Chicago Daily Journal
THOMAS IS DROPPED BY U. C.
FACULTY
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Professor, Arraigned on Disorder Charge, Gets a Continuance till Friday.
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While Prof. William Isaac Thomas rubbed shoulders today with the other "daddies" who crowd the Morals court on Mondays because of the activity of unromantic police, it became known that his spring and summer lecture courses at the University of Chicago had been suddenly canceled.
With this news came the direct information that the faculty of the university had already decided to permanently end Prof. Thomas’ connection with the Midway school.
Thomas and Mrs. Granger, with whom he was found in the Brevoort hotel, were called for trial before Judge Frank H. Graham. He pushed forward with the usual Morals court crowd — she did not appear — the intoxicated who had topped off Saturday night with a hotel orgy, the panderers dragged in through the customary week-night vice raids, the "young bloods" who had been caught while indiscreetly transgressing within the five-mile zone.
They look at Prof. Thomas with something akin to envious curiosity. Their romances, wrecked as had been Prof Thomas’ by suspicious policemen, contained none of the glamor of the professor’s. None of them had ever taken a pathological interest in the sex questions as had Prof. Thomas. Nor had any of them been caught in a hotel with a beautiful young wife of an American army officer leading his men "somewhere in France."
Prof Thomas appeared annoyed at the ogling he received from the male and female defendants, and from the crowd of curiosity seekers that came early to hear scarlet, snappy stories of the "daddy professor and the 23-year-old wife of another." Protected somewhat from the curious crowd by his attorney, Clarence B. Darrow, Thomas finally asked for a continuance until Friday. On the plan that the woman in the case was too ill to appear, it was granted.
Crowd Disappointed
The crowd was plainly disappointed when the case was continued. They had come ready to drink in the abandoning of Prof. Thomas’ spring and summer lecture courses. It was known that the sudden change in the plans of the university was based on his arrest on a vice charge.
"The university will take no public action, neither will it make any public announcement of the course it will pursue in Prof. Thomas’ case." said one prominent member of the faculty. "Whatever is done will be done privately.
"It is true that Prof. Thomas had abandoned his spring and summer lecture course. He is not at present connected with the university."
"Not until next fall will the public know definitely whether or not Prof. Thomas is still connected with the university, unless he chooses to make an announcement," the faculty member concluded.
Believed Through at College
The sudden termination of the Thomas lectures following the publicity given the scandal is regarded in university circles as a certain indication the university faculty acted swiftly in the matter, and that the 55-year-old Don Juan has severed his connection with the midway school. Prof Thomas’ summer course was the most successful of his lecture quarter and was attended by teachers from all parts of the country.
At almost the same moment Mrs. Granger’s illness was being made the basis of the court delay, Mrs. William A. Thomas, daughter-in-law of Prof. Thomas, and a young woman answering the description of Mrs. Granger appeared on the balcony of the Thomas residence with cameras in their hands. They chattered gaily as they took snapshots of the neighborhood.
Federal Agents Active
Federal agents were in the Morals court when the case was called. From them it was learned that the department of justice is still investigating the romance.
Mrs. Thomas, wife of Prof. Thomas, is still ‘mothering’ the other woman at the Thomas home, 6132 Kimbark avenue. Up until Sunday night Della Raines, artist’s model and sister of Mrs Granger, was a member of the Thomas menage.
The presence of William A. Thomas, 22-year-old son of Prof. Thomas, as assistant nurse to his father’s inammorata, recalled to acquaintances the remark of Mrs. Thomas while she was acting publicity as a pacifist, "I would rather see my boys dead than in the uniform of Uncle Sam."
Another Woman Involved?
Police officers George Carleton and J. W. Murphy refused to discuss a report that another woman may be placed under arrest as a result of the investigation into the "professor’s love story."
What action will be taken by the University of Chicago authorities may be determined by President Harry Pratt Judson during the day. The sympathy that has sometimes been extended to the principals in prohibited romances in the past appears singularly absent in the Thomas affair as it began to assume more of the aspects of an ordinary Morals court case.
It developed that Mrs. Granger is no stranger to Chicago, having lived her two years ago at the home of Mrs. Karoline Jahnsen, 1314 North Dearborn street with her husband and her sister, who was then posing for Chicago artists.
Mrs. Jahnsen described the soldier husband of Mrs. Granger as an "exceptionally fine young man."
Woman Becomes Serious
Mrs. Granger’s attending physician, Dr. Henry W. Cheney, and others who talked with the girl indicate that she has lost the sense of frivolity that marked her interview with The Journal Friday and is now said to be fearful of the consequences of her affair with her "daddy."
