The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress (41 page)

DISTRICT ATTORNEY THOMAS CRAIN
was denounced as senile and incompetent by the influential City Club of New York on March 7, 1931, after failing to get an indictment in the disappearance of Joseph Crater. Governor Franklin Roosevelt appointed a panel to examine the district attorney’s record.

SAMUEL SEABURY
led the investigation to determine whether any judges in the state of New York had purchased their seats on the state supreme court. Joseph Crater disappeared before he could give testimony to the grand jury, Vivian Gordon was murdered, and several other key witnesses invoked their Fifth Amendment right. Despite attempts over several years to convict him, Martin Healy was acquitted three separate times. Although Seabury was unable to get a conviction, he did manage to become an “implacable enemy” of Tammany Hall. His investigations brought to light the inner workings of that political organization and forced its members to testify before various grand juries and public hearings. Whatever else he may have failed to accomplish, in his battle with Tammany Hall, Seabury put an end to business as usual.

LEO LOWENTHALL
was one of many NYPD detectives assigned to Missing Persons File No. 13595. The case was quietly shelved less than a year after being opened and has been only nominally investigated since. The possible involvement of the NYPD in Crater’s death is a popular theory among those enthralled with the case. This theory gained credence in 2005 with the discovery of a letter written by a woman in Queens named Stella Ferrucci-Good. Found after her death, it claimed that Crater was killed by her husband, a former NYPD detective, and buried beneath the pier at Coney Island.

WILLIAM KLEIN
was an attorney for the Shubert Theatre Corporation. He was, along with Sally Lou Ritz, one of the last two people on record to see Crater alive. There has been much speculation through the years as to whether Ritz was his girlfriend or Crater’s mistress. In their statements to police, both Ritz and Klein claimed to have been an item—a convenient fiction had they been trying to provide each other with an alibi. Regardless, both were adamant that they were with Crater at Billy Haas’s Chophouse—not Club Abbey—the night he disappeared. It is interesting to note that records show Crater and Klein visiting Club Abbey at least twice after the judge returned from Maine.

DONALD SMITHSON
is a product of my imagination.

EMMA WHEELER
arrived in New York City to comfort her daughter at the end of August 1930. According to Stella’s memoir, Emma was a constant source of comfort and companionship in the years following Judge Crater’s disappearance.

SIMON RIFKIND
replaced Joseph Crater as a law secretary when he was appointed to the New York State Supreme Court. They were friends and associates. It is believed that he collected and deposited Crater’s paychecks for several months after the judge’s disappearance. It is not known whether he did this of his own volition or at Stella’s request. Regardless, authorities suspected that there was much about the Crater disappearance that he never revealed.

FRED KAHLER
worked as a chauffeur for the Craters for three years. In the weeks after Joseph Crater’s disappearance, he was an invaluable
source of information to Stella. She sent him to New York on at least one occasion to inquire after her husband’s whereabouts; his report back to Maine detailed his conversations with Crater’s associates and their insistence that he stop asking questions. Later that year, unable to pay him, Stella let Kahler go but gave him their car as payment for back wages.

FATHER FINN DONNEGAL
is a another product of my imagination.

SHORTY PETAK
was inspired by a good friend of mine. He knows who he is. And I hope he will forgive me for portraying him as such a lecher when he is, in fact, one of my all-time favorite people. I wouldn’t have allowed him in my wedding otherwise.

OWNEY MADDEN
was an infamous gangster and bootlegger of New York City’s Jazz Age. He owned a number of speakeasies, including Club Abbey, and was a frequent financial backer of Broadway shows. He was exiled to Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1935 after the murder of fellow gangster Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll. He died there, of natural causes, in 1965.

SALLY LOU RITZ
, a popular showgirl and rumored mistress of Joseph Crater, was one of the last people to see him alive. She testified that she had dinner with William Klein and Crater at Billy Haas’s Chophouse the night the judge disappeared. She vanished from the public record shortly thereafter. The Charley Project, a database of missing-person cold cases, officially lists her as a missing person. Most of what is written about her here comes from my imagination.

MARIA SIMON
was drawn from a single article by George Hall in the
New York World
. While it is known that the Craters had a loyal long-term maid who was in the apartment in the days after Joseph Crater vanished, no one was ever able to question her on the record regarding his disappearance. When interviewed by George Hall, she gave the name Amedia Christian. It is uncertain whether that was her real name. Her character in this story is a complete conjecture.

STELLA CRATER’S
picture was splashed across the front page of every paper in New York when her husband was declared legally dead in 1939. As a result, she was fired from her job as a switchboard operator at the Transportation
Building for fear she would bring “bad publicity.” Up until then, she had been known as Stella Clark. It has been speculated, but never proved, that she was in possession of information that would have led to her husband’s killers. She published a memoir in 1961 chronicling her side of the story.
The Empty Robe
, written with Oscar Fraley and published by Doubleday, sold well but was widely criticized as naive and melodramatic at best and purposefully dishonest at worst. In the thirty-eight years after Joseph Crater disappeared, she never missed her annual ritual. Even in death, she could not escape the shadow of her missing husband:

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1969

Died. Stella Crater Kunz, 82, former wife of New York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Force Crater, the central figure in one of the century’s classic mysteries; in Mt. Vernon, N.Y. On the evening of August 6, 1930, the recently appointed justice stepped into a taxi after attending a Manhattan dinner party and vanished. A sensational manhunt followed, but failed to turn up a clue. Crater was declared legally dead in 1939 (Stella Crater remarried in 1938), but the case remains unsolved to this day
.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I once heard that in the ancient world men and women did not personally thank those who had done them a kindness. Instead, they went out in public, to the town square or the city gates, and they told
others
about the integrity of a friend or the promise kept by a brother or the kindness of a stranger. They honored their friends and family and neighbors by speaking well of them in public. It’s a pretty image, don’t you think? Well, I’m a modern girl so I tend to think that we ought to go about it
both
ways. But humor me for a moment while I publicly thank a few people for the book you hold in your hands.

This book would not exist if not for the following people:

Stella Crater. As fascinated as we are by the disappearance of her husband, Stella’s was the
real
story. She had the courage to live her life in public. And the dignity to keep her head held high when the world was falling down around her. We will probably never know the answers to many of the questions she left behind. But who doesn’t love a good mystery?

My early readers: Melissa Dick, Bonnie Grove, Joy Jordan-Lake, Christa Allan, Alli Fernberg, and Abbie James. They gave me sharp insight and treasured friendship. I would have quit a hundred times if not for them.

I won the literary agent jackpot with Elisabeth Weed. She’s wise and funny and charming. I couldn’t ask for a better guide to help me navigate the world of publishing. Thank you for the unlikely yes.

I owe so much to the publishing wizards at Doubleday. My editor, Melissa Danaczko, championed this book from the moment it landed on her desk. She continues to do so today and I’d be lost without her
wisdom and insight. James Melia keeps me on track, on time, and in the loop. And he’s always up for a round of witty banter. Bill Thomas, Publisher of Doubleday, came up with the title and has supported this book from day one. Emily Mahon designed the cover and I’m not sure if there’s ever been a prettier book. My copyeditor, Amy Schroeder, has the patience of Job and the thoroughness of the IRS. She deserves a medal. And a vacation. Pei Koay designed the interior layout. She’s an artist in her own right. Todd Doughty, Judy Jacoby, and the publicity and marketing teams at Doubleday—geniuses all. And finally, I am so thankful for the Random House sales team who always speak of this book with an exclamation point.

I wouldn’t make it through a day without my friends at
SheReads.org
, Marybeth Whalen and Kimberly Brock. In truth, they are more than friends. They are sisters. The family I chose for myself.

And there were others who helped me along the way. My film agent, Dana Borowitz. Sarah Jio for introducing me to Elisabeth. My sister, Abby Belbeck, who isn’t afraid to entertain my children (a.k.a. The Wild Rumpus) when I’m in the writing cave. My mother, Emily Allison, for teaching me that story is the shortest distance to the human heart. Dian Belbeck. Reggie Coe. JT Ellion. Paige Crutcher. Melanie Benjamin, Caroline Leavitt, Karen Abbott, Lydia Netzer, Kelly O’Conner McNees, and Julie Kibler for your kind and gracious endorsements. All my thanks to the Master Storyteller, without Him I would be lost.

And finally, for the men in my life: my husband, Ashley, and our four sons, London, Parker, Marshall, and Riggs. Never, in all the world, has a woman been so lucky. I love you. I love you. I love you.

A Note About the Author

Cofounder of the national online book club
SheReads.org
, Ariel Lawhon lives in the rolling hills outside Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and four young sons.

Visit:
Arielallison.com
Like:
www.facebook.com/ArielLawhonAuthor

Follow:
@ArielLawhon

For more information, please visit
www.knopfdoubleday.com