Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy D. Wilson. Okay, this
Speaker 1: is a part two of our two parter on Fritz Duchane,
Speaker 1: and we are going to pick up right where we
Speaker 1: left off in the story of the life of Fritz Duchane,
Speaker 1: adventurer and spy. So if you did not listen to
Speaker 1: the first part, you really should, or this is probably
Speaker 1: gonna make no sense whatsoever. So when we left off,
Speaker 1: Fritz had made his way after an escape from Bermuda
Speaker 1: to Paterson, New Jersey. He had done this through a
Speaker 1: network of Boors sympathizers. After a few weeks in Patterson,
Speaker 1: he got word that the American Transpall League in New
Speaker 1: York would be able to help him. He got set
Speaker 1: up in the city and worked first as a subway conductor,
Speaker 1: which he really hated, and then as a subscription collector
Speaker 1: for the New York Hair World. Fritz wasn't really content
Speaker 1: in that role either, but he was able to parlay
Speaker 1: it into work as a reporter, and that launched a
Speaker 1: nice little career for him. He started writing about some
Speaker 1: of his adventures back in Africa, and these articles in
Speaker 1: the Herald were so popular that other papers started to
Speaker 1: become interested in him. So for the five years from
Speaker 1: nineteen o four to nineteen o nine, Duquesne was moving
Speaker 1: from paper to paper as one after another made him
Speaker 1: more lucrative offers, and this reputation and income also offered
Speaker 1: Duchese the best payment of all, the opportunity to craft
Speaker 1: an identity for himself entirely to his own liking. He
Speaker 1: wrote several novels and plays and even started lecturing in
Speaker 1: his own chameleon way. Ducaine had made himself into a
Speaker 1: perfect New York gentleman with enough celebrity to stay employed.
Speaker 1: Fritz wrote about all kinds of globe trotting travel and
Speaker 1: embedded reporting that he was doing, but most of these
Speaker 1: claims are unsubstantiated, although he did seem to do quite
Speaker 1: a bit of traveling during this time. Still, at the time,
Speaker 1: readers believed that he was rubbing elbows with important people
Speaker 1: and that he was an expert on big game hunting
Speaker 1: in Africa. Both of those were pretty true because of
Speaker 1: his upbringing, and it was that writing that piqued the
Speaker 1: interest of President Theodore Roosevelt. Eventually, Fritz as well as
Speaker 1: the number of other experts on the subject of safari hunting,
Speaker 1: were invited to the White House, and this was precipitated
Speaker 1: in part because of as Roosevelt's interest in big game
Speaker 1: hunting and his plans for an African trip once he
Speaker 1: left office were made public, Ducaine started writing a series
Speaker 1: of articles titled Hunting ahead of Roosevelt in East Africa.
Speaker 1: Ducaine's visit to Washington, d C. To visit the President
Speaker 1: was sensational enough that a cartoon about it ran in
Speaker 1: the Washington Star. The art by Clifford K. Berryman, which
Speaker 1: is titled Seeking Pointers, features an excited game caricature of
Speaker 1: the President showing Ducane, who is clearly identified by his
Speaker 1: name scrawled across the band of a cap that's on
Speaker 1: the floor, all of the animals that he's interested in,
Speaker 1: and he is using a pointer. Of course, there was
Speaker 1: no boasting needed after this. Ducane was associated with the
Speaker 1: President as someone who Roosevelt sought out for advice, and
Speaker 1: that made him sought out by more and more people.
Speaker 1: And he saw how lucrative this position was, and he
Speaker 1: started a lecture tour about Roosevelt's travels while the President
Speaker 1: was in Africa, titled East Africa The Wonderland of Roosevelt's Hunt.
Speaker 1: Fret's knew that tension sold papers. He started writing articles,
Speaker 1: many of which were printed all over the country through syndication,
Speaker 1: about how doubtful he was that Roosevelt could handle East
Speaker 1: Africa's challenges. He would boast of his own level of
Speaker 1: comfort with the various perils like animals and tropical diseases,
Speaker 1: just shooting them off as so common to him that
Speaker 1: they seemed mundy dane, But then he would mention that
Speaker 1: they were potentially deadly to a tourist hunter like the President.
Speaker 1: He also dropped in comments about just how poor Roosevelt's
Speaker 1: health was to get readers wondering if the next article
Speaker 1: would be reporting Teddy Roosevelt's death. And it was because
Speaker 1: of all of these articles and his lectures that Louisiana
Speaker 1: Representative Robert F. Broussard got in touch with Duquesne about
Speaker 1: Hippo's just how I discovered Duquesne when I was working on, uh,
Speaker 1: those two episodes. Obviously this is all covered in those episodes,
Speaker 1: So we're gonna give you just the broad Strokes. Here,
Speaker 1: Brussard was trying to solve the problem of a US
Speaker 1: meat shortage by introducing a bill that would fund the
Speaker 1: import of hippos to the United States. Those hippos, in theory,
Speaker 1: could live off of the hyacinth that was a problem
Speaker 1: because it was overgrowing much of the South, and then
Speaker 1: they could be slaughtered for their meat. This may seem
Speaker 1: like it solves two problems, but is in fact a
Speaker 1: terrible idea that's did not work uh all the details
Speaker 1: in those other episodes, Decane testified before a Senate committee
Speaker 1: that he was an African animal himself and that hippo's
Speaker 1: were easy to raise and delicious. He also had a
Speaker 1: list of other species that they might want to think
Speaker 1: about importing as livestock, and to support this plan to
Speaker 1: Kane started writing articles explaining what a good idea it was. Again,
Speaker 1: it was not a good idea, and thankfully, for a
Speaker 1: variety of reasons, this whole hippo plan fell apart. Something
Speaker 1: else had happened once Ducane got to the US. Aside
Speaker 1: from this launch of a strange career in journalism. During
Speaker 1: that brief day we mentioned when he was in New Jersey,
Speaker 1: Alice Wortley, the young American woman that he had met
Speaker 1: while he was a prisoner in Bermuda, found him, presumably
Speaker 1: through the system of Boer sympathizers that he had been
Speaker 1: in contact with and that she would have known about
Speaker 1: because she was living on Bermuda at the time, and
Speaker 1: the two of them started a courtship and then they
Speaker 1: were married in the summer of nineteen Even after the
Speaker 1: less than flattering articles he had written about Roosevelt, Ducaine
Speaker 1: campaigned for him in nineteen twelve, doubts about his physical
Speaker 1: fitness aside, it seemed that Fritz Ducaine respected Roosevelt so
Speaker 1: much that he wrote a lengthy brochure about why Roosevelt
Speaker 1: should be elected president once again. The ending statement of
Speaker 1: his brochure read quote, your vote will decide whether the
Speaker 1: people shall rule or the corrupt corporations. The fight will
Speaker 1: be between Woodrow Wilson, the writer of history, and Theodore Roosevelt,
Speaker 1: who makes it. Undoubtedly, Ducaine was also hoping for a
Speaker 1: little favor to fall his way if Roosevelt won the election,
Speaker 1: but he never found out because Roosevelt lost to Wilson,
Speaker 1: and while that defeat may have cast a shadow over
Speaker 1: nineteen twelve. Fritz was part of another project that year
Speaker 1: that had greater success, and that was the founding of
Speaker 1: the Adventurers Club of New York. Arthur Sullivan Hoffman was
Speaker 1: the editor of Adventure Magazine and one of the club's
Speaker 1: co founders, and he was a fan of Duquesne, having
Speaker 1: been publishing his writing for some time. There is a
Speaker 1: great quote in a Fritz Duchane biography called Counterfeit Hero
Speaker 1: that I read about Fritz's involvement in the club that reads,
Speaker 1: whenever in New York or not in prison, he faithfully
Speaker 1: showed up at the monthly meetings to report his latest adventure.
Speaker 1: It was December nine thirteen that Decane became an American citizen.
Speaker 1: Soon after that, he and his wife Alice left for
Speaker 1: a tour of South America. Fritz allegedly was following an
Speaker 1: expedition of Roosevelt's and making a film about it. Along
Speaker 1: the way, they took a massive iron trunk with them
Speaker 1: that took two men to move, which was ostensibly to
Speaker 1: carry the movie reels and equipment. While the duchess were traveling,
Speaker 1: World War One began with the assassination of Archduke Franz
Speaker 1: Ferdinand because Britain was on the Allied side, Fritz automatically
Speaker 1: wanted to align himself with the Central Powers. He and
Speaker 1: Alice were in Brazil at this point, and Fritz promptly
Speaker 1: sent her home to New York, claiming that he was
Speaker 1: planning more rigorous trips into tamed wilderness that she would
Speaker 1: not enjoy. But what he actually did was go straight
Speaker 1: to the German consulate in Brazil and tell them that
Speaker 1: he wanted to help fight Britain and the Allies. So
Speaker 1: Fritz Ducane became a contractor saboteur for Germany. We're gonna
Speaker 1: get to Fritz's new career in just a moment, but
Speaker 1: first we will take a quick sponsor break. This new
Speaker 1: job of Fritz's paid an annual salary of four thousand marks,
Speaker 1: plus a daily expense allowance of ten marks. It wasn't
Speaker 1: a ton of money, but for every completed mission there
Speaker 1: was also a bonus. Fritz took to this system with enthusiasm,
Speaker 1: and he adopted two regular aliases that he used during
Speaker 1: this time, Frederick Frederick's and George Fordham. Frederick's was an actor,
Speaker 1: he also was other things along the way. Fordham was
Speaker 1: a botanist and Duquesne would use either of them, or
Speaker 1: even sometimes his own identity or others he and died
Speaker 1: on the fly as suited his purposes. And his purposes
Speaker 1: were simple, at least in their directive, sabotage boats that
Speaker 1: were headed to enemy countries while they were still in port.
Speaker 1: He claimed that in this work he set more than
Speaker 1: a hundred on fire and sunk more than twenty. He
Speaker 1: would use disguises to kind of trawl around and port
Speaker 1: eavesdropping on sailors to get information, and he would sometimes
Speaker 1: use them more directly. For example, his botanist character often
Speaker 1: shipped plants samples aboard boats that mysteriously had explosions aboard.
Speaker 1: He was not entirely undetected in this Authorities started to
Speaker 1: notice him, and he had to become more and more careful.
Speaker 1: On February eleventh, nineteen sixteen, Fritz's alter ego, George Fordham,
Speaker 1: signed a shipping document declaring that he was returning a
Speaker 1: case filled with motion picture film and negatives to the
Speaker 1: United States, and said that the case had left the
Speaker 1: US in nineteen thirteen, which was the year that he
Speaker 1: and Alice left for this trip. He shipped the case
Speaker 1: aboard the steamer Tennyson, which was headed to Trinidad and
Speaker 1: then New York and then Liverpool. On February twenty one,
Speaker 1: the Tennyson had an explosion in the hold and three
Speaker 1: of its crew were killed, although the captain was able
Speaker 1: to beach the damaged boat. An investigation ensued and an
Speaker 1: arrest soon followed. The man taken into custody, who was
Speaker 1: named Bower, confessed to his part in the crime and
Speaker 1: gave up Duchesne in the process, including naming several of
Speaker 1: Duchesne's aliases. Things quickly heated up for Ducane. He was
Speaker 1: charged by the British government with murder on the high seas,
Speaker 1: sinking and burning British ships, conspiracy, falsification of documents, and
Speaker 1: sabotaging military stores. When British authorities had realized that the
Speaker 1: man working for Germany to do so much damage was
Speaker 1: the same one who had been a British military officer,
Speaker 1: it was both infuriating and embarrassing, so they intended to
Speaker 1: pursue him and bring him to justice. Duquesne on the
Speaker 1: run and also hunting for new business ventures to keep
Speaker 1: money flowing in the only thing he felt he could
Speaker 1: in such circumstances, which was that he faked his own death.
Speaker 1: On April nineteen sixteen, the announcement of Duchane's death hit
Speaker 1: the US papers. The story was that he had been
Speaker 1: killed in Bolivia by quote, hostile Indians. The account of
Speaker 1: Duchesne's demise was cabled from South America, and the obituary
Speaker 1: write up that followed with information quote from a man
Speaker 1: who knew Duquesne intimately. Undoubtedly Duchesne himself is full of
Speaker 1: the same sorts of over the top adventure stories that
Speaker 1: have continually casually combined fiction and reality in Fritz's life story.
Speaker 1: That initial story only offered some confused concern over the
Speaker 1: fate of Alice Duquesne. Had she also perished? The New
Speaker 1: York Times did not know, but they soon followed up
Speaker 1: with a second story that yes, she was alive and
Speaker 1: back in New York and had received a letter from
Speaker 1: Fritz several weeks before he was a currently killed for
Speaker 1: twelve days, Ducane's fate was believed to have been sealed
Speaker 1: in Bolivia. But then on May eighth, another story hit
Speaker 1: the US papers, this one written by Frederick Fredericks Fritz Duquesne.
Speaker 1: The report exclaimed was alive. He had been found in
Speaker 1: rough shape, left for dead after the attack, but he
Speaker 1: was receiving aid and was expected to recover. It seems
Speaker 1: that while Duchane initially thought death would shake Britain's pursuit
Speaker 1: of him, he soon realized that he didn't have anywhere
Speaker 1: to go. He only had a US passport, So he
Speaker 1: revived himself and he headed back to New York in
Speaker 1: the hopes that the US government wouldn't extradite him if
Speaker 1: he was found out, or probably more in the hopes
Speaker 1: that no one would realize he had gotten back. Ducaine
Speaker 1: arrived in New York not long after this, but for
Speaker 1: a man on the run, he was not idle at all.
Speaker 1: While in South America, he had gotten involved in filmmaking
Speaker 1: projects with a school system there to try to make money.
Speaker 1: But to make the films he needed to get it
Speaker 1: back to the US anyway to buy film stock, So
Speaker 1: when he got to New York he did that, paying
Speaker 1: cash for the film twenty four thousand dollars worth. He
Speaker 1: then put it in a box labeled statuary, stored it
Speaker 1: at a warehouse in Brooklyn, and took out a thirty
Speaker 1: three thousand dollar insurance policy on it with the Stuyvesant
Speaker 1: Insurance Company under the name Frederick Fredericks. He loved that name. Uh. Mysteriously,
Speaker 1: the warehouse had a fire and the have box mark
Speaker 1: statutory was destroyed. It's unclear exactly what Fritz was telling
Speaker 1: Alice once they reunited about where he had been and
Speaker 1: what had been going on, but he did convince her
Speaker 1: to pursue the insurance policy for the warehouse box, as
Speaker 1: well as another policy that he had taken out on
Speaker 1: the alleged film in that mysterious iron case that he
Speaker 1: had shipped aboard the tennis in and then after convincing
Speaker 1: her to file these claims, Fritz vanished during the time
Speaker 1: that he was unaccounted for or the h MS Hampshire
Speaker 1: was sunk by a German sub Fritz Duquese, who had
Speaker 1: sworn vengeance on the military commander Kitchener during the Second
Speaker 1: Boer War, claimed that he had orchestrated this sub attack
Speaker 1: and that he was responsible for the assassination of Kitchener,
Speaker 1: and he also claimed that this was an attack ordered
Speaker 1: by an organization called the Bore Revolutionary Committee. That entity
Speaker 1: did not exist. Duquesne next turned up in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: In July of nineteen sixteen, and started to reach out
Speaker 1: to his old contacts, including his once collaborator in the
Speaker 1: Hippo Plan, Robert Broussard, who at this point was a senator.
Speaker 1: Broussard seemed oblivious to the fact that Fritz was on
Speaker 1: the run, and at the Adventurer's request, tried to get
Speaker 1: him a government job, but that was to no avail,
Speaker 1: so it was back to New York for Duquesne. He
Speaker 1: didn't let anybody know he was in town, though. He
Speaker 1: lived in an apartment that he shared with another man,
Speaker 1: rather than going back home to Alice, which was something
Speaker 1: he had done just before disappearing a few months earlier. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he had gotten a separate place from her. We did.
Speaker 1: It's unclear why. If he was trying to protect her,
Speaker 1: or if he just wanted out of the marriage and
Speaker 1: didn't want to mess with it. We don't know. He
Speaker 1: didn't need money, so he reinvented himself again, and this
Speaker 1: time as an Australian war hero named Claude Stoughton of
Speaker 1: the West Australian Light Horse Unit. This was all entirely fictitious.
Speaker 1: There was no such unit or person. He even invented
Speaker 1: a uniform for him. But in this guise he became
Speaker 1: a salesman, a salesman of patriotism, of his fake backstory
Speaker 1: which was kind of a pastiche of his own experiences
Speaker 1: and some others he made up, and a lot of embellishment,
Speaker 1: and mostly he became a salesman of library bonds for
Speaker 1: the Allies. Claude Stoughton was well paid for speaking engagements
Speaker 1: and he was put up in nice hotels, But soon
Speaker 1: people started to notice that in social settings Claude, when
Speaker 1: he spoke casually, seemed to have alliances toward the Germans
Speaker 1: rather than the Allies. At the same time, the investigation
Speaker 1: into the insurance claims that Alice Ducaine had filed had
Speaker 1: given the insurance company and the police enough information that
Speaker 1: they realized to Ducane really was, and that he was
Speaker 1: a wanted man, not just for his insurance crimes, but
Speaker 1: for his crimes against Britain. Ducaine was arrested in late
Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen when he was returning to his apartment from
Speaker 1: a Claude stounton tour. His belongings had already been searched
Speaker 1: and had turned up just a wealth of evidence. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was so much damning paperwork, including communications about Germany
Speaker 1: and doing what was best for Germany and also things
Speaker 1: around these um these various insurance issues. It was a
Speaker 1: pretty uh exciting find for the authorities. But after his arrest,
Speaker 1: Duchane was then held and charged for two different reasons.
Speaker 1: One the charges of British government particular really the murder
Speaker 1: of those three men in the bombing attack on the
Speaker 1: steamer Tennyson murder at sea automatically carried a death sentence
Speaker 1: if you were found guilty. In the US was launching
Speaker 1: a federal inquiry into the matter to make sure that
Speaker 1: this was the right person and everything lined up, and
Speaker 1: to the New York District Attorney was examining the allegations
Speaker 1: that he had committed insurance fraud. We will try to
Speaker 1: untangle Ducane's legal situation after we take a quick break
Speaker 1: for word from sponsors. A letter was sent to the
Speaker 1: British government's legal representation in the US, that was the
Speaker 1: Kudair Brothers, assuring them that the British charges against Ducane
Speaker 1: were being considered carefully as the investigation was conducted. That
Speaker 1: letter read, in part quote, in the event that the
Speaker 1: United States Commissioner, after a hearing directs that the defendant
Speaker 1: beheld on the charges and be extradited. This Office, on
Speaker 1: receipt of official notice from the proper Department, will waive
Speaker 1: all objections to the proposed extradition and exchange for this,
Speaker 1: the British government agreed to send Ducaine back to the
Speaker 1: US to face charges in the event he wasn't convicted
Speaker 1: in Britain or if his sentence was less than life imprisonment.
Speaker 1: As these investigations went on, it was eventually determined by
Speaker 1: the US government that nothing they could find on Ducaene's
Speaker 1: illegal activities in the US would be anywhere near as
Speaker 1: serious as the charges that Great Britain had made, so
Speaker 1: the decision was made that he would be moved out
Speaker 1: of US custody and given to British authorities to face
Speaker 1: trial for the explosion of the steamship Tennis In After
Speaker 1: Decaine learned that he was to be turned over to
Speaker 1: the British government, he developed a medical condition. He was
Speaker 1: suddenly paralyzed. This was a hundred percent fake, but initially
Speaker 1: he was moved from his prison cell to Bellevue Hospital
Speaker 1: for observation and treatment, and he was committed enough to
Speaker 1: this whole ruge that he convinced medical staff that he
Speaker 1: had indeed fallen into a state of paralysis. Anytime he
Speaker 1: needed to be moved from his bed, he depended on
Speaker 1: the orderlies and the nurses to do it for him. Then,
Speaker 1: on Ma Fritz Duchane escaped from Bellevue Hospital. The bars
Speaker 1: of his window in the hospital's prison ward had been
Speaker 1: sawed through. Any saws used for that job had to
Speaker 1: have come from an outside source, because Fritz had been
Speaker 1: searched thoroughly when he was transferred from his prison cell
Speaker 1: to his hospital bed. Even the coverage in the New
Speaker 1: York Times sounds like the reporter who wrote it was
Speaker 1: kind of impressed by this whole thing. Quote. While attendants
Speaker 1: and the prison ward at Bellevue Hospital were acting in
Speaker 1: the belief that Captain Fritz Jobert Duquesne, the adventurer and romancer,
Speaker 1: was a hopeless paralytic patient, he saw it through the
Speaker 1: bars of his cell early yesterday morning and escaped by
Speaker 1: scaling two fences about seven feet high. The article goes
Speaker 1: on to mention him first dropping from the window to
Speaker 1: the ledge of an ice house and then to the
Speaker 1: ground farther below, saying, quote, even this display of agility,
Speaker 1: amazing for a paralytic, did not give him his liberty,
Speaker 1: and he was forced to climb a brick wall about
Speaker 1: six feet high and an iron fence with menacing spikes
Speaker 1: about eight feet high. All this spectacular leaping and climbing
Speaker 1: to escape prison did not attract the attention of any
Speaker 1: of the guards or attendance of the prison ward, and
Speaker 1: the absence of the quote paralytic patient was not noticed
Speaker 1: until the attendants made their usual rounds of the ward
Speaker 1: at four thirty a m. To complete his ruse, Ducane
Speaker 1: had arranged pillows and comforters roughly into the shape of
Speaker 1: a person curled into a ball in his bed, and
Speaker 1: pulled his blanket over them. So again, it's so funny.
Speaker 1: I feel like he set so many of the tropes
Speaker 1: we see in film and television. The grounds of the
Speaker 1: hospital were searched once it was realized that he was gone,
Speaker 1: and they came up empty, and police developed a theory
Speaker 1: that the escapee had a rain for an accomplice to
Speaker 1: meet him with a car and a change of clothes
Speaker 1: on nearby First Avenue, because it had been believed up
Speaker 1: to that point that Duchesne was truly paralyzed. He had
Speaker 1: not been considered dangerous or a flight risk, so the
Speaker 1: few visitors that he had were not documented on any
Speaker 1: kind of list. Ducane wrote a letter to one of
Speaker 1: his friends, allegedly from Mexico. The letter stated that Fritz
Speaker 1: had the help of friends in his escape and that
Speaker 1: they provided him with a car and had then gotten
Speaker 1: him onto a plane with an expert pilot who took
Speaker 1: him to Mexico. The friend Ducane wrote to brought this
Speaker 1: letter to the police and it was dismissed as a hoax.
Speaker 1: They're thinking was that he sent the letter hoping that
Speaker 1: his friend would take it to the authorities in the
Speaker 1: hopes that the Mexico story would take them off of
Speaker 1: his real trail. But by the end of the summer,
Speaker 1: all of the other trails had gone cold, and police
Speaker 1: did start to believe that he had indeed left the
Speaker 1: US and that he was, in all likelihood exactly where
Speaker 1: he said he was, which was Mexico. You remember, he
Speaker 1: traveled in South America and knew a lot of people
Speaker 1: in Middle and South America that they thought he could
Speaker 1: have gone to for safe harbor. There are also plenty
Speaker 1: of people that believe that he was just kind of
Speaker 1: laying low and kicking around the US. Uh. He definitely
Speaker 1: was in Boston for a while, at least until he
Speaker 1: moved back to New York. They weren't sure of his whereabouts,
Speaker 1: but this time he arrived in the city as a
Speaker 1: new man, Frank to Trafford Craven Alice. His wife had
Speaker 1: left him when his ruse had caved in and he
Speaker 1: had been arrested, So this start as Craven was kind
Speaker 1: of a fresh reinvention of himself with no ties. Before
Speaker 1: this returned to New York, Fritz slash Frank had spent
Speaker 1: some time, as Holly said, in Boston getting into the
Speaker 1: movie industry by working with a financier named Joseph P. Kennedy,
Speaker 1: who had purchased the film booking offices of America. Kennedy
Speaker 1: hired Fritz for pr work that required Ducane to move
Speaker 1: back to Manhattan. Marks a strangely conventional time in Ducane's life.
Speaker 1: He seemed to actually just be working a job and
Speaker 1: living a quiet life for a few years. He moved
Speaker 1: on to another job at Quickly Publishing, which had him
Speaker 1: working writing and editing advertising copy for vaudeville acts. Although
Speaker 1: Fritz was living well but under the radar. His past
Speaker 1: caught up with him in nineteen thirty two and he
Speaker 1: was arrested again. This time, Fritz kept up his Frank
Speaker 1: de Trafford Craven persona, insisting over and over that the
Speaker 1: police had the wrong man. And just in case you're curious,
Speaker 1: that Joseph P. Kennedy is in fact the father of
Speaker 1: John F. Kennedy. Uh defending Ducane once he was arrested
Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty two, although he continued to go by
Speaker 1: Craven through this whole legal morass was well known civil
Speaker 1: liberties lawyer Arthur Garfield Hayes. Hayes would later write of
Speaker 1: Duquesne and maybe brace for this one, because some of
Speaker 1: it's not the best attitude, uh quote. We all admired
Speaker 1: the man. Even the district attorney and judge were sympathetic.
Speaker 1: It was before Hitler's time, and no one hated the Germans.
Speaker 1: After all, if there had been a murder, it was
Speaker 1: homicide in a war of many years ago, and homicide
Speaker 1: in war is heroic. Hastok. The approach that, first of all,
Speaker 1: if the British government wanted to have Ducane extradited, they
Speaker 1: would have to prove it was actually him and not
Speaker 1: this Frank Craven. Secondly, he would have to have been
Speaker 1: on British soil when he committed the crime for this
Speaker 1: extradition to stand. The British government did not really have
Speaker 1: any interest in pursuing events from the war at this point.
Speaker 1: The thinking was that it could just dredge up matters
Speaker 1: between countries that had since been settled, and that there
Speaker 1: was just no need for that. So whether we were
Speaker 1: talking about Frank de Trafford Craven or Fritz Ducane, Brittain
Speaker 1: was just done with the matter, but New York still
Speaker 1: had some issues. However, it was determined that since Duchane
Speaker 1: was being held as a British prisoner awaiting transfer from
Speaker 1: Belle View at the time of his escape, apparently at
Speaker 1: that point he had been transferred to uh Britain, at
Speaker 1: least on paper. Since Britain had dropped the matter, there
Speaker 1: really was not any issue and so the whole thing
Speaker 1: was dismissed. This was very frustrating to some of the
Speaker 1: police and detectives that had worked on this case, but
Speaker 1: the judge was kind of like man if Fritz Ducane
Speaker 1: had just gone back to his life working in entertainment advertising.
Speaker 1: He probably could have had a nice last stretch of years,
Speaker 1: but Ducayne, at this point was in his mid fifties.
Speaker 1: He still had a burning hatred for Britain. He had
Speaker 1: given interviews in the press where he had explicitly said so,
Speaker 1: and in ninety four Fritz was recruited by Royal Scott Golden,
Speaker 1: who was the head of the Order of seventy six
Speaker 1: that was a New York organization that was sympathetic to
Speaker 1: the Third Reich and believed that Jews were the enemy
Speaker 1: in America. Golden needed a spy and Deuquaete needed a job,
Speaker 1: so they struck up a deal. But when a reporter
Speaker 1: broke the story that Fritz Duchane was likely working for
Speaker 1: this pro Nazi group, it was actually Ducane's mistress, who
Speaker 1: was Jewish and learned about all of this news through
Speaker 1: the paper like everyone else, who reached out to that
Speaker 1: reporter to help him get more info. She actually fed
Speaker 1: him information for a couple of years, but Ducaine's association
Speaker 1: with this group became pretty unclear and fuzzy pretty rapidly.
Speaker 1: Within a few months, Duchane was working instead for the
Speaker 1: Works Progress Administration, and then he opened his own business,
Speaker 1: air terminals company, which was allegedly dealing in r KAO stock.
Speaker 1: It may have been a front or just a way
Speaker 1: for him to have meetings somewhere. But there's this messy,
Speaker 1: confusing assortment of details during these years that suggests whether
Speaker 1: he was working for the Nazi group or not, it
Speaker 1: was kind of an unfocused time in his life, or
Speaker 1: he was just giving everyone the slip in every way possible.
Speaker 1: But then in December of seven, Fritz Ducane once again
Speaker 1: became a spy for Germany, this time working for the
Speaker 1: Nazis on US soil. He had been recruited by Colonel
Speaker 1: Nicholas Adolphe Fritz Ritter, who was organizing a U. S
Speaker 1: spy ring as part of Hitler's military intelligence group, the
Speaker 1: ab There Ritter put Fritz in the key position in
Speaker 1: this ring, and Fritz, seeing as one more way to
Speaker 1: continue his lifetime vow of revenge against Britain, took the job.
Speaker 1: Ritter recruited almost three dozen other members to be part
Speaker 1: of this ring, one of whom was named William Siebold.
Speaker 1: You'll also see him listed as Wilhelm Siebold because he
Speaker 1: was a naturalized US citizen born in Germany, and he
Speaker 1: had been recruited when he was back home visiting his
Speaker 1: mother in nineteen thirty nine. When he returned to the
Speaker 1: US in nineteen forty, it was under his new identity
Speaker 1: Harry Sawyer. He had spycraft training under his belt at
Speaker 1: this point, and he was instructed to make contact with
Speaker 1: Fritz Dukane. Sebold did not want to be a spy,
Speaker 1: though he had been told by his Nazi recruiters that
Speaker 1: his family would be hurt and that they would reveal
Speaker 1: secrets about him to the U. S. Government if he
Speaker 1: didn't cooperate. He was fearful of losing his US citizenship
Speaker 1: and his life in New York, so Sebold had agreed
Speaker 1: to this, But while he was still in Germany, he
Speaker 1: had made a surreptitious trip to the US Embassy in Cologne,
Speaker 1: disclosed what he was being forced to do, and told
Speaker 1: the Consul general that he was a loyal U. S. Citizen.
Speaker 1: So the FBI was waiting for Sebold when he arrived
Speaker 1: back in New York kept an eye on his movements
Speaker 1: as he went through the motions of fulfilling his mission
Speaker 1: for Germany. It's basically being a double agent at this
Speaker 1: point yep, And it was through Sebold that the FBI
Speaker 1: identified Fritz Duquesne. Duquesne was supplying Germany with information anything
Speaker 1: to do with British ships that he could find, information
Speaker 1: that he gathered while posing as a student, writing letters
Speaker 1: of curiosity to industrial companies that were working on war material,
Speaker 1: and even material that he said he got by breaking
Speaker 1: into a du Pont plant regarding bomb designs. Duchese was
Speaker 1: a wealth of information, not only on details about what
Speaker 1: the US and Britain were doing, but also in detailing
Speaker 1: methods of sabotage that could be employed by Germany to
Speaker 1: weaken the military power of the Allies. President Franklin Delano
Speaker 1: Roosevelt was briefed on Ducane's involvement with the spy ring.
Speaker 1: Resources were allocated to have Ducane followed. Although he was
Speaker 1: pretty excellent at shaking a tail, even though he wasn't
Speaker 1: the young man he once was, he was at his
Speaker 1: early sixties by this point. He often shaved a few
Speaker 1: years off when people asked him his age, though. But
Speaker 1: most damning was that while Duchese was feeding this information
Speaker 1: to see Bold, he was being recorded and this was
Speaker 1: all happening. Keep in mind before the US had officially
Speaker 1: entered the war, so this was a very eye opening
Speaker 1: look at Germany's spy efforts before becoming part of the conflict.
Speaker 1: They were spying on the US way before they were
Speaker 1: officially declared part of this conflict. For who was going
Speaker 1: by the nickname the Duke at this point even unknowingly
Speaker 1: befriended one of the FBI agents who was surveilling him
Speaker 1: because he was very outgoing and friendly and the two
Speaker 1: had had this not exactly chance meeting that had been
Speaker 1: orchestrated by the agent. But like everyone else, this FBI man,
Speaker 1: special agent Raymond new Kirk, found Fritz incredibly charming, and
Speaker 1: even though he was completely dedicated to his job, he
Speaker 1: admitted that he couldn't help developing a fondness for him. Finally,
Speaker 1: on June one, the FBI had enough information on the
Speaker 1: spy ring to start making arrests. They had slow played
Speaker 1: their surveillance to make sure nobody got suspicious and to
Speaker 1: make sure they could collect enough evidence to have an
Speaker 1: air tight case. When new Kirk arrived with friends and
Speaker 1: then told Kane he was under arrest. Once they were
Speaker 1: all inside Fritz's apartment, the spy did not say a word.
Speaker 1: His living girlfriend, Evelyn Lewis, was also arrested, along with
Speaker 1: thirty one other members of the ring. By the time
Speaker 1: I'm the guilty Please and the trials for those who
Speaker 1: pleaded innocent were over, Duquesne Inspiring had wrapped up a
Speaker 1: combined total of more than three hundred years in prison sentences.
Speaker 1: Duquesne was sentenced to eighteen years with a two thousand
Speaker 1: dollar fine for violating the Registration Act of Night. His
Speaker 1: testimony during the trial, in which he told his entire
Speaker 1: life story, at least his version of it, completely enthralled
Speaker 1: the courtroom. He said that he would never do anything
Speaker 1: to hurt the United States, but that he would do
Speaker 1: anything to hurt Britain. But Fritz had finally landed himself
Speaker 1: in a spot that he could not escape from, as
Speaker 1: the evidence was simply too clear in proving his treachery.
Speaker 1: Despite his advancing years and some health issues, Fritz was
Speaker 1: classified as a maximum custody prisoner at Leavenworth. Early into
Speaker 1: his incarceration, Fritz started exhibiting a number of ailments, including
Speaker 1: rapidly advancing senility, But due to this history of faking
Speaker 1: illness while in custody, there was some doubt about how
Speaker 1: serious these ailments were. Additionally, contraband items, including razor blades,
Speaker 1: were found in his possession pretty often. In Nive he
Speaker 1: was moved to a medical facility for federal prisoners in
Speaker 1: Missouri as the forties drew to a close. It seemed
Speaker 1: as though his doctors were willing to work on his
Speaker 1: behalf for an early release due to his deteriorating mental health,
Speaker 1: although his daily report write ups by staff no kind
Speaker 1: of an uptick in his mental and physical health. Once
Speaker 1: things started to go his way in this regard, yeah,
Speaker 1: once he knew that doctors were like, we're working to
Speaker 1: get you a shorter sentence, which ultimately did happen, he
Speaker 1: was like, oh great, uh, suddenly a little more tuned
Speaker 1: in to his mental acuity and a little bit better
Speaker 1: physical energy. So, while he was still incarcerated, Fritz actually
Speaker 1: tried to sue twentieth century Fox. This was over the
Speaker 1: movie The House on Fort Street featured a character inspired
Speaker 1: by it's Ducane. Fritz claimed that his spy ring had
Speaker 1: made this movie successful and that the studio was using
Speaker 1: their wealth to keep him incarcerated. This was like his
Speaker 1: other hobby letters, writing about how poorly He was treated
Speaker 1: right in line with all of that, but it did
Speaker 1: not end in Duquesne's favor. Ducaine was released from prison
Speaker 1: in the autumn of nineteen fifty nine, long after most
Speaker 1: of his other co conspirators in the spy ring had
Speaker 1: been paroled. He was destitute. He tried to sue the
Speaker 1: FBI for loss of valuable property, including diamonds that he
Speaker 1: claimed or taken when he was arrested. He was awarded
Speaker 1: the four hundred dollars they had taken from his wallet,
Speaker 1: but his more exorbitant claims were dismissed. The Department of
Speaker 1: Welfare arranged for him to move into the London Arms
Speaker 1: and Nursing Home. On December twenty one, nineteen fifty five,
Speaker 1: which was Fritz Duchane's seventy eighth birthday, he gave one
Speaker 1: last talk at the Adventurers Club. Having him there at
Speaker 1: all after his spy conviction caused some free among the members,
Speaker 1: but ultimately the evening went without incident, and after that
Speaker 1: Fritz decided that he could not live in the nursing
Speaker 1: Home anymore, and he got his own apartment. That was
Speaker 1: short lived. However, he fell and he broke his hip
Speaker 1: and he was admitted to the city hospital on what
Speaker 1: was then called Welfare Island that is now Roosevelt Island.
Speaker 1: His recovery was going well, but then he had a
Speaker 1: fatal stroke. On He wanted to close out with a
Speaker 1: comment about Fritz Duquesne, written by Frederick Burnham, who had
Speaker 1: orders to kill Duquesne during the Anglo Boer War and
Speaker 1: who worked with him on that Hippo plan quote. Much
Speaker 1: has been written about Duquesne, most of it rubbish, Yet
Speaker 1: his real accomplishments were so terrible and amazing that they
Speaker 1: make the Yellow Journal thrillers about him seem as mild
Speaker 1: as bedtime stories. Oh Fritz, Uh, he's an interesting character
Speaker 1: because he did some really reprehensible things, But you see
Speaker 1: why people found him so likable. It's an interesting duality.
Speaker 1: Those are the people that I always wonder what's actually
Speaker 1: going on in their heads. Yeah. Yeah, we've had some fraudsters,
Speaker 1: Like if you have a spectrum of fraudsters, from the
Speaker 1: ones who were mostly harmless and kind of uh fascinating
Speaker 1: to watch too, like the ones that were really harmful
Speaker 1: but also kind of entertaining. Like he's much on the
Speaker 1: more of the harmful end of the spectrum. I think yes, yes,
Speaker 1: Fritz du Kane. UM, I have another listener mail. This
Speaker 1: one is also about emergency medicine, which part one was
Speaker 1: as well. This is from our listener Regina, who writes, Hello, First,
Speaker 1: let me tell you how much I enjoy your podcast.
Speaker 1: I have been a fan for years and look forward
Speaker 1: to every new episode eagerly. I have one small extra
Speaker 1: information about the podcast. In emergency Medicine that I think
Speaker 1: you might find interesting. You talked about resuscitation. The mannequin
Speaker 1: used for training mouth to mouth here in Germany and
Speaker 1: I think also in other countries, has a washable mask.
Speaker 1: This mask is modeled from the death mask of an
Speaker 1: unknown young woman found in Paris in the eighteen eighties.
Speaker 1: This mask was a very popular decoration because she looks
Speaker 1: so peaceful, and for this reason it was also chosen
Speaker 1: for the training mannequin. I thought you might enjoy this detail.
Speaker 1: Keep up the good work. UM, thank you, Regina. I
Speaker 1: have read that. I'm sure a number of people have
Speaker 1: before as well. UM. I didn't include it because it
Speaker 1: was kind of one of those things that is often reported.
Speaker 1: I don't know about the veracity of it one way
Speaker 1: or another, so it's an interesting tale. Allegedly, the designer
Speaker 1: saw it in a shop window while he was walking
Speaker 1: around in Paris at one point and just thought she
Speaker 1: was incredibly pretty and very soothing to look at. So
Speaker 1: that's the scoop on Ricessa Annie or uh Recessa, and
Speaker 1: I think is what she's called in other countries. I'm
Speaker 1: grateful she exists because lots of us have learned to
Speaker 1: do CPR thanks to that. Whether she had a beautiful
Speaker 1: mask on or not. Um If you would like to
Speaker 1: write to us, you can do so at History podcast
Speaker 1: at iHeart radio dot com. You can also find us
Speaker 1: everywhere on social media as Missed in History, and we
Speaker 1: encourage you to subscribe to the show. You can do
Speaker 1: that on the I heart Radio app, at Apple podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever it is you listen. Stuff you Missed in
Speaker 1: History Class is a production of I heart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows