Box Turtle Bulletin

The Daily Agenda for Wednesday, February 17

TODAY’S AGENDA is brought to you by:

From David, May 1972, page 41. (Personal collection.)

TODAY IN HISTORY:
► Laredo D.A. Defends City’s Reputation: 1953. The District Attorney for Laredo, Texas, defended his fair city’s reputation against allegations made by a Mexican newspaper in Nuevo Laredo, just a cross the border from Laredo. El Mañana, a morning daily with wide circulation in both communities, wrote in a series of articles that many prominent citizens of Laredo were involved in homosexual activities, and it promised to run a list of names in a future article. Laredo D.A. James Kazen denounced the stories as “wholly untrue,” and successfully appealed to Judge R.D. Wright to reconvene a grand jury to investigate the reports. Kazen did acknowledge that there were homosexuals on the streets of Laredo — but only four, and two of them were outsiders who had only recently moved to town.

► 55 YEARS AGO: Chicago Police Raid Lesbian Bar: 1961. Chicago police, like New York Police, were always raiding gay bars, often for the same reasons. As in New York, gay bars in Chicago tended to have mob connections, and police raids were planned according to whether the proper protections were paid to the proper officers on the force. While raids were a routine feature of gay life in Chicago, each one nevertheless was added insult to the daily difficulties of gay life. In March of 1961, a Chicago woman who went by the name of Del Shearer (a pseudonym she used throughout her career in activism) wrote to the Daughters of Bilitis’ newsletter The Ladder to describe the latest insult:

On February 17, shortly before midnight, the police arrested some 52 people, herded them off to a Chicago jail, and charged them with presence in a disorderly house. According to Illinois statutes, all “owners, agents, and occupants” thereof are subject to arrest. First, not all were arrested. It was determined by the arresting officers on the basis of “fly fronts” who was to be taken in — “fly fronts” which were made in women’s slacks by legally owned and operated manufacturers are not illegal and thus they do not constitute disorderly conduct. Second, on the night this raid occurred, there was no apparent violence, disturbance of the peace, disorderly assembly, or legal violation. At the station those women wearing “fly fronts,” regardless of whether they wore lipstick, long hair, or earrings, were made partially to undress in order to determine whether they wore jockey shorts.  (I suppose they will now be charged with indecent exposure.) It now appears that those arrested at the discrimination of the police are to appear in courts in March, where they will face the charge against them.

Though I do not wish to go into the details of their fifteen-hour detention period, I will say that the conditions of the lockup itself, as well as their treatment, violated more than a few Illinois laws.

After briefly describing the raid — we don’t know the name of the bar was raided on that night — Shearer then went on to vent her frustration with the general feeling of resignation the gay community had about the raids:

Gay people have let their fears overpower their conscience. They’re afraid of publicity and newspapers, of public condemnation and the loss of their families’ love. They’re afraid of the big, black, threatening cloud that hangs above each and every one.

The object of the homosexual to live without fear of discrimination and persecution will never be attained without a fight. If the gay element wants its freedom, it has no choice but to fight, for freedom in this country or any country is not a thing given or guaranteed to anyone who does not hold it in highest esteem. The word fight is a frightening word.

Gay people, like many Americans, think in terms of jobs, money, reputation, and prestige. Like most Americans, they feel these are more important than either ethics or morals. For this reason, they seem to be primarily concerned about their own necks. Not only have they lost sight of their own rights, but they seem completely to have forgotten homosexual posterity. No legal miracle is going to free us or those who come after us.

If we ever hope to win our battle, we must fight. First, we must unshackle ourselves from fear, for it alone is our omnipresent enemy. We fear sacrifice, though sacrifice is called for. In any war — physical, social, civil, or international — both sides suffer; in the course of warfare, before or after, all involved must suffer. We are afraid to suffer in battle, though it may well be that our sufferings will be augmented a thousand times if we do not fight. If we do not fight, we will continue in ever-increasing numbers to be made the target of society’s and the police’s blows. We will continue to be ridiculed, persecuted, denied our legal rights, and falsely prosecuted at the command of our discriminating master. Are we to be bound as children by the fear which disorganizes us? Are we to think as children of the world filled with honey trees and sugarplum trees, where we will live happily ever after? We are a minority group and because we are, we consider ourselves orphans of society, without parents to protect us and without love. Orphans grow up, though, as we must. When they realize that they have to look out after their own interests, the sky becomes the limit. Our case is not radically different.

…Homosexuals everywhere have been made the scapegoat of society. The prejudices held against us are in most cases built out of sight of the very same scientific findings and theories with which Americans in this scientific age so cleverly rationalize their behavior — but not that of their fellow man. How long will we sit quietly and watch society kindle the flames beneath the stakes on which we burn with our own legal and moral rights?

Shearer went on to found a Chicago chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis later that year. In 1964, she was the only woman to appear among five panelists for a televised two-hour discussion on WBKB (Channel 7, which later became WLS-TV). Shearer also served as the national vice president for the Daughters of Bilitis. But there were limits to how far she was willing to take the fight. She resigned from the DOB governing board in 1965 due to her strong disagreement “at this time or in the very near future” with the tactic of picketing by East Coast homophile groups (see Apr 17, May 29, Jun 26, Jul 4, Jul 31, Aug 28, and Oct 23). And with her resignation, she also left the homophile movement entirely.

[Source: Letter to the editor from “D.S., Illinois.” The Ladder 5, no .7 (April 1961): 21-23.]

► 50 YEARS AGO: “Chicken And Bulls” Blackmail Ring Busted: 1966. A massive, multi-state blackmail ring stretching from Chicago to New York To North Carolina was broken with the arrest of nine extortionists, with eight more being sought. As The New York Times reported, the gang employed “chickens” (including college students and at least one bodybuilder) who posed as young gay men who would allow themselves to be picked up by other gay men, usually travelling businessmen, to go back to the hotel. Once there, the “chicken” would beat and rob their victims and leave. A few hours later, other men — the “bulls” — posing as policemen would arrive at the hotel for another shakedown. Saying that they had arrested a homosexual prostitute with the victim’s wallet in his possession, the “police” needed to victim to go to the station to make a statement. Fearing exposure, the victim would often offer a bribe to the “police” to make the whole problem go away. In another version of the shakedown, “police” would burst into the hotel room just when the men were in a compromising state of undress, and the shakedown would begin with the threat of arrest.

The gang’s success hinged on several factors: homosexuality was illegal everywhere except Illinois, and even there the mere threat of being publicly exposed was enough to induce the victim to do just about anything to avoid having his reputation, career and family life ruined. The ring’s longevity — it would later be revealed that it had been in operation for about a decade — was further aided by the fact that none of the victims went to the police. And why would they? They already thought they were dealing with the police. Actual police corruption was so rampant, with many of them operating their own blackmail schemes using many of the same tactics, victims had no way to tell the fake cops from the real.

To further add to the confusion, some members of the gang actually had police connections, allowing the gang to imitate police officers with a great deal of precision. John J. Pyne, the gang’s ringleader, was a retired Chicago policeman. In his home, the FBI found police badges and identification papers for almost every state, along with a variety of blank arrest warrants, charge sheets and extradition forms from several jurisdictions. As the investigation and trials unfolded over the next two years, investigators would learn that millions of dollars were extorted from over a thousand victims. The victims themselves were no lo-lifes. They included university deans, professors, military officers (including a navy admiral and two generals), several well-known actors, TV personalities (including, it’s been said, Liberace, who refused to testify before a grand jury for fear of ruining his career), and at least one U.S. Congressman. Their boldness knew no limits. Twice, they confronted Rep. Peter Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) in his Capitol Hill office, took him to a private plane to fly to New Jersey, and brought him directly to a bank where he paid a total of $50,000. They pulled a prominent surgeon out of an operating room, forcing his colleague to finish the surgery. They even went into the Pentagon and escorted Admiral William Church out of the building and to a bank where he handed over $5,000. Church later committed suicide to avoid testifying before a grand jury against his blackmailers.

Church’s suicide (and Liberace’s reticence) was indicative of the greatest problem that the FBI and New York Police Department faced in trying to break the case: almost none of the victims were willing to talk to police, let alone testify. If there is a silver lining in the whole affair, is is probably the fact that investigators had to figure out how to set aside their own prejudices, and through persistence and discretion, build a foundation of trust between themselves and the victims. The Mattachine Society was enlisted as a go-between so that victims might feel less exposed. Some judges, where they could, allowed victims to testify anonymously, or allowed victims to testify about the blackmail without going into any sexual details. These accommodations were a complete turnaround from the way law enforcement and the courts had dealt with gay people during the Lavender Scare of the 1950s. Press coverage was also markedly different. With the roster of victims including the cream of society, it was much easier to portray them with considerable sympathy. As one law enforcement official told The Times, “Extortion of money from well known persons who are homosexual or bisexual is a persistent problem. We want to alert these people who come from all walks of life that such extortion schemes exist and we want to impress upon them also that New York City detectives are no part of this disgusting racket.”

Over the next two years, various members of the ring were tried, with most found guilty and sent to prison. Pyne was sentenced to two consecutive 20-year federal prison terms. Weightlifter John Fellabaum, a ringleader who posed as a muscle-bound “chicken,” angered the judge when he forced a witness, an antiques dealer from Maine, to take the stand and publicly out himself, after which Fellabaum immediately changed his plea to guilty. The judge was outraged. “I have been sentencing people for twenty-seven years and it has been a a long time since I have come upon a case that was so revolting as your case. I think you are so steeped in filth that as I read the report I cringed, and my flesh crept as I read the depth of inequity to which you allowed yourself to sink.”

[Sources: William McGowan. “The Chicken and the Bulls” Slate (July 11, 2012). Available online here.

Angus McLaren. Sexual Blackmail: A Modern History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002): 239-242.]

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:
► Friedrich Alfred Krupp: 1854-1902. Fritz had every advantage available to one born to Germany’s most prominent industrialist family. Named for his grandfather who founded the family firm in 1811, and heir to the vast steelmaking, mining, and armaments conglomerate assembled by his father, young Fritz, at the relatively young age of 33, stepped in as head of the Krupp empire when his father suddenly died. Under Fritz, the Krupp firm developed nickel steel which would revolutionize battleship armor and cannons, and created a shipbuilding works which would go on to build Germany’s first U-Boat in 1906. Fritz also cultivated a very close working relationship and personal friendship with the Kaiser, Wilhelm II, which proved especially fruitful. His wealth and business acumen was such that crowned heads of state often negotiated contracts with him personally, while his tact and charm allowed him to resolve touchy problems whenever they arose.

Fritz’s first love though wasn’t business, but oceanography, a hobby he would pursue throughout his life. Because of poor health, he frequently traveled to the Mediterranean where he could indulge his hobby, along with another — young, exotic men. From 1898, he took up a semi-permanent residence on Capri, where he could pursue both pleasures, well out of sight of his wife and family. He was also generous with the local community, so much so that the Capri council made him an honorary citizen.

But because the burdens of business required him to spend a considerable amount of time in Berlin, he sent several of his favorites to the Hotel Bristol and arranged for their employment there with the understanding that when he was in town, they were to attend to him rather than their duties. The men quickly proved unsuitable to their tasks.

Between his time in Capri and the men he had stashed away in Berlin, stories began to leak out in the Italian press, and insinuations began to make their way into the German papers in 1902. As the stories began to leak out, Krupp’s wife was confined to a mental asylum — whether it was due to her distress or to ensure her discretion, it’s hard to say. Finally, on November 15, the Social Democratic magazine Vorwärts published an article, titled “Krupp in Capri, which boldly accused Krupp of homosexuality, including his fondness for Adolfo Schiano, an 18-year-old barber and amateur musician.

Krupp requested an audience with the Kaiser, but one week later, on the day they were to meet,, Krupp was found dead in his home, apparently of suicide, although the circumstances surrounding his death were never revealed. No autopsy was ever performed, and Krupp’s body was placed in a closed casket. Within days, Krupp’s wife was released from the asylum; her sanity apparently was miraculously restored. In a speech at Krupp’s funeral, the Kaiser denounced the Social Democrats for “lying” about Krupp’s homosexuality. His heirs then launched a libel suit against Vorwärts, but it was quietly dropped a short time later.

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?