Looking Back April 7, 2006
100 YEARS AGO IN THE FORWARD
Three notorious clerks at New York City’s Grand Street Post Office have swindled thousands of Jews. The clerks, George Davidson, William Spencer and John Mahoney, were arrested last night after police were alerted to their scam — which may have been going on for years. They would take the stamps off of letters coming from abroad and mark them “postage due,” forcing the recipients to come into the post office and pay. Then the clerks would pocket the money. Investigators have said that the greatest number of victims are those Jews living in the Galician and Hungarian quarters of the Lower East Side.
75 YEARS AGO IN THE FORWARD
Chicago underworld figure Max Tendler was shot dead by a group of gangsters in New York City’s theater district. Tendler, a longtime gangster who served time for a 1912 murder, was also known to have turned state’s evidence in the case against Gyp the Blood, Lefty Louie and former police lieutenant Charles Becker. Not long ago, Chicago police arrested Tendler for drug dealing; it has been said that he bought drug rights to sections of the city from Al Capone. Police also suspect that Tendler was involved in a number of unsolved kidnapping cases.
There is fear that the three recent murders of Jewish laborers at the hands of Palestinians will cause further violence to break out. More than 10,000 people attended the funerals of halutzim Hinde Fishman, Shmuel Dishel and Yakov Zamir. Among those who gave eulogies was the leader of the Workers’ Federation, David Ben-Gurion. The Jewish community has requested that the British rulers of Palestine find the killers and punish them. It is also hoping that such terrorism will not spread.
50 YEARS AGO IN THE FORWARD
The recent revelations coming out of the USSR regarding Stalin’s “mistakes” have caused much tribulation among some of the left-wing political parties in Israel. There is a great deal of sniping going on throughout the Israeli press regarding this matter, with some writers attacking others who continue to honor Comrade Stalin and vice versa. A fistfight broke out in a communist club in Jerusalem over the removal of Stalin’s portrait from the wall. Two people were wounded when two paintings, one of Lenin and one of Stalin, were smashed over their heads. A doctor who is a member of the club treated the men.
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