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Rumors Labeled False

Rumors Labeled False image
Parent Issue
Day
10
Month
February
Year
1965
Copyright
Copyright Protected
Rights Held By
Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

A rumor about the rape and murder of a University coed several days ago is false.

The week-old rumor, which developed many varying details this week, alleged in general that a woman student was attacked on a city street and died later in the University Hospital.

Checks made by The News with city police, University officials and hospital authorities failed to substantiate the rumor.

The false tale appeared to evaporate late last week, but over the weekend it revived with new viciousness. Yesterday U-M authorities were plagued by many calls, The News received a half-dozen inquiries, and a desk officer at the Ann Arbor Police Department said he spent “about an hour” on the phone last night.

Police Chief Rolland J. Gainsley said this morning to his department’s knowledge there has been no such crime here.

He said the rumor apparently stemmed from four seperate attempted assaults on U-M coeds walking back to their dormitories on the near east side of the city within the past six weeks with the last one occuring more than two weeks ago. None of the girls involved was raped or injured, the police said. Accounts of the assaults were reported in The News.

Mrs. Marina Oswald, widow of the late Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin of President Kennedy, has denied to University officials that she had been beaten by U-M coeds.

The rumor of the beating which had been previously denied by U-M officials was revived last night on the nation-wide television program, “That Was the Week that Was.” The program was seen in this area at 9:30 p.m. on Channel 4.

A “TW3” spokesman in New York told an inquiring newsmen that program writers picked up a two-sentence rumor printed in a New York publication and failed to verify it before using it.

U-M Vice President Richard L. Cutler said he talked personally with Mrs. Oswald after the TV program, and that she denied that she had ever been beaten by coeds.

George E. Luther, assistant to the director of the U-M English language, told The News that she had denied the rumor to him when it was first circulated several days ago.

Ann Arbor police also have investigated the rumor and found no truth in it.