Cold Case -- The Dollar I Found

Here's another entry from my file, "Cold Case -- The Trivial Stuff." This one is so cold it might be called "The Case of the Cold Cash," but to me that doesn't really describe what happened. I want to keep it closer to a descriptive title, if for no other reason than to distinguish it from other cold cases that may come up involving money. So I'll call it "The Case of the Found Dollar."

This one goes way back. Still, I think of it maybe once a year, sometimes more. This week I started thinking about it again because someone told me she found $5 in one of the self-serve checkout stands at the grocery store. In fact, she said, she's always finding money, which tempts me to stalk her. Because I could always use some "found money," if for no other reason than to spend it on things I want.

That's what I did with the original dollar at the center of this case. I probably should set the scene. If you can picture me as around 12 years old, estimating, walking through a variety store, you'll have the scene. The year was sometime in the '60s, the place at particular store at the town's shopping center that isn't there anymore. For some reason I can't remember, they went out of business. In the same space since then has been other stores.

One day, as I was shopping without any money, looking at the toys and things in that area, I looked down, my eye was drawn down, and I saw a dollar bill in the aisle. My immediate impulse, which I acted on, was to reach down and pick it up and keep it for myself. Well, I didn't keep it long, because I bought some things right then and there that I suddenly couldn't live without, I believe including one or more of the old balsam wood airplanes we used to play with. Remember, this was back with a dollar was worth something. If you're not old enough to remember that a dollar used to be worth something, ask an older person. People were paid a dollar an hour back then.

Was I happy with this find? Yes, I seem to recall I was very happy. But looking back on it now, I wonder, should I have done the right thing and sought out the original owner? Could I even now make restitution to the person? I could, but this is obviously a cold case; there's no telling who the owner could be, whether he or she missed it, and whether it's really made any difference all these years that it was lost. Probably not.

After all, how many dollars have every one of us wasted over the years, and we haven't been exactly sunk, or financially embarrassed in any way? I see people always dropping several dollars on lottery tickets and it doesn't seem to bother them. Or families taking their little hellions into the convenience store and coming out with $30 worth of junk food, pork rinds, licorice packs, 64 oz. drinks, king size candy bars, $3 ice cream bars, etc. They don't seem to care. But if I'm the dad, I take them all to the grocery store and get them one thing, and one thing only, the little brats.

OK, it's a case in the cold case file, meaning I need to sketch out some theories about what could be done if someone wanted to solve the case and find the original owner. The store itself wouldn't be any help, since it's not there anymore. And this was back before there were video cameras everywhere, so to find a tape of the incident, and back it up to see the original person drop it, would be impossible. Plus, even if there were a tape, have you ever seen surveillance tapes on current TV shows? You have a guy robbing a liquor store, the camera's right in his face, and you can't make out a single feature. Try to imagine what the cameras of the '60s would have been like! A sketch artist sitting up in the store's security booth would do a better job, even if he wasn't able to capture all the action.

I could probably put an ad in the paper, asking for anyone who might remember losing a dollar at the time in that particular store, to get ahold of me. Then, if they wanted, I could reimburse them and everyone would be happy. But I'm doubtful, very doubtful, that the person would even be alive after all these years. On the other hand, I'm still alive, so it can't be excluded entirely. It might have been another kid, since, as I said, the dollar was found in the general area of the toy section.

I could contact the police and see if they have any records from that time frame, and see if they'd mind it very much going through them to see if anyone reported a missing dollar. Their mission being to protect and serve, I'd guess they'd be happy to look through the archives, even if it took days or weeks, to see if there was any way of getting this resolved.

My counsel to anyone reading this would be, If you find money, make notes about the circumstances, check everything, get down every angle. Because you never know, someday you might feel like making restitution. And if so, it will go much better for you if you have this kind of information. Without it, you'll be in the same straits I'm in right now, wanting to do the right thing but just not knowing how.

Cold Case -- The Following Incident (1970)

COLD CASE -- THE TRIVIAL STUFF

I have another case that has presented itself, and I'm proudly including it in my Cold Case file, something to look at and perhaps solve.

Right up front, I need to stress that the evidence is slim on this one. We don't know the make or model of the vehicle involved, nor do we know the exact date, nor do we have the slightest clue as to who was driving it.

I don't usually ask for help from the public, because I'm usually able to put together a pretty strong investigation with very few clues, but in this case I'm making an exception. Please -- and let me stress that, please, if you have any information as to the identity and whereabouts of the driver in this incidence, let me know. If I can get those particulars, I'm sure it will put me pretty far ahead as to tying up any of the other loose ends.

I'm pretty sure this incident happened in 1970, and it seems like it was the fall. That means it's getting away from us somewhat, and will continue to do so the more time passes unless we can get the facts nailed down. At this point, again, not knowing the identities, etc., it could very well be that those involved are deceased, etc. But I feel it's an important enough matter that I can't let something like that stop me. It's driven me crazy all these years -- decades -- and I'd like to finally be able to put it to rest. A special note to my surviving relatives: If I should die before this is solved, please pick up the scent and follow the trail; the answers have to be out there somewhere.

The incident, the facts as I recall them are:

I was driving a car and had a female passenger, a high school friend. We were driving around the town here, when it suddenly became clear that we were being followed. It was another car, if memory serves, and it had several people in it, estimated between three and six. A driver was in the driver's seat, driving. It appeared that he was male. We proceeded on our way, not being able to ID anyone. We drove up and down several streets. They followed us maybe 20 minutes. Then I drove her to her home and we pulled in the alley/driveway and parked next to her house. The vehicle behind us continued on, speeding up the road to the north. I don't remember the make or model.

Admittedly, this isn't much to go on. And the pursuit for facts is hampered by the reality that they didn't have video cameras on every building and post back then. And even if there had been a videotape, it's likely someone would have lost it by now. Because I had videotapes in the '90s and '00s that I can't find now, mostly because they've been thrown away or donated to Goodwill. And we're talking about 1970, when video would've been on open reels, wasn't readily accessible, and in fact wasn't used for videotaping random cars, especially at night. Did I mention it was night?

The thing that's driven me crazy all these years is, Who were these guys? What did they want? With the relevance being, 1) To satisfy my curiosity, and, 2) To know if they're harassing other people yet today.

But how am I to solve the case without something to go on? That's a huge issue. Still, I'm not ready to give up!

I'm thinking my best bet might be to return to the neighborhood where the girl lived and to look around for tire marks matching 1970 and earlier model tires. If I can put together a list of tires available, then get a list from tire dealers as to who they sold tires to at the time, I might be able to narrow it down. Of course then I will have to contact everyone living from the high school, as to the model of tires they had back then. Factoring in that most people don't keep this kind of information on the tip of their tongue, I'll also ask them if they were the ones following us that night.

Like I said, that's my best bet. But there's surely other evidence still out there. I believe that everything is recorded somewhere in the Akashic and Karmic records, the difficult trick being to gain access to them. Barring that, I don't know what I'll do. Although there could be some benefit in going to the police department and asking them if they knew of any habitual followers in 1970. That would probably yield something. And I could also interview any survivors, people who lived on the streets we drove down ... but I don't remember what they were precisely. I could contact the girl passenger as well, but she didn't know at the time who the guys were, or so she said.

Lastly, and I don't know why I didn't mention this first, I could have myself hypnotized, because maybe from my subconscious I could help make a sketch of the shadowy driver, then match it up with yearbook photos.

Anyway, they don't call them cold cases for nothing. And this one is getting colder all the time. My job -- my passion -- is to make sure it's solved before it's unsolvable.

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My other cold cases are:
Cold Case -- The Trivial Stuff
Cold Case -- Errors In Books
Cold Case -- Details On "The Grandpa Case"
Cold Case -- The Two Brothers
Cold Case -- Did The Major Industrialists Hide The Flight Plan?
For those who are writing in about these cases, where the investigations stand, alas, there isn't any new evidence yet.

Did The Major Industrialists Hide The Flight Plan?

COLD CASE -- "THE AIRPLANE RIDE"

Today's post centers on certain issues from my past that perhaps could just as well be left buried. But since I've personally exhumed them many times over the years, and recently, and performed repeated autopsies on them as well, I may as well put it out there.

Admittedly, if anything, this is a subject that probably belongs to the "Cold Case" file. Because the major industrialists, in collusion with the airport, and with payoffs to the FAA and their subsidiary agencies, have thus far successfully kept the details strictly in the deep freeze.

The issue, as far as I can remember it, centers on a particular plane ride I took as a kid. The date was sometime, estimating here, between 1960 and 1966. I remember certain of the details distinctly. One, it was indeed a plane ride; that much I remember with clarity. The plane had two steering wheels. We went generally in a northeastern direction, although it was a circular flight, in that we took off and landed at the same airport. The pilot was a man. He allowed me to steer the plane for a while. And I remember looking out the window. Other than that, as to the make of the plane, the identity of the pilot, etc., I have very few memories.

It's been bothering me for several good reasons. One big reason is: I don't know how safe the plane was. Along with that, I don't know how thoroughly it was checked out or whether the pilot was a certified pilot. You can see the questions start multiplying as soon as you start asking them, and the whole subject is one enormous can of worms. Who exactly was behind this flight? What did they want with me? I was just a kid, somewhere between eight to 10 years old. An innocent. When he asked me to take the wheel, was he sleeping off a bender from the night before? Or was it meant to look like suicide?

The questions are simple enough, and there's no reason they couldn't be answered, even at this remove, assuming the principals were still alive and the records well kept. If the various participants in this little drama are deceased, still the records should be handy and available. But this is where it gets strange. There doesn't seem to be any records, and everyone is very close-lipped as to who the pilot was or any of the other operatives. They all seem to have vanished, or, even more mysteriously, to have gone underground. But who's hiding them? And what is it they've got to hide?

I called the airport and asked them about it! The airport, for those who don't know the lay of the land, my half acre and the town, is off to the southeast. Every night for the past 50+ years, however long I've been at Grandma's, I have seen the swirling airport light above the horizon. It lights the sky in its repetitive sweeping motion. It's a little dimmer now that I have a tire factory/warehouse between my window and the sky, but I see it all the same. So I have what you might call an intimate relationship with that particular airport. If anyone ought to be able to call and ask them questions, it would be me.

Anyway, I called, expecting them to go to the file and read off the information. No harm, no foul. In addition, if the pilot happened to be there, I was hoping to quiz him personally as to what he remembered. And if anyone else on the staff was out there, I figured they could either corroborate or contradict his version of the facts. So it was a real stunner to have the guy on the phone playing dumb, claiming not to know "the slightest thing" about the flight, the plane, the pilot, the file, or any other relevant details. After a few minutes of browbeating him, something went wrong with the connection, because suddenly we were cut off.

What I'm thinking, and forgive me for stating the obvious, is that there was very likely something wrong with the plane. And going along with that, it's likely that the manufacturers and the airport and the pilot knew about it all the time! I can only come to one conclusion, that the plane was manufactured by a plane manufacturer from the major industrial powers, who even then were using shoddy workmanship, then covering their tracks with payoffs to the very people who risked my life that day. It's all very cozy, I'm sure, all the snakes curled up in the nest together!

But how can I know? I want to know. But I don't see the pilot stepping forward to disavow the facts. I don't see the records in a sheaf or folder. What happened to them? Does it sound reasonable that all the other records from that time period would be present and orderly at the airport, yet that particular file would be missing? That's the conclusion I'm drawing from the guy saying on the phone that he didn't know "the slightest thing" about "the file you're talking about." Notice his use of the singular. He didn't say a word about the many other files, leading me to believe they're still present and orderly. But someone, with some ulterior motive, has lifted out that one file, and, who knows, it's might be destroyed by now.

I'm just thinking of my safety that day. If I can get some word from the pilot -- an admission of guilt -- I would likely be very forgiving. After all, I did survive, in spite of the worst they could throw at me. I just want to know. Is that so much? In addition, I'd love to hold the perpetrators legally responsible, to have them locked up, for society's protection and mine.

There's another aspect of this whole thing I should mention. They were risking my life that day with '60s technology, perhaps even technology from the '50s. That doesn't sound very responsible, convicting them of irresponsibility if nothing else. But I believe there had to be more to it than that. I think the major industrial powers, for whom I've been a burr under the saddle for the better part of six months, might've already been out to get me, because there's no limits to how much they hate me. With no limits, we can't exclude any possibility.

So all these nagging questions remain: Does the flight plan from that day still exist? Did they hide it, and where? Precisely how safe was I? Should I let it go? I'm sorry, but I can't. There's people from 50 years from now who may be on their hit list today. The airport needs to keep much better records -- maybe in triplicate -- so their questions also can be answered in the future, assuming they survive this airport's mysterious plane rides today.

Cold Case -- The Two Brothers

Here's an interesting entry for "Cold Case -- The Trivial Stuff."

I'm calling it "The Case of the Two Brothers." I'm sorry I don't have more details. The story was related to me a long time ago, and whether I ever wrote it down, I don't think I did.

But two brothers, the sons of the same father, were with their father in a particular business. It might have been hide tanning, making lard, or something to do with animal carcass processing.

The father dies and there's a conflict over the estate, which son gets control of the business. It seems like the details were all very nebulous as to the legal directives. But the short story is that one of the sons got the controlling interest and the other was left out.

I believe this story must have happened between 1910 and 1940, just going by a rough estimate based on my sketchy recall of the original telling.

Anyway, the two brothers never spoke to each other after that time. And when they died, neither one went to the other's funeral.

I can't remember where all this took place. All I can remember is that I met the son of one of the brothers, who also now is deceased. He's the one who told me.

So the mission for the "Cold Case" investigators is: To find out by discovery what the legal situation was at the time, what the papers said, what the files on the case were. And having done that, to determine what would have been the best settlement on the business. How could the two brothers each have a share, depending of course on the father's intent, which I don't believe we have established.

It's a sad story, especially that it severed their relationship, which, we would like to think, had been cordial up to that point. And the fact that neither one attended the other's funeral is very sad to think of.

I would be happy to share any other information I have on the case with qualified investigators. What I stated above is all the information I have on the case, except for the family's last name, which I'm withholding for privacy reasons.

Cold Case -- The Trivial Stuff -- A Rationale

I've stumbled on to a new vocation, investigating the forgotten past and trying to bring justice in response to certain situations.

Some investigators examine cold case murders, robberies, the various infamous cases of the past, seeking for new and better insights.

I'm doing the same kind of thing, but the cases that interest me are the ones that could be called more trivial in nature.

For example, if I hear someone telling me that a relative broke the law 50-60 years ago, even if it was only a parking offense, that's one.

I've been working on a case about a Grandpa who drove his grandchildren in a city park, not on the road, but right through the park itself. A second link.

It allegedly happened around 50 years ago.

By checking city code books -- and relying on my omnipresent common sense -- I'm starting to put together a list of laws broken by the man.

And this -- shameful -- while entertaining grandchildren! Whose lives were probably in danger at the time, and certainly their morals.

It makes a difference too. Because a lot of these grandkids have kids and grandkids of their own today ...

... Which they wouldn't have had had Grandpa's actions led to fatal injuries.

So, no, I'm sorry, it's not funny when someone breaks the law. That's true today, and it's just as true for 50+ years ago.

In fact, maybe it's worse to break the law 50 years ago, because we've had 50 years of consequences already.

But breaking the law today, there's still 50 years ahead of us and the consequences are still non-existent as of this writing.

Anyway, that's one of the cases. I believe I got a bit worked up about it there because I take this stuff ultra-seriously. It matters.

Cold Case -- Details On "The Grandpa Case"

I gained further information on yesterday's "Cold Case -- The Trivial Stuff" entry, the case of Grandpa driving a vehicle in a public park, not on the road.

I decided to interview again the person who remembered it. I didn't mention that the interview would be with the purpose of incriminating her grandfather. I find that you get more and better information if people don't realize what your true motives are. So I played it smooth, and, as expected, she sang like a bird.

With a look of happy recollection, she stated that Grandpa did indeed drive a Jeep in the city park, and not just on the roads, but over the hills and through the woods. I asked where would all the other people be? She said it was usually holidays, like Thanksgiving, and so there weren't people out in the park. Just them, grandchildren ... with one dangerous Grandpa at the wheel.

I clarified that it was Grandpa's idea to do this and not something the kids egged him on to do. That was right, she said. He seemed to like it, in fact, that they could bounce along in the park in this Jeep or Jeep-like contraption.

I asked about whether they had seat belts on. She said no. I quickly checked the laws at the time and it seems that there wasn't any seat belt restrictions then. Still, does it seem like a loving grandfather, who would let his grandchildren's lives be at greater risk by now having them properly seated and restrained?

She explained that he only had an eighth grade education. There's a possible "Cold Case" there as well.

Cold Case -- Errors In Books

This is another in my new series, "Cold Case -- The Trivial Stuff." Today, errors in books.

As you may recall from yesterday, "CC--TTS" focuses on investigating the smaller indiscretions, mistakes, and possible crimes of the past. The way I see it, the demands of justice are such that nothing should be overlooked. Otherwise injustice is allowed to prevail. Some might say, those days are over and done with, why reopen old wounds? But you can see, if that plea is allowed to stand, there's equally no reason to deal with current-day troubles. If you let one slide, the other should slide as well.

I have a case today of an error in a book. There's been lots of times in the past that I've seen errors in books and have just overlooked them, figuring various things. One, I've figured the publishing company was just sloppy. But usually I think of the typesetters of those days and the fact that they may have been tired or underpaid and just hit the wrong button on their Linotype machines. Then, perhaps knowing they made an error, they just proceeded on their way, figuring a proofreader would catch it. But these days, I'm not going to overlook it anymore. I've seen so many errors in books it's getting ridiculous.

The error I spotted recently, perhaps some would say the case has gone way cold. That's probably true. But the demands of justice, as stated above, must be served. And I believe with diligence we can have some satisfaction.

Let me describe the case.

The book is called "Hurlbut's Story of the Bible," by Rev. Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, D.D. Looking at the beginning of the book, the only date mentioned is 1904.

The error I spotted is on the page number of one of the color plates. In the listing of color illustrations, it says "Paul in the Storm at Sea" is to be found facing page 736. In actual fact, however, that illustration is facing page 712. There is no illustration facing page 736 whatsoever.

Someone messed up, prompting me to check the publisher information. W.E. Scull appears to be the publisher, since W.E. Scull entered the book in 1904 in the office of the librarian of Congress at Washington, D.C. My first thought was to email Scull (and maybe call him a numbscull for this stupid error) or send a letter. But when I started checking around, it doesn't appear that there's any current address, and no email address whatsoever. The domain wescull.com is not even registered!

Clearly this is someone trying to duck out of sight and avoid scrutiny and thereby responsibility. How many of Scull's other books were chock-full of errors? I'm seriously going to be making a survey of libraries and my own bookshelves. I want to see if we have a pattern here, or if, perhaps, this error was a rare thing. I'm thinking, No contact information, perhaps they made so many errors they're already out of business, in which case that'd be a form of justice.

A thorough investigation, with resources that go beyond mine alone, would get to the bottom of this. I would like to see the original publication files, the background materials, what the artists, typesetters, proofreaders, and editors were working with. At what point did someone drop the ball? I think we'd be able to pull apart the signatures and compare the placement of the other plates, which were all right, to see how things finally went so wrong. The illustration in question was the last of the color plates, except for maps at the very end of the book. Something went wrong right at the end.

A good guess would be: The typesetter typed the contents page just like instructed. But someone who designed the book gave him the wrong information. Then when the picture ended up facing page 712 instead of page 736 -- the color illustrations probably being inserted after the rest was printed -- they already had the contents page printed.

A close investigation would need to take the whole book apart. Plus, we might compare other known copies of the same book to see if all of them (or some of them) are wrong. Then when all the information is gathered, we can start assigning guilt. Once guilt is assigned, assuming we can get the publisher records from storage somewhere, we can contact the person responsible. If that person turns out to be dead -- which is entirely likely, since the book is already 105 years old -- we can still take whatever action seems appropriate.

UPDATE - This very edition of the book is at Google Books. At page 30, you can see the listing of color illustrations, with page 736 referring to the illustration in question. Then you go to page 712 and there it is!

Cold Case -- The Trivial Stuff

Here's a great idea for a show, bringing in lots of forensics and investigatory demands: "Cold Case -- The Trivial Stuff."

It's where they go back and try to solve some of the unknown mysteries of the world, which do present themselves from time to time in people's memories.

I heard one the other day that made me think of this. I thought, That was clearly against the law. Someone should investigate the matter, get together surviving witnesses, and see what we could do to try the person.

In this case, the alleged perpetrator is dead, but that doesn't mean we couldn't try him anyway. Just like you can pardon someone posthumously, there's no reason you can't set the record straight the other way too.

In this case, I think there might be enough surviving witnesses to convict, depending on the level of the investigation, how seriously we go into all the aspects.

Here's the case: I heard of a Grandpa who, allegedly, in the late 1950s sometime, took his grandchildren for a ride in a car or jeep through a city park. The woman I was talking to remembers being on this ride, prompting me to say, "That was surely illegal," driving his car in the city park. Not on the road but through the park itself!

I would like to open this very cold case. It's trivial, of course, but that's the whole point of the show. Let's find justice, no matter how big or small.