William Wilson Talcott (December 4, 1878 August 24, 1922) was an American footba

ll player, school teacher, newspaper publisher and ice cream manufacturer.

Talcott played college football for the University of Michigan in 1897 and 1898
and was the starting quarterback for the undefeated 1898 Michigan Wolverines foo
tball team. After graduating from Michigan, he worked as a school teacher in Ill
inois and Michigan.
He entered the newspaper publishing business in 1905 and published The Englewood
Economist from September 1906 to January 1918. From 1918 to 1920, he was the bu
siness manager of the Paris edition of the Chicago Tribune. He later went into t
he ice cream business in Chicago.
In August 1922, Talcott led a legal battle with the head of a so-called "love cu
lt" with which his wife had become involved. The legal battle received national
newspaper coverage. When his wife refused to part ways with the cult, Talcott co
mmitted suicide by jumping from an excursion boat off the shore of Chicago with
rocks in his pockets.Contents [hide]
1 Early years
2 University of Michigan
3 Teaching
4 Newspaper publishing
5 Ice cream business
6 Legal fight with "love cult" and suicide
6.1 Wife's involvement with the "House of Happiness"
6.2 Criminal complaint against Moore
6.3 Commitment proceedings against wife
6.4 Talcott's suicide
6.5 Aftermath
7 References
[edit]
Early years
Talcott was born in December 1878 in Valparaiso, Indiana.[1] He was the second o
f five children of Charles Ransom Talcott and Harriet E. Malone, who were marrie
d in October 1873.[2] His father was a native of Valparaiso who began his career
as a school teacher. From 1874 to 1886, his father was the publisher of the Por
ter County Vidette, a local newspaper in Valparaiso.[2]
In August 1886, when Talcott was seven years old, the family moved to Chicago wh
ere his father worked for many years at the Western Publishing House.[2] After t
he family's move to Chicago, Talcott grew up in the Englewood neighborhood on Ch
icago's South Side.[3] He attended the public schools in Englewood and graduated
from Englewood High School.[3]
As a senior in the fall of 1896, Talcott was captain and quarterback of the Engl
ewood High School football team. In September 1896, the Chicago Tribune wrote: "
Englewood has always come into the field with a team of strong and heavy men. Th
is year's team will be no exception to the rule ... Talcott, quarter back, is Ca
ptain, and he has all of last year's line men to work with."[4] The 1896 Englewo
od team, led by Talcott and end Clayton Teetzel, won the Cook County football ch
ampionship. The season ended with a 38 6 victory over Hyde Park, which was describ
ed in the Englewood High School newspaper as follows: "The final game with Hyde
Park...was the greatest of all. To defeat our ancient rivals was the happiest am
bition of the team. The defeat of '95 still rankles in the breasts of seven of t
he team, and they were determined to do or die. 'It was a glorious victory,' the
score being 38 to 6, when time was called because of darkness with ten minutes
yet to play."[5]
[edit]
University of Michigan
Louis Elbel composed Michigan's fight song "The Victors" as a tribute to the 189
8 football team (pictured with original sheet).
In the fall of 1897, Talcott and his Englewood teammate Clayton Teetzel enrolled
at the University of Michigan as students in the Literary Department.[6] During
Talcott's freshman year, he played as a backup quarterback for the 1897 Michiga
n Wolverines football team.[7] He also joined the Theta Delta Chi fraternity in
1897. In its annual publication, The Shield, the fraternity reported that the Mi
chigan chapter was "proud" in having Talcott play "quarter in a number of the ga
mes."[8]
As a sophomore, Talcott was the starting quarterback in six of ten games for the
undefeated 1898 Michigan football team that won the school's first Western Conf
erence (as the Big Ten was then known) championship and prompted Louis Elbel to
compose Michigan's fight song, "The Victors."[9] In the early days of football,
players were required to play on both offense and defense. On defense, Talcott w
as a linebacker.[10] Blocking was known at the time as "interference," and after
a 23 0 victory over Notre Dame in October 1898, The Michigan Alumnus wrote that "
Talcott shone in the interference."[11]
During his junior year, Talcott did not return to the varsity football team, and
was instead the captain of the junior class football team.[12] As a senior in t
he fall of 1900, Talcott was an assistant coach under Langdon Lea for Michigan's
varsity football team, "winning quite a reputation for himself in that line."[1
3][14] Talcott also served as the Chairman of the Senior Literary Social Committ
ee.[12] He graduated with his bachelor's degree in 1901.[15]
[edit]
Teaching
After graduating from Michigan, Talcott became a school teacher. In 1902, he was
a teacher at a school in Chicago.[15] In early 1904, Talcott wrote a letter to
the secretary of his graduating class at Michigan, informing his former classmat
es that he was the principal of the high school in Bessemer, Michigan. In his le
tter, Talcott noted that he had "fully decided to make teaching his life work" a
nd "expressed his belief that participation in athletics and other activities of
student life, as supplementary to the work of class-room, and library, and labo
ratory, might form a very valuable part of the preparation of the teacher, in gi
ving self-control, confidence, and knowledge of human nature."[16]
On August 24, 1904, Talcott married Shirley J. Patterson, at Jackson, Michigan.
They listed their address at the time as Hurley, Wisconsin, a city located a sho
rt distance across the border from Bessemer, Michigan.[17][18]
[edit]
Newspaper publishing
First issue of The Englewood Economist
In approximately 1905, Talcott followed his father into the newspaper publishing
business. He began his publishing career with the Englewood News, serving the E
nglewood section of Chicago.[3] In September 1906, Talcott and his younger broth
er, James Richard Talcott, founded The Englewood Economist, a weekly newspaper s
erving the Englewood community. The first edition was four pages and and include
d the following statement of goals:
This paper ventures to present itself for the approval of the entire district we
st of Wallace street and south of Garfield Boulevard. Fifteen thousand copies wi
ll be distributed each week by a select body of carriers ... The business intere
sts have for years needed such a medium as The Economist will be, as is shown by
 the readiness with which many concerns, both large and small, have entered into
the plan. Besides giving space to important local items The Englewood Economist
will, each issue, contain short articles on interesting incidents of the day, o
ccasionally a short story, and always bits of wit and humor. In a word it will b
e the aim of the paper to afford this rapidly growing section a means of self-ex
pression and cause people to await its delivery anxiously ..."[19]
The paper's circulation grew to 138,750 by 1922.[20] Though its name was later c
hanged to the Southtown Economist, the newspaper founded by the Talcott brothers
was still publishing 100 years later.[21]
By 1912, James Talcott had left The Englewood Economist and moved to Kansas City
, Missouri.[2] In 1918, Talcott sold the newspaper to Foster & McDonnell, who pu
blished the Auburn Park Community Booster and the West Englewood Telegram.[20]
In August 1918, Talcott moved to Paris, France, as the business manager of the P
aris edition of the Chicago Tribune.[3] At the time of his departure, the new ow
ners of The Englewood Economist wrote, "By training and experience Mr. Talcott i
s exceptionally well fitted for the duties he is about to assume and he leaves w
ith the felicitations for success of a host of friends and acquaintances through
out Chicago."[3] He was joined in Paris by his family in the summer of 1919 and
returned to Chicago in March 1920.[22] Talcott and his wife had three children.[
23]
In late February 1920, he wrote in a postcard to The Englewood Economist: "We ar
e spending a few days in Switzerland, Southern France and Italy before sailing M
arch 6th from Naples. Will see you before April 1st. Give my best to all the fol
ks."[22] After returning from Europe, Talcott published editorials in The Englew
ood Economist strongly supporting approval for the League of Nations.[24][25]