Denis Gage Deane-Tanner

Denis Gage Deane-Tanner approximately 36 years old

Denis Gage Deane-Tanner (born 14 September 1876) was the fourth of five children born to Jane O'Brien and British Army Major Kearns Deane-Tanner in Carlow, Ireland. Denis was raised at the family home, Straw Hall, until he attended school in England.

Tanner was a lieutenant in the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) of the British Army during the Second Boer War during which time he was awarded both the Kings and Queens medals for service in South Africa. After leaving the military he traveled to New York, arriving in 1903, and like his elder brother, went into the antique business. Denis wed Ada Charlton Brennan in 1907; the couple would have three children, Muriel Denise, Alice Eleanor and son Kearns, though Kearns would die shortly after birth. Ada had contacted tuberculosis, presumably from Denis as he and many of his close and distant relatives had the disease. Denis was in fact being treated for the illness at the Acoaxcet Sanitorium in Westport, Massachusetts and the Ogden Farms Sanitorium in New York during their courtship. On August 25, 1912 (his daughter Muriel's fourth birthday ) after visiting Ada in the Edward Livingston Trudeau Sanitorium in Saranac Lake New York, where she was receiving tuberculosis treatment, Denis as his brother did several years before him, disappeared from his family and all known friends and acquaintances. From that day forth Denis never contacted his wife nor children again.

It is believed that he eventually moved to Los Angeles, resumed contact with his brother, and worked quietly for his brother William Desmond Taylor, the director for a few years. The rumor, that the blacksmith in 1914's Taylor's Captain Alvarez was Denis Deane-Tanner, was mentioned in the papers, attributed to an anonymous New Yorker who stated he recognized him.

Connection to the Murder of William Desmond Taylor

Many theories exist trying to tie the disappearance of Denis to the murder of his brother William. While the rumors vary from the wild and salacious to mere conjecture, the reality is that through the investigations of both the police and reporters of the time, Denis was not the murderer, nor was he a part of the murder. Reporters at the time floated the idea that Denis was masquerading as Edward Sands his brothers felonious butler. Handwriting analysis of both men, and known photo comparisons quickly disqualified the misinformation.

Denis never contacted his family in the United States, nor the family in England and Ireland. It is believed within the family that Denis eventually succumbed to tuberculosis while living in anonymity in either the United States or Europe.

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