A HUSHED-UP TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14287, 5 February 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

A HUSHED-UP TRAGEDY.

INFATUATION AND SUICIDE. Hidden - beneath the bald announcement of an auction sale, there have, been few more tragic stories than that of the late Mrs. Ruiz, which was ■ hardly likely to be discerned : under a substituted name, in the advertisement of a sale which took place in Conduit-street, London, the other week. "The magnificent jewels of the lute Miss Agnes O'Brien, of 19, Grosvenor-street, ..by order of the administrator," read the notification, which drew enough fashionablydressed people to the galleries of Messrs. Knight, Frank, and Rutley to suggest a society function. . "Who was Miss O'Brien?" the question was asked. The printed catalogue gave the name of "Miss Mary Agnes O'Brien, deceased, of 19, Grosvenor-street," but it was noticed that all the articles bearing a monogram were inscribed with a bold "A.R.," The gems were the property of Mrs. Mary Ann O'Brien Ruiz, the lady whose tragic suicide early in May escaped public attention until Lloyd's News, a month later, published the entire story. , Mrs. Ruiz, it was said, conceived a wild infatuation for Mr. A. G. Vanderbilt, the American millionaire. She had been living | apart from her husband, from whom she separated a week alter marriage several years ago, and she first met Mr. Vanderbilt under romantic circumstances in Central Park, New York. Shb was an accomplished, horsewoman, delighting in the management of thoroughbreds, and was riding a splendid chestnut, when the animal took fright at a passing automobile. Mrs. Ruiz pluckily stuck to the saddle till she regained complete control of the animal, ana when at. length she dismounted to fasten a saddle-girth, Mr. A. G. Vanderbilt came up arid helped her to put it right. ■; •,' The acquaintance thus begun continued. Mrs. Ruiz lived a retired life in New York for some weeks, and came over to England at the end of last summer. She was often seen on Mr. YanderbiltV coach and in his company in different places. ..... '. LIFE 01' MANY ADVENTURES. . At the furnished house she took at 19, Grosvenor-streot, in March.. last, she lived with a companion, Miss Caney, and kept two French maids, two maidservants, three men-servants, and a page. Mrs. Ruiz also had several horses stabled at a mews close by, and used to exercise in Rotten Row every morning. At her death Mrs. Ruiz was no more than twenty-nine. Her life, since she ran away from home at the ago of thirteen, returning from New Orleans without a ticket, had seen a groat deal of variety and adventure. She was said to be the daughter of an Irish farmer who emigrated to America, but a New York correspondent learnt from a friend who had known her all her life that, she was the daughter of a boilermaker, of St. Louis. She was under the middle height, and was slender and graceful. Her hair was of a ■ delightful chestnut tint, which is more familiar in the West of Ireland than anywhere else. " • ,' <

She was left a •widow before she was twenty and having to make her own wav in the world went upon the music hall stage. Her great beauty and her fresh charm of manner attracted Mr. Antonio Ruiz, a rich Cuban merchant, who speedily married her and took" her away from the mixed joys of American vaudeville. L Money flowed , "now, but the -jnion was disastrously unhappy, and the pair separated mutually within a fortnight of their • marriage. The lad however, had the satisfaction of being well provided for. and she lived in ' grant style in New York. Horses and jewels were her favourite amusements, and of both she' had enough and to spare. * ~ • "* - - „ : .... COMING OF THE CLOUD.

/ She ; was received in London as a rich young widow from America, and entertained lavishly before th© cloud came which presaged the end./' Under its chill influences she became moody and depressed,; refused to see /her friends, and suffered from sleeplessness. Something had happened, .as those who were near to Her painfully recognised ; ~ but what it wait b she told no one; and after she shot herself her friends could only shrewdly guess at what was behind it all. . V Mrs. Bui}; was found shot in bed on May 16. ;She had been listless. for weeks, her companion stated, while, attending entertainments in the.West" End, arid had taken tabloids for sleeplessness. • On that dav she appeared drowsy, wretched. and* ill, ,and after Tier companion had left her, having taken in a cup of tea, the bedroom boll suddenly rang. Miss Caney at once hastened to the room, to find her mistress looking ghastly, and woefully distressed.! : , : A doctor was called in,' and on,the bedclothes being turned back a small round blackened hole was . found in her nightgown, with a small bullet wound in the chest., A small revolver lay ,in the bed, and the dying woman's fingers were blackened with powder;?' O -Zv: ' /.: A:-:/./,"[ Mrs. Ruiz was described on the death certificate as "of independent means; wife of •~U Ruiz ——, and .residing at 19, Gros-venor-street, Westminster." . - She was a Roman Catholic, and the funeral, which took place at Finchley Cemetery, was attended by .only one or two close friends. . ■ ' > ' • j ,: Many.of the jewels sold were wedding presents from her second husband. The total amount realised at the sale was £7000. Y. v . , • "