Chicago Tribune
EXTRA
‘Dr. Thomas’ and Woman Taken in Loop Hotel
Prof. And Companion Confess; U. of C. Man Denies.
Elaborate efforts were made last night to conceal the identities of a young woman and an elderly man who were arrested in the Brevoort hotel yesterday, where they were registered as man and wife. The man, it was learned, told the local office of the department of justice that he was “Dr. Thomas” of a local university. The woman admitted she was married, her husband was a Texas man, now serving with the army in France. He is a lieutenant.
Hotel Men Suspicious
The couple arrived at the hotel at 9 o’clock yesterday morning. The disparity in their ages caused the hotel people to suspect that they were not married and an investigation was started. Evidence indicating the guests were there under assumed names was found when a search of their luggage was secretly made. They registered as man and wife, from Gary.
Under the recently established rule that hotels must report to the federal authorities all cases where persons pose as married couples in order to get rooms, the hotel management then called the man and woman to the office and notified Chief Clabaugh. Operative Alien went to the hotel and arrested the couple.
Confess to Clabaugh
Both confessed in the office of Mr. Clabaugh and were taken before District Attorney Clyne, who cross-questioned them. He is believed to have permitted them to go without requiring them to give bonds.
The woman is believed to have met the professor when he was in the east. She arrived in Chicago on March 31 and with her sister went to a hotel in Kimbark avenue. They have been living quietly there.
Last night at 11 o’clock the woman’s sister left the hotel hurriedly and started downtown in a taxicab. It is believed she had been summoned to the side of the professor’s companion.
W. I. Thomas Puzzled
Prof. W. I. Thomas of the chair of sociology in the University of Chicago denied this morning that he was the Dr. Thomas who was arrested. He said he had never been in the Brevoort hotel, knew no Mrs. R. M. Granger of Washington, D.C., or Dallas, Tex., and said he could give no information as to whom “Dr. Thomas” is. The couple were registered at the hotel as “C. Roland and wife” of Gary, Ind.
Prof. Thomas is the author of the widely discussed book “The Mind of Woman.” His wife has been known as an ardent exponent of pacifism and was one of the supporters in the Ford peace ship enterprise.
A man who was present at the Brevoort at the time the mysterious couple were taken into custody later identified positively a photograph of Dr. W. I. Thomas as “the man in the case.” This, in view of the professor’s denial, only complicated the seeming puzzle.
