Evening star., 1939-08-12
Suitor Shoots Divorce
And State Trooper,
Then Kills Self
Jealous Admirer'
Arrives After Party
At Fashionable Home
By the Associated Press

BY lAe Associated Press.
SMITHTOWN BRANCH, N. Y,
Aug. ia socially prominent
young divorce was shot and crit
ically wounded after a house party
on the fashionable Long Island
North Shore today by a man de-
scribed by State Police 1t Charles
La Forge as "a jealous admirer."
The assailant fired three shots at
Mrs. Elizabeth Greve Caldwell Car
olyn of Delafield Farm, Noroton,
Conn; wounded a State trooper
who tried to save her, then turned
the gun on himself and sent four
bullets into his heart. He died
almost instantly.
1t. La Forge identified him as
Lawrence Sprague, 80. stepson of DR..
Shirley E. Sprague, New York City
physician,
Mrs. Carolyn. who went to Long
Island late yesterday from her Con-
necticut home, said Sprague, corner
ing her in a bedroom of the house
threatened to kill her if she rejected
his suit, and then announced he
would kill any one who tried to
enter the room.
He had tried to see her earlier in
the evening. but had been turned
aside after telephoning. Later, it
developed, he entered the house
while Mrs. Carolyn and some others
were away for short time and
waited her return.
The shooting occurred in the pre-
tentious summer home of Mrs.
Madeleine Waterman Higgins, 81,
daughter-in- law of the late Charles
Higgins of New York, head of the
Higgins Ink Co. Mrs. Higgins told
police she had been separated from
her husband, Tracy Higgins, since
June.
Mrs. Carolyn, who uses her
maiden name of Greve, is the
daughter of William Greve, wealthy
x-president of the Prudence Bond
Co of Brooklyn, which in 1923 in
sured his life for $1,0O0O00. Greve
was in Bermuda when the shooting
occurred and made plans to fly here
at once. His daughter was taken to
Southside Hospital, Bayshore.
Mrs. Higgins said Sprague had
telephoned Mrs Carolyn about 10
o'clock last night, few hours after
she arrived at the Higgins home
from Connecticut, which is just
across Long Island Sound, but was
told by Mrs. Higgins that Mrs. Car
olyn was not there
Earlier in the evening Mr.. and
Mrs Richard Emmett of St. James,
another North Shore town, had
called with some house guests, Mr..
and Mrs. Huntington Watts of New
Canaan, Conn.
Bullets Miss Stomach.
Mrs. Carolyn was hit by three
bullets, which just missed the wall
of her stomach.
The trooper, John Busch, was hit
in the left arm. Then Sprague
turned the gun on himself and fired
four bullets into his heart.
Mrs. Carolyn, who has two chill
dren, met Sprague in Reno about
five months ago, according to Mrs
Higgins, while she was getting di-
vorce from her second husband.
In Sprague's pocket the police
| found a summons issued only a few
hours earlier by a State trooper
charging him with driving through
Westbury, Long Island, at IS miles
an hour.
At the hospital later Mrs. Carolyn
said she was terrified when she
saw the gun.
When we sat down on the bed
he said, Either we make up or I'll
kill you" she declared.
Il told him we just couldn't make
up. He said, I know that you've
called the police. If any one enters
the door I'm going to kill you
and get him and then shoot my
SELF"
Sprague was described by police
as a commercial artist employed
by New York department store.