Eunice Gray - Speculation About Eunice Gray Being Etta Place

Speculation About Eunice Gray Being Etta Place

Gray was semi-wealthy, and many speculated that she was in fact Etta Place. She never made any indication that she was, nor did she make any attempt to fuel the rumors, as many might have if for no other reason than to achieve fame, but instead she avoided the topic altogether. She ran her brothel until at least 1925, at which time she took over the "Waco Hotel", located at 110 E. 15th street, in Fort Worth. Contrary to common belief, the connections between Place and Gray did not establish themselves to any great extent at the time she arrived in Fort Worth, but rather many years afterwards.

During her entire time in Fort Worth she gave but one interview, in which she told Delbert Willis, of the Fort Worth Press, "I've lived in Fort Worth since 1901. That is except for the time I had to high-tail it out of town. Went to South America for a few years . . . until things settled down". This has traditionally been thought to be something to do with the anti-vice crusader the Rev J. Frank Norris. He didn't actually arrive in Fort Worth until 1909, and his infamous siege of Hell's Half Acre, the city's red-light district, didn't occur until 1912. Place, by contrast, was in South America between February 1901 and June 1906. Willis also conceded that Gray never admitted or even claimed to be Etta Place; he merely made that connection on his own, given the similarities of their age, the fact that both had classic good looks, and that the period in which Gray said she went to South America coincided, albeit roughly, with when Place was in South America.