MURDER OF AN ACTRESS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 686, 11 June 1929, Page 9

MURDER OF AN ACTRESS

MARGARET LAWRENCE SHOT DEAD LOUIS BENNISON’S SUICIDE (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) NEW YORK, Sunday. The murder of Miss Margaret Lawrence, one of the most noted actresses in America, occurred in her New York apartment. The perpetrator was an actor named Louis Bennison, who subsequently committed suicide. The murderer left a note saying: “The sunset has a heart. Look for us there.” The motive of the crime baffles the police, but it is believed that Bennison shot Miss Lawrence and himself in a mania for self-destruction which his friends say often possessed him after he had been drinking. The room in which the bodies were found was littered with bottles and glasses. Louis Bennison was well-known in New Zealand; but Miss Lawrence had not been in the DomiAbout two years ago, both came to Australia and played in “The Road to Rome.” About six years ago Bennison toured New Zealand in “The Grekt Lover,” which was his greatest part. He was also in “Johnny, Get Your Gun.” Margaret Lawrence, who was in her 40th year, was born at Trenton, New Jersey. She was twice married, first in 1911 to Mr. Orson Desaic Munn, editor and publisher of the Scientific American, and after the dissolution of that marriage, to Wallace Eddinger, an actor. She made her first appearance on the stage at Chicago in August, 1910, in “Her Son.” Next year she made a great success at the Hackett Theatre, New York, as Elsie Darling in “Our Night.” She then married and left the stage for seven years. She reappeared in June, 1918, at: the Belasco Theatre, Washington, in “Tea for Three,” and played the same part at Maxine Elliott’s Theatre, New York, in September, 1918. At the Harris Theatre, New York, in November, 1919, Miss Lawrence played in “Wedding Bells.” In the autumn of 195:0 she toured in

“Transplanting Jean” and appeared in the same play at the Cort Theatre, New York, in January, 1921.