SURVIVOR OF GEM “CURSE”

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 September 1928, Page 2

SURVIVOR OF GEM “CURSE”

MAY YOHE FINDS HAPPINESS.

May Yohe, famous stage star of the last 'generation and former owner of the notorious 44-carat “Hope diamond,” which is reputed to have brought tragedy to all of its owners, has. no regrets that her divorce from Lord Henry Francis Pelham-Clinton-Hope deprived her of the distinction of becoming the Duchess of Newcastle. Lord Francis was elevated to the dukedom following the recent death of his father, the 7th Duke of Newcastle.

May Yohe, who still uses the name under which she gained fame upon the stage and world-wide notoriety through a number of romantic escapades, is living is Boston, Massachusetts, in peaceful happiness in a, modest two-storey house with her third husband. Captain John Smuts, formerly of South Africa.

“I am sincerely glad of Lord Francis’ elevation to the dukedom,” the actress declared, “but I do not envy the life I might, have had as Duchess of Newcastle had not divorce separated us. “I am contented in my little home with my dog and my birds and my flowers and my husband. 1 have found real happiness at last.” May Yohe’s marriage to the wealthy Lord Francis Hope was a. sensation in both England and America many years ago, and an even greater surprise followed when she loft her aristocratic English husband Io elope with Captain Putman Strong, son of the then mayor of New York City. Lord Francis divorced her, and her union with Captain Strong did not last. long. Another divorce followed, and for some time Miss Yohe lived alone. When at. last, she married Captain Smuts she renounced her gilded life of the past and settled down to a domestic existence in Boston. She whoso escapades were the talk of the world for years now wants that same universe to know that she is happy in her quiet home and is enjoying the home life she is leading.