THE DETROIT NEWS

Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.

27 December 1922

(page 1)

RYERSON CALLS WIFE BIGAMIST

Still Wedded to Quebec Rail Worker’s Son,

Motion To Oust Suit Charges.

ALSO HELD NON-RESIDENT.

Charging Mrs. Mazie Ryerson with bigamy and being a non-resident of Michigan, a motion to dismiss the divorce petition of the pretty young model against Albert W. Ryerson, was filed Tuesday by the latter through his attorneys, Hubar and Herlehy, with the county clerk. The motion will be heard Saturday in Circuit Court.

The action was a surprise to those following the case, and is based on a copy of a marriage certificate signed by George S. Wilson, an alderman of Pittsburgh, Pa., May 3, 1922, three months before Maizie Mitchell’s marriage to Ryerson. The man named in the certificate is George Albert Martin, alleged in the motion to be an alias, and whose true name is declared to be George A. Foy, son of James Foy, a railroad man of Quebec.

According to letters held by the attorneys, and alleged to have been written by Mrs. Ryerson to Martin or Foy, she declared her love for him and asserted that while they (Mrs. Ryerson and Foy) had broken “the laws of God and the States,” that “we must stop.” It alleged that Martin was in jail at the time of the ceremony, and Ryerson alleges that his wife, when confronted with the certificate, asserted that she signed something, but does not know what it was, to prevent an action being taken against Martin under the Mann Act.

The motion also declares that Ryerson announced his intention of becoming a Canadian citizen Sept. 1, and legally established such an intention with the immigration authorities.

The attorneys also obtained an affidavit from Hormusji Rastamji, 166 Elizabeth street west, a Hindu, in which he declares that on Oct. 15 while at the Post office he heard Mrs. Ryerson and Maneck Anklesaria, another Hindu and former employee of Ryerson, plot to seize the certificate either through Mrs. Ryerson “wheedling” her husband or through Anklesaria searching the house in Ryerson’s absence.

The affidavit further declares that a great affection existed between Mrs. Ryerson and Anklesaria, and Rastamji swears he saw him violently kissing the picture of Mrs. Ryerson and that he knew him to advertise as a healer and bring young women to the house, where he would administer smoke or incense and then make passes over them until they became subject to his will. It asserts that Mrs. Ryerson was subjected to this procedure.

Mr. Ryerson is preparing a statement, according to the attorneys, in which he denies having been a member of the O.T.O., the love cult frequently mentioned in court proceedings when Ryerson appeared in connection with bankruptcy proceedings of a book store. He also denies that a meeting of the order was held in Detroit.