John Gerard Longer de Saulles (May 25, 1878 – August 3, 1917) was an American football player and coach, real estate broker, and businessman whose murder by his millionaire wife (accused, but acquitted) led to a widely reported trial.

[1][2] The married couple settled in New York City, where he became a partner of the family-owned real estate firm Heckscher & de Saulles.

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Uruguay,[3] 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.

[4] In 1915, Blanca Errázuriz befriended Rudolph Valentino in New York City, where he was working as an exhibition dancer and had gained attention for his rendition of the Argentine tango, which was the craze at the time.

Valentino enjoyed befriending many people of high society, and Blanca Errázuriz was unhappily married to De Saulles by whom she already had a son.

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.

[citation needed] The case was the basis for the 1918 silent movie The Woman and the Law, directed by Raoul Walsh; with Jack Connors, Miriam Cooper and Peggy Hopkins Joyce.

The name De Saulles was changed to La Salle but the film's opening credits admit to being based on the story.