THE CORDOVA DAILY TIMES

Cordova, Alaska, U.S.A.

12 January 1923

(page 4)

EXPONENT OF LOVE CULT

BAD HUSBAND, SAYS GIRL WIFE.

Detroit, Jan. 12.—Albert W. Ryerson, head of the mysterious love cult “O.T.O.,” was a failure as a lover his eighteen-year-old-wife, Mabel, artists’ model, declares.

Mrs. Ryerson, known as the “Queen of the Chalet d’Arts,” an artists’ establishment, is suing for divorce. She is Ryerson’s second wife.

“He asked me to marry him on 30 days’ trial,” Mrs. Ryerson said. “He agreed that if he could not make me love him at the end of that time I should go free. When he saw that he was not making headway with his love-making he tried caveman tactics. He beat me severly on several occasions. I was able to drag through 29 of the 30 days, and then I left him.”

Mrs. Ryerson said she frequently poses before the artists of the Scarab Club.

The case draws into the limelight once more the man, who, as head of the Universal Book Stores, Inc., figured in a suit to determine whether the corporation’s moneys were being used illegally for the promotion of the love cult. During this court action the “Equinox,” mysterious and revealing ritual of the cult was brought to light, creating a sensation among hundreds of Detroit families.

Mrs. Ryerson says she married Ryerson, despite the discrepancy in their ages, because he placed her in compromising positions in front of servants and guests, after he had begged her to wed him for some months. She says she was showered with attention by Ryerson, who resorted to compromising her after he failed to win by more ordinary love-making.

Called Her “Daughter.”

“At one of the social events given in my honor I was guest at the Fellowcraft Club at a dinner given to about 50 of Mr. Ryerson’s friends,” she said. “Mr. Ryerson introduced me as his daughter to those present, and none seemed to suspect that I was not.”

“I was timid and inexperienced. I guess fear of offending Mr. Ryerson more than anything else led me to marry him. It was several days before I knew the man I married.”

“Well, I lasted through 29 days of it, and within one day of living up to my part of the agreement—we had planned to try marriage for 30 days—I was utterly unable to continue. I just ran away, not knowing where I was going.”

Ryerson’s first wife, Elvira, obtained a decree of divorce from him in 1919, charging her husband professed to have the same ideals as himself. She said he was the recipient of many notes from “lovesick women, who said his love aroused in them a fiery torrent.” The first marriage had taken place April 5, 1893, and here were three children—Albert, Grace and George.