The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-09-16
they DON'T TALLY.
Discrepancies in Facts of
Madame De May Case.
Woman Has Been Sent to
AsyIums Four Times.
DAUGHTER TELLS Her STORY
Deathbed Confession Opens
Sensational Investigation.
State Still Conducting Probe
Following Letter.
DAUGHTER TELLS her STORY

State officials are today trying to
iron out discrepancies in the reported
records of the insanity case of the
alleged Madame Rubye De May. Rec
ords produced by Malcolm Gray, sec
retary of the state board of admins
tration. show that the woman was sent
to Kansas state hospitals for the in
sane on at least four occasions This
includes her transfer to Topeka from
Osawatomie in 1912
One claim that the woman of
alleged French nobility had been in
the Grandview sanitarium in 1907 was
set aside. The sanitarium was not
opened until 1910. It is possible she
may have been in the institution some
time between 1910 and 1912.
There is also confusion in the letters
and letters of Mrs Lillian Dexter
Alcott. the woman's alleged daughter.
In letter to the old board of control
under date of March rs, 1919, the
daughter asked assistance in locating
her aunt, Mrs. Emily De Ray. On
April 3, 1919, Mrs. Alcott claimed
Madame De May as her mother. The
hospital inmate is 4 decided brunette.
Inc alleged daughter is a beautiful
blonde.
Correspondence and records show
Mrs. De May was first admitted to the
Osawatomie hospital January IL 1898
The Dexter brothers who gave the
Woman's history stated at that time
mat Mrs De May was widow SO
years old and that she was born in
Ohio. Claims of Mrs. Alcott are to the
effect that her mother fled to America
from France to escape assassination.
Her daughter was then years old.
Violently Insane.
In December, 1896, so correspon-
denee shows, Mrs. De May was report
ed to be in Eudora and violently in
sane. Whether she had been dis
charged or had escaped from the hos
pital is not known. She was returned
to Osawatomie and in 1907 was dis
charged as unimproved Later she
was again sent to the Osawatomie hos
October rs 1912
Letters which Mrs. Alcott wrote TO
the state board several years ago
stated that the Dexters had told her
mrs De May had been sent to the
Kansas hospital from an Idaho hosni-
tai. An investigation brought a stale
ment from Idaho officials that no
woman of the name of either De Nav
or Dexter had been transferred to
Kansas.
That Mrs. De May is insane is the
trim opinion of DR.. L. NJ. Perry, SUPER
1ntendent of the state hospital. She
refuses to discuss her past history and
seloor1 talks except to imaginary per-
sons. Mrs. Dexter, according TO state
. records. is now So years old.
Daughter Talks at X. C..
Kansas City. Mo, Sept. ia
deathbed statement alleged to have
| been made three years ago by Mrs.
George Dexter caused Mrs. Rubye De
May Alcott to begin an Investigation
TO establish the sanity of her mother,
Madame Rubye De May, according to
the daughters assertion at her home
here.
For more than thirty years Mrs.
Lillian Dexter Alcott, as she was
known, said she was led to believe she
was a daughter of Mr.. and Mrs.
George Dexter.
Mrs Alcott said when she learned
by the deathbed confession of the
crime alleged to have been committed
against her mother. she visited her at
the Osawatomie asylum and was con-
v1nced the aged woman was sane
Fear that assassins who drove her
mother from France thirty-five years
ago, and the persons whom she be-
heved responsible for her mothers
i confinement in a hospital for the in
sane in this country. might cause her
death if she attempted to bring them
to justice, Mrs. Alcott said. prompted
her to turn the investigation over to
an attorney.
Z Mrs. Alcott said this attorney, to-
gether with A. E. Stevens of Kansas
tContipued on Page SKI