Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-12
GIRL TAKES WHOLE BLAME
Roberta De Janon Defends Alleged
Abduotor Taken in Chicago.
URGED HER TO RETURN HOME
Couple Found I'm boarding House
Living as Father and Daughter
Had Travelled I'm
Canada.

CHICAGO, Jan. u.-Roberta De Janon.
the Philadelphia heiress who was arrested
here yesterday with Frederick Cohen, the
waiter, with whom she eloped on Decem-
%, said today that II court proceedings
were begun against Cohen she would be his
CHIEF defender. She was emphatic in her
declarations that the elopment was all her
and Cohen was in no way to blame
Mr.. Cohen is In the right she said.
when told the announcement that Cohen
would be prosecuted, had been made in
Philadelphia.
1T was 1 who persuaded him to leave
Philadelphia; It was he who refused; II
WAS he who asked me, day after day., to
return to my grandfather, and IL was he
who cared for me. II they start court
action against Fred, 1 will certainly go to
his defense. He has lone nothing wrong
Living as father and daughter Miss de
Janon and Cohen were found and ar
rested here late yesterday.
They were discovered by detectives in
a rooming house at IS West Superior street,
on the north side OF the city. When police
men entered the house, Miss DE Janon
was playing with her pet dog, which she
took with her in her sensational disap-
with Cohen, who il 46 years old
and a married man. Cohen was seated in
adjoining room reading.
All three were taken to the Chicago
avenue police statlon-the frightened girl,
her dog and Cohen, the waiter at first
protesting against arrest. He soon ad-
mitted his identity, however, and Miss De
Janon, sobbing bitterly, pleaded with the
to restore her to her family.
Both without Funds.
Cohen and Miss DE Janon arrived here
Thursday and rented a room In a boarding
house, owned by Mrs. Frank Perrin. Cohen
introduced the girl as his daughter Alice,
He identified himself as Robert King and
said he was a barber and that he had
just arrived from Montreal In search Of
work.
The girl, when questioned by the Officers
after she had admitted her Identity, stated
she and Cohen had reached Chicago with
but $1.G between them and that she gave
Cohen a bracelet and necklace, to get
money to live on. Their apprehension fol-
lowed a report to the police in the after
noon by Mrs. Perrin, who had seen pic
lures of the clipping pair in the news
papers and suspected that her new board
ers were the missing Philadelphia clippers
Cohen stated he would waive extradition
proceedings n the Philadelphia police
were notified to come to Chicago for the
prisoner.
Cohen denied any harm had come to
Miss De Janon since she fled with him
from her home. The clippers went to New
York city December %, remaining in New
York, only a few hours. They boarded
a train for Montreal. In Montreal they
took a train for st, Johns, n. B., where
they boarded a steamer for England. Al
Halifax they abandoned the sea voyage
and returned to Boston by rail. From
Boston they came to Chicago, convinced
no one had any idea of their whereabouts
When asked by the police If she still held
a desire to kill herself, the penitent Mis-,
De Jan6n cried bttterly and said between
her sobs: ~
mo. L dontSwant to die now. 1 wan.
to go to New York to live with papa Of
back to my grandfather in Philadelphia
1 will go to schoblia at Bryn Mawr or an!
other place they. want. to send me. Oh
1 am so, glad you have found me. I an
so glad, I can't tell you how glad 1 am
l don't want to be a runaway any more.
Treated Glrl As ,DadEhter.
Cohen told the police he first met Mis-
De Janon at the Bellevue-Stratford las
October, when she came there to live will
her mother. After her mother died, h.
said. Miss De Janon came to see hin
frequently asking for advice. She seemed
tc be melancholy.R and told him she did no
want to go away TO school. On Decembe
10, Cohen stated, Miss De Janon asked
him to go with her. After his letter t
her of December II, she met him again
and arranged to meet him again Decembe
q. On this occasion che wept and h.
consented. On December %. she bought
cheap brown dress, which hung just be
low her knees and some other clothing
She let down her hair and hung 1t in w
braids to make herself look younger an
he boarded a train for New York witt
her. Everywhere they went he says the!
read of their escapade in the newspapers
II am sorry for what / have done, sal,
Cohen, but her pleadings were Irresistible
and l swear 1 have not harmed the child.
Disappearance of Couple.
PHILADELPHIA. Jan. n.-Roberta De
Janon, the sole heiress of her grandfather
Robert Buist, a millionaire seed dealer o
this city, disappeared from the Bellevue
Stratford hotel here December q, a fey
days before her seventeenth birthday.
Her father, Ferdinand De Janon, a New
York stock broker, received several letter
from her on that day in which she an
nounced she was going to commit suicid
by drowning, because she could not bea
to live after the death of her mother.
The wife of Frederic Cohen, a waiter
40 years old, who had served Miss d
lannon's meals at q hotel. reported he
husband also missing and produced a lei
ter OF an affectionate nature that sh
alleged Miss De JanOn sent him. Tt
suicide theory was then abandoned an