Post by Sue on Nov 8, 2023 15:14:51 GMT -5
Did Dr. John F. Condon have an affinity for a reservoir in the Bronx? If so, which reservoir would it have been?
Jerome Park Reservoir, located in the North Bronx, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There
is also the Williamsbridge Reservoir. Well, back in Condon's time, there must have been a limited amount of
reservoirs in the Bronx.
I don't remember reading about Condon hanging out at a reservoir, but was he tracked for every minute
during the kidnapping/ransom negotiations? Did he visit the reservoir regularly before March 1, 1932, or did
he visit the reservoir frequently after the Flemington trial in 1935? Or was Charles McCabe just making the
whole thing up?
In a book posthumously published in 1984, McCabe claims he had a "weird interview" with Condon at a
reservoir in the Bronx.
Charles McCabe, a famous columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, first started out as a police reporter
for the New York American in 1936.
(I wonder when McCabe first met Condon?)
Here are some excerpts from the 1984 book:
"The Lindbergh kidnapping story was probably the greatest newspaper yarn of the century and produced
the greatest number of pipe dreams. Sometimes three or four ledes a day were required by the New York
dailies and there wasn't that many facts around. In this emergency a creature by the name of Jafsie
practically invented the press."
"He had the Irish propensity for a good story. And no one that ever suggested, did he turn down."
"Jafsie was practically invented by the press. Jafsie was a retired public school principal whose real name
was John F. Condon."
"I had a weird interview with Jafsie once myself at the Bronx reservoir in the dark of night. This was a
favorite rendezvous of Jafsie. I haven't the slightest remembrance of what he told me but I know that it
would make the line in the first edition of the American. Jafsie was hot that month with the authors
of piped stories."
The Charles McCabe Reader:
The Best and the Last of
Charles McCabe Himself
Publication date: 1984
www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/01/Newspaper-columnist-Charles-McCabe-whose-wit-intellect-and-controversial/8975420609600/
Jerome Park Reservoir, located in the North Bronx, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There
is also the Williamsbridge Reservoir. Well, back in Condon's time, there must have been a limited amount of
reservoirs in the Bronx.
I don't remember reading about Condon hanging out at a reservoir, but was he tracked for every minute
during the kidnapping/ransom negotiations? Did he visit the reservoir regularly before March 1, 1932, or did
he visit the reservoir frequently after the Flemington trial in 1935? Or was Charles McCabe just making the
whole thing up?
In a book posthumously published in 1984, McCabe claims he had a "weird interview" with Condon at a
reservoir in the Bronx.
Charles McCabe, a famous columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, first started out as a police reporter
for the New York American in 1936.
(I wonder when McCabe first met Condon?)
Here are some excerpts from the 1984 book:
"The Lindbergh kidnapping story was probably the greatest newspaper yarn of the century and produced
the greatest number of pipe dreams. Sometimes three or four ledes a day were required by the New York
dailies and there wasn't that many facts around. In this emergency a creature by the name of Jafsie
practically invented the press."
"He had the Irish propensity for a good story. And no one that ever suggested, did he turn down."
"Jafsie was practically invented by the press. Jafsie was a retired public school principal whose real name
was John F. Condon."
"I had a weird interview with Jafsie once myself at the Bronx reservoir in the dark of night. This was a
favorite rendezvous of Jafsie. I haven't the slightest remembrance of what he told me but I know that it
would make the line in the first edition of the American. Jafsie was hot that month with the authors
of piped stories."
The Charles McCabe Reader:
The Best and the Last of
Charles McCabe Himself
Publication date: 1984
www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/01/Newspaper-columnist-Charles-McCabe-whose-wit-intellect-and-controversial/8975420609600/