THE WILL-BOUND WIDOW

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 310, 27 June 1912, Page 6

THE WILL-BOUND WIDOW

MRS. ASTOR'S £1,000,000 PENALTY. New York, May 2. The unique position of young Mrs. Astor (whose husband perished in the wreck of the Titanic), who within nine months of her twenty-first birthday, has become alternately bride, widow 'and heiress, is exercising a powerful appeal to the American imagination. The penalty under which in the case of her re-marriage she is compelled to resign £1,000,000 and to vacate one of the most magnificent residences in America, is the subject of a debate in which the utmost diversity of view it expressed. "Is it legal for a man—a dead man—' to commit a crime?" is the pungent question asked by the Evening Journal, which argues that "a will such as that of Mr. John Jacob Astor is against public policy and should be pronounced illegal." The newspaper declares: "Mrs. Astor, and, indeed, every other young widow, ought to be legally freed from preposterous, humiliating and immoral control by one who is dead and gone and who says in his will, 'Comfort and a good income while you spend your time mourning for me. But you shall have, nothing if you live normally, and happily as you have a right to do." The New' York Times thinks that the desire revealed by the late Mr. Astor to keep his widow faithful to his memory shows that he had little confidence in his ability to do that unless helped by the threat of a money penalty in case of forgetfulness. It recalls, however, that it has been a family custom of long standing with the Astors t» keep their estate so far as possible intact, and contends that as this custom is no secret its practice can hardly be called a grievance by those whom it directly concerns. The New York Press, on the other hand, declares that the dead man, while safeguarding his fortune from dissolution, has taken the best measures conceivable to preserve the happiness of the "golden widow," who, under the terms of the will, will be amply protected against fortune-hunters and "the temptations besetting young American women before whom are dangled the coronets and social prestige of the older world." Mr. Astor was notoriously opposed to the marriage of American heiresses to foreign noblemen. '< A TWENTY-YEAR-OLD GIRL. Like the newspapers, lawyers are busily engaged in discussing the peculiar position of the widow, whose grief no one stops to consider, The view generally expressed by the legal fraternity is that the rule of "the interests of society" ought to be invoked in this case, "since it is obviously unfair to a twenty-year-old girl to compel her to go through life as a widow or to make a tremendous sacrifice." Mrs. Astor'a friends declare from knowledge of her character that they are sure that she will never hesitate for a moment between her great fortune and great love. The discussion is conducted with the frankness characteristic of this country, and must be decidedly distasteful to the widow, who received a handsome fortune by a pre-nuptial arrangement and will certainly never suffet the pangs of poverty. In any case, if she decides in future years to forego the £1,000,000, she will doubtlessly be glad to be relieved of the Astor mansion, the upkeep of which involves an expenditure of some £20,000 a year. Mrs. Astor will be a minor until next month, and her father will be appointed her guardian until her birthday. A guardian must also be appointed for Mr. Vincent Astor, who, until November, when he comes of age, has no power to administer his estate, to collect rents or even to make a will. The lawyers point out that if Mr. Vincent Astor were to die before November his vast fortune of some £20,000,000 would be divided between the first Mrs. Astor, her daughter Muriel, and the posthumous child of the second Mrs. Astor.