John de Saulles
Encyclopedia
Real estate broker
A real estate broker, real estate agent or realtor is a party who acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers of real estate/real property and attempts to find sellers who wish to sell and buyers who wish to buy...
, and businessman whose murder by his millionaire wife led to a widely-reported trial.
Early life
John "Jack" Gerald Longer de Saulles was born in South Bethlehem, PennsylvaniaSouth Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
South Bethlehem is a borough in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 444 at the 2000 census.South Bethlehem is a borough in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 444 at the 2000 census.South Bethlehem is a borough in Armstrong County,...
on May 25, 1878 to Arthur Brice de Saulles and Catherine Heckscher, a daughter of New York City merchant Charles A. Heckscher. He became a star quarterback and captain of the Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
's varsity team of 1901, being chosen as the quarterback on the all-American team. In 1902 he was named Head Coach of the Virginia Cavaliers football team
Virginia Cavaliers football
Virginia Cavaliers football is a college football program that competes in the NCAA Division I-FBS and the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference...
, where he compiled a 8-1-1 record.
In 1911, de Saulles travelled to Chile as representative of the South American Concessions Syndicate, a concern made up largely of Americans living in London, which was active in promoting the
Trans Andean Railroad, connecting the railway systems of Chile and Argentina. While there, the 32-year-old de Saulles met 16-year-old Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an heiress Blanca Errázuriz
Blanca Errázuriz
Blanca Elena Errázuriz Vergara , also known as Bianca de Saulles was accused and later acquitted of killing her first husband, John de Saulles.-Early life and marriage:...
. They were soon engaged and on December 14, 1911 he married her at the English Catholic Church, in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
The married couple settled in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where he became a partner of the family-owned real estate firm Heckscher & de Saulles. He participated very actively in the 1912 presidential election
United States presidential election, 1912
The United States presidential election of 1912 was a rare four-way contest. Incumbent President William Howard Taft was renominated by the Republican Party with the support of its conservative wing. After former President Theodore Roosevelt failed to receive the Republican nomination, he called...
, where de Saulles organised 72,000 college men for Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
. In the campaign de Saulles and President Wilson became close friends, and he was rewarded with an appointment as U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, but after the Senate had confirmed the appointment and even though he took the oath of office, he resigned before traveling to take up the post, explaining that his business interests in the United States made it impossible for him to accept.
The divorce
In 1915, Blanca Errázuriz befriended Rudolph ValentinoRudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where he was working as an exhibition dancer and had gained attention for his rendition of the Argentine tango
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
, which was the craze at the time. Valentino enjoyed befriending many people of high society, and Blanca Errázuriz
Blanca Errázuriz
Blanca Elena Errázuriz Vergara , also known as Bianca de Saulles was accused and later acquitted of killing her first husband, John de Saulles.-Early life and marriage:...
was unhappily married to De Saulles by whom she already had a son. Whether the two, Valentino and Errázuriz, actually had a romantic relationship is unknown, but Valentino was quite smitten with her so when Blanca was seeking a divorce from her husband, Valentino agreed to provide proof in court that Joan Sawyer, his dancing partner, was having an adulterous relationship with De Saulles; and took the stand to support Blanca's claim of John's well known infidelities.
Mr. de Saulle was not pleased with this and once the divorce was granted on December 1916, he used his political connections to have Valentino arrested along with a Mrs. Thyme, who was a known "madam", on vice
Vice
Vice is a practice or a behavior or habit considered immoral, depraved, or degrading in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a defect, an infirmity, or merely a bad habit. Synonyms for vice include fault, depravity, sin, iniquity, wickedness, and corruption...
charges (the exact charges are unknown). The evidence was flimsy at best (Valentino having been near the wrong place at the wrong time) and after a few days in jail, Valentino's bail was lowered from $10,000 to $1,500. The scandal was well publicized along with the trial and Valentino felt degraded. No one would hire him and his old friends would no longer talk to him. Blanca seemed to not even thank him for his testimony.
The murder
Shortly after the divorce, on August 3, 1917, Blanca had herself driven from her home in Roslyn, New YorkRoslyn, New York
Roslyn is a village in Nassau County, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the village population was 2,770...
to the The Box, in Meadowbrook Colony, near Westbury, New York
Westbury, New York
Westbury incorporated in 1932 as a village in Nassau County, New York in the United States. The population was 15,146 at the 2010 census.The Village of Westbury is in the Town of North Hempstead....
, the country home of her ex-husband. She had legal claims over the custody of their son, since she and her husband had been given shared-custody over him, but de Saulles refused to acknowledge the court's decision. She arrived at The Box shortly after 8 PM, and found de Saulles sitting in the porch of the house. They started to argue, and she pointed a gun at his head demanding he immediately hand over the child to her. When he tried to disarm her, she shot him five times. He was rushed to the Nassau County Hospital, but died there at 10:20 PM of his injuries. In the meantime, she awaited at the house for the arrival of the police, to whom she surrendered. She was charged with murder in the first degree and imprisoned in the Nassau County Jail at Mineola, New York
Mineola, New York
Mineola is a village in Nassau County, New York, USA. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a Native American word meaning a "pleasant place"....
, leading to a sensational trial.
The widely-reported case went on for months, relegating the First World War that was raging in Europe to the inside pages of the newspapers. Blanca was defended by Henry Uterhart, a noted criminalist of the time, and the principal witness for the defense was Suzanne Monteau, Blanca's French maid, who had accompanied her that night and completely supported her version of the facts. Blanca Errázuriz became the darling of the press, and the champion of the suffragettes who portrayed her as the victim of the chauvinism
Chauvinism
Chauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...
prevalent in the society of the time, while Valentino's name was again dragged through the mud though he had nothing to do with Blanca by this point.
Blanca Errázuriz was unanimously acquitted of the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
charges on December 1, 1917 in what was called a "popular" verdict. Valentino changed his name from Rodolfo Guglielmi to various variations of Rudolph Valentino, partly to avoid association with the scandal and partly because Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
had trouble pronouncing Guglielmi. After the trial, he moved to Hollywood, where he started his successful movie career. Years later he tried to contact her again, but she would neither respond his calls or agree to see him. Blanca Errázuriz
Blanca Errázuriz
Blanca Elena Errázuriz Vergara , also known as Bianca de Saulles was accused and later acquitted of killing her first husband, John de Saulles.-Early life and marriage:...
, who later married and divorced from a Chilean businessman, lived until 1940, when she committed suicide.
Legacy
The case was the basis for the 1918 silent movieSilent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
The woman and the Law, directed by Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh...
; with Jack Connors, Miriam Cooper
Miriam Cooper
Miriam Cooper was a silent film actress who is best known for her work in early film including Birth of a Nation and Intolerance for D.W. Griffith and The Honor System and Evangeline for her husband Raoul Walsh...
and Peggy Hopkins Joyce
Peggy Hopkins Joyce
Peggy Hopkins Joyce was an American actress and celebrity, famed as much for her several marriages to wealthy men, colorful divorces, scandalous affairs, her diamonds and generally lavish lifestyle as for her work on stage or screen.-Brief Biography:Born Marguerite Upton in Berkley, Virginia, she...
. The name De Saulles was changed to La Salle but the film's opening credits admit to being based on the story. Producer William Fox
William Fox (producer)
William Fox born Fried Vilmos was a pioneering Hungarian American motion picture executive who founded the Fox Film Corporation in 1915 and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain in the 1920s...
wanted Miriam Cooper to play in the film, as she so closely resembled the woman she was to portray. According to Cooper, people on the street would mistake her for Blanca De Saulles
Blanca Errázuriz
Blanca Elena Errázuriz Vergara , also known as Bianca de Saulles was accused and later acquitted of killing her first husband, John de Saulles.-Early life and marriage:...
. Cooper fell ill when the film was to go into production, bowed out, and was replaced by another actress, who proved to be so terrible that Fox laid down the law with Cooper, telling her to make the film no matter how sick or how well she felt. It also helped that Raoul Walsh was her husband.