LOVE AND A TITLE.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 November 1925, Page 3

LOVE AND A TITLE.

DARING GIRL'S ADYUNTURK. Life is just one hoboing adventure after another for Jittie Louisa Fletcher, daughter of the millionaire banker of Indianapolis. She hoboed to sea, she hoboed to land, she hoboed into “Wiohomiaia’' —and now she has hoboed her way right- into the heart of the handsome Count Cottfried vott Sehmettow, scion of one of the oldest houses of the Prussian nobility Somehow Miss Fletcher though a

blue-blood and an heiress, just could not he the conventional little rich girl, says the Vancouver Sun. She refused

to “stay put," to do the ordinary tilings in the ordinary way. After Tier first state of holloing she said: “It was great to lead a free life for onto.” And ever since that moment she has been astonishing the country with her mail-cap escapades. The daughter of a family whose ancestors for generations have Iwen prominent in American finance, .Miss Fletcher was brought up in an atmosphere of luxury. Her father. Mr Stoughton Fletcher, owned the most palatial residence in Indianapolis as well as one of the most- famous racing stables in the world. He was the proud possessor the celebrated horse l’eter the Great, sire of many of the fastest racers in turfdom. A BREAK FOR FREEDOM

But all these things meant practically nothing to Mr Fletcher’s adventurous daughter. “Pin tired of being a poor little rich girl. I have had too much discipline.” she said—-and set about remedying the matter. At 17 she made her first break for freedom. While Ishe was spending the summer at the Fletcher estate in East Gloucester. .Massachusetts, Louisa, snatched the opportunity to embark on tin adventure that sent her family into a state of anxiety, the neigh! ours into a frenzied search and the newspapers into glaring head lines. Louisa disappeared. Starting on a harmless stroll with a maid, the little heiress waited until she was some distance from the house; thou, leaving her companion flat, she made a lmlt. Her young legs carried her too last lor the maid to catch up, and in another moment she was gone. But Louisa was not all that was gone. Upon investigation it was- found that a Imat from a neighbouring wharf was missing also. When the girl finally was found after a country-side search in which friends joined the police in combing the surrounding wooded hills, dragging the bay in the vicinity of the Fletcher I*, mice and questioning everyone in the neighboiirhod. It mis:;, unrepentant, described her daring adventure. No sooner had she got out of sight of the maid than she slipped down to the beach, and there she transformed herself from Louisa. Fletcher, heiress, to “Willie Sullivan.” hobo!

Cutting oil' her girlish locks with a pair of shears and donning denim overalls in tin' place of her dress, she emerged from behind a row boat in the

guise of a hoy. Her next move was to appropriate an IS-fool Swnmpsmtt dory and shove off. “A JOB ON A FABAI.”

“After I rowed away from Copper Point Wharf. Fast Oloucesler.’’ said Louisa. “[ went to a fishing boat in Gloucester harbour and asked the captain for a job. tic said I was too voting. Then I rowed from Rocky Neck shore 12 miles up the A unisquain and Essex Rivers to Rowley. At Rowley I went ashore that night and slept ill a Lai n. I slept {here, the next night, ton. For food I ate apples. The third day 1 went, to Ipswich Bay and again tried to g-t. a job as helper mi a fishing boat, and again they said I was too young. The morning I was found I had obtained a job oil the l I'land Farm, half way between Jpxwich unit Essex Center. 1 told t ho owner. Air Hepburn, that toy name wax Willie Sullivan. lb- never suspected that I was a girl. He hired me as a hand.

gave me a rake, and 1 wont to work.” Louisa Fletcher—temporary Willie—might have developed into an expert farmer instead of a tlapjier bad it not been that a neighbour who saw the new farm hand suspected that ‘he” was a gill. She telephoned to the Gloucester police. When the police arrived with the governess in tow Louisa first tried to keep up the pretence, then tried to run away, and finally. when she found her efforts were fruitless, pulled out a packet of cigarettes, asked for a match and resigned herself to the fate of an heiress- lor the time being 1 SHORT LIFE ON THE, STAGE

Louisa's next, outbreak, occurring not longer after, led her to the stage and bohemia. It happened through her friendship with the members of the Stuart Walker Theatrical Stock Company, one ol whom was Miss -Julia Lydig Hoyt, actress and New York society leader, who became a great pal of Louisa’s. Her entrance into bohemia did not l>cgiu auspiciously, however, for one of the first things that happened was an accident, and in Louisa’s ear. so it. was said. Right on top of this affair. Louisa's ear was found abandoned cast on Indianapolis or the national road, following a crash. Paying around with theatrical folk was not enough for Louisa. She determined to enter the profession herself and see what it was like to lie on the inside. Without the least ado. she “hoboed” off to Broadway and joined the chorus of a musical revue. Even this soon proved tame.

Last spring, when a partv of friends suggested hoboing to Europe, the wot little rich girl was the first to say “Yes.” It was just in. her line. A new ad venture, and who knew what might turn up? That it would he a Prussian nobleman and a romance on the Rhine, not even the mnd-cap ’. oires.s could guess. A CASTLE ON THE RHINE.

Perhaps it was the daring spirit of the American girl and her originality plus her beauty that captured ilie count. At any rate, Ernest Gottfried von Sohmettow. the 24-yoar-ohl heir of the ancient house of Selnnettow. laid l,is heart, his title and his wordly possessions, which included a magnificent castle on tlie Rhine, overshadowing even Laurel Hall, the famous Fletcher mansion, at her tect.

The engagement was announced by a cablegram from Germany stating ♦hat the wedding would take place at Pommerseig and that the German nobility would turn out in full force, including ex-Crown Prince Millie’s son. The Fletchers for three generations have been the most prominent hunkers of Indiana. Mr Fletcher. Louisa s father, was at one time president ot a bank and stockholder in many .veil known companies until he met with reverses. It was this misfortune which made it necessary for him to relinquish the magnificent house Inal had been Louisa's own home, the nr chi tectural pride of the city and the scene of many wonderful entertainments.

But. more than for his fortune. Mi Fletcher was famous for his stable In 1909 he bought his first race-horse. It was a lucky start. The animal began winning firsts from the outset, Mr Fletcher was so pleased that he added to the string, and finally acquired Peter the Great from Mr W. E. P. Stokes, for 501)00 dollars.