The San Francisco call., 1904-08-12
SHE ONCE MORE
SEEKS DIVORCE
Mrs. Grace Smell Layman Is
Again Suing for Freedom
From an Absent Spouse
SAYS HE DESERTED HER
Wife Is Quietly Resting at
the st. Francis, Awaiting
News From Los Angeles

| Mrs. Grace SneIi Layman, than
whom few women have figured more
prominently in the divorce courts Of
America, has been guest at the St.
Francis Hotel for several days, busily
preparing to separate herself from her
latest husband. 1t transpired yester-
day that she mas filed a suit In Los
Angeles against Perkins Layman, for
mer clerk of the Hotel Van Nuys, to
whom she was married a little over
year ago. This is the fifth time Mrs.
Layman has appeared in the courts as
plaintiff in such proceedings, yet
rumor has ii that as soon as the Los
Angeles court gUants her the relief
prayed for she will again become a
bride.
Mrs. Layman came to San Francisco
several days ago in company with Mr..
and Mrs. H. j. Woollacott of Los An
geles and announced that she would
accompany them on a visit to Lake
Tahoe. Hardly had she arrived here.
however, when she placed herself in
communication with attorneys. They
prepared a complaint for divorce,
which was hurriedly dispatched to the
south to be filed. Desertion is charged
against Layman.
DAUGHTER OF MILLIONAIRE
Mrs. Layman is the daughter of the
late Millionaire Sneu of Chicago. Smells
mysterious murder in his Washington
boulevard mansion in Chicago twelve
years ago is yet to be solved by the
police of that city, who have long been
searching for William Tascott, a man
supposed to have been implicated in
the crime. For years after the death
of her father. the millionaires rela-
tives were engaged in a bitter litiga-
Ase rwk.. e. Il.
tribution is yet to be made.
Scarcely had the girl reached her
majority when she entered upon
series of unhappy matrimonial entagle-
ments. She was first married to
young man named Coffin, but their
love soon cooled and a decree Of di-
vorce in favor of the young wife paved
the way for her marriage to Henry
Walker, man of considerable promi-
nence in Waukesha, Wis. They soon
quarreled and again the wife went TO
court, where the bonds of wedlock
were severed.
A few months later the friends of
Mrs. Walker were surprised to learn
that she had remarked Coffin, but they
wert- slowly recovering from their sur
prise when the news came that Mr.. and
Mrs. Coffin had a second time been le-
gally separated. Later she married
again, but once more the union was
disturbed by divorce proceedings, and
soon after effecting her freedom Mrs
Grace Smell Coffin Walker Coffin-etc
had packed her trunks and started for
California.
Establishing herself in a cozy cottage
in Pasadena two years ago the still at
tractive and interesting divorcee fire.
quently found pleasure in journeying
to Los Angeles, where she first met |
Perkins Layman, then a popular clerk
behind the Van Nuys desk A short |
acquaintance resulted in a quiet we'd !
ding and friends of the young man be- I
sieged him with congratulations for his !
catch" But Layman's fate |
was destined to be not different from |
that of his predecessors in the affec- /
tions of the young Eastern grass |
widow. 1t quickly became known that
husband and wife were at outs and
this report was one morning confirmed /
by the news that Layman had disap- l.
peared.
n