WHO SHOT EUGENE GRACE?

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11659, 14 June 1912, Page 2

WHO SHOT EUGENE GRACE?

MYSTERY OF LOCKED BEDROOM. SUSPECTED WIFE'S : STORY. Did Mrs Daisy Grace shoot her husband under tiie influence of a nightmare, or did she attempt- to take his life in order that she might benefit*by his insurance policies? * In connection "with the affair, which is fraught with all the elements ot mystery. Mrs"Grace, -a tall, handsome lady of about 52 years of age is now held a prisoner. Her husband, Eugene Grace, a wealthy contractor, to whom the was married only a few months ego, was found shot and locked in his bedroom. On l>eing resc'ued by the police- ne declared that his wife shut him while., under the influence of a ' nightmare. Mrs Grace protests her .innocence, and maintains-that the outrage* Was commute-;! bv a negro. On. being a; rested Mrs ! J race ■was .taken, at her own rcque.-t, to the hospital where her husband lay between life and death. Seeing her. he said in a voice that told -. of iiis "terrible ' sufferings : "Daisy, you are the one who shot me." "Why, huw can you.' she protested, "you are trying to make me out a murderer, and they will take me to gsol tonight." "You-are the one who tried to kill me." the husband repeated. "If you persist in that "I will take the power of attorney winch you ex.reise away from you." ;-.a'd Mrs Grace, who was formerly the wt'iV of a Philadelphia pulp manufacturer named William 11. > tpie. who died about a year ago of blood poisoning. Touching-indeed is the story told by Mrs ('race since she was permitted to sec her husband. "I love him, si'.e said. 'He is dearer to me than life itself. "How then could I have shot him': No two people had less to worry t.liem .or to interfere with their happiness. There was absolutely nothing to make rs unhappy or to cause him to brood or tire of life. We lived thoroughly in accord, and without any cause for worry or unpleasantness." * "It is a dreadful .mystery. How can I explain it ' I left the house a little alter 12 o'-clock," ■ she continued, "to go to Newnan, where I. was to stay while Mr Grace was in-.-Philadelphia, for which place he had planned to kave on an afternoon train. When 1 left he was ready to £ct up. I knew that he was'- not fecibig well, but di:l iwu think he was very sick. He. s:i : d. he would meet me at the di-psj . but- when he--tailed to do £o I went on to Xewuau. ..thinking he had betii Uined -on - bursitis**. - The next thing 1 heard was when. I reached the ho nit of his mother. They- said there that Gene had been shoi. My arroit and the accusat'oii of my husband is all a horrible mistake." Grace Jold the police when they r<.ac:i ,- d him that he first discovered he was shot at' 6 o'clock in the morning, whrm he ■ awoke with a burning sensaiioti in hi: bide. "I told my wife," he said, "and asked her to »et doctor. Slie left the room able to reach, .one over the telephone." Much imp-.n taiu-* is attached by th" - jHjl'ei to. ihe corroborative testimony of Tluffiii' und t is wife, negro sesrvnnts. Grace".- tsatin about 7 o'clock at M ; > - CiraeeVr m-!i=v-.«i. While she was in the - times-, -mid- Mrs •! Irace said :—- - '.'You- are not sick. Gene. You are sleeping." Itiiiiiii -saith Mrs Grace told him as i-he was -leaving the: house .that her husband was sick, and that he had wanted a doctov . but Jjad-.-changed- his mind, and it the doctor came he. was to be 5-ent. away.A thirty-two calibre revolver was fo::;;d - csi a" window r.-'il: in the hall on the lloo;bilow Graces -com. It had .'i-e < mpty ehambsr. Th? key to the door of 'hp room, which the police found locked, was in a receptacle in the ha'L where Mi> Grace satd it t.sitaliy was kept. The pulice arrived about two hours after Mr.(.Irace .says she ieft. and found that the , blood oil...(.'face's jkllo'v w;is .clotted and ! " dried. That "Mrs (Jrace' deliberately planm-d her husband's jiirtfder "and 'executed her plans with diabolical determination is the contention, Of 'Reubeii' "Arnold, a leading

member of the Atlaut.i bar, who has been retained by Grace's parents to prosecute the accused v.'oman. According to, Arnold, the evidence shows that Mrs Grace drugged her husband, shot hi in. and it.eked him in his r!)o n< to die. After stuffing the telephone and door beii, 'die went to the home of (trace's parents ill order to be able later to establish an alibi. The motive inline'crime. Arm>3:l Uechres, was to secure £6OOO of life insurance which Grace had bciin suit to recover from his wife. Grace has called lawyers to his bedside and made his will. ' In it he .ignored his wife completely. The will is a "blanket" a flair, leaving -veryihing -to his mother. The will includes the insurance policies now made out to his wile, in whose pos- - i (;; ] ih'.'V !i i - ' '. Mt!■' 1 tl pOSiSCSSnI'V Wai'-i-ant will be served on her lor them.