True Crime Tuesday for May 6, 2014

Ariel Castro Victim Has New Memoir

Michelle Knight, who escaped from Castro's infamous house of horrors exactly one year ago, has released her memoir, Finding Me. A press release from Galley Cat is here.  In the book, she chronicles her 10 year ordeal as a captive and slave of Ariel Castro. One thing for sure, this woman is a survivor. Here's hoping she can find some healing by telling her story. Writing is therapeutic and often healing.

Stories like this can serve a useful purpose when they inspires us to forge ahead under insurmountable odds, like Michelle did. But it can also stir people to action. There are a lot more Michelle Knights out there, both men and women, whose families are still searching for them.

You can help. The Doe Network is a volunteer organization that helps law enforcement on cold cases and finding missing persons. Check out their website, and help bring home more of the missing.


This Guy Needs To Do More Homework

A man who had an argument with his girlfriend finally picked up a book. But instead of reading it, like he should, he used it to strike his girlfriend. The book, by the way, was a text from his anger management class.

Perhaps he's unclear on the concept.

For now, the suspect has been charged with criminal domestic violence and book abuse. Read more about it at The New York Daily News.


Art Dealer Who Held Nazi Loot Dies, Leaves Collection to Museum in Switzerland

Cornelius Gurlitt, the art collector whose apartment was raided by police last year and who held hundreds of pieces stolen by the Nazis, has died. In a surprise to everyone involved, he bequeathed the entire collection to the Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal.  The collection included works by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, such as the one shown here, Sitting Woman.

Gurlitt was at first defiant, complaining about the seizure and vowing not return one piece of art. Later, he began negotiations with authorities to return those artworks that were stolen to their owners, but talks broke down soon after they started. Gurlitt came to own the art through his father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, who was a favored art dealer and was chosen by Hitler to be the future director of a museum dedicated to Nazi art.

Despite the will, the Bavarian Justice Ministry has created a special task force to research the origin of the disputed artwork, and will continue its efforts to return any looted pieces.


Duchess of Devonshire Auctioned in London, May 6th 1876, Then Stolen By "Napoleon of Crime"

The famous painting Duchess of Devonshire, painted in the 18th century and based on Georgiana Cavendish, 5th Duchess of Devonshire, was auctioned in London on this date for the highest price ever paid for a work of art at the time, $51,540.00. 

The portrait has a history that could have come straight from a movie script for Indiana Jones.  It has previously disappeared in 1785 and turned up in the home of a school teacher in 1841. It eventually found its way to the home of art collector and businessman Wynn Ellis. Upon his death, the painting was auctioned.

The sale attracted a great deal of interest by art dealers, wealthy businessmen...and one criminal mastermind named Adam Worth. Worth was an American born in Massachusetts who started his life of crime by repeatedly deserting during the Civil War, each time after collecting the signing bonuses which were issued. He later graduated to pickpocketing and bank robbery before jumping the Atlantic to England, where he set himself up as a "respectable" banker. Pinkerton's Detective Agency called him "the most remarkable, most successful and most dangerous professional criminal know to modern times", and Scotland Yard referred to him as the "Napoleon of Crime". He may have been the real life model for the fictional Professor Moriarty, nemesis to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. 

Adam Worth stole the painting two weeks after the auction and it disappeared for 25 years. But by 1899 Worth was a broken man, having served a long prison term for other crimes (including a famous diamond theft). He approached the Pinkerton Agency to negotiate the return of the painting, which he still had hidden in a warehouse. In 1901 the art dealer's son traveled to Chicago from London and at the Auditorium Hotel Worth handed him the painting for an unknown sum.

To read more about this fascinating story (and to see how it ends), check out the New York Times Magazine article by Ben Macintyre, The Disappearing Duchess.

TRUE CRIME TUESDAY for November 19, 2013

German Refuses To Surrender Looted Art

The man whose apartment held 1500 works of art, some of which may have been looted by the Nazis during World War II, is refusing to cooperate with authorities to return them to their rightful owners. About 500 of the works may be stolen, including masterpieces by Matisse and Chagall.

It gets worse.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, "he is the owner of the artwork until proven otherwise". Cornelius Gurlitt reportedly told the German magazine Der Spiegel that he would not even discuss the matter with police. His refusal will make it far more difficult to reunite the stolen art with the rightful owners.

The art was seized two years ago as part of a tax fraud investigation, but the public only learned about them a few weeks ago. Countries around the world have been critical of the handling of the discovery, saying that Germany hasn't done nearly enough to return the looted art.

For his part, the 80 year old art collector says that he is a hero for saving the works from being destroyed by the Nazis. He was furious when the authorities displayed some of them to reporters, claiming they had no right to show "his private property".

You can see samples of some of the seized artwork here.

Recognize anything?

You can read more about this strange tale, including the allied soldiers who were assigned to search for such stolen art in the closing days of the war, at this link.



Book Burning Still Stirs Hard Feelings Forty Years Later

It was 40 years ago this November that the school board in Drake, North Dakota received one single complaint about a school assignment. What happened next made the town famous, or rather, infamous.

A new teacher had assigned some novels to read, including Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and James Dickey's Deliverance. After the complaint, the books were removed. The teacher had some defenders but, as an outsider in a small town, most of the citizens stood against him.

Then the books were burned. The outcry was immediate. The image of book burning was worsened by the fact that one of the works, the now classic Slaughterhouse-Five, was inspired by the author's experience as a survivor in the horrendous fire bombing of Dresden, which killed tens of thousands of civilians and burned the city to the ground.

Obviously, the people responsible for making this decision didn't bother to read the book. At the time, none of the school board seemed to understand the impact their action would create. But in hindsight, Superintendent Furhman said "it would have been better to just store them".

The teacher, Bruce Severy, resented by the town folk who blamed him for the outcry, left for Fargo with his family after his contract was not renewed and his pupils re-assigned to another class.

Today, people in town don't like to discuss the matter with outsiders. Probably for the best. None of us like to dwell on our blunders, especially when they make the national news.

To this day, the town library doesn't have a copy of Slaughterhouse-Five or Deliverance on its shelves.  But did you know that donations of used books is tax-deductible as a gift to charity? Let me know if you want the library's address.



Tip of the Week - Don't Rob a Gun Store If You're Armed With a Baseball Bat

The headline pretty much says it all, but if you'd like to read more, here's the link.

I will add this. If you're looking for your 15 minutes of fame in life, there are better ways to get it. Um, actually, all of them are better. Write a book, save a life, run for public office, volunteer at your favorite charity, start a blog (I may try this one, myself). Patent an invention, even if it's something that may only wind up being pitched on late night infomercials. And have some fun along the way.  Life is short.