A Quaker City Girl Seeks A Divorce - Inquirer July 31, 1895

Philadelphia Inquirer July 31, 1895

A QUAKER CITY GIRL SEEKS A DIVORCE

ONLY FOUR MONTHS OF BLISS

Was Married in December Last Only to Flee to Dakota in the Spring. Left a Beautifully Furnished Home. She Sang With Fay Templeton at the Park.  

Lea Davis, who has brought suit for divorce in South Dakota, as published in a dispatch to The Inquirer from Yankton, is a Philadelphia girl whoso parents reside in the northern part of the city, and the defendant is Howard L. Davis, a prosperous young contractor and builder and the Junior member of the firm of Smith & Davis, whose office Is at Thirty-first and Berks streets.

Mrs. Davis's maiden name was Van Dyck and on the stage she was know as Lea Van Dyck. Early In life she demonstrated that she had a good voice and her parents sent her to Paris that she might have an excellent musical education. There she studied with Marchesi and attained considerable proficiency. Her soprano voice is said to be sweet and pure, but not strong. 

Returning to this country she began to sing upon the operatic stage. One summer she sang with Kay Templeton at the Park Theatre. Again she traveled with the Boston Symphony and Orchestral Club, with the Bostonians in "Robin Hood," and starred through the South as Violet in the "Little Tycoon." 

A FORMER MARRIAGE. 

A son of a prominent Chestnut street merchant fell in love with her and married her, but separation and divorce followed. She has a graceful figure, looked well in tights upon the stage and always had many admirers. 

One of Miss Van Dyck's most ardent adorers was young Mr. Davis. He helped her to get a divorce from her first husband and aided her when she got into trouble in New York. He also helped her to recover her Jewelry which she had parted with. 

On December 27, 1894, the winsome operatic star was married to Mr. Davis in this city. At his request she left the stage and the pair began housekeeping on Euclid avenue, below Thirty-first street, where the groom fitted up a small and cozy house in elegant style. 

"One reason for our unhappiness," said Mr. Davis yesterday, "was a disagreement between her relatives and myself. Matters became so annoying that it was finally necessary for my wife to choose between her husband and her family and she choose to go with her people."

A SUDDEN RETURN

"One day I left home intending to be absent from the city for a day. That was last April. I returned unexpectedly, however, and found my wife and her relatives busily packing up everything in the house as if preparing to move all the contents out. I stopped the proceedings right there. Mrs. Davis upon leaving my house went at once to Dakota for the purpose of gaining a residence there and seeking a divorce. I shall not oppose the proceedings." 

"I have had enough of married life," said Mr, Davis yesterday. "I am going to convert this house into a bachelor's den."

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