SURVIVOR OF GEM "CURSE."

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 225, 22 September 1928, Page 19 (Supplement)

SURVIVOR OF GEM "CURSE."

KAY YOHB FIHDS HAPPINESS.

DOG AND BIRDS

May Yohe, famous stage star of the last generation and former owner of the -notorious 44-carat "Hope diamond," which reputed to have brought tragedy to all of its owners, has no regrets2that her divorce" from Lord: Henry jfrancis Pelham-Clinton-Hope deprived Ker of the distinction of becoming the Duniess of Newcastle. ' Lord? Francis was elevated to the dukedofn following the recent death of his father, the 7th Duke of Newcastle. May Yohe, who still uses the name under ifhich she gained fame upon the •tage and world-wide notoriety through a number of romantic escapades, is living in Boston, Massachusetts, in peace* ful happiness ih a modest two-storey house with her third husband, Captain John Smuts, formerly of South Africa. "I am Bincerely glad of Lord Francis' elevation to the dukedom," the actress declared, "but I do not envy the life I mlpht have had as 'Duchess of "Newcastle kad not divorce separated us. "I am 'contented in' iny little home with niy dog and my birds and my flowers and my husband; I have found real happiness at last." Gaiety Renounced. May Yohe's marriage to the "wealthy Lord Francis Hope was a sensation In both England and America many years ago, and an even greater surprise followed when she left her aristocratic English to elope with. Captain Putnam Strone. son of the then mayor of New York City. Lord. Francis divorced her. and her union With Captain Strong did not last long. Another divorce followed, and fof some time Miss Yohe lived alone. When at Inst she married-Captain Smuts she renounced her gilded life of the past and down to a domestic existence in Button. She escapades were the talk of the world for years now wants that same uii verse to know that she is happy in her <iet. home and is enjoying the home life- -he is leading. Inciden "v, she is one of those who believe in the curse of the Hone diaTnrm'l i« (joS'l +r, lipvp hep" «toTpn in 1«42 from the Hindu temple of Bama. at Sita, by Jean Taavaniet, a subject of King Louis XIV. of France, and to have brought ill fortune to ell of its possessorsTrail of Misfortune. Taavaniet was torn to pieces by wild dogs in Turkey. Madame de Montespan, to wham. , Louis XIV. presented the stone, soon afterwards lost his love and was abandoned by him- Marie Antoinette begged for the right of possessing the stone, and soon after it came into ker she was beheaded on the guillotine. '""'." Other owners of, the stone, many of them Sultans of Turkey, down through the years, have orie after another seen their families fall some sudden destructive power, or have tfiemselves been overtaken by mi&fortuae.