The Reader's Digest Murder Case, The Little Kid And A Great Career

The Reader’s Digest Murder Case, the Little Kid and a Great CareerIn 1951 the Reader’s Digest published an article describing the outstanding investigation conductedby the members of New York State Police’s Troop K in solving the murder of a Reader’s Digestemployee.Unlike today’s television cop shows, the case was solved without the help of cellular telephonerecords, surveillance videos, facial recognition software, trace DNA evidence and all the other 21stCentury forensic trappings . It’s a story about good old fashion police work: attention to detail,leaving no stone unturned, following every lead to its conclusion no matter how insignificant it mightappear and, sometimes, a few good hunches coupled with a dose of luck.The Digest’s account re-surfaced after almost seven decades because of the curiosity of a retiredtrooper. His inquiry not only generated interest in the case among state police history buffs, but alsorevealed a series of personal co-incidences which I’d never given much thought to before.Read the Digest’s story and then I’ll explain what I mean.-1-

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(A minor correction to the Digest’s story. Captain Glasheen was the Troop Commander of Troop K. There was andis no “New York State Bureau of Criminal Investigation”. The “Bureau of Criminal Investigation” was and is thedetective arm of the New York State Police. J. J. Quinn was the “District Inspector” of Troop K, a position which isanalogous to today’s “Troop BCI Captain”. Bottom line: Captain Glasheen was the boss.)-6-

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As to why this case recently resurfaced: A fellow state police retiree, Don Pitcher, and his wife wereon an evening golf cart cruise around their Florida retirement community when they encountered anew neighbor who also turned out to be a transplant from the Hudson Valley. When the guymentioned that he had worked at the Reader’s Digest Headquarters in Chappaqua, Don had a vaguerecollection about a high profile state police investigation involving the Digest, but couldn’tremember the details. The new neighbor had never heard of the case and could offer no help.Pitch was now on a mission. When his internet search for information came up empty he resortedto Plan B and turned to his primary source of arcane and useless state police information; he sent mean email. I was traveling at the time, so I couldn’t dive into my state police historical files for adetailed answer. Nevertheless, and perhaps surprisingly to him, I could provide Don with a fairamount of information about his inquiry:Pitch,I believe you’re thinking of a robbery/hom icide of a courier or couriers carrying m oney for theDigest. Chappaqua area. The last nam e of one of the Digest em ployees was W aterbury.SP Hawthorne case. Bob Sweeney was one of the investigators. Trial in W hite Plainsaround 1950.It might seem that for an “out of the blue” inquiry, I had a pretty decent handle on a seventy year oldcase. That’s because, unknowingly, Don had provided me with an easy question.Why would I remember a number of details about a case which occurred when I was five years old?For starters, I grew up on a farm located just outside the Village of Pleasantville. The head farmhand (who was probably the only farm hand - suburbia was encroaching and the farm was shrinking)was an elderly gentleman named Elmer Waterbury. Elmer was the grandfather of WilliamWaterbury, the driver of the Reader’s Digest van. Our family knew the Waterbury family well.When the trial took place in 1950 my older brother Tom took me to the courthouse in White Plainsso we could watch William testify. The court officers quickly decided that this little kid was far too-16-

young to hear such gruesome testimony and we didn’t get in, but the visit to the courthouse left alasting impression.As for being familiar with the location of the robbery and of Troop K headquarters, our house wassituated about four miles south of the Reader’s Digest headquarters and about the same distancenorth of Troop K Headquarters.Both buildings were well known Westchester County landmarks, but not necessarily for a little kid.My family rarely drove in the direction of the Reader’s Digest building so I had probably never seenit, but one day my oldest brother Pete and I were en route to the hospital in Mount Kisco where ourmother was a patient. He failed to see a stopped car making a left hand turn into the Digest’sdriveway and rear-ended it. Since 1934 Ford coupes were a little light in the seatbelt and safety glassdepartments, I went through the windshield. We did get to visit our mother, but only after a rathercomprehensive tour of the emergency room. Consequently I have a lasting memory of the exactlocation where the robbery occurred.-17-

Unlike the Digest building,we drove past Troop Kheadquarters quite often onthe way to or from WhitePlains. Seeing a “for real”castlemadequiteanimpression on a little kid.Who would have guessed that nineteenyears after the Reader’s Digestinvestigation I would report to TroopK as a transferee from Troop C andwould spend my first night as a freshlyminted K Trooper bunking in the thirdfloor dormitory of the castle I hadwondered about since I was a littlekid?As for the personnel assigned to the Reader’s Digest investigation, those who are students of TroopK History will quickly realize that Captain Glasheen had truly assigned his “A Team” to the Reader’sDigest investigation. Many would become state police legends. During their careers five of them,-18-

Joe Sayers, John Manopoly, John Quinn, Bob Sweeney and Richard Barber would attain the rankof lieutenant or higher at a time when there were fewer than forty commissioned officers statewide.I would have the good fortune to meet two of these men during the period when our respectivecareers overlapped; one of them for only a moment and the other for several years.John J. Quinn enlisted in the state police in 1924 and retired forty-five years later, something thatisn’t even possible with today’s mandatary retirement age. He was the most senior member of thestate police who was still on the job when our academy class enlisted in 1966.My favorite photograph of J. J. Quinn was taken at the scene of a truck/train accident in 1931. Healready had seven years on the job and had made corporal. (He’s the guy with the notebook.) Whyis it a favorite? Every time I look at the obvious vintage of the truck I marvel “This guy and I wereonce on the job at the same time?”-19-

Our careers overlapped for three years. There may have been some occasions when we were in thesame place at the same time, like maybe a funeral detail or an academy graduation, but we onlycame face-to-face one time. That’s probably a good thing since he was the Deputy Chief Inspectorat the time and one doesn’t normally want to have a face-to-face encounter with the DCI when oneonly has three years on the job. As it was, the encounter was pretty innocuous - but memorable justthe same.In the summer of 1969 I was assigned to the Middletown Barracks Patrol. It was a perfect summerday and I was working the B line (7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.). I went out to the backyard to pick up myassigned troop car and brought it around to the rear entrance of the main lobby to pick up somerelays, then ran through the usual pre-patrol check list: a good supply of investigative and accidentreports (remember those 11" by 17" aluminum folders?), a full bin of flares, first aid kit and fireextinguisher full, all that other junk that’s supposed to be in the trunk appears to be there, lights workand, finally, the horn and siren. I hit the horn ring (remember them?), then flipped the horn/sirentoggle switch and hit the ring again. The siren worked. It didn’t stop working. I flipped the switcha few times, hit the horn ring a few times, tried the ignition switch and then beat on the steeringcolumn, all to no avail. In those days the sirens were mechanical, not electronic like today whereyou could probably take out a fuse or disconnect a tiny wire.I popped the hood to get at the siren, which was mounted on the left fender liner. It was a somewhatsmaller version of the type you sometimes see on fire trucks today, an electric motor similar to astarter motor with a siren assembly bolted to the front. I beat on the motor and the attached solenoidwith my nightstick. Nothing. Did I mention that it was really loud under the hood? The whole thingwas wired with industrial strength cable - you weren’t ripping these wires out by hand or cuttingthrough them with your pocket knife. Resigned to the fact that tools would be needed, I ran into thebarracks to get the station tool box. When I came back outside an older guy wearing pajamas,slippers and a robe came wandering out of a side door of the barracks to see what was causing allthe racket.-20-

It was Deputy Chief Inspector Quinn, who was apparently occupying one of the officer’s bedroomsin the back. Knowing that someone from inspection is in the troop for more than a passing visit ison a need to know basis. The only reason I would need to know would be if he wanted his carwashed. Apparently he didn’t.I saluted him and went to work on the electrical terminals with a crescent wrench as he supervised.I’m pretty sure that was the only time in my life I ever saluted a guy wearing pajamas. Hell, I didn’teven know anyone who owned pajamas - the standard sack time attire in the barracks was skivviesand a tee shirt.Eventually he lost interest and wandered back to the barracks, only to find the door he had come outof could only be opened from the inside, so he had to enter though the main lobby amidst the civilianemployees who were arriving for work, probably wondering “who the hell is this guy and why is hewandering around our building?”As I said, not a noteworthy meeting, but memorable just the same.The other member of the Reader’s Digestinvestigative team whose career overlappedmine was Assistant Deputy SuperintendentBob Sweeney. He came on the job in 1940,left to serve in World War Two and thenreturned in 1946.This is the only photograph I could come upwith. I would guess that it dates back to hisdays in the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.-21-