Shipman Gives Up On Former Wife, But Wants to Punish Geurukos, March 3, 1921

Sailor Bids City Adieu; Wife Here. . . Shipman Says “Poor Girl,” But “Get the Greek”

George L. Shipman, sailor and third hand in a triangular marriage tangle now before the courts for adjustment, bade goodbye to Charlotte Wednesday night. The fortunes of Shipman’s fight for $5,000 heart-balm money from Gus Geurukos, Green shoe-shine magnate, are in the hands of attorneys. Shipman said he would come back to Charlotte at any time his attorneys felt it advisable.

“It’s the Greek I’m after, not the girl,” said Shipman. “Poor girl, why should I try to persecute her. I thought she was on the square with me, and I came back to Charlotte to get her. But I have changed my mind, and all I want now is to punish the man who is responsible for all this.

“Funny thing comes up now just as I am about to get away. She comes out in th epapers and accuses me of saying I had ‘vamped a movie queen.’ Look at me! Who would I vamp? Here I am, a sailor in a hospital. I thought I had a wife—but what’s the use?”

Shipman said he had a ticket for a naval hospital near Denver. He said he would go there and await the outcome of his suit.

“Not that I want the money, that isn’t it, even if my former wife does declare that is what I am after. If I was after money, I wouldn’t be coming to Charlotte and hunting up a Greek who runs a shoe-shine parlor. No! But I would like to make the man who took it upon himself to take part in breaking up my married life pay for his fun.”

Shipman’s charge is that his wife obtained a divorce illegally and that the Greek connived with her in obtaining the divorce and sought to alienate her affections.

The sailor created a sensation when he appeared in the city recently and came near to a personal difficulty with Guerukos before his visit was half a day old. There were no secrets for the sailor; he told everybody his troubles. He declared Wednesday afternoon that he wasn’t lookng for publicity and was sorry if it had brought any embarrassment to his former wife, but that he was so chagrined at the turn of events that he was not able to guard his speech.

Shipman was garbed as a sailor and he extended acquaintances about the city in the 10-day’s visit. He was conspicuous on the streets and was commonly pointed out as “that sailor who is suing the Greek.”

From The Charlotte News, March 3, 1921