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Ask Questions: Identify Crime/Robbery Related RPPC

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    It took me a minute to figure out what was going on in this multiview real photo postcard. It's a robbery crime scene including victim, recovered valuables & search party with bloodhounds! Is that the criminal in the lower right and maybe the house where to loot was recovered?

    I would love to know the full story behind this postcard but it isn't identified as to location in any way. This is a real photo with AZO postcard back, other than that, the back is blank and the card is unused.
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeMay 19th 2010 edited
     
    That's a really interesting card. The fellow in the photograph in the bottom left panel looks like the guy in the bottom right panel. It also looks like the the box lid with the handgun in the bottom left panel has been deliberately propped up with the gun pointed at the fellow in the photo. Was he the victim? Any idea what the three relatively large, cylindrical items (red arrows) in the bottom left panel are? One of them looks like it has a D-ring on one end. Could one or more of those items be a flashlight? What about the locket in the center of the card, engraved with what looks like entwined initials? At first I thought that was a pocket watch's case, but it doesn't appear to have a winding stem. Would the authorities call out the bloodhounds for a robbery? Maybe a love affair (locket) gone wrong, culminating in the shooting (gun) of the poor guy (gun pointed at him) by the woman, with the subsequent search (flashlights and bloodhounds) for his murderer (the wealthy woman, if that's her large house in the top left panel)??? Lots of questions about this one! Lots of different interpretations possible, too!
      realphotocrime copy.jpg
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    Hmm I like it, but if it was just a love affair gone wrong then why show the large pile of loot? It looks like the pile contains lots of watches and jewelry, like a hoard. This might be all the stolen loot from many jobs. It looks like it has all been tagged by the police. I also thought the police might point the gun towards the picture of the criminal rather than the victim. I'm going to include some higher resolution pictures of the different areas on the card.
      lootrppc.jpg
      searchpartyrppc.jpg
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      CommentAuthorRandy
    • CommentTimeMay 23rd 2010
     
    Certainly, lots of different interpretations are possible when trying to unravel what this card depicts. Doesn't the street seem very "busy" with lots of autos, bikes, and pedestrians? Only the fellow with the dogs appears to be on the sidewalk. The cars all seem to be "covertibles" in that they don't have a hardtop, roof enclosure. Perhaps a parade or celebration of some sort???
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      CommentAuthorsoda_santa
    • CommentTimeJul 13th 2010
     
    Can the corner of the building in the background of the search picture be blown up any further? Looks like it's a store sign that might give a clue as to the location of this mysterious postcard.
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    I just tried and it says "PHARMACY". :(
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    What are the initials on the locket? RSS? RGS?
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    Here is a scan of the locket/watch with the contrast turned up a bit..
      crimelocket.jpg
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    GOT IT! The postcard is detailing the capture of Bertram G Spencer in Springfield, MA.
    Here is the link to the New York Times article:
    http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B04E5D81139E333A25755C0A9629C946196D6CF

    In a nutshell, Spencer was a jewel thief amid Springfield's wealthiest. But he dropped his engraved locket in one of the houses. He also bound and killed a young woman at one of his crime scenes. The article describes the houses, the stash, the gun, and of course, the locket with the initials BGS. The only element that seems a bit out of place is the bloodhounds sniffing out the trail. The article instead describes a process of elimination by city detectives using the city directory and an old-fashioned stakeout. All in the name of a good postcard, I suppose...
  10.  


    It looks like the same gun but the image with this article is so small. One of the same round canister/flashlight things that Randy pointed above are in the image!

    With a little more research I found this:

    "The photographs and illustrations from the SPD archives has some unique history. There is the image of Bertram Spencer's gun and tools. Known as the "gentleman robber", Spencer terrorized Springfield residents for almost two years, between 1908 and 1910, by his boldness and persistence."

    "He was finally caught after one of his typical bold robberies resulted in the shooting and death of Miss Blackstone.   Now, he was wanted for murder and a full scale man hunt ensued."

    Source: http://www.springfieldpolice.net/police/hisspd.0.html
 

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