DfHCTIYf DIYISION B E S U RE TO FILE CIRCULAR No.11 POLICE DEPARTMENT THIS C IRCULAR SfPTfMBfR 17. 1930 CITY OF NEW YORK F O R REFERENCE Police Authorities are Requested to Post this C ircular for the Infol'matlon of Polic e Officer. and File a Copy of It for Future R.ference.
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The CITY of NEW Any Intormatlon should offers $5,000 reward be forwarded fo the Detec· to any person or persons tile OIllslon of the Police furnishing this Department Department of tile City of with Information resulting in New YorX, 240 Centre Street, locating Joseph Force Crater Phone Sprtng 3100.
JI' ",· ,,: .-.: 101' 'rill, '01' 1'''''; :>1'-: COt ' NT. ~TA.T t:: 011' !'OIl, " ' "ORK UEse RI PTION-Unrn in the U nited Siale s- Age, .. I ye.rs; height, 6 feel; wei,hl. 185 pounds ; mixed arey h.ir, ori,in.II)' dIrk brown, thin 1.1 lOP, parted in middle " slicked" down; complexion, medium dirk, eonsidcnbly 'Inncd; brown c)'c s ; f.lse tcclh, upper and lowe r jaw, good physica l and ment.1 conditio n I' lime 01 dislppearance, Tip of right index finger , omcwhlt mulill ted, due to hiving been recenll)' crusbed, Wore brown sack cOltlnd trousers, nirrow .reen ' tripe, no ve51; either I Pl nlml or soh brown hit worn It rlkish Ingle, si1.e 6)1. unusuIl siu lor h i, hei.ht Ind wei.hl. Clothes mlde b)' Vroom. AHeCled colored ~hirls, 5ize Ii culllt, problbl)' bow lie. Wore lonoise' 5hell ,lines for reid in.. Yellow , old Mlsonic rin", ~omewhlt worn ; ml), be welrin. I )' ellow ,old, 5qulre-shlped wriSi wIII:: h wllh lellher Slrlp. EDWAR D P. MULROONEY. I'kllne Spring 3100. Ilulicc C ummiu ioncr
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The evening was tropically hot and sticky, as By JACK ALEXANDER summer eve nin g~ in Manhattan can so me times gl't, but it didn' t St."e m to oppress the tall. nattily dressed man walking west on Thirty years ago a New York judge and '''5th Street from Times Square. He moved along briskly, as was his custom, with head and shoulders held high and his fect darting " ladies' man" entered a taxi in midtown out in rapid and, for a long-legged man, in congruously short steps. He was wearing pearl-gray spats, and his suit was a well Manhattan. H e hasn't been seen since. A tailored, double-breasted number, brown with thin stripes of green. His hat, a pristine Pan Post editor reports on the most notori ous ama, was cocked at a sporty angle. The most commanding item of his haberdashery was his • • collar, an old-fashioned detachable c hoker of mI ss] ng -person case of o ur century. starched linen. I t was higher than the ra mpart
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T he hunt for the errant j udge gre..... into a national cra.:c. The N. Y. Missing Penons Bureau was Aoodcd with many false leads such as the above-scrawled on the race or II playing card- and the note shown below.
August 9. 1930: J udge Crater and his wife, Stella, at their summer Cltate in Maine, just three days before he disappcaN:f
coming Novem ber electio n, when he was to The trio chatted for a few minutes on the ..k.~ , • ·,tt· + ' 6~-x-~ w--c-< run ror a rull fourteen-year term . sidewalk. Then Justice Cra ter hailed a taxicab Crater had it j ust about made. From boy and got in. Klein and M iss Ritz watched it t, · .,,{ c.....a . • ~ 0 .1( 7 J.. ... ~ ... . ' . <- - hood his dominating a mbitio n had been to d epart westward- 45th being a westbou nd 1.;-.,.., ;1 ..... become a j udge, and he had worked whole street- before they turned and walked east ( ~( ~. L t···t · . ~ heartedly to a ttain it. A rastidious ma n, he had toward the Shu bert o ffice. s...... , I •. -:.t -toi t ~. ,.{..., no t ba lked a t perrorming the sweatier chores In the thirty years wh ich have elapsed since that came his way. He had pride a nd vanity the friends pa rted ou tside the chophouse, hun ,.)t -fr .•• w _ ~ ".f' - and, at times, more tha n a touch or arrogance; dreds of persons have reported having seen but he could subordin ate a ll to play dderen j ustice Crater, bu t not one such claim has - tia l courtier to a politician for who m he might been convincingly authenticated . The police have a secret contempt but whose influence were to sean mountains of the trip sheets might be useful in ad vancing his fortunes. which the law requires taxi drivers to keep, Withal, he wns no hack clubhouse lawyer. wit hout find ing a ny record or this pa rticular Ra thcr, he was learned in the law a nd skilled ride. T he d river has never seen fit to come in interpreting its intricacies. He wrote facile forward. Neither Klein nor Miss Ritz got a briefs fo r less-gifted attorneys, a nd his onl y clear look at his face; nor could ei ther remem courtroom appearances were in the a ppellate ber the color of the ca b. courts. Cra ter was in his clement in arguing The single ticket to Daneing PurIna was an a ppeal. Clad in cutaway a nd striped for picked up by a ma n-by Crater, pro bably, mal trousers-he was a very clothes-happy since only a few persons knew it was therc man-he spoke q uietly, logically a nd as briefly but the box-o ffice clerk couldn't recall what he as possible . Up to the time he got the judge looked like. j oseph Force Crater, who had ship he had for yean been a popular lecturer been o n the bench scarcely long enough to in the law schoob of Ford ham and New York wrinkle his black j udicial robe, had disap universities. To man y of his associates it seemed peared as thoroug hly as if he had been swep t In 1956 prolpector " Lucky" Blackiet said that he had possible tha t he might eventually land on the off the planet wi th a b room . It was to become seen the judge. Bu t his story was just another bum sleer. Supreme Court of the United States. a case of a thousand a nd o ne clues a nd a thou At abou t eigh t o'clock Crater entered the sand a nd one d isappointments; a case of con chophouse, intending to d ine quickl y a nd get tinuing frustration for ' the M issing Persons model made fa mous by President Hoover, but, to the Belasco T heatre by curtain ti me. The Bureau of the New York Police Departmenl with a knack M r. Hoover never qui te acquired , pl ay at the Belasco was Dancing Partna, a spicy and of g nawing u ncertainty for Cra ter's wife , it was worn with complete self-assurance. Hungarian confectio n whose tryout he had Stella, and for those connected wi th him by The q uick-stepping man was headed for seen in Atlantic City. His theatrical ticket blood. Billy Haas's restaurant, a currently popula r broker had promised to leavc a single ticket His sister, M argar et, believes tha t he was c hophouse located a t .'JS2 West 'J.!'Hh Street, ror him a t the box o ffice. murd ered , possibly by a felon who , as he was j ust beyond Eighth Avenue. Whether he knew Cra ter had scarcely c hecked his hat at the being ta ken to Sing Si ng for a long term, it or nOI-and the poin t has been debated ever restaura.nt when he was ha iled by a friend, shou ted that he would " gel" Cra ter when he si nce-he was a lso head ed for oblivion. William Klei n, who was a Horney for the got ou t of prison. T his inciden t was related to It was a rew minutes berore eight as the Shubert brothers. Klein was having dinner M argaret by her brother , j oseph, during the man crossed Eighth Avenue. T he d ate was with a Shubert show girl, na med Sally Lou earliest days of his career, whcn he practiced August 6, 1930, a \\'cdnesday. T he man was R itz, and invi ted Cra ter to join them . criminal law briefly. a high-ranking Tam many legal light named Cra ter accepted. He had a deep a ffcction A brother of the j udge, Mo ntague Crater, is joseph Force Cra ter . He was rorty-one years fo r the theater a nd he loved to talk show busi still cautiously optimistic. For a good many o ld, and rour months earlier he had been a p ness. The food was good, the conversation was years M ontague traveled as a bill collector and pointed to fi nish the unexpired term or a Sta te good, and (as Klein was to tell the police la ter) claim adjuster, co\'ering the seamier residen Supreme Court justice who had retired. The Crater was in excellen t spirits. Before anyone tial sections and the skid rows of towns a long a ppointment had been made by Gov. Fra nklin realized it, it was ten minu tes after nine. both seaboards a nd in the northern tier of D. Roosevelt, a man who seemed to be going Cra ter got up to salvage what he could of states. In all that time he kept looking for j oe, places himseJr. J ustice Crater had been Dancing PurIna, a nd the others d ecided to bearing in mind a good identifying mark-the promised Tammany's support in the rorth- leave too. Greek in iti;d s of his college fra ternity, Sigma Craler's rri end Simon Rifldnd (above with Mrs. Cratn) ;11 first wi thheld the news or th ejudge'S dis.appearance.
William K lein, friend and fellow lawyer, had dinner with Craler in Manhaltanju5t before thcjudge v;U1 ish(." The police investigation rc\'(:akd Ih,1I Cra l (~r had I~l'n on more Ihan cordiallcn nswilh a numlJcr o r eho r; l~ C rater's brothcr. Montague. ha.~ ne\'cr gi\'en up hope. gi rl ~ , and less glamorous WOII)C II such as \ 'jVj:UI Gordon (abow). a " m:ldam" lalcr killed by gangland as.' Chi, tattooed on h i ~ lerl arm. /I.'lolllaguc·s pre ~ IfJ oc Crater is a li ve, he is seycnty-one years 10 11 . New J ersey, in a Paige sports road sler. ent job is Juvenile Court probation OO1C(·r in old . He wajj born in 1889 in to an Easton. The roadster struck several trees a nd Douglass Snohomish County, WashinglOll. Hc doesn't Pl'nnsylva ni :I, clan of German lineage. The was kil led. travcl a great dcal now, hut when he does he famil y was ruled by his grandfather, J. F. ( Pa) Montague, the younges t of Frank C rater's finds himself still looki ng. Cratt'r, a producc merchant, who was reputed children, r;m away and joined thc marines, The missing man's fa ther dkd in HHO. a to he wort h $:')00,000. In the German feudal after be ing busted oul of twO prep se hools. In bewildered a nd brokcn lila n. H i~ rII ot her . tradition he li ved duse to hi s warehousc. and his ad ult year:; he d evdopcd a hunger for aca Lelia MOlltaguc Crater, survived until 19111. h ;s'four sons, who worked in the family business d emic learning, winning al the age of fifty a convinced to the end that hcr son still li vcd . had Iheir ho m~s nearby. This compact a r dcgree in sociology from the University of Her last years wcre ~ pc n t in Hershey, P (' n ll~y l rangement en"bled Pa Crater to domina te not \ Vashington. vania , with her daughter, Margaret. whose o nl y his sons' lives b ut those of their c hild ren. J oe Crater, the eldcst of the children, was married name is ~l l rs . George Henry. 1\.·l rs. Ila Crater died around the turn of Ihe cen early recognized as an in tellL"c lu il.1 prodigy a nd Henry did not share her mothcl" jj belief that tury. but the hariih regimentation did not end perhaps for Ihis reason L"scapcd some of his J oe would return. wit h him. His son Frank continued it in his father's disc iplinary harshnes.'i. He was gradu " \Ve would go into thc mailer evcry day." branch of Ihe clan. Frank's only daughter, ated fi rs t in his high-school class and won a full Mr;:;. Henry said a few weeks ago,:;a nd ;H'gue ~' I ar ga r e t , was subrnissive , but his thrcc boys scholarship 10 La fayett e College. In 1910. the pros and cons by the hour, until we real n'belled. when he emerged from Lafayett e with 11 bach ized that we were repeating ourscl\'(=s. \VhCTl Douglass bec.Hne a n ad\'enturel' and during elor-of-arts degrce, his fa rnily 's finances were in she died I was holding her ha nd , a nd J re the First Wodd War Hew as a lieu tenant in the bad shape. member Iha t whcll she stopped brca lhi nt:: I Ruyal Naval Air Force. In I!Y.?Q a tire blew out By tutoring and b y tIlt' grace of sluden t said In mv~e, l r. ' Now a t l ~~ r ~ hf' kll ow;:;.'·· ; ,~ Iw W ; I ~ spt'f"d i n'{ :1 lnng " h i~ h wa \' ncar Trcn- loans, he {WI hi ~ (Contin urd on I'a!l(' 44) 44 THE SATURDAY EVE N ING l'OS "l" chort!!: girls, and with some less.g!amorous Rifkind had left , C rater resumed hi s What Happened to .J udge Crater? females such as Vivian Gordon. a prom task with the files. (Continued from Page 21) inent madam who was to pass o ut of the For a judge supposedly on vllcation picture later, courtesy of gangland as this was an unusual activity, but even law degree from Columbia Uni versity in done was borne chieHy by one of the sassins. For some years Crater had reg more unusual actions were to come. At 1913. The dilY Joe passed hi s slale bar junior partners, Simon H. Rifkind. The ularly visited the apartment of a sales about eleven o'clock Crater buued for examination he mel Stella Wheeler. a other junior, Francis J . Quillinan, a son woman fo r a midtown dress sho p, who Joseph L Mara, his confidential attend young woman from Orange County. in-law of ex-Gov. Alfred E. Smith, was was a model when they first met. In ant who was on duty in the outer office. She had made an unhappy marriage. less familiar with the local ropes, having practical fashion Crater had paid only C rater's secretary, Frederick A. Johnson, In 1917 Joe C rater obtained a divorce for spent most of his legal career upstate in that portion of the rent which hi s para was there too. Mara entered the sanctum. her, and a week later married hcr. Troy. Rifkind confided his troubles to a mour's income couldn't meet. Crater was Cra ter handed him two checks made out In 1930, when he vanished . Ihe fa ct city police detect.ive who, under an in no plunger. His stock-market investments to "Cash. " One was drawn against Cra Ihal he had actua lly disappeared was formal arrangement, often acted as Sen were made mostly in fi\'e-share lots. He tcr's account at the Chase National Bank. slow in dawning o n those who knew him ator Wagner's bodyguard. The detective liked to watch the horses run, but rarely It was for $3000. The other, for S2 100, intimately. His wife was Ihc firsllo sense began looking around privately. wagered morc than a few dollars at a was drawn against his account at the that something was amiss. The Craters Rifkind's ma in problem, which was to time. His sole extravagance was clothes. Empire Trust Company. had been spending thc summer at Bel produce the absent judge before August He had an extensive wardrobe of suits, Crater to ld Mara to cash the checks grade Lakes, Maine. where they owned a twenty-fifth, when the court reopened made by a good tailor, and had three fo r bills of large denominations. Mara cOllage. On the afternoon of August 3, after its summer holiday, would have more on order when he va ni shed. came back from the banks with the bills 1930, a Sunday. Crater had received a been simplified had Crater been an alco in two envelopes, Without bothering to long-distance telephone call which seemed holic given to periodic binges. Unfor Cratcr, the grand jury found. had made look inside them, C rater stuffed the enve to perturb him. He decided to lea ve for tunately for Rifkind, a strict Metho two trips that summer from Belgrade lopes in the inside pocket of his COOl. New York immediately by train. C rater dist upbringing had left Crater almost a Lakes to New Yo rk. The first was made (Crater had been building up his ready. was not thc kind o f husband who confides total abstainer. His favorite tipple was toward the end of July. Its highlight was cash posi ti on for some time. During late business details to his wife, and she was orange juice. He abhorred cigarettes a weekend at an Allantic City hotel spent May and early June he had withdrawn content to have it that way, All he said and cigars, and sporadically tried pipe with two male cronies and four women. S7000 in large bills from an account in in taking hi s departure was something smoking but never succeeded in making C rater got back to Belgrade Lakes on the International T rust Company and about having to "stntighten those fellows it a habit. Saturday, August second, intending to had had hi s bl-oker sell batches of stocks out," a statement that to this day remains The August twenty-fifth deadline came get a long rest, only to receive on Sunday, whose to tal yield, also taken in cash. completely enigmatic, Crater promised and went, and there was still no sign of August third, the long-distance call , men amounted to SI 5,799.86.) that he would return on the foll owing Justice Crater. Apparently his fellow ti oned earlier, which abruptly pulled him Saturday, August ninth. That was the judges assumed that he was merely tardy, back to New York. M ara retired to the outer office. Crater last his wife eve r saw of him. as they didn't begin asking questions His actions during tt.": next three days buued for Johnson and borrowed a brief· When he failed to ret urn on Saturday, unUi a week o r SO later. At this point fo llowed no discernible pattern. He was case from him. Jo hnson then retired to or even to explain his tardiness by tele Rifk ind decided that something drastic. at his Fifth Avenue apartment in the the outer office. Crater seemed to be phone, Mrs. C rater felt some anxiety. On possibly a crime of violence, had befallen early forenoon of Monday, August fourth, rather secretive about the whole o pera Sunday she repeatedly rang up thei r Crater. On the a fternoon of September when the maid arrived. He inst ructed her tio n. With thc door between the sa nctum apartmenl at 40 Fifth Avenue, but got third, exactly four weeks after Crater had to return on Thursday and straighten up, and outer office closed, he crammed pa no answer. On MondilY she scnt their been last seen by friends, Rifkind went to but added that after that her services pers in to the borrowed briefcuse and his chauffeur to New York in the Crater police headquarters and made a full re-. would not be required until A ugust own. and ulso filled six gusseted card limo usine to make private inquiry of his porI. In the next morning's newspapers twenty-fifth, when he had to be present board folders. He buued for Mara again whereabouts (Confjnun/ from PQgI' 44) who had done town and had givcn a business·building fruslralion the cilY withdrew its SSOOO the searching and wanted to know how the address. Von Wcisenstcin was in the town reward and the Missing Persons Burea u secret drawer had escaped their allention. ne;!!;t rorenoon and was elated to nOle on ran down ti ps only in the metropolitan II hadn't, thedettctivese;!!;plained; lhey had the lobby d irectory that the man was a area. Tips from farther away were re· located it, examined it a nd closed it, and lawyer. Five minutes laler he was racing layed to local cops for investigation. This il hadn'l contained any envelopes althat the man across his desk and was about to method is still rollowed. time. The d istrict attorney asked whether greet him with "Good morning, judge," 1be durable Cratel mystery has almost it held anything at all. One detective re· whcn the laYl)'cr stood up and extended as many buffs as the exploils o f the great called having seen a lady's ornamental hi s hand. He was Crater's doubtc-e;!!;· fictional deteclive Sherlock Holmes, and fan, and described it in detail. The dis· cept that he was shoner by a head. He they argue long and ruriously about what (rict a ttorncy checked back wilh Mrs. readily admitted Ihe shipboard dalliance became of him. Was he murdcred by a Cratcr. She corroborated the detective's and, because von Weisenstein looked so gunman crouched in Ihe dark recesses of Slalemen! in full . dejected o\'er failure of his mission, look the jumbo-sized cab ? Or did he commit T his plainly meant that at some time him out to lunch to cheer him up. suicide, or flee to avoid becoming en· between September 4, 1930 and Janua ry The relentless search had its humorous meshed in the reform movemenl already 21 . 193 I someone, either the missing judge aspects. One of these began with the boiling up in what was to be known as o r a trusted person acting in his behalr, receipt of a letter from Georgia, which lhe Seabury invesligation? Was he taken had gained entrance to thc apartment, stated that a ta ll man, who looked like . to a gang hideoul, rubbed out, packaged placed the four envelopes in the secret Craler and spoke like a Yankee, had fo r in a barrel of concrete and dumped inlo drawer and got away unnoticed. A piece several months been li ving in a cabin a rivcr? Was he killed in resiSling an of internal evidence in the confidential some dislance from Atlanta with a ordinary holdup? Or for refusing to give memorandum strongly indicated that the poor·white woman who took in wash· in ·to blackmailers? This last theory's deed had been done prio r to September jng. Von Weisenstein, arriving in Atlanta most informed proponent is Emil K. tcnth. The memorandum was a list of by train, rented a car and set out to Ellis, lawyer for Stella Crater, who in sums purportedly due Crater for personal follow the d irections given in the letter. 1938 had the missing judge declared loans (the biggest was for S6OOO) and for Soon he was in the Appalachian fOOl· legally dead, paving the way for her mar· counsel rees in such legal proceedings as hills, bumpi{lg over rutted roads. He riage 10 an engineer named Carl Kun2;. receiverships and bankruplcies. One entry found the cabin in a clearing. Benealh a Less than a year ago one set or "he was: " I loaned S,OOO. His note is big shade tree a gumpy muscular woman was.-murdered" butTs. using a map drawn enclOSCtl. II is to be paid Sept. 10. Be sure was bent over a washtub, scrubbing by a Dutch clairvoyant without leaving and get in touch with him. He will pay clothes in a stolid, mechanical manner. A Holland. dug up thc yard of a West· il at once." big copper kell1e boiled over a n oUldoor chester County house where, lhe seer The memorandum, maddcningly to the fire. Fifty yards away, under another said, the body was buried. If it was, the police, was itself undated. It may have shade tree, a man sat slouched in a digging party couldn't find it. been written before Crater's disappear. rickety easy chair. The inflow of tips today is small, ac· ance on August sixth o r at some time His suit was appallingly rumpled, and cording 10 It. John J . Cronin, the present between then and September ninth. It he was gazing Ihrough a rirt in the Irees head oflhe Missing Persons Bureau : bu' was scrawled in pencil on three sheets o f at a faraway hill. He barely bothered 10 the Crater enigma still has drawing power. legal foolscap, obviously when its aU lhor glance up as the deleclive walked toward The expression " 10 pull a Judge Crater," was in a highly nervous state. No firm him. One look at the lounger's face or some variant o f it, seems 10 be under· infcrences could be drawn rrom it. How. convinced the detective that he had stood when used, as it sometimes is. by ever, it did j ustiry a guess that lhe aUlhor drawn another blank, but his curiosity lelevision and radio comics. And in the had reached an acute personal crisis and moved him to slay and ask a few ques- cast of lhe currently popular Broadway probably had becn threatened with in· lions. All the lounger would say was Ihat musical Fiort'lIo! he appears under the jury, disgrace or extinction. he was from a Jersey suburb of New slighlly altered name or"Judgc Carter" For a tong lime aftcr Crater's disap York, was a n accountant by occupation a debut thai must gralify the Broadway. pearance st rangers were being mistaken and had always wanted to go off some· loving Crater if he is still alive. for him all over the United States and in where and dream. Joe loved thc New York of the morally some foreign countries. The newspapers "Haven't you ever wanted 10 squat anarchic 1920's, surely one of the craziest played up the police search, and the New and just let your mind wander?" he decades in history. It was the decade of York cilY ralhers put up a SSOOO reward. asked the visilor sharply. the easy buck, of the crowded speak. The desire to find the errant judge grew Von Weisenstein replied Ihat he o rten easies and or Prohibition bootleggers and into a national craze li ke mah.jongg, and had, but had never got around to doing it. their dolls: the era of gang assaSSinations. the staff of the Missing Persons Bureau .... does lake a ceTiain amounl or en· and Jimmy Walker in City Hall. Crater was run ragged chasing down the more terprise," the man said. " If you havcn't loved it all and he tried to embrace it all, promising tips. One detective remarked got it, you haven't got it." but in the end it consumed him. He en· glumly, "You name the place and the The Crater search grew more and more lered it a ma n, and all it left of him was a judge has been seen there." costly, and arter two or three years of bloodless puzzle. THE END The police departmenl printed up mo re than 100,000 " Missing" circulars and Hooded post offices, police forces and hotels with them. Postmasters in hunting areas were asked to call them to the attention o f wilderness guides. Passport otfars were asked to walch for sus· picious applications. Passenger vessels tacked circulars on their bullelin boards, and Ihis led to one or the Missing Persons Bureau's closest near·misses. 1be tip came from a Washington, D.C., matron who had just returned from a coastal cruise during which the desk...chair gos· sipers had spoiled an affair between a neatly dressed man of middle age and a young woman who occupied adjoining staterooms. The man, according to the tipstcr, was the image or Craler as shown by the portrait on a "Missing" circular she had seen in the lounge-the high slarched collar (Crater wore his 10 con· ceal a scrawny, sitt-14 neck), the dis· proportionally small head (Craler weighed 18S pounds and his hat size was 6 % ), the thinning dark hair parted in the middle, slightly Haring nostrils. the wide, sensual mouth, and so on. The tipsier had given the man's name and the number of his stateroom, and Detective Jacob von Weisenstein, to whom the lead was assigned. called at the " Relax . II's just milk." ship line's offices. 1be records showed that the man was rrom a New England