"Geno's" Switch

Late in August 1924, Justice John Richard Caverly of Chicago heard the last arguments in the Loeb-Leopold murder case, retired to wrestle with the record and his conscience before deciding whether the boy-killers should live or die. To his door went two Chicago Tribune newshawks, a man and a woman. They were covering the trial, but this time they wanted no news. Hesitantly the man spoke up:

"You see, Judge, we heard that you're going to pass sentence Sept. 6, and of course that will be a hell of a big news break and we'll have to work like the devil, and, well, as a matter of fact Geno and I had figured on getting married that day and our plans are all set and. . . ."

Plump, dewlapped Judge Caverly beetled through his spectacles in amazement at the couple, said something secret. Newsman John Origen Herrick and Newswoman Genevieve Forbes dashed happily away, were married on schedule, had three whole days' honeymoon. They were back on the job Sept. 10, just in time to hear Judge Caverly sentence Loeb & Leopold to life imprisonment.

For the next ten years the bylines of the Herricks were familiar to the Tribune's 770,000 readers. John, quiet, studious-looking, became a crack member of the paper's Washington bureau, lately covering the Senate. Genevieve ("Geno") developed into one of the ablest women reporters at the Capital. When Mrs. Roosevelt moved into the White House and began holding weekly press conferences, "Geno's" job became that much more important.

Last week the Herrick bylines were divorced, though the couple stayed happily married. John's remained in the Tribune, but Genevieve's switched over to the rival Chicago Daily News where it topped a new women's page column called "In Capitol Letters." The Administration-baiting Tribune said the change was due to disagreement over policy, with the implication that Mrs. Herrick would not conform to the paper's hostile attitude toward the Roosevelts. She said she quit for sentimental reasons which only she would understand.

Vivacious, intelligent, with a master's degree in English from University of Chicago, "Geno" Herrick broke into the Tribune in 1918. Her most spectacular job was in 1921 when she crossed the Atlantic steerage, disguised as an Irish immigrant, went through the Ellis Island mill, reported her experiences. A frequent guest at diplomatic dinners, attractive "Geno" Herrick has amassed a wealth of Washington personalia which she reports in crisp, good-humored style. Excerpts from her first columns in the News:

"Mrs. Homer Cummings calls her husband (6 ft. 2) 'Pinkie.' . . . Isa Glenn, novelist, meeting Mrs. Johnson at tea, blurted out: 'Oh, Johnson's all right, just so it's no relation of that terrible general' --and spent the rest of the afternoon searching for a happy ending."

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