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Post by sue75 on Oct 27, 2011 18:55:41 GMT -5
Aviator Charles Lindbergh Scored Links to York County, Pa., however Tenuous Posted on October 4, 2011 by Jim McClure
OK, here are two York County links to Charles Lindbergh wrapped into one post...
And there’s the other local connection.
A York County handwriting expert became associated with the trial of Lindbergh baby slayer Bruno Hauptmann.
Here’s a York Daily Record story (4/29/1993) about that expert, Arthur Myers, which, by the way, is more proof that York County is the center of the universe:
“Arthur Myers almost had his 15 minutes of fame. Handwriting experts from around the nation descended on Trenton, N.J., in January 1935. They were called by attorneys arguing the fate of Bruno Hauptmann, the man accused of kidnapping and killing Charles Lindbergh’s baby.
“On Jan. 11, Arthur Myers, a York man who worked as a handwriting expert in Baltimore, received his call. Hauptmann’s attorney asked Myers and his partner, F.C. Malone, to examine the 14 original ransom notes to determine if Hauptmann was the author.
“After two days of studying the notes, the men announced they could not testify for the defense. Their reasons were vague, at first. But when Hauptmann’s attorney told reporters they demanded money to testify, they quickly refuted him. “The only reason we are not testifying is that our findings were not favorable to the defense,” Myers told reporters. And that was it.
“Myers returned to York. Hauptmann was convicted and executed in 1936. And Myers continued a quiet career as a handwriting expert.
“Oh, there was the occasional article in The (Baltimore) Sun which praised Myers’ mastering of the lost art of penmanship. But it was his connection to THE TRIAL that he wanted to talk about and people wanted to hear about.
“Fifty-eight years later, in fact, it is THE TRIAL that jumps out of the 95-year-old man’s obituary notice. “He had been a self-employed handwriting expert and calligrapher,” the notice reads. “His most notable handwriting analysis was in the famous Charles A. Lindbergh kidnapping case.”
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Post by sue75 on Oct 27, 2011 19:00:12 GMT -5
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Post by sue75 on Oct 27, 2011 19:02:55 GMT -5
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Post by Michael on Oct 28, 2011 5:46:25 GMT -5
There's so much BS surrounding this guy I don't know where to begin. Like most stuff pertaining to this Case - I have a folder on him.
Firstly, he claimed to have been a Handwriting Expert at the time. Actually, he was a Penman/Artist who was studying under Malone. So they were not Partners. It was more like a Teacher/Student relationship.
Second, neither men ever studied the notes for two days. No Defense Expert did, and it fact, they were "out" of the Case before the Defense Experts even got their brief look-see at them.
The fact is they came into the Case as volunteers, then pulled a fast one asking for money. Fisher told them to hit the bricks. It's in Lloyd's book, and I have all the source material to back it up.
Later, Myers was writing letters trying to get back into the Case during Hoffman's re-investigation. Malone himself wrote a letter saying Myers was misrepresenting himself as a Handwriting Expert.
Now, I do believe BOTH men did see their way back into the Case. But in order for me to post on it I'd have to do some searching so maybe in another post if anyone is interested......
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Post by Michael on Oct 29, 2011 7:40:09 GMT -5
Just feeling like going off on a tangent here.....
Maybe its me, but over the years I find some of the most interesting material relates to the figures in the Case, like Myers, who receive a slight mention (and some not mentioned at all) - that mention being taken for granted as true - then forgotten and/or simply added to the general "pile" as "evidence" of something.
It just seems like, as each situation like this is more closely looked at, that none of what we heard is true. In Myer's case it was Lloyd who "exposed" the truth about what really happened. Has it gone un-noticed?
If so why would it?
For me, and maybe because I am a nut or something, I think each piece, part, and idea needs to be thoroughly explored - no matter what. To find out the truth, and the true situation about everything and everyone. I believe once that is done, for real, then the chips will indeed fall into their proper places.
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mairi
Lieutenant
Posts: 548
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Post by mairi on Oct 31, 2011 9:47:35 GMT -5
Hi Folks, The thread ARTHUR MYERS jumped out at me. I had a grandfather named Arthur Myers/Baltimore, MD. He wasn't into handwriting. He was a mortician. His wife was a nurse. That combo could bring on a case of the nervousness, don't you think?
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Post by Michael on Nov 2, 2011 5:30:21 GMT -5
Yes! Most especially when you made the connection on Halloween!
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Post by Cliff on Nov 13, 2011 21:03:40 GMT -5
My wife is watching 'Reversal of Fortune' about Claus von Bulow, and that triggered my memory of Arthur Myers, which brought me here. I have no interest in the case per se, but thought I would post my memories of the man.
I had the pleasure of knowing Mr Myers in Baltimore in the late 1990s.. That was 20 some years ago. He was a true gentleman. I was under twenty at the time, and I regret that I didn't take more of an interest in his work, although I did carefully listen to his story, and view his memorabilia with a distant interest. He was very proud of being one of the experts in the Lindbergh case, although he never went into some of the minutiae that you discussing here, such as his relationship with the 'partner.'
I'm a pretty good judge of character, and the first time I met him, I was somewhat suspect - thinking that he was a 'crazy old man' - as many of my customers were. He offered to show me some of his memorabilia on the next visit, and also provided me with some calligraphy for my girlfriend, in a very flowery turn-of-the-century manner. My subsequent visits with him were interesting and I always looked forward to seeing him. I would tend to believe that he was in fact convinced of his analysis and its accuracy. Of course I didnt know him 60 years earlier, but he was incredibly sincere and genuine when I met him and passionate about his interest in handwriting. He was also very lucid and alert when I knew him, with no diminished faculties.
Anyway, this may be of no interest to anyone here, but I though I would post it.
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Post by Michael on Nov 14, 2011 7:57:22 GMT -5
Cliff,
Thanks for taking the time to post your recollections. These type of things are important so I am really glad you did.
I want to try to put what I've written into proper context.
First and foremost: Myers and Malone absolutely did not examine the original notes prior to being told they would not be paid which led to their "withdrawal."
Myers was young and Malone was an old man. Myers was Malone's "student" and was trying to learn his art from him. According to Malone he did not qualify as a Handwriting Expert, and this is important, AT THAT TIME. It is possible he would later become qualified, I don't know, but my only concern is in relationship to this Case, and more importantly - the bogus claim he made an on-hands examination of the originals which led him to "quit" the Defense.
Like I said, later he does try real hard to get back into the Case. He writes both Schwarzkopf and Hoffman to offer his services "free of charge." I do believe he was sent, as was Malone, copies of the J. J. Faulkner deposit slip to examine, and like everyone else said Hauptmann wasn't the Author.
So he's "involved" in the Case, and if only that claim is made he isn't lying. But one has to qualify that involvement with specific facts. Did he later, ex post facto, get his hands on official copies to examine?
I don't know, and I don't claim to.
But what I do know as an absolute fact is that he NEVER made an examination of those originals which led to his "quitting" the Defense. Beyond all doubt he was dismissed prior to the brief window the Defense Experts were allowed to examine them.
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Post by Michael on Nov 20, 2011 12:42:58 GMT -5
The first ever mention that I have been able to find concerning Mr. Myers, in relation to this Case, was a newspaper article in the Gazette and Daily York, Pa - May 28th, 1932 (Saturday Morning Edition). Here he says, in essence, that he saw the Ransom Circulars and was able to determine, from examining the circulars, that the Writer was of " low intelligence," a " fool," and a " tool of the real kidnappers." Furthermore, he notes the " smoothness of the sense of the message is at utter variance with the mental age denoted by the handwriting..." and from this observation believed the note was dictated to the Writer by someone else. Myers concludes the Writer is middle-aged, and was born in a foreign country. Attachments:
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