“And that poor man, Trombley?” asked Ruth. “He shot his wife to death in a fit of passion!”
“Well,” said Harpo, “he shot her in the nick of time, just as she was about to shoot at me and Dottie, point blank. And let me say, if he hadn’t shot his wife, one of us, or both, might not be enjoying this lovely, cool September evening. I have the feeling that Freddie will get off scot free!”
We were leaving the restaurant, saying our goodbyes and thank-yous to our new Italian friends, when I asked Harpo how his horse, Maggie, was faring.
“She’s doing great! She can’t live at my place, and Frank said I had to get her out of the hotel, so I found a stall for her at the Westside stables. She likes you, I know it! She’s right outside, Dottie, come and say hello.”
“You know, Harpo,” said Mr. Benchley, as we walked out into the night to visit the horse tethered at the lamppost, “I am eternally grateful to you and Maggie for saving our Mrs. Parker.”
“Don’t mention it. She needed to stretch her legs after all that time sitting in a hotel room—Maggie that is.”
“But, I have to tell you something, Harpo, something you may not like to know,” I said.
“About Maggie?” he said, “She’s not a boy horse; I checked! What could be so bad?”
“Harpo, Maggie lied to you. She’s not a Lipizzaner, she’s a Quarterhorse.”
Harpo looked taken aback at the news. He considered the consequences. Nodding, he replied, “That’s all right, Dottie—I’m five-quarters Jewish. Our love will see us through.”
“Harpo, you have to return Maggie to her policeman. You can go to jail for that, you know?” said Mr. Benchley.
“Well, I could go to jail for a lot of things,” he said defensively, “But I’m not giving Maggie to the cops.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because she belongs to an actor playing a Canadian Mountie in that production of Rosemarie, over at the Hippodrome. He stole my gal; I stole his.”
“Oh, Harpo, you are a character!”
He threw me a wily grin, patted Maggie on the nose, and ran a loving palm down her mane.
Turning to me with wide-eyed innocence, he asked: “You don’t think there’s any Irish in her, do you?”
The End
In business!
These two Italian cousins turned in their pushcarts for a fruit and vegetable store.
Lamberto's bakery
Bernardo Castelli hosted a dinner for us in his restaurant in Little Italy.
Afterword
Dorothy Parker and Ruth Hale were in Boston during the weeks before the executions of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, organizing and marching in demonstrations at the State House. They were arrested during their peaceful march, and they really were watched by the feds, and suspected, too, of planning to set off a bomb. Whether or not they returned to New York City on the Midnight Owl is unknown.
In his column for Pulitzer’s World, Heywood Broun questioned the fairness of the trials, appeals, and death sentence, as well as the integrity of the powerful political machine—citing prejudicial conduct of the Judicial, the police department, the district attorney’s office, and the governor’s office of the State of Massachusetts, which doggedly brought about the murder convictions and later stonewalled numerous appeals for new trials and for commutation of the death sentences. His publisher told him he would not accept another column on the subject. Broun resigned.
Robert Benchley became involved in the case through an affidavit of prejudice on behalf of Bartolomeo Vanzetti for a new trial to Governor Alvan Fuller of Massachusetts in May 1927. In it, he tells of a conversation overheard in 1921 and relayed to him by his friend, Loring Coes, in which Coes, in the locker-room of the Worchester Golf Club the day that Benchley picked him up from the club, overheard Judge Thayer refer to Sacco and Vanzetti as “those bastards down there,” and say that he “would get them good and proper.” As for the “parlor radicals” who were defending the men, he would “show them and would get those guys hanged.” He “would like to hang a few dozen of those radicals, too.” As Coes never came forward as a firsthand witness to these statements, as Benchley expected him to do, during the early summer of 1927 Benchley followed up on the issue and went as far as an interview with Governor Fuller, who suggested his statements were embellished to make a better story of it.
On August 23, 1977, the fiftieth anniversary of the executions, Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts issued a proclamation that stated that Sacco and Vanzetti had been unfairly tried and convicted. Without asserting the men’s innocence, a subject that has been in constant debate over the years, the proclamation was made that “any disgrace should be forever removed from their names.”
Praise for Dorothy Parker Mysteries
Those of us who since childhood had wished there was a time machine that could let us experience and enjoy life in other periods, should read Agata Stanford’s “Dorothy Parker Mysteries” series. They wonderfully recreate the atmosphere and spirit of the literary and artistic crowd at the Algonquin Round Table in the 1920s, and bring back to life the wit, habits, foibles, and escapades of Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, and Alexander Woollcott, as well as of the multitude of their friends and even their pets, both human and animal.
—Anatole Konstantin
Author of A Red Boyhood: Growing up under Stalin
Agata Stanford’s “Dorothy Parker Mysteries” is destined to become a classic series. It’s an addictive cocktail for the avid mystery reader. It has it all: murder, mystery, and Marx Brothers’ mayhem. You’ll see, once you’ve taken Manhattan with the Parker/Benchley crowd. Dorothy Parker wins! Move over, Nick and Nora.
—Elizabeth Fuller
Author of Me and Jezebel
Dorothy Parker and the Regulars of the Algonquin Hotel Round Table are alive and well in Agata Stanford’s The Broadway Murders. Descriptions are fantastic in this who-dunnit as Stanford writes very colorfully. This is an adult’s picture book, too, which in the end turned out to be pretty terrific.
—Terri Ann Armstrong
Author of “Medieval Menace” for Suspense Magazine
If you like murder mysteries, the fast-paced action, witty conversation, and glib repartee of the flapper era, you will love Agata Stanford’s recreation of the atmosphere of the crowd at the Algonquin Round Table in the 1920s.
—Mr. Tomato
for TheThreeTomatoes.com
Dorothy is presented with wit and sarcasm sprinkled with tremendous insight. The life she lived is believably recreated, including the escapades of the Marx Brothers, the late nights of theater and dinners, even the famous speakeasy they drank at; all serve as backdrop to the investigation. The writing style affects the breezy language and popular slang to further transport you to that era when jazz artists and flappers coined modern terms. It is a heady mix and an escapist pleasure.
—A.F. Heart
for Mysteries and Musings
About the Author
Agata Stanford is an actress, director, and playwright who grew up in New York City. While attending the School of Performing Arts, she’d often walk past the Algonquin Hotel, which sparked her early interest in the legendary Algonquin Round Table.
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