EP Ranch Furnishings

 by Anita Mae Draper

Prince of Wales "E.P." Ranch, Pekisko, Alberta, Canada, early 1920's

When Edward, the Prince of Wales of Great Britain, bought the Bedingfeld Ranch in 1919, it came with a house full of simple furnishings. Thanks to the Glenbow Archives located both online and in Calgary, Alberta, and the Toronto Star Archives located in the Toronto Public Library, we have images of what the furnishings looked like in 1923 as well as in 1941.

The photo above shows the main house on the left and the original Bedingfeld homestead cabin on the right. As you can see, the main house was surrounded by open vine-covered and closed verandas, ensuring a great view of the Rockies no matter what the weather. According to the following photograph from the Toronto Star in 1923, Edward liked to sit and read on the veranda.

EP Ranch Veranda, 1923, Courtesy of Toronto Public Library

Twenty-two years later while still under Edward's ownership, similar simple furnishings were still used in the veranda when this next photo was taken in September 1941.

Veranda at EP Ranch, Pekisko, Alberta, Sep 1941. Glenbow Archives

Likewise, the bedroom was sparse with the personality of a hospital room when Edward first bought the ranch, as shown in this next photo.

E.P. Ranch Bedroom, 1923, Courtesy of Toronto Public Library

Although Edward filled his ranch bedroom with more furniture, it isn't what one would expect as the personal chamber of the heir to the British throne.

Bedroom at E.P. Ranch, Pekisko, Alberta, 1941. Courtesy of Toronto Public Library

According to historical records, Edward had the bottom floor of the ranch house enlarged and renovated prior to 1923 when he made time for his first visit since buying the ranch in 1919. The following image shows the living room as it was that year when he returned after the four year absence.

View of living room in EP Ranch, Pekisko, Alberta, 1923. Glenbow Archives

Edward returned in 1924 and 1927, and then not until 1941 when this next photo of  the same side of the room was taken. By that time, the room was referred to as the new wing to avoid confusion with the original two rooms before renovations, although not much had changed in the way of furnishings.

New wing, EP Ranch, Pekisko, Alberta, 1941. Glenbow Archives

On the right is the new fieldstone fireplace created with stones collected from the EP Ranch fields. It is interesting to note that when the EP Ranch celebrated it's 100th anniversary in 2019 with an open house, the living room was called the reception room and still contained most of the same furniture, right down to the light stands on either side of the fieldstone fireplace.

Fieldstone Fireplace, EP Ranch, Pekisko, Alberta, 1941. Glenbow Archives

The light stands were made from German shell casings. They were Edward's stamp on the place and reminded him of serving in the Great War. Also note the letters 'E' and 'P' carved into the stones, another of Edward's personal touches, although probably not by his own hand.

Edward's office was in the corner of the dining room, as seen in the images below.

Corner Office in Dining room, EP Ranch, Pekisko, Alberta, 1941. Glenbow Archives

Although the original extendable table with its heavy twist spindles is long gone, the chairs still remain as they did when Edward walked the carpet-covered oak floors and sat down to eat his meals or read a newspaper.

Dining room, EP Ranch, Pekisko, Alberta, 1923. Glenbow Archives

Along with renovations to the ranch house, Edward instructed his manager to build new barns for the purebred stock he was sending from England. By 1923 when Edward returned, there were two log barns and one large wood frame barn in use.

New Barn, EP Ranch, 1923. Courtesy of Toronto Public Library

It seems that although Edward was known for avoiding state affairs while enjoying the social life of a 'playboy', he didn't mind the quiet, simple ranch life...as long as he didn't have to stay too long.  

In my last post on the Butter Prince of 1924, I asked how many pounds of buter you thought were used to create the butter scene of the prince at his ranch. The actual answer is 3,000 pounds.

You can read previous posts on Prince Edward's EP Ranch at these links:

May 5th - Alberta's Edward Prince Ranch

June 5th - EP Ranch Royal Visit 1923

July 5th - Butter Prince of 1924

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anita Mae Draper lives on the Canadian prairies where she uses her experience and love of history to enhance her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism and faith. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com

What Lies Beneath - The Underground Town of Ellinwood, Kansas

By Kathy Kovach

A mere ten miles from where I was born in the heart of Kansas is the quirky town of Ellinwood, population 2,100. Ellinwood has a buried past, literally.

Wolf Hotel

The Emporium

A drive into town reveals a typical mid-west Norman Rockwell vibe. But to see her secret, one must park, head over to the Wolf hotel, and pay for a guided tour that begins across the street at the Emporium. The tour leads you a dozen steps down to a historic underground town.

Santa Fe Trail Marker

With the claim staked in the late 1800s, Ellinwood was built along the Santa Fe Trail when it was certain the Santa Fe Railroad would be coming through the area. Even though the founders weren’t of German descent, they developed the town with that country’s influence in mind to draw in the influx of German/Austrian immigrant buyers. This is where it is believed the idea of subterranean living sprang from. Case in point, Oppenheim, Germany has at least 25 miles of underground tunnels used for food and wine storage and later for hiding residents during the Thirty Years War in the 1600s.

Back to Kansas. The tour only shows part of the original town, but at one time, it encompassed the entire business district, running for two blocks on both sides of the street with connecting tunnels down side streets. A tunnel under the street also made it possible for women to cross without getting their dresses muddied. 

Tunnel under the Emporium

Apparently, the tunnels had been created to shuttle coal to the various shops and trades. Eventually, natural gas took the place of the more expensive coal, but the underground businesses still thrived. They catered mostly to the men, an elaborate mancave, as it turns out.

The dark underbelly of sweet Ellinwood retreated to the tunnels and some businesses took on a more rascally bent. Prohibition spawned eleven saloons as they operated away from prying eyes. A speakeasy still operates under the Wolf Hotel, albeit legally now.

The Underground Saloon/Bar

Today, the tour includes a harness shop and Jung’s Barber Shop with the original floors, wallpaper, and barber mirror—complete with bullet holes in the walls. There was also a steam laundry where a patron could leave his clothes while he soaked in one of the two tubs. Other establishments subsurface were Wolitz Shoe Shop, Petz Meat Storage, Joe’s Snack Counter, and the Drummer’s Sample Room, where traveling salesmen displayed their wares. There was also, at one time, a library.

Harness Shop

Example of bathtub used in Barber shop

My pictures don't do Underground Ellinwood justice. Please visit this You Tube site for a short tour.

With the thick limestone block walls, the tunnels also provided perfect shelter from tornadoes. They were also utilized when, during WWII, many of the German residents were forced underground to escape scrutinization as Nazi sympathizers.

I had the privilege to visit Ellinwood’s underground town several years ago with family members, some having resided in nearby Great Bend most of their lives. None of us knew this place existed. I’m not even sure how we found out about it. At that time, the official Underground Tour hadn’t been established. It’s possible that the original woman who rediscovered the tunnels was the one giving us our tour. Adrianna Dierolf inherited the Dick building from her grandfather Mathias Dick. She and her husband Dan decided to restore the underground businesses for tours. She had to convince the town not to fill in the tunnels under her building as they had started to with the rest of the town in an extensive sidewalk renovation project. I’m so glad she remained true to her roots.

If you find yourself in Ellinwood, Kansas, do stop in for a dose of history. And on your way by Great Bend, hale a hearty howdy to my family who still lives there.

TITANIC: LEGACY OF BETRAYAL
A secret. A key. Much was buried on the Titanic, but now it's time for resurrection.

Follow two intertwining stories a century apart. 1912 - Matriarch Olive Stanford protects a secret after boarding the Titanic that must go to her grave. 2012 - Portland real estate agent Ember Keaton-Jones receives the key that will unlock the mystery of her past... and her distrusting heart.

To buy: Amazon

Kathleen E. Kovach is a Christian romance author published traditionally through Barbour Publishing, Inc. as well as indie. Kathleen and her husband, Jim, raised two sons while living the nomadic lifestyle for over twenty years in the Air Force. Now planted in northeast Colorado, she's a grandmother, though much too young for that. Kathleen is a longstanding member of American Christian Fiction Writers. An award-winning author, she presents spiritual truths with a giggle, proving herself as one of God's peculiar people.

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TITANIC: Inescapable Catastrophe or Needless Tragedy

 

  

On April 14, 1912 at 11:40 p.m., RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage.

On April 15, 1912 at 2:20 a.m., the unsinkable Titanic disappeared beneath the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

That was 107 years ago. Of all the shipwrecks and ocean disasters, there is something about the Titanic that tugs at people’s hearts. There is a mystery and—strangely—a romantic aura surrounding it.

In 2012, when I did research about the Titanic, I learned that there were several factors that contributed to this tragedy. If any one of them were changed, the unthinkable might not have happen or at least hundreds of more lives could have been saved. Here are those factors as I remember them.

1) It was a calm, moonless night. One would think calm seas would make travel safer. Titanic needed to cross a section the Atlantic known to have icebergs. A moonless night means that a black sky is reflecting on black water. Calm seas meant that no or very few waves lapped up against the base of the ice, which would have made them a little more detectible. They were virtually invisible. These kind of icebergs were known as black-bergs. They blended in perfectly with the night sky and dark waters.

2) If the lookout could have seen the iceberg even a few seconds earlier, it could have made a huge difference in warning the captain and engine room. The Titanic just might have been able to miss the iceberg or have hit it less severely.

3) Titanic reversed engines to slow and turned to try to avoid or lessen the collision. From what I understand, slowing lessened Titanic’s maneuverability. Some speculate if Titanic had held its speed or even sped up, it might have been able to turn sharper, reducing the impact. But we’ll never know, because no one can go back and have a do-over.

4) The lower bulkheads between compartments weren’t water tight. That’s to say, they didn’t seal at the top. So when water poured in and filled up the damaged compartment, the water spilled over into the next and the next and the next until Titanic was too heavy to stay afloat. If the compartments had been water tight, Titanic could have limped to safety.

5) The lifeboats have a two-fold tragedy. First, there weren’t enough for all the passengers and crew. They cluttered up the decks and made the ship less visually appealing. And second, when the first lifeboats were being loaded, a lot of people didn’t believe there was any real danger. Why would anyone want to get off a warm comfortable unsinkable luxury liner and be lowered in a cold, tiny lifeboat into the vast Atlantic Ocean? So the first few lifeboats launched with many seats vacant. A lifeboat that could carry over sixty people left with less than half its potential capacity. People just didn’t believe Titanic would sink. After all, it was advertised as “unsinkable.”

6) The radio operator on the SS Californian (a ship close enough to have rendered aid) had shut down the radio for the night, just ten minutes before Titanic struck the iceberg. So Titanic’s distress call didn’t reach them. Having the radio unmanned during the night was standard practice. It’s not anymore. Because of the Titanic tragedy, radios are now manned twenty-four hours. If the SS Californian had received the SOS, hundreds of more lives would have been saved.

If any one of these things had been different, fewer—if any—people would have perished.

From my backlist
TITANIC: VOYAGE OF INTENT
Will trying to save her brother's life cost Brenna her own?

Brenna Kelly's brother has been accused of a murder he didn't commit and sentenced to die. Brenna follows the real murderer aboard the luxury liner Titanic to find the proof to save her brother from the gallows. Little does she know that her fate is as tenuous as her brother’s.
Cliffton Statham is charmed by Brenna and sets out to help her and win her affections. But his flimsy relationship with his uncle puts his future in jeopardy, and he must decide between Brenna and saving himself. Can Brenna find the proof she needs in time? Will love be a help or a hindrance?
Will the icy waters of the Atlantic be the end of them all?

HEARTBEATS IN TIME

MARY DAVIS s a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her 2018 titles include; "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection (January), Courting Her Amish Heart (March), The Widow’s Plight (July), Courting Her Secret Heart (September), “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection (December), and Courting Her Prodigal Heart (January 2019). Coming in 2019, The Daughter's Predicament (May) and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads (July). She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups. Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at: Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub

THE FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL AUTOMOBILE ROAD TRIP

In 1903, a man named Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson became the first person to drive across the country, from coast to coast. Jackson was seated in a gentleman’s club when he overheard a discussion at another table about the impracticability of automobiles. He made a fifty dollar wager that he could make it across the country in an automobile in ninety days or less.

This may seem silly to us now, because people drive across the country all the time. But Jackson had three huge obstacles against him.

ONE: In 1903, there exited only 150 miles of paved roads in the entire United States, most of those in large cities. What roads there were in between cities were extremely primitive if they existed at all. There were no road signs, no road numbers, no road maps, and no gas stations. In the first decade of the 20th century, a driver had the option of bad roads or no roads at all.

TWO: In 1903, automobiles were still a novelty and most people didn’t trust them. With good reason. Automobiles were highly prone to breaking down. Out in the middle of nowhere with no roads, it wasn’t easy to order parts or find someone who could repair a broken part. People didn’t think automobiles would last, that they were a passing fad.

THREE: No one had ever driven an automobile that far, so people didn’t believe it could be done. Other endeavors to drive across the country in an automobile had been attempted in years prior to Jackson’s trip without success. Proof it couldn’t be done.

So four days after his encounter at the gentleman’s club, having bought an automobile and supplies, Dr. Jackson set out on his historic expedition. He, along with his chauffeur/mechanic, Sewall Crocker, traveled from San Francisco to New York City in a twenty-horsepower Winton automobile he named the Vermont. Along the way, Horatio bought a dog named Bud who enjoyed the trip immensely.

Dr. Jackson and Mr. Crocker left San Francisco on Saturday, May 23. Two other two-man teams left California in the following weeks of the same year. The trio spent more time waiting for parts and to repair the Winton than they did driving. Worn out tires, broken springs, stuck in deep, thick mud. They were even sent miles and miles the wrong way because someone wanted another person to see an automobile. It’s amazing they made any progress at all.

At one point, the Vermont had to be towed by a horse!

Even with all the calamity that befell them, Dr. Jackson’s team was the first to make it, arriving in New York on Sunday, July 26, at 4:30 in the morning, completing the first American cross-country road trip. The approximately 4,500-mile journey took sixty-three days, twelve hours, and thirty minutes.

Between purchasing an automobile, hiring a mechanic, numerous repairs and parts, along with other expenses, Dr. Jackson spent around $8,000 of his own money to make this trip. Though he won the bet, he never collected the $50.

Dr. Jackson’s trek had shown the possibility of the automobile and that it could do far more than people realized and that it was here to stay. He also began a tradition that people for generations to come would follow—The Road Trip.

Within a few years of Dr. Jackson’s trip, an organized movement began in the United States to improve the roads across the nation to accommodate this new fangled device—the automobile. Higher quality driving surfaces were needed as well as a structured system of roadways, updated maps, in general, better ways for people in cars to travel wherever they wished to go.
By 1913, the nation’s first transcontinental motor route, the Lincoln Highway, had been created coast to coast through the center of the country. And by 1915, an automobile had raced across it’s entire length in just fives days time. This never would have happened without adventurous people like Dr. Jackson to forge the open country side before roads existed.

In 1944, Jackson donated his his 1903 Winton, The Vermont, to the Smithsonian Institution.

If you’d like to learn more about Dr. Jackson’s trip, you can watch Ken Burns’s PBS documentary titled Horatio’s Drive.

Dr. Jackson’s story so inspired me that I had to write a story of women making this same sort of trip. You can read their adventures in my novella “ZOLA’S CROSS-COUNTRY ADVENTURE” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection.

Happy Adventuring!


The MISSADVENTURE BRIDES Collection
Love Is One of Life’s Greatest Adventures
Seven daring damsels don’t let the norms of their eras hold them back. Along the way these women attract the attention of men who admire their bravery and determination, but will they let love grow out of the adventures?

Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure, a 1904 road-trip. Zola Calkin sets out on an adventure to be the first woman to drive across the country. Will the journalist tasked to report her presumed failure sabotage her efforts? Or will he steal her heart?

#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. Coming in January 2019, Courting Her Prodigal Heart (Book 3 in the Prodigal Daughter's series). She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:
Newsletter Blog FB FBReadersGroup Pinterest Amazon GoodReads BookBub

From Bandstands to Bandshells

Armistice Day Celebrations, Waterloo, Ontario. Nov 11, 1918. Courtesy of Waterloo Public Library 

If you've been following my bandstand series, you'll recognize a traditional wooden bandstand, surrounded by vehicles, in the above photograph. It was taken in Waterloo, Ontario on November 11, 1918. If you were there at the time you would have heard shouts of victory and music blazing from the bandstand as the community came together to celebrate Armistice Day. The Great War was over and the boys were coming home. 

The bandstand had served its purpose on that exhilarating occasion, but sometime between then and 1920, it was moved to Waterloo Park where music continued to flow from its open walls, spilling out onto the lawns for all to hear. And what happens when a bandstand isn't big enough for its audience? You build a bandshell. 

Waterloo Park Bandshell, Waterloo, Ontario, ca 1920. Courtesy of Waterloo Public Library

In July 1920, the Seagram family donated a bandshell to Waterloo Park. It was the first bandshell built outside of Toronto and it meant bigger bands and louder music to reach more of Waterloo's appreciative public.  

Waterloo Park Bandshell, Waterloo, Ontario, ca 1920. Courtesy of Waterloo Public Library

Long benches were provided, although many sat on the ground or brought their own folding deckchairs. And then in 1969, the bandshell was replaced by a swimming pool. It sounds harsh, but it shows the changing needs of a growing community.

In the west, along with the elaborate parks we saw in Calgary, Alberta in my last post, the City of Calgary signed a special agreement with the Canadian Pacific Railroad which enabled the establishment of Central Park with a pavilion that featured a bandshell.

Central Park [Memorial Park], Calgary, Alberta, ca 1913. Courtesy of Glenbow Archives, Calgary, Alberta

Although Calgary's Central Memorial Park, as it is now known, is still there today with fountains, sculpture, monuments and a library, the bandshell is nowhere to be seen.

Over in the United Kingdom in 1924, a similar bandshell called the Central Bandstand, was built in the coastal community of Herne Bay, Kent, England. It was constructed of reinforced concrete with its pillars deep in the sand beside the roadway for maximum exposure with the tourist trade. 

In process of construction, Central Bandstand, Herne Bay, Kent, England, 1924. Courtesy of Wikipedia

It was also known as the New Bandstand to differentiate it between an older bandstand down the beach*, and was used for speeches as well as concerts.

The New Bandstand, Herne Bay, Kent, England, 1925. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Lady Edwina Mountbatten, wife of Lord Louis Mountbatten of Burma, speaking on behalf of the Red Cross at the Central Bandstand, Herne Bay, Kent, England; in 1939. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Today, you can still take in a concert at the Central Bandstand at Herne Bay, and maybe enjoy a dance or two.The Central Bandstand has enjoyed a refurbishment in recent years which enclosed all sides to create an open-air courtyard. In this next image, instead of looking at the bandstand stage, we're looking out from the stage, across the audience chairs, and toward the doors which lead to the road.

View from the Stage, The Central Bandstand, Herne Bay, Kent, England; 2013. Courtesy of Wikipedia

And if you're looking down from one of the buildings facing the bay, here's what you would see between the street and the beach...

View from Above, The Central Bandstand, Herne Bay, Kent, England; 2013. Courtesy of Wikipedia

Whether you call this a bandstand or bandshell, the music that flows into the air surrounding the structure reminds everyone of its historic presence. 

Care to share your thoughts on these large bandshells? If you've attended a concert at one, is the sound different than a smaller traditional bandstand? Are you aware of an American bandshell that is either still standing, or once stood?

My next post will feature the other famous Herne Bay bandstand on the same beach as this one, and perhaps a few surprises to show that bandstands don't need to be demolished with changing times. 


Other posts in this historical bandstand series can be found:
- May 5, 2018 - Wooden Bandstands of By Gone Years
- June 5, 2018 - Scenic Bandstands with a Water View
- July 5, 2018 - Elaborate Bandstands for Special Events

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Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are written under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details.  Anita's short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, was a finalist for the Word Guild's 2015 Word Awards. Her novellas are included in Austen in Austin Volume 1, The American Heiress Brides Collection, and The Secret Admirer Romance Collection. Readers can check out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories to enrich their reading experience.  Discover more at:

Website - www.anitamaedraper.com

Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper/

Clara Ward, Michigan's Million Dollar Princess

By Kathleen Rouser

Princess Clara de Caraman-Chimay in 1898, photo taken
by Paul Nadar, {PD}

Back when I was researching the Detroit upper classes circa 1900, for a novella, I came across some information about a young lady who was an American dollar princess. With the popularity of shows like Downton Abbey and the Smithsonian Channel’s series about American million dollar princesses, along with the excitement over the upcoming marriage of Meghan Markle to Prince Harry, many have found the stories of American-born princesses intriguing.

When I did read about Clara Ward, who was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1873, I found the story of a princess which was anything but the stuff of fairytales. Clara Ward was the daughter of Eber Brock Ward, Detroit’s first millionaire, and his second wife. A man who seemed to have a talent for investing, he’d worked in shipping with his uncle, had his hand in lumber, the railroads, and manufactured steel near Detroit. After having seven children with him, his first wife divorced him for serial infidelity. He then married the much younger Catherine Lyon, the niece of a senator. E.B. Ward died in 1875 before Clara was even two. 

Clara in 1898, by Paul Nadar, {PD}

Clara grew up to be a very willful young lady, straining against the confines of morals and society at the time. She was expelled from boarding schools in London and Paris. After being placed at a convent school in Italy, she shocked the nuns there with her outrageous behavior.

While she was in Europe, Clara’s mother made sure to find a proper match for her, trading dollars for class and pedigree. In Niece, France, at the age of seventeen, the young lady was introduced to Prince Joseph de Caraman-Chimay of Belgium, from the province of Hainaut, near France. He was a cousin to King Leopold II and a member of the Chamber of Deputies in Belgium. Fifteen years her senior and lacking in funds, he found the beautiful Clara and her dowry of three and a half million francs ($2.5 million) an attractive package. In exchange, his bride would become Princess Clara de Caraman-Chimay. The marriage took place in Paris in the spring of 1890. 

Clara with Rigo Janczy, between
1897 and 1905, {PD}

Americans were enthralled with the idea of an American princess, much as they seem to be today. As time went on, their match would make waves on the other side of the Atlantic as well. Clara gave birth to a daughter in 1891 and a son in 1895, but the princess quickly became restless with her life in Belgium. One rumored story says she threw gold coins off of the battlements of her chateau and watched the villagers below fight over them.

Clara apparently carried on with other men, but her husband ignored it all. She was also rumored to have caught the eye of King Leopold II in the Belgian court and had a relationship with him, causing a stir. 

However, in 1896, while the Prince and Princess de Caraman-Chimay dined at a Parisian restaurant, the performance of a Hungarian gypsy violinist, set into motion a scandal that rocked the gossip news of both America and Europe. Clara became infatuated with the roving musician, Rigo Janczy, and he with her. Ten days later the couple eloped. 

Clara on a postcard, performing
"poses plastique," Between 1898
and 1905 {PD}

Prince Joseph divorced Clara in 1897. She gave up custody of her children and agreed to pay for their support. After Janczy obtained a divorce in 1898, he married her. The infamous couple was shunned by upper and lower classes. Clara further scandalized the society of the time by performing what she called her “poses plastiques” in a nude-colored, skintight body stocking at French cabarets such as Folies Bergere and Moulin Rouge. This was considered very shocking at the time. Her second husband sometimes accompanied her performance on his violin. She was often the subject of photographs used on postcards in her stage outfit and wearing more conventional clothing.

The couple traveled far and wide, living as they pleased so that Clara’s family needed to put brakes on funds available to her, restricting her to today’s equivalent of around two million dollars a year. Eventually, Rigo and Clara's love grew stale and she divorced Janczy around 1904 for his infidelity.

Clara soon took up with her third husband, Peppino Riccardio, supposedly a handsome waiter she met on a train. They were together until 1911 when he alleged that Clara cheated on him, which she denied. 

Postcard of Clara Ward Chimay,
possibly 1905 {PD}

Her last husband, Signore Cassalota, managed the railroad station which arranged tours of Mt. Vesuvius. In 1916, Clara died at her villa in Padua, Italy, at the age of 43. Her two children, her third husband, and a cousin received the remains of her wealth. 

Clara Ward Chimay decided to live life the way she wanted and is heralded by some feminists for doing so. In the process, she lost her children and any semblance of a good reputation. She ran from the restraints of what she considered proper society. She bargained her fortune for a title but didn’t find contentment being part of the Belgian royal court. She was estranged from family. Though she lived a lavish lifestyle of great wealth, she left behind no legacy of goodness that I found in my research. She was only remembered for her scandalous behavior. Clara’s obituary in a Detroit paper summed up her life well: “She died a woman without illusions. She had gone the pace. She lived intensely, a slave of her desires; she died an outcast, an old woman of 43 years, just when she should have been in her prime."

Kathleen Rouser is the award-winning author of Rumors and Promises, her first novel about the people of fictional Stone Creek, Michigan, and the novella, The Pocket Watch. She is a longtime member of American Christian Fiction Writers. Kathleen has loved making up stories since she was a little girl and wanted to be a writer before she could even read. She longs to create characters who resonate with readers and realize the need for a transforming Savior in their everyday lives. She lives in Michigan with her hero and husband of 36 years, and the sassy tail-less cat who found a home in their empty nest. Connect with Kathleen on her website at kathleenrouser.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kathleenerouser/, and on Twitter @KathleenRouser.