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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2015 15:02:15 GMT -5
Thanks, Michael, for the link about the Neff extortion letter. Did some reading on this and what a tragic history surrounds this young man's suicide. William hung himself in 1928, Two years before that (1926) his mother dies in a mysterious house fire at the family vacation home. Then in 1931 William's father, Nettleton Neff, commits suicide by handgun in his office. He left two daughters 23 and 19 as survivors.
It seems the extortion note asking for $50,000 was sent the day William's body was discovered and someone tried to take advantage of what William did to himself. This extortion attempt was in the same year as the St. John Smith letters. It was believed that Smith also committed suicide and that may be just what happened. About 8 years after Frances Smith died her second cousin also killed himself.
How sad and tragic for both these families.
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Post by hurtelable on Sept 11, 2015 16:22:02 GMT -5
My intuitive guess is that it would just be common sense for Dwight Morrow, for whom the Constance Morrow ransom note was intended (he was the father with the deep pockets) and who was a partner at J. P. Morgan, to keep the note in the JP Morgan vault for safekeeping. I'm sure he showed it to the police right after he saw it and I'd be almost be certain that he got police approval to store the note at Morgan, after some time passed and Constance stayed safe with protection. I wouldn't read anything unusual into this scenario.
After CAL Jr. was purportedly kidnapped, it would nave been perfectly logical for law enforcement to explore the possibility that the two ransom note writers in the two cases were the same, so the Constance Morrow not was retrieved from the Morgan vault in order to do the comparison.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2016 20:38:48 GMT -5
Michael,
Bill Norris talks about some of the letters Gov. Hoffman received when he started to investigate the Lindbergh case. He mentions that many were anonymous and some were from people who begged Hoffman to keep their identity confidential. Some of these letters involve the Morrow family. There were letters that spoke about Dwight Morrow Sr. having an illegitimate son.
One letter Bill has in his book is on page 95, Chapter Eleven (paperback edition). The writer of this letter does not give their name. However, this writer does mention a Morrow who was treated at a hospital for the insane in Beacon NY. The writer says that this son escaped from the hospital two days before the kidnapping of Charlie. Since the Morrows tried very hard to keep the treatment of Dwight Jr. a private matter, someone writing a letter like this naming the location of the hospital where Dwight was being treated, should have caught the attention of Gov. Hoffman, even if the person didn't sign it.
This letter may have been written by an employee of Craig House who knew there was a Morrow son being treated there. Did Gov. Hoffman ever send anyone to Beacon, NY to check out Craig House? Was Gov. Hoffman ever concerned about doing things that might upset the Morrow family?
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Post by Michael on Mar 28, 2016 17:41:33 GMT -5
This letter may have been written by an employee of Craig House who knew there was a Morrow son being treated there. Did Gov. Hoffman ever send anyone to Beacon, NY to check out Craig House? Not that I know of. I've never seen any letter, report, or memo at the Archives referencing such a visit. Several people wrote to him asserting they knew he was unaccounted for at the sanitarium days (or weeks) before the crime. In a letter written in 1939 Hoffman wrote: "Dwight Morrow, Jr. was a student at Amherst College. It seems to be pretty well established that he had a nervous breakdown and had been confined in a sanitarioum. Some of the rumors are to the effect that he had escaped from the sanitarium at the time the crime occurred, but it is just one of those things that cannot seem to be substantiated. The officials of the sanitarium, of course, refused to give out any information concerning their patients and, naturally, the family, if the rumor were true, would endeavor to cover up the fact." I suppose one could conclude that such a visit at his direction occurred in order for him to make such a statement. Still though, it could be coming from someone Else that did independent of his direction then chose to share the information. Was Gov. Hoffman ever concerned about doing things that might upset the Morrow family? If you read what he wrote above, it seems to show he's not really concerned. What he was concerned about was his image if he went too far, or was wrong about something as it related to them. Know what I mean? In my opinion he was convinced someone in either the Lindbergh or Morrow families knew more then was public. This personal conviction emboldened him.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2016 15:59:00 GMT -5
Several people wrote to him asserting they knew he was unaccounted for at the sanitarium days (or weeks) before the crime. For example, a Court Reporter claimed his brother was Private Investigator Ted Ransom who told him he had discovered this was true. When I read this claim I immediately knew that the Ransom Detective Agency had several PIs working on this crime in the early stages of this case. So this makes it a possibility but isn't proof of anything because we don't know what he discovered which led him to this conclusion. I think I have encountered reading something about the Ransom Detective Agency. It might have been in one of Hoffman's Liberty articles, not positive though. Thinking about the above, in order to be unaccounted for then wouldn't you have needed to be there to begin with? I understand that we will never be able to account for Dwight Jr's whereabouts previous to the kidnapping. Norris does say on page 96 of Chapter Eleven that Dwight was seen by reporters at Amherst the afternoon following the kidnapping. I guess that is the best we are going to do when it comes to Dwight; we know he was at Amherst on March 2.
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Post by sweetwater on Mar 30, 2016 0:40:53 GMT -5
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Post by xjd on Mar 31, 2016 7:13:17 GMT -5
very fascinating collection, i would love to look it over. am i correct in that the link just describes what's in the collection etc. and does not have scanned images of the documents? one would have to go to the Library noted to view?
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Post by hurtelable on Mar 31, 2016 11:26:55 GMT -5
Michael, Bill Norris talks about some of the letters Gov. Hoffman received when he started to investigate the Lindbergh case. He mentions that many were anonymous and some were from people who begged Hoffman to keep their identity confidential. Some of these letters involve the Morrow family. There were letters that spoke about Dwight Morrow Sr. having an illegitimate son. One letter Bill has in his book is on page 95, Chapter Eleven (paperback edition). The writer of this letter does not give their name. However, this writer does mention a Morrow who was treated at a hospital for the insane in Beacon NY. The writer says that this son escaped from the hospital two days before the kidnapping of Charlie. Since the Morrows tried very hard to keep the treatment of Dwight Jr. a private matter, someone writing a letter like this naming the location of the hospital where Dwight was being treated, should have caught the attention of Gov. Hoffman, even if the person didn't sign it. This letter may have been written by an employee of Craig House who knew there was a Morrow son being treated there. Did Gov. Hoffman ever send anyone to Beacon, NY to check out Craig House? Was Gov. Hoffman ever concerned about doing things that might upset the Morrow family? From what I've read briefly about Dwight Morrow, Jr., it seems as if he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at some time during his undergrad days at Amherst. This is a typical age for the onset of this problem. But the rest of the history of Morrow, Jr. seems very untypical for schizophrenics during that era, since it was many decades before effective treatments for schizophrenia were developed. I don't know what treatment he received, but he must have improved dramatically, because he eventually earned Ph.D. and law degrees from Harvard, and had a successful professional career as an academic. And he had no criminal history that we know of. This marked improvement his illness would have to be considered a medical miracle at that time. As long as we are looking at the Morrow family in possible connection to the LKC, the name of Dwight Jr.'s older sister, Elisabeth, could be mentioned. Noel Behn concludes in "Lindbergh: The Crime" that Elizabeth's erratic behavior caused the death of her nephew Charlie during the weekend before the purported kidnapping.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2016 20:45:21 GMT -5
very fascinating collection, i would love to look it over. am i correct in that the link just describes what's in the collection etc. and does not have scanned images of the documents? one would have to go to the Library noted to view? Yes. That link describes what is in the collection. I have searched the digital collections at Yale and have not been able to come up with any images from this collection. You can see the collection at the Library.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2016 21:14:33 GMT -5
From what I've read briefly about Dwight Morrow, Jr., it seems as if he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at some time during his undergrad days at Amherst. This is a typical age for the onset of this problem. But the rest of the history of Morrow, Jr. seems very untypical for schizophrenics during that era, since it was many decades before effective treatments for schizophrenia were developed. I don't know what treatment he received, but he must have improved dramatically, because he eventually earned Ph.D. and law degrees from Harvard, and had a successful professional career as an academic. And he had no criminal history that we know of. This marked improvement his illness would have to be considered a medical miracle at that time. The onset of Dwight Jr.'s mental illness started in 1928 when he was a senior in high school. From what I understand, it is an illness that he dealt with all his adult life. As more effective treatments became available, Dwight benefited from them and enjoyed success in his life. He was a very intelligent and determined man. John Nash, a Princeton professor and Noble Prize winner (A Beautiful Mind), fought a successful battle with paranoid schizophrenia. Not all people with this illness commit crimes or end up in institutions permanently. Medical intervention along with the love and support of people who care play a major role in shaping the future for people with his condition.
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Post by stella7 on Mar 31, 2016 22:07:05 GMT -5
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Post by Michael on Apr 1, 2016 14:26:53 GMT -5
Yes. That link describes what is in the collection. I have searched the digital collections at Yale and have not been able to come up with any images from this collection. You can see the collection at the Library. I recommend to anyone planning on a visit to call ahead to make sure permission isn't needed first just as a precaution. I know that when Bill went through some of the files there he had to get it before he could search through anything.
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Post by hurtelable on Apr 2, 2016 9:36:41 GMT -5
Regarding Dwight Jr.'s mental illness, a couple of important points here:
(1) His age at the onset of his condition, even if it was his senior year of high school as you say, is very typical. Schizophrenia generally begins in late adolescence to young adulthood. (In John Nash's case, it began a little later, in his late twenties(?), which enabled him to have a productive career as a brilliant mathematician before he became incapacitated.)
(2) The development and availability of pharmacological treatments for schizophrenia, starting in the 1960s, were transformative breakthroughs, greatly improving the chances of enabling patients to regain general functionality, and in doing so, decreasing mental hospital populations significantly. Dwight Jr. couldn't have benefited from pharmacological intervention until he was in his 50s, which is why I stated that the remission of his disease before then was a medical miracle, in so far as can be determined. (On the other hand, John Nash, who was significantly younger, had the advantage of access to pharmacotherapy at a younger age, and thus had a better chance for recovery.)
(3) Victims of schizophrenia oftentimes have genetic predispositions and family members with histories of mental illness. This was true in Dwight Jr.'s case, in so far as we can glean. Dwight Sr. suffered from some condition which would be described during that era as "diffidence" (perhaps it would today be called a mild form of autism) and sister Elisabeth was known to demonstrate erratic behavior. Since psychiatry as a medical science was in its infancy in the early twentieth century, it's difficult to be more precise.
(4) Emotional trauma and stress can also be factors in the onset or exacerbation of schizophrenia. In this regard, Dwight Jr. went through the purported kidnapping and death of his nephew Charlie, kidnapping threats against his sister Constance, and subsequently the burglary of his Harvard residence, where personal papers were removed. All of these had to be traumatic experiences for him, assuming at the times they occurred he had some handle on reality. It's more likely that the kidnapping and death of his little nephew caused or at least contributed to his mental illness, rather than his mental illness causing in some way the kidnapping and/or death of little Charlie.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2016 19:34:57 GMT -5
(2) The development and availability of pharmacological treatments for schizophrenia, starting in the 1960s, were transformative breakthroughs, greatly improving the chances of enabling patients to regain general functionality, and in doing so, decreasing mental hospital populations significantly. Dwight Jr. couldn't have benefited from pharmacological intervention until he was in his 50s, which is why I stated that the remission of his disease before then was a medical miracle, in so far as can be determined. (On the other hand, John Nash, who was significantly younger, had the advantage of access to pharmacotherapy at a younger age, and thus had a better chance for recovery.) Schizophrenia in the first half of the 20th century was treated mostly with what they called "shock" therapies. Insulin shock which would put the patient into a coma from 1 to 4 hours; Artificial Fever Therapy where they would elevate the body temperature and then sustain that for a period of time; Electroshock therapy causing seizures with electricity. There was also the Lobotomy procedure where they would drill small holes into the skull and then scrap or cut away the connecting tissue of the pre-frontal cortex/frontal lobes of the brain. They also used what was called Metrazol drug therapy which induced seizures. The use of sedatives to suppress the patient's nervous system was also employed. How exactly Dwight Jr.'s episodes were treated is something we do not know, although I think it is safe to assume that a Lobotomy was never done. Since he was able to recover from each episode and move ahead with his life, he must have received the best available care each time.
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Post by xjd on Apr 4, 2016 8:27:27 GMT -5
[/quote]Schizophrenia in the first half of the 20th century was treated mostly with what they called "shock" therapies. Insulin shock which would put the patient into a coma from 1 to 4 hours; Artificial Fever Therapy where they would elevate the body temperature and then sustain that for a period of time; Electroshock therapy causing seizures with electricity. There was also the Lobotomy procedure where they would drill small holes into the skull and then scrap or cut away the connecting tissue of the pre-frontal cortex/frontal lobes of the brain. They also used what was called Metrazol drug therapy which induced seizures. The use of sedatives to suppress the patient's nervous system was also employed.
all of the above are absolutely horrific, i'm glad science has come a long way since then.
was the motive for the break-in of Dwight Jr.'s room ever officially explained? seems a weird thing to have happen.
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Post by hurtelable on Apr 4, 2016 9:11:33 GMT -5
I was about to make pretty much the same comment, xjd. These "treatments" could not be justified by any controlled scientific studies. They frequently did the patient more harm than good. Today they would obviously be categorized as quackery, as would other medical "treatments" common in the early twentieth century and for centuries before then, used because real medical science at the time had no answers.
Furthermore, high socioeconomic status of a patient did not necessarily prevent him or her from being victimized by the medical quackery of the time, so it is possible that Dwight Jr. received one of the "treatments" which amy35 mentioned. Dwight Jr. quite possibly experienced a remission in his schizophrenia without any specific treatment, other than supportive care by loved ones. That was a very rare outcome at the time, which made me describe his course as a medical miracle. It would be helpful if someone interested could go through the Yale Library papers which could probably shed more light on the course of his illness and treatment.
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Post by Patty Ann on Feb 4, 2022 14:43:02 GMT -5
So much of his actions and behavior remind me of my cousins son Phillip, who is an extremely high functioning autism. There have been other family members in previous generations with “0 odd behavior”. Also consider Asperger syndrome. I’m just beginning to read about him so forgive my early input. It was such a struggle to get an appropriate diagnosis for him in the 1970’s. We recognize similar symptoms and have picked up on Asperger syndrome in a nephew. I remember how the miss diagnoses of “deafness” for one and “Childhood Schizophrenia”. So much was blamed on parenting.
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