The Duke of Wellington, Kidnapped!: The Incredible True Story of the Art Heist That Shocked a Nation by Alan Hirsch

“The only successful theft from London’s National Gallery took place on August 21, 1961, when a brazen thief stole Goya’s Portrait of the Duke of Wellington.” Introduction

Alan Hirsch discusses an extraordinary art heist that took place in the 1960s, how it affected criminal law thereafter and even made an appearance in a James Bond movie. The thief sent authorities a series of ransom notes, demanding money for the return of the painting. This went on for years.

“All the publicity led to a spike in visitors (from the usual August average of five thousand daily to more than seven thousand in the weeks following the theft), and reportedly even more people came to see the empty space where The Duke had hung than had come to see the painting itself.” pg 19

This potentially fascinating story becomes bogged down during the chapters discussing the trial and minutiae of the law. But, Hirsch is thorough, I’ll give him that.

“Where necessary, lawyers argued in the alternative: “My client did not take the painting, and if he did take it he intended to return it.”pg 125

I loved the information about the thief himself, which the world may not have seen before this book. Hirsch was given the man’s unpublished memoirs to add details to his side of the story.

“I understand you have information to give to police respecting the theft of the Goya portrait from the National Gallery in London.” “You don’t have to look any further, I am the man who took it,” the man calmly replied.” pg 107

I also enjoyed the information about the ransom notes sent after the heist. That part of this book read almost like a movie. Who does that!

“In handwritten block letters, it began: “Query not that I have the Goya,” and it sought to prove the point by identifying marks and labels on the back of the canvas.” pg 52

Admittedly, I know very little about art history and had never heard of this event before reading The Duke of Wellington, Kidnapped!. But I think this would be a great read for anyone interested in history, especially art history. It may appeal even more if you’re interested in the development of criminal law in Great Britain.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s the History Guy episode I wrote about the theft of the Wellington portrait:

Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe by John Evangelist Walsh

John Evangelist Walsh examines the last months of the life of Edgar Allan Poe and puts forth the hypothesis that he did not die of alcohol withdrawal, but something more sinister.

Poe, one of the most celebrated American authors, had a rough life. He was orphaned and adopted at an early age. He spent his life in poverty, scraping enough money from writing and editing jobs to keep himself fed, only to die mysteriously at age 40.

“We regret to learn that Edgar Allan Poe Esq. the distinguished American poet, scholar and critic died yesterday morning after an illness of four or five days. This announcement, coming so sudden and unexpected, will cause poignant regret among all who admire genius and have sympathy for the frailties so often attending it.”pg 34

Photo by Poppy Thomas Hill on Pexels.com

Walsh packs this book with details about Poe’s life and heartbreaks — that can be verified by historical documentation. After Poe’s untimely death, an author, perhaps more than one, who had been vilified by in Poe’s literary reviews, wrote angry and unflattering obituaries and biographies. It was an effort to black Poe’s name after his death which ultimately failed.

However, this “name blackening campaign” makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction.

Walter Colton, who was one of those who was kind to Poe after his death wrote: “I knew something of Poe. Something of the unfathomed gulfs of darkness out of which the lightning of his genius sent its scorching flashes.” pg 28

Perhaps that’s the lesson to take from Poe’s life, besides his astonishing literary achievements. Genius often seems to walk hand in hand with madness or emotional upheaval. I wonder why this is. Maybe, to touch the heights and depths required to write beautiful poetry, you have to go there? I don’t know.

“As always with this type of alcoholism, the unsettling fact was its combined certainty and unpredictability. After long periods of perfect sobriety, he seemed almost bound to fall again, and those who cared about him had to live with that relentless expectation.”introduction, pg xiv

Walsh’s hypothesis about the manner of Poe’s death was not convincing to me, but it gave me another angle to consider.

I had heard Poe may have died from “cooping” which was a practice where a man was kidnapped by a political party, kept drunk and imprisoned until election day, when he would let him free to vote as they directed. This idea holds water because he was found inebriated and ill outside a polling place and in clothing that didn’t seem to belong to him. I had also heard he was a victim of alcohol withdrawal.

Dear Sir, There is a gentleman, rather the worse for wear, at Ryan’s Fourth ward polls, who goes under the cognomen of Edgar A. Poe, and who appears in great distress, and he says he is acquainted with you, and I assure you, he is in need of immediately assistance.” pg 46

Walsh believes some relatives of one of the women Poe was involved with may have led to his untimely end.

Whatever happened, I can’t help but feel sad for the rest of us. Imagine what he could have accomplished with another 40 years on this earth.

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

Recommended for fans of Edgar Allan Poe or readers who enjoy true crime.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s The History Guy episode I wrote about Edgar Allan Poe:

Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

An interesting, non-fiction book about Ona Judge, a woman who was one of Martha Washington‘s personal slaves until she ran away. Ona remained a fugitive for the rest of her life. This book dissects early emancipation laws in the United States and Ona’s life, as well as revealing struggles in the private lives of George and Martha Washington.

Ona was born to a black slave and a white, indentured servant. Ona and her mother were abandoned by Ona’s father after only a few years.

“Ona Judge learned valuable lessons from both of her parents. From her mother she would learn the power of perseverance. From her father, Judge would learn that the decision to free oneself trumped everything, no matter who was left behind.” pg 14

Author Erica Dunbar does a fairly good job bringing Ona Judge to life on the few details that were available. It must have been tricky to fill in the blanks on a life that wasn’t as well-documented as her famous, former owners.

“Those of us who research and write about early black women’s history understand how very difficult it is to find our subjects in the archives. Enslavement, racism, and sexism often discarded these women from the historical record, and as historians we are frequently left unsatisfied with scant evidence.” from the Author’s Note.

Because she gave two interviews to journalists towards the end of her life, Ona may well be one of the only female, fugitive slaves from Virginia to have a personal narrative that survived to exist in the historical record.

“The interviewer wrote, ‘When asked if she is not sorry she left Washington, as she has labored so much harder since, than before, her reply is ‘No, I am free, and I have, I trust, been made a child of God by the means.'” pg 187

What I liked most about this book, beyond Ona’s own life story, was the way Dunbar made George and Martha Washington into people, not just icons, in my mind. They made mistakes and would act in their own best interest. It was interesting to discover that one of the founding fathers and his spouse were just as human as the next person.

But also sad in the way they held and treated “human property.” I suppose everyone is a product of his or her own time.

(Martha Washington) had no interest in releasing the slaves at Mount Vernon, who numbered in the hundreds. Instead, she would move quickly to join her husband in New York, shielding her slaves from the contagion of liberty.” pg 31

They simply couldn’t understand why someone would want their freedom — at any cost. It seems like a no-brainer now. But, once the Washingtons discovered where Ona was hiding, they sent agents to talk to her and try to convince her to return to slavery.

“She told Whipple that under no circumstances would she return to slavery, where she could be “sold or given to any person.” She would rather die than return.” pg 144

Recommended for readers who love history, especially American history, and want to learn about another facet of the American experience.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s the History Guy script I wrote about Ona Judge:

Step Aside, Pops (Hark! A Vagrant, #2) by Kate Beaton

An incredibly clever collection of comics with topics ranging from history to literature to pop culture and everything in between.

You don’t have to know a thing about Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant to enjoy this book. (I didn’t.) And it is so much fun.

Like any great observational comedian, Kate takes idiosyncrasies or exaggerates details to create comic gold.

For instance, here’s the dialogue from a comic about the Black Prince and some of his early exploits: “How are you feeling about being a hero of the battle of Crecy?” “Bro I am stoked.” “This is quite a momentous event so far in the war…” “Those French guys were like ‘Whoaaaaaa’.” “I keep forgetting you are sixteen.” “And my army was like eat it. Ka chow!!” pg 114

There’s another one I liked about the Greek god Zeus going on a first date that doesn’t make much sense without the pictures so you’ll just have to check it out for yourself on page 123. Basically, it’s a play on all of the mythological stories about Zeus revealing himself to mortals as a swan, shower of gold or something else and still getting the girl. Kate has a point. I mean, how does that even work… showing up as a shower of gold. It’s ridiculous and almost begging for a comic to make fun of it. Like this one. 🙂

In addition to the observational humor, Kate takes characters from old posters, newspaper clippings or magazine photos and gives them a back story. Some of her creations are just hysterical.

The spare and pencil-drawn style strongly reminded me of Nimona, which I also enjoyed. I highly recommend this collection for readers who enjoy comics or satire.

Thanks for reading!

The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America’s First Serial Killer by Skip Hollandsworth

A fascinating, non-fiction examination of what may have been the first serial killer in the United States. “The Midnight Assassin” or “Servant Girl Annihilator” terrorized Austin, Texas, for about a year before disappearing. Then, when Jack the Ripper began running around London, some in Texas theorized that their killer had crossed the ocean.

The scariest part, like Jack the Ripper, is that this person was never caught or identified.

“Several journalists proclaimed in their articles that the murders were nothing less than an Edgar Allan Poe tale of terror come to life. One reporter nicknamed the killer “the Midnight Assassin… who strides at will over Austin’s sacred soil.” pg 4

Skip Hollandsworth uses newspaper articles and period pictures to make these historical events come to life. It is a story that you almost can’t believe. You can feel the citizen’s terror as the murders increase and no one is found.

“A woman has been chopped to pieces!” Wilkie yelled. “It’s Mrs. Hancock! On Water Street!” pg 139

This was before investigations were conducting using forensic evidence or even finger prints. It is interesting to see how authorities looked for the killer.

“… the idea that Jack the Ripper was a Texan made for sensational copy, and soon the newspapers in England were in on the frenzy. “A Texas Parallel!” cried the Woodford Times of Essex. “The monster has quitted Texas and come to London!” trumpeted the London Daily News…” pg 234

It is also a glimpse into the shadowy part of the human soul.

“I do not believe any man figures into the world’s history with such a terrible and horrifying distinction from the rest of humanity,” the reporter declared. “He may well give to history a new story of crime — the first instance of a man who killed in order to gratify his passion.” pg 173

The Midnight Assassin is a story of forgotten history that most of the world no longer remembers. The murderer’s name has now become a fairy tale to scare children…

“But people in Austin hadn’t forgotten about him — not completely. Children had devised their own nickname for the Midnight Assassin: they called him the “Axe Man.” They raced for their homes as the sun was setting, shouting to one another that the Axe Man was hiding in the shadows just beyond the light of the moonlight towers, waiting for them to come close so he could grab them.” pg 255

Recommended for readers of true crime and thrilling history.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s The History Guy episode I wrote about the ‘Midnight Assassin’ also known as ‘The Servant Girl Annihilator’:

Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston interviewed Oluale Kossola before he died in the 1930’s to create this first-person narrative by one of the last people to be transported to the United States through the middle passage. It is interesting in that, among the existing records of that period in time, it is written from the perspective of someone who lived slavery rather than perpetuated it. It wasn’t written with an agenda. It is a record of a history.

It is a story of a culture and a life lived far from home and family because of human greed.

“I hailed him by his African name as I walked up the steps to his porch, and he looked up into my face as I stood in the door in surprise.” pg 17

Hurston records Kossola’s responses to her questions phonetically, which makes you feel like you’re sitting there with her, listening to the remembrances of Kossola as he says them.

In the introduction by Deborah G. Plant, she captures this feeling: “The narrative space she creates for Kossula’s unburdening is sacred. Rather than insert herself into the narrative as the learned and probing cultural anthropologist, the investigating ethnographer, or the authorial writer, Zora Neale Hurston, in her still listening, assumes the office of a priest.” pg xxv

I think, as someone looking back, it’s important to understand the transportation of slaves into the U.S. was made illegal in 1808, fifty years before Kossula was taken from his home. It’s a piece of American history that has been almost entirely forgotten.

“Of the thousands of Africans smuggled into American after 1808, only one man was held accountable and hanged, and even he died proclaiming his innocence.” pg 132

In Barracoon, not only are we given the story of Kossula’s transportation in life in the U.S., but also, he shares fascinating details of his life in Africa. There’s information about the justice system, social structure, rites of initiation and more.

In addition to his life story, Kossula shares fables he created to share his feeling of loss about his family as he outlived all of his children and wife. I enjoyed this folk lore part of the book the most.

There’s some controversy surrounding this book. Apparently, Hurston published a magazine article about Kossula early in the last century and was accused by later scholars of plagiarism.

“Of the sixty-seven paragraphs in Hurston’s essay,” Hemenway relates, “only eighteen are exclusively her own prose.” pg 120

The text in question is Emma Langdon Roche’s Historic Sketches of the South, that was published in 1917. The full text is available from the U.S. Library of Congress and can be accessed online. That’s how I read it and was able to see some of the similarities in the writing.

However, the interview portions of this book, written in Kossola’s distinctive style of speaking, are entirely unique. As the editor of this book points out, Hurston was never accused of plagiarism in her works after writing about Kossola and it was very early in her career. We all make mistakes.

Recommended for any readers interested in history. Barracoon is a treasure.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s the History Guy episode I wrote about Oluale Kossola:

A Treasury of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories of History’s Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors by Michael Farquhar

Michael Farquhar takes readers through different time periods and countries to remember some of the most scandalous royal persons who have ever lived.

All of the stories showcase the rich assortment of scandals that once flourished across Europe. And, thanks to the generations of royals who unwittingly created them, they remain immensely entertaining. pg 11, ebook.

There is a rich assortment indeed. Almost any kind of depravity can be found in these pages. But the most shocking of the lot, in my mind, were the Roman emperors or the medieval Popes.

I guess those stuck with me the most because the emperors were stunning in how far they would go into their own personal madness, whatever that happened to be. And the Popes because, frankly, you’d think they’d know better.

For example, Tiberius, a Roman emperor, when he wasn’t raping young people on the island where he built a castle expressly for that purpose, he was torturing and killing anybody he felt like.

To Tiberius, death was a relatively light punishment. What he really enjoyed was the slow process of getting there. pg 184 Yikes.

As for the Popes, in a cast of colorful characters, the one I remember the most was Benedict Gaetani or Pope Boniface VIII. Not necessarily because of how awful he was, but because how he was so determined to be Pope. Gaetani thought he should hold the office even when someone else was elected. He came up with a creative scheme to get that Pope to resign.

By some accounts, Gaetani installed a hidden tube in Celestine’s room. During the night as the pope slept, he would whisper into it, “Celestine, Celestine, lay down your office. It is too much for you.” Only too glad to oblige what he believed was the voice of God, Celestine V dutifully resigned and Benedict Gaetani was immediately elected Pope Boniface VIII. pg 217, ebook.

As interesting as this book was, I enjoyed Farquhar’s Bad Days in History: A Gleefully Grim Chronicle of Misfortune, Mayhem, and Misery for Every Day of the Year more because I knew fewer of the stories in that book. In fact, some of what he wrote in this book was printed nearly verbatim in the other. (Not that there’s anything against that, it is his own writing after all.) But if you only have time to read one non-fiction book full of historical trivia, I’d recommended Bad Days in History.

However, if you’re specifically interested in the misbehavior of royal people throughout history, this is the book for you.

Thanks for reading!

Titanic Thompson: The Man Who Bet on Everything by Kevin Cook

“Are you a gambling man?” he’d ask. “Because I am.” Prologue.

A non-fiction biography that reads like fiction, this is the life story of Titanic Thompson. According to author Kevin Cook, Titanic’s life was the model for the gambler Sky Masterson in the musical “Guys and Dolls.” This poker and golf-playing phenomenon bet and propositioned his way across the country. In addition to all of the fun anecdotes about bets he made, Titanic was a star witness in the trial for the murder of the man accused of “fixing” the World Series.

Seriously folks, history doesn’t get much more interesting than this.

As Alvin collected his winnings, someone asked Snow Clark the stranger’s name. “I don’t rightly know but it ought to be ‘Titanic,'” Clark said. “He sinks everybody.” pg 3

Alvin Clarence Thomas was born in 1893 in rural Missouri near the small town of Monett. The last name, Thompson, that he would adopt for most of his adult life, came from a later newspaper misprint that he embraced as his own.

Later in life, Thompson said he couldn’t read, but numbers and odds always made sense to him. He spent hours sitting alone in his room, teaching himself to adeptly shuffle cards, practicing dealing from the bottom of the deck more quickly than the eye could follow. Thompson developed a method of marking cards that some still use today, like putting dots on the back or notching the edges to be able to tell a face cards from the lower ones.

He was quite popular with the ladies and married 5 times to women significantly younger than him. Scandalous!

“He was fun,” said a woman who knew him. “He took his hat off when he spoke to you. Alvin was slim like a willow, and he didn’t walk, he sauntered.” pg 21

When he was drafted into the army, he was made a sergeant and taught the men under him how to gamble.

“Sergeant Thomas spent hours dealing demonstration stud hands, providing a running commentary on each hand, training his men to calculate the odds of an opponent’s having an ace or king or deuce in the hole, telling them when to bet harder and when to fold their tents, so they could beat all the poor dumb soldiers who trusted to luck.” pg 53

There are so many interesting stories in this book. My favorite was when he swindled Al Capone. Yes, THE Al Capone.

Highly recommended for fans of history or historical fiction. As I said, this guy’s life reads like a story.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s the History Guy episode I wrote about Titanic Thompson:

Villains, Scoundrels, and Rogues: Incredible True Tales of Mischief and Mayhem by Paul Martin

The past comes alive in Paul Martin‘s compilation of villains, scoundrels and rogues from history.

Although many of these people were famous in their own time, they’ve largely slipped into the shadows for most modern readers. … What makes these figures worthy of note is that their life stories all read like fiction. From the introduction.

And they really do. From the truly terrible like serial killers, including one who wore a suit made of human skin, to the less terrible like fraudsters and a counterfeiter of one dollar bills, these are people who made their mark on history in one way or another.

I find this kind of non-fiction read absolutely fascinating. It makes me wonder, these are the stories that almost slipped through the cracks. How many note-worthy people have been completely forgotten?

I have a small quibble about how this book was organized. Martin takes the reader from the awful to less-awful, which seems anticlimactic. Shouldn’t it have gone the other way?

Also, Martin editorializes somewhat at the end of each chapter, so if you’re looking for just history and no opinions, this might not work for you.

With those few reservations, I’d recommend this for readers looking to expand their trivia knowledge and for fans of history. I really enjoyed it.

If you want some other true crime stories from history, check out The History Guy’s true crime playlist on YouTube.

Thanks for reading!

The Help Desk Book Blog

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Tag: history

The Duke of Wellington, Kidnapped!: The Incredible True Story of the Art Heist That Shocked a Nation by Alan Hirsch

Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe by John Evangelist Walsh

Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

Step Aside, Pops (Hark! A Vagrant, #2) by Kate Beaton

The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America’s First Serial Killer by Skip Hollandsworth

Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston

A Treasury of Royal Scandals: The Shocking True Stories of History’s Wickedest, Weirdest, Most Wanton Kings, Queens, Tsars, Popes, and Emperors by Michael Farquhar

Titanic Thompson: The Man Who Bet on Everything by Kevin Cook

Villains, Scoundrels, and Rogues: Incredible True Tales of Mischief and Mayhem by Paul Martin

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