The sun., 1906-12-22

announcing her VIII One ofthe last lettefs
which he got was signed on behalf OF one
ofthe cats II was described by Mr.. Stim-
son as a rambling, incoherent letter and
Indicated that the writer was mentally
unbalanced. She went on to tell how
Fairy Queen Snowdrop was at that very
moment basking IN the sun and how his
brother cat, Joseph Pool. had been sick
but was better.
District Attorney Stimson said that the
whole thing was only the act Of poor.
harmless crank, who had tragioally COM
mitted suicide and left her property to the
President. Mr.. Roosevelt, in Difference
70 the circumstances. was anxious that
the woman should not be buried in pau-
pers grave and had interested himself
in the case.
Mr.. Hoes, the public administrator, will
advertise for relatives OF the woman and
do everything else in his power to locate
them. A rumor has come to him that the
woman's maiden name was Smith and that
her father was at one time a Western ranch
owner. This information is now in the
hands Of tho Secret Service agents, and
they are doing what they can to place the
womans remains in the possession OF her
relatives.
Il is the opinion Of the Public Adminis-
traitor that the will is valid. Ii was drawn
only short time before the woman took
the chloroform. and is in her own hand
writing 1t is signed by two witnesses, +. II.
Taft and his wife, who lived on the floor
above Mrs. Grover in the Lex xngton ave-
rue house. Mr.. Taft says that he Isl cousin
of the Secretary Of War. He and his wife
did not know tine contents OF the will when
they signed. and Mrs. Grover never told
them anything about it, Mrs Taft visited in
Mrs. Growers apartment often, and so far
as she was able to observe the woman was
In her right mind.
Another friend Of the dead woman, Mrs.
Richard II. Connor, who lives at l2Oth street
and Park avenue. tells some interesting
things about her eccentricities. She met
Mrs. Grover about a year and half ago
when she was living at ? East 1l9th street.
Mrs. Grover came 10 see her in answer to an
advertisement offering some books for sale.
Mrs. Connor was a cat fancier. and the two
met on common ground. They us ed 10
take their cats out for an airing and give
them grass in Mount Morris Park.
About a year ago, according 10 Mrs.
Conuor. Mrs. Grover sustained great sor-
row. She had a Persian cat called Sun
beam. II fell out of the window one day
and broke its back Mrs. Grover bought
an expensive casket for it and had Sun
beam l1il out by an undert1ker. A funeral
was held, the gold plate on the casket was
removed as a memento of the departed and
the cat was lai1 10 rest in a private plot in a
cemetery in Hartsdale. A little later Golden
Teddy Roosevelt. another of Mrs. Growers
pet cats, passed away. This one had gold
COLLAR around its neck, and it, too, was buried
in the Hartsdale Cemetery with due cat
rites.
Mrs Grover used to visit the Hartsdale
Cemetery and put flowers on the graves of
her two Persian beauties. But before long
she got the idea that somebody was steal
ing the flowers and she arranged with
we'll known New York city undertaken to
disinter the remains OF the cats and have
them cremated. At the same time she ar
ranged with a high class jewelry store to
have two urns of a special design made to
hold the ashes Of the cats. One of these
urns, according to Mrs. Connor, cost 500
and the other ss5. Mrs Grover offered a
special prize to the designer for his work.
He refused to take IL, but accepted finally,
with the understanding that IL was to go to
some needy family.
were placed in an expensive cabinet in Mrs
Growers apartment, and in the same cabinet,
according to Mrs. Connor. was a set OF
President Roosevelt's works. These books
Mrs. Connor said, had cost Mrs. Grover
about t25 volume. II wasn't learned yes
terday what the public administrator had
done with the cat urns.
Mrs. Connor said further that her friend
had a room in the house which she called
the Roosevelt parlor. The curtains re-
sembled khaki and were tied with yellow
ribbons. In the room we're several pictures
of President Roosevelt, one in an ecclesias-
eical frame which she had painted herself
told her that she had had three great sorrows
in her life besides the dying Of Sunbeam
and Golden Teddy. She had said she was
q descendant of Capt. John Smith and that
her father owned a ranch out in California.
She had met her husband, an Englishman,
there and had married when she was II
years old, Her husband died year later.
Her husband. according to Mrs. Connor,
had a home in Grosvenor Square, London,
and was a man of means. She had spoken
20 Mrs. COnnor of a sorrow which was bound
up with her cats, and"had said
II can keep a secret, and my sorrow is
my secret
" Mrs. Grover never wore any jewelry ex-
cept a silver locket and always dressed in
black. Mrs. Connor said that the full name
of one OF the cats which the President has
taken TO the White House is Fairy Queen
snowdrop Low"