Records Show Parkhurst in Draft Scandal

No longer a mere check forger, but with his name tied to wartime Washington scandal, a clandestine Alabama marriage, Boston heiresses, and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Alfred B. Parkhurst languished in the East Cambridge jail last night pending formal government charges and his raising of $25,000 bail.

Officers were checking leads on a possible male and female accomplice late last night, despite Parkhurst's vigorous claims that he always operated as a lone wolf in all of his felonious activities.

Earlier in the afternoon Parkhurst seemed confident of raising the sum in federal court, where he appeared for arraignment. But Cambridge police officials in Central Square observed last night that at least $10,000 more would be asked by the state for grand larceny and theft should he meet the federal bail.

Parkhurst's jailers reported late last night that his father Irving B. Parkhurst, assistant business manager of the University, had been down in the early evening to discuss his son's ability to raise the money.

Students Claim Belongings

Meanwhile, in the offices of the detective division of Central Square, over 100 students filed in throughout the day to reclaim clocks, desk lamps, and badminton rackets, but a large automatic record changer remained in the unidentified heap at closing time. Clothing piled on a large table, ranged from a pair of dungarees to formal attire complete with cummerbunds, and even a Newton High cheerleader's sweater.

Examination by the CRIMSON of Parkhurst's private papers and his diary, found in his briefcase at police headquarters, showed not only high social connections with two Radcliffe entries, but a career of draft dodging that brought in F.D.R. and Labor Secretary Frances Perkins. The latter had interceded for his draft deferment three times, calling him "indispensable to the Labor Department," and he had made an appeal to President Roosevelt's wife.

Leaves Draft for WPB

Clippings in the bag, from the Washington Daily News, dated March 1943, evidently cut by Parkhurst himself, showed that he had been classified 1-A by his Cambridge draft board, only to end up as a high WPB official. A Senate investigation disclosed that he later resigned from this government position to take a job with the Pratt-Whitney aircraft corporation.

His civil service records, bared at this time, told nothing of his Navy enlistment. Newspaper accounts showed he had appealed for discharge to a state governor, two senators, and an admiral.

Parkhurst's papers bared not only political machinations, but a social life amongst the highest society complicated by his marriage and divorce of an Alabama girl, formerly Doris Johnson. In addition, to criminal suits, Parkhurst faces a litigation from Miss Johnson's attorneys regarding the support of a child.

Anna M. (Pansy) Prince, Radcliffe '49, one prominent entry, said yesterday that despite their many dates together during the past year "he fooled me completely," and that "I never dreamed he was that kind of a boy."

Connecting with his relationship with Miss Prince was a $3.26 entry in Parkhurst's Cambridge Trust Company checkbook. The check was made out to the Tax Collector of South Hamilton, Miss Prince's home.

Best conjecture as to the meaning of the check was payment for the registration of Miss Prince's motorcycle, on which the pair were often seen riding around Cambridge together. It was registered in Parkhurst's name.

The half used checkbook also showed the stubs of checks made out for a "World's Series Box," and large sums paid out to the Club 100 and The Ritz, St. Regis, and Sherry-Netherland Hotels in New York City.

Along with his Radcliffe friends in Parkhurst's alphabetical private "Who's Who" were Diana Barrymore and Leila Ernst, Boston socialite-actress. In addition to such female matrimonial possibilities several male mulcting prospects were listed. One, Thorpe Nosbit, Jr. '49, who was reached at Eliot House last night, called himself a friend of the accused.

When police informed him that his wallet could be recovered at headquarters, he was taken aback, remarking, "The bounder, I never would have thought it of him. He rather duped me."

Parkhurst's operations in the check lifting line spread as far as M.I.T. and Brown. Students from the Providence school positively identified Parkhurst last night from newspaper photographs, noting that his visits to their fraternities coincided with the loss of many valuable articles.

Federal narcotics officers displayed an interest in the case at the same time, as several vials of illegal drugs turned up from the police raid on Parkhurst's Bay State apartment on 1572 Massachusetts Avenue. Parkhurst, however, denied the personal use of narcotics