THE DETROIT NEWS

Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.

10 February 1922

FIND O.T.O CLUE IN TAYLOR CASE.

Detroit Federal Official Reveals

Actress Mentioned Sent Order for Equinox.

CULT UPHELD VIOLENCE.

A clue that may mean much to the mystery of the slaying of William Desmond Taylor was uncovered in Detroit today when it was discovered that several well known motion picture people, include one named in the investigation, had secured copies of The Equinox, the official organ of the O.T.O. from the Universal Book Stores in this city.

The O.T.O. is said to be a “love cult,” believed similar to the one mentioned in dispatches from Los Angeles, whose weird faiths and rituals are set forth in the book, all known copies of which have been seized by the prosecutor following the opening of an investigation into its activities.

ADMITS STAR’S ORDER

Frank Murphy, assistant U.S. district attorney, today admitted that orders for the book were among the effects seized in the Federal investigation, and that among these orders was one from a famous motion picture actress, whose name has been mentioned in the Taylor investigation. Murphy said he would forward this information to Los Angeles immediately.

Descriptions of the meetings of the love cult in Los Angeles fit in so closely with instructions given in the Equinox for the O.T.O. gatherings that there is reason to believe the Los Angeles crowd is a branch of the organization.

GREETINGS TO SLAYER

That members of the O.T.O. would not hesitate at anything is indicated both by the governing rule of the order, “Do whatsoever thou wilt,” and by a page in which the cult sent greetings and praise to Arthur Waite, the Grand Rapids dentist, executed for murder in New York, following his conviction in connection with the deaths of his father-in-law and mother-in-law by poison, and his attempts to work a similar death on his wife.

This page is in the back of the book and is so worded as to indicate the authors of the book not only hold the slayer in high esteem, but were in sympathy with his case.

MEN IN KIMONOS.

Photographs of cult members show men in kimonos such as described in the Los Angeles investigation of the California cult, and paragraphs in the book declare it is the duty of members to go to any length to guard the secrets of the organization.

The O.T.O. came into public notice when the Universal Book Stores went into the hands of a receiver and, at the bankruptcy trial, it was shown thousands of dollars had gone into the publication of The Equinox.