SAD STORY OF EXILE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 12 April 1926, Page 9

SAD STORY OF EXILE.

Bayard Brown’s Death.

EFFECT OF EARLY LOVE ROMANCE. By Cable —Press Association —Copyright. Australian and N.Z.. Cabio Association. (Received April H, 5.5 l>.m.) LONDON, April 10. The sad story of Bayard Brown s voluntary exile from his native America, reveals'that it was the tesult of an early love romance. On Good Friday, which was an anniversary Brown always tenderly iegarded, he is stated to have, had a premonition of death. lie opened a secret drawer in the Vallreyias .state, room, and withdrew a laded oliotngrapli of a woman to which he applied a mutch and watched it slowly burn, lie then crushed the a.shcs in Lie palm, of lii.s hand, anil virtually did not, speak again. It is known that the photograph hud been locked in the yacht since arrival in England, and that .be also frequently gazed upon it in the secrecy of the state room.

When the end was near, the only words ho ultered were: “I am not afraid of death.” A .significant action was a gesture of reconciliation with lii.s family, after half a century, by arranging that the body should he conveyed to America, and buried in lii.s father’s grave. As a youth Brown was regarded as Oceenirie, and when lie fell in love, his eccentricity fell in his way, and he was jilted. Brown felt his family’s attempt to restrain his original outlook oil life was a menace to his freedom, so he left America, vowing lie. would not return, lie remained steadfast, though once ho nearly filtered. lie ordered his yacht to sail for America., hut changed his mind when he heard the captain clanging tlio orders to Lite engine room. Twenty years ago, two sisters journeyed I rom America, but they weie not allowed on board, Brown merely speaking to them from the tuffrail.

It is revealed that, he enjoyed life fully when young. He was a keen horseman and dancer, and was musical. tie had constantly lived in fear ol visitors to the vaelit, and invariably asked: “Do you bring George or Louis.” Nobody was able to interpret tlie meaning.

[ n the year 1890 the palatial .steam yacht Vallrcyia, 1800 tons, arrived off the Essex coast and dropped anchor, Union \\ ;\s not weighed until nine yonjis ago, when the yacht was dry docked 11 *■ yivonhoc, an old-world village, on the Essex coast. The owner, Bayard (bown, an American millionaire, s'irikiiijyly handsome and 10 mamod aboard the whole thirlv-six years until lie died last Thursday, white-haired, aged seventy-four. An cxl.ranrdinnry mysfery surrounds the 'iwaai, wlm was friendless. It is .mown Unit lie came from California, where lie is believed to have belonged to a family of rich hankers. The world first heard of Brown v. hen a British court assessed his income at .CH),000 annually, on which lie was ordered to pay taxes. Me .seldom bail visitors, lie talked on tin: strangest subjects and incoherently, and ahvnvs lapsed into silence when A morion, was mentioned. He was known to give .€SO when asked for help. At other times be met the request with a shower of coal. lie used to spend hours leaning over the rail of Ihe yacht, with his cap on the hack of bis !-.---lrl and gazing inwards the North Sea.l