Dorothy Forstein’s disappearance: “Kidnapping Story Spurs Search for Wife of Forstein,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 23, 1949, p. I.
The Friday night after Dorothy vanished: “Reward Offered for Clue to Wife,” Camden Courier-Post, November 17, 1949, p. 24.
Dorothy was declared legally dead: “Lost Wife Ruled Dead,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 15, 1957, p. 23.
Ella had difficulty sleeping: “A Tree Grows, a Lonely Mother Waits,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 10, 1948, p. 1.
NINE: THE PROSECUTOR
Mitchell Cohen was appointed: Obituary of Mitchell Cohen, NewYork Times, January 10, 1991.
did not have enough major crime: Gillette, Camden After the Fall,p. 25.
state party’s de facto leader: Camden Courier-Post, November 7, 1950, p. 3.
many jobs he held in law enforcement: Obituary of Mitchell Cohen, Philadelphia Inquirer, January 10, 1991.
In his bespoke suits: Interview with Fredric Cohen, November 2017.
He’d met Herman Levin: Camden Courier-Post, June 1, 1956, p. 2.
Cohen also became a theatrical producer: Ibid.; also “Music Fair Opens to 1500,” Camden Courier-Post, June 4, 1957, p. 1.
early in his tenure: “Make Up in Court,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 24, 1938, p. 19.
the murder of Wanda Dworecki: Account draws from coverage in the Camden Courier-Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as State of New Jersey v. Dworecki, January II, 1940, and Daniel Allen Hearn, Legal Executions in New Jersey: A Comprehensive Registry (Mc-Farland, 2005), pp. 376–377.
Shewchuk was paroled in 1959: “Pastor Put to Death in 1940,” Camden Courier-Post, July 11, 2000, p. 6.
the death of twenty-three-year-old Margaret McDade: Account draws from coverage in the Camden Courier-Post and wire reports from the Associated Press, United Press, International News Service, and more.
Howard Auld did not die: “Auld Dies Tonight as Final Pleas of Mercy Are Denied,” Camden Courier-Post, March 27, 1951, p. 1.
TEN: BALTIMORE
six-year-old June Robles: Obituary of June Robles, New York Times, October 31, 2017, supplied the bulk of details for this section.
Stan visited her parents: See Christine McGuire and Carla Norton, Perfect Victim (Arbor House/Morrow, 1988), for a complete account of the Colleen Stan case.
Dugard’s eighteen-year bond: See Jaycee Dugard, A Stolen Life (2011); Elizabeth Smart, My Story (2013); and Amanda Berry and Gina Dejesus, Hope (2015), for further information on these cases.
had taken a taxicab: Mitchell Cohen statement, as reported by the Camden Courier-Post, April 3,1950.
Sally later said: Camden Courier-Post, March 22, 1950, p. 1.
around West Franklin Street: Several addresses on this street were listed in an affidavit included with State of New Jersey v. Frank La Salle, A-7-54 (1954).
rape became a regular occurrence: Camden Courier-Post, March 22, 1950, p. 1.
To enroll Sally at Saint Ann’s: Affidavit included with State of New Jersey v. Frank La Salle, A-7-54 (1954).
Sally got used to the new name: Philadelphia Inquirer, March 23, 1950, p. 1.
Breakfast in hand: “GEM F: On the Road to Hell,” from Mary Reardon, Catholic Schools Then and Now (Badger Books, 2004), offered a contemporaneous account of an elementary school student in the 1940s that proved helpful in imagining a typical day for Sally Horner during this time frame.
ELEVEN: WALKS OF DEATH
Camden believed in its own prosperity: Gillette, Camden After the Fall, p. 38.
At eight o’clock that morning: This account of the Howard Unruh massacre is drawn from several sources, including Seymour Shu-bin, “Camden’s One-Man Massacre,” Tragedy-of-the-Month, December 1949; Meyer Berger, “Veteran Kills 12 in Mad Rampage on Camden Street,” New York Times, September 7, 1949; “. . . He Left a Trail of Death,” Camden Courier-Post, September 7,1974; Patrick Sauer, “The Story of the First Mass Murder in U.S. History,” Smithsonian.com, October 14, 2015.
For Marshall Thompson: “Marshall Thompson,” DVRBS.com.
Ferry had just finished: “John J. Ferry,” DVRBS.com, http://www.dvrbs.com/people/CamdenPeople-JohnFerryJr.htm.
“When the other cops started arriving”: Camden Courier-Post, September 7, 1974. Reproduced at http://www.dvrbs.com/people/CamdenPeople-HowardUnruh.htm.
Cohen walked over to the police station: Ibid.
He died in 2009 . . . the last survivor: Obituary of Howard Unruh, New York Times, October 19, 2009; obituary of Charles Cohen, Camden Courier-Post, September 9, 2009.
TWELVE: ACROSS AMERICA BY OLDSMOBILE
Nabokov finished the 1948–1949 academic year: This account of Vladimir Nabokov’s whereabouts in the summer of 1949 is almost entirely drawn from VNAY, pp. 136–144.
“coach in French and fondle in Humbertish”: Lolita, p. 35.
“white-frame horror”: Ibid.
“You’re a detestable, abominable, criminal fraud”: Ibid., p. 96.
THIRTEEN: DALLAS
The journey from Baltimore to Dallas: Calculated via Google Maps.
However they traveled: Affidavit of Nelrose Pfeil, included with State of New Jersey v. La Salle, A-7-54 (1954).
The park was designed like a horseshoe: Interview with Tom Pfeil, November 2017.
La Salle had changed their names again: Philadelphia Inquirer, March 23, 1950.
The trailer park was owned: Interview with Tom Pfeil, November 2017.
He also enrolled Sally: Reproduction of a report card included with State of New Jersey v. La Salle, A-7-54 (1954).
Our Lady of Good Counsel no longer exists: See “Our Lady of Good Counsel, Oak Cliff,” https://flashbackdallas.com/2017/10/01/our-lady-of-good-counsel-oak-cliff-1901-1961/.
Her neighbors thought Sally: Affidavits from Nelrose Pfeil, Maude Smillie, Josephine Kagamaster, included with State of New Jersey v. La Salle, A-7-54 (1954).
She’d suffered an appendicitis attack: Camden Courier-Post, March 23, 1950.
FOURTEEN: THE NEIGHBOR
Ruth Janisch and her family: Interviews with “Vanessa Janisch,” 2015 and 2016, and “Rachel Janisch,” May 2017.
her second husband, Everett Findley: Marriage license of Ruth Douglass and Everett Findley, 1936.
She met husband number three: The 1940 census recorded Ruth, Findley, and Janisch all residing at the same home.
George and Ruth ran off: Marriage license, October 24,1940.
“He never let Sally”: Camden Courier-Post, March 27, 1950, p. 1.
El Cortez Motor Inn: Philadelphia Inquirer, March 22, 1950, p. 1; corroborated by a 1960 listing of motor courts obtained at the California Room, San Jose Public Library, July 2017.
Police in uniform shorts: “We’ll Take the High Road,” American Road Buildings Association, 1957, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnrqUHF5bH8.
The friend told Sally: Camden Courier-Post, March 22, 1950, p. 1; Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, April 2, 1950.
FIFTEEN: SAN JOSE
On the morning of March 21: Camden Courier-Post, March 22, 1950, p. 1; Philadelphia Inquirer, March 22,1950, p. 2; and other newspaper accounts.
Her brother-in-law, Al Panaro: Interview with Al Panaro, August 2014.
Hornbuckle had been elected: Howard Hornbuckle scrapbook, pp. 85–86, California Room, San Jose Public Library; Clerk-Recorder’s Office, Santa Clara County Archives, Santa Clara, CA.
“Please get me away from here”: Philadelphia Inquirer, March 22, 1950.
She started at the beginning: Camden Courier-Post, March 22, 1950.
Ella Horner was overjoyed: Ibid.; also Central New Jersey Home News, March 22, 1950, p. 8.
Later that day: “Sally’s Mother ‘Relieved,’ Admits She Was ‘Foolish,’” Camden Courier-Post, March 22, 1950, p. 1.
“machina telephonica and its sudden god”: Lolita, p. 205.
“all a-jitter lest delay”: Ibid., p. no.
“Give me some dimes and nicke
ls”: Ibid., p. 141.
“At the hotel we had separate rooms”: Ibid., p. 142.
SIXTEEN: AFTER THE RESCUE
La Salle was charged: The White-Slave Traffic Act, or the Mann Act, is a U.S. federal law, passed June 25, 1910 (ch. 395, 36 Stat. 825; codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. §§ 2421–2424).
On the morning of March 22: Camden Courier-Post, March 23, 1950.
Commissioner Marshall Hall presided: “Sex Criminal Held as Girl Makes Charges Against Him,” San Bernardino County Sun, March 23, 1950, p. 1.
When police officers attempted: “La Salle Held Under Mann Act,” Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware), March 24, 1950, p. 1.
Even if he raised the full $10,000 bond: Camden Courier-Post, March 24,1950, p. 1.
Back in Camden: Taken from Sally’s statement reported by the Camden Courier-Post, March 22, 1950, p. 1.
A Camden grand jury: Camden Courier-Post, March 24, 1950, p. 1; Philadelphia Inquirer, March 24, 1950, p. 1.
Cohen, Dube, and Thompson flew: “Cohen Flies to Calif, to Return La Salle on Kidnap Charge,” Camden Courier-Post, March 27, 1950, p. 1.
On Thursday, Sally was released: “Sally Meets Mother Again After 21 Mos.,” Camden Courier-Post, April 1, 1950, p. 1.
Ella waited at the airport: “Sally’s Mother Waited a Long Time to Hold Kidnaped Daughter Again,” Camden Courier-Post, April 1, 1950, p. 2.
SEVENTEEN: A GUILTY PLEA
Frank La Salle wasn’t allowed: Camden Courier-Post, March 30, 1950, p. 1.
The solution was to transport La Salle: “Kidnap Victim Will Fly Home Tomorrow,” Oakland Tribune, March 30, 1950, p. 51.
Mitchell Cohen was at the train station: Camden Courier-Post, March 31, 1950, p. 1.
La Salle, Detective Thompson, and Detective Dube: Philadelphia Inquirer, March 30, 1950, p. 2.
City of San Francisco: Extrapolated from sample train timetable, Union Pacific Railroad Company, Omaha, NE, Union Pacific Railroad Time Tables, April 1948, The Cooper Collection of US Railroad History.
New York–bound General: Times corroborated at American-Rails.com, https://www.american-rails.com/gnrl.html.
the trio of men: Camden Courier-Post, March 31, 1950, p. 1.
Mitchell Cohen told the press later on Sunday: Camden Courier-Post, April 2, 1950, p. 1.
Cohen arrived at the jail: “La Salle Given 30 Years,” Camden Courier-Post, April 3, 1950, p. 1.
Judge Palese asked Cohen: Quoted text taken from State v. Frank La Salle, 19 N.J. Super. 510 (1952).
Because Frank La Salle pleaded guilty: Camden Courier-Post, April 4, 1950, p. 1.
EIGHTEEN: WHEN NABOKOV (REALLY) LEARNED ABOUT SALLY
Vladimir Nabokov spent the morning: VNAY, pp. 146–147.
“I have followed your example”: Letter from Nabokov to Katharine White, March 24, 1950, reprinted from Selected Letters: 1940–1977, p. 98.
But as Nabokov told James Laughlin: Letter from Nabokov to James Laughlin, April 27, 1950, ibid., p. 99.
described in their diary: Diary entry, November 17, 1958.
Robert Roper . . . was certainly convinced: Email to the author, August 25, 2016.
“will be given a choice”: Lolita, p. 151.
“Only the other day we read”: Ibid., p. 150.
Nabokov scholar Alexander Dolinin: “Whatever Happened to Sally Horner?,” Times Literary Supplement, September 9, 2005.
“the stealthy thought”: Lolita, p. 204.
NINETEEN: REBUILDING A LIFE
“When she went away she was a little girl”: Camden Courier-Post, April 1, 1950, p. 2.
a family outing to the Philadelphia Zoo: Film clip provided by Diana Chiemingo, with permission.
“She has a definite ambition”: Philadelphia Inquirer, March 29, 1950, p. 3.
Ella opted for a compromise: Interview with Al Panaro, August 2014.
“they looked at her as a total whore”: Interview with Carol Taylor, August 2017.
“She had a little bit of a rough time”: Interview with Emma DiRenzo, November 2017.
Sally found refuge in the outdoors: Interview with Al Panaro, August 2014.
TWENTY: LOLITA PROGRESSES
Vladimir and Véra left Ithaca: This chapter is largely drawn from VNAY, pp. 200–206; see also “Nabokov’s Summer Trips to the West” at http://www.d-e-zimmer.de/LolitaUSA/LoUSNab.htm.
“Silly situation . . . to be smitten”: Page-a-Day Diary, 1951, Berg.
The Nabokovs changed their itinerary: VNAY, pp. 217–221.
TWENTY-ONE: WEEKEND IN WILDWOOD
Carol Taylor no longer remembers: Interviews with Carol Taylor, December 2016 and August 2017.
Edward John Baker drove down: Vineland Daily Journal, August 20, 1952, p. 1.
He died in 2014: Obituary of Edward Baker, Vineland Daily Journal, July 28, 2014.
“She impressed me as a darn nice girl”: Vineland Daily Journal, August 20,1952, p. 1.
Ed Baker pulled onto the highway: “Crash at Shore Kills Girl Kidnap Victim,” Camden Courier-Post, August 18,1952, p. 1; “Victim of 1948 Kidnaping Killed,” Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware), August 19,1952, p. 1.
The trip from Wildwood to Vineland: Vineland Daily Journal, August 20,1952, p. 1.
Just after midnight on Monday: Wildwood Leader, August 21, 1952, p. 4; ‘W’bine Crews at 4-Vehicle Crash Scene,” Cape May County Gazette, August 21,1952, p. 1.
The death certificate: Unredacted copy of Sally Horner’s death certificate obtained from NJSA.
The damage to her face: Interview with Al Panaro, August 2014.
Carol Starts was woken up: Interview with Carol Taylor, December 2016.
TWENTY-TWO: THE NOTE CARD
Vladimir Nabokov opened up a newspaper: Geographic location from VNAY, pp. 217–219.
The handwritten card reads as follows: Reproduced from LOC.
As Alexander Dolinin explained: Dolinin, “Whatever Happened to Sally Horner?”
“a golden-skinned, brown-haired nymphet”: Lolita, p. 288.
Rather, he writes: Dolinin, “Whatever Happened to Sally Horner?”
how much damage he has caused: Lolita, p. 285.
Véra’s diary note: Page-a-Day Diary, 1958, Berg.
“charming brat lifted from an ordinary existence”: Letter to Nabokov from Stella Estes, quoted in VNAY, p. 236.
why Nabokov himself ranked Lolita: Page-a-Day Diary, September 17,1958.
TWENTY-THREE: “A DARN NICE GIRL”
a front-page interview with Edward Baker: “Vineland Youth, Bewildered by Publicity, Describes Sally Horner as ‘Darn Nice Girl,’” Vineland Daily Journal, August 21, 1952, p. 1.
After he was treated: Camden Courier-Post, August 18, 1952, p. 1; “Driver Held at Shore in Horner Girl’s Death,” Camden Courier-Post, August 20,1952, p. 11.
not Baker’s first car accident: Vineland Daily Journal, July 24, 1951, p. 2.
Sally Horner’s funeral: “Private Burial Held for Sally Horner,” Camden Courier-Post, August 22, 1952, p. 4.
Emleys Hill Cemetery in Cream Ridge: See https://www.finda grave.com/memorial/11035529.
For Carol Starts, the funeral was awful: Interviews with Carol Taylor, December 2016 and August 2017.
Frank La Salle made his presence known: Interview with Al Panaro, August 2014.
The first court hearing: “Vineland Youth Freed in $1000 Bond Following Fatal Crash Near Shore,” Vineland Daily Journal, August 19, 1952, p. 1; “One Fined in Fatal Crash,” Cape May County Gazette, August 28, 1952, p. 4; September session, Cape May County Court (Criminal), September 3, 1952, pp. 19–21.
The most serious charge: The State v. Edward J. Baker, Indictment No. 283, New Jersey Superior Court, Cape May County, September 3, 1952.
The following week: September session, Cape May County Court (Criminal), September 10, 1952, pp. 25–26; “2 Plead Not Guilty in Girl’s Death,” Camden Courier-Post, September 12, 1952, p. 10; “Motorist Held in Death of Two,” Morning News (Wilmington, Delaware),
September 15,1952, p. 12.
Carol was called to testify: Interview with Carol Taylor, August 2017.
Judge Tenenbaum threw out the charge: January session, Cape May County Court (Criminal), January 15, 1953, p. 63.
He faced a cluster of civil actions: “Civil Trials Set to Begin Before Jury,” Cape May County Gazette, May 14, 1953, p. 1; “$115,800 Damage Suits Settled Out of Court,” Camden Courier-Post, May 22, 1953, p. 15.
The byzantine nature of the lawsuits: “Fatal Accident Suits Resume After Mistrial,” Cape May County Gazette, May 21, 1953, p. 1.
A new hearing lasted two days: Camden Courier-Post, May 22, 1953, p. 15; “Consolidated Trial Suits Settled,” Cape May County Gazette, May 28, 1953, p. 2.
Written beside his name: Minutes, Cape May County Court (Criminal), June 30, 1954, p. 213.
TWENTY-FOUR: LA SALLE IN PRISON
a writ of habeas corpus: United States District Court for the State of New Jersey, C 679-50, “In the Matter of the Application of Frank La Salle for a Writ of Habeas Corpus,” December 14, 1950.
Hughes was so incensed by La Salle’s lies: “Kidnaper Seeking His Release from N.J. State Prison,” Camden Courier-Post, September 21, 1951, p. 1.
He kept on, in a lengthy series: State of New Jersey v. La Salle, Superior Court of New Jersey, A-7-54 (1955).
Tom Pfeil denied she’d ever said: Interview with Tom Pfeil, June 2017.
his mother’s supposed statement: State of New Jersey v. La Salle, Superior Court of New Jersey, A-7-54 (1955).
Frank La Salle also wrote letters: Interview with “Vanessa Janisch,” May 2017.
Her mother, Dorothy: Obituary, Camden Courier-Post, August 2011.
Madeline did not learn any details: Interview with “Madeline,” August 2014.
He appealed his sentence: State of New Jersey v. Frank La Salle, Superior Court of New Jersey, A-343-51 (1961).
He died of arteriosclerosis: Death certificate, State of New Jersey Department of Public Health.
TWENTY-FIVE: “GEE, ED, THAT WAS BAD LUCK”
another sensational crime: “Charge Is Due Today in ‘Perfect Murder,’” New York Times, September 2, 1952, p. 17.
this case got an entire paragraph: Lolita, p. 287.
The G. Edward Grammer case: Case summary is derived from State v. George Edward Grammer (Transcripts), George E. Grammer, 1952, Box 1 No. 3544 [MSA T 496-67, 0/2/2/39], as well as subsequent appeals, including Grammer v. State (1953) and Grammer v. Maryland (1954). The entire case file is deposited at the Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, MD.
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