Monk Eastman

by Neil Hanson

  13 “IT IS SAFE TO SAY” Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, 360.

  14–15 27TH DIVISION MEMORIAL REVIEW and “THE HIGHER MILITARY IDEALS” War Diary of 2nd Battalion, 106th Infantry, November 10, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), A.E.F. General Headquarters, War Diaries [NM-91] 26, box 2694, NARA; General Orders No. 94, November 5, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files [NM-91] 1241, box 6, NARA.

  16 “SO SLOW” and WHILE ITS COMMANDER Private William F. Clarke, quoted in James Hallas, Doughboy War, 311; Maurice J. Swetland and Lilli Swetland, These Men, 296.

  17 “THE HONOR OF BEING” Gas Attack, March 1919, 42–43.

  18 “IT WAS UNDOUBTEDLY” Commanding General to Commanding Officer, 106th Infantry, October 22, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1634, NARA.

  19 MONK HAD FOUGHT Abstracts of WWI Military Service, New York State Archives, B0808; New York Daily Tribune, May 9, 1919.

  20 THE CITATIONS AMONG See, for example, Headquarters, 106th Infantry, October 6, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93], box 1634, NARA.

  21 “BETWEEN BATTALION HEADQUARTERS” Commanding Officer, 106th Infantry, to Commanding General, 27th Division, January 30, 1919, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1636, NARA.

  22 27TH DIVISION’S LOSSES Trench and Camp, March 1919; Commemorative plaque erected in Brooklyn by the Brooklyn City Guard Association, 1924; Commanding Officer, 106th Infantry, to Commanding General, 53rd Infantry Brigade, October 27, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1646, NARA; Statistical Section, Headquarters, 27th Division, memorandum to G-3, II Corps, December 15, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files—106th Infantry [NM-91] 1241, box 1, NARA.

  23 “TERMINATED THE WORLD’S” New York Times, March 7, 1919.

  24 WHY HE WASN’T CELEBRATING Mitchell Yockelson, Borrowed Soldiers, 211–12.

  25 “I REJOICE TO THINK” Field Marshal Douglas Haig, to the General Commanding Officer and the officers, noncommissioned officers, and enlisted men of the 27th Division, February 12, 1919, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 1, NARA.

  26 “BEING AMERICANS” John F. O’Ryan, Major General Commanding, to Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, February 18, 1919, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 1, NARA.

  27 MOST DOUGHBOYS NEVER Mead, The Doughboys, 74.

  28 PREVENT VANDALISM and LE BREIL Bulletin No. 120, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files [NM-91] 1241, box 1, NARA; War Diary of 2nd Battalion, 106th Infantry, November 28, 29, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), A.E.F. General Headquarters, War Diaries [NM-91] 26, box 2694, NARA.

  29 CONTINUING TO UNDERGO John Bessette, Lecture at York St. John’s University, January 19, 2008; General Orders No. 98, November 11, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files [NM-91] 1241, box 6, NARA.

  30 ABSENTEEISM and REPORTS THAT ENLISTED Chief of Staff to Commanding General, 27th Division, December 23, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files—106th Infantry [NM-91] 1241, box 1, NARA; Adjutant General, A.E.F., to Commanding General, 27th Division, November 21, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93], box 1638, NARA; General Orders No. 106, December 28, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93], box 1653, NARA; Orders No. 163, February 19, 1919, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files [NM-91] 1241, box 1, NARA.

  31–32 “OWING TO CHANGED CONDITIONS” and “NOT ENOUGH ATTENTION” Memorandum by command of Brigadier General Pierce, November 15, 1919, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files [NM-91] 1241, box 1, NARA; Chief of Staff to Commanding General, 27th Division, December 26, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93], box 1638, NARA.

  33 THERE WERE ALSO and EAR CUT OFF Adjutant, 106th U.S. Infantry, to Commandant of the Brigade Gendarmerie of Vibraye, January 26, 1919, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93], box 1638, NARA; Major Scott Button, Major Infantry USA, to the Citizens of Le Breil, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93], box 1646, NARA; Memorandum to all Company Commanders, February 4, 1919, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93], box 1638, NARA.

  34 REPLACEMENT UNDERWEAR, ONLY TEN MEN, and “INFATUATION WITH” The Surgeon, 3rd Battalion, 106th Infantry, to Commanding Officer, 106th Infantry, January 18, 1919, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93], box 1646, NARA; Memorandum to all Company Commanders, 2nd Battalion, January 18, 1919, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1636, NARA; Commanding Officer, 106th Infantry, to Commanding General, 27th Division, January 19, 1919, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1636, NARA.

  35–36 THE RUMORS FLEW and INSPECTION AND REVIEW Gas Attack, March 1919, 42–43; Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment, 334.

  37 “THREE MILLION ROUNDS OF CANDY” and HIS GRADE OF ARMY MECHANIC Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 24, 1919; Bulletin No. 121, November 19, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files [NM-91] 1241, box 1, NARA; Abstracts of WWI Military Service, New York State Archives, B0808.

  38 GENERAL O’RYAN HAD ASKED, THE “PURPLE cross,” and “AMERICAN HERO” Major General John F. O’Ryan to Colonel F. W. Ward, 106th Infantry, December 16, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93], box 1638, NARA; CO, Company G, 106th Infantry, to CO, 106th Infantry, December 20, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93], box 1638, NARA; “Paris Director in League with Purple Cross (?),” in Embalmers’ Monthly 33, January 1920; “Rid the Profession of Odium That Has Come to It,” in Embalmers’ Monthly 33, February 1920; G. Kurt Piehler, Remembering War the American Way, 94.

  39 “MRS. ROOSEVELT AND I” John W. Graham, unpublished paper, “Quentin Roosevelt and the Gold Star Mothers Pilgrimages,” quoted in Lisa M. Budreau, Mourning and the Making of a Nation, 4; Captain H. F. Jaeckel, 106th Infantry, to Commanding Officer, Headquarters Company, 106th Infantry, December 28, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93], box 1638, NARA.

  40 RUMORS THAT THE 27TH and INSPECTED FOR VERMIN Gas Attack, March 1919, 42–43; War Diary of 2nd Battalion, 106th Infantry, October 17, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), A.E.F. General Headquarters, War Diaries [NM-91] 26, box 2694, NARA; Trench and Camp, February 1919; Memorandum to Commanding Officers, January 7, 1919, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files [NM-91] 1241, box 5, NARA.

  41 “IT WAS NOTHING” New York Times, February 19, 1919.

  42 THEY TOOK THEIR FINAL Gas Attack, March 1919, 42–43; War Diary of 106th Infantry, February 24, 1919, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files [NM-91] 1241, box 9, NARA.

  43 THE LEVIATHAN and “TEN HOMING PIGEONS” New York Times, February 16, 1919; Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War, 508; William F. Clarke, Over There with O’Ryan’s Roughnecks, 29; The World, March 27, 1919.

  21 THE FIGHTERS THAT THEY WERE

  1 A F
LYING BOAT and MORE THAN FIFTEEN THOUSAND Trench and Camp, 266 March 1919; New York Times, March 7, 1919.

  2 “FROM THE MOMENT” and CONEY ISLAND New York Times, March 7, 1919; Trench and Camp, March 1919.

  3 GENERAL O’RYAN STOOD John F. O’Ryan, History of the 27th Division: New York’s Own, 6–7; New York Times, March 7, 10, 1919; War Diary of 106th Infantry, March 6, 1919, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files [NM-91] 1241, box 9, NARA.

  4 A LARGE NUMBER OF DOGS, “FIQUE,” and FLEMISH ORPHAN BOY The World, March 25, 1919; New York Times, March 7, 1919; New York Sun, March 7, 1919.

  5 ELEVEN HUNDRED MEN ON BOARD New York Times, March 7, 1919; O’Ryan, History of the 27th Division, 41.

  6 LIQUID SOAP New York Times, March 6, 8, February 23, 1919; War Diary of 106th Infantry, February 24, 1919, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files [NM-91] 1241, box 9, NARA.

  7 EXCLUDING THEIR HAND GRENADES and CARPENTERS OF THE TODD New York Times, March 22, 25, 1919; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 24, 1919; The World, March 23, 24, 1919.

  8 THE “WILD MEN” New York Times, March 25, 1919.

  9 “WITH SET FACES” and “THE STRAIGHT LINES” The World, March 25, 1919; New York Times, March 25, 1919.

  10 TWO DOGS AND A YOUNG GOAT The World, March 25, 1919; O’Ryan, History of the 27th Division, 71; New York Times, March 25, 1919.

  11 “THE SPELL OF THE GRIM” and FOOD FIGHT New York Times, 270 March 25, 1919.

  12 “GENERAL JOLLIFICATION” The World, March 25, 1919; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 24, 1919; New York Times, March 25, 1919.

  13 “THE APPIAN WAY,” “A MODERN FAIRY LAND,” and “MOST PRETENTIOUS” Trench and Camp, March 1919; The World, March 23, 24, 1919; New York Times, March 25, 26, 1919.

  14 PRISTINE WHITE SAND Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 25, 1919; New York Times, March 26, 1919.

  15 “I FEEL HOW WEAK” New York Times, March 26, 1919.

  16 “EVEN THE BEST FRIEND” New York Times, March 25, 1919; The World, March 24, 1919.

  17 “BLACK FOR IRON” Rutherford Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment N.G.S.N.Y., 335.

  18 AEROBATICS Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 25, 1919.

  19 “THE RESPECT OF THE WORLD” General Orders No. 11, March 15, 1919, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files [NM-91] 1241, box 6, NARA.

  20 REIDAR WALLER The World, March 23, 1919.

  21 “MANY PERSONS WIPED” New York Times, March 26, 1919.

  22 “YELLS OF ‘HELLO MONK,’ ” “A GOOD PAL,” and MORE THAN A PASSING RESEMBLANCE New York Daily Tribune, December 27, 1920; Trench and Camp, April 8, 1919; The World, March 26, 27, 1919.

  23 “THOSE WHO BOUGHT” New York Times, March 26, 1919.

  24 O’RYAN WAS NEARLY THROWN Ibid.

  25 “PARADE AT ATTENTION” General O’Ryan, quoted in New York Times, April 11, 1919.

  26 “THE BOYS DIDN’T LET” and “FORGOT THEY WERE WOUNDED” The World, March 26, 1919; New York Times, March 26, 1919.

  27 THE SAME MENU New York Times, March 25, 27, 1919.

  28 THE HOTEL MCALPIN and “THE EAST SIDE DELEGATION” New York Times, March 26, 1919; New York Daily Tribune, December 27, 1920; The World, March 27, 1919.

  22 VICTIMLESS CRIMES

  1 CAMP UPTON Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 28, 1919; New York Times, March 27, 1919.

  2 MONK’S FORMAL DISCHARGE NYSA 13721–83, Abstracts of National Guard Service, box 14, vol. 43; Trench and Camp, March 1919; Rutherford Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment N.G.S.N.Y., 337; New York Times, April 3, May 2, 1919.

  3 TESTIFYING TO New York Times, April 3, 1919.

  4 “EASTMAN CAME TO SEE ME” The World, April 9, 1919; New York Times, May 2, 1919.

  5 “HIS RECORD,” “EXHIBITING GREAT BRAVERY,” and “UTMOST COURAGE” New York Daily Tribune, May 9, 1919; The World, April 9, 1919; Albany Times Union, May 8, 1919.

  6 “A QUIET, DISCIPLINED” and “SHOULD BE REWARDED” New York Times, May 2, 1919; Albany Times Union, May 8, 1919.

  7 MONK EASTMAN WINS New York Daily Tribune, April 3, May 9, 1919; B1201–87 box 3, Clemency Records, file number 7, page 91, New York State Archives; New York Times, May 9, 10, April 3, 1919; Albany Times Union, May 8, 1919.

  8 “THE FATHER OF THE MODERN GANGSTER” Herbert Asbury, “Gangland USA,” 15.

  9 35 PERCENT OF THE WORLD’S and TWO MILLION SOLDIERS Raymond A. Mohl, The Making of Urban America, 97; Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War, 505.

  10 THE FIGHT TO CONTROL BOOTLEGGING Humbert S. Nelli, The Business of Crime, 172.

  11 MEDICINAL WITHDRAWAL PERMITS and GARBAGE SCOWS Craig Thompson and Allen Raymond, Gang Rule in New York, 9, 362.

  12 NORTH TARRYTOWN and “IN THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE” Asbury papers, unpublished manuscripts, box 2.

  13 “CURBSIDE MARKETS” and “COULDN’T BE ANY FURTHER” Thompson and Raymond, Gang Rule, 9; New York Daily Tribune, December 27, 1920.

  14 ON A RAMPAGE and “BOOZE PARTY” New York Daily Tribune, December 27, 1920.

  15 THERE WERE RUMORS and “WITH NICKEL PLATE” New York Times, November 11, 1923; Ronald Clarke, In the Reign of Rothstein, 1–2.

  16 PROFUSE APOLOGIES and “IT’S A GOOD THING” Virgil W. Peterson, The Mob, 131–32; Thompson and Raymond, Gang Rule, 22.

  17 “WITHIN A BISCUIT TOSS,” “THE QUIETEST LIFE,” and MOST OF THE DAYLIGHT Brooklyn Eagle, December 27, 1920; New York Times, December 27, 1920.

  18 A BOUNCER IN A CRAP JOINT and NEW YORK POLICE WENT New York Times, December 27, 1920; Brooklyn Eagle, December 27, 1920.

  19 THE COURT CAFE, “THE NORTHERN BOUNDARY,” and WILLIE LEWIS Brooklyn Eagle, December 27, 1920; Buffalo Evening News, December 27, 1920; New York Times, December 27, 28, 1920.

  20 MEMBERS OF HIS OLD GANG and “DO YOU KNOW WHO” New York

  21 Times, December 28, 1920; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 28, 1920; New York Daily Tribune, December 28, 29, 1920.

  22 “ALWAYS LIKELY TO BE QUARRELSOME” and “HE CRUMPLED UP” New York Times, December 28, 1920; The Sun, January 3, 1921.

  23 A FAINT HEARTBEAT and ONE BULLET New York Times, December 27, 28, 1920; New York Daily Tribune, December 27, 1920; New York Death Certificate 33332.

  23 DRAPED IN BLACK CLOTH

  1 GRAIN ALCOHOL New York World, December 27, 1920.

  2 OLD-TIMERS Brooklyn Eagle, December 27, 1920.

  3 GOOD SUIT New York Times, December 27, 1920; New York Daily Tribune, December 27, 1920.

  4 “THAT FACT, EVEN MORE” Buffalo Evening News, December 27, 1920; The Evening Telegram, December 26, 1920.

  5 “A MAN WAS STANDING” and “IF YOU TRY” New York Times, December 28, 1920; Chicago Daily Tribune, December 27, 1920.

  6 CHEAP, NICKELED Brooklyn Eagle, December 27, 1920; New York Times, December 27, 1920.

  7 “THE MONK WOULDN’T CARRY” The Evening Telegram, December 27, 1920.

  8 “THERE IS A NEW KIND OF CRIME” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 29, 1920.

  9 JOHN EASTMAN New York Times, December 27, 1920.

  10 “AS VAGUE” New York Evening Post, December 27, 1920.

  11 $144, “WAS UNDERSTOOD TO HAVE,” and “TIRED OF WOMEN” New York Times, December 27, 28, 1920; Buffalo Evening News, December 27, 1920; New York Daily Tribune, December 28, 1920.

  12 “HE WAS A GOOD GUY” and “YOUNG SQUIRT GUNMEN” The Evening Telegram, December 27, 1920; New York Times, December 28, 27, 1920.

  13 “ASSOCIATING WITH PROFESSIONAL” and PROFITS FROM DRUG PEDDLING New York Evening Post, December 28, 1920; Chicago Daily Tribune, December 27, 1920; The World, January 5, 1921; New York Evening Post, December 28, 1920.

  14 THE NARCOTICS SQUAD and “I AM NOT MONK” New York Times, December 28, 29, 31, 1920, January 4, 1921; Brooklyn Eagle, December 27, 1920.

  15 THE POLICE WERE LATER FORCED New York Times, December 28, 1920, January 4, 1921; Buffal
o Evening News, December 28, 1920.

  16 “WHIPPED BY DRINK” New York Daily Tribune, December 28, 1920.

  17 A SECOND VISIT Buffalo Evening News, December 28, 1920.

  18 NO SURPRISE IF New York Times, December 28, 1920; New York Daily Tribune, December 28, 1920.

  19 “WOULD NOT DENY” New York Times, December 28, 1920; Buffalo Evening News, December 28, 1920.

  20 MORRIS POCKETT and “HE REALLY WASN’T” New York Times, December 28, 1920.

  21 “MR. EDWARD EASTMAN” Mara Bovsun, “Gangster, Doughboy, Hero,” 36.

  22 “I’M SORRY I DIDN’T” New York Times, December 29, 1920; The World, December 27, 1920; The Sun, December 29, 1920.

  23 “WHITE ONES FOR DEAD” Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 46.

  24 OUR LOST PAL and “MERE CURIOSITY-SEEKERS” Brooklyn Daily

  25 Eagle, December 29, 30, 1920.

  26 A CORPS OF DETECTIVES Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 30, 1920.

  27 “IT IS NOT MY PROVINCE” New York Daily Tribune, December 31, 1920.

  28 ONE ESTIMATE PUT The Evening Telegram, December 30, 1920; New York Times, December 31, 1920.

  29 ALTHOUGH IT WAS RUMORED and “MOTHERS WITH LINES” The Evening Telegram, December 30, 1920.

  30 “THE CHARACTER OF EASTMAN” Ibid.

  31 “NO MATTER HOW BAD” New York Daily Tribune, December 31, 1920; The Evening Telegram, December 30, 1920.

  32 “A REFORMED GANGSTER WHO” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 30, 1920.

  33 “DID NOT BELIEVE” New York Times, December 29, 1920.

  34 “BOTH LEGITIMATE AND” The Sun, January 1, 1921; New York Times, December 31, 1920.

  35 “NOT AN ANGRY WORD” New York Times, December 31, 1920.

  36 “WE WANT JERRY BOHAN” New York Daily Tribune, January 1, 1921 (in some accounts, the name was spelled “Bohun”).

  37 “GOT MUSSY” and GRABBED HIM FROM BEHIND New York Times, January 4, 1921.

  38 “THUS THE TWO” New York Times, December 29, 1920, January 4, 1921.