Crime Immemorial

Eugene Hamilton Grace was born on August 6th, 1883, in Macon, Georgia. He grew up in Newnan, Coweta County, and built a successful career as a contractor, amassing considerable wealth. In late 1911, Grace married Daisy Ulrich Opie, a woman who would soon become the center of scandal. The couple had been wed for only a few months when the incident occurred in their home at 29 West Eleventh Street in Atlanta.

Daisy was often referred to in the press as “Daisy of the Leopard Spots,” a moniker possibly alluding to her dramatic persona or a reference from contemporary literature. Reports hinted at underlying tensions in the marriage, including rumors of financial disputes and quarrels. Letters from Grace reportedly threatened action if Daisy did not provide him with money, adding fuel to speculations about motives.

On the afternoon of March 5th, 1912, Eugene Grace was discovered shot in his bedroom, the door locked and barred from the inside. The key, unusually, had been left on a bookcase outside the room, a detail that baffled investigators. Grace, semi-conscious and bleeding from a bullet wound, immediately accused his wife of the shooting when rescuers arrived. He was rushed to St. Joseph’s Infirmary, where doctors determined the bullet had paralyzed him from the chest down, rendering him bedridden and unlikely to ever walk again.

Daisy claimed she had left the house early that morning to handle business and planned to meet her husband at the train station for lunch before her departure to Newnan. She denied any involvement, instead pointing fingers at the couple’s servants, J.C. Ruffin and his wife Martha, suggesting they had a motive due to prior troubles and a possible robbery attempt. She mentioned missing $10 in $1 bills from a dresser and an alleged injury to Martha’s arm, but medical examinations found no such fracture, and the servants’ statements contradicted hers in key ways. No signs of forced entry or robbery were evident; Grace still wore valuable items like a Masonic ring and diamond stick pin.

The mystery deepened: How had the door been locked from the inside with no key found within? Why was the key removed when it was typically left in the door? These questions, combined with Grace’s accusation, led to Daisy’s arrest. She was released on a $7,000 bond, protesting her innocence and even sending a telegram to her mother claiming Eugene was improving.

Authorities, including Chief Lanford, found no new evidence beyond suspicions based on conflicting statements and physical clues. The prosecution alleged that Daisy had drugged her husband before shooting him, motivated by his insurance money. Evidence supported the drugging claim, and Daisy reportedly admitted to it during the proceedings. Grace’s own statements, though potentially inadmissible under laws prohibiting spousal testimony, could serve as a dying declaration if he succumbed to his injuries.

The case drew widespread media attention, dubbed the “Great Atlanta Shooting of 1912” and even a “crime of the century” in retrospect.

Daisy was indicted on May 6th, 1912, for assault with intent to murder. The trial commenced in late July under Judge L. S. Roan. In a dramatic scene, the paralyzed Eugene was carried into the courtroom on a cot on July 29th: the first time the couple had seen each other since the shooting. Both turned pale; Daisy required a hypodermic injection to steady her nerves. Jury selection proved challenging, exhausting all strikes, and witnesses like city policemen Robert A. Wood and James Dorsett testified about responding to the scene, but no groundbreaking evidence emerged.

The defense, led by attorney Luther Z. Rosser, cross-examined witnesses vigorously and kept their own list secret. Rumors swirled that a Southern Railroad agent, Captain C. W. Burke, was aiding the defense with evidence gathering. Despite the accusations and Eugene’s testimony, the jury acquitted Daisy on August 2nd, 1912, finding her not guilty.

Eugene Grace lingered for nearly two years, bedridden and partially paralyzed, before succumbing to complications from the bullet wound on January 12th, 1914, at his boyhood home in Newnan. He died at age thirty, unconscious for his final six hours, with family at his bedside. No final message came from Daisy, and Grace had maintained hope for recovery until the end.

The incident inspired a 2012 book by Atlanta author Tom Hughes, Rich Georgian Strangely Shot: Eugene Grace, “Daisy of the Leopard Spots” and the Great Atlanta Shooting of 1912, which retells the story and explores its historical context. Because of Daisy’s acquittal, Eugene’s murder remains officially unsolved.