"Mister 880" with Burt Lancaster, Dorthy McGuire and Edmund Gwenn (1950)

This is a true story. One of the most unusual counterfeiting cases ever recorded, it originated in Manhattan but played out in Brooklyn, from Boro Park to Flatbush to Coney Island. Even Kings Highway was targeted. It took place over 10 years, between 1938 and 1948 and was the toughest case ever undertaken by the Secret Service.

It is the story of Emerich Juettner, also known as "Skipper", an ex Navy Machinists Mate from World War One who made his living as a junk dealer and only printed the counterfeit $1 bills in order to make ends meet. They were of extremely poor quality, which made the case even more baffling. Even the word Washington was mis-spelled!

The case came to a head in January 1948, after a fire forced him to leave his apartment in Manhattan. The firemen left his belongings in an alley where some kids found them. In the film the kids use them to trade and play cards, but in reality they turned them over to the Police, who had been alerted by the Secret Service of their existence.

Agent Steve Buchanan and his boss had discussed their longest running case, called Case 880, for 10 years, never turning up a credible lead. Out of respect for their quarry they nicknamed him "Mister 880." The counterfeit notes passed by him were even called "880s".

When a woman, Ann Winslow, a  translator at the newly formed United Nations, was found passing 2 of the counterfeit notes, the Secret Service cultivated her as a possible conspirator. She became interested in Agent Buchanan romantically, as he did with her.

Soon, it became apparrent that the bills had merely come into her possession accidentally. But how? That was the key to solving the case.

Eventually it was determined that she lived in the same rooming house as the old man, who was still not a suspect. But, when she bought 2 small spinning wheels from him for $3 each, she had paid with two $5 bills, receiving 4 of the bogus bills in change. This was his only mistake in 10 years.

He had only undertaken the enterprise as a way of survival. Had he placed himself in the care of the government and lived at the Old Sailor's Home it would have cost the United States $85.70 a month to care for him. Needing less than $50 a month to live on, he began doing the whole thing as a way to save the government money.

Agent Buchanan was a relentless man who believed in the maxium penalty for any counterfeiter, even "Skipper", but as the case unfolded he began to have a begrudging respect for the old man.

Eventually, Juettner was arrested, and sentenced to nine months in jail. But when the judge is informed that a sentence of less than a year makes Skipper ineligible for parole he changes the sentence to 9 months and a $1 fine, making him eligible for parole in only 4 months. Agent Buchanan paid the $1 fine for him.

When 20th Century Fox bought the movie rights to his story, "Skiper" earned 8more money than he had ever made as a counterfeiter.

Edmund Gwenn, who played 'Skipper", won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. Agent Buchanan was played by Burt Lancaster and Ann Wilson was portrayed by Doroth McGuire.

The exterior scenes were all filmed on locaion in Manhattan and Brooklyn, while all the interior scenes were shot on soundstages in Hollywood.

This is a most endearing and entertaining film. It can be viewed here:

https://youtu.be/Ko17byRnCWo

"Stealing Lincoln's Body" - History Channel (2009)

I’d always heard about the attempted abduction of President Lincoln’s body in 1876, but I have never found a book; or a film; which told the story behind it. It was; in effect; relegated to the back of my memory with the rest of the trivia. Then I saw this film.

Abraham Lincoln was the first President who dealt with the problem of counterfeiting currency in a meaningful way. Before the War Between the States; which was anything but “civil”; paper money was a convenience and minted by banks. If you lived near one of those banks; say in the same city; it was no problem to authenticate the bills. But for travelers it was a nightmare. Lincoln set up the Secret Service to combat this crime. His was also the first Presidency to have the motto “In God We Trust” appears on American currency; hard coin or paper.

The reason I mention the counterfeiters is that it was a group of such men who set about; in 1876; to steal Lincoln’s body from its tomb in Springfield, Illinois. The film traces the journey of Lincoln’s body from the moment he is shot at Ford’s theater in 1865 until he was finally permanently entombed in Springfield in 1901.

You read that right. While John Brown’s body was a Moldering in its Grave, Lincolns was stuck in an odyssey which could never have been invented; for the antics of man are greater than any fiction.  James Brown’s body has been in limbo since his death in 2006; but even his 8 year ordeal pales in comparison to what happened with Lincoln. Not wishing to ruin the film for you I will just give you a brief outline of what the film covers, leaving out the best parts.

Mary Todd Lincoln was too grief stricken to make the journey to the President’s funeral. She was actually holed up in the White House for about a month after her husband’s death, unable to leave.

Meantime the largest funeral procession ever undertaken in perhaps the history of the world was unfolding, with the Presidents funeral train traveling from Washington to New York. From there it would take a long route back to Illinois through just about every major stop on the line.

   

Each town had its own funeral procession; requiring that the coffin be removed from the train and paraded through streets and even exhibited in City Halls. New York was one of those places, where the body lay in state indoors at City Hall for 8 hours as almost half a million people attempted to pay their respects. Some towns actually held the ceremonies outdoors to accommodate the crowds.  There were 25 such stops made before the train arrived in Springfield.

It almost didn’t make it that far. Mrs. Lincoln, back in Washington, heard that the plans were for her husband to be buried in town when it arrived in Springfield. She wanted him buried at Oak Lawn Cemetery and if that was unacceptable to the “committee” which had decided upon this, then she would have the President buried in Chicago. The President was buried at Oak Lawn.

That should have been the end of the story. But it wasn’t. In 1876, amid the most contested election in the history of our country; 82% of Americans eligible to vote, did so. This was deemed by the conspirators as the perfect time to snatch the body; election night 1876. The hullabaloo surrounding the election results; which would not be resolved for weeks; pushed the story of the attempted abduction to the back pages of most newspapers; if they were reporting it at all.

One of the conspirators was an informer for the Secret Service and due to his presence in the gang the Service was alerted and arrived at the tomb earlier than the robbers themselves. They would wait for a signal from the informant before making the arrest. The local police were kept out of the affair altogether. When the signal was given there was a terrific gun fight and a chase through the woods, leading to the capture of some of the men. They were later tried for tampering with a body and sentenced to 1 year in prison. And that should have been the end of the story; but again, it wasn’t.

That was in 1876. For what happened over the next 25 years you will need to see the film or look it up. Suffice to say that Lincoln was disinterred 10 more times before he was finally allowed to sleep undisturbed. And when he was finally buried his pallbearers were 6 workmen, and the only witness present was a 13 year old boy.

Dallas - The Day the Music Died

I was only 9 in November of 1963, and I saw the world in shades of black and white. Just like this photograph of President and Mrs. Kennedy. This still gives many of my early childhood memories a distant, sepia like feel, almost as if I were watching them, rather than being an actual participant. But that was all about to end on this Friday afternoon in late November.

I was in third grade, and a big supporter of President Kennedy. I participated in the President's Science Program, and even the Physical Fitness Program, at Public School 255 in Brooklyn, where I lived. I also had a picture of the President that had been sent to me by the White House. The space program alone was enough to capture the minds, and hearts, of every kid in the nation. It seemed that there was nothing beyond our reach. And then came Dallas.

My 3rd grade perception of Dallas was all tied up in the fact that it was in Texas. The Texas that I imagined was made up of dirt Main Streets, with raised wooden sidewalks, where everyone wore a gun on their hips. My perception of the world was about to grow larger.

My class had been visiting the Museum of the City of New York in Manhattan. We left the museum shortly before 2PM that afternoon to head back to Brooklyn. Whatever we had seen in the Museum that day is a complete blank to me now.

Stepping onto the bus I noticed that the bus driver was listening intently to his transistor radio. You could feel the tension in his body as he strained to hear the radio over the sound of 35 yelling 9 year old boys and girls. At some point I recall the teacher conferring with the bus driver and then turning to the class, all of whom were by this time seated and quiet. She spoke with an earnest quality, one that I had never before seen in my dealings with adults, as she said, "Class, the President has been shot in Dallas, Texas. We don't know yet whether he is going to live." The rest of the ride back to Brooklyn was uneventful, as 9 year olds we were not fully cognizant of the more serious implications involved in the assassination, beyond the fact that it was of historical importance.

About 10 minutes into the trip the driver spoke with the teacher, who informed us that President Kennedy was indeed dead. We were also informed that a "lone nut" had done it.

Arriving back at school I remember being released to go home. It was right about 3 o'clock when we got there, so everyone was getting out of the building when we arrived. We would not return to school until after the following Monday, November 25th, when the President was buried.

I remember walking home from school that day and thinking that I was living through history. This was like Lincoln! This was something I would someday be telling my kids about. And I have...

Since this was a Friday, Uncle "I" would be coming over, as was his usual custom. We spent the the night in front of the TV, first watching the arrival of Air Force One at Bethesda Air Force base, outside of Washington, with Jackie Kennedy still in her blood smeared clothes stepping off the rear of the plane with Robert Kennedy, the President's brother.

The funeral would occupy the next four days, as tens of thousands of Americans poured into Washington to pass the President's casket as it lay in State in the Capitol beneath the Rotunda. Millions more watched on TV. I remember getting up several times during the night and turning the TV on, only to be confronted by the same image on each station. The casket laying on the bier, surrounded by one member of each of the Armed Forces posted at the corners of the casket, with rifles. I'm writing this now with no photo in front of me. Even at the distance of 47 years the memory of it is still crystal clear.

My family would not see John Kennedy's grave until about 6 weeks after the assassination. There were still crowds and a line to see the grave, which was nothing like it is today. This photo shows the grave at the time of our visit in January 1964. The President's son, Patrick, who had been stillborn that August, is interred to the right in the photo. The gravesite today is a concrete monument, which leaves you feeling disconnected, both from the man, and the events of his life and death. When I was there, the earth was still freshly turned, and the only thing separating the people from their fallen leader was a white picket fence.

Weird News - Time Magazine (1979)

Here are 2 news stories from the May 21^st, 1979 edition of Time magazine. Obviously they caught my attention enough to have clipped and saved this page for many years. The first involves a skid row plot to kill President Carter. Or, maybe not. 

The second involves a very clever movie like plot to pull off a heist from the inside. Great movies are made of articles like these. That might be why I saved them. You can’t make this stuff up.

I had a tooth pulled the other day so I am taking it easy. Be back soon!

"The Hour of Peril" by Daniel Stashower (2013)

The plot to assassinate President-elect Lincoln has always been a source of fascination for me. When I was living in Baltimore, some 30 odd years ago studying for a Coast Guard License, I used to stand opposite the Calvert Street Station and contemplate what would have been if the plot to kill Lincoln had been successful. And, standing on the very spot in the station where Lincoln had once trod held another appeal all of its own. So, naturally, I was eager to pick this book off the shelf at the library where it was presumably waiting just for me. And, what a treat it was to read!

Author Daniel Stashower has taken the oft told story of the attempted assassination of Lincoln en route to Washington and turned it into an all-encompassing saga of such diverse topics as; Scottish immigration, the westward expansion of the United States as a nation, the Abolitionist Movement, Allan Pinkerton’s rise from humble beginnings to his world-wide fame as a premier Private Investigator, his part in the Underground Railroad, his friendship with John Brown, and of course the founding of the Secret Service.

Along the way he introduces the reader to Eugene Vidocq, the former criminal turned law enforcement agent who founded the French Surete, and pioneered the plaster casting of footprints and established one of the earliest criminal data bases of the era. He was the actual inspiration for Victor Hugo’s character Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables.” Even the Lincoln-Douglas Debates are not ignored here, nor their implications concerning the inevitable coming of a Civil War. Oh, and did I mention that this is a book about Abraham Lincoln’s First Inauguration?

In a sweeping style, and drawing upon all sources, the author has penned what could very well become the basis for a movie about Allan Pinkerton. If Steven Spielberg were to undertake this as a companion piece to his current blockbuster “Lincoln”, he could not miss. 

As a member of the Scottish Chartist group; who were early champions of the working class and later tied to Marx and Engels; Pinkerton was also a natural  champion of Abolition. His work with John Brown put him in direct violation of both state and federal laws, but still he persevered . His attitude was expressed in the oft quoted “The ends justify the means, if the ends are for the accomplishment of Justice.”

When the author does get around to the journey by rail from Illinois to Chicago, by circuitous fashion, passing through all the stops on the way to New York, and from there on to Washington, D.C.; including a very dangerous change of stations at Baltimore where the President-elects life was in imminent danger; the narrative actually gets even better, if that is imaginable. 

The smoke filled cars come to life as the train hurtles toward the destiny which will ultimately; some 4 years later; culminate in the President’s death by an assassin’s bullet. That in itself is almost ironic; that he should live through the earlier attempt upon his life, only to die in the same way after holding the country together during a vicious Civil War; seems almost as if history had done with him; and having done so, cast him aside.

This book also explores the role that the railroads were beginning to play in the way Americans lived, worked and even engaged in politics. Filled with rogues, knaves and the world's first female detective, there is something for everyone in this book. It is still early in the year; and the book is just recently out; but I would suggest that if you only read one or two books this year, skipping this one would be a real loss.

"The Kennedy Detail" by Gerald Blaine

I am a big fan of the Kennedy assassination. It's the greatest parlor game to ever come down the pike and will doubtlessly entertain folks for generations to come. It seems as if there are a score of different theories floating about, all concerning either the identity of the assassins, or the "why" of the deed itself. These theories range from Big Oil, President Johnson, the CIA, the Mafia, or a combination of all of those, plus the military. But all of the books have one thing in common; they each float a hypothesis of what happened in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963. They each offer a theory, or put forth an explanation as to what happened, and why. This book does neither.

By leaving out certain facts, as well as by slanting certain information, the author seems more intent on exonerating the Secret Service for the loss of the "client", than he is about how, and why, they were simply left out of the loop. The explanations concerning the route change are not credible.

Most of the book seems to concern itself with Agent Clint Hill's role as the bodyguard for Mrs. Kennedy. The weeks, and sometimes even months, he was required to stay away from his own family, often seem exaggerated.

Still, there were portions of the book which offered a new and unique insight into some events. The planned Presidential trip to Frank Sinatra's home, arranged through the President's brother in law, Peter Lawford, was very interesting. I never knew who made the decision to move the President, absent Jackie, to Bing Crosby's house, after all the preparations that Mr. Sinatra had made, including pouring a helicopter pad and state of the art phone bank. The story of how this news was broken to Mr. Sinatra by 2 of the agents, accompanying Mr. Lawford, is very interesting. But, it also almost lead to Sam Giancana having Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. being killed, and that's the kind of "grit" lacking in this book.

Some of the stories of life at the Virginia retreats of both Glen Ora, and later on, Atoka, where Jackie liked to spend weekends horseback riding, are really good. John John learning to salute at Camp David just 2 weeks before his Dad's unexpected murder is a good example of all the things "right" in this book. As the agents in charge of the First Family's security, they had an unprecedented look at their daily lives.

Another chapter worth reading is the one concerning Mrs. Kennedy's miscarriage in August of 1963, just 12 weeks prior to her husbands death. After the baby dies, the author describes the Presidential couple as "growing closer", even as she takes off on a 2 month trip to Europe with Aristotle Onassis, who would later, of course, become her husband.

An entertaining book if you're a Kennedy fan, but a disappointment if you are an assassination buff, the book is worth reading nonetheless. Each perspective is a piece of the larger puzzle that marks the so-called era of "Camelot" in Washington. The lack of candor on the author's part concerning the numerous affairs that the President was having, right under the very nose of the Secret Service, either serves to highlight their incompetence, which I do not believe to be the case, or else it points to the conclusion that this book is less than forthcoming in all of the details relevant to the assassination.

At times this book seems to be a refutation of "The Echo From Dealey Plaza", which I reviewed here a few years ago. That book concerns itself with Abraham Bolden and his removal as the first African-American member of the White House Detail. That removal was the result of his having complained of both complacecy on the part of his fellow agents, as well as his allegations of drinking and drug use by agents on duty. Mr. Blaine seems to deliberately go out of his way to discredit him, leaving the reader to wonder why, while at the same time, lending creedence to Mr. Bolden's account.

For a better read concerning the President's assassination, you can do no better than Russ Baker's "Family of Secrets", which I also reviewed here about 2 years ago. That book is the last word on the Kennedy assassination, tying together all of the conflicting data with documentation of all the purported facts. That book then goes on to tie the Bay of Pigs, along with President's murder, to the Watergate Affair and beyond.

But one fact remains; the Kennedy assassination still remains one of the best unsolved mysteries of my lifetime. And I hope it stays that way.