Eliot Ness (44 page)

Betty considered herself lucky
:
Edris Eckhardt interview, Nov. 1972, Joe Kisvardai personal collection.

Chapter 34: Ness Is Necessary

Ness Caravan narrative derived from
:
“Inside of the News in Cleveland,” CPD, Nov. 26, 1947; news clipping, CPD, Oct. 29, 1947, ENP, reel 3.

The thirty-two-year-old Higgins
:
Undated letters from personal collection of Winifred Higgins. The collection was purchased by the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington, DC, in Aug. 2012.

The narrative for the 1947 Cleveland mayoral campaign draws from
:
AI, James Jessen Badal, June 12, 2011; AI, Rebecca McFarland, May 19, 2011; AI, Arnold Sagalyn, June 9, 2011; Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 603; Condon,
Cleveland
, 243; “Inside of the News in Cleveland,” CPD, July 30, 1947; “Ness Will Liven Race for Mayor,” “There Will
Be a Contest,” CPD, July 31, 1947; “Porter on Eliot Ness,” CPD, Aug. 2, 1947; “Ness Files in Race For Mayor, Pledges ‘Rebirth’ for City,” CN, Aug. 8, 1947; “Burke Rips Finkle; Police for Me, Ness Says; Pucel Hits Big Money,” CPD, Sept. 23, 1947; “Inside of the News in Cleveland,” CPD, Sept. 24, 1947; “Fire Department Slips, Ness Says,” “Sample Vote Shows Burke Leading Foes,” CPD, Sept. 24, 1947; “Burke and Ness Collide on City’s Housekeeping; Pucel in Price Fight,” CPD, Sept. 26, 1947; “Ness Hits ‘Confusion’; Pucel Drives On with Taft Issue; Burke Sums Up,” CPD, Sept. 27, 1947; “Burke, Ness Named in Cleveland,”
New York Times
, Oct. 1, 1947; “Burke and Ness Are Nominated,” CPD, Oct. 1, 1947; “Porter on the Elections,” CPD, Oct. 2, 1947; ”The Inside of the News in Cleveland,” Oct. 5, 1947; “Ripon Clubmen Offer Ness Bushels of Tips for Victory,” CPD, Oct. 9, 1947; “Tactics of Desperation,” CPD, Oct. 20, 1947; “Porter on Silly Statements,” CPD, Oct. 27, 1947; “Ness’ 34 City Halls,” CPD, Oct. 28, 1947; “‘False Issues’ Blasted by Burke; Safety Jobs Rigged, Ness Charges,” “Inside of the News in Cleveland,” CPD, Oct. 29, 1947; “Burke Wins by Record Majority,” CPD, Nov. 5, 1947; “Cleveland Returns Democratic Mayor
,” New York Times
, Nov. 5, 1947; “Inside of the News in Cleveland,” CPD, Nov. 26, 1947; Heimel,
Eliot Ness: The Real Story
, 185; “Selling Ness to Cleveland,”
Newsweek
, Oct. 13, 1947; Porter,
Cleveland
, 104–6.

Chapter 35: Eliot-Am-Big-U-ous Ness

Narrative of Ness’s last years in Coudersport constructed from
:
AI, Franny Taft, July 1, 2011; Condon, “The Last American Hero;” Fraley, “The Real Eliot Ness;” “A Bad End for a Good Guy,” CPD, Sept. 7, 1997; Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities investigation report on North Ridge Industrial, ENP, reel 3; Heimel,
Eliot Ness: The Real Story
, 83, 188–93, 198–202; Jedick, “Eliot Ness;” “Film Crews Tracking Eliot Ness: Famous Crime Fighter Died Unheralded—But of Natural Causes—in Potter County,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, Dec. 1, 1996;
Potter Leader-Enterprise
, Nov. 24, 1971.

In 1951, the Diebold board
:
undated letters, ENP, reel 3; “There Goes Eliot Ness,”
Fortune
, Jan. 1946; “Executive Changes,”
New York Times
, April 14, 1951.

He had to scrabble for work
:
AI, Rebecca McFarland, May 19, 2011; Condon,
Cleveland
, 243; Heimel,
Eliot Ness: The Real Story
, 192–93; Jedick, “Eliot Ness.”

Betty would say that
:
“TV Brings Father Back for Son of Eliot Ness,” CPD, Oct. 17, 1959.

Cobo didn’t want
:
Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 603; ENP reel 3.

Francis Sweeney found out
:
postcards from Sweeney, ENP, reel 3.

Detective Merylo, however, had reached
:
Cleveland Police Department report on torso murder investigation, dated Mar. 15, 1943, CPHS.

In 1939 Cuyahoga County sheriff
:
Badal,
In the Wake of the Butcher
, 184–93.

Epilogue: Literary Life

Narrative of Ness’s collaboration with Fraley and Ness’s last days are constructed from
:
AI, Rebecca McFarland, May 19, 2011; Borroel,
Story of the Untouchables
,11; Fraley, “The Real Eliot Ness;” “TV Brings Father Back for Son of Eliot Ness,” CPD, Oct. 17, 1959; various unlabeled documents, ENP, reel 3; Heimel,
Eliot Ness: The Real Story
, 202; Jedick, “Eliot Ness;” “The Man Who Booked Eliot Ness,”
Miami Herald
, June 19, 1987; “Film Crews Tracking Eliot Ness: Famous Crime Fighter Died Unheralded—But of Natural Causes—in Potter County,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, Dec. 1, 1996; “We’re Still Touched by the Untouchable,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
, Sept. 11, 1997; “Walter Taylor Reminisces on Eliot Ness’s Last Years,”
Potter Leader-Enterprise
, Mar. 22, 1961; “As I Knew Eliot Ness,”
Potter Leader-Enterprise
, Nov. 24, 1971; “My Husband, Eliot Ness,”
TV Guide
, May 11, 1961.

When she died, in 1986
:
AI, Steve Resnick, June 5, 2011.

Career wrap-ups of Untouchables derived from
:
AI, Barbara Osteika, who interviewed Gardner family members; Benjey, 131; “Member of ‘Untouchables’ Who ‘Broke’ Capone Recalls Exploits,”
Los Angeles Times
, Oct. 4, 1962; NPRC, Paul Robsky, Bernard V. Cloonan, William Gardner, Martin Lahart, Joseph Leeson, Paul Robsky, and Samuel Seager; various news clippings, Scott Sroka personal collection.

Former Cleveland political insider John Patrick Butler
:
“Ness Recalled as Quiet Enforcer,” CPD, April 30, 1960.

Books

Abbott, Karen.
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(New York: Random House, 2012).

Adams, Henry.
Viktor Schreckengost and 20th-Century Design
, revised edition (Cleveland Museum of Art/Viktor Schreckengost Foundation, 2005).

Alder, Ken.
The
Lie Detectors: The History of an American Obsession
(New York: Free Press, 2007).

Anderson, Lars.
Carlisle vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner, and the Forgotten Story of Football’s Greatest Battle
(New York: Random House, 2007).

Badal, James Jessen.
In the Wake of the Butcher: Cleveland’s Torso Murders
(Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2001).

Bassett, Mark and Victoria Naumann.
Cowan Pottery and the Cleveland School
(Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1997).

Benjey, Tom.
Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs: Jim Thorpe & Pop Warner’s Carlisle Indian School Football Immortals Tackle Socialites, Bootleggers, Students, Moguls, Prejudice, the Government, Ghouls, Tooth Decay and Rum
(Carlisle, PA: Tuxedo Press, 2008).

Bergreen, Laurence.
Capone: The Man and the Era
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994).

Borroel, Roger.
The
Story of the Untouchables, as Told by Eliot Ness
(East Chicago, IN: La Villita Publications, 2010).

Brandt, Allan M.
No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States Since 1880
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1987).

Brinkley, David.
Washington Goes to War
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Buford, Kate.
Native American Son: The Life and Sporting Legend of Jim Thorpe
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010).

Burrough, Bryan.
Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI
(New York: Penguin, 2009).

Chafe, William H.
The
Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II, Second Edition
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).

Collins, Max Allan.
Butcher’s Dozen
(New York: Bantam, 1988).

Condon, George E.
Cleveland: The Best Kept Secret
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967).

Crawford, Bill.
All American: The Rise and Fall of Jim Thorpe
(Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2005).

Deford, Frank, ed.
The
Best American Sports Writing: 1993
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1993).

Eddy, Mary Baker.
Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures
(Boston: First Church of Christ, Scientist, 1994).

Eig, Jonathan.
Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America’s Most Wanted Gangster
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010).

Ferrell, Robert.
The
Strange Deaths of President Harding
(Columbia: University of Missouri, 1996).

Fraley, Oscar.
4 Against the Mob
(New York: Popular Library, 1961).

Fraley, Oscar, with Paul Robsky.
Last of the Untouchables
(New York: Pocket Books, 1962).

Grann, David.
The
Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession
(New York: Vintage, 2011).

Griffith, George P.
Life and Adventures of Revenooer No. 1
(Birmingham, AL: Gander Publishers, 1975).

Heimel, Paul W.
Eliot Ness: The Real Story
(Nashville, TN: Knox Books, 1997).

Hoffman, Dennis E.
Scarface Al and the Crime Crusaders: Chicago’s Private War against Capone
(Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993).

Irey, Elmer L., as told to William J. Slocum.
The
Tax Dodgers: The Inside of the T-Men’s War with America’s Political and Underworld Hoodlums
(New York: Greenberg, 1948).

Israel, Betsy.
Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules: A Social History of Living Single
(New York: Perennial, 2003).

Kellner, Esther.
Moonshine: Its History and Folklore
(Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1971).

Kobler, John.
Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone
(New York: Da Capo Press, 1992).

Larson, Erik.
In
the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin
(New York: Crown, 2011).

Martin, John Bartlow.
Butcher’s Dozen and Other Murders
(New York: Signet, 1952).

Maurer, David W.
The
Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man
(New York: Anchor Books, 1999).

McGill, Neil W. and William H. Perry.
Court Cases of Eliot Ness: An Exciting True Story in the Life of Eliot Ness Told by the Cleveland Prosecutor Who Worked with Him
(Fullerton, CA: Sultana Press, 1971).

McLoughlin, Maurice.
Tennis as I Play It
(New York: George H. Doran, 1915).

Murray, George.
The
Madhouse on Madison Street
(Chicago: Follett, 1965).

Napoli, Tony, with Charles Messina.
My Father, My Don: A Son’s Journey from Organized Crime to Sobriety
(Silver Spring, MD: Beckham, 2008).

Ness, Eliot, with Oscar Fraley.
The
Untouchables: The Real Story
(New York: Pocket Books, 1987).

Nickel, Steven.
Torso: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run: A True Story
(New York: Avon, 1990).

Okrent, Daniel.
Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition
(New York: Scribner, 2010).

Pierce, Bessie Louise, ed.
As
Others See Chicago: Impressions of Visitors, 1673–1933
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004).

Porter, Philip W.
Cleveland: Confused City on a Seesaw
(Columbus: Ohio State University, 1976).

Reik, Theodore.
The
Unknown Murderer
(New York: Prentice-Hall, 1945).

Rollyson, Carl.
Beautiful Exile: The Life of Martha Gellhorn
(London: Aurum Press, 2001).

Sagalyn, Arnold.
A
Promise Fulfilled: The Memoir of Arnold Sagalyn
(privately published, 2010).

Schoenberg, Robert J.
Mr. Capone
(New York: Perennial, 1993).

Schwarz, Ted.
Cleveland Curiosities: Eliot Ness & His Blundering Raid, a Busker’s Promise, the Richest Heiress
Who Never Lived, and More
(Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2010).

St. John, Robert.
This Was My World
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1953).

Sullivan, Edward Dean.
Chicago Surrenders
(New York: Vanguard, 1930).

———.
Rattling the Cup on Chicago Crime
(New York: Vanguard, 1929).

Terkel, Studs.
Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression
(New York: Pantheon Books, 1970).

———.
Talking to Myself: A Memoir of My Times
(New York: The New Press, 1994).

Tippins, Sherill.
February House
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005).

Tucker, Kenneth.
Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: The Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions
, second edition (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011).

Tynan, Kathleen.
The
Life of Kenneth Tynan
(New York: William Morrow & Co., 1987).

Vacha, John.
Meet Me on Lake Erie, Dearie! Cleveland’s Great Lakes Exposition, 1936–1937
(Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2011).

Vollmer, August.
The
Police and Modern Society: Plain Talk Based on Practical Experience
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1936).

Watts, Jill.
Mae West: An Icon in Black and White
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

Wendt, Lloyd and Herman Kogan.
Bosses in Lusty Chicago
:
The Story of Bathhouse John and Hinky Dink
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968).

Other Sources

Condon, George. “The Last American Hero,”
Cleveland
, August 1987, 88–91 and 138–42.

Covering History: Revisiting Federal Art in Cleveland 1933–43,
Cleveland Arts Foundation/Cleveland Public Library, 2006.

Durell, Ann. “Evaline Ness,”
Library Journal
, Mar. 15, 1967, 1298.

Edris Eckhardt: Visionary and Innovator in American Studio Ceramics and Glass,
Cleveland Artists Foundation, 2006.

“Evaline Ness’s Centenary,” Free Library of Philadelphia blog, posted April 21, 2011.

“Federal Prohibition Enforcement: A Report to the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement,” Department of Justice, 1930.

Fraley, Oscar. “The Real Eliot Ness.”
Coronet
, July 1961, 25-30.

Helvering, Guy T. “Intelligence Unit Bureau of Internal Revenue Treasury Department: Organization, Functions and Activities: A Narrative Briefly Descriptive of the Period 1919 to 1936,” United States Treasury, 1938.

Jedick, Peter. “Eliot Ness,”
Cleveland
, April 1976, 48–57, 91–95.

“The Method of Training Enforcement Personnel upon Their Duties and Limitations Under the Law: a Factual Outline of the Training Program,” United States Treasury Department, Bureau of Prohibition, 1930.

Michel, Joan Hess. “Evaline Ness: the Caldecott Medalist for 1967,”
American Artist
, June 1967, 32–37 and 69–73.

Ness, Eliot. “Community Policing: Vital to Victory,”
True Detective
, October 1942, 49 and 70.

———. “How to Curb Prostitution in Hotels,” Social Protection Division, Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services.

———. “The National Program of Social Protection,”
Public Welfare: The Journal of the American Public Welfare Association
, April 1943, 115–18.

———. “Venereal Disease Control in Defense,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, March 1942, 89–93.

———. “What About Girls?” Social Protection Division, Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services.

Ness, Elisabeth. “My Husband, Eliot Ness,”
TV Guide
, May 11, 1961, 5–7.

Ness, Evaline. “Evaline Ness,”
Something About the Author: Autobiography Series
, vol. 1 (Independence, KY: Gale, 1985), 223–33.

Richard, George E. “The Last Boy Scout: Eliot Ness’ Tenure as Cleveland, Ohio’s Public Safety Director,”
International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
, September 2011, 14–20.

Schmeckebier, Laurence F. “The Bureau of Prohibition: Its History, Activities and Organization.” Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1929.

Watson, Ernest W. “Ness: Rising Star in the Illustration Firmament,”
American Artist
, January 1956, 29–31 and 80–82.