Ruby Mae Sidle

Cafe Man Elopes With Stepdaughter
     Declared to have eloped with his own stepdaughter, William B. Hopkins, restaurant man, of 5202 Ballard Ave., was being sought by law enforcement agencies throughout the state Saturday.
     He left his home hurriedly Saturday at 5 a.m. in company with his wife's 16-year-old daughter by a former marriage, Ruby Seidle, according to neighbors.
     The mother and wife, Mrs Myrtle Hopkins, called at the prosecuting attorney's office within a few hours of the disappearance of her husband and daughter and became the complaining witness to a warrant charging Hopkins with contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. Police officials also were notified, and a widespread search was in progress Saturday afternoon.

—Seattle Union Record, Seattle, Washington, 15 Aug 1925, p 1

Marriage Licenses
     William B. Hopkins, 27; Ruby Sidle, 19, both of Seattle.

—Seattle Union Record, Seattle, Washington, 17 & 18 Aug 1925, p 7

Bride's Mother Says Bridegroom Belongs to Her!
Both Women Insist They Are Wives of William D. Hopkins When He Is Arrested by the Police
Seattle police Monday were called upon to solve the domestic problem of whether William D. Hopkins, 27, is the husband of Mrs. Myrtle McKinley [sic], 39, or her daughter, Ruby, 16.
     Hopkins and the girl were arrested Monday morning in a downtown apartment after a two-day search, instigated by the mother of Ruby.
     Mrs. Hopkins insists that she is the wife of Hopkins. He denies he married her.
     "Ruby and I love each other; we were married Saturday morning," said Hopkins.
     He produced a marriage certificate showing he and Ruby were married Saturday by the Rev. A. E. Greene, formerly pastor of the Emanuel Baptist church, 24th ave. S. and Main st. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Bingston were given as witnesses.
     "Ruby's mother has no legal right to my name," Hopkins declared, after his arrest. "I will admit that we left Wichita, Kan., last December as man and wife and have lived that way since, but everyone, including her friends and relatives, and even Ruby, knew that we were not sent to our marriage," said Hopkins.
     Mrs. Hopkins insisted to Policewoman Sylvia Hunsecker that Hopkins had married her in Wichita last December. She explained to Mrs. Hunsecker her lack of a marriage certificate by saying she had torn it up in a fit of anger against Hopkins.
     Hopkins told The Star his strange story of romance and domestic entanglement.
     "Ruby and her mother came West with me last winter from Wichita, Kan. I told Mrs. Finney that I loved her daughter Ruby and that she loved me and asked for her consent to our marriage.
     "She refused to let us marry. I then offered to take her back to Kansas and wait until Ruby was 18, but she would not hear of it.
     "Saturday, Ruby and I got a marriage license and were married. She gave her age as 19. When we saw in the papers that we had run away we decided to stay and fight it out. We have done nothing wrong and we have a right to be married and to love each other."
     Hopkins was charged with a statutory offense involving the girl. This charge will probably be canceled in the face of the marriage.

—The Seattle Star, Seattle, Washington, 17 Aug 1925, p 1

Love Dream Blasted By Policemen
     Love's young dream was blasted Monday when detectives broke in on William B. Hopkins, 28, and Ruby Seidle, 16, his bride of two days, with whom he eloped from her mother's home, 5202 Ballard Ave., Saturday morning. The couple were occupying a suite in an apartment at Seventh Ave. and Madison St.
     Police had been looking for Hopkins and the girl following her mother's action in swearing out a warrant for the man, whom she insists is her husband.
     "There is nothing to that stuff about Mrs. Finney and me being married," Hopkins said from his jail cell, where he is being held while the police and the prosecuting attorney's office determine the nature of a charge to be brought against him after the tangled affairs of the family triangle are investigated. He is held on an open charge, but the prosecutor has a warrant out in which the girl’s mother charges him with contributing the delinquency of a minor.
     "I am not the girl's step-father," Hopkins declared.
     He calls the mother Mrs. Finney, and says she brought him west to Seattle from Wichita, Kan., two months ago in her automobile, knowing full well that there was never a wedding ceremony.
     "It is just jealousy on the mother's part. That story she gave the morning paper is all the bunk."
     Meanwhile the senior Mrs. Hopkins, or Mrs. Finney, as Hopkins speaks of her when talking to newspaper men, is seeking means of putting the young Lochinvar so far behind the bars that he will be years in digging out. Anger showed in every line of her face when she mentioned his name Monday at the police station, but they were lines that softened and curved into a smile when she spoke to her daughter. The girl, 16 and pretty, had stolen the mother's sweetheart and should be punished — still the mother could not find it in her heart to scold. At least not while the two were talking to the detective at headquarters.
     Hopkins and the girl fled at 5 o'clock in the mother's flivver from the mother's home over a small restaurant which the mother had purchased on Ballard Ave. They were married four hours later by Alvah E Greene, 619 Thompson building, a sanipractic physician who holds a license to preach in the Baptist church. The car was found in front of Hopkins' sister's home 712 Fifth Ave.

—Seattle Union Record, Seattle, Washington, 17 Aug 1925, p 1, 18 Aug 1925, p 2

Government Investigates Hopkins Case
     Federal authorities began an investigation Wednesday looking toward prosecution under the Mann act of William B. Hopkins, former Wichita, Kan., man, who is held in the city jail here while Mrs. Myrtle Hopkins and her 16-year-old daughter, Ruby, both claim him as husband.
     Women operatives of the department of justice, learning that Hopkins brought the older woman with him across four state boundaries to Seattle, took an interest in the case and began conferring with county authorities Wednesday.
     Meanwhile Ruby, the child-bride of five days, was spirited away by the police. Policewoman Sylvia Hunsicker refused to disclose her whereabouts.
     Charges and counter charges loomed in the tangled love case Wednesday when Hopkins admitted in his cell that he has another wife in the south. He married a Miss Florence Goble in Oklahoma, he said, adding that he believes she obtained a divorce after he came west.
     Deputy Prosecutor Eugene Meacham said Wednesday that if the former marriage had not been legally cancelled, a charge of bigamy would be brought against Hopkins. He was unable, however, to get confirmation of the Oklahoma marriage.
     Charges of lewdness may also be brought against "Mrs. Hopkins," it was hinted, if it develops that she was not the wife of Hopkins when he married Ruby, as the couple was living together.
     The only charge on file against Hopkins at present is that of contributing to delinquency of a minor child, the count for which he was arrested on a warrant sworn to by "Mrs. Hopkins."

—Seattle Union Record, Seattle, Washington, 19 Aug 1925, p 15, 20 Aug 1925, p 7