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Chapter two

Early Life: The Scandal That Shook Darien

Arthur Kingsley Porter was born on 6 February 1883 in Darien (pronounced Dari-ann), a small community on Connecticut’s ‘Gold Coast’, situated between Norwalk and Stamford.¹ Even in the Porters’ time it was considered an affluent town where wealthy businessmen chose to set up home, while commuting to work in New York City. The early Puritans, known as the New Haven Colony, had travelled from England during the 1630s to 1660s and had settled in the area.²They bought land from the Siwanoy, a peaceful Indian tribe. These early settlers applied their staunch Protestant beliefs, conservative values and strict work ethic to gradually establish prosperous communities throughout Connecticut. In 1848 the New Haven railroad’s first scheduled line was built through Darien, and this created even greater wealth and affluence for the town.

Published accounts of the early life of Arthur Kingsley Porter have been, until now, extremely scant and brief. One typical report stated that ‘fortune seemed to favour him from the beginning’.³ In fact, all the literature consulted converged on one main point: the Porters of Connecticut combined economic privilege with the finest pedigrees in education. This, however, is merely the surface veneer: the true story of the formative years of Arthur Kingsley Porter reads more like a modern-day soap opera, involving a series of tragedies and sensational public scandals that were played out in the full glare of the national press.

Timothy Hopkins Porter was almost 57 years old, and on the verge of retirement from a successful banking career, when his youngest son, Arthur Kingsley, was born.⁴ Timothy H, as he was known, was the son of Deacon Timothy and Annie (Todd) Porter. He was born on 16 February 1826, at Waterbury, Connecticut. Both Timothy H and his brother, David Gustavus, studied at Yale University in New Haven. Both brothers were studious and applied themselves diligently to their work. David G went on to become a Professor of Latin at Rochester University and a renowned scholar of theology.

In 1852 Timothy H entered Yale Theological Seminary, but remained only a short time before completing his studies at the Union Theological Seminary.⁵ The newly ordained Reverend Porter then spent three years studying in Germany and France before returning home to Waterbury in 1859. He continued to preach occasionally at the Baptist Church in Stamford but his travels in Europe had brought about a change of heart, and his earlier plans to settle for a religious career were abruptly overturned. Timothy H suddenly turned his attention to more worldly matters and set about carving out a lucrative career in finance. Opportunities materialized when he was offered a position with the banking house of Soutter & Company in New York. By all accounts he made rapid progress and his ambitions for a comfortable lifestyle quickly came to fruition. In 1859 he married Agnes K. Soutter, daughter of his business partner, James. T. Soutter. The marriage did not last long, however, as his wife died two years later, on 27 December 1861, at the age of 27.⁶

Timothy H continued to work at Soutter’s and in 1866 he was promoted to senior partner with the firm.⁷ He then began to court the affections of another young socialite, Miss Maria Louisa Hoyt, the eldest daughter of the Stamford multimillionaire Joseph B. Hoyt. The Hoyt clan held a family gathering in June 1866 at Stamford that was attended by affluent members from all over the US.⁸ At this prestigious event, Louisa’s father was selected to represent the prosperous Connecticut branch of the family.

The Hoyts of Connecticut had long established their position at the top of the social pecking order over centuries of diligent work and astute investment. In the late nineteenth century, the United States was admitting large numbers of Europeans who sought to make their fortune in the land of opportunity. It was therefore paramount to the survival of the oldest families that wealth was not the only requirement for admittance to the highest social strata. The Hoyts fulfilled all the criteria for being one of the most influential families in Connecticut, by possessing great wealth but also having an old family tradition that no amount of money could buy.

5. Clockwise (left to right): Blachley Lodge, Noroton, Darien, CT;

Timothy H. Porter; Schuyler Merritt; Interior of Blachley Lodge.

Stamford Historical Society, from ‘Gracious Living in Stamford, Late 19th and 20th Early Centuries’, c. 1892.

Louisa was not only wealthy but was also highly educated, being one of the first women to study at Vassar College in New York.⁹ Louisa possessed every social grace and economic advantage that Timothy H could ever have dreamed of and, by wielding his considerable charm, he somehow secured the affections of both Louisa and her esteemed family. On 3 November 1870, Timothy H married Maria Louisa Hoyt at her parents’ residence.¹⁰ At the time of the wedding Louisa was aged 23 while her husband was 44, over twenty years her senior.

The Porters began married life at Blachley Lodge, located in the fashionable district on Noroton Hill, in Darien. Louisa’s sister, Frances, married the successful Stamford industrialist, Schuyler Merritt, in October 1879.¹¹ The Merritts were neighbours of the Porters, also residing in a fine house on Noroton Hill. The Porters’ large timber-framed mansion occupied a superb location on a large estate.¹² The interior photo taken at Blachley Lodge shows a cluttered room with a panelled ceiling, a large window, an ornate stairway, Victorian-style furniture, drapes, statues, paintings and hanging lamps.

The Porter’s first son, Louis Hopkins, was born on 10 March 1874, and Blachley Hoyt followed on 27 February 1876.¹³ When Arthur Kingsley was born on 6 February 1883, his father was preparing to retire from business. The family had no financial worries as Timothy H had had a lucrative banking career, while his wife, Louisa, possessed great wealth from the Hoyt family’s vast fortune.

Much of the correspondence between the young Kingsley, his parents and his brothers still remains. The letters show a surprising outpouring of love and affection between all of the family members. There was constant correspondence between the brothers, telling of school experiences and trips undertaken, and describing various leisure pursuits that included sports and hunting. The tone of the letters is one of intimacy and deep caring, conjuring up scenes of the brothers enjoying every moment outdoors during school holidays: searching for birds’ nests in springtime, swimming and boating in summer, and snow sledding during winter.

This feeling of affection is also present in the letters frequently exchanged between the parents. Louisa, in much of her correspondence, addresses Timothy H as ‘My Precious Husband’.¹⁴ As Timothy H spent weekdays residing in New York, there was usually daily correspondence between husband and wife, both relaying anecdotes about work and home. Louisa gave constant reports on how the children were progressing at home and school and of how she had spent her day.The following is a snippet of a typical letter that she sent to her husband each day: ‘I have washed and dressed the baby [Kingsley], settled the housekeeping for the day and am now waiting for Aunt Frank to come to lunch with us.’¹⁵

In the same letter, Louisa wrote that Louis was taking dancing lessons and learning deportment.¹⁶ She had just returned from visiting her sister, Fanny, and they had spent a pleasant time together. Louisa had even managed to make some free time to read Bradley’s lectures on Dean Stanley, recommended reading by Timothy H. Her letter is signed: ‘With fondest love, Your Louise’.

Timothy H was particularly imaginative and playful when writing to his children. In a letter to Blachley, he wrote: ‘This old Papa cat is feeling very lonesome to-night and he wants to see his little white kitty very much indeed. If he were only here the old papa cat would purr and sing to him and tell him ever so many stories.’¹⁷

In a letter to Kingsley, when Timothy H and Louisa were holidaying in California, the devoted father wrote:

Mine dear little Kingsley,

Papa wants to see his brave little boy very much, because

papa and mama love him ever so much. And we are

coming home on Saturday to see him and give him a

tight hug and a kiss. We have not had any little boy to

kiss and sleep with since we went far away in the cars.¹⁸

Timothy H also displayed great interest in the older boys’ education and was already setting high standards for his eldest son, Louis: ‘I was agreeably disappointed in Louis’ school report. It is no comparison with what his report will be this term, but I noticed that it was better – that it showed a higher term mark average than any one of the Hill boys.’¹⁹

6. Letter from Timothy H. Porter to Kingsley Porter, dated 15 July 1886.

Harvard University Archives, HUG 1706.114, Family corresponndence and papers of Porter Family 1885-86, Folder 1892-93.

This regard for excellence must have rubbed off on Louis as, in a letter to Kingsley, he praised his younger brother’s fine handwriting: ‘Dear King, I was very glad to get your letter and especially to see how well it was written. I wish you would always write as well as that. Between you and me the writing in your letter was better than that which either Blach or I write, and I hope you will keep on writing carefully like that.’²⁰

It is also clear from the brothers’ early correspondence that Kingsley had a particular interest in drama. On 17 April 1892, Blachley wrote to the 9-year-old Kingsley, asking how his play was progressing and hoping that he and his classmates had mastered their parts.²¹

The entire family displayed a fascination with nature. While on holiday in California, Timothy H wrote to Kingsley, telling him of the impressive lakes and mountains that he had seen during a stagecoach drive to Saratoga.²² Blachley delighted in telling Kingsley about a host of creatures he had recently encountered, such as crows, squirrels and blue jays.²³ This love of nature and the outdoors became a central facet in Kingsley’s development.

Timothy H’s deep regard for his wife, Louise, is apparent throughout the entire correspondence but most particularly in the poems he wrote to commemorate each of her birthdays. On her twentieth birthday he wrote:

To my darling

On her 20th Birthday

Twelve months ago with trembling hand,

Upon this sixth of May

I greeted thee, as maiden fair,

In timid, sacred lay...²⁴

Louisa’s sister, Frances, gave birth to two daughters: Louisa Hoyt, on 7 September 1880, and Katherine Krom, on 9 January 1886.²⁵ Both Merritt daughters were close in age to their cousin Kingsley and they attended many childhood events together. The happy Porter household, however, was struck with a major calamity soon after Kingsley’s birth, when Timothy H suffered a stroke of apoplexy.²⁶ In 1887 he was stricken by a second stroke that completely paralysed his left side.

The Porters, Hoyts and Merritts continued to be on genial terms. On 27 December 1888, Louisa’s father, Joseph B. Hoyt, died at the age of 75.²⁷ The Stamford leather merchant left a vast fortune of approximately three million dollars that was to be administered by his executors: his widow; his sons-in-law, Timothy H. Porter and Schuyler Merritt; and his intimate friend and associate Thomas Ritch.²⁸ The main beneficiaries of the will were family members, including Louisa Porter, but there were also bequests of large sums to religious and educational institutions. Bitter disagreements as to the administration of the will developed between the executors and were subsequently fought out in a seven-year battle in the Court of Probate, the Superior and Supreme Courts.²⁹

As the 1890s dawned, a series of tragedies of catastrophic proportions was about to befall the Porter family. Louisa became ill with pneumonia and died just three days later, on 13 December 1891, at the age of 44.³⁰ Timothy H always believed that his wife’s death was hastened when she was persuaded to add a codicil to her will, making Schuyler Merritt co-executor.³¹

All three sons had been particularly close to their mother. Kingsley, aged just 8 years, must have felt a deep sense of loss and bewilderment at her sudden death. Also, his father was greatly weakened from his own illness, while Kingsley’s older brothers, Louis, aged 17, and Blachley, aged 15, were preoccupied with their studies. A young governess, Miss Mabel Hastings Earle, was employed by Kingsley’s father to provide the young boy with care, companionship and tutoring.

Mabel was born in Massachusetts in 1866, the daughter of Oscar T. and Katherine S. Earle.³² Her father was an inventor who filed several patents, including improvements to the rotary engine, with the United States Patent Office.³³ The Earles had five children and soon after Mabel’s birth they moved to Connecticut, finally settling at 504 State Street, Bridgeport.³⁴ Oscar T’s business was quite successful so the family employed two servants.³⁵

Mabel’s mother died on 1 October 1891.³⁶ Mabel then took up residence with Reverend R.G.S. McNeille in Bridgeport. Rev. McNeille was a colourful character by all accounts and was particularly popular with female churchgoers.³⁷ Later in his career he was forced to resign because he insisted on wearing a ‘dress suit and patent-leather pumps’ when he preached on Sundays.³⁸ Mabel finally left Rev. McNeille’s premises and obtained the position of governess with the Porters.

Contemporary accounts suggest that Mabel was a rare beauty, possessing style, charm and grace. There is no report of the extent to which Kingsley bonded with his new governess or whether he ever came to regard her as a maternal figure. What is clear is that Blachley Lodge must have been a bleak place for a child to live, without the devotion of his mother or the companionship of his brothers, left alone with a sick and aged father.The presence of a young, charming governess must have at least lightened Kingsley’s drab existence.

Timothy H may have been ill but he was still very much involved in the affairs of his late wife’s will. Louisa’s large fortune was to be administered by her brother-in-law, Schuyler Merritt, and Thomas E. Ritch, of the New York law firm Arnoux, Ritch & Woodford. Louisa left her husband a life income of $100,000.³⁹ The remainder of Mrs Porter’s vast estate, valued at over four million dollars, was to be held in trust for her three sons until they reached the age of 25.⁴⁰

At the time of his wife’s death, Timothy H was aged 65 and partially paralysed. After having a successful career in finance and having built up a reputation as a respectable member of the community, his sons might have been forgiven for believing that their father would be well pleased to live out his twilight years in a comfortable, dignified and uneventful manner. This, however, was far from Timothy H’s plans. Now that he found himself freed from the constraints of work, no longer in need of marrying for financial security, and perhaps as a late revolt against his repressed Baptist upbringing,Timothy H turned his attention to securing the affections of various young women of his acquaintance.

Between December 1892 and June 1893, Timothy H corresponded with at least a dozen young women in the locality.⁴¹ He seemed to have had a particular fetish for schoolteachers, aged between 30 and 33.The first of his letters was written to Miss Clark of Stamford, whom he called Zora:

Oh! if Zora was only here! How ineffably sweet it would be for me to lie here on the lounge while Zora should sit in a chair by my side and read to me Longfellow’s ‘The day is done.’ Or if somebody should occupy the sofa with me and let me feel somebody’s soft hand smoothing and soothing my anxious weary brow. What a perfect divine thorough happiness this! While I was in the village this morning I saw a piece of jewellery that quite took my fancy. It was Venus greeting the new May moon. The ornament was set in genuine diamonds and gold and I at once bought it. I thought the conception was worthy of a much richer setting, but then I remembered that this was much better as it was, since this could be worn without attracting particular attention or inquiry, whereas the one I had in mind, particularly of the locket inclosed by miniature, would almost surely betray our mutual secret. So I decided to send you this in the same form in which I found and bought it, and inclose it to you in this note, and later I will some time write you a verse of poetry upon the Goddess of love throwing her unvarying and effulgent breasts upon the rising new moon of love!

A letter to Miss Clark, dated 20 January 1893, mentioned Timothy H’s young son, Kingsley: ‘I have been at home this whole day lying upon the lounge and entirely alone excepting the few minutes Kingsley spent with me.’⁴²

The letter goes on to report how much he missed Zora:

How I wished you could have been seated beside me, holding my hand with that soft dainty hand of yours, and reading or talking to me with that soft sweet beautifully modulated voice of yours! That would have made a day of rest indeed! I have spent a great many Sundays of this character. It was our favourite way of passing the day when either of us did not feel like going to church.

As this is Sunday why should I not close with quoting a verse – a modified version from your Sunday School hymn: ‘

My Zora, I love thee. I know thou art mine.

For thee all other lesser pledges of life I gladly resign;

My hope, trust, and fastness, and guerdon art thou.

If o’er I had love, my Zora, ‘tis now.’

Between February and April 1893, Timothy H began to log details of a selection of precious and semi-precious jewels that he was planning to have specially made for Miss Clark:

CONTENTS OF JEWEL CASKET SELECTED FOR Z.

1. One large 3½-carat solitaire diamond ring.

2. A large Hungarian opal.

3. A large ruby ring with beautiful diamond setting.

4. A large sapphire ring richly set with beautiful diamonds.

5. A very beautiful emerald ring, tastefully mounted with diamonds.

6. A superb Marquise diamond ring.

7. A very large Alexandrian ring, mounted with fine large diamonds.

8. An amethyst brooch, consisting of a large magnificent amethyst, mounted in a diamond setting of thirty-two first water, old-mine stones.⁴³

During April he sent the jewellery list to Miss Clark, along with the following note:

All of the above stones have been chosen and selected by me personally, even to every small diamond used in the mounting, and have been mounted under my direction and under my personal supervision.

I will deliver to you to-morrow only a part of the above list, for I do not wish to suddenly so shock you by my extravagance as to give you the impression that I have lost my head. Besides, you will not be able to wear the jewels in the present state of affairs without disclosing the secret of our relations. For there is not a single jewel on the list but that would indicate to any intelligent person who should see it that it came from me. You will therefore have to enjoy them by yourself for the present, or till we are ready to let others know what we alone know now.

In selecting the above casket of jewels I have had in my mind the certain following ideas, which I felt like embodying in a permanent form and as souvenirs of facts and incidents which have made an abiding impression:

1. Intended as a conventional engagement ring.

2. As a souvenir of our first meeting after our first separation.

3. As a souvenir of a first nameless confidence between us.

4. A coming Easter present.

5. A souvenir of a zealous heart’s pledge of fidelity and love.

6. A souvenir of our honeymoon.

7. An emblem of married life.

8. Your next birthday present; the 32 diamonds and the large amethyst, making 33 stones, corresponding to the years of your life.⁴⁴

Timothy H appears to have written his final letter to Miss Clark on 24 April lamenting the end of their relationship:⁴⁵

During the few last terrible weeks how gladly would I have purchased a single daily hour of your presence at the cost of $100 per visit had it been possible, so that sitting by my bedside I might have had the comfort of your presence, the sweetness of your guileless spirit, the tenderness of your true loyal heart and the deep pathos of your tender unfeigned sympathy.

If you prefer our intercourse and relations should not be renewed, I will acquiesce regretfully, but subserviently and uncomplainingly.Yours ever.

T.H. Porter.

Within five days, however, on 29 April,Timothy H was writing to Kingsley’s governess, Miss Mabel Earle, requesting a meeting of a confidential nature: ‘I feel I must have a leisurely long personal interview with you. There are many, many things that are vital to my happiness if not to my life that I feel sorely in need of, I must advise and confer about. And you are the only person living to whom I could confide them.’⁴⁶

Between May and June of the same year, several letters were written to a number of women, including a friend of his late wife’s on 16 May, asking her to consider marriage and outlining the esteem in which ladies in general held him:

Perhaps I ought to say that I have and have always had the most exalted opinion and admiration for women. I most firmly believe that in every point of comparison they are not only the equal of men but vastly superior to us men in every desirable respect, except alone in the matter of physical strength. As a consequence of this belief, I have always had such a feeling of respect, deference and reverential regard for ladies as has always made me a favourite with them, and they give me their love because they soon see that I appreciate it and prove myself worthy of it. In this way only can I analyse the esteem in which my lady friends have always held me.⁴⁷

Sometime during the latter months of 1893, Porter’s sons, Louis and Blachley, became aware of their father’s correspondence. Not only were they deeply shocked by their elderly, paralytic father’s pursuit of women almost forty years his junior, they were also enraged that their mother’s fortune was being whittled away on jewels and other gifts for his various female acquaintances. Blachley, now aged 17, began to take copies of his father’s love letters whenever he could obtain access to his personal journals.⁴⁸ The situation was brought to a head in January 1894 when Timothy H informed his family that he was engaged to Kingsley’s former governess, 28-year-old Mabel Hastings Earle.

This was the final straw for the family. The eldest sons, in consultation with the executors of their mother’s will, Schuyler Merritt and Thomas Ritch, ruminated that Timothy H had completely lost his sanity.⁴⁹ This was an era when raw sexual desire, particularly in an ailing, elderly widower who was deemed to hold a respectable position within the community, was totally unacceptable. Freud’s theories of sexual development and repression were as yet unknown. The prevailing medical model viewed sexual deviation from an accepted norm as a symptom of mental illness that needed to be controlled and treated, often by committing the patient to an asylum.

In January 1894 the first of a series of lengthy lawsuits and counter suits commenced, amid much prurient interest. In the Probate Court in Stamford, Porter’s sons and co-executors began legal proceedings to have Timothy H declared insane. This dispute coincided with the legal battle already being pursued in the courts to settle the will of J.B. Hoyt.⁵⁰

Fearing an immense sexual and financial scandal, the family confined Timothy H to his home, under restraint of two Stamford officers, Bolster and Shoeck.⁵¹ Timothy H’s brother, David, his sister, Mrs Walton, and a nephew were also advised of the situation. They arrived at Blachley Lodge and took up residence to care for their relative while the Probate Court decided his fate.⁵²

Timothy H was held captive in his own home for several weeks. This bizarre situation, of having his father’s authority superseded by that of his brothers and uncle, must have been highly traumatic for the 11-year-old Kingsley.There must also have been a torrent of emotions erupting when he discovered that his pretty governess had suddenly been transformed into his elderly father’s fiancee. After the happy, idyllic years of his early childhood, Kingsley was now a reluctant witness to the destruction of his family. The press set about humiliating every aspect of his father’s previously impeccable reputation as, one by one, his love letters were read out in court and printed in newspapers each day for all the world to savour. The coverage of the case in The Sun (New York) was typical of the blend of sensationalism and humour that was employed by reporters to fascinate and amuse their readers. The edition of 11 January 1894 described Timothy H as ‘a model old gentleman, and he used to carry himself with a full realization of the dignity of his character. He was tall and erect and his beard and hair were quite white.’⁵³

The next day’s edition lampooned the romantic exploits of the eccentric millionaire:

The epistolary part of the love making which seems to have occupied the leisure time of the paralytic millionaire,Timothy H. Porter, since the death of his wife three years ago, and which is presumably the main excuse for the application recently brought to have him adjudged insane, was produced in court through his son Blacheley[sic], who copied them from a book in which his father first wrote them. It is largely upon these letters that the case of the sons rests. It is insisted on Mr Porter’s side of the controversy that they allow evidence not of mental weakness or aberration, but the contrary. In the absence of a standard for love making at various ages, this may be a matter of opinion; but his sons think that any one who could write such letters and send them should certainly have someone to guide him in his affairs.⁵⁴

In court, Timothy H swore that his brother-in-law, the wealthy manufacturing magnate Schuyler Merritt, along with Thomas Ritch, had conspired to destroy his character and dismantle his estate.⁵⁵ Porter’s sons gave evidence that they began to question their father’s sanity, not only when he began writing love letters and giving lavish presents to a series of women, but also when his spelling deteriorated, as this was a sign of his failing powers. Further revelations followed. Louis testified that his father believed his paralysis could be cured by the installation of an electric plant, consisting of a four-horsepower engine and a dynamo. Louis had been put to work in the cellar to operate the plant. He also testified that Mr Porter insisted on maintaining a temperature of eighty degrees in the house, while he continued to wear a huge cape overcoat.

The strain and complexity of the whole situation must have been enormous as Kingsley was forced to choose sides between his father and the rest of the family. It was at this time that Kingsley’s uncle, Schuyler Merritt, became a surrogate father to his young nephew. The close relationship between Kingsley, his uncle and his Merritt cousins, particularly Katherine, continued throughout his life.

During the ensuing scandal, Kingsley attended King’s Academy, a private school for boys located in Stamford.⁵⁶ At 11 years old and on the cusp of puberty, there is little doubt that he had to endure a constant barrage of bawdy repartee from his schoolmates concerning his father’s sexual transgressions. Kingsley, sensitive and imbued with an artistic nature, must have been deeply humiliated by this relentless onslaught of lewd jokes and jibes, while struggling to come to terms with his own awakening sexuality. It was probably at this time that Kingsley began to withdraw from his peers and to spend as much time as possible alone, either buried in his beloved books or roaming the countryside, marvelling at the many wonders to be found in nature.

Timothy H was only released from house arrest when he agreed, under strong duress, to sign over control of his property and estate to his wife’s executors, Merritt and Ritch.⁵⁷ Once control of Timothy H’s assets had been secured, the family agreed to drop all accusations. On 26 March, attorney Samuel Fessenden appeared before Judge Finch in the Probate Court in Stamford and, on behalf of his clients, withdrew their original application to have Mr Porter declared insane.⁵⁸

Timothy H had already married Miss Mabel Earle the previous week. The wedding was solemnized at the rectory of the Episcopal Church at Barrington, Massachusetts, on Friday 16 March 1894.⁵⁹ The wedding reception took place on 29 March 1894 at the home of Miss Earle’s aunt, Mrs Kellog, of West Avenue in New York.⁶⁰

The third Mrs Porter was described in several New York newspapers as being accomplished, pretty, well known in society⁶¹ and possessing an attractive figure that fascinated Timothy H.⁶² Mabel’s marriage portion was said to be $25,000 in cash, and she was also given a contract for an undisclosed annual allowance.⁶³ None of the groom’s family was present at the ceremony. The newly wedded couple spent their honeymoon in Boston. One newspaper reported that the couple returned to their new home in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to begin married life,⁶⁴ but later reports confirmed that they had set up home in Blachley Lodge, much to the consternation of the eldest son, Louis.⁶⁵

The marriage, however, was not the greatest misfortune that the family had to face. Even greater disaster came to pass when, in July 1894, Timothy H sued his late wife’s executors and the officers who restrained him for $200,000 in damages, for unlawfully imprisoning him and forcing him to sign over the vast bulk of his fortune.⁶⁶ Thus ensued a legal battle and family feud of a kind that the ultra-conservative citizens of Connecticut had rarely witnessed.

‘The Conspiracy Case’, as it became known, contained layers of sexual intrigue, financial scandal and family hostility that soon made headline news in local and national papers all over the East Coast. The case was tried in the Superior Court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, between January 1895 and March 1897.⁶⁷ The case made by Samuel Fessenden, attorney for the defendants, was described as ‘the most voluminous document ever filed in the Superior Court in this county’.⁶⁸ Crowds jostled for seats as Timothy H gave evidence against Schuyler Merritt, Thomas Ritch, the officers who restrained him, and his sons who were party to his house arrest.

On 12 January, the greatest thrill of all for the spectators who filled the courtroom was the testimony given by Timothy H. Porter’s young wife, Mabel.⁶⁹ She was questioned at length about the time she was employed as governess at Blachley Lodge.⁷⁰ Louis’s accusations were put to her that, instead of tutoring Kingsley, she was spending most of her time ‘cutting up with Mr Porter’. Mabel declared this to be untrue.

‘Is it true,’ she was asked by Mr Fessenden, ‘that you were frequently alone with Mr Porter in his study, with the shades drawn down?’⁷¹ Mabel, without hesitation, replied:

There was no truth whatever, to such a statement. The only times that I remember being alone with Mr Porter in his study were when he outlined the plan for Kingsley’s education. I think I was with him about fifteen minutes. On another occasion, when I was about to leave the Lodge, I went to him and saw him in his study. I did not tell him of the shameful treatment accorded me by his sons because I did not wish to create a feeling between them and the father. While we were conversing Louis walked up and down the veranda adjoining the room. I never attempted to screen the room.⁷²

At this point there was a heated exchange between Mr Fessenden, who acted on behalf of the Porter sons, and Judge De Forest, with Mr Fessenden shouting, ‘You act like a wild hyena.’⁷³ Judge De Forest replied: ‘Well, it’s enough to make any man excited to be compelled to listen to such heartless threats by a son against his father.’⁷⁴

Mabel was then questioned at length about her courtship by Timothy H:

I believe a period of more than two years elapsed between the time I left the Lodge and the occasion of the first proposal. I refused the offer. He repeated it, and I accepted. He wrote me a letter stating that a plan was on foot to have him placed in an insane retreat. Up to that time I had never written endearing letters to him, and what letters I had written were signed by my full name. The letters were simple, and perhaps sympathetic. He had proposed marriage to me, and of course I had more than a friendly interest in him. Before the marriage Mr Porter and I discussed the matter of a marriage settlement. He said he did not wish to have my marriage to him criticized, and he did not want people to say that I had married him for his money. Therefore, to protect me and himself as well, he submitted the ante-nuptial agreement. I was to receive $25,000 and release all claim on his estate. The agreement was drawn up on December 14 1893 and signed by Mr Porter and myself.⁷⁵

Mabel was also asked about her reception at Blachley Lodge when she arrived there after the marriage ceremony.⁷⁶ She said that when they arrived they found the doors had been locked against them. They finally found a window open at the rear of the house and they had to scramble in. There was no food for them anywhere in the house and Timothy H finally sent to the village and obtained food that the maid prepared. Mabel then said that she met Louis Porter and he addressed her in an insulting way.

Next morning, when Mabel came down to breakfast with her new husband, Louis was already seated at the table.⁷⁷ She said he was sitting in his father’s chair and had his arms spread out. There were no chairs set for herself or Mr Porter. She then detailed how Mr Porter had put some bread and cake on a plate but that Louis tried to snatch it from him. During the ensuing struggle Mr Porter fell down and lay on the floor.

The ante-nuptial contract was then produced in court and offered in evidence. It stated that Mrs Porter was to relinquish all dowry rights in her husband’s property for the sum of $25,000.⁷⁸

Before a verdict on the case had been reached, yet another appalling tragedy struck the Porter family. On 1 August 1895, Blachley Hoyt Porter was killed outright in a bizarre accident when on holiday with his brother, Louis, in Arizona.⁷⁹ He was just 18 years old. Louis and Blachley had set out two weeks earlier to visit Alaska, via California. By some zany quirk of fate they missed the steamer that would have taken them from San Francisco to Alaska, and instead they joined an exploring group that was on route to the Grand Canyon in Arizona.⁸⁰ The party and their guides became caught in a thunderstorm in the canyon and sought shelter under a jutting rock. A bolt of lightning struck the rock, shattering it completely and instantly killing Blachley. Louis and the guide were also struck by lightning and were badly burned. The family physician, Dr Lelb, travelled to Arizona to treat Louis and to bring Blachley’s body back to Darien.

The effect on Kingsley and the whole family after such a bizarre and shocking incident can only be conjectured. Kingsley must have been deeply traumatized by his brother’s sudden death. The loss of Blachley, in many ways his closest friend, with whom he had spent countless happy days roaming the countryside, must have been an excruciating blow. As for his father, a former minister and the son of a Baptist preacher, Timothy H must have been acutely aware of the irony that the son who had dragged his name through the courts, and in every manner disobeyed him, had suddenly and inexplicably been smitten down by a bolt of lightning.

As a young teenager, Kingsley began to attend Browning School for boys in New York.⁸¹ A rare photo of Kingsley at this age shows him smiling beside a guide, waving his cap in the air and holding up several fish he has just caught. The photo was taken at the boathouse at Saranac Lake, in the heart of the Adirondacks wilderness area, north-east of New York State. The awesome power of nature had captivated Kingsley since childhood. The sea in particular held a fascination for him. Here he could escape from mediocrity by immersing himself in its unfathomable depths. Within the ever-changing sea he discovered a refuge, away from dry land with its complex customs, beliefs and tribulations. The wilderness held its own perils and mysteries but these only added to Kingsley’s feelings of exhilaration when exploring remote mountains and forests, or swimming and fishing in nearby lakes.

It may have been a blessing for Kingsley to gain some distance from the continuing legal disputes that were waged within the family. On 29 July 1896, the contest over the will of Kingsley’s grandfather, J.B. Hoyt, was finally settled.⁸² Timothy H withdrew his petition for the removal of Schuyler Merritt and Thomas Ritch as executors. Accountants then examined the assets of J.B. Hoyt so that the bequests of the will could finally be administered.

7. Kingsley and fish at Boat House, Saranac Club, and guide, photograph, c. 1895.

Harvard University Archives, HUG 1706.125 (14).

On 9 December 1896,Timothy H was yet again on the stand as plain-tiffin the conspiracy case, giving evidence that his son, Louis, had become enraged when he heard of his engagement to Miss Earle. He testified that Louis had shouted: ‘That woman, Miss Earle, will never be permitted to enter this house. I will send you both to hell if you marry her.’⁸³

When his father remonstrated with Louis for his rashness of temper, Louis replied: ‘This is not a rashness of temper, but a feeling of hate, undying hate. Three times every day we will pray to God to curse you, and will teach Kingsley to do so. We will consent to your marriage to Louise Plumbley [his mother’s school friend]. Now if you want war. You can have it.’⁸⁴

On 13 March 1897, Judge Prentice of Fairfield Superior Court handed down a verdict on Mr Porter’s conspiracy case.⁸⁵ The judge concluded that no conspiracy had been perpetrated against Mr Porter and that all actions had been taken in good faith. Mr Ritch was completely exonerated from having had any part in what transpired. Mr Merritt, although responsible for Mr Porter’s restraint, was deemed to have performed his duty to protect his sister’s estate that had been left in his charge. Constable Schock and Sheriff Bolster, the officers who had kept Mr Porter in confinement in his own home, were also exonerated.

Timothy H was outraged by the verdict and appealed the case to the Supreme Court. On 5 January 1898 the Supreme Court gave its verdict, confirming the decision made by Judge Prentice.⁸⁶ Timothy H. Porter had lost the case, the goodwill of his family and his once respected position within the community.

The quality of marital relations between the aged and paralytic Timothy H and his pretty young bride can only be imagined. In an era when women had little chance of finding a comfortable living unless they married into wealth, Mabel clearly saw a glorious opportunity in marrying Mr Porter to secure her financial future. Mrs T.H. Porter, as Mabel was now known, continued teaching at Sunday school where she instructed young girls in sewing and crafts. In the winter of 1898 she helped her students to prepare Christmas boxes for the less fortunate, that were then sent to New York.⁸⁷

Timothy H was most eager to escort his pretty wife to many of the leading social events in Connecticut, including attendance at Governor George E. Lounsbury’s inaugural ball in Hartford, on the evening of 4 January 1899. A spectator at the event described the lavish ball:’Major Cheney presented the guests to Governor Lounsbury and led the grand march with Mrs Lounsbury. Governor Lounsbury followed with Mrs Cheney, and the dancing continued almost without interruption for many hours. Supper was served by Besse and the music from Beenian and Hatch’s Orchestra and Colt’s Band was exceptionally good.’⁸⁸

The beautiful Mrs Mabel Porter was truly the belle of the ball. The Bridgeport Herald waxed lyrical on the portrait that was later painted of Mabel, attired in the same ballgown that she had worn at the governor’s ball: ‘It is a full-length figure of Mrs Timothy H. Porter of Stamford attired in the exquisite costume in which she appeared at Gov. Lounsbury’s inaugural ball. The predominating feature in this painting is its strength and it is said to be an excellent likeness of the charming woman.’⁸⁹

Mabel’s portrait was exhibited in Connecticut for several months in the spring of 1900.⁹⁰ This must have been a bitter pill for Kingsley and Louis to swallow, as they must have been reminded of their once happy home life, when their father had commissioned a portrait of their mother from the distinguished artist Henry Augustus Loop.⁹¹

In less than a decade, Kingsley had suffered two family bereavements: the loss of his beloved mother, and the sudden, inexplicable death of his 18-year-old brother in a freak thunderstorm. He had witnessed the desecration of his family’s once respected name through legal battles and public scandal. The role of his young governess had been irrevocably altered into that of stepmother, while his elderly, paralytic father was parodied as a petulant, extravagant lover. Far from being favoured by fortune and on the cusp of a new century, Kingsley Porter had to dig deep indeed to surmount the disasters of his early traumatic life.