The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-01-14

poch POI AniSOCu W Slip Uu6 VI AtuUsHd
on Monday morning. When Darnell
left Kenosha he was very anxious less
he would be arrested at the railway
station and he insisted that he would
prefer to avoid such a scene as this.
The local police made no effort to in
terfere with his leaving the city as
there was no charge against him.
Members of the Unitarian church
are now looking anxiously for state
ment from at least one man who is al
legged by Darnell to have been entirely
familiar with his relations with Miss
Ruth Soper or Mrs. Ruth Darnell. It
is possible that this statement will
furnish the next interesting chapter
of the story.
Here is one of the typical statements
which Darnell gave out in Chicago on
Monday night after the story of his
life had been revealed.
Before going into detail I want to
make it plain that will fight these
charges and the Kenosha people who
are responsible for them. Many I'M
true stories were circulated, some of
them based upon nothing, and others
based, wrongly, on incidents that were
perfectly innocent in themselves.
The whole affair is the upshot of
personal ill-will toward me of the
secretary Of the Western Federation
of the Unitarian Church, and the usual
gossip Of small town about any per-
son or thing that is above gossipy
comprehension.
/ am not and never have been mar
ried to Ruth Soper. The baby she has
is not my baby. Because / knew her
well and sometimes pushed her baby
carriage about in the streets of Keno
sha many people sincerely believed
her to be my wife, but such is not
the case.
But | will start in the beginning and
tell the whole story as / know it.
| knew Miss Soper in Owatonna,
Mimi, where I had congregation for
a time. Then we were both students,
last year, at the University of Chicago.
November / went with Miss
Vaughn, my wife, to the Rev. Myron
Adams, of the First Baptist Church,
and we were married. [ had known
my wife for over eight months before
that, since she first saw me preac--
ing at a Sunday evening service on
the south side.
hod a coll fro,,o S;,,on,ore N.Y., ~; = I
Church in Kenosha, and accepted it.
My wife did not go with me, because
she did not think she had proper out
lay of clothes to go into strange com
munity ;because she did not want to
leave her mother and her home too sud
denly, and because [ did not know for
certain how pleasant the passionate
might be in the new town.
Affairs were not as satisfactory as I
had hoped for, and that is why I did
not send for my wife
I will admit that I was in CORES
pondence with Miss Soper, in fact
have written to her and she to me for
over two years. remember that in
one letter she said she wanted to come
to Kenosha and I believe I did tell
her to come. But she lived with rela-
tives there, and I lived in a different
house. She never was married to me,
and aside from the few times [ NAV
have dined with her in restaurants, or
pushed the baby carriage around l had
nothing to do with her.
The story that ran away from Ke-
nosha through fear Of these exposures
is untrue. I bought my ticket and
came to Chicago, and then directly to
the home of my wife. When / think
it over, the train I came on was the
first one that left Kenosha after I
learned of the charges, but I took it
merely because it was the most con-
veient for me to come on.
And one thing more. was not kick
ed out of the church. I resigned. [
turned my resignation in before start
ing for Chicago, and it is to take eff
feet today. 1t took effect, to be exact,
at three o o'clock this afternoon.
have retained a lawyer, Richard
Cooney, and will confer with him as to
what steps will be taken in the
future.'
The escapade of the Rev. Mr.. Oar
nell created much excitement in RYDER
Divinity School (Universalist), Univer-
sity of Chicago, where both Darnell
and Ruth Soper were students in the
school year of 1913-1914 It is believ-
ed at the university that Darnell IS
father was Turk, and it is said that
he speaks with a pronounced accent.
He claimed that his birthplace was
| Owatonna, MINI.
When he came to the University of
Chicago he was accompanied by Miss
Ruth Soper, daughter of w. B. Soper
of Owatonna. Both were divinity stu
dents and one course which they took
together was "doctrines of universal
salvation in which they studied
under Dean L. B. Fisher of RYDER
Divinity School
Miss Soper lived at Beecher Hall, one
of the finest of the girls dormitories
nd oh