The Mad Bomber of New York (47 page)

“THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR EFFORT”
: “Letters Lead to Bomber's Capture,” 5.

“I was injured on September 5th, 1931”
: Ibid.

CHAPTER XV: ALICE KELLY

Finally, it was agreed
: Considine, “How They Caught the Mad Bomber,” 25.

“You can decide where”
: Ibid.

According to Con Ed
: “Con Ed Girl Aide to Skip Reward,”
New York Journal-American
, January 24, 1957, 7; “Con-Ed and Cops Wrangle Over Who Gets the Credit for What,”
New York Daily News
, January 23, 1957, 4; “Investigate Con Edison Bomb Role,”
New York Journal-American
, January 25, 1957, 5.

Con Ed reported that
: “Edison Clerk Finds Case in File; Bomber's Words Alerted Her,”
New York Times
, January 23, 1957, 18.

At approximately 4:20 p.m.
: Ibid.

The file contained the same
: Brussel,
Casebook
, 63.

There were several typewritten letters
: “Edison Clerk Finds Case in File,” 18.

“The word ‘injustices' sort of remained
: “Girl's Memory Uncovered Clue,”
New York Journal-American
, January 22, 1957, 2.

“I think we have it!”
: “Con-Ed and Cops Wrangle Over Who Gets the Credit for What,” 4.

“kind attitude of the Police Commissioner”
: “Letters Lead to Bomber's Capture,” 5.

“WHAT ABOUT MY PEOPLE”
:
Ibid
.

“Were I alone”
: Ibid.

On the following morning
: “Didn't Call at His Home For 70 Hrs.,”
New York Herald Tribune
, January 24, 1957, 1.

Pakul, a veteran officer
: Brussel,
Casebook
, 65–66.

Under the pretext
: Ibid., 66.

At 4:37 that afternoon
: Ibid., 67. “Didn't Call at His Home For 70 Hrs.,” 2, and “Metesky Given 1-Day Stay in City Court Here,”
Waterbury Republican-American
, January 22, 1957, 12.

Commissioner Kennedy would later protest
: “Police Give Clerk Bomb-Clue Credit,”
New York Times
, January 24, 1957, 23.

At 9:00 a.m. on Monday, January 21
: Brussel,
Casebook
, 67.

CHAPTER XVI: “THE PRICE OF PEACE”

“very vague religion”
: Patrick Allitt,
Religion in America Since 1945: A History
(Columbia University Press, 2005), 31, quoting William Lee Miller.

the twentieth amendment to the U.S. Constitution
: The amendment had been ratified under FDR, and this marked the first time the event had fallen on a Sunday.

“[n]ew forces . . . stir across the earth”
:
U.S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses
(Kessinger Publishing 2004) 242–245.

a chilling fog had begun to gather
: James, “The Mad Bomber vs. Con Ed,” 45.

He called a relative
: Memorandum of interview with Detective Michael Lynch, April 15, 1957.

Kelly, recollecting his prior rancorous dealings
: Ibid.

“a good bet.”
: Ibid.

Several of the detectives
: James, “The Mad Bomber vs. Con Ed,” 46.

“It was almost like the guy”
: Ibid.

“George Metesky?” asked Captain Pakul
: The circumstances of and exchanges during Metesky's arrest are derived from Memorandum of interview with Detective Michael Lynch, April 15, 1957; Brussel,
Casebook
, 69; James, “The Mad Bomber vs. Con Ed,” 46; “To Face Check by Psychiatrists in N.Y. Hospital,”
Waterbury Republican-American
, January 23, 1957, 3.

He was wearing”
: “Sisters Shocked,” 20. See also Brussel,
Casebook
, 69.

“George couldn't hurt anybody”
: Ibid.

“an innocent, happy, strange smile”
:
Year End Review 1957,
WRCA-TV, Host Bill Ryan, December 29, 1957. Courtesy of the Paley Center.

He spoke in soft and courteous tones
: “Metesky Given 1-Day Stay in City Court Here,” 12.

“got a bum deal”
: “Suspect Is Held as ‘Mad Bomber'; He Admits Role,”
New York Times
, January 22, 1957, 1.

“Waterbury went coast-to-coast”
: “Waterbury Arrest Brings Coast-to-Coast Hookup,”
Waterbury Republican-American
, January 22, 1957, 1.

“There is absolutely no question”
: “‘Mad Bomber' Captured at Home,”
New York Herald Tribune
, January 22, 1957, 1.

Pakul commended Metesky's “remarkable memory”
: Ibid.

Their dialogue was captured
: Transcript of interrogation of George Metesky, January 22, 1957.

Following the formal interrogation
: Telephone interview with William F. Schmitt, December 10, 2009. See also Esposito and Gerstein,
Bomb Squad
, 279–280.

“Find what, George?”
: Telephone interview with William F. Schmitt, December 10, 2009.

“the items [taken from the Metesky home]”
: Memorandum of Opinion from Detective William Schmitt, Shield #909, Bomb Squad concerning,
List of Items Found At 17 Fourth Street, Waterbury, Connecticut,
dated January 24, 1957, NYC Department of Records/ Municipal Archives.

“Metesky was smiling”
: Brussel,
Casebook
, 70.

CHAPTER XVII: “YOUR NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR”

The police had privately feared
: “Police Use Extreme Caution in Dismantling ‘Bomber's' Shop,”
Bridgeport Telegram
, January 23, 1957, 6.

“This is the man”
: “N.Y. ‘Mad Bomber' Seized in State,”
Bridgeport Post
, January 22, 1957, 1.

The usually tranquil and dignified courthouse
: “Letters to Journal Trap the Mad Bomber,”
New York Journal-American
, January 23, 1957, 4.

“It is a bit unusual”
: “Judge Permits Cameramen in Court,”
Waterbury Republican-American
, January 23, 1957, 2.

“Do you understand these proceedings?”
: See “Didn't Call at His Home for 70 Hrs.,” 1, for details of arraignment and dialogue between Metesky and Judge McGill.

As they approached the steel bars
: See “Kin Refuse to Believe He's Guilty,”
New York Journal-American
, January 22, 1957, 1, for statements of Metesky's sisters and brother.

Prior to Metesky's departure
: See “Bomber Heard on Con Ed TV Show,” 5, for facts, circumstances, and all quotes regarding the John Tillman interview.

“The story of the century”
: “The ‘Bomber Story,'”
Waterbury Republican-American
, January 23, 1957, editorial page.

“The man police arrested today”
: ‘‘Bomber' Seems to Like Being in Public Eye,”
Bridgeport Telegram
, January 23, 1957, 6.

“could well have passed”
: “N.Y. ‘Mad Bomber' Seized in State,” 1.

“[t]he prisoner resembled”
: “Bomber Is Booked; Sent to Bellevue for Mental Tests,”
New York Times
, January 23, 1957, 18.

As word spread
: See “Bomber Is Booked; Sent to Bellevue for Mental Tests,” 18, for entire scene.

“impress both the officer and the prisoner”
:
Fodor's New York City 2010
(Random House, 2009), 69.

“You glad it's over”
: Ibid. See also “‘Mad Bomber' Booked, Sent to Bellevue,”
New York Herald Tribune
, January 23, 1957, 1, for entire dialogue.

The initial charges alone
: “Bomber Is Booked; Sent to Bellevue for Mental Tests,” 1.

“the poor man's legal representative”
: “Benjamin Schmier Dies at 65; A Retired Brooklyn Prosecutor,”
New York Times
, November 16, 1975, 75.

“I must however state”
: For all dialogue of Metesky's New York City arraignment” see “Transcript of Court Appearance . . . January 22, 1957.”

CHAPTER XVIII: REWARDS, ACCOLADES, AND ACCUSATIONS

“rare photographic memory”
: “Girl's Memory Uncovered Clue,” 4.

invited to the reviewing stand
: “Wants Alice Kelly to Review St. Patrick's Day Parade,”
World-Telegram and Sun
, January 26, 1957, letters page.

considered to fill an open seat
: “Con Edison Votes Stock Increase,”
New York Times
, May 21, 1957, 49.

“. . . [W]e say it's not so”
: “Con-Ed and Cops Wrangle Over Who Gets the Credit for What,” 4.

Though Arm acknowledged
: “Who Traced Bomber: Police or File Girl?”
New York Herald Tribune
, January 23, 1957, 1.

Kennedy made special public mention
: “Con-Ed and Cops Wrangle Over Who Gets the Credit for What,” 4. See also,
23
On Bomb Case To Be Promoted,
New York Times
, January 23, 1957, 19.

“The main thing is
: “Didn't Call at His Home For 70 Hrs.,” 2.

“This was not good police work”
: Ibid.

“A man has been arrested”
: “Police Give Clerk Bomb-Clue Credit,” 23.

“Police were working for five or six years”
: “Didn't Call at His Home For 70 Hrs.,” 2.

On January 14, 1957
: “Investigate Con Edison Bomb Role,” 5. See also “Bomb-Hunt Delay Laid to Con Edison By Police Sources,”
New York Times
, January 25, 1957, 1.

“Our employees have worked”
: See “Hunt for All Data on Bomber Case,”
New York Journal-American
, January 25, 1957, 7, for Brady and Forbes quotes.

“The complete investigation showed”
: Ibid.

“[Alice] was like an executive secretary”
: James, “The Mad Bomber vs. Con Ed,” 48. Detective Will Schmitt concurs with virtually every aspect of Lehane's recollection but states that the Metesky file was held by Con-Ed lawyers in a locked safe which Alice Kelly had access to. See telephone interview with William F. Schmitt, December 10, 2009.

“[a]nybody who files a just claim”
: “Police Yield Credit on Con Ed Bomber File,”
New York Daily Mirror
, January 24, 1957, 1.

“Why, with all the available clues”
: “New York, Bomber at Bay,”
New York Times
, January 27, 1957, E2.

“I have no more right”
: “‘Bomber' Reward Might Go Begging,”
New York Times
, February 16, 1957, 18.

“long and serious consideration”
: “Spurns Bomb Case Reward,”
New York Journal-American
, February 8, 1957, 1.

“I realize of course”
: “Clerk Raps Proxies' Bomber Reward Bid,”
New York Post
, February 8, 1957, 3.

“I haven't had any ill feeling”
: “Confession Pleases a Penn Station Porter Incapacitated for 11 Months by Explosion,”
New York Times
, January 23, 1957, 20.

“Most people can work their way”
: “Aged Victim of Mad Bomber Sorry for Him,”
New York Daily Mirror
, January 23, 1957, 3.

“Why not contribute the reward money”
: “Letters to the Times, Use for ‘Mad Bomber' Reward,”
New York Times
, February 19, 1957, 30.

Harland Forbes called the matter
: “‘Bomber' Reward Might Go Begging,” 18.

“You tell me”
: See telephone interview with William F. Schmitt, December 10, 2009.

There, among the stench of stale beer
: Hearst,
The Hearsts: Father and Son
, 295.

“I congratulate the
Journal-American
”
: “Tributes Heaped on Journal over Bomber Capture,”
New York Journal-American
, January 23, 1957, 5.

“
The
New York Journal-American
”
: Ibid.

“exceptional vision and dedication”
: Ibid.

“The capture of the Mad Bomber”
: “The Mad Bomber,”
New York Journal-American
, January 23, 1957, editorial page.

“one of the great journalistic coups”
: “Editor's Report: Paper Helped Trap ‘Bomber,'”
San Antonio Light
, January 27, 1957, 1.

“Under no circumstances”
: “The Reward,”
New York Journal-American
, January 25, 1957, editorial page.

Upon the arrest
: See
Night Beat
, February 14, 1957.

“esteemed compeers”
: “Telegram Lauds J-A,”
New York Journal-American
, January 25, 1957, 7.

The January 21 issue of
Time
magazine
: “Bombs Away,”
Time
, January 21, 1957.

CHAPTER XIX: A QUESTION OF COMPETENCY

Though Bellevue Hospital Center
: Arthur Zitrin,
The Psychiatric Division—Bellevue Hospital Center
,
Frontiers in General Hospital Psychiatry,
ed. Louis Linn, M.D. (International Universities Press, Inc., 1961), 414.

None other than Kris Kringle
: Mark Harris, “Checkout Time at the Asylum,”
New York Magazine
, November 16, 2008.

“most happy fellow”
: “Test Bomber's Sanity,”
New York Journal-American
, January 23, 1957, 1.

“He mingles freely
: “Metesky Takes Plight Nonchalantly,”
New York Journal-American
, January 23, 1957, 9.

“He's always smiling”
: “‘Popular' Bomber a Checker Champ,”
New York Journal-American
, March 14, 1957, 3.

The notorious and oft quoted phrase
: Zitrin,
The Psychiatric Division
, 422.

“in such a state of idiocy”
: N.Y. Laws 1939, c. 861. See also “New York Procedure for Determination of Sanity of Defendant. Desmond Act,”
Columbia Law Review
39, no. 7 (November 1939): 1262.