The broad ax. [volume], May 28, 1927, Image 1

About The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??

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SOCIETY NEWS PUB. HP II P TJ Q A f"\ A 'V SUBSCRIBE FOR THE
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VoL XXXII. 5 CENTS PER COPT THE BROAD AX. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS^MAT 28, 1927 No. 37.
One of the best Judges of the Circuit Court of Cook County;
member of the Circuit Court bench for 18 long years, and
there is no disputing the fact that he will be re-elected to
his time-honored position on June 6.
HON. FRANK D. COMERFORD
WILL MAKE A SPLENDID
JUDGE OP THE SUPERIOR
COURT OP COOK COUNTY,
FOR HE IS ONE OF THE
ABLEST LAWYERS IN CHI
CAGO
Very few lawyers practicing at the
Chicago bar have any eetore on Hor.
Frank D. Comerford from a legal
point of view, for he is thoroughly fa
miliar with every phase of all branches
of the law from A to Z and fie has the
high reputation of possessing all the
qualifications which high class judges
or lawyers should possess.
No citizen in Chicago is more pop
ular or held in higher esteem than
Mr. Comerford. Several times in the
past he came within an ace of being
elevated to the Superior Court bench
and on Monday, June 6, there will be
no question about his election as a
Superior Court judge.
It should be very gratifying to his
hosts of warm friends to record their
votes in favor of his election as such.
For twenty-seven years Mr. Comer
ford has been a constant reader and
supporter of this newspaper and its
editor has no better or warmer friend
in Chicago than the new judge to be
of the Superior Court of Cook County.
SURGEON EXTRACTS PIN
FROM GIRL’S THROAT
^Preston News Service)
Washington, D. C., May 26.—Little
Lucy Anderson, aged 7, was operated
upon successfully Wednesday night
for an open safety pin lodged in her
throat. L»r. W. C. Cantrell removed
the pin by forcing the point into his
finger, enabling him to withdraw it
before the child had been seriously
affected.
- i
the bogus prince kojo tovalou houeno
OF DAHOMEY, AFRICA
The above picture has figured in the alimooyh^rmgbe fore
J«dge Han* Lewis in the Superior Court. ItwTiLkL*
which cawed Mr. Harry N. Kaowjtoo to objccttoJjTf
^yments to his former wife, Mrs. Kaowkon,
chid “Prin-. frnjn Tovalou Houeno” of Dahomey, Afnm, tor
•otne time in 1925 and 1925, the “Prince” hobnobbed wrth^tlm
*dgh white society folks on the North side and wi e
colored society queens and princes on the South side.
Mrs. Adolph Bohn, Dancing School
Teacher , Stated Under Oath While
on the Witness Stand, Before Judge
Lewis, on Tuesday in the Knowlton
Divorce Case, “ That the Bogus
Prince of Dahomey, Africa, Spoke
Perfect English.” That Statement
on Her Part Is Absolutely and Un
qualifiedly False. The Editor of this
Newspaper Was Present at Wendell
Phillips High School the First Part
of October 1924, at the Time the Bogus
Prince Delivered His First Talk in French
on the South Side and the Late Reverend
Theodore Stephens, Who Accompanied
Him from NewYork to Chicago Between
the Rising and the Setting of the Sun,
Interpreted His Utterances into English,
Which Plainly Indicates that the Bogus
Prince Was No Master of the
English Language.
Judge Lewis, While Sitting in Judgment on the Knowlton
Case, Let the Whole World Know That in These Fast or
Modern Times That Highly Respectable White Ladies Possess
the Undisputed Right to Entertain Their Colored Gentleman
Friends in Their Front Parlor or Cafes.
On Tuesday Mrs. Zulme Knowlton
had her second day in the divorce
court before Judge Harry Lewis and
His Honor Judge Lewis permitted
her lawyers to walk away with
everything in sight at the end of the
second day in court of Judge Lewis
after the foam and the froth had all
been blown away.
Judge Lewis said:
“Let’s get down to this prince,” he
urged the principals in the case of
Harry N. Knowlton and his French
wife, Zulme, when they appeared be
fore him on a motion asking that Mr.
Knowlton show cause why he should
not be held in contempt of court for
being $2,500 behind in his alimony
payments.
“What kind of a man was this
Prince Kojo Tovalou-Houeno of Da
homey, South Africa?” queried the
judge, while Mr. Knowlton, wealthy
consulting engineer, sat on the stand.
“If he was the kind of a man that
Jane Addams and other reputable peo
ple of Chicago stood for, there is no
reason why Mrs. Knowlton should be
discriminated against for associating
with him because he came from an
other part of the world. You cannot
cast any slurs on this woman because
she had him in her home if he was
acceptable to others. The court may
pass on matters of conduct, but not
on matters of social etiquette.”
After Mr. Knowlton had testified
that he and Mrs. Knowlton were di
vorced October 9, 1925, and that he
was married the following day to Mrs.
Ethel M. Gallagher of Boston, he
stated that his income was $8,000 a
year.
Paid Only Half Alimony
He stated that although he and
Mrs. Knowlton had agreed to a settle
ment of $200 a month for Mrs. Knowl
ton and the chiM at the time of the
divorce, he had sent her only $100 a
month.
“Why did you not pay the $200 a
month?” Michael J. Quan, attorney
for Mrs. Kqowlton, asked.
“When I found out about her and
the prince sailing for France on the
same boat two weeks after the di
vorce I decided not to give her the
$200 a month. My lawyer called my
attention to a picture of my wife and
daughter with prince taken on ship
board as they were sailing.”
In Gold Const Salons
When the judge asked to hear from
some one acquainted with the prince,
Mr. Quan put Mrs. Theordore Holm,
18 E. Chestnut st., on the stand. She
testified she met the prince at Adolph
Bolm’s school of dancing in 1924, that
she met him at the salons of Mrs.
William Vaughn Moody and at the
Alliance Francaise.
“I am not a fine enough French
student to understand all of his lec
tures, but the prince also spoke per
fect English.”
“Where is the prince now?” asked
the judge.
“I do not know,” Mrs. Holm re
plied.
In cross-examination Frank Hall
Stephens, attorney for Mr. Knowlton,
introduced testimony of officers Frank
H. Freemuth and Harvey Guyn, who
arrested the prince at Mrs. Knowlton’s
home, 39 E. Schiller st., on the eve
ning of June 6, 1925, on a charge of
passing a bad check. The prince was
found guilty and made restitution.
Mrs. Holm stated that which was
absolutely false when she swore on
the witness stand that “Prince Koio
Tovalou-Houeno of Dahomey, South
Africa, was past master in the art of
speaking the English language,” the
writer met the bogus “prince” shortly
' after he arrived in, this city under a!
HON. FRANK JOHNSTON, JR.
One of the highly honorable Judges of the Circuit Court of
Cook County, who is an independent candidate for re
election to his present high judicial position on June 6.
cloud, the first part of October, 1924,
and from the very first time that our
eagle eyes fell upon him we had our
doubts about him being a real live
African prince and we made up our
mind at once that he was a slicker
and a rascal and as far as ourself was
concerned that we would not trust him
any further than we could heave a
bobbed tailed bull by the tail.
On several occasions we met him.
Mr. Jesse Binga was the first person
to present him to us, but as he spoke
French and that as we are only able
to speak a little English, we could
not understand each other. As stated
before, we attended his first meeting
held at the Wendell Phillips High
School and at that meeting he spoke
only in French and the late Rev. Theo
dore Stephens who arrived in fhis
city from New York City with him,
where he had some trouble with some
bad checks, and on the very day that
Mrs. Knowlton sailed with him and
her little daughter he was arrested by
a colored lady in that city. He was
charged with attempting to beat her
out of three hundred dollars. Mrs.
Knowlton accompanied him in a cab
to the police station and just as soon
as the colored lady received her three
hundred dollars, the bogus “prince”
and Mrs. Knowlton beat it back to the
boat where her sweet little daughter
had been left alone and in the mean
time she had almost cried her eyes
out of her head.
With these undisputable tacts be
fore us as to the bogus “prince”
speaking perfect English, is just as
plain as your nose on your face that
Mrs. Holm was simply talking through
the top of her hat and swore falsely on
the witness stand.
Mrs. Knowlton. according to the
rulings of Judge Lewis, will receive
$200 alimony per month for herself
and little daughter, Jacqueline, and the
whole case will be settled up Septem
ber 19.
, Woman Praises the “Prince"
On the stand for an hour or so,
Mrs. Knowlton, a verbose French
woman, spent half the time denying
her husband’s charges and half the
time praising Kojo Tovalou-Houeno.
“I object to your calling him a so
called prince,” she almost screamed
out her sentence as she leaned toward
Attorney Stephens.
“Do you know he is a prince,” the •
lawyer queried.
“Absolutely. He told me so. And
I heard it in France. And when &
Frenchman tells me something, I know
it’s true.”
(Continued on page 2)
COL. ABRAM DALE GASH
One of the most eminent end prominent lawyers in Chicago,
who is straightforward in Ids conduct at all times; candi
date for Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County on the
Anti-Coalition ticket, and the people of this city and county
will be highly honoring themsehres by elevating him to the
Circuit Court bench on Monday, June 6.