Ethel Daisy Deane Tanner's Interrogatory Verification

On page 6, the last page of the Interrogatory (Request for further information) Paperwork for Ethel Daisy Deane Tanner regarding Wm D Taylor's estate and in order to prove she was Taylor's heir she had to answer several questions. For #10 she had to give the names and addresses of two or more persons who could verify the previous statements she made in the Interrogatory. She signed the paperwork on 1 May 1922 while in the village of Mamaroneck, NY and she listed:
1.) Mrs. Ethel K Freeman- Shippins Point, Stamford, CT
2) Miss Marion Graham-1111 Pine Street, San Francisco, CA

This is where the research gets very interesting. According to the following articles, Marion Graham was questioned by police but was never publicly considered her a suspect in Taylor's murder.
26 Feb 1922: LA Times "Trace Taylor Death Wire- Detectives Question Woman who Announced Murder of Film Director by Telegram" . . . Deputy Sheriffs Fox and Nolan said last night that they had located and questioned this woman who was the one that sent a telegram giving the fact that Taylor was dead only a few hours after the slain director's body was found. The facts about the telegram made public by the officers yesterday were as follows. 2 February at 10:08am, a little more that two hours after Henry Peavey found his body. . . The following telegram was filed in a Hollywood telegraph office.
"Mrs. George A Freeman, Shippins Point, Stamford, CT. Pete Tanner fatally shot behind right ear in his apartment this morning. Ask Ethel Daisy if I can do anything. Should I send flowers in Daisy's name. Consternation among movie colony. No details available yet. Signed "MARION"
The deputies located the sender of the telegram at the Lasky Studios, in conversation with an official of that organization. In the presence of this official the woman, who gave the name of Marion Graham, advertising manager for a Hollywood publication, denied she ever made a statement that she knew Taylor's real name and something from his past.
The officers the day of the director's funeral questioned Mrs. Graham again. At this time she admitted she made such a remark and that she sent the telegram. She said she knew Taylor under the name of Tanner when Ethel, his daughter, was a year old. The Tanners lived near some friends of Mrs. Graham at Larchmont, near the yacht club there in NY. She said she knew of Tanner's disappearance and later when she met him in Hollywood she recognized the man and told him who he was. Taylor at first denied his identity but later admitted it, she said. It was then that she communicated with the family.
The following is in an article dated 27 Feb 1922 in the LA Times "Explains Mystery of that 'Wire'" (exclusive dispatch) from Stamford, CT on Feb 26. "Miss Marion Graham of New York, questioned by the Los Angeles police in their effort to solve the mystery of the murder of William Desmond Taylor. Knew Taylor when he lived in New York under the name of Tanner. She was drawn into the case through a telegram sent East almost immediately after the director was found dead. It read.
"Pete Tanner has been killed. Shot in the back. Great commotion here."
The telegram was address to a woman friend of Miss Graham who lives on Long Island Sound, near Stamford. Today this woman told why Miss Graham sent the message.
"Miss Graham and I both new Mr. and Mrs. Tanner (the latter is now Mrs ELC Robbins of Mamaroneck, NY) when they lived in New York. At the time Mr. Tanner was a member of a yacht club here and we moved in the same circles.
"Miss Graham and her mother board in New York City. Early in the fall she went to California for the winter. Five days before Taylor was killed Miss Graham called on him at the Lasky studios where he was directing a picture. It was a casual call, made only to renew an old acquaintance.
"When Mr. Taylor was murdered Miss Graham wanted to communicate the news to his former wife, the present Mrs. Robins, but did not know her address. She knows I am a friend of Mrs. Robins, so she sent the telegram to me, knowing I could telephone the news to Mrs. Robins, which I did. "Miss Graham used the name 'Pete' because Tanner was so known to his friends here in the old days."

Marion Graham was born on 25 April 1887 in New York City. She was the daughter of J Franklin & Josephine Graham.
1880: 455 W 43rd, Manhattan, NY- Graham: Franklin (age 28 b. NY Ribbon Manufacturer); Josephine (age 26 b. NY); Franklin (son b. May 1880 NY)
25 April 1887:1 W 119th St, NYC- Marion's place of birth
1880-1922: Still searching for Marion. . .
23 August 1922: Marion applied for a passport. She listed her address at 1111 Pine Street, San Francisco.




Ethel Hayward Knapp (Freeman) was born in September 1877 to Charles H & Minna Knapp. She married George Albree Freeman. George graduated from MIT in 1877.1880: West 25th St, NY- Freeman: George (age 55 b. MA, banker); Kate (age 50 b. MA); George A (age 25 b. NY)
1886: George A Freeman married Beatrice Paulding in NY
1900: 1103 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA: Knapp: Charles E (age 47 b. NY, Mine dealer); Minna (age 47 b. NY); Ethel H (b. Sept 1877 NY, Clerk- Mine dealer); Marie S (b. Dec 1884 CA); Charles E Jr. (age 14 b. CA)
1900: 126 E 22nd, Manhattan, NY- Freeman: George A (b. May 1859 NY Architect); Beatrice P (b. March 1859 no children)
1905: George A's wife, Beatrice Paulding Freeman died at Garden City.
5 Nov 1908: Miss Ethel Haywood Knapp married George Albree Freeman at St. Stephen's Church on West 69th Street.
12 April 1910: 113th, Manhattan, NY (Knapp, Charles E (age 57 Mine Manager); Minna A (age 56); Marie S (age 25)
20 April 1910: 135 E. 71st St, Manhattan, NY- Freeman: George A (age 52 architect); Ethel H (age 32);
1920: Stamford, CT- Freeman: George A (age 61 Building architect); Ethel H (age 42); Albree (daughter age 7 b. NY); Knapp: Minnie H (mother-in-law age 65 widowed)
1 May 1922: Shippins Point, Stamford, CT- Mrs. Ethel Freeman
1930: Sarasota, Florida- Freeman: George A (age 70 Architect); Ethel H (age 50 NY)
1934: George A Freeman died in Sarasota, FL.