The Bradley Martins to Give a Grand Entertainment at the Waldorf

TO ECLIPSE THE BELMONT BALL. The Bradley Martins to Give a Grand Entertainment at the Waldorf. New York Times January 14, 1897

It is announced that Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Martin have engaged the entire lower floor of the Waldorf Hotel, including the two ballrooms, for a ball on the night of Feb. 10, which, it is reported, is to surpass in lavish display, and perfection of appointment any similar function ever given in New York, not excepting the fancy dress ball given by Mrs. Oliver Belmont, then Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, in the Winter of 1882-3. The Bradley Martin ball is to be a fancy dress one, and the guests, who will number about 500, will be required to appear in costumes taken from prints and fashion plates of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.

Mrs. Bradley Martin has been credited for some years with the remark that "she would some day give a ball to surpass the famous Vanderbilt function" and it now looks as if her intention was about to be realized; Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Martin's last most notable entertainment was given three or four Winters ago at Delmonico's, where upward of 300 guests were invited to the most magnificent dinner probably ever given in New York, and afterward to remain and participate in a dance, during which the most costly and beautiful favors were given out. Mrs. Bradley Martin, whose daughter married the Earl of Craven, was Miss Cornelia Sherman, the only daughter of Isaac Sherman, a banker of this city, who left her a fortune of $7,000,000. She has for some years spent most of her time with her husband, who is a member of an old Albany (N. Y.) family, on a large leased estate in Scotland, "Bal-ma-caan".  

Click HERE to view all the New York Times articles relating to the ball before and after February 10, 1897. Start at the bottom for proper time sequence.