New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-25
She Vanishes Afte r
S. M. Van Allen, Once
Rich, Shoots Himself.
BITTER LETTERS
LEFT TO FAMILY
Visitor Says Man, Though
Married, Hoped to
Wed Her.

Stephen NJ. Van Allen. expert rife
shot, former superintendent of Madison
Square Garden and manager Of the
Sportsman's Show for many years,
killed himself yesterday in the mahog-
any furnished cabin of his motor boat
Hunter, moored in the Hudson River. of
13Sth Street. He fired both barrels OF
a shotgun into his breast after scrib-
bling notes to his mother, Mrs. Henry
A. Van Allen, a wealthy resident of ia
maica, and to his lawyer. These mes
sages explained that long series OF
financial and domestic difficulties had
prompted him to take his life.
On a table in the cabin the police
found a sealed letter addressed to Mrs.
]. NJ. Ulonoran, Suite No. 1915, Congress
Hotel, Chicago. Through her, the wom-
an of mystery in the case, the death OF
the sportsman was discovered.
For two years Van Allen had been
living in seclusion On his hunting boat,
members of the motor boat colony
above 135th Street told detectives
from the Fourth Branch Bureau. Al
though he came ashore frequently to
buy provisions and attend to his busi-
ness affairs, he had little communica-
ton with other owners of boats in the
colony. They knew of him only as a
recluse.
At $3.50 yesterday a telephone call
for Van Allen was received at the
boathouse near 13sth Street, where he
rented accommodations for the
Hunter. A woman's voice explained
that Mrs. Ulonoran. of Chicago, was
calling him.
Woman's Request Leads to Discovery.
Norman Dickerson, one of the boat
men, stepped outside on the float to
hail the Hunter, which was resting
within a few hundred yards Of the in
termed German liners at 135th Street
He could raise no answer from the
boat.
"Please find out if anything has hap
pened to him." the woman begged over
the telephone. 81 have an appointment
with him at II. and want to be sure
that ne is there"
Dickerson pulled out to the Hunter
in a rowboat and climbed aboard after
calling to Van Allen several times. He
found the body on the floor of the
cabin. The boatman notified the police
of the West 125th Street station. An
ambulance surgeon from Knickerbocker
Hospital reported that death had been
instantaneous.
As Patrolman Essig approached the
boathouse after completing his exam,
ination of the motor boat, he was told
that a woman wished to see him. she
was dressed in stylish clothes, DIS
PLAYED expensive jewelry, and had
rushed TO the pier in toxicab.
"Have you n letter there for Mrs.
Jlonoran. at the Congress Hotel, In
Chicago?" she asked. Essig had the
letter in his hand. ,
"Then please give it to me-lm Mrs.
Ulonoran," she cried. 81 must find out
what made him do it,"
"This letter must go to the coroner S
Office before you can have II, inc
patrolman said.
"But I'm entitled to it," she persisted.
"Mr. Van Allen was TO marry me" she
added, according to the police
Says Divorce Was Planned.
When informed that Mr.. Van Allen
had widow and sixteen-year-old son
living in Jamaica, Mrs. U1onoran ex-
nlained that she knew it, but Van
Allen hoped to bring about the mar
riaee ANYHOW. She became so excited
in her efforts TO get the letter that she
tainted.
AS soon as she recovered she hurried
IN her taxicab and sped away before
the police ascertained her address in
this city. The letter addressed 10 Mrs.
IJIonoran was turned over to the cor
oner's Office without being made public.
Roth the other final messages left by
Van Allen were scrawled in pencil on
largo nieces of cardboard such as are
used TO stiffen a freshly laundered
sbirt. The one intended for his mother
read in part:
81 have no money and no place TO
live. | hope you are happy. ! don't
want YOU or any Of my family to have
nv body. Haven't else to say" This
noto, the police said, also contained
many bitter epithets and charges that
his mother had been responsible for
recent financial reverses he had SUI
fered. -:
attorney. Van Allen wrote:
~ want to thank you for all that
vou have lone for me and ask one more
;b;ng. that you see that my body goes
20 the nearest college for the students
70 use for scientific purposes. After
thew have finished, please bury 1t in
Potter's Field"
Mr.. Gillen is somewhere IN New Eng
land on his vacation, the police learned.
Van Aliens body was removed last
night from the West l25th Street sta
ton 10 the morgue, pending further
Co9tinued on page 3. column