The Jews of Sing Sing

The Jews of Sing Sing by Ron Arons would have been much more enjoyable if I didn't have prior knowledge about the subject matter. The book is short on analysis. If you don't know anything about historic crime, you might find Arons' book interesting.

THE BEST IS YET TO COME

Tuesday, Dec 30 at 8:30 AM I have my exam. That afternoon I can start to read again! It's been so long since I've read an interesting book! I think I am going to start with the Jews of Sing Sing by Ron Arons just because I love the title!

Serenity Now!

OK, here's the problem....there is just too much stuff!!! I have been trying to go through the Denver Mint robbery files; organizing the Cherryvale Bank Robbery info, take care of my family, and hold down a full time job. Oh yeah, I also have to study for another exam. So anyone waiting for me to send them a copy of something I will get to it but think Fall with the turning of the leaves and cooler temps.

MURDER CITY

Michael Lesy's book Murder City is a great read if your looking for something light but still dealing with historical crime for vacation reading. He doesn't tell you about every murder in Chicago during the 20's. He avoids the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and the Leopold & Loeb's murder of Bobby Franks because both have had extensive coverage.

The book shines in the chapters discussing the cases that are forgotten today. Cases like the first one of Carl Wanderer a war veteran who murdered his wife and an out of luck stranger that he had hired to look like a mugger. When I showed an acquaintance wanderer's picture he said "he doesn't look like a murderer". I think that's the point of Lesy's book for the most part he concentrates on the cases concerning people who are ordinary people who carry through a bad idea. Some of the stories are spooky because the details are the things I've heard about as anecdotes but never thought it happened, but it did! The transvestite Fred Thompson who married both a man and a woman and is falsely accused of a murder. He asked for a "white man's chance", but was actually better off being thought of as a white woman. Charles Church who murdered two men and then butchered them because he wanted a new Packard. He led the police on a merry dance telling them what they wanted to hear with as many different versions of what happened as there were investigators. When he's brought to trial he withdraws so far into himself that he becomes the walking dead. The original cases that spawned the musical Chicago and the the fact that battered women syndrome was a very effective defense in Chicago during the 20's. This book is a great read. My only complaint are the chapters spent on Chicago's beer wars there's nothing new here and a couple of facts are a little off. I'd have rather the space been given to some other long forgotten murder case.

FBI Makes a Funny!

OK, I enjoy a good joke just as much as the next guy; so I have to give the FBI their props--they got me good (in a good way). I picked up my box from the post office. I didn't even rush to get home because while the Denver Mint robbery interests me I'm not obsessed with it. I run some errands, chat on the phone, clean the kitchen, etc...then I open the box. What do I find, but 500 pages on the Cherryvale Bank robbery!!!! The FBI told me they had found 20 pages related to Vivian! I am now doing a mental dance of joy!

The pages are interesting too. Some of it can't be read of course (microfilm images deteriorate over time) but nothing is red lined. I'm not even 100 pages through yet but the information is tantalizing (George M. Chase was probably still living during Cherryvale & Picher). I know it won't answer all of my questions BUT IT'S GREAT!

Wooohooo! I got my little orange slip in the mail saying I have a parcel from the FBI that I need to pick up! Yeahhh! I think it's those files on the Denver Mint Robbery, but I'm also hoping they combined it with the 20 pages on Vivian Chase that they say they found. It's so completely cool. I'm giddy with anticipation. It takes so little to make me happy!

Depravity

I thought I would try something in a later time period than I read normally. The mid 1940's murder of the Black Dahlia has always fascinated me. I think the fascination is a combination of horror and amazement. Horror at the level of violence inflicted on Elizabeth Short and amazement that such a crime was never solved.

So, I got hold of a copy of John Gilmore's Severed the True Story of the Black Dahlia. Gilmore's good. The book is well paced. Gilmore provides a lengthy depiction of Short's personal life and the marginal existence she led prior to her murder. Severed is incredibly graphic. So much so that I was way over my head! Give me simple straight forward thieves any day of the week. I'm not sure if I agree with Gilmore about who the murderer is. If you Google the Black Dahlia you'll find multiple sights dealing with the crime. There are also several different men named as the murderer including two children who have named their fathers and written books about why they believe their Dad it. {Boy you'd really have to hate your Father to think him capable of doing these things} One woman named Orson Welles as the murder. It's sad that the case is going to remain unsolved. So many theories with no satisfactory answers.

I haven't got anything new to read. So I may go back to reading some old favorites. I'm not supposed to buy any new books until I finish reading all of the mysteries I've accumulated and let sit. But we'll see....

Lee and Linn Flournoy

This is Linn Flournoy, Lee Flournoy's twin brother, I couldn't locate a decent picture of Lee Flournoy, so since the two were identical a photo of Linn will have to do. Lee Flournoy, if you are not aware, was Charlie Mays partner for the Cherryvale Bank robbery. So far from what I've read Lee may have been the leader of the gang, but then again.... I've received articles on Lee including a more detailed version of what actually happened in Picher, OK in 1926 when Charlie and Lee were killed in a gunfight with lawman. It always seemed strange to me that they would be killed in the wee hours of the morning carousing as opposed to breaking and entering someplace.

If the picture of Linn, above looks a little hapless, it's because he owes his trip to the MO penitentiary to his twin, Lee. Linn, along with Lee's wife Dorothy, attempted to break Lee out of jail while Lee was waiting for trial on murder charges. Actually, they might have gotten away from it if they hadn't decided to make Dorothy their third man. It seems she became rattled waiting for them (she was the driver). She drove away leaving them to make do. They were caught. Lee and Linn were sent to the MO Pen. Now that photo exists now because Linn was arrested for theft (of groceries) in 1926. Only 3 months after the deaths of his parents and Lee. He admits that the crime was due to stupidity. Since the crime occur ed in KS where he did his time a file, and pictures, still exist.

I think I'm going to try to write something on the Cherryvale bank robbery. It wasn't the crime of the century but the players and circumstances of the event are worth telling. BTW, I got a call from the FBI about some files for the Denver Mint Robbery of 1922. It will be interesting to hear what they've found.