Though Murder Has No Tongue

by James Jessen Badal

  October 7, 1953 Attachment: “NOTE: No record could be located in Bufiles of the correspondent Sweeney mentioned in instant communication which he supposedly sent us in 1942-1946. It is believed advisable to handle as above since there is a possibility that the writer may be a doctor, rather than a patient in this V.A. Center. A notation is carried in Crime Records Section indicating that no acknowledgments are to be sent to the [blacked out] described from [blacked out].”

  February 14, 1954 From the Western Reserve Historical Society collection, a letter addressed to Mr. Eliot Ness care of Miss [Proharage] at the Union Commerce Bldg. in Cleveland and signed by “Frank E. Sweeney, MD Ohio 7148.” The return address is Vets. Admin. Center, O #16, Dayton Ohio: “Dear Sir, Enclosed a few items for your, Personal Perusal, as to Hermancy Reverence, ‘Per Se,’ should all or any have no significant application – Would that you present to Special Agent M.S. Cord for a Personal extraction here from and if again in the Negative, tis no doubt as of some, Perverted information having Dominant Dwelling, a loft in my, ‘Wind sheets’ I trust that we shall meet again amongst more favorable, “Federal issues” My apologies Frank E. Sweeney MD Ohio 7148

  PS. ‘Phony’, criminalization—Is tough, at any monetary Bargaining? As well as Phony Psychotization?”

  June 29, 1956 Letter from Frank E. Sweeney, M.D. to Walter T. Kinder, Judge Probate Court, New Court House, Cleveland, Ohio:

  “Dear Sir, your resume of my truancy in lunacy over the years 1933-1938 inclusive received in good order.

  It was in effect the desired detail, a previous request, of about a year ago, while at Dayton V.A. centers, applied the same negative value—only not in detail.

  My apparent, frequent, requests for this information fears from—psychotic [illegible]. Safety Director of Cleveland Politically tastes of recantay(J)—lent a vicarious Bander([illegible]) of his own Psychogenisis in my behalf the present County Coroner tossed [illegible] of his own Qualities Quantities in my behalf. He should have learned – from his experiences at the cadavared mouth tells the truth by silence.

  Of a recent experience there in Cleveland I was [illegible] by the mental turbulentcy @ Kings level the coutiers – dependents carrying out Saddistic commands which could have ended on a liability to their own better ends.

  So it goes in the Insane world of these times – One should think twice before assuming Sanity?

  You have afforded me with the security of Cuyahoga County Court records. Evidently you are protected there by, unclear protectives from the seeming ever encroaching Federal Octopus or pusses promoting vicious ends by Haunt Taunt or daunt methods

  (Methods) I hope these items will inform you why I have to Keep appraised of my Mental level of the 1933-38 era.”

  September 12, 1958 Frank E. Sweeney, MD, swears an affidavit for John E. Claggett (Notary Public) in Montgomery County Ohio stating that he is the person referred to in the lost certificate to practice “Medicine and Surgery.” Apparently, Sweeney had lost his original copy and was attempting to get a new medical certificate from the Ohio State Medical Board.

  November 5, 1958 Letter from Frank Sweeney to H. M. Platter, MD, secretary of the Ohio State Medical Board: In the letter, Frank Sweeney indicates that he has enclosed the affidavit for the duplicate medical certificate. The return address is Section 16D x 2-49, VA Center, Dayton, Ohio.

  November 29, 1958 Letter from Frank Sweeney to H. M. Platter, MD, secretary of the Ohio State Medical Board: In the letter, Frank Sweeney indicates that he has “complied with your *requirements—mailed the affidavit fully accomplished on or about Nov – 5 – 1928.” Dr. Sweeney goes on to say that he may have sent the affidavit to Broad Street “not knowing whether or not you had increased office facility.” This letter was sent to the Wyandotte Building in Columbus, Ohio. The return address was from the VA Center in Dayton, Ohio.

  December 3, 1958 Letter from “Secretary” [possibly H. M. Platter, MD; the letter is not on letterhead and has no return address] to Frank E. Sweeney: The letter states that an affidavit was received and would be presented to the State Medical Board on December 17, 1958, for authorization of a duplicate certificate.

  December 17, 1958 Duplicate. Certificate issued Frank Edward Sweeney who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, May 5, 1894. Certificate number 7148 dated Jan. 8, 1929.

  July 24, 1961 Letter from Robert F. Freeman, Executive Secretary of the Montgomery County Medical Society in Dayton Ohio to H. M. Platter, MD, Medical Board of Ohio. The letter states: “I have an inquiry from the local Veterans Administration Center concerning Frank E. Sweeney, MD, who is a patient there. . . . Can you advise if you have him listed as a physician licensed in Ohio?”

  July 25, 1961 Letter from “Secretary” to Mr. Robert F. Freeman [no signature on the letter and no return address]: “Our records show Frank Edward Sweeney to be a graduate of the St. Louis University, St. Louis Missouri on June 5, 1928. He took our examination in December 1928 and received Certificate #7148 dated January 8, 1929.” This letter also indicates that Frank Sweeney “made affidavit on September 12, 1958” due to loss of his certificate to practice Medicine and Surgery in the state of Ohio. “We issued a duplicate certificate” to address Sec. #16 D x 2, V.A. Center Dayton, Ohio. The 1956 directory shows him at the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, near Sandusky, Ohio.

  January 11, 1962 Letter from Ray Q. Bumgarner, Center Director of the Veterans Administration Center at 4100 W. Third Street in Dayton, Ohio, to H. M. Platter, Secretary of the Ohio State Medical Board:

  We have a veteran under care in our Domiciliary by the name of Frank E. Sweeney who is a licensed M.D. Although he has been under care at a mental hospital as a psychotic and is still rated as incompetent by the Veterans Administration, we have a continuing problem with him in that he writes prescriptions for barbiturates and tranquilizers in fictitious names for his own use. We believe it would be very helpful in caring for this veteran if it would be possible to get his license suspended while at this Center and this fact made known to the local pharmacists.

  January 18, 1962 Letter from “Secretary” [unsigned, no return address] to Mr. Ray Q. Bumgarner, Center Director, Veterans Administration in Dayton, Ohio: “I will call the attention of the State Medical Board to the case of Dr. Frank E. Sweeney and seek a way to proceed to suspend the license. This is difficult without preferring charges but we will help you when I find a way.”

  February 8, 1962 Letter from Ray Q. Bumgarner Center Director of the Veterans Administration Center at 4100 W. Third Street in Dayton, Ohio to H. M. Platter, Secretary of the Ohio State Medical Board: “We have received a copy of a letter which Dr. Rupert Salisbury wrote to Mr. Roger Cain in Dayton, Ohio. In it he requests Mr. Cain to pass on the information concerning Dr. Frank E. Sweeney to the retail pharmacists in the Dayton area.”

  May 17, 1962 Letter from Frank Sweeney to Secretary of the Ohio State Medical Board: “Will you afford me a statement of the summations of my credentials with the State Board of Medicine, State of Ohio.” He requests this “pursuant to the [illegible] of the Medical Practice Act State of Ohio. The force and effects of the certification 7148 issued to Frank E. Sweeney, MD.” After the signature, the letter states, “[M.B.]. If any fees are in exaction will you afford me information for ‘Such’!?”

  May 21, 1962 Letter from “Secretary” [unsigned, no return address] to Frank E. Sweeney, MD: “Complying with your request, our records show you to be a graduate of St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo. On June 5, 1928. you were licensed in Ohio on January 8, 1929 after examination, Certificate #7148.”

  October 23, 1962 Letter from Frank E. Sweeney, MD (Ohio 7148) to Registrar – Office of the Dean, St. Louis University Medical School: “Can you appoint me with the Procedure required in order to obtain (a) duplicates of the original Degrees, BS (Medicine 1926) – M.D. – 1928 obtained by me following the proscribed (qes) requirements for said degrees – Originals lost in the Hurly Burly of R.R. Transportation.”

  December 11, 1962 M
ary A. M. [sister], age 74, buried at Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.

  March 9, 1963 Letter from Frank E. Sweeney, MD, Ohio “7148” (1929) to Registrar of the Medical School at St. Louis University: “Can you furnish me a statement re credations of your school—Re Frank E. Sweeney, MD 1924-1928.”

  September 26, 1963 Letter from “Secretary” [no signature, no return address] to Center Director Veterans Administration Center in Dayton, Ohio: “We are in receipt of a request from Frank E. Sweeney, MD, an inmate of your institution, who is a graduate of the St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo. in 1928 regarding his license. From correspondence in this office, it appears that Dr. Sweenbury [one name apparently typed over another] of the Pharmacy Board requested the pharmacists in your area not to honor his prescriptions. I am calling this case to the attention of the State Medical Board when it meets next week (October 1, 1963). Perhaps it will be necessary for us to suspend his certificate. Perhaps it will be necessary to formally take action to suspend his certificate in Ohio. I had thought our former efforts were satisfactory.”

  October 1, 1996 James Badal provided me with a handwritten summary of a[n] [Ohio State Medical] Board Meeting. This comes from page 1434 of Minute Book #5: “Frank E. Sweeney, MD, a domiciliary member at the Veterans Administration Center, Dayton, Ohio who writes prescriptions freely for barbiturates since his license is still in force, is to be cited before the Board in January (next meeting), on motion of Dr. Watson seconded by Dr. Brumbaugh.”

  October 3, 1963 Letter from Ray Q. Bumgarner, Center Director of the Veterans Administration Center at 4100 W. Third Street in Dayton, Ohio, to H. M. Platter, Secretary of the Ohio State Medical Board: This letter thanks Dr. Platter for his letter concerning Frank Sweeney and also for talking with Dr. B. J. Chazin, Chief Domiciliary Medical Service. The letter also contained a statement from Dr. Chazin: “Frank Sweeney has been here in the Domiciliary on and off since 1946. In 1956 he was hospitalized. He was in Chillicothe Veterans Administration Hospital and returned from there with the diagnoses of schizoid personality, heart disease and cardiac enlargement. Since then he had numerous admissions to Brown Hospital, mostly with the diagnosis of alcohol intoxication (he is being treated for it now on our Psychiatric Service). He is also a known drug addict with addition to barbiturates. His most recent diagnoses are: acute brain syndrome due to alcoholism and chronic brain syndrome. He is considered incompetent by the Veteran’s administration.” Mr. Bumgarner goes on to say that the director of domiciliary services reports, “because the veteran still has his Ohio Medical license, he freely writes prescriptions for barbiturates. He allegedly prescribes for his aged sister who will only take the medicine he sends her. Instead, the veteran takes the drugs himself and becomes an impossible management problem. The veteran’s name is also carried by all the pharmaceutical houses and he receives countless samples of drugs which he is able to become intoxicated on by overdosages.” Mr. Bumgarner requests that the veteran’s certificate in Ohio be suspended.

  October 4, 1963 Letter from “Secretary” [no signature, no return address] to Ray Q. Bumgarner Center Director Veterans Administration Center in Dayton, Ohio: “I called this matter to the attention of the Board this week and shall proceed to file charges for a hearing to be conducted sometime in the month of January. . . . P.S. Do I understand that this man has been adjudged mentally ill?”

  October 10, 1963 Letter from Ray Q. Bumgarner, Center Director of the Veterans Administration Center at 4100 W. Third Street in Dayton, Ohio, to H. M. Platter, Secretary of the Ohio State Medical Board: “Dr. Sweeney was transferred here from the Veterans Administration Hospital in Chillicothe, Ohio, August 30, 1956. He was considered an institutional award case and as such, all monetary benefits to which he is entitled from the Veterans Administration have been paid to me as trustee of his Personal Funds Account. He has received numerous neuropsychiatric examinations since 1956 by our staff psychiatrists and consultants from Ohio State University all of which resulted in determinations that Dr. Sweeney was considered mentally incompetent. The last such examination was accomplished in 1961. There is also information in our records that he was committed to the Toledo State Hospital by the Probate Court, Erie County, Ohio and I have no knowledge of this commitment having been lifted.”

  October 14, 1963 Letter from “Secretary” [no signature, no return address] to Probate Court, Erie County, Sandusky, Ohio: “We are in receipt of information that one Frank E. Sweeney, MD was committed to the Toledo State Hospital in 1956 by the Probate Court, Erie County, Ohio. The Department wishes to inquire whether this commitment was ever resolved and Dr. Sweeney declared sane?”

  October 16, 1963 Letter from Robert C. Winkel, Chief Deputy of the Erie County Probate Court to H. M. Platter, MD, Secretary of the State Medical Board of Ohio: “Dr. Sweeney was committed to Toledo State Hospital on October 27, 1955, and was discharged as “Improved” on June 14, 1956, the date on which he was transferred to Chillicothe Veterans Administration Hospital for further treatment. On August 5, 1957, I wrote to Doctor Sweeney at Dayton Veterans Administration Center, explaining the procedure necessary for restoration to competency, but he took no further action. He is, therefore, still legally incompetent.”

  January 7, 1964 Letter from “Secretary” [unsigned, no return address] to Frank E. Sweeney, MD: “It has been called to the attention of the State Medical Board that you are an inmate of the Veterans Administration Center. . . .” The letter goes on to summarize the information from Robert C. Winkel’s October 16, 1963, letter. “The Department is further advised that you are still an institutional case and that you have received numerous neuropsychiatric examinations . . . all of which determinations were to the effect that you are considered mentally incompetent at the present time. This matter is docketed for consideration by the State Medical Board at its next meeting to be held on Tuesday, January 28, 1964 at 10:45 a.m. and you are requested to be present at that time. The Board is of the opinion that your license should be suspended during the time you are incapacitated. Your appearance is requested to determine whether or not your mental condition warrants a suspension.”

  Undated Letter from “Secretary” [no signature, no return address] to Ray Q. Bumgarner Center Director Veterans Administration Center in Dayton, Ohio: “I am enclosing a copy of the notice I am sending to Dr. Frank E. Sweeney, a ward case, concerning whom the Board desires to investigate his mental capacity. Will you please designate someone with the records of your institution to be present at the hearing to be held at the office of the State Medical Board, Wyandotte Building, 21 W. Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, January 28, 1964, at 10:45 a.m.”

  January 13, 1964 Letter from Frank Sweeney to H. M. Platter, MD, secretary of the Ohio State Medical Board: “Your letter re me and the meeting with the Board, read by me on the ?10th?. I will be present myself at the time specified . . . and conclude for everyone concerned, that [illegible] still about – myself. All of the above, of course, will be with the clemency of the weather, [illegible] of trains or buses and the condition of my physical being (be assured that I will not [illegible] anything).”

  January 16, 1964 Letter from “Secretary” [no signature, no return address] to Ray Q. Bumgarner Center Director Veterans Administration Center in Dayton, Ohio: This letter indicates that the 1/28/1964 board meeting about Frank E. Sweeney, MD, has been postponed. “It will be made a matter of further consideration at the April meeting.”

  July 9, 1964 Corrigan Funeral Homes No. 64296. Dr. Francis E. Sweeney, resident of the V.A. Center in Dayton, OH. Died on 7/9/1964 at 4 pm at the age of 70. Buried at Calvary Cemetery on July 13, 1964, at the cost of 65.00. “Sweeney, Francis E., DR. (Frank) Father of James and the late Francis E. Family will receive friends at Corrigan’s Funeral Home on Lorain Ave. at West 148th St. (SAT 7-10 p.m. & SUN 3-5 & 7-10 p.m.) Funeral Mass Monday, July 13th St. Ignatius Church at 10 a.m.

  July 13, 1964 Francis E. Sweeney, age 70, buried at Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.r />
  July 23, 1964 Francis Sweeney’s death certificate indicates that at time of death, he had been living in Dayton, Ohio, for seven years, ten months, and nine days. He was seventy years of age. He was a World War I veteran. Death was caused by cerebral edema, due to pontine hemorrhage due to cerebral arteriosclerosis and hypertensive heart disease.

  There are two undated applications from Francis Sweeney to the Sandusky Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home. One of them lists the following disabilities: “Major cardiac-mitral insufficiency, multiple herniated-intervertebral-spinal discs.”

  There is also an undated page that begins with “Local Physicians’ Diagnosis.” It lists mitral insufficiency and multiple herniated discs (spinal column). “Life and its stresses have contributed to the total toll, superimposed upon these conditions. No VD (venereal disease), No exanthemata, no TB (tuberculosis), ambulatory.” This section is signed by Frank E. Sweeney, M.D. Residence given as 2957 East 65th St. Cleveland, OH. The middle of the page has a section titled Admission Board. The final section of the form is titled Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home Surgeon’s Report. Diagnosis: Physical and Mental “[illegible] Disability; obesity; N.O.A.; [illegible] valvular heart disease, mitral insufficiency; oh. Arthritis.” It is signed by a physician and John W. Parks, Commandant.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  MANUSCRIPT AND ARCHIVAL SOURCES

  American Civil Liberties Union. Files on Frank Dolezal’s arrest, including various correspondence and newspaper clippings. Volumes 2116 and 2136.

  Cleveland Police Historical Society Museum

  Cowles, David L. Taped interview conducted by Lieutenant Tom Brown and Florence Schwein. September 6, 1983. Typescript of interview.

  Limber, James M. A small collection of photographs related to Kingsbury Run.

  Coroner’s Office, Cuyahoga County