Grace Fortescue

Grace Hubbard Fortescue, (née Bell) (November 3, 1883 – June 24, 1979), was a New York City socialite who murdered a man, later proven innocent, who was accused of raping her daughter. After being convicted of manslaughter at a sensational trial, her ten-year sentence was commuted to a single hour by Hawaii's Territorial Governor Lawrence Judd. Early life Grace Hubbard Bell was born November 3, 1883, in Washington, D.C. Her father Charles John Bell was first cousin of inventor Alexander Graham Bell. Her mother was Roberta Wolcott Hubbard Bell (1859–1885). Her maternal grandfather Gardiner Hubbard was the first president of Bell Telephone Company. When her mother died in childbirth in 1885, her father married her mother's sister, Grace Hubbard. The family lived at Twin Oaks, their estate in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Newspaper reports indicate that Grace could be classified a prankster: as a youth, she and her friends stole a trolley car for a joy ride through the streets of Washington and, on another occasion, she blocked traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue by joining hands with friends and roller-skating down the avenue. Personal life In 1910, she married U.S. Army Major Granville "Rolly" Fortescue (1875–1952), one of the sons of Robert Barnwell Roosevelt. Her husband was first cousin of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. The marriage was not as financially successful as she would have wished. She was the mother of three daughters: