In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

187 Chapter 10 “I really preferred to get my financial reward from the magazine” Her name on their divorce papers was one she had never used. Jane Grant Ross, the plaintiff, was granted a divorce from the defendant, Harold W. Ross, to take effect in early September 1929. The inaccuracy of her name was oddly consistent with the false basis for the divorce. New York State required that serious grounds be alleged and proved, so Ross—who had asked her to divorce him—agreed to be charged with adultery. He did not contest the charges, although there is no evidence that he actually was unfaithful.1 In any case, earlier that same year she had signed her birth name on a legal document that, unlike the divorce, was very much her idea. This one addressed her future and that of the New Yorker. The worst seemed to be over for the magazine , but despite all of her past efforts and sacrifices for it, once she divorced Ross she would lose her chance to share in any future financial success unless she took action. Alimony was not a solution because she disapproved of it, while Ross had little money and was responsible for supporting his widowed mother. “I really preferred to get my financial reward from the magazine,” she explained.2 And she did. On April 1, 1929, she and Ross signed an agreement that obligated him to deposit 450 shares of his F-R Publishing Corporation stock into an escrow account for her, and to promise her $10,000 a year in dividends. If the stocks yielded less he would make up the difference himself.3 “Since the magazine was not certain to be over the hill, Ross objected fiercely” when her lawyer first proposed the settlement, she admitted. “We wrangled for several weeks before we reached an agreement.”4 To strengthen her position she researched the magazine’s finances and stock performance. One person she asked to review its profit and loss statements was Wilbur Holleman, an Oklahoma City attorney who in late August 1929 sent her a long analysis of changes in the stocks’ value, pointing out that the 1928 profit “was almost entirely wiped out by deficits for preceding years” and by a bonus the board of directors had awarded Ross. He ended by saying, “I will try to write you a personal letter before the end of the day.”5 That letter was exceedingly personal, as were other love letters she received from him. Through those that survive it is possible to piece together a relationship that began on her trip to Europe earlier that summer and was held together in part by expensive long-distance phone calls.6 In reality, she was the adulterer. A strong 188 Anonymous in Their Own Names case easily can be made, however, that she well deserved whatever pleasure and financial advice the relationship brought her. Her European trip was not primarily for pleasure, although Holleman must have made it more enjoyable than she’d anticipated, and she visited Janet Flanner in Paris to talk with her about possibly moving there. But she had time to travel because the Times had granted her another sick leave after a year of worsening health problems, and her ultimate destination was Châtel-Guyon, where she had an appointment to see a French doctor. After determining that her condition was more serious than the colitis her New York doctors had diagnosed, he recom­ mended immediate surgery. “If French hospitals looked like the good doctor’s­ office I wanted no part of one,” she said, “so I returned home at once.”7 Back in New York, additional tests showed she had cancer. She was hospitalized for two months and had two operations, the second leaving her with an open wound that did not heal for six months. By chance Ross spotted her through her taxi window when she was on her way to the hospital for the initial tests. Telling her “you look awful,” he climbed into the cab and accompanied her to the hospital. He questioned the subsequent diagnosis and called in more specialists, who agreed she needed immediate surgery.8 When she was allowed to leave the hospital after her two operations, he summoned her sister from Missouri to help care for her, then made sure she went to Florida to recuperate (and undergo unanticipated additional surgery). He telephoned her there and sent flowers and presents. But someone else took her home...

Share