HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Another Valeska Suratt escapade results in marriage
Rob Robbins
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Another Valeska Suratt escapade results in marriage
Mike McCormick Special to the Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE — Early
in her theatrical career, legendary Terre Haute actress Valeska Suratt had a
proclivity to do something sensational at unforeseeable times and
places.
Her behavior often was unpredictable. The events of Saturday,
Jan. 14, 1911, even surprised many of her best friends.
Divorced from
vaudeville comedian Billy Gould, Suratt was engaged to Robert T. Mackay, a young
New York real estate manager. Related to the Iselin family of New Rochelle, N.Y.
that made a fortune from coal reserves in eastern Pennsylvania, Mackay was
constantly at his fiancé’s side.
On Saturday, Mackay attended Valeska’s
matinee vaudeville performance at the Metropolitan Opera House and, afterward,
stayed to attend a rehearsal. Valeska asked him to go out and get some food for
her.
Mackay hesitated, asserting that he was “not a servant” and should
not be required to “fetch and carry” for her.
Suratt insisted: “But you
have done this before for me, Bob. Now be a good boy. I am awfully hungry.
Please get me some chicken sandwiches.”
Unable to resist her gentle
appeal, McKay departed.
As soon as he left the building, there was robust
activity in Suratt’s dressing room. She emerged dressed to travel with co-star
Fletcher Norton accompanying her. Hurrying out of the theater together, Suratt
and Norton jumped into a limousine and, chaperoned by actress Nance Guynan,
headed for the New Jersey shore.
According to one report they were
married at the residence of justice-of-the-peace William Burke.
When
Mackay returned to the theater with food he was surprised to learn that Valeska
was gone. He left disconsolately but returned early for the evening performance
and made his way to her dressing room.
Lena, Valeska’s maid, met him at
the door. “You can’t go in there,” she said. “Miss Suratt will not see you
anymore. She was married this afternoon to Mr. Norton.”
Mackay uttered an
anguished cry and, according to most accounts, collapsed. As he recovered,
Norton and Suratt entered the building.
“What is the matter with Bob?,”
Valeska inquired.
“I told him you were married and he fell down in a
faint,” Lena reported.
Suratt dropped to the floor artistically. Upon
recovering from her swoon, she sobbed uncontrollably.
Mackay was so
affected by her tears that he offered to buy the couple a special wedding supper
after the evening show. During the dinner, Mackay offered to pay the couple the
sum of $50,000 if they got a divorce.
It later was reported that Norton
filed for a divorce in December 1911, accusing Valeska of infidelity. Referee
Emil Goldmark recommended granting the divorce, finding that Suratt had
abandoned Norton and lived with “Richard Mackey” at 341 W. 85th St. If and when
a final decree was entered is unclear.
Valeska filed a petition in
bankruptcy June 29, 1912 in Indianapolis, which she later dismissed, listing
Robert T. Mackay as her biggest creditor to the tune of
$14,750.
III
On Feb,. 7, 1911, Bruce F. Failey announced that
Terre Haute architect W. Homer Floyd, at the instance of Crawford Fairbanks, had
prepared plans to erect a new business block on the south side of Wabash Ave.
between Seventh and Eighth streets.
Failey was Fairbanks’
son-in-law.
Occupants of the real estate where the building was to be
situated — Smith & Doyle saloon, The Nickledom Theater, DeArmott Bros. cigar
store and C.F. Schmidt saloon — were given 30 days to vacate.
Failey also
revealed that Fairbanks sold ten feet off the east side of his tract to John
McFall, owner of the Varieties Theater on the southwest corner of Eighth and
Wabash.
The plans called for the construction of a three-story structure
of steel and brick with a foundation strong enough to support an edifice 10
stories high.
The west part of the new building was to be occupied by the
Western Realty & Loan Co., one of Fairbanks’ several
businesses.
Ultimately, the anchor tenant became the Tribune Publishing
Co., also owned by Fairbanks, and the structure was known as the Tribune
building.
III
After being absent for 12 days and the subject of an
intense search, 18-year old Lucile Beatrice Meeks came home Feb. 8, 1911 to
announce that she was getting married.
The girl revealed that she spent
the entire time making her wedding gown at the home of her aunt, Mrs. Fred
Bensinger, 1518 S. Sixth St.
Her marriage to Edward Cumpton, a miner, was
scheduled for Valentines Day.
Lucile’s mother, Mrs. Charles Rowley, who
had been seriously ill, was ecstatic to learn that her daughter had not been led
astray. She knew Cumpton and approved him.
“It had long been understood
that they were to be married,” she said.
III
Alonzo Cummings,
8-year old son of Sarah M. Cummings, 1474 Chestnut St., lost his arm when he was
struck by as eastbound Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern Traction Co.
interurban at Twelfth Street and Wabash Avenue, on Feb. 8, 1911, at about 8
a.m.
He was taken to Union Hospital in critical condition. The boy’s left
arm was so severely crushed that Dr. Edgar L. Larkins and Dr. Edwin B.
McAllister remove the appendage up to his shoulder.
The boy dropped off
shoes at a shoe repair shop and hurried off to school. A second grader, he was
very particular about his attendance record. He hailed a taxi and was so
attentive of its presence that he started across Wabash without seeing the
interurban car.
~Catherine Pulsifer~
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