King Con Read online

  When the time came for him: Ibid.

  Two hundred members: Berkeley Daily Gazette, April 17, 1918, p. 2; April 18, 1918, pp. 1, 8.

  the scuttlebutt: Walnut Valley Times (El Dorado, KS), May 8, 1918, p. 1; Muskogee (OK) Times-Democrat, May 11, 1918, p. 18.

  who developed a taste for how the drugs: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, September 9, 1922, WSU.

  “Singing Sailor Spaulding”: Red Bluff (CA) Daily News, July 27, 1918, p. 1.

  a flag-raising ceremony: Red Bluff (CA) Daily News, June 29, 1918, p. 1.

  There was a sequel the next day: “Chief White Elk,” Fold3.com.

  When he stepped: Red Bluff (CA) Daily News, June 29, 1918, p. 1.

  her husband’s drug taking: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, September 9, 1922, WSU.

  In the attractive little city: Oregonian (Portland, OR), July 12, 1918, p. 6.

  stories about meeting the general: Pueblo (CO) Chieftain, January 25, 1918, p. 3.

  BULLY FOR YOU: Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR), July 12, 1918, p. 6.

  Edgar claimed he: Sacramento Union, July 12, 1918, p. 6.

  “sexual perverts”: Shneer and Aviv, “Classifications on Homosexuality,” American Queer, Now and Then, p. 8.

  Quizzed about Chief White Elk: Red Bluff (CA) Daily News, July 27, 1918, p. 1.

  Ingram and Clinch next went round: Sacramento Union, July 6, 1918, p. 6.

  “joy dust”: Kohn, Dope Girls, p. 35.

  “a deck” or “a bindle”: Seattle Star, October 18, 1919, p. 1; New York Sun, July 27, 1919, p. 25.

  the Death Trail: Cullen, Vaudeville Old and New, p. 4.

  “split weeks”: Haupert, Entertainment Industry, pp. 21–22, 26.

  “all-star”: San Diego Union, December 15, 1918, p. 25.

  none of his victims: Among Edgar’s mortified San Diegan victims was Judge George J. Leovy. The judge had fielded a series of waggish phone calls inquiring whether he’d “received any information concerning the present whereabouts of Tom Longboat.” San Diego Union, March 18, 1917, p. 4.

  Nowhere was his: Salt Lake Telegram, October 4, 1918, p. 13; Salt Lake Tribune, October 10, 1918, p. 9.

  CHAPTER 11

  Burtha’s biological mother: About a year before Burtha came into the world, her mother, Nora, left Jim Thompson and moved in with a Native American named Pecwan John. Burtha appears to have been the product of a brief reconciliation between Nora and Jim.

  “haunts me like Satan in hell”: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, September 9, 1922, WSU.

  Close friends knew her as “Toots”: Palmquist, With Nature’s Children, p. 17.

  “Nature’s monarchs of the wild”: Ibid., p. 19.

  “official government photographer”: Ibid., p. 65.

  In his familiar role: Ibid., p. 67.

  For Burtha and Lucy: Thompson, To the American Indian, pp. 138–40.

  “ruthlessly handled”: Ibid., p. 139.

  “the Beautiful Broadway Song Birds”: Santa Ana (CA) Register, January 4, 1919, p. 4.

  “a whole show”: Oxnard (CA) Courier, January 9, 1919, p. 4.

  invited to a dinner party: Los Angeles Times, January 19, 1919, p. 32.

  Muddling Edgar with his fellow vaudevillian, Chief Little Elk, one of his hostesses thought she’d met him at a Woman’s Christian Temperance Union conference in Portland when he was playing the prestigious Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Hard-drinking Edgar seems to have reinforced her misapprehension by talking about how he’d campaigned for Prohibition among the Indians of Oklahoma.

  They asked the desk clerk: Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR), April 14, 1919, p. 2.

  Comparable disbelief: Ibid.

  “From the experience we’ve had”: Ibid.

  Later that morning: Ibid., p. 12.

  The article in the Morning Oregonian caught: Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR), April 15, 1919, p. 17.

  Soon the district attorney: Ibid.

  At one of those, he posed: Bellingham (WA) Herald, April 23, 1919, p. 5.

  who contemplated launching herself: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, February 5, 1921, WSU.

  She got her big break: Seattle Times, August 7, 1919, p. 11.

  “the greatest summer school”: Lyceum Magazine, August 1919, p. 33.

  were tales of how he’d campaigned: Vancouver Daily World, May 22, 1919, p. 20.

  When passing isolated farmsteads: Lloyd, Vaudeville Trails thru the West, pp. 5, 13.

  “the Chinese Mark Twain”: Lyceum Magazine, January 1915, p. 55.

  And when he’d finished: Lyceum Magazine, August 1919, p. 24.

  The carriages rocked: Lyceum Magazine, December 1919, p. 23.

  He visited a local children’s club: Edmonton Bulletin, June 18, 1919 (city edition), p. 3.

  In an article about the Liberty Loan: American Indian, Summer 1919, pp. 104–5.

  long, chatty letters she liked to write: Witnessed by her correspondence with Lucullus V. McWhorter, WSU.

  “the Bare-Footed Nature Dance”: Seattle Star, August 2, 1919, p. 5.

  “a wonderful talker”: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, February 5, 1921, WSU.

  But his many Native American friends: Evans, Voice of the Old Wolf, p. 51.

  Edgar and Burtha took a great liking: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, July 30, 1920, WSU.

  what real Native Americans would decades: Green, “The Tribe Called Wannabee,” p. 35.

  The Wannabe, whose racial identity represents a triumph of wishful thinking over genetics, have been consistently overlooked by the U.S. Census, though they boast several other once-famous but now largely forgotten members. Among those is Princess Chinquilla (ca. 1865–1938), who graduated from being part of a banjo-playing and juggling vaudeville duo to being a lecturer on Native American history and crafts. Bizarrely, in 1926 she and Red Fox founded the American Indian Club, a New York City social club for Native Americans.

  Other previously celebrated Wannabe include the Italian American actor Iron Eyes Cody (1904–99) and the English-born conservationist Archibald Stansfeld Belaney, aka Gray Owl (1888–1938). Perhaps the most intriguing member of the Wannabe was the man calling himself the Reverend Big Chief White Horse Eagle, who claimed the nonexistent title of “Chief of Chiefs” and followed Edgar’s example by touring Europe. In 1931, White Horse Eagle brought out an autobiography titled with inadvertent humor, We Indians.

  Yet both Edgar and Burtha took a shine: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, July 30, 1920, WSU.

  “Supreme Most High Chief”: Tomahawk, October 4, 1917, p. 1.

  Red Fox wound up inviting Edgar: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, July 30, 1920, WSU.

  “One Hour of Laughs”: Gazette-Times (Heppner, OR), March 11, 1920, p. 8.

  “Unique Indian Concert”: Olympia (WA) Daily Reporter, May 7, 1920, p. 6.

  Edgar wired Big Foot: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, July 30, 1920, WSU.

  No matter how committed she was: Ibid.

  “going bughouse”: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, August 28, 1920, WSU.

  Red Fox warned him: Lincoln (NE) Evening Journal, July 21, 1920, p. 1.

  CHAPTER 12

  “working for the benefit of Indian children”: Daily Inter Lake (Kalispell, MT), July 24, 1920, p. 5.

  “Memories! Fond memories”: Included in the Mrs. White Elk–Lucullus V. McWhorter correspondence, WSU.

  who addressed each: Columbian, July 29, 1920, p. 2.

  But Edgar, despite all his father’s chivying: St. Louis Post-Dispatch magazine, October 20, 1929, p. 4; U.S. Census, 1910.

  “to start out again as entertainers”: Mrs. White Elk to Lu
cullus V. McWhorter, August 28, 1920, WSU.

  Its organizer was delighted: Helena (MT) Daily Independent, September 5, 1920, p. 2.

  “Panhandle Pete”: Independent Record (Helena, MT), September 12, 1920, p. 2.

  Fittingly, Edgar’s contribution: Helena (MT) Daily Independent, September 16, 1920, p. 1; Independent Record (Helena, MT), September 17, 1920, p. 3.

  Mrs. Georgia Prest: Anaconda (MT) Standard, September 13, 1920, p. 1; September 18, 1920, p. 2.

  addressed as “Cap”: “Aloha Wanderwell: Life Story,” alohawanderwell.com; Wanderwell, Call to Adventure, p. 28.

  Its bodywork bore the names: Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, OR), August 15, 1920, p. 50.

  “Wanderwell World Tours”: Ibid.

  She also published: “The Owl and the Yellow Pine Roots,” Anaconda (MT) Standard, December 26, 1920, p. 5.

  “awful busy”: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, December 8, 1920, WSU.

  Edgar even substituted: Anaconda (MT) Standard, October 19, 1920, p. 13; Great Falls (MT) Daily Tribune, May 8, 1919, p. 14.

  When Edgar and his wife hit the town: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, December 8, 1920, WSU.

  His wife was also given prominent billing: Anaconda (MT) Standard, December 15, 1920, p. 9.

  Burtha gloated: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, December 15, 1920, WSU.

  “full-blooded Indians”: Anaconda (MT) Standard, December 27, 1920, p. 5.

  Burtha had come to resent: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, March 13, 1921, WSU.

  “The White Elk Show”: Anaconda (MT) Standard, December 30, 1920, p. 2.

  Edgar was nonetheless: Anaconda (MT) Standard, December 31, 1920, p. 10.

  The next morning’s edition: Anaconda (MT) Standard, January 4, 1921, p. 11.

  “an exhilarating romance”: Great Falls (MT) Daily Tribune, January 13, 1921, p. 7.

  Burtha’s mounting frustration: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, February 5, 1921, WSU.

  her resentment at the injustices: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, December 8, 1920, WSU.

  From Montana: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, March 5, 1921, WSU.

  a raging addiction: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, September 9, 1922, WSU.

  the cheaper sachets: Seattle Star, May 24, 1920, p. 3.

  Cocaine and morphine were being imported illegally from Canada. Seattle also suffered from being the main point of departure for the legal export of these drugs. Within just five months that year, fifteen tons of narcotics were shipped to China and Japan.

  could only watch: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, September 9, 1922, WSU.

  The situation grew so bad: Seattle Daily Times, April 17, 1921, p. 28.

  “the best-educated Injun”: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, March 28, 1921, WSU.

  She then consulted: Ibid.

  “The way things keep turning out”: Ibid.

  about which she was growing: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, September 9, 1922, WSU.

  Together they posed: Lynden (WA) Tribune, April 14, 1921, pp. 5, 10.

  “the strange and terrible vices”: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, September 9, 1922, WSU.

  “famous Indian movie star”: Vancouver Daily World, May 10–11, 1921, p. 7.

  They hoped to: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, May 7, 1921, WSU.

  “Tell Mrs. McWhorter”: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, August 22, 1921, WSU.

  CHAPTER 13

  Silver Star had: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, June 20, 1922, WSU.

  “conventional covering of beads”: Winnipeg (MB) Evening Tribune, February 18, 1922, p. 29.

  included a quiz: Cumberland (BC) Islander, July 23, 1921, p. 7.

  imminent arrival: Daily Colonist (Victoria, BC), July 19, 1921, p. 13.

  Adding to the: Ibid.

  Their visit to the town: Chilliwack (BC) Progress, August 18, 1921, p. 5.

  Scanning the women: Cumberland (BC) Islander, July 23, 1921, p. 7.

  His repeated boast: Cumberland (BC) Islander, July 30, 1921, p. 8.

  portraying him as one of the stars: Vancouver (BC) Daily World, August 3, 1921, p. 7.

  Seeing so many empty seats: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, September 9, 1922, WSU.

  “This traveling and show business”: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, August 22, 1921, WSU.

  She took to crying: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, September 9, 1922, WSU.

  Despite everything: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, August 22, 1921, WSU.

  “world of opportunities”: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, September 9, 1922, WSU.

  “jolly good time”: Redcliff (AB) Review, October 29, 1921, p. 5.

  “a noted Indian tenor”: Blairmore (AB) Enterprise, September 22, 1921, p. 1; Redcliff (AB) Review, October 27, 1921, p. 5.

  If he turned: Photographs (NC-6-7060) in the Glenbow Museum Archives, Calgary, Alberta.

  “A Real Indian Movie Star”: Edmonton Bulletin, December 23, 1921 (city edition), p. 10; December 24, 1921 (city edition), p. 18.

  “spiritualism was actually originated”: Edmonton Bulletin, December 30, 1921 (city edition), p. 6.

  “the Chicago of Canada”: Baedeker, Dominion of Canada, p. 276.

  Edgar appears to: Edmonton Bulletin, December 23, 1921 (city edition), p. 10.

  Confronted with imminent publicity about him being an impostor, the Hollywood actor–turned–journalist Sylvester Long, known as Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance—who had claimed to be a chief of the Cherokee and Blackfoot tribes—committed suicide. By the standards of racial classification accepted in later decades, Long Lance was, however, a Native American.

  “the terrible realization”: Mrs. White Elk to Lucullus V. McWhorter, September 9, 1922, WSU.

  CHAPTER 14

  He had lately: Bureau de Police Centrale to Commissioner of the Police, January 23, 1925, MEPO 3/1180, NAL.

  What prompted: Register (Adelaide, South Australia), March 14, 1923, p. 14.

  Knowing that his English: Edgar’s father had been the treasurer of a Rhode Island organization that had campaigned energetically against an alliance between the United States and Britain. For French Canadians like Edgar’s father, who disapproved of the British Empire and the way it had suppressed nationalist movements in Ireland and elsewhere, Britain was “the arch criminal of the world.” Pawtucket Times, February 6, 1899, p. 9.

  More recent: Lewiston (ME) Daily Sun, December 8, 1922, p. 35.

  During the Regina’s brief layover: Times (London), December 9, 1922, p. 9; Le Populaire (Paris), December 12, 1922, p. 2.

  his name’s presence on: L’Impartial (Neuchâtel, Switzerland), March 12, 1945, p. 1.

  Etiquette dictated: Donzel, Luxury Liners: Life on Board, pp. 68, 108; Reynolds, Paris with the Lid Lifted, p. 125.

  Much to his delight: Yorkshire Evening Post, December 18, 1922, p. 5.

  So spellbound was: Ibid.

  a pool of blood: The incident may have aroused in Edgar long-dormant recollections of a comparably gruesome episode when he was eleven years old. Early one evening, the bullet-riddled body of George D. Saxton, brother-in-law of the soon-to-be-assassinated President William McKinley, was found crumpled next to the sidewalk just down the street from where Edgar and his family lived.

  He talked to the press corps: Manchester (UK) Guardian, December 18, 1922, p. 7.

  When speaking about the apron: Liverpool (UK) Echo, December 18, 1922, p. 7.

  His riposte: Daily Mail (London), December 18, 1922, p. 7; Times (London), December 18, 1922, p. 11; Yorkshire (UK) Evening Post, De
cember 18, 1922, p. 5.

  accompanied by his “secretary”: Daily Graphic (London), December 21, 1922, p. 4.

  Wandering around: Liverpool (UK) Echo, December 18, 1922, p. 7.

  By passing appreciative: Ibid.

  “absurdly cheap”: Austin Seven sales brochure, 1922.

  Bewilderment registered on the porters’ faces: Daily Express (London), December 19, 1922, p. 5.

  “I have brought with me”: Ibid.

  hotels such as: Houlbrook, Queer London, p. 122.

  CHAPTER 15

  admired his “gorgeous”: Evening Standard (London), December 20, 1922, p. 10.

  Afforded the chance to talk: Ibid.

  In what tended to be genteel: Morton, Spell of London, p. 34.

  instantly pounced upon: Daily Graphic (London), December 21, 1922, p. 4.

  There were even tales: Performer, February 21, 1922, p. 6.

  in the business: London Palladium, p. 53.

  public toilets: Partridge, New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, p. 486.

  his photo had featured: Illustrated London News, December 23, 1922, p. 1,025.

  And he’d appeared: Daily Graphic (London), December 27, 1922, p. 1.

  “London particular”: Hilaire Belloc and A. H. Pollen, Land and Water, vol. 15, p. iii.

  a phenomenon so well-known: The Chronicling America newspaper archive (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/​) shows numerous references to “London fog” in the years prior to 1922.

  Soon after the trip to Westminster: Lichfield (UK) Mercury, January 19, 1923, p. 8.

  St. James’s Palace: Ibid.

  Edgar found himself conversing: Daily Mail (London), January 23, 1923, p. 5.

  “We have undertaken extensive”: Ibid.

  IMPOSTOR UNMASKED: News of the World, January 28, 1923, p. 10.

  Edgar would have been required: Wilmut, Kindly Leave the Stage, p. 133.

  Topping the bill: Woolwich (UK) Herald, January 26, 1923, p. 1.

  the dreaded “first house”: Wilmut, Kindly Leave the Stage, p. 134.