Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1897-04-17

ing. Mrs. Jaccard
has b~equeathed another sensation TO
tho long list that her family of the mo-
torious Rawsons has given. Mrs. Jac-
card was the heiress to an estate OF
$25. 900. and yet she died in squalor on
a pallet, like a beggar's wife. When
Mrs. Jaccard died the cause assigned
for her death was pleuro-pneumonia.
Then the authorities remembered the
circumstance that an unknown assail-
ans shot at Mrs. Jaccard a month ago.
A suit is pending against Artist Albert
l.. Rawson, father of the notorious
Rawson twins, now In jail for burg
larry, to remove him from the executor
ship OF the fortune that his daughter
would have inherited next May. A
month age Mrs. Jaccard had her step
mother, the third Mrs. Rawson, arrest
ed on the charge OF stealing articles
left her by her grandmother, Laura
JSeene, the actress, who held the head
II President Lincoln when he lay dy-
ing at Ford's Theater in Washington.
The S25, 900 which Mrs. Jaccard would
soon have inherited was her part OF the
estate left by Laura Keene. Among
the articles alleged to have been stolen
was the famous Lincoln" dress. the
one worn by Laura Keene the night OF
the assassination, and which, It is said,
still bears blood stains. When the
Rawson twins were locked up in Hack
ensack Jail for burglary and their faith
err was arrested and put under bond for
having burglars tools. Mrs. Rawson
vas left alone. She gathered her
things together and left town. going, 1t
is said, to live with the queer sect, the
Angel Dancers, on Lords farm.
Clara Jaccard was 20 years old when
she died. Like her two brothers, there
seemed to be some faint Of wildness
in her blood, a prankish, gypsy strain.
She was as hoydenish as her two broth
ers were wild. She took a savage glee
in practical jokes. Before she was IL
all Bergen County knew Of her.
Isn't she a tartar?" people would
say.
wonder what she'll do next?"
This is what she did next, and 1t was
more startling than any one had con-
ceived. She eloped with Jules JAG
card, a hard-faced. gray-bearded timer
ant clockmaker. Jaccard, with his
peaked cap and long, ragged coat. was
a familiar figure, and here he was be-
coming a bridegroom Of no less a per-
son than the bewitchingly h~oydenish
Clara Rawson. Everybody was aghast,
just as they always are when a Rawson
does something.
mo one could ever have guessed
that" they said. But it couldn't have
been old Jules that run off with Clara.
It must have been that Clara runsoff
with old Jules. Another one OF her
jokes" But it wasn't a joke. Jules
and his bride returned to Hillsdale
very seriously and began housekeep-
ing. The tranquility or her husband
seemed to settle on Clara, and she be-
came quieter.
Her name did not come before the
Bergen County public again until some
weeks ago, when she revealed a dis
agreement with her father and filed suit
to have him removed as executor. She
and her husband were often In want,
and it was supposed that she wished
to have her income increased. Then
came the arrest of her step-mother in
connection with the Keene dress and
the Keene relics.
The Jaccards seemed to grow poorer
and poorer. He and his wife and two
children lived in two tiny rooms. The
third baby was born a few days ago.
When DR.. Eugene Jehl, of Park Ridge,
the family physician, was dismissed he
says he left Mrs. Jaccard in good con-
dition. DR.. Townsend came in re-
Spouse to a second call. He found the
granddaughter of Laura Kcene and the
daughter Of the founder Of the Ameri-
can Society Of Water Color Painters,
the author and doctor of laws of Cam
bridge University, lying on two old
bags thrown over a straw tick. The
room in which she lay served as work
shop, dining O. and bedroom.