Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-02-14
GIBSON BEING HELD
ON FRAUD CHARGE
Capital Playwright. Under Ar.
rest in Vancouver. Wanted
in Shanghai.
.,eeial nisnatch 10 The St.r.

Special Dispatch 10 The Stsr.
VANCOUVER. British Columbia. Feb
rrarv l4.-Wi.liam Preston Gibson,
Washington playwright, is under arrest
here at the request Of American off,
Gals. who say he is wanted III Shanghai
or charges Of obtaining $1,000 fraudu-
iently. Gibson WAS arrested when he
landed from the Empress Of Asia late
Sunday night.
C:o$0n yesterday retained VAN
couvcr attorney. Il. l.. Maitland and
the lawyer said he would begin habeas
corpus proceedings claiming the Cana
dian authorities have no jurisdiction
and cannot legally hold Gibson In
Washington il was said the American
officials anticipate little difficulty III
sending Gibson back 10 Shanghai.
Gibson was allowed some liberty
under police escort SO he could make
arrangements for his wife. who is in
poor health. to leave for the East last
night, He spent the night in the deten-
ton shed. while Mrs. Gibson went TO
hotel.
The arrest Of Gibson was at the re-
quest Of the American State Depart
nlent. acting on another request from
the Department of Justice One of the
specific charges in Shanghai against
Gibson is that he raised draft for
5000 10 $4,000. The draft was on Mrs.
l. NJ White, widow of Supreme Court
Justice White. Gibson's uncle.
Col. Henry c. Davis OF the Marine
Corps in Shanghai Endorsed the draft
and says that 1t then called for 5000.
II read $4,000 when it got to the bank
which protested it, II is also charged
In Shanghai that Gibson caShed several
unpaid checks there and left numerous
unpaid bills. the total OF all his trans
actions. reaching $1,000.
William Preston Gibson. playwright
soldier, athlete and master technician
st making and unnaking marriages.
can at the age Of ~ admit a career
as far from the proSaic as his most TO
mantle stage creation.
Born in Washington March Is. 1879.
the son OF the late United States Sena-
tor Randall Lee Gibson Of Louisiana,
and Mary Montgomery Gibson of New
York. Gibson al the age of IS left
school in Washington for Fordham COL
lege, New York, later to move on TO
Yale.
In 1900 his first romance began with
his marriage to Nina Field. niece OF
Marshall Field and daughter of Mrs
Thomas Nelson Page The marriage
capped the departure OF the young
schoolgirl from Miss Masters School at
Dobbs Ferry. He became a member of
the Chicago Tribune staff. This mar
rage crashed in 1907.
A year later Gibson married Grace
Mcmillan Jarvis. granddaughter of Sem
etor James Mcmillan of Michigan. a
niece OF Sir John and Lady Har-
rington. This was a formal church
wedding.
A divorce followed and in 1919 Mrs.
Alexander Dallas Bache Pratt, formerly
Miss Beatrice Rogers Ben jamin. grand
daughter OF the late H H. Rogers
whose yearly income al the time of
marriage was 100000. eloped with hin,
70 Greenwich. Conn. where. in spite
o. the autasorisrn Of the elderly
Standard Oil r1agnate. Gibson cele-
hrated his third marriage.
This ended in divorce in 1922. But
r-eant.1le Gibson had gone of 70 var.
frs with the French Ambulance Corps. !
t:7en as e private III the Marines. to |
:etu-n with a capiaincy. In January. |
1925. Miss Evelyn Harris Spaulding Of |
EaTerniu Mass became the fourth !
70 weo the playwright despite the |
presence 0: Boston tailor with a
bill 70 collect
The most successful o. Preston Glib
sons plays vas The Turning Point"
which ran through the season Of 1909
1910 al the Eackett Theater in New
YORK Mrs. Erskine's Devotion"
Fate" "Cup.d's Trick" The Dere-
Ects' are among the other productions.