Bride Fools Many As Fake Heiress

Girl-Wife's Acts Inspired By Famous Novel.

Law Steps in When Winsome Fabricator Gets to "End of Her String."

TWO RIVERS, Wis., May 20. - Day dreams of a winsome lass, coming true for three thrilling months by reason of her own forceful imagination and convincing inventions, went all to smash when detectives brought Mrs. Harold Haltaufderheide here to face charges of obtaining money by false pretenses.

It was revolt against the unmusical names of Herzog and Haltaufderheide and against the prosaic role of a factory worker's wife that impelled Helen, whose name before her marriage last summer was Herzog, to enter upon her romantic adventure.

This is the story, as Helen constructed it:

Helen, the beautiful daughter of a stolid farmer, lives and toils in obscurity until she is 16. In an amusement park she meets the clean-cut, tall, wavy-haired youth whom, at a glance, she recognizes as the man of her heart.

Heroine Elopes With Harold.
From the dull farm, her hard-working father and an unsympathetic stepmother she elopes with Harold. Harold returns to his labor in a veneer mill. The honeymoon wanes and the high cost of living gets in its deadly work. Helen and Harold live with Harold's family in Two Rivers. The girl feels out of place, a bit neglected.

One evening at the supper table she appears in a state of intense excitement.

"Harold," she says, "you didn't marry a poor girl after all!"

A letter from her aunt, Mrs. Ben Strupp of Manitowoc, has informed Helen that her name was not Herzog, but that she is actually the daughter of Herbert Earle, a wealthy opera star. her mysterious father has left her a vast estate - a ranch in Montana, a plantation in Virginia and much other valuable property.

Helen at once insists that Harold quit his factory job, and his parents, overjoyed at their daughter-in-law's good fortune, are prevailed upon to purchase a new home.

Draws All His Money.
Mr. Haltaufderheide draws money from the bank to keep the heiress supplied until her own shall come rolling in. The girl travels about the State on important errands, scorning the interurban for hired touring cars. Her slender beauty is arrayed in becoming and costly garments.

Then Harold and Helen go to Milwaukee for a second honeymoon and nothing is heard from them day after day. Suspicion and finally panic invade the serenity of the Haltaufderheide household. The police are notified. At the home of Adam Horning, Helen's cousin in Milwaukee, Helen and Harold are found by large, unsentimental detectives.

Helen confesses and weeps; Harold embraces her and weeps. They weep together and Helen sobs.

St. Elmo Is Responsible.
"I thought you'd love me more if I was rich," she explained as she weeps on Harold's manly breast. "I got the name Herbert Earle out of a book called 'St. Elmo.' I wrote the letter to myself and I fixed up the lawyer's paper and everything myself. I am all to blame."

Behind is a trail of notes signed at the bank, of grim attorneys chagrined at the revelation that a slip of a girl has fooled them and, worst of all, the exasperated family.

"Why," gasped Papa Haltaufderheide, "the little minx had even ordered a special limousine from the factory. No ordinary automobile would do for her when she got her million."

And Helen, in the midst of her troubles, says she is sure John Herzog, plodding farmer, and her honest-to-goodness father, will come to her aid, even tho he has to mortgage the family acres.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 3.
--Picture from The Ogden Standard Examiner, May 16, 1920, page 6.