The President's Vampire: Strange-But-True Tales of the United States of America (26 page)

APPENDIX III

How dangerous was James Brown?

There is no evidence that James Brown killed anyone except James M. Foster, but letters exchanged between law enforcement, prison, and asylum officials contain several references to him as “a very dangerous man.” (Letter from U.S Marshal’s office Massachusetts District to Dr. W.W. Godding, June 23, 1885[?]) The official correspondence does not go into details but Warden E.J. Russell states that Brown was a danger to other inmates and that he did not want to be responsible for him.

Massachusetts State Prison,

Warden’s Office,

Charlestown, Mass. Feb. 7, 1887.

Genl. N.P. Banks,

U.S. Marshal,

Dear Sir:

Yours with a letter from Dr. W.W. Godding was received today- Is it not possible that the order returning James Brown can be revoked or that he can be sent to some other prison?

His often expressed hatred of Massachusetts and all of its officers from the Governer [sic] down makes me think that this prison would be more likely to excite him than one where the surroundings are new-

I speak from the information which is at hand as he never was under my charge as Warden- but I cannot help saying that I do not think it safe to put him into the Shops with other men as there is a greater fear of Brown’s treachery among the men than the officers of the prison- Mr. Pettigrew the prisonClerk [sic]- and the bearer of this letter,- will tell you of his disposition if you should bring him on, which I shall greatly deplore.

Very respectfully,

E.J. Russell,

Warden.

(Case files of patients series 66, Record Group #418. Records of St. Elizabeths Hospital.)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, I want to thank my editor Patrick Huyghe for his extraordinary patience. Very special thanks to my brother Steve at the Denver Public Library, Lance Corporal Elliott Madison, Chuan Qin, Kathy Keppler, Dr. George Gill, Donald B. Kiddoo, and Richard Hendricks for being so generous with their time, information, and expertise. This book would have been impossible without the help of librarians, archivists, and volunteers working in historical societies across the country, wonderful people who make your search their own. There are also the many writers, scientists, magicians, ranchers, reporters, and friends who contributed in ways too numerous to mention.

These include Michael E. Bell, Bob Rickard, and David Sutton of the
Fortean Times
; K.L. Keppler for the two original illustrations; Dr. T. Peter Park, Loren Coleman, Theo Paijmans, George Wagner, Michael A. Banks, snopes, Helen of Troy, Timothy Hodkinson, Stephen Jones, and all the members of
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, W.M. Mott and
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.com, George Hansen, Walter Hickey of the National Archive at Waltham Massachusetts, the Paramus Public Library, New York Public Library, American Society for Psychical Research, and the American Museum of Natural History. Thanks to Ellen R. Nelson of the Cape Ann Historical Association, Britta Karlberg of the Phillips Library Peabody Essex Museum, Mary H. Sibbalds of The Sandy Bay Historical Society & Museum, Inc., Marilynne K. Roach, Learned T. Bulman of the Morris County Historical Society, Ben Robinson (Illusion Genius), Larry White, Mark Walker (Prof. Horn), James Lewis of the New Jersey Historical Society, Deborah Mercer and Shaaron Warne of the New Jersey State Library, Sally Biel of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Library, Sheryl Hollis Snyder of the Adams County Historical Society, Lila Fourhmann-Shaull of the York County Heritage Trust, William R. Creech of the National Archives and Record Administration, Michael P. Dyer of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Elizabeth Favers and Charlie Arp of the Ohio Historical Society, Sylvia Weedman of the Bostonian Society, Diane Shephard of the Lynn Museum, Marlynn M. Olson, Nancy Derevjanik of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, F.P. O’Neill at the Maryland Historical Society; Mrs. Adeline Buskirk, Ms Peggy Antonacci, Barry Carter, Mark DiIonno, and Russell Ben–Ali at the
Newark Star Ledger
; Ann Nelson of the Wyoming State Archives, Judy West at the Wyoming Historical Society, George Hebbert (who actually held Pedro in his hands), Amanda Bielskas, Lee Underbrink, Jennifer MacLeod and the Greybull Museum, Harvey Wilkins, the Big Horn County Historical Society, G.G. Kortes, Barry Strang of the Wooden Rifle Ranch, Nancy Anderson at the Hanna Basin Museum, Ralph Schaus, Edward Meyer of Ripley Entertainment Inc., Todd Roll, Monica Hill, Erik Solomonson, Museumoftalkingboards.com, Kevin Herridge of the Algiers Historical Society, Captain K. L. Shaver, the Edgar Cayce Foundation, Paul Gambino, Louise Punch at the Belle Chasse State School, and, finally, to the managers and employees of McDonalds. Most of this book was written in a McDonalds at the corner of 86th St. & 24th Ave. in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.