The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-03-24
R. ". STEVENS
KILLS SELF on
EVE OF TRIAL
Aged : Father Critically Ill;
Elder Brother Must Face
Court Monday.
Continued From Page One


diverted Sl2.456 400 from funds Of
the forty year-old Illinois Life In
surance Company, which they also
controlled
The story of the SeVenses' rise
and fall assumes the pattern of The
American success story, with
fourth-year of depression unhappy
ending
For the Stevenses had built grad
ually. They controlled the La Sale
and Stevens hotels, they owned
four -fifths of the S35000000 Illi-
nOis Life. held a large interest in
the State street department store
of Charles A. Stevens 81 Brothers,
and we're co-oWners of three large
loop office buildings, one bearing
the Stevens name.
Rose to Social Prominence
Jim Stevens, born of English
parents in an Illinois prairie settle
ment nearly eighty years ago, came
to Chicago to join his brother in a
small dry goods business. That was
nearly fifty years ago.
Within ten years Stevens had
founded Illinois Life.
A few years more and his sons,
University of Chicago graduates,
were with him in his growing real
~ al
prises.
Ray Stevens grew into the steward
ship of Illinois Life, starting as
solicitor On his compulsory retire
ment as president a few months ago
his salary was $4,000 a year, his
stock holdings large.
Ernie Stevens, nine years younger
than Ray, finished an education in
law, then became the family hotel
operator. When they fell into re-
ownership he was president of the
La Sale and manager of the vast
Stevens.
The Stevenses, father and son,
attained social prominence. Both
sons lived quietly, as did their
father.
Lived in Luxury Suburbs
Raymonds chief interests outside
business were his family of four
children, his golf game and his
beautiful home, the Meadows, in
one of the North Shore suburbs.
Mrs, Raymond Stevens became
the regent of the exclusive Chicago |
chapter of the Daughters of the
American Revolution.
Ernest Stevens, also the father
of four children, spent most Of his
time away from business with his
family at one of their two homes, |
the unpretentiouS Colonial house in |
East Fifty-eighth street or the ram
bling summer home atop a wooded |
bluff at Lakeside, Mich.
Only once did scandals attach to
the Stevens name. That was in /
1905 when James Stevens divorced I
the mother of his two sons, Jessie |
Louise Smith, whom he had mar |
ried at 20 at Colchester, Ill, before
riches came.
Crash Laid to Ambition
Stevens then married Alice Brad
ley of Chicago. They preside over
the House of Stevens in a de luxe
apartment on Lake Shore drive, a
short block from where Samuel In
sull resided, on the Gold Coast but |
not Of it.
For years the worst thing an en-
envy could say about the SteYenseS
was that they were ambitious
The charges of conspiracy and |
embezzlement on which a Cook |
county grand jury indicted them
are traceable to their ambition to
build the worlds largest hotel"
To erect it, the ambitious father
and sons not only were compelled !
to further mortgage the Hotel La
Sale, long their golden egg layer,
but also to overload their insurance
company with Stevens hotel Secur-
tiles which, after the crash, top
pied to 22'2 cents on the dollar
Cruise Plan Nipped
In the interests of 10000 holders
of the $150000,000 worth of poll
Cies in force, the federal department
of justice and the Cook county states
attorney launched Investigations.
But before they had completed it,
word reached their ears that Ernest
Stevens had secured a passport and
with his family was preparing to
sail on a Mediterranean cruise.
With recollections of the insult
fights still fresh in mind. States
Attorney Thomas j. Courtney
promptly ordered Ernest Stevens
arrest.
Stevens denied his proposed iaunt
was anything more than winter
vacation.
Three days later, with his father
and brother. he was indicted.
Teacher Dies of Injuries