Grace Hubbard Fortescue, (''née'' Bell) (November 3, 1883 – June 24, 1979), was a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...

who

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

ed a man, later proven innocent, who was accused of raping her daughter. After being convicted of

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

at a sensational trial, her ten-year sentence was commuted to a single hour by Hawaii's Territorial Governor Lawrence Judd.

Early life

Grace Hubbard Bell was born November 3, 1883, in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Her father Charles John Bell was first cousin of inventor

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...

. Her mother was Roberta Wolcott Hubbard Bell (1859–1885). Her maternal grandfather

Gardiner Hubbard Gardiner Greene Hubbard (August 25, 1822 – December 11, 1897) was an American lawyer, financier, and community leader. He was a founder and first president of the National Geographic Society; a founder and the first president of the Bell Telep ...

was the first president of

Bell Telephone Company The Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint stock company, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1877, by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company – the New Englan ...

. When her mother died in childbirth in 1885, her father married her mother's sister, Grace Hubbard. The family lived at Twin Oaks, their estate in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Newspaper reports indicate that Grace could be classified a prankster: as 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.

Personal life

In 1910, she married U.S. Army Major Granville "Rolly" Fortescue (1875–1952), one of the sons of

Robert Barnwell Roosevelt Robert Barnhill Roosevelt, also known as Robert Barnwell Roosevelt (August 7, 1829 – June 14, 1906), was a sportsman, author, and politician who served as a United States representative from New York (1871–1873) and as Minister to the Hague ...

. Her husband was first cousin of U.S. President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

. The marriage was not as financially successful as she would have wished. She was the mother of three daughters: *

Thalia Fortescue Massie Thalia Fortescue Massie (February 14, 1911 – July 3, 1963) was a member of a socially prominent U.S. family involved in a series of heavily publicized trials in Hawaii. Family life Thalia Fortescue was born February 14, 1911, in Washingto ...

(1911–1963), who married Thomas Hedges Massie (1905–1987), a Navy lieutenant. * Marion Fortescue (1912–), who married Daulton Gillespie Viskniskki in 1934. * Kenyon Fortescue (1914–1990), better known as actress

Helene Whitney Helene Whitney (born Kenyon Fortescue, July 4, 1914 – March 28, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films in the late 1930s and 1940s. She was known as Helene Reynolds after her marriage. Biography Whitney was born Kenyon Fortes ...

; she married J. Louis Reynolds in 1936. 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 Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

'' 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.

Murder trial

In 1932, Grace Fortescue was charged with murder and convicted by a jury of

for the death of

Joseph Kahahawai Joseph "Joe" Kahahawai Jr. (25 December 1909 – 8 January 1932) was a Native Hawaiian prizefighter accused of the rape of Thalia Massie. He was abducted and killed after an inconclusive court case ended with a hung jury mistrial. Early life Kah ...

, one of the defendants in the alleged rape of her daughter Thalia in Hawaii in 1931.David E. Stannard, ''"Honor Killing"'', Viking Penguin, 2005 (illustration number 28, entitled ''Mug Shots and arrest file of Grace Fortescue'') Also charged and convicted with Fortescue were two sailors, Edward J. Lord and Deacon Jones, and Fortescue's son-in-law, Thomas Massie, who participated in the abduction and murder of Kahahawai. Attorney

Clarence Darrow Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of t ...

defended Fortescue, Jones, Massie, and Lord. He subsequently obtained a commutation of their sentence (ten years' imprisonment for manslaughter) to a one-hour confinement in the executive chambers of Territorial Governor

Lawrence M. Judd Lawrence McCully Judd (March 20, 1887 – October 4, 1968) was a politician of the Territory of Hawaii, serving as the seventh Governor of Hawaii, Territorial Governor. Judd is most well-known for his role in Massie Trial, the Massie Affair, ...

. In 1966, while being interviewed by author Peter Van Slingerland, Albert O. Jones admitted that he was the one who shot Joseph Kahahawai.

References

External links

Webpage for ''The American Experience'', "The Massie Affair"
retrieved on 2008-06-07.

retrieved on 2008-06-07. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortescue, Grace Hubbard 1883 births 1979 deaths People from Washington, D.C. Politics of Hawaii Roosevelt family American people convicted of manslaughter