THE CHARLESTON CONNECTION from Wicked Charleston, Vol. II: Prostitutes, Politics & Prohibition
The Great Brinks Robbery At approximately 7 p.m. on January 17, 1950, seven armed men walked into the Prince StreetBrinksBuilding in Boston. Each man was carrying a pistol, wearing a Navy-type P-coat, chauffeur’s cap and wearing a Halloween-type mask. Each carried a pair of gloves. One man, Joseph "Specs” O'Keefe wore crepe-soled shoes to muffle his footsteps; the other men wore rubber boots.
The men quickly entered the Brinks building and donned their masks. Within half an hour the seven men had looted the premises of $1.2 million in cash and $1.5 million in checks, money orders and other securities. By prior agreement the seven men handed their stolen money over to a Mafia syndicate for safekeeping. Their agreement was to not touch the money for at least seven years - when the statute of limitations for the crime would have passed. The seven men scattered.
It was the largest bank robbery in the United States at the time and came to be known as the Great Brinks Robbery. It took the FBI six years to crack the case. Two motion pictures and countless books have been written about the robbery and its aftermath. What is not well known, however, is Charleston's connection with the Great Brinks Robbery and some of the mobsters who ended up living down South.
Specs O'Keefe targeted by the mobSoon after the robbery, the police were hot on the trail of every known crook and thief in Boston. Some of the early suspects included Joseph “Specs” O'Keefe, Henry Baker, Anthony Pino, Joseph McGinnis and Stanley Gusciroa. Six months after the Brinks job, O'Keefe was arrested in Pennsylvania. The police discovered stolen merchandise in his car, unrelated to the Brinks job. O'Keefe was sentenced to three years in the Bradford (MA.) CountyJail for robbery. During O'Keefe's confinement law enforcement officials keep hearing rumors that O'Keefe was putting pressure on the Boston mob to release his take of the Brinks money in order to pay for his legal problems in BradfordCounty. The FBI began to put pressure on O'Keefe, hoping he would rat out the Brinks gang. O'Keefe steadfastly denied any knowledge of the Brinks robbery. In fact, in December of 1952, almost three years after the Brinks job, a federal grand jury held hearings and issued a report that there was insufficient evidence to indict anyone for the Brinks robbery. The FBI was more frustrated than ever.
O'Keefe finished his sentence in BradfordCounty and he was taken to McKeanCounty to stand trial for burglary and receiving stolen goods. He was released on $17,000 bond. While free, O'Keefe continued his efforts to get his Brinks money. He was becoming bitter toward some of his partners and feared he may never get his money. On June 5, 1954, O'Keefe was driving in Dorchester, Massachusetts when another automobile pulled along side. Immediately suspicious, O'Keefe crouched down low in the front seat just as several bullets shattered his windshield.
On June 14, O'Keefe paid a visit to Henry Baker, one of the Brinks partners. Baker was getting nervous about O'Keefe's constant visits. Baker pulled a pistol and shots were exchanged between the two men, but no one was injured.
Two days later, O'Keefe was attacked in his neighborhood, a quiet housing complex off Victory Road. A slender man carrying a machine gun sprayed bullets at O'Keefe, who took off running. For the next half hour, the shooter chased O'Keefe around the neighborhood, over fences, through back yards and alleys, with the machine blasts peppering buildings and trees. When the police sirens finally began to wail in the distance, the shooter fled, leaving O’Keefe lying on the ground, bleeding. He had been shot in the chest and arm, but he was still alive. At the scene the police discovered a lot of blood, a man's shattered wrist watch and a .45 caliber pistol. They also discovered five bullets lodged in a nearby building.
On September 9, 2003, Thomas F. Mulvoy, Jr., of the BostonGlobe staff, reminisced about the event.
I was eleven years old at the time and living five streets away from Victory Road. I remember well walking down to Victory Road the next day after reading as many newspapers as I could. With scores of other curious onlookers, I tried to come to grips with the awesome shootout that had made our quiet neighborhood temporarily notorious.
On June 17, 1954, eight days after the shootout, Boston patrolman Frank Crawford arrested Elmer Francis “Trigger” Burke in the exclusive Back Bay section of the city and charged him with possession of a machine gun. This machine gun was quickly identified as having been used in the attempt on O'Keefe's life. Police assumed that Burke, a professional killer, had been hired by underworld associates to assassinate O'Keefe.
After being wounded in the shootout, O”Keefe disappeared for seven weeks. He was arrested on August 1 at Leicester, Massachusetts and turned over to Boston police for violating parole on a gun-carrying charge. Remarkably, O'Keefe swore out a complaint against Trigger Burke for attempted murder!
Elmer Francis “Trigger” Burke - Machine Gun For HireElmer Francis “Trigger” Burke was raised in New York byhis brother Charlie, who had taken over care of the family after the death of their parents. Soon the two brothers were committing petty robberies in their neighborhood. Trigger was sent to reform school in 1941, but his sentence was reduced when he joined the army. He served in Italy during World War II, became an Army Ranger and became proficient in the use of a machine gun. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the American Theatre and Europe-Africa-Middle Eastern ribbons with three battle stars. Most ironically, Trigger also won the Good Conduct Medal. After the war he returned to New York and during the late 1940s Trigger became a busy hit man for hire, specializing in machine gun killings. He hated his given name, Elmer Francis, and preferred his nickname, “Trigger.”
In 1946, Trigger was arrested for robbing a liquor store. He was arrested by police while sitting in the car outside the store counting the loot. He was sentenced to two years in Sing Sing Prison.
During Trigger's stay in Sing Sing, his brother, Charlie, was killed during a mob gun battle. Trigger swore vengeance for his brother's death, even though no one ever knew who the killer was. It did not matter to Trigger. Upon his release from Sing Sing, Trigger hunted down the man he suspected of killing Charlie and with a double-barreled shot gun shot the man point blank in the back of the head. With his personal business concluded Trigger went back into the killer-for-hire business. His standard fee for a mob hit was $1000. Trigger soon became known for his efficiency and utter lack of compassion. He also became known for his volcanic temper.
One night in a New York tavern, Trigger got into an argument with another man. Within a few moments Trigger had beat the man to the floor and was kicking him repeatedly in the head with his boot. The bartender, Edward “Poochy” Walsh stepped in and stopped the fight. Poochy ordered Burke out of the bar.
“If he's not dead yet, he might as well be,” Poochy told Trigger. “Now, get outta here!”
Trigger went outside and smoked a cigarette. Ten minutes later he walked back in the tavern, pulled out a pistol and shot Poochy Walsh in the face twice. He then stepped around the bar and shot the already-dead Poochy again in the face. “He shoulda minded his own bidness,” Trigger told the stunned crowd, and then he calmly strolled out.
In 1954, the mob hired Trigger to go to Boston and kill Specs O'Keefe before he ratted out the Brinks Robbery gang. After the Victory Road shooting spree Trigger did not leave town. Under the assumption he had killed O’Keefe, Trigger spent the next few days viewing the historic sites: Bunker Hill, the OldNorthChurch and Paul Revere's house. When he was arrested Trigger was touring the mansions of Back Bay, with the machine gun hidden beneath his jacket.
He was held in SuffolkCounty jail, but on the afternoon of August 28, Trigger escaped. During the regular exercise period, Trigger walked away from the rest of the prisoners toward a heavy steel door that lead to the solitary confinement section. A guard hollered for him to stop, and Trigger began to run. The steel door opened and a masked gunman wearing a prison guard uniform ordered the guard to “Back up, or I'll blow ya brains out!” Trigger and the gunman fled through the door and escaped in a nearby parked automobile.
The automobile was later traced to Anthony Pino, one of the original Brinks gang. Police questioned Pino, but he denied any knowledge of Trigger's escape.
Trigger Comes SouthLess than a week later Trigger arrived in Charleston and began to look for rental property on the Isle of Palms. During the search for a rental Trigger was accompanied by Thomas “Duke” Connelly, Jr. Connelly had been the getaway driver in the $305,000 robbery of the Woodside branch of the Chase Manhattan bank in Queens, New York. Connelly had made it onto the FBI's Most Wanted List and he had chosen the Isle of Palms as an out-the-way hiding place in which to spend his share of the $90,000 loot.
The two men were driving the car of Isaac “Issy” Sabel, a Charleston nightclub owner with New York mob ties, and famous for his Manischevitz Popsicles. As they made their real estate rounds the two men introduced themselves as “friends of Mr. Sabel” and told one agent that “money was no object.” Connelly rented a house under the alias “Mr. Kelly”, using Issy Sabel's name as a reference, and they moved in with Connelly's wife, Ann, and their two small children. Trigger and Duke quickly became familiar faces on the Isle of Palms.
For several months, Trigger and Duke lived the good life - spending their money, fishing, swimming, and boating. The two men even joined the YMCA Health Club where they mingled with the mayor, policemen and other city officials like Judge Ashton Williams. They also spent many evenings hanging out in Issy Sable's nightclub on Market Street, drinking and being entertained by Issy's girls.
When Trigger mentioned he wanted new clothes Issy sent them to the best store in Charleston, Berlin's Mens Wear on King Street. Henry Berlin personally outfitted the two mobsters with the best suits, shirts and other attire. When it came time to purchase the shoes Trigger told Mr. Berlin he wore a size 9.
Mr. Berlin protested. “A big man like you must have a larger foot.” With an icy glare, Trigger told Berlin he wore a size 9. Months later, talking with the FBI, Henry Berlin related the shoe story. The FBI agent told Mr. Berlin he was lucky. Trigger had been known to kill people for less provocation - like bartender Poochy Walsh.
On June 27, 1955, Duke Connelly and his family vanished. A month later the two children were discovered abandoned - one in Wilmington, Delaware, and the other in Baltimore, Maryland. No one ever saw Duke or his wife again. Local rumor persisted that Trigger had discovered where Duke was hiding his $90,000 and decided to make some easy money for himself. There was also a rumor that the money was never recovered and for years afterward, people would dig thousands of holes on the island looking for Duke's money.
Trigger and the Edge of AmericaIn July, under the name of “Mr. Dean”, Trigger rented a cottage on FollyBeach, at 109 Erie Avenue, diagonally across the street from the FollyBeach police department. Unbeknownst to Trigger, on the next block was the beach house of the Charleston Police chief of detectives and the home of the former county police commissioner. He hired a local black woman, Annabelle Richardson, to keep house for him. She claimed Trigger told her he was from New York and was living in FollyBeach as he recovered from an operation. Annabelle described him as an "avid television fan and a frequent reader of local newspapers and 'gentlemen' magazines.” Annabelle later told the FBI that she noticed her boss always kept the doors and windows locked, even during the middle of summer.
Trigger became a familiar face on the Island, taking afternoon strolls along the beach and boulevard. He made a lot of purchases in town, always paying cash. He bought a 21-inch screen floor model television, a new washing machine, and electric fan and wall clock. Trigger even donated 50 cents to the Jr. Deputies League when they knocked on his door collecting money.
On August 27, 1955, Trigger walked into a trap set by the FBI. Local law enforcement had become mildly suspicious of Trigger and finally identified him through an FBI wanted poster. They began a round-the-clock stakeout of his house. He never received mail and the only people who ever visited were the housekeeper, Annabelle, and a "nice-looking blonde of about 26-years old.” When he took his usual afternoon stroll he was met at the corner of Erie and Center Streets. A car pulled up and several FBI agents leaped out, armed with machine guns.“We're from the FBI! Are you Elmer Francis Burke?”
Trigger said, “Yes, I am.” He offered no resistance when he was taken into custody. When agents searched his house they discovered two .38 caliber pistols and two .22 caliber rifles, one equipped with telescopic sights. Agents described his appearance as casually attired with well-manicured fingernails and “deeply tanned.”
He refused extradition to New York so a hearing was scheduled in Charleston, presided over by Judge Ashton H. Williams. Williams said he recognized Trigger the moment he was brought into his courtroom. The judge's Isle of Palms house was three doors down from Duke Connelly's and he had often talked with Trigger and Duke at the YMCA Health Club.
After the hearing Henry Berlin lamented that no one ever mentioned how good Trigger looked in his fine suit and shoes (the wrong size) from Berlin's Men's Wear.
During his trial in New York Trigger was questioned about the whereabouts of Duke Connelly and his wife, Anne.
Q (N.Y. District Attorney) - Were the Connellys with you at the FollyBeach cottage?
A (Trigger) - I refuse to answer.
Q - What happened to the Connellys and their two children?
A - I refuse to answer.
Q - Who gave you the money to live?
A - I refuse to answer.
Trigger was found guilty of the murder of the bartender Edward “Poochy” Walsh, and given the death penalty. On January 8, 1958, he was executed at Sing Sing prison. Before his execution a reporter asked him why he robbed banks and murdered people. Trigger replied, "That's where the money is.
Specs O'Keefe, the man Trigger was supposed to rub out, was sentenced on August 5, 1954, to serve 27 months in prison on a probation violation. As a protective measure, he was incarcerated in the Hampden County Jail in Springfield, Massachusetts, rather than the Suffolk County Jail in Boston. During his incarceration, with eleven days before the statute of limitations was due to run out for the crime, O'Keefe began to cooperate with the FBI against the rest of the Brinks Robbery gang. Due to his cooperation his sentence was reduced. After his release O'Keefe was given a new identity and moved to Los Angeles. After his death in 1976, it was revealed that O'Keefe had spent his last few years as a chauffeur for Cary Grant.
Author's Note: Ashley Cooper, columnist for the Charleston News and Courier, (more formerly known as Frank Gilbreath, Jr., co-author of the classic memoir Cheaper By the Dozen and longtime Charleston resident), weighed in on the Trigger Burke caper in his own inimitable way with this poetic little ditty.
Charleston beaches long have been a haven
For lovers and tourists and the poet who wrote “The Raven.”
But the shootingest tourist with the meanest quirk
Was a New York gunman named Trigger Burke.
Trigger had a buddy and shot him dead,
Used a pistol to fill him full of lead
Trigger had another buddy, shady as a spook
Name of Connelly, alias the Duke.
Duke and Trigger preyed upon the yanks,
Took their gold and silver and never gave them thanks.
When the cops put out their big alarms,
Trigger brought Duke to the Isle of Palms.
“Don't fret, buddy,” Trigger said to Duke,
“Only time they caught me, it was only a fluke.
Don't fret, buddy,” he repeated with a smirk,
“There ain't no jail can hold Mr. Trigger Burke.”
Duke must have felt he was in the middle.
What happened to Duke is still a riddle.
But Trigger was afraid the Duke would preach
So Trigger moved over to FollyBeach
Lived all alone, in a cement house,
Minded his manners, quiet as a mouse.
And all the time he was grinning like a pixie,
“Ain't the cops dumb Down South in Dixie?
“Ain't the cops dumb? And ain' they hicks?
Safest place to be is here in the sticks.
Southern coppers? - Well, by golly
They'll never dream that I'm hidin' out at Folly.”
But the cops weren't dumb and that's no lie.
'Cause the cops and the sheriff and the FBI
Crept down to folly, there to lurk,
And trapped like a rat Mr. Trigger Burke.
“Put up your hands,” said the FBI.
“Face the wall, Trigger, 'less you want to die.
Burke, you've been acting mighty regal.
Now lie down, Trigger and do the spread eagle!”
Trigger done just like he was told,
Lay down like he was knocked out cold.
But all the time, only one thought lingered,
“I wonder," he grated, “who had me fingered.”
“Trigger,” said the cops, “it's sad to tell,
We got to take you now to Seabreeze Hotel.”
He heard those words and Burke turned pale.
'Cause the Seabreeze Hotel is the county jail.
There's not much more of the story to report
The cops brought Trig to the Charleston Court.
When reporters too his picture, he didn't say “thank ye.”
Covered his face with a spotless hankie.
Burke told the judge with a mealy mouth,
“Please, yur honor, can I stay in the South?”
The judge replied with nary a snigger,
“You'll like it up North, Mr. Convict Trigger.”
They put Mr. Burke on the train “Champeen,”
And he said with a sneer that was almost obscene.
“What happened to me shouldn't happen to a collie,
When the Southern cops found me hidin' out in Folly.”
New Verse (by Mark R. Jones)
Back up North locked away in Sing Sing
In a place where no one could take wing.
Freedom did happen and Trigger finally died.
Not scattered, not smothered, but definitely fried.
Here is a diverse and fun viewing list of 12 movies and TV shows to watch during the TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS. The traditional 12 DAYS start on Christmas day and runs to Jan. 5 - Christmas to Epiphany. But, choose your own time frame, and for twelve consecutive nights here is a viewing list.
Day One: A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS This never gets old and never fails to charm. Just listening to the music of the great Vince Guaraldi makes it feel like Christmas.
Day Two: A MIDNIGHT CLEAR An unknown film, which should be a holiday tradition. Set in 1944 France, an American Intelligence squad locates a German Platoon in the Ardennes wishing to surrender rather than die in Germany's final war offensive. The two groups of men, isolated from the war at present, put aside their differences and spend Christmas together before the surrender plan turns bad and both sides are forced to fight the other. Sad, but powerful.
Day Three: RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER Come on ... it's hokey, but we all love it. The Snowman (Burl Ives) sings one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" in a show based on one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time.
Day Four: THE SANTA CLAUSE To me, one of the better modern Christmas movies. Funny and sweet.
Day Five: THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER The great pairing of Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan in a quirky romantic comedy set in Budapest during Christmas season. This was the basis of the Tom Hanks / Meg Ryan remake You've Got Mail, and even though that movie is good, the original is outstanding. If you've never seen it, you've missed one of the great Jimmy Stewart performances.
Day Six: HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS NOT the Jim Carrey / Ron Howard-directed disaster, but the REAL Grinch narrated by Boris Karloff.
Day Seven: HOW THE GHOSTS STOLE CHRISTMAS, X-Files Episode Mulder and Scully go visit a rumored haunted house on Christmas Eve and get more than they bargained for. One of the all-time great episodes of a great TV show. Funny, scary and romantic at the same time.
Day Eight:THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS Tim Burton's ingeniously dark romantic view.
Day Nine: THE BISHOP'S WIFE NOT the Whitney Houston remake, but the original 1947 Cary Grant classic. Funny and irreverent while being very mainstream traditional.
Day Ten: LOVE, ACTUALLY This follows the ups-and-downs of several characters' lives in London in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Alternately hilarious, sad, touching, heart-breaking and joyous.
Day Eleven: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE One of the all-time great movies, period. It is a testament to everything Christmas embodies: family, friends and the joy of life.
Day Twelve: A CHRISTMAS STORY THE Christmas movie. The story of a young boy's epic quest to get his hands on a Red Ryder BB gun provides the hilarious backdrop for a timeless tale rife with family hijinks, frozen tongues and, of course, sex-oozing leg lamps.
December 12, 2008. President-elect Obama is asked about the scandal concerning Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. His response:
"I am pleasedto report that despite having been both an Illinois state senator and a United States Senator during Blagojevich’s term in office,I had absolutely no idea who he was.Furthermore, I never discussed anything with him. I mean, all my aides kept talking about Blagojevich this, Blagojevich that. I really thought they were talking about a kind of sandwich. You know, something ethnic with pastrami and a lot of horseradish. I never actually knew who Illinois’s governor was. Nor did I ever meet him."
If you believe Obama did not even know who was the governor of his state and, that Obama had never met him ... then you probably agree with the following statements: - We never landed on the moon. - Lee Harvey Oswald was the only person involved in Kennedy's death. - Rosie O'Donnell is sexier than Sarah Palin. - The Bay City Rollers are greater than The Beatles. - George W. Bush was a great president. - Hillary didn't know about Monica. - Pat Conroy's South of Broad is the greatest novel since To Kill a Mockingbird. - Sex with a 13-year old drugged girl is NOT rape. - James Patterson writes better books than Pat Conroy. - The world is flat. - Kim Kardashian's breasts are real. - Women never fake orgasm.
For everyone who turns 50 this year - like me! - here are some interesting facts about OUR YEAR.
Alaska and Hawaii become the 49th and 50th states.
Mattel launches the Barbi doll.
Fidel Castro takes charge of Cuba.
James Michener's Hawaii is published.
NASA introduces the original seven Mercury astronauts.
In the Congo, the first known human death from HIV.
First Annual Grammy Awards. Frank Sinatra wins "Best Album" Award for Come Dance With Me.
Motown Records is started by Berry Gordy, Jr.
Sound of Music debuts on Broadway.
Dalai Lama flees from Tibet. Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper are killed in Iowa.
Top movies included: Some Like It Hot, Ben Hur (11 Academy Awards), North By Northwest, Sleeping Beauty.
Bonanza premieres on NBC, the first television show completely in color.
Huckleberry Hound show premieres.
First Boeing 707 transatlantic flight.
William Burroughs publishes The Naked Lunch.
Xerox introduces the first commercial copy machine.
Frank Lloyd Wright dies.
Texas Instrument announces the invention of the integrated circuit - the microchip.
First weather station placed in orbit.
Parker Brothers introduce the game Risk.
Bozo the Clown premieres.
Busch Gardens opens in Florida.
George Reeves (TV's Superman) commits suicide.
Average price for a gallon of gas: $0.25
Cost of a new car: $2200.00
#1 Song of the Year: Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin.
In Kansas Herb and Bonnie Clutter and their 2 children were murdered by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. The event was the basis for the 1966 Truman Capote novel In Cold Blood, and a 1967 film.
Pillow Talk starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day is a big hit.
Miles Davis records Kind of Blue with John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Philley Joe Jones, Paul Chambers and Bill Evans.
Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams opens on Broadway.
The first two American soldiers are killed in Vietnam.
The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles is published.
Eveready introduces the first alkaline battery.
Pantyhose is introduced.
Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternek is published.
Cecile B. Demille, Lou Costello and Raymond Chandlerdie.
West Side Story closes on Broadway.
Billie Holiday dies.
Americans purchase 100 million Hula Hoops.
Rocky and his Friends premieres. Cartoons will never be the same.
Chubby Checker introduces "The Twist" onThe Dick Clark Saturday Night Show.
The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon is published.
SOME FAMOUS PEOPLE BORN IN 1959 Mark Martin (NASCAR Driver) Keith Olberman John McEnroe Irene Cara Brian Setzer David Hyde Pierce Robert Smith (The Cure) Brian Williams (NBC) Jim Nantz Nicole Simpson Brown (O.J.'s ex-wife) Suzanne Vega Rosanna Arquette Danny Bonaduce Magic Johnson Emma Thompson (still hot!) Fred Couples Simon Cowell Marie Osmond "Weird Al" Yankovic Neal Stephenson (writer) Bryan Adams Kim Delaney (actress - still very hot!) Val Kilmer
PRESTON BROOKS was a member of the South Carolina State house of representatives in 1844. Brooks was elected to Congress in 1853 as a Democrat. On May 22, 1856, Brooks beat Senator Charles Sumner with his Gutta-percha wood walking cane in the Senate chamber because of a speech Sumner had made three days earlier, criticizing President Franklin Pierce and Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas. In particular, Sumner lambasted Brooks' kinsman, Senator Andrew Butler.
At first intending to challenge Sumner to a duel Brooks consulted with fellow South Carolina Rep. Laurence Keitt on dueling etiquette. Keitt instructed him that dueling was for gentlemen of equal social standing, and suggested that due to his coarse language in public, Sumner occupied a lower social status lower than a drunkard. Keitt argued that a duel was too good for Sumner.
PHOTO: J.L. McGee's famous political cartoon of Preston's attack.
Two days after thespeech, on the afternoon of May 22, Brooks confronted Sumner as he sat writing at his desk in the almost empty Senate chamber. Brooks was accompanied by Keitt and Henry A. Edmunston of Virginia.
Brooks said, "Mr. Sumner, I have read your speech twice over carefully. It is a libel on South Carolina, and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine."
As Sumner began to stand up, Brooks began beating Sumner on the head with his thick cane with a gold head. Sumner was trapped under the heavy desk (which was bolted to the floor), but Brooks continued to bash Sumner until he ripped the desk from the floor. By this time, Sumner was blinded by his own blood, and he staggered up the aisle and collapsed, lapsing into unconsciousness. Brooks continued to beat Sumner until he broke his cane, then quietly left the chamber. Several other senators attempted to help Sumner, but were blocked by Keitt who was holding a pistol and shouting "Let them be!" (Keitt would be censured for his actions.)
South Carolinians sent Brooks dozens of brand new canes, with one bearing the phrase, "Hit him again." The Richmond Enquirer crowed: "We consider the act good in conception, better in execution, and best of all in consequences. These vulgar abolitionists in the Senate must be lashed into submission."
Brooks survived an expulsion vote in the House but resigned his seat, claiming both that he "meant no disrespect to the Senate of the United States" by attacking Sumner and that he did not intend to kill him, for he would have used a different weapon if he had. His constituents thought of him as a hero and returned him to Congress.
However, Brooks's attack on Sumner was regarded in the north as the act of a cowardly barbarian. One of the bitterest critics of the attack was Sumner's fellow New Englander, Congressman Anson Burlingame. When Burlingame denounced Brooks as a coward on the floor of the House, Brooks challenged him to a duel, and Burlingame accepted the challenge. Burlingame, as the challenged party, specified rifles as the weapons, and to get around American anti-dueling laws he named the Navy Yard on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls as the site. Brooks backed out of the challenge, claiming that he would be murdered on his way north. Burlingame's reputation as a deer hunter and a deadly shot with a rifle could also have been a factor. Brooks remained in office until his death in 1857. He is buried in Edgefield, SC.
JOHN (Honest John) JAMES PATTERSON was a businessman and U.S. Senator from SC. Honest John was perhaps the most successful swindler during Reconstruction. In fact, when there was a suggestion that the Republican Party should reform he replied, “Why, there are five more years of good stealing in South Carolina!” His greatest swindle was the manipulation of the Columbia, Greenville and Blue Ridge Railroads. The state spent $6 million and received nothing in return. Some estimates claim that Patterson absconded with more than a third of the money for the railroad venture.
Honest John was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1872. During that time, U.S Senators were selected by the state legislature. Patterson claimed the election cost him $40,000 in bribes to each state Legislator - bribed by the state’s own money which Honest John had stolen from the railroad swindle.
BENJAMIN TILLMAN (Pitchfork Ben) served as SC governor from 1890 to 1894, and as a U.S. Senator from 1895 until his death as a Democrat. Tillman also was a founder of Clemson University and served as one of its earliest trustees.
As a young man he was involved in the execution of a black state senator, Simon Coker. Two of Tillman’s men executed Coker with a shot to the head. Tillman ordered that a second shot was needed just in case he was “playing possum.” Tillman believed that the payment for the death of one white man should be the death of seven blacks. Tillman began to attract statewide attention through his diatribes against blacks, bankers and aristocrats who he claimed were running and ruining the state. Tillman believed that farmers were “butchering the land by renting to ignorant lazy Negroes.”
He was present at the Hamburg Massacre (near current day Aiken, SC) in July 1876, during which an African-American federal militia was overthrown and its arms seized. After their surrender 6 members of the militia were killed in cold blood by a group of armed white citizens led by Tillman's fellow "Red Shirts." As governor Tillman was largely responsible for calling the State constitutional convention in 1895 that disenfranchised most of South Carolina's black men and instituted Jim Crow laws. As Tillman proudly proclaimed in 1900:
"We have done our level best [to prevent blacks from voting]...we have scratched our heads to find out how we could eliminate the last one of them. We stuffed ballot boxes. We shot them. We are not ashamed of it. We do not intend to submit to Negro domination and all the Yankees from Cape Cod to hell can make us submit to it."
He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1894, and was re-elected in 1900, 1906, and 1912. He served from 1895 to his death in 1918. A hotheaded and intemperate debater, Tillman became known as "Pitchfork Ben" after a speech he made on the Senate floor in 1896. In this speech, Tillman made several references to pitchforks and threatened to go to the White House and "poke old Grover [Cleveland] with a pitchfork" to prod him into action.
During his Senate career, he was censured by the Senate in 1902 after assaulting his counterpart SC Senator John L. McLaurin. As a result, the Senate added to its rules the provision that "No senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator."He was also barred from the White House.
Reacting to news that Booker T. Washington had dined at the White House with President Theodore Roosevelt and his family, Tillman predicted, "The action of President Roosevelt in entertaining that nigger will necessitate our killing a thousand niggers in the South before they will learn their place again."
COLEMAN BLEASE was elected SC governor (1910) and U.S. Senator (1924) favored complete white supremacy in all matters. He encouraged the practice of lynching, was steadfastly against the education of blacks, and he even derided one of his opponents for being a trustee of a black school. Blease once buried the severed finger of a Black man who had been lynched in the South Carolina gubernatorial garden.
In addition, Blease failed to enforce laws and even encouraged breaking the law. His black chauffeur was fined twice for speeding and both times Blease pardoned him. Blease enjoyed the use of the pardon and he stated that he wanted to pardon at least one thousand men before he exited office because he wanted "to give the poor devils a chance." He far exceeded his goal and it is estimated that he pardoned between 1,500 to 1,700 prisoners, some of whom were guilty of murder and other heinous crimes. Blease received payments to pardon criminals.
JOHN JENRETTE (Congressman 1975-80) is most famous for two actions during his days as a Congressman. First, he had sex with his then-wife, Rita Jenrette, behind a pillar on the steps of the Capitol Building during a break in a late night session of Congress. The comedy group "Capital Steps" takes their name from this escapade. Second, he was charged with and convicted for accepting a $50,000 bribe in the FBI Abscamsting operation conducted by the FBI in 1980. Jenrette was sentenced to two years in prison, of which he served 13 months. He had not been videotaped taking bribes, as some of his colleagues had, but he was recorded saying he'd been given cash by an associate.
In January 1981, Jenrette's second wife, Rita, said she was seeking a divorce. Rita found $25,000 in $100 bills (much of it FBI bribe money) in her husband's brown suede shoes. Rita didn't help relations with the constituents back home when she once called them "cornballs."
Rita is probably best known for (1) telling us that she and John had sex on the steps of the U.S. Capitol (and that became a hot stop on the Washington Sex Scandals tour for out-of-towners; and (2) posing nude in Playboy. She also wrote that she found him on Capitol Hill "drunk, undressed and lying on the floor in the arms of a woman who I knew was old enough to be his mother."
In 1989 John Jenrette was convicted of shoplifting a necktie from a department store in Bailey's Crossroads, VA. and was sentenced to 30 days.
PHOTO: Rita's nude scene in the cinema classic Zombie Island Massacre.
