STRANGE WAR-TIME ROMANCE.

Thames Star, Volume LIX, Issue 16700, 23 January 1926, Page 8

STRANGE WAR-TIME ROMANCE.

COLONEL X AND BEAUTIFUL BELGIAN GIRL.

A war-time romance—that ol a Colonel X., then of the British Army, who fell in love with and married a most beautiful and talented Belgian girl—has had tragic sequels in widely separated cities.

The former Mrs. X. —who in remarkable circumstances had become Mrs. Walter Fitzpatrick, but had been estranged and separated from Mr. Fitzpatrick for nearly a year—was found dead in her home at Ivew Gardens, near New York. She had donned a lovely evening gown and all her jewels; and then committed suicide by turning on the gas in her kitchen. Mr. Fitzpatrick, the well-to-do president of a New York manufacturing concern, was m Deland, Florida, where he had gone on business. On receiving telegraphic news of the tragedy, he left his Deland hotel, went into a. neighbouring wood and shot himself dead. BEGINNING' OF TRAGEDY.

Friends of Mrs. Fitzpatrick tell her sad story as follows: She was the daughter of a merchant of Brussels. Colonel X. met her in London, where she had sought refuge from the German invaders. He was attracted not only by her good looks, but her accomplishments as a musieiali and portrait painter. Shortly after the wedding the colonel was ordered to the front. Then came the second battle of the Marne, and he was reported among the missing. Mrs. Colonel X. returned to Brussels. Her father died soon after the Armistice. Believing the colonel to be dead, ihe decided to come to America. Here she met Mr. Fitzpatrick, who courted her ardently.

Unable to produce proof of her husband’s death, she (at Fitzpatrick’s suggestion) obtained, in 1920. a divorce in California on the plea of desertion, this not being reeognsed as a ground for such action in New York State. Mrs. X. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick were married at San Francisco. THE DEAD ALIVE AGAIN. Meanwhile the British colonel had recovered from his wounds and the effects of poison gas. which for a long period had caused loss of memory. Ascertaining that his wife had come to the United States, he followed in tho 'hope of finding her. They came unexpectedly face to face in a New York street.

"When the emotion of their startling mutual recognition had subsided explanations were exchanged, and the colonel implored his wife to divorce Fitzpatrick and return to him. But she had become reconciled to her new life in America, and turned a deaf ear to his entreaties. Convinced at last of the hopelessness of his efforts, the Englishman bowed sorrowfully to her verdict, and withdrew from the scene. He is believed by Mrs. Fitzpatrick’s friends to have returned to London. In a note which Mrs. Fitzpatrick left for a friend she wrote that life had become unbearable to her. She desired to be buried under her maiden name.