Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-01-02
cLENT.CUMM|NGS
IS BACK WITH US
AGAIN FOR WHILE
usn Of @A,iator" Fame Returns to
Rock Island After His Release
BY Federal Authorities.
N INTENTION TO DODGE DRAFT
C,ly 20 Years Old. But Didn't Know II,
He Claims Story How He BE.
came "Flyer- Is Related.

Clenwood Tremaine Cummings is
again with us
The young and handsome aviator"
has returned TO Rock Island with his
wife and is now located-temporarily
8, ;s said-in an expensive suite in
ono of the citys leading hotels. Here
he is enjoying the eXclusiveness that
; sucb a location affords accompanied
nv the legal protection thrown about
him nv his counsel. To reach him
one must furnish gilp edged creden-
falls as well as wade through endless
formalities.
Wbv Cummings should return to
Rock Island after his release at Peoria
under $1,000 bonds furnished by his
wife. is matter of conjecture, but
according to him it was for the pur-
nose of holding conference with his
4, legal advisor and for the arrangement
nj certain matters which may or may
not include the visit he is said to
have made since his return. to the
county Jail where he spent Christmas
day.
II is claimed for and by Cummings
in regard to the federal charge Of
draft evasion for which he was taken
10 Peoria, that there was no intention
NJ lodging the selective conscription
act on his part. While it is now ad-
mitted that he is but 20 years old and
consequently of draft age, it is con-
tended that there was no Intentional
evasion of the law, because of the fact
that his mother had always led him to
believe he was two years older than Ne
really was. Why his mother had
chosen to do this is not explained.
Various records are cited in which
Cummings stated his age. showing
that he believed he was born Feb 8,
1886, when the birth actually occurred
Feb. s, 1855 Even in securing his
marriage license in Detroit. Mich,
March 5, 1917, on the day that Presi-
dent Wilson took his oath of Office and
week before the selective conscrip-
ton act was thought of Cummings
gave his age as q and the date of his
birth as Feb. s, 1856. However, in
face of this bulk of evidence in Cum
mings' favor the court records at
Princeton. Bureau county, H., show
that he was born Feb. s. 1888, on
Glenwood farm near Sheffield.
Charge 20 BE Dropped
1t is believed by Cummings that he
has shown to the satisfaction of the
federal authorities that there was nc
intention on his part to evade the
draft, and that there will be no in
dictment returned against him by the
federal grand jury which convenes in
Peoria in April, but that instead. the
matter will simply be dropped in its
present status
Cummings, after he leaves Rock Is.
land, is going to Sheffield. his ole
home, where he will duly register fol
the draft, in accordance with the Sc
lective CONSUMPTION act, just as some
nine million other young men of tht
country between the ages of q ant
30 inclusive, have done. He will hav,
his QUESTIONABLE to fill out, just a!
the others, and as he is married
man, will probably be assigned tt
class ".
Cummings record as an aviator
through which self-made fame as sucl
he gained distinction in Rock .Islant
and elsewhere about the country, il
accounted for by circumstance coupled
with a vivid imagination and love 0
romance.
The story OF it all is this:
After leaving this country and max
ing sojourn in South America, h
sailed for London, England. where h
offered his services to the British gov
eminent as recruit for the army. Be
cause Of his American citizenship AM
the fact that he had not offered hi
services through the proper channel
that is by the way of Canada III
was refused. While loafng abou
London, he heard the interesting an
daring tales Of many of the aviators
returned from the western front, an
became familiar with their manner
isms and aerial slang, and so caugh
The fever Of the life. 1t seems that j.
calling for this country he and an &C
qualntance who also had the fever bu
none of the life as an aviator, starte
members of the British Royal FLYNN
squadron all in the manner of fu
and for tlIeir own amusement.
They Fall For 1t.
Things might have gone well an
not turned out SO seriously for Cum
mings. but for the fact that the pee
pie on shipboard fell for the stu
handed out by the two romancin
youths. The passengers not only COZ
hered the young men and sat aroun
them wide-eyed and mouths open /
order to not miss any word that the
might utter, but sent wireless on t
New York that two celebreties-fame
ior their daring action in the air o
the western front-were on the shi]
mat was the turning point, for froI
mat time on Cummings was caugf