Crater disappearance
Crater disappearance refers to the mysterious vanishing of Judge Joseph Force Crater in August 1930, shortly after his appointment to the New York Supreme Court. Crater, who was known for his connections within political circles, particularly with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Robert F. Wagner, went missing after a night out in New York City. His wife, Stella, initially believed he was delayed by business but grew concerned when he did not return for her birthday. Subsequent investigations revealed that Crater had been involved in financial dealings, raising suspicions of political corruption and scandal. Despite extensive police efforts and thousands of tips over the years, Crater's fate remained uncertain, leading to a grand jury inquiry that could not determine whether he was alive or dead. In 1931, his wife discovered significant amounts of cash and insurance policies in their apartment, yet the key documents related to his disappearance were never found. Crater was officially declared dead in 1939, and the case continued to fuel speculation and folklore, with many believing he had vanished due to foul play. The intrigue surrounding his case has persisted, making "to pull a Crater" a phrase synonymous with disappearing without a trace.
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Crater disappearance
The Event Unsolved mystery of the sudden disappearance of New York state judge Joseph Force Crater
Date August 6, 1930
Place New York, New York
The unexplained disappearance of Judge Crater titillated the public, fueled speculation about political corruption, frustrated law-enforcement officials, and became the subject of countless comedy routines.
Joseph Force Crater had been elevated to the New York Supreme Court on April 8, 1930, by Franklin D. Roosevelt, then the governor of New York. In appointing Crater, Roosevelt had rejected the preferred candidate of the Democratic political machine, known as Tammany Hall. However, the appointment had the approval of U.S. senator and Democratic power broker Robert F. Wagner.
Crater and his wife, Stella, usually summered in Maine, but in 1930, the judge waited in New York City for court to adjourn before joining his wife. Later that summer, Crater spent two days in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and returned to Maine by way of New York City, where he visited Wagner briefly. Crater left for New York City again on August 3, and although he did not tell his wife the reason, he promised to be back by August 9, to celebrate her birthday.
According to Crater’s court attendant, Joseph Mara, Crater spent much of August 6, filling briefcases and file folders with documents. He also asked Mara to cash two checks totaling $5,150 for him. Subsequently, he and Mara took a taxi to the Craters’ apartment, where Mara left the documents. In addition, Crater arranged for a ticket to the revue Dancing Partner to be held at the Belasco Theatre at 111 West Forty-fourth Street. That evening, Crater dined at Billy Haas’s restaurant at 332 West Forty-fifth Street with attorney William Klein and chorus girl Sally Lou Ritz. Shortly after 9:00 p.m., he left the restaurant, but accounts that he was seen climbing into a taxi were later determined to be mistaken, and his subsequent movements are a mystery. Crater’s theater ticket was used, but it is not known by whom.
Crater’s wife was disappointed when her husband did not return as planned but assumed that he had been detained by business. When she later questioned friends and colleagues, none claimed to have any knowledge of the judge’s whereabouts. News of Crater’s disappearance became public on September 3, provoking immediate talk of political scandal. Rumors circulated that judgeships were for sale for the equivalent of a year’s salary; soon after, information surfaced that indicated Crater had cashed checks and converted stocks for just such an amount in May.
Police efforts to track Crater were unsuccessful, and a grand jury was unable to determine whether he was alive or dead. Stella Crater returned to the New York City apartment in January, 1931, and in a bureau drawer that had been overlooked by police found $6,619 in cash, a list in the judge’s handwriting of companies and individuals who owed him money, and $30,000 in insurance policies listing her as beneficiary. However, neither she nor the police could locate the documents that Mara remembered leaving at the apartment. Only years later, on June 6, 1939, was Crater officially declared dead, allowing his wife to collect his life insurance.
Impact
Most assumed that political corruption lay behind Judge Crater’s disappearance—a consideration that would have left officials reluctant to examine the case too closely. Whatever the circumstances, the event became a popular subject with comedians, and to “pull a Crater” was widely understood to mean “vanish.” Over the decades, police received some sixteen thousand tips regarding the disappearance, and the case was not officially closed until 1979.
In 2004, journalist Richard J. Tofel discussed the decades-old rumor that Crater, who was known as “Goodtime Joe” outside legal circles, had died in a brothel and that his body had been quietly disposed of. In 2005, newspapers reported that Stella, who had died, had left papers stating that her late husband, Robert Good, had described Crater’s fate on his deathbed. Good supposedly had been told by a New York City policeman and his taxi driver brother that they had murdered the judge and buried his body under the Coney Island boardwalk. However, the area in question had been excavated during the 1950’s, and while there were initial reports that several bodies had been uncovered, the reports turned out to be incorrect.
Bibliography
Crater, Stella. The Empty Robe. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961.
Rashbaum, William K. “Judge Crater Abruptly Appears, at Least in Public Consciousness.” The New York Times, August 20, 2005, p. A1.
Tofel, Richard J. Vanishing Point: The Disappearance of Judge Crater and the New York He Left Behind. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2004.