Prof. Hamilton's Diary: April 1, 1935
The baby may get to come home; killer goes directly to jail -- at Alcatraz
There was good news today at the hospital. Dr. Landis told the Hamiltons that Mary Elizabeth might be able to go home by week’s end if her temperature stayed down. “It is now normal, & she seems better,” her father wrote. Otherwise it was a typical Monday of teaching, studying, and working on his dissertation.
“A cold day — for April 1,” he wrote. No mention of practical jokes, though the Reading Times had a couple of doctored photographs under a headline “Take a Good Look at These, Then a Peak at Your Calendar.” Their boo-boo, not mine. Maybe it was intentional?
A gang member who J. Edgar Hoover called “a rat with a patriotic-sounding name” became the first person sent directly to Alcatraz Prison. Paid subscribers can read on to learn about John Paul Chase and how he earned the life-long enmity of the vengeful FBI director.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Baptists, Bootleggers, and Everything in Between to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.