Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Epigraph I - A Christmas Carol The Offer Mr B Virdot’s Story: The Suitcase II - In Consideration of the White Collar Man A Man of Means Blizzard Hello Bill Gassed Mr B Virdot’s Story: The Promise III - The Bread of Tomorrow Beginning Again Grief Bad Company A Lynching Legacy of Lies Mr B Virdot’s Story: The Crossing IV - If I Would Accept Charity Oppression Sooner Starve Dandelions and Pencils Shame The Seeds of Resentment Left Behind Gumption So Little for Women A Foreigner No Longer V - Families “As Good as the Best” The Pump Plantation Asylum VI - Families Black Hand Gang Defeated Nomad Mr B Virdot’s Story: Betrayal VII - An Opportunity to Help A Dog Named Jack The Milk of Human Kindness “Too Big-Hearted” Shipmates Doctors Mr B Virdot’s Story: A Second Gift, 1940 VIII - A Merry and Joyful Christmas The Doll A Special Time The Pony The Unexpected Mr B Virdot’s Story: The Bridge IX - True Circumstances Final Reflections Epilogue: Canton Revisited Acknowledgements Author’s Note Mr B Virdot: A Timeline Index About the Author ALSOBY TED GUP The Book of Honor: Covert Lives and Classified Deaths at the CIA Nation of Secrets: The Threat to Democracy and the American Way of Life THE PENGUIN PRESS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A • Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) • Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) • Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England First published in 2010 by The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc Copyright © Ted Gup, 2010 All rights reserved LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Gup, Ted, date A secret gift : how one man’s kindness—and a trove of letters—revealed the hidden history of the Great Depression / Ted Gup p cm eISBN : 978-1-101-44463-4 Canton (Ohio)—Biography Canton (Ohio)—Economic conditions—20th century Canton (Ohio)—History—20th century Stone, Samuel, 1887-1981 Benefactors—Ohio—Canton—Biography Benevolence—Ohio—Canton—History—20th century I Title F499.C2G87 2010 977.1’62—dc22 2010017302 Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable materials Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated http://us.penguingroup.com For my mother, Virginia, Her sister, Dorothy, And in Memory of Minna and Sam And the Good People of Canton, to whom so much is owed Fairmount Children’s Home Family Services Ford Motor Company during Great Recession Hercules Motor Corporation History of Stark County Ohio homelessness Hoover Company immigrant population Jewish community Joseph Dick Manufacturing Company (later Blizzard) labor strikes legacy of Great Depression Mansfield Reformatory medical services Meyers Lake Amusement Park misery and hardship Palace Theater population growth prosperity Republic Steel scammers scavenging for coal Stone’s Clothes suicides Timken Roller Bearing Company unemployment vegetable gardening Canton Poultry Canton Repository ad placed by B Virdot “Community Help” feature on Dime Savings Bank failure on donation of coats for wartime relief on Minna Adolph’s academic achievements on Stone’s generosity Carlin, Donald Carlin, George and Hazel “Tootie,” Carlin, James Carlin, Jean Carlin, Lawrence Henry and Florence Maude Carlin, Lheeta (later Talbott) Carlin, Valerie Case, Frank E charity, aversion to Chiparus, Demetre Haralamb Christmas Carol, A (Dickens) Christmas gift See gift distribution Civil Works Administration (CWA) Clark, Dorothy Cleveland Plain Dealer coal, scavenging for Cohen, Meyer Cohen, Shirley Coldren, George D community, sense of Compher, Betty Jane Compher, Carol Compher, Clarence Marion Compher, Donald Compher, Norma J Compher, Oscar and Harriet Cooke, Edmund Vance Couch, William S County Poorhouse credit, purchases on Crew, Shirley crime for access to security in jail in Canton culture desperation Criswell, Hilda and Reuben Cunningham, Florence CWA (Civil Works Administration) Davis, William and Elizabeth DeHoff, Harold DeHoff, Howard DeHoff, Howard Ellsworth DeHoff, Rachel Dennison, Thomas Depression See Great Depression DeWalt, Anna Dick, Edward Dick, Florence Dick, Frank J Dick, Harriet Dick, Joseph Dick, Robert Dick, Sally Dick, Thomas Dickens, Charles Dickerhoff, Ethel DiGianantonio, Felicia Dime Savings Bank Duca, Ion Dueber-Hampden watch factory economic downturn of twenty-first century See Great Recession Eger, Hersh Evans, Willis and Minnie evictions Fairmount Children’s Home family, appreciation of Family Services Ferruccio, Pat Finkelstein, David (later Stone) Finkelstein, Gusta “Gussie” (later Stone) Finkelstein, Hana Sure “Sarah” (later Stone, Berman, Shapiro) Finkelstein, Hinde “Hilda” (later Stone) Finkelstein, Isadore “Al” (later Stone) Finkelstein, Janne “Jacob,” Finkelstein, Moses “Mack” (later Stone) Finkelstein, Tina “Esther” (later Stone, Moidell) Finn, Samuel First Presbyterian Church (Canton, Ohio) Ford Motor Company Fry, Geraldine Laura Hillman “Gerry,” Fry, Romain “Bud,” gift distribution administration of amount of anonymity of donor and recipients letters of request for newspaper ad spiritual aspect of as tzedakah Gipe, Lawrence Gissiner, Betty Gissiner, Evelyn Gissiner, Jeffrey Gissiner, John S Gissiner, Karl Gompers, Samuel Gray, Bill business, “Gray the Painter,” care of family and neighbors family letter of request retirement and death Gray, Gloria (later Hawkins) Gray, Marjorie (later Markey) Great Depression bank failures barter system callousness toward suffering charity and government aid, aversion to Civil Works Administration community, sense of cost of goods credit purchases crime evictions family, appreciation of hardships prior to hoboes homelessness hunger individualism and individual responsibility New Deal nomadic existence pride and self-esteem shame of poverty small kindnesses unemployment vulnerability of wealthy Works Progress Administration Greatest Generation Great Recession (twenty-first century) assistance to needy auto industry bankruptcies in Canton versus Great Depression self-restraint and discipline Troubled Assets Recovery Program Grekin, Jacob Griffin, Dennis groceries cost of purchase on credit Groves, James E and Mary Gup, Ted discovery of appeal letters New York Times story on letters recollection of grandfather research into grandfather’s history search for descendants of gift recipients study of history Gup, Virginia (formerly Stone; later Sharpe) Haas, Jeffrey Earl Haas, Tom Hammerstein, Oscar Haren, Bernard Haren, Elizabeth Bunt Haren, James Haren, William Harter Bank Hawkins, Gloria (formerly Gray) Hay, John Hensel, George Hercules Motor Corporation Hillman, Geraldine Laura (later Fry) Hillman, Olive Hillman, Paul Hillman, Paul, Jr hoboes homelessness Hoover, J Edgar Hoover Company Hopkins, Harry “How Did You Die?” (Cooke) Humphrey, Roger hunger hunger marches immigrants to United States Alien Registration Act (Smith Act) in Canton in Pittsburgh quotas from Romania suspicion and deportation of Jacob, John Raymond Jewish Criterion (Pittsburgh) Jews biblical commandments burial customs in Canton fear of deportation housing restrictions on Nazism in Pittsburgh Romanian, American prejudice toward Romanian persecution and exile of Jordan, Dan Jordan, Sandra (formerly Winters) Joseph Dick Manufacturing Company (later Blizzard) Joseph W Farwick & Sons Jury, Charles Jury, Charles, Jr Jury, Donald and Myrna Jury, Elizabeth Kelly, Dr Kendzora, Paul Kimelman, Reuven King, Bessie Knight, Brigham “Brig,” Lanese, Herbert J and Martha Lazarus, Emma Lazorshak, Steven Lean, Delbert G Liermann, August Lindsay, James and Frances Long, David and Nellie Long, Jason Long, Melvin Lowell, James Russell Mansfield Reformatory Margo, Ann Margo, Frank Nicholas and Louise Margo, Mary Markey, Jennie Markey, Marjorie (formerly Gray) Markey, William Marsh, William Martin, Rachelle “Maud Muller” (Whittier) Maxwell, Guy B May, Felice May, James and Edith McCort, Alwyn C McCoy, Mrs J D McLain, Lloyd B and Florence merchant credit Meyers Lake Amusement Park Miami Herald Miller, Catherine Minor, Charles and Mary Moidell, Arnold “AJ,” Moidell, Joseph Moidell, Tina “Esther” (formerly Finkelstein; Stone) Monnot, Alice Monnot, Barbara Monnot, George E Monnot, George W acquaintance of Stone business death letter of request portrait of Monnot, Richard J Monnot & Sacher Ford dealership Naef, Robert National Emergency Council Neiss, Ervin “New Colossus, The” (Lazarus) New Deal New York Times on Canton’s immigrant population on Canton’s underworld on Hay’s appeal on behalf of Romanian Jews on letters of request for gift distribution on Nazism Nickles, John nomadic existence Ohio State Reformatory orphans and foster children Palace Theater Palm, Helen Palmer, A Mitchell Pittsburgh cigar factories Finkelstein family immigration to Romanian Jewish settlement in Plover, George poverty, embarrassment over prices of everyday goods pride and self-esteem Pryor, Georgianna recession of twenty-first century See Great Recession Reconstruction Finance Corporation Republic Steel Rhoads, Kathleen Rhoads, Roy Richards, Beverly Richards, Donald Dale Richards, Erma June Richards, Joseph, Jr Richards, Joseph “Joe” and Mattie Richards, Kenneth Richardson, Nettie Richman, Ernest W Rogers, Joe Rogers, Joseph P Romanian Jews American prejudice toward immigration quota on persecution and exile from Romania settlement in Pittsburgh Romesberg, Clyde Romesberg, Nora Roosevelt, Franklin D Civil Works Administration National Emergency Council New Deal on stoicism Works Progress Administration Saal, George and Fern Sabelli, Antonio Sabelli, Susie Sandusky, Hannah Saunders, Edith Marie education and career hardships and loss of business letter of request wealth and status through marriage Saunders, Minna Saxton, W G Schaub, Edna shame of poverty of public assistance or charity Shapiro, Hana Sure “Sarah” (formerly Finkelstein, Stone, Berman) Shapiro, Hyman Sharpe, Donald Sharpe, Virginia (formerly Stone, Gup) Sheffler, Samuel Shingle, Dorothy, Bobby, and Martha Sinclair, George Smith Act (Alien Registration Act) Soehnlen, Dan Soehnlen, Joseph Sommers, Howard E Stanley, Harry Stewart, Charles Stewart, Ruth (later Brown) Stone, David (formerly Finkelstein) Stone, Don Stone, Dorothy Stone, Edna Stone, Eleanor Stone, Ferne Stone, Gusta “Gussie” (formerly Finkelstein) Stone, Hana Sure “Sarah” (formerly Finkelstein; later Berman, Shapiro) Stone, Hinde “Hilda” (formerly Finkelstein) Stone, Isadore “Al” (formerly Finkelstein) Stone, Jack Stone, Minna Cecilia (formerly Adolph) administration of gift distribution British wartime relief children collection of letters complicity in Stone’s deception courtship and marriage death education family background feminism and social conscience financial support of parents grudge against brother-in-law as Jew social status Stone, Moses “Mack” (formerly Finkelstein) Stone, Sam alien status in America alien status in homeland anonymity as benefactor bankruptcy British wartime relief Canton, arrival in children cigar-rolling work clothing business compassion control of others through money courtship and marriage death education, lack of as employer father’s emotional coldness fear of persecution and deportation fictitious past hardships immigration to America as Jew as jokester as judge of character life timeline military service name change passport documentation personal qualities in Pittsburgh retirement years Romania, visits to Romanian childhood sculpture, The Jumper search for home on second chances secrecy concerning past siblings, alienation of Smith Act, failure to register under social status with marriage unlawfulness wealth wealth, insecurity concerning women’s plight, sensitivity to See also gift distribution Stone, Tina “Esther” (formerly Finkelstein; later Stone, Moidell) Stone, Virginia (later Gup, Sharpe) Stone Brothers clothing store Stone’s Clothes Stover, Lloyd Strasser, Charles Superior Dairy Talbott, Lheeta Carlin Taylor, Betty Teis, Roy and family Timken Roller Bearing Company Truman, Harry S Uebing, Mary Underwood, John H unemployment Civil Works Administration desire for work disdain for unemployed during Great Recession hiring of neediest applicants labor strikes lack of opportunity for work New Deal rate of among women vegetable gardening Vignos, James Virdot, B bank account offer of financial assistance origin of alias speculation on identity of See also gift distribution; Stone, Sam “Vision of Sir Launfal, The” (Lowell) Wagner Provision Waidman, Albert and Stella Walker, Frank Walters, Nola Watters, Joseph P Werley, Lloyd H White, J L Whittier, John Greenleaf Williams, Carol Winters, Arthur Winters, Carol Winters, Charles Winters, Charles, Jr Winters, Florence (formerly Bair) Winters, Sandra (later Jordan) women economic inequities support of family unemployment Works Progress Administration (WPA) Wright, Miriam Wright, Noble and Alverna Young, Arnold Young, Charles Young, Chester A and Nancy Ellen Young, Donald Young, Margaret Young, Orville Youngen, John Zerby, George and Catherine About the Author Ted Gup is the author of the best seller The Book of Honor, winner of the Investigative Reporters and Editors Book-of-the-Year Award, and Nation of Secrets, winner of the Shorenstein Book Prize A Pulitzer finalist and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he is professor and chair of the Journalism Department at Emerson College A former investigative reporter for The Washington Post and Time magazine, he has taught at Case Western Reserve University, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing as a Fulbright scholar He has written for publications such as Smithsonian, National Geographic, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Village Voice, Sports Illustrated, Slate, GQ, Mother Jones, Audubon, Columbia Journalism Review, and Newsweek, and for NPR ... a millworker, a carpenter, a stonecutter, a musician, a grocer, a farmer, an ex-con, a butcher, a bell captain, a roofer, a railroad man, a cobbler, a bricklayer, a bookie, a pastor’s assistant,... fatal car crash and another about two freighters caught in a Pacific gale There was an account of a steel strike and a brief note about a burglary that netted the robbers twenty-five dollars... exuberant moments invited none of the modern psychobabble suggesting early trauma or scarring There was always about him a sense that what you saw was exactly what you got It was a tactic that served