St. Louis Post-Dispatch
WIFE OF NOTED SOCIOLOGIST
GIVES REFUGE TO RIVAL
———
Mrs. W. I. Thomas Takes Mrs. Granger to Her Home --- Says Husband Was
Indiscreet, Not Wrong.
———
SOLDIER'S WIFE FEARS A SHOOTING
———
Says Husband Will Return from France When He Hears of Her Arrest In Chicago.
CHICAGO, April 13 (By A. P.) — Prof. William I. Thomas, of the department of sociology of the University of Chicago, who was arrested with Mrs. Pearl Granger, the young wife of an army Lieutenant now serving in France, in a downtown hotel, Thursday, spent ten minutes in jail late this afternoon. Thomas who is called "Daddy" by Mrs. Granger was arrested on a warrant charging disorderly conduct and made returnable in the morals court Monday morning. He secured his release on $400 bond and immediately returned to his home where Mrs. Thomas, who was a member of the Ford peace mission, had given refuge to Mrs. Granger.
Prof. Thomas, who is 55 years old, with a national reputation and a family socially prominent, was called by his wife a "foolish boy, who had committed an unutterably stupid act, not wrong, but indiscreet." Mrs. Granger, who is 24 years old, with a baby boy living now with his grand parents, in Fort Smith, Ark., Mrs. Thomas referred to as an "immature child, dazzled by the distinguished professor."
Following the arrest of the professor and Mrs. Granger, after their trip from Washington, Mrs. Thomas motored down town to visit Mrs. Granger and her sister, Miss Delia Raines, an 18-year-old motion picture actress, and took both girls home with her to talk over the whole situation.
Calls Thomas Her Daddy.
"I'm terribly sorry for you," Mrs. Thomas told the other woman, "and I'll do all I can to help you."
Mrs. Granger's attitude perplexed special agents who questioned her. She exhibited few signs of remorse over her acquaintance with the professor.
"He's my daddy," she told questioners. "He's a bald-headed old dear.
"He showed me the attention married women seldom get from their husbands.
"He told me soon after we met that I was just a little tiny girl, and he hugged me and held me 'way up for a while, but I just thought of how much fun is taken to the grave-yard and I didn't care."
"When husband comes home, I will abide in happiness with him and him alone," declared Mrs. Granger when asked what the further consequence of the affair might be and then she added:
"But there will be shooting —shooting I say, when he comes back, and if he learns it now he will immediately desert to come."
Her husband is a Lieutenant with Pershing's troops in France.
Prof. Thomas declared he was willing to stand the consequences.
"I am going to stick to Mrs. Granger through thick and thin," he said. "She is a nervous wreck as a result of the questioning she has gone through."
The professor declared that Mrs. Granger was under the care of a physician at his home.
Meanwhile, there was a hastily assembled meeting of the University of Chicago faculty, but it was understood in university circles that no action will be taken until next week.
