and his sis- ters as well and created a vast deal of gossip; the death of the shrewd old finan- cler and the long and bitter litigation that ensued before his great fortune of over’ $30,000,000 was finally awarded to the three children, and last but more notable than all else, the brilllant marriage of young “Birdle” Fair to Willlam K. Vanderblit Jr., which completed thes conquest not only of the most exclusive circles in New York society, but opened to these two am- bitious young matrons the portals to the N T most exclusive soclety in Europe as well. Young Vanderbilt is himself the most widely known young multi-millionaire sportsman in America and the champion amateur autoneer of the world. Since his brother-in-law’s tragic death N 3 N &) ) [ 5= QA = & < ol the best automobiles ever made In France when Charles L. Fair and his wife ‘were dashed to death against a tree on the roadside near a quaint little French village. Indeed if Miss Virginia Fair had been a queen and W. K. Vanderbfit Jr. a prince it is very unlikely that they would have received wedding presents as costly as those that they as simple young Amer- fcan citizens were showered with upon the occasion of thelr wedding. There were hundreds of these presents and it would be Impossible to put an estimate upon their value that would be at all accurate even now. One of these presents alone is worth $150,000. All told the entire lot is worth considerably more than $1,000,000. Just think of that for wedding presents alone. Of course neither the Vanderbilts nor the Fair relatives ever made any ap- praisal of the cost of the extraordinary assortment of diamonds and other pre- clous stones which were worked up by the cleverest and most artistic jewelers n the world into tokens of affection and wishes for the happiness of the young couple. But it Is certain that no wedding in this country or ten weddings combined have ever caused such a lavish expendi- ture of money. The gigantic wealth of the Fairs, the Vanderbilts, the Oelrichs, the Astors, the Shepards and all their relatives was used without stint to secure the finest gems to be found anywhere. Money was absolutely no consideration. Those who sent the presents could as wall have afforded to bestow a million dollar necklace as one costing $100,000. It was merely a question of what was ap- propriate or suitable, or what happened to catch the fancy of the donor. Mrs. O. H. P. Belmon:, the mother of the bridegroom, from whom something magnificent was expected, fully justified the ideas of her friends. She sent what is possibly the finest diamond riviere in the world, apart from royal and imperial collections. It is made wp of very largs stones, some of them as big as the pro- verbial pigeon's egg. They are old mine stones, blue, white, of the purest water, and the riviere as it now stands was pur- chased from a princely house in France that had possessed the gems through generations. There are thirty or forty stones in the riviere, the smallest as large as an al- mond, and which in itself is worth a #mall fortune. Indeed, it is verv unlikely that anything in the way of a riviere it has been freely predicted that he will meet the same terrible fate if he persists in his mad love of the sport, but he man- ifests absolutely no fear. In fact he and his young California wife were on their way back to America with a long string was ever put together that nearly ap- proaches In beauty or value this splendid ‘wedding present from Mrs." Belmont. The late John W. Mackay sent the finest piece of jewelry in America. Itisa diamond ornament, a sort of half stom- OELRICIH S, acher and half breastplate, to cover the whole front of the young bride’s gowmn. Diamonds were employed in a way to suggest that theyhad been bought whole- eale. There were ‘flowers and patterns artistically worked in diamonds and gold, and when Mrs. Vanderbilt Jr. wears this ornament on the front of her dress there is no room left for any other gems. In fact, the dress underneath might be of the plainest kind and no one wonld ever know .the difference It was tha most expensive wedding gift er made. But Mr. Mackay was especially inter- ested in Miss Fair, for the strange, wild Western romance that clustered roynd the days when he and her father were old friends together, when neither had ever seen a diamond except through a plate-glass window, and when neither would have even dreamed of buying m at as low a price as $1 each. A few years later both men were multi-millionaires. Of course, all this was sufficient in itself to create widespread comment and amazement, but there was other disquier- ing gossip as well, which travels- farther and faster and lingers longer. Like all big unions of wealth with wealth, it was boldly declared “it could not last.” With the groom devoted to the latest fad—that of running an auto—and with a purse so large that there was no hope of ever exhausting its depths, it was hinted that the young couple wouid not get along well. Too many sweets spoil life, and there really seemed nothing to add the spice and the vinegar to it which are seemingly so necessary for happiness. But there were few who knew the ro- mance that attended the engagement of the richest girl in the West to the great- est catch of the century in the East. Miss Fair had been a friend of Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, and it was through his mother's eyes that he learned to admire her. This was truly unusual, for seldom, in- deed, does a young man love a girl be- cause his mother loves her, and when young Vanderbilt began to admire the girl of his mother's ¢hoice soclety rajsed its hands and murmured: “Marvelous.” Then Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs threw open her house to them and thus side by side the two sisters began the conquest that has ended thus remarkably. After the wedding the young couple went abroad, yachted, hired a villa in picturesque Southern France, sailed the Mediterranean, bivouacked along the Nile, had a good time in Cairo and MRS TTERMANN - X7/ 7] < picked up oddities In Japan In a quiet, unostentatious way, 'tis true, but where was such beauty, such wealth and such a remarkable family history! It was in- evitable that they should become known the world over