King Con

  “war dance as danced”: Woolwich (UK) Herald, February 2, 1923, p. 1.

  Edgar always dispensed: Corriere della Sera (Milan), August 10, 1924, p. 6; La Stampa (Turin), June 24, 1925, p. 3.

  he cheekily expanded: Chief Constable of Birmingham to Commissioner, Scotland Yard, April 4, 1923, MEPO 3/1180, NAL.

  Tittle-tattle bubbling: Ibid.

  “England’s greatest singing ventriloquist”: Worcester (UK) Daily Times, February 26, 1923, p. 2.

  Edgar’s contribution: Worcestershire (UK) Echo, February 27, 1923, p. 2.

  There, he enthralled: Dudley (UK) Chronicle, March 22, 1923, p. 4.

  So flagrant: Commissioner of Police to the Bureau de Police Centrale, January 3, 1923, MEPO 3/1180, NAL.

  “the only living ruler”: Worcester (UK) Daily Times, February 26, 1923, p. 2.

  In his dressing room: Leamington (UK) Spa Courier, April 6, 1923, p. 5.

  Edgar received a pitiful letter: Chief Constable of Birmingham to the Commissioner, Scotland Yard, April 4, 1923, MEPO 3/1180, NAL.

  “a reliable source”: Sergeant Kelly, Inspector Barnes, Superintendent McCoy to C.I.D. “A” Division, January 28, 1925, MEPO 3/1180, NAL.

  she addressed as “Ray”: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 128.

  Edgar’s talk of: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 2, 1927, p. 17.

  toward whom he: La Stampa (Turin), June 26, 1925, p. 5.

  whom he called “Dad” and “Mother”: Dr. Tewanna to Mrs. Tewanna, February 4, 1925, quoted in Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 78.

  He told her that he was a widower: La Stampa (Turin), June 26, 1925, p. 5.

  Leslie reminded him of his own son: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 124.

  Even though Ethel: Her feelings are evident from her declaration of herself as a “widow” on the certificate for her marriage to Edgar. It’s also apparent from her statement quoted in Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 124.

  On the marriage certificate: Certificate, June 27, 1923, MEPO 3/1180, NAL.

  Scotland Yard’s decision: Metropolitan Police report, April 20, 1923, MEPO 3/1180, NAL.

  CHAPTER 16

  gave his bewildered: L’Humanité, September 29, 1923, p. 2.

  That audience probably included Caresse Crosby, a decadent and irreverent thirty-two-year-old American expat vacationing in Étretat with friends. Yet to establish herself alongside her spouse, Harry, as an avant-garde publisher and fixture in the Parisian literary world, she liked to go to the Casino.

  Oscar Dufrenne: Almost a decade later, Dufrenne would be brutally murdered, his death spiced with sexual and political intrigue that made it one of France’s best-known interwar crimes.

  They flocked to: Phillips, Gay City, p. 1.

  “Nude Music Hall”: Le Journal (Paris), October 8, 1923, p. 4.

  the management joked: Paris-soir, December 21, 1923, p. 5.

  “the Beautiful Zoulaïka”: Le Journal (Paris), October 18, 1923, p. 5.

  his clothes impressing one journalist: Cyrano (Paris), December 7, 1924, pp. 16–17.

  which received a thorough eyeballing: Le Petit Parisien, September 14, 1923, p. 2.

  They were known as “apaches”: Phillips, Gay City, pp. 154–55; Days and Nights in Montmartre and the Latin Quarter, p. 203.

  his French became: Le Temps (Paris), December 12, 1923, p. 4.

  across the river to Montparnasse: Phillips, Gay City, p. 123.

  “Dôme-ites”: Ibid., p. 127.

  order what was jokily: “Bars and Cabarets,” Jazz: A Flippant Magazine, June 1, 1924, p. 10.

  “The Dôme is not a place”: Ford, Left Bank Revisited, p. 14.

  Sam Granowsky: His penchant for dressing as a cowboy apparently dated back to when he’d been employed as an extra in a Western being filmed on a Parisian movie lot. “He put such soul into his work that the director gave him the costume, which he promptly adopted as his habitual outfit.” Wilson, Paris on Parade, p. 220.

  though people said: Phillips, Gay City, p. 127.

  who endeavored: McAlmon, Being Geniuses Together, p. 109; “Dusting Off the Old Ones,” Jazz: A Flippant Magazine, June 15, 1924, p. 11.

  Knowing that his exotic: Kohner, Kiki of Montparnasse, pp. 44–45.

  Willie had reinvented: Chicago Tribune (European edition), September 2, 1923, p. 14.

  Edgar started telling people: Le Journal (Paris), October 12, 1923, p. 4.

  “Times are hard”: L’Humanité, September 29, 1923, p. 2.

  CHAPTER 17

  He was now pretending: La Siècle (Paris), October 11, 1923, p. 1; Oakland (CA) Tribune, November 18, 1923, p. 19.

  which he and his: “Aloha Wanderwell: Life Story,” alohawanderwell.com.

  “electoral reform”: Times (London), June 7, 1923, p. 13.

  In the commentary: Prager Tagblatt (Prague), April 2, 1925, p. 3.

  Edgar was having to fend off: L’Ouest-Éclair (Rennes, France), October 12, 1923, p. 1.

  enticingly billed as “nude dancers”: Paris-soir, October 18, 1923, p. 5.

  “the Jazz Age”: The phrase, propagated via the publication in 1922 of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tales of the Jazz Age, was already in circulation by July 1921 when it featured in the Yale Expositor.

  He figured that: Farlow, Wind River Adventures, pp. 201–2.

  In London they’d attended: Ibid.

  At nine o’clock: Chicago Tribune (European edition), December 13, 1923, p. 14; Le Figaro (Paris), December 13, 1923, p. 3; L’Ouest-Éclair (Rennes, France), December 5, 1923, p. 5; Le Temps (Paris), December 12, 1923, p. 4.

  The plan was for Farlow: Farlow, Wind River Adventures, pp. 201–2.

  “The Indians are victims”: La Presse (Montreal), December 13, 1923, p. 1.

  Near its upper platform: Farlow, Wind River Adventures, p. 202.

  Dining with Old Eagle: McCoy, Tim McCoy Remembers the West, p. 192.

  Edgar redeemed himself: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 96.

  No instructions: McCoy, Tim McCoy Remembers the West, p. 193.

  “great finesse”: Camoedia (Paris), December 22, 1923, p. 3.

  A tremendous ovation: Le Petit Parisien, December 22, 1923, p. 4; Paris-soir, January 5, 1923, p. 5.

  a musical accompanist: Nasaw, Going Out, p. 162.

  “Nobody should miss this”: Le Petit Parisien, December 22, 1923, p. 4.

  For expatriate American: Phillips, Gay City, p. 114; Jazz: A Flippant Magazine, April 15, 1924, p. 26.

  “the 42nd Street of Montmartre”: Reynolds, Paris with the Lid Lifted, p. 160.

  Their boss: Farlow, Wind River Adventures, p. 201.

  the recent incident: “Bars and Cabarets,” Jazz: A Flippant Magazine, May 15, 1924, p. 6.

  CHAPTER 18

  “Gentlemen, this isn’t”: La Nation Belge (Brussels), February 15, 1924, p. 1.

  THE INDIAN CHIEF: Ibid.

  “the miniature Paris”: Traveller’s Handbook for Belgium, p. 59.

  “a poet of rare sensitivity”: Unidentified Belgian press cutting, Archives et Musée de la Littérature, Brussels.

  Just the day before: Le Peuple (Brussels), February 18, 1924, p. 2.

  “White Elk, who never flinches”: Le Vingtième Siècle (Brussels), February 21, 1924, p. 2.

  At the request of: Le Libre Belgique (Brussels), February 23, 1924, p. 1.

  Edgar’s long talk: Journal de Charleroi, February 29, 1924, p. 2.

  “people in carnival-style costumes”: Le Vingtième Siècle (Brussels), March 11, 1924, p. 1.

  Edgar couldn’t hide: Ibid.

  Affixed to: Ibid.

  Leslie broke in
to wild laughter: Ibid.

  “a first-rate drink”: Ibid.

  When someone commented: La Meuse (Liège, Belgium), April 6, 1924, p. 1.

  CHAPTER 19

  their penury leaving them: Phillips, Gay City, p. 28.

  He gave politely: La Stampa (Turin), June 27, 1925, pp. 3–4.

  jokily dubbed a “playship”: Shenk, Playships of the World, p. 208.

  known by friends: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, pp. 81, 98.

  “the needs of Indian orphans”: Ibid., p. 127.

  that caught Edgar’s: La Stampa (Turin), June 27, 1925, pp. 3–4.

  Milania addressed him as “Chief”: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 134.

  he rubbed it: Corriere della Sera (Milan), June 27, 1925, p. 4.

  At the end of their meal: Ibid., pp. 28, 94; St. Louis Post-Dispatch magazine, October 20, 1929, p. 4.

  He told them about his “fabulous wealth”: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, pp. 94–95.

  Edgar confided in the contessas: Ibid., p. 122.

  he fed them a description: Observer (London), October 17, 1926, p. 12.

  He started dropping: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 94.

  Milania suggested: Ibid., p. 34.

  CHAPTER 20

  One of its regulars joked: “Down the Latin Quarter,” Jazz: A Flippant Magazine, May 15, 1924, p. 15.

  Talk at the Dôme: “Montmartre and Montparnasse,” Jazz: A Flippant Magazine, May 1, 1924, p. 14.

  he helpfully translated: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 127.

  He asked Milania to wire him: Ibid., p. 129.

  She urged him to address her: St. Louis Post-Dispatch magazine, October 20, 1929, p. 4.

  Atta thought he “sounded suicidal”: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 133.

  Edgar wrote to Milania: La Revue (Paris), October 9, 1926, p. 3.

  Milania, who was falling in love: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 63.

  In his application: “International Public Safety,” January 31, 1925, MEPO 3/1180, NAL.

  YOUR FATHER MUST LEAVE: Il Manifesto (Rome, online edition), April 26, 2013.

  CONTESSA, COULD YOU WIRE ME: Bevinetto: Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 127.

  I’M LEAVING TONIGHT: Ibid., p. 34.

  PLEASE SEND ME MONEY: Ibid., p. 127.

  Five days after sending: Ibid.

  According to one such newspaper: Journal de Charleroi, May 31, 1924, p. 5.

  aficionados of casual sex: See police reports, MEPO 3/1180, NAL.

  From Venice: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 34.

  Her intention was that Edgar: St. Louis Post-Dispatch magazine, October 20, 1929, pp. 4, 7.

  Printed on the visiting card: La Stampa (Turin), June 27, 1925, pp. 3–4.

  So admiringly had Milania: Ibid.

  compounded by Edgar’s antsy: Ibid.

  he complained vocally: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 129.

  Around that time: Ibid., p. 128.

  “a semi-royal relation”: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 2, 1927, p. 16.

  Edgar held forth to Georg: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, pp. 138–39.

  “the Red Indian national anthem”: Dilnot, Getting Rich Quick, p. 203.

  Edgar professed: Evening Capital News (Boise, ID), January 3, 1920, p. 3.

  Other fascist notables: Gazzettino di Puglia (Lecce), July 30, 1924, p. 4.

  The name was borrowed from Chauncey Yellow Robe, a leading educator and Native American rights campaigner.

  He pandered to: Ibid.

  He came away feeling impressed: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 43.

  A REDSKIN PRINCE: L’Epoca (Rome), July 31, 1924, p. 1.

  The revelation that she’d parted: La Stampa (Turin), June 27, 1925, pp. 3–4; Journal Suisse, October 12, 1926, p. 4.

  CHAPTER 21

  When kindly Superintendent Eastman: Howard (RI) Times, September 12, 1903, p. 2.

  passersby pointed out “the prince”: Corriere della Sera (Milan), October 9, 1926, p. 2.

  “too generous”: Corriere della Sera (Milan), June 28, 1925, p. 4.

  Writing to Milania from Rome: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 129.

  Among Edgar’s colleagues: Maurer, Big Con, p. 185.

  he explained that: Corriere della Sera (Milan), June 27, 1925, p. 4.

  Italians sometimes used the phrase: Muirhead and Bertarelli, Northern Italy: From the Alps to Rome, p. 45.

  Now Edgar developed: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 46.

  He filled in the acting consul general: Document of Identity, May 14, 1924, MEPO 3/1180, NAL.

  Georg had, in the meantime: Journal Suisse, October 12, 1926, p. 4; Journal de Geneve, October 12, 1926, p. 8.

  Atta endeavored to pull some strings: La Stampa (Turin), June 27, 1925, p. 3.

  Milania presented herself: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 122.

  “Don’t call me ‘Prince’ ”: Ibid., p. 125.

  Promising Ludovico the gift: Ibid., p. 126.

  PRINCE WHITE ELK WISHES: Ibid., p. 47.

  Edgar told Milania: Ibid., p. 84.

  When he next wrote to the contessa: Ibid.

  Ludovico appended forged papal inscriptions: La Stampa (Turin), June 26, 1925, p. 5.

  robes, supposedly of “incalculable value”: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 50.

  Waiting for him: La Nazione (Florence), September 3, 1924, p. 3.

  Edgar enriched his: Daily Mail (London), September 6, 1924, p. 7; Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, pp. 125–26.

  Edgar made sure: Greensboro (NC) Daily News, August 30, 1925, p. 21.

  “the Canadian Prince Elk”: Corriere della Sera (Milan), August 10, 1924, p. 6.

  who signed her replies: Corriere della Sera (Milan), June 27, 1925, p. 4.

  a conversation Edgar: Cyrano (Paris), December 7, 1924, pp. 16–17.

  Edgar gave Milania the comforting impression: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 129.

  Additional reassurance: Ibid., p. 126.

  CHAPTER 22

  He said there: Nieuwe Zeeuwsche Courant (Netherlands), February 14, 1925, p. 2.

  He left her: Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, November 8, 1925, p. 65.

  The correspondent’s distrust: Daily Mail (London), September 6, 1924, p. 7.

  La Nazione soon published: La Nazione (Florence), September 10, 1924, p. 3.

  “Do you think I want to stay”: La Stampa (Turin), June 26, 1925, p. 5.

  Horrified by the occasional boorishness: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 135.

  the displeasure she felt: Ibid.

  When Edgar spotted the statue: Corriere della Sera (Milan), June 27, 1925, p. 4; La Stampa (Turin), June 27, 1925, pp. 3–4.

  Yet he didn’t: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 99.

  All of her loans: Corriere della Sera (Milan), July 1, 1925, p. 4.

  which included an ebony cane: Bosworth, Italian Venice: A History, p. 125.

  “Grani, grani”: Schoonmaker, Come with Me Through Italy, p. 82.

  Then he began a speech: Bosworth, Italian Venice: A History, p. 125.

  Edgar’s purring verdict: Ibid., p. 126.

  “That must be a communist”: La Stampa (Turin), March 29, 1925, p. 4.

  Gesturing toward the bar: Ibid.

  made a show of being grateful: Ibid.

  Edgar told Birenzi not to be afraid: Ibid.

  he b
egan to think: Corriere della Sera (Milan), July 1, 1925, p. 4.

  Unknown to Edgar: W. Haldane Porter to the Immigration Officer, May 30, 1924, MEPO 3/1180, NAL.

  Certain that he’d been the victim: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 64; Corriere della Sera (Milan), June 27, 1925, p. 4.

  “You are lost in the world”: Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 135.

  The latter’s picture: Corriere della Sera (Milan), June 27, 1925, p. 4.

  Shock and distress: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 64.

  He’d tell people: L’Express (Neuchâtel, Switzerland), January 19, 1925, p. 4.

  One of the letters: Corriere della Sera (Milan), June 28, 1925, p. 4.

  His speech, venerating Mussolini: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, pp. 66–67.

  “You hurt my feelings”: La Stampa (Turin), June 27, 1925, pp. 3–4.

  “Please don’t criticize the hospital”: Ibid.

  she asked for him to be dosed: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 133.

  “I regret I have just learned”: Corriere della Sera (Milan), July 1, 1925, p. 4.

  Milania, whose faith in Edgar: La Stampa (Turin), June 27, 1925, pp. 3–4; Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 134.

  But Edgar ignored: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 134.

  he promised that his debt: La Stampa (Turin), June 27, 1925, pp. 3–4.

  the next day’s edition: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 66.

  CHAPTER 23

  The piece about Edgar: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, p. 66.

  Brimming with pride: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 2, 1927, p. 16; Corriere della Sera (Milan), June 27, 1925, p. 4.

  One of these declared: Le Peuple (Brussels), November 30, 1924, p. 4.

  Another of them: San Francisco Chronicle, December 2, 1924, p. 24.

  “You have to try to come back here”: Bevinetto, Le avventure di Edgardo Laplante, pp. 135–36.