FOOLS AMONGST THE PENNY HUNTERS (1895)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** April Fool’s jokes have a long and colorful tradition of the instigation of harmless pranks on hapless “fools.” They have often been played with great success on their unsuspecting targets at least since the 16th century. In 1895, one April Fool’s joke brought about not only the public mockery of one Brooklyn businessman – but also a great loss of some “small change.” THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THAR PENNIES! On April Fool’s Day in 1895, a Bath Beach business man, John Brodie of Bay Seventeenth street let his greed get the best of him. On that fateful day a “stranger entered Brodie’s collecting agency office” and “let out the secret that all the 1892 cents would be recalled and that their value had suddenly jumped to 8 cents each.” The reason, it was averred, was that “by mistake some gold had become mixed up in the copper.” Brodie saw a chance to make a great profit, but only if he acted swiftly and quietly. He, thus, “sent his office boy around to the different banks and secured fully $50 worth of coppers. Not satisfied with this he visited various stores at Bath Beach and gathered in all the pennies he could.” But Brodie could not keep the secret of the path […]
The Reincarnation of Teddy Roosevelt (1912)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** 1 April 1912 – Brooklyn, N.Y. – A well-dressed man appeared in Brooklyn Police Headquarters two hours before sunrise on the 1st of April and, after introducing himself as the reincarnation of Theodore Roosevelt, “promptly dismissed all the lieutenants, detectives and policemen in the structure from the Police Department. “What appeared to be a merry jest on the part of the stranger was enjoyed until he attempted by rather progressive and aggressive tactics to yank some of the lieutenants out of the chairs and hurl them into the street in order to show his word must be obeyed,” The Evening Telegram of 1 April 1912 observed. “It then dawned on the smiling lieutenants, detectives and policemen that the reincarnation of the Rough Rider was not in any sense an April Fool joker.” “Teddy” – or Joseph Condon, of No. 142 Atlantic Avenue – was evidently very much under the impression, though, that he was – if not Theodore Roosevelt, himself – the reincarnation of same. “Roosevelt” thereupon imposed a three months’ fine on Policeman Franklin and then assigned him to Tottenville, Staten Island. When Franklin asked “Teddy” to show him the way there, Condon said he would not go until the dismissed lieutenants, detectives and policemen had left the building. After […]
