Grace Fortescue

Grace Fortescue

Grace Hubbard Fortescue, "née" Grace Hubbard Bell (November 3 1883 in Washington D.C. – 1979) was a New York socialite who decided to take the law into her own hands and murdered a defendant in the alleged rape of Grace's daughter that earned her a one-hour sentence for manslaughter.

Grace Hubbard Fortescue was the granddaughter of Gardiner Hubbard, the first president of Bell Telephone. She was the daughter of Charles John and Roberta Wolcott Hubbard Bell of Twin Oaks on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, DC. [ [http://spinzialongislandestates.com/longIslandsample2.pdf Fortescue, Granville Roland (1875-1952) undated] , retrieved on 2008-06-07.] Newspaper reports indicate that Grace could be classified as a prankster when a youth she and her friends stole a trolley car for a joy ride through the streets of Washington and on another occasion she blocked traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue by joining hands with friends and roller skating down the avenue. [http://www.oysterbayhistory.org/freeres.html Spinzia, Raymond E. "Those Other Roosevelts: The Fortescues" The Freeholder Magazine Online of the Oyster Bay Historical Society, 2006] , retrieved on 2008-06-07.]

Her husband was U.S. Army Major Granville "Rolly" Fortescue, one of the sons of Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, the uncle of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, but the marriage was not financially successful as she would have wished. She was the mother of Thalia Fortescue Massie.

Outwardly, the Fortescues appeared to be wealthy country gentry. In reality, financial affairs became a primary concern for them after Granville's final retirement from the army. With the exception of a short stint as a fiction editor for Liberty Magazine in 1930, he did not have steady employment, preferring to wait for the fortune his wife would inherit at the death of her parents.

A graying woman of fair complexion, standing at 5-feet 6-inches (168 cm) tall and weighing 134 pounds (61 kg), Grace Fortescue was charged with murder and convicted by a jury of manslaughter after the death of Joseph Kahahawai, one of the defendants in the alleged rape of her daughter.

Also charged and convicted with Fortescue were two sailors, Edward J. Lord and Deacon Jones, as well as Fortescue's son-in-law, Thomas Massie who participated in the abduction and murder of Kahahawai.

As of January 8 1932, a criminal record indicates that while in Honolulu, Grace Fortescue lived on Kolowalu Street in Manoa Valley, a short distance from her daughter's home on Kahawai Street.

Attorney Clarence Darrow defended Fortescue, Jones, Massie and Lord and obtained a commutation of their sentence of ten-years imprisonment for manslaughter to one-hour in the executive chambers of Territorial Governor Lawrence M. Judd.

Source

* David E. Stannard, "Honor Killing", Viking Penguin, 2005 (illustration number 28, entitled "Mug Shots and arrest file of Grace Fortescue") ISBN: 0670033995

External links

* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/massie/peopleevents/p_fortescue.html Webpage for "The American Experience", "The Massie Affair"] , retrieved on 2008-06-07.
* [http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Oct/14/op/op03a.html Stannard, David. "The Massie case: Injustice and courage" The Honolulu Advertiser, October 14, 2001] , retrieved on 2008-06-07.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Fortescue — is a surname, and may refer to:People* Adrian Fortescue, 16th century English nobleman beatified by Roman Catholic Church * Adrian Fortescue, 19th 20th century Roman Catholic liturgist and Byzantine scholar * Charles Legeyt Fortescue, Canadian… …   Wikipedia

  • Granville Roland Fortescue — (1875 1952) was an American soldier, a Rough Rider serving with his cousin, Col. Theodore Roosevelt in Cuba, a presidential aide in the first Roosevelt administration and later, a journalist and war correspondent for the London Standard during… …   Wikipedia

  • John Fortescue — Sir John Fortescue (vers 1394 vers 1476), jurisconsulte anglais. Il était en 1442 grand juge du banc du roi. Il jouit de la faveur de Henri VI d Angleterre, qui le nomma chancelier, mais il perdit tout crédit à l avènement d Edouard IV d… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Massie Trial — The Massie Trial for what was known as the Massie Affair, was a 1932 criminal trial that took place in Honolulu, Hawaii. Grace Hubbard Fortescue, along with several accomplices, was charged with murder in the death of well known local… …   Wikipedia

  • Thalia Massie — Thalia Fortescue Massie (born February 14, 1911 in Washington, D.C., died 1963 in Palm Beach, Florida) was the daughter of Grace Hubbard Fortescue and the wife of a Navy lieutenant and the genesis of what is now known as the Massie Kahahawai Case …   Wikipedia

  • Blood & Orchids — Infobox Film name = Blood Orchids director = Jerry Thorpe producer = Lorimar Productions Andrew Adelson Kim C. Friese Malcolm Stuart writer = Norman Katkov starring = Kris Kristofferson Jane Alexander Madeline Stowe Jose Ferrer Sean Young music …   Wikipedia

  • Clarence Darrow — Clarence Seward Darrow 1922 Clarence Seward Darrow (* 18. April 1857 in Kinsman, Ohio; † 13. März 1938 in Chicago, Illinois) war ein US amerikanischer Rechtsanwalt. Er war darüber hinaus ein führendes Mitglied der U.S. amerikanischen… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Territory of Hawaii — Infobox Former Subdivision native name = conventional long name = Territory of Hawaiokinai common name = Hawaii nation = the United States subdivision = Organized incorporated territory| event start = Annexed by the US date start = July 4 year… …   Wikipedia

  • Democratic Party of Hawaii — Chairman Dante Carpenter Senate leader Shan S. Tsutsui (President) Brickwood Galuteria (Majority Leader) …   Wikipedia

  • Hawaii-Territorium — Das Hawaii Territorium war ein historisches Hoheitsgebiet der Vereinigten Staaten, das vom 7. Juli 1898 bis zum 21. August 1959 bestand. Zu dieser Zeit wurde das Territorium als 50. Bundesstaat mit dem Namen Hawaii in die Union aufgenommen. Der… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”