An article from the Washington Times, 4th of january 1920.
Another Poison Mystery of the Victory Ball
Who Was This Beauty, and Why Did She Persistently Hide Her Real Name, and What Was the Secret That Drove Her to Self-Destruction the Night of the Great Ball?
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| The royal palace in Vienna where Mrs. Steane pretended she was born |
"We returned from the ball soon after two-thirty in the morning. She went into her bedroom and soon called me. On entering the room I found her standing in front of the fire place. I saw her put her hand to her mouth, then she drank a glass of water from the mantelpiece. I didn't realize what had taken place until she said: Tony, kiss me for the last time."
From the testimony of Mr. Cedric S. Steane, husband of the mysterious beauty.
WHO was the briliant young beauty, Mrs. Alma Vetsera Steane, who committed suicide on the morning after London's second Victory Ball, November 11 ?
That there is a mystery about her origin, a mystery that overshadowed her whole life and finally drove her to commit suicide appears certain, but at present it is only possible to peer a little way into the tangled mass of tragedies, adventures and inexplicable circumstances that surround her existence. She has passed away pursued by the haunting mystery of her life at a moment when she seemed to have every thing worth living for, when she was the wife of a wealthy and handsome young officer of the British army, Captain Cedrif Sebastian Steane, when she was the spoised darling of London society and the friend of such distinguished London social leaders as the Countess of Wilton. She killed herself on the morning after the second Victory Ball, exactly one year after the pretty young actress, Billie Catleton, died mysteriously of poisoning, following the first Victory Ball. This fact has
led many persons to-refer to the Steane case as "The Second Victory Rail Mystery."
In Billie Carleton's case the public interest was aroused mainly by the revelations which followed con
cerning the corrupt and criminal set in London society that surrounded her, while in Mrs. Steane's'case it is the romantic and mysterious career of the woman herself that compels attention.
When Mrs. Steane first became known to society, she came from a religions institution in Toronto, Can., where she had been highly educated and where her parentage was always concealed. She always called herself Alma Vetsera and gave herself out to be the child of the illfated Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, and his sweet heart, the Baroness Vetsera, both of whom perished mysteriously at Meyerling, near Vienna, on January 30, 1889.
At seventeen she married George Osborne Hayne, a young Canadian of wealthy family who filled several good business positions and finally became a British officer during the war. After the birth of a little boy she drifted apart from Hayne and began suit for divorce. Another young Canadian, Justin B. McDougald, became infatuated with her while she was waiting for the divorce. His father placed him in an institution, alleging that he was out of his senses, and Alma Vetsera Hayne made two attempts to rescue the youth by stealth at night in an automobile.
After this Mrs. Hayne moved to New York, where she lived in the best of hotels and apartments and enjoyed much social popularity. She also paid long visits to London.
In New York she met young Donald Shields Andrews, son of a Cleveland millionaire mine owner and a senior at Yale University. The young man fell in love with her, as so many other men had done, and they were married at Mamaroneck, N. Y., in 1915. They went to London, but disagreed after a short
time, owing to the opposition of his family, the reduction of income, the young man's alleged extravagance and other causes. A divorce resulted.
Mrs. Hayne had been living in London when the war broke out, and her claim to be of Austrian parentage would have rendered her subject to internment. The Scotland Yard detective force conducted an extensive investigation into this matter and decided that she was of "American parentage." but refused to give further information on the subject. She then became a popular member of London society, not merely of the Bohemian set, but of the most aristocratic circles. Her beauty, her exquisite taste in dress, her education and accomplishment, her knowledge of music and languages made her a star attraction at every social gathering.
During her residence in London her first husband, now Captain Hayne, visited her several times. It may be supposed that his visits were prompted by a natural desire to learn about his little boy, but it was noticed that she was always greatly depreseed and appeared frightened after these visits.
About a year and a half ago in London her engagement was announced to a Greek named Andunos, who had made a great fortune in war trading. This was suddenly broken for no known reason and once more Mrs. Hayne appeared terror stricken by the hidden mystery that overshadowed her existence.
She recovered her spirits again, and in the spring of this year she was married to Captain Cedrie Sebastian Steane, of the British army, a handsome young man of twenty-eight and the son of a Manchester millionaire. He served with distinction in a Manchester regiment during
the war.
The last chapter in the Strange, inexplicable life of the mysterious beauty is best given in the words of her husband, as he told them with bowed head and broken tones in the Coroner's court. Captain Steane arrived at the Westminster Coroner's court, accompanied by a friend, Lord Willoughby de Broke. The Captain's heart breaking grief, his youth and handsome appearance impressed everybody sympathetically, but the Coroner insisted on answers to many distressing questions about his married life in spite of his protests.
Question bv the Coroner: Do you identify the body of the deceased ?
A. It is my wife, Alma Vetsera Steane,
Q. How old was she ?
A. Twenty nine years.
Q. When did you marry her?
A. On August 30 of this year.
Q. Where was she living then ?
A. At No. 37 St. James'place, which was her own flat.
Q. Where did you go after the marriage ?
A. To St. Ives, in Cornwall.
Q. And then where did you go ?
A. As far as I can remember we returned about October 6 and went to No. 3 Carlisle place. We remained there until last Tuesday, the 11th.
Q. Was that your own flat ?
A. It was a friend's flat; he had rented it to us until December 3.
Q. On Tuesday you went to another address ?
A. Yes, to No. 73 Duke street, which is another flat, and belonged to my wife.
Q. Had that flat been occupied by someone else ?
A. Yes, by a Mr. Morris for a year. He went out on the same day as we arrived. We arrived about 5:30. We took no servants when we entered the flat, but two came in later on, a mother and her daughter, who were in the flat during the night.
Q. What happened on the night of Tuesday, November 11 ?
A. We went out about twenty minutes past nine on Tuesday to Claridge's Hotel, where we dined and chatted until we left. There was a dance at the hotel that night.
Q. Was there any other man who exerted any influence on your wife's state of mind ?
A. My wife was at one time engaged to somebody else, but the engagement was broken off. I have never met the man.
Q. He was not at Claridge's that night?
A. No.
Q. Did she seem to have any trouble on her mind ?
A. No, sir. During the early part of the evening she seemed to be very happy, indeed, mostly at the thought of being back at the flat again.
Q. Did you have any quarrel or disagreement with your wife that evening?
A. No, sir. Certainly not.
Q. Did your wife drink to excess at all ?
A. Never to excess. That night she had champagne. We dined alone, and had an ordinary bottle of champagne between us. We had no liquors. We came home soon after 2:30 in the morning, and sat down on the couch in front of the fire in the dining-room of the flat. We chatted about things in general My wife said to me: "I am so happy to be back here and so glad because you are here."
Q. What did she talk about that night ?
A. She spoke playfully of the odd circumstance that she had lived in this flat before. She said to me : " Tony, you are my guest here; all my guests here have always had a wonderful time." Tony was the nickname by which she called me. It is not my right name. I took her in my arms and soothed her, for I felt that she might be tired after the day's exertion.
Q. What happened then?
A. She went into her room. I said I would get ready, and I used the dining-room as a dressing room. I began to undress and she went into her room perfectly happy. I then heard her call me.
Q. How long was it before she called out?
A. About four minutes. She called out my name: "Tony, I am really going to take this stuff this time."
Q. Did you know what she was referring to ?
A. At the time I did not. That was said to me as I was coming from the dining-room into the bedroom. On entering the room I found her standing in front of the fireplace, and when I got to her the motion she made was that (winess imitated what he meant by raising his hand to his mouth).
Q. Putting something into her mouth ?
A. 1 saw her put her hand to her mouth.
Q. Did she drink anything ?
A. She then drank water from a glass on the mantelpiece. Then I heard something tinkle on the flat roof outside.
Q. Was the window open ?
A. She opened it.
Q. Did she say anything ?
A. I did not realise what had taken place. She immediately came back to me and said, "Tony, kiss me for the last time." Almost immediately she had said it she sank down, and I caught her in my arms and lifted her on to the bed. I summoned the nearest doctor by telephone, and Dr. Maxwell Simpson came round.
Q. Did your wife say anything else ?
A. She did not say a word or give any sign of consciousness from the moment she sank into my arms.
Q. Can you give any reason why ahe should have taken poison ?
A. I only know what she told me about her past life being very sad.
Q. What did she tell you ?
A. That her first marriage was very unhappy.
The Coroner: I only want to know any facts that will bear upon the question of suicide or the state of her mind.
Q. Did she get some sort of obsession about her parents ?
A. Yes.
Q. What was it ?
A. Am I, for her sake, bound to tell you!
The Coroner : I don't want to pry into secrets. I only want to know anything bearing on the state of her mind.
A. Both her parents had committed suicide, too.
Q. I suppose she talked of that a great deal !
A. Yes, a great deal.
Q. And it got on her mind ?
A. Yes. She said she felt her mother calling her, and wanted to go.
The Coroner: That is very important. You don't know whether it was true that her parents committed
suicide ?
A. Of course, I don't.
Q. All you knew about her past was what she told you herself ?
A. Exactly. She showed me many photographs.
Q. Did she have any delusion other than that she heard her mother calling to her! That anyone was persecuting her, or anything of that kind!
A. She used to allude to her former husband. She could not bear the thought that perhaps he might see
her son.
Q. Did she divorce her husband ?
A. Yes.
Q. And she did not wish him to see her boy !
A. She did not want him to come into contact with him.
Q. Has she left any writing bearing on her death ?
A. She left no message for me or for her son whatever.
Q. What was her financial position roughly ?
A. It was good. I don't think money worried her very much when she married me. We loved each other so much that money did not matter because of that fact.
Q. Are you well off ?
A. Yes.
Dr. Philip Henry Gunn, a police surgeon, testified that he had examined the poison, phial, which had been picked up in the gutter outside the window. The doctor said that it contained cyanide of potassium and that this was the cause of Mrs. Steane's death.
Not a word was said which explained in any way why this beautiful young woman, newly married, a favorite in society, with ample means at her disposal, should have suddenly taken her life after a very gay and enjoyable day.
What message of dreadful import suddenly came to her after she went into her bedroom ? How did it come? Was it written! Was it spoken through the window ? Did it come by telephone? Did it come in some more occult manner ?
Nothing in her husband's recollection of her conversation gave any rational explanation of her act. The fact that her father and mother were said to have committed suicide, as the Austrian Crown Prince and Baroness Vetsera are supposed to have done, was no adequate explanation. Why should that well known occurrence of long ago cause her to commit suicide suddenly after a life in which she had sought and deeply enjoyed most of the world's pleasures ?
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A graceful photograph of the mysterious suicide taken a few weeks ago in London.
Pretty Alma Vetsera, as she called herself, in a recent photograph taken at the photograph studio
of Lallle [?] Charles, and her little son, "Bunny" Hayne.
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Throughout her life Mrs. Steane had adhered consistently to the story that she was the child of the Austrian Crown Prince and the Baroness Vetsera in favor of it was a certain ressmblance to the deceased Baroness and a foreign accent and appearance. Among the many people who knew her in the United States, no one had ever been able to find out that she had "American parents." The religious sisters who conducted her education considered themselves bound to conceal her origin.
Mrs. Steane after leaving her Canadian convent always used the name of Vetsera (sometimes Vecera, as it appears on her marriage certificate), after the Baroness who she believed was her mother.
It is interesting to note that on the certificate of her marriage with Captain Steane in London this year no entries are made in the space allotted to the bride's father's name and rank. Her age on the certificate was entered as thirty. If this be correct it contradicts her claim to Habsburg paternity. The Meyerling tragedy took place, at stated above, on January 30, 1889. Had Mrs. Steane been the daughter of the Baroness Vetsera she must have been born before that date, and would consequently have been nearer thirty-one years old than thirty at the time of her marriage with Captain Steane. On the other hand, of course, the age given on the certificate may not have been correct.
She alleged that after the Meyerling tragedy she was sent out of Austria by the Government in charge of a priest, who took her to America. Afterward she was cared for and educated in various convents, most of her girlhood being passed in Toronto, where she was known as Alma Vetsera.
It was while Alma was in Toronto that she met a young cadet of the Royal Military College, Kingston, and, with the wonder of the great world outside the convent walls hardly out of her eyes, she married him. His name was George Osborne Hayne.
After Alma's marriage to Mr. Hayne the two lived in Montreal at the Windsor Hotel, and were.received at many of the best houses in the city.
At this time Alma was only seventeen years of age, and she showed every promise of being a very charming and winsome woman. Her beauty and attractive manners, together with the faint shadow of sadness which even then occasionally darkened her generally happy temperament, all combined to make her the pet of Montreal society.
Mr. and Mrs. Hayne visited Austria and tried to obtain from the authorities recognition of Mrs. Hayne's claim to be the daughter of Crown Prince Rudolph. Their effort failed, and during the same year, 1911, the Austrian Government isued an official pronouncement stating that as no child was born as a result of the infatuation of the Crown Prince for the Baroness Vetsera no person could genuinely claim such ancestry.
After a brief period it became apparent that all was not roses in the married life of the young couple. A little boy was born to them, and very soon after this event Mr. Hayne went to New York, leaving his wife behind in Montreal.
During her husband's absence Mrs. Hayne met a young man named Justin R. McDougald, who lived in Montreal, and the two became close friends.
Mrs. Hayne decided to institute divorce proceedings against her husband, and for this purpose she went to New York. Young McDougald followed her and remained in her company. Mr. Hayne took counter-proceedings. This was followed by the return to Montreal of Mrs. Hayne and young McDougald.
On their return to that city the young man's father interposed. He induced his son to accompany him to St. Benoist Joseph Asylum at Longue Point, and had him detained in order to give him time to reflect over his conduct.
While there he wrote several piteous letters to Mrs. Hayne, telling her of his plight and imploring her to assist him to escape. This led to a most exciting fight for freedom.
Through the connivance of Mrs. Hayne a file was smuggled to the incarcerated young man by means of a box of candy.
A night was decided on for the escape. The bars that kept McDougald from freedom were to be cut, the young man was to lower himself quietly to the grounds below, where a conveyance waited at the asylum gate to bear him away to the woman he loved.
The attempt proved a failure, however. The sound of the file against the steel of young McDougald's prison bars was heard by the keen ears of the asylum warders, and the bid for freedom was frustrated.
Further piteous letters were sent from the prisoner to Mrs. Hayne, begging her to discover some other way to help him out of his plight.
A second attempt was made. On a dark night a few days later a high-powered motorcar bearing three or four friends of the young couple travelled to Longue Point to reconnoitre the place, with a view to making an effort to release the young fellow on the following night.
Shortly before midnight of the appointed day a big touring car containing five men arrived noiselessly on the scene. The guards of the asylum, however, were not asleep, and soon the challenge wad given to those who were seen to be crouching in the shadow of the asylum gate.
No satisfactory answer being given, the guards opened fire on the party. This was returned by the would-be rescuers, one of whom emptied a chamber of revolver shots on the custodians of the institution.
A general alarm resulted; lights began to appear about the grounds and reinforcements beat off the attack. The would-be rescuers clambered back into their car and dis
appeared into the darkness.
Accepting the hopelessness of quixotic rescue, Mrs. Hayne decided to appeal to the law to assist her cause, and applied for a writ of habeas oorpua demanding the asylum authorities to "deliver up the body of Justin B. McDougald."
When the case was called the asylum brothers did not appear, but Mr McDougald, Sr. was in court on their behalf. The case was adjourned so that the brothers might appear.
After the adjournment Mrs. Hayne appealed to the young man's father and agreed to accompany him to the asylum. What transpired on this journey has never been revealed, but on the way Alma agreed not only to make no further fun about the young man's incarceration, but even agreed to persuade him to remain there of his own consent until his father agreed to his release.
A new romance of a different type entered Mrs. Alma Vetsera Hayne's life after her divoree and her removal to New York. It was then that she met and married young Donald Shields Andrews, a senior student at Yale, son of Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Andrews, of Cleveland, Ohio.
Shields was at the time engaged to Miss Elizabeth Strong, of his own city. Social history says that Mrs. Hayne first met the young man through his fiancee, Miss Strong, whose friendship she made while visiting at Camden, S. C.
At Camden Alma Vetsera heard all about Miss Strong's engagement to marry the young Yale undergraduate, Donald Shields Andrews. The trusting Ohio fiancee was unreserved in her adoration of her charming and brilliant guest. When Alma Vetsera left for New York it is said that Miss Strong wrote to her fiance, giving a glowing description of her new friend, and ended :
"Be sure you call on her. You'll find her a perfect love. Your devoted Bess.''
Young Andrews proved to be an obedient fiance. He called on Mrs. Hayne at her studio apartment, Central Park South, New York. He found her attractions quite up to Miss Strong's specifications. About a week after the meeting which little Miss Strong engineered they went to Mamaroneck and were married there on April 27, 1915, and sailed for Europe.
Two month later the deserted little fiancee learned that Donald Shields Andrews had returned from Europe alone ; that he did not return to Yale to be graduated with the rest of his class, but that he did have a heart-to-heart talk with his father and was later found doggedly at work in the paternal copper mines in Michigan.
Again divorced, Mrs Hayne became a permanent resident of London, and het social popularity increased rapidly. Her various matrimonial experiences were considered no bar to her admission in the highest circles.
She dressed in exquisite taste and without regard to cost. One woman who knew her estimated that she did not spend less than $50,000 a year on her clothes.
And here lies one on the many mysteries of her life. From her earliest days, even before any of her numerous marriages, she had been abundantly supplied with money. She once told a friend that the late Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria had furnished $1,000,000 for ber maintenance and education on condition that she should be taken away from Austria and that the secret of her parentage should never be revealed.
It was no secret that some of the most prominent young noblemen of England and officers of the army, men of a superior type to those noblemen who offer their hearts to Gaiety girls, were ardent suitors for her hand. Captain Cedric Sebastian Steane, although a handsome young man of wealth, several years younger than herself, was by no means the most distinguished of her suitors.
With characteristic impulsiveness she married him soon after he appeared in her circle, leaving the rest of her friends and admirers amazed at her suddenness.
And then she killed herself for some undiaeoverable reason within three months of an idyllic honeymoon.
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