A honeymoon ends in tragedy

There is a haunting quality to Beechwood today. For years it was the Newport base of the fabulous Astor family. It was also the scene of a wedding that is surely one of the most ill-starred in history.

It was in the ballroom of this mansion, with its sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, that John Jacob Astor IV married Madeleine Talmadge Force in 1911. New York society had been scandalized when Astor divorced his first wife, Ava Willing Astor, in 1909.

More shocking was this second marriage to a woman young enough to be his daughter. The newlyweds quickly fled the sharp tongues of Americans and spent a winter-long honeymoon in Europe. By spring 1912, Madeleine was pregnant.

The couple was returning to America aboard the Titanic when disaster struck. Astor escorted Madeleine to lifeboat No. 4 but was refused a seat himself. When the ship disappeared at 2:20 a.m., Madeleine thought she could hear his voice. "We're coming for you as fast as hell!" Madeleine shouted.

Astor's partially crushed body was recovered from the North Atlantic by the Mackay Bennett. He was buried after a funeral service in the family estate in Rhineback, New York. Today Beechwood looks much as it did in 1911. The house is a museum and can be rented for weddings or murder mystery evenings. For more information, visit http://www.astorsbeechwood.com.