New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-04-13
Grace Mclaughlin Passes
Away in Havana. Where
EIoper Took Her.
HER FORTUNE SAVED
BY JUST A WEEK
Stevens Met Girl Through Illness
Which Defeated Him-Aunt
Predicted Tragedy.

Grace Mclaughlin lies dead in some
Havana hotel. Perhaps George STE
vens. who lured the tubercular daueh-
ter Of Patrick II. Mclaughlin. one ,ire
deputy to Police Chief De,cry, away
from her home four month. ago. n
waits beside the wasted BODY. Perhaps
she lies alone. for by hor death ahe
cheated the man who had cheated her
The girl possessed S251,OOO, inherit
ed from her father. Stevens knew tbs
lie was the garage man with whom the
twenty-six-year-old invalid had kept
the car she bought in the hope tina: it
would restore her health. Grace Ne
Laughlin was only a child, her aunt,
Mrs. Catherine Ingles. say. Convent
bred and prevented by her feeble
health from any activity. She knew
little Of men. Stevens taught her all
she knew
-Four months ago they clipped The
girl knew that Stevens had been bap-
tized a Catholic few days before they
fled together. She did not know that
tho man had another wife living. in
Massachusetts, lie had been divorced
from her, but under decree niei,"
which provided that he could not marry
again until six months hal oispsed. lie
cheated her by pretending 70 be free
and ready TO marry her when they
eloped. She cheated him b. dying six
days before ne could become her legal
husband and heir 70 the S25O,0O0 II
she had lived until April H. Stevens's
divorce would have become absolute.
Thought Herself Stevens's Wife.
Il is probable that at the time Of
her death the woman really believed
herself TO be Stevens's wife. Arthur
II. Mclean, proprietor Of the Hunter
Island Inn. met the couple in Havana
in February. lie had known Miss Nc
Laughlin before her elopement. and
she now presented Stevens TO him AS
her husband. She was kno-n IN lla-
yana az Mrs. Stevens. Mclean says.
The exact day OF the womans death
is not known. 4 report has reached
Mrs. lngles that she died last Monday.
Other rumors say that she died on
Tuesday Mrs. lngles. who was like a
mother 20 the ailing girl, could not be
seen last night. At her apartment. 1
West l29th Street. il was said that
she was away. When she was called
up on the telephone. a female voice
said she was i'll in bed
Mrs. Ingles predicted the tragic out
come Of the elopement the day her
niece disappeared.
The adventure will Kill her" She
said. "She will stand the excitement
for a little while, and then she will
break down"
tuberculosis had a firm hold upon
Miss Mclaughlin before she ever saw
Stevens. Il was indirectly due 10 the
disease that they ever met. The girls
physician had prescribed automobile
drives for her. She bought a car and
kept il az Stevens's garage, AT l27th
Street and Seventh Avenue. The ga
rage owner fell into the habit of act
ing as her chauffeur. because, as he eX-
planned il, she was such good Gus
toner"
Never Returned Home
On December 9 the girl left her homo
20 20 70 mass. She never returned.
Her aunt Was III at the time. When
she learned that her niece had eloped
she hired private detectives 10 hun, her
down. The couple fed 10 Philadelphia,
then TO Baltimore. then 20 Augusta
Al several places IL was learned that
Stevens had attempted to marry his
companion, but had been unable TO find
a Catholic priest who would perform
the ceremony.
It is impossible 20 learn whether any
ceremony was ever performed. Miss
McLaughlin's pastor. the Rev. Father
James W Powers, of All Saints Cath
olic Church. said last night that he
had never been able TO learn whether
the clipping pair had been able TO OBJ
tain a church marriage.
81 do know" he said. that Grace
was a devout Catholic and would never
be married by any other church"
Cable dispatches from Havana say
that no woman named Mclaughlin or
Stevens has been reported dead there.