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Jewish World Review
June 6, 2005
/ 28 Iyar, 5765
Celebrity kidnappings hold our interest hostage; oldest marked grave in the United States
By
Jeff Elder
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Q: I have a question about the last host of the game show "Tic Tac
Dough," Patrick Wayne, son of John Wayne. I recall a news story many
years back about his son being kidnapped. How did that saga end? And
how many kidnappings of "celebrity" relatives have occurred? Terri
DeBoo
A: Terri, I'd tell you how that saga ended, but I'm afraid I'd be
giving away the ending of the 1971 movie "Big Jake" for anyone who
hasn't seen it. For while I could find no record of a real
kidnapping in the Wayne family, what you are describing sounds
remarkably like that Western.
Three Waynes starred The Duke in the title role, and his sons
Patrick and Ethan.
Patrick plays The Duke's son, and Ethan plays his grandson, who's
been kidnapped by bad guys.
And one of my favorite John Wayne screen lines occurs between the
Duke and the main bad guy:
Bad Guy: Who are you?
Duke: Jacob McCandles.
Bad Guy: I thought you were dead.
The Duke: Not hardly.
There have been many kidnappings of celebrity relatives. And one can
think of no crueler crime than taking someone hostage and
threatening their life to extort money.
Some of these crimes, like the Lindbergh kidnapping and Patty Hearst
saga were among the most famous stories of their times.
The terrific Web site Wikipedia the people's encyclopedia has a
list of celebrity kidnappings at tinyurl.com/9b7j2.
Here are some of the more famous:
- Adolph Coors III, heir to the Coors beer fortune (but allergic to
beer), was kidnapped in 1960. He was found dead. After a national
manhunt, Joseph Corbett Jr. was convicted in the slaying.
- John Paul Getty III was kidnapped in Italy in 1973. His
grandfather, J. Paul Getty, then world's richest man (and a
notorious miser), refused to pay his $3 million ransom until one of
the boy's ears was cut off and sent to a newspaper.
- Eric Peugeot, son of Raymond Peugeot, an automobile industry
millionaire, was kidnapped at the age of 4 in 1960 in Paris. He was
returned after payment of a ransom, and his kidnappers arrested a
few years later.
- Veruska Ramirez was kidnapped in 2003. But in what must be one of
the cheapest ransoms ever, the 1997 Miss Venezuela was released
three hours later, after signing autographs for her captors.
- Johnny Tapia, a boxing champion in three divisions, witnessed his
mother's kidnapping when he was 8. She was raped, and her body found
next to a New Mexico road a few days later. Tapia's struggles with
this horrible memory drove him to drug use, but also propelled his
boxing career.
- Sandra Rosas, the wife of Cesar Rosas, a member of the rock group
Los Lobos, was kidnapped in 1999, and never found again. Gabriel
Gomez was tried and sentenced for her kidnapping and murder.
- Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped in 1963 and released two days later
after his father paid out the $240,000 ransom demanded by the
kidnappers, who were later sentenced to long prison terms. In order
to communicate with the kidnappers via payphones, the senior Sinatra
carried a roll of dimes with him throughout this ordeal, which
became a lifetime habit. The junior Sinatra did not seem to be
overly scarred by this event.
But those are just a few. There have been many more.
What about Shergar, the Irish racehorse kidnapped in 1983 perhaps
by the IRA and never seen again?
What about the bizarre case of 6-year-old Edgardo Mortara, a Jewish
child who was taken from his parents by order of the Catholic Church
in 1858? The church claimed the lad had been improperly baptized by
a passing housekeeper, and that he was therefore a Christian who
could not be raised by Jewish parents. The parents were distraught.
But not even the sober pleas of President Ulysses S. Grant helped
earn the boy's release. Pope Pius IX even helped raise him.
And for a real mystery, what happened to famed author Agatha
Christie in 1926? She disappeared in what was feared to be a
kidnapping, then reappeared. She never explained. But fans and
biographers say she ran off in an emotional state because her
husband was having an affair. She was found two weeks later at a
health spa checked in under the surname of her husband's mistress.
And what about the "Stockholm Syndrome" the supposed bonding that
captives feel toward their abductors?
Experts say it springs from a defense mechanism. Hostages exhibit
affection toward the person who is in complete control of them
hoping for better treatment. Any small act of kindness is magnified.
And rescue attempts are seen as a threat because the hostage could
be harmed.
The psychological phenomenon gets its name from a 1973 bank robbery
in Sweden. After six days in the bank vault with their kidnappers,
hostages who had been strapped with dynamite resisted rescue
efforts. Afterward one became engaged to a kidnapper. Another
started a defense fund for the kidnappers.
Experts say abused children, battered women and cult members often
exhibit Stockholm Syndrome.
Sources: Internet Movie Database, Wikipedia, Mental Health Matters
Q: Where is the oldest marked grave in the United States, and to
whom does it belong? Cynthia Wilcox
A: Historians say that grave belongs to Barnard Capen, a Bostonian
who died in 1638. I'm sorry, but this joke seems obligatory:
If only he'd held on 366 more years, he could've seen the Red Sox
win it all last year.
Capen is buried in Dorchester, now a district of Boston, but
originally one of the largest towns of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Capen was a shoemaker who came to the New World looking for a better
life for his family. And he became quite a landowner. In 1909 a
Harvard professor rescued Capen's 1600s home from destruction,
moving it to a new neighborhood.
Also buried in the old Dorchester burying ground is William
Stoughton (1631-1701). He was the severe chief justice of the court
that tried the Salem "witches" in 1692. Stoughton discouraged
verdicts of not guilty, signed executions and rode the political
power of the trial to his installation as Massachusetts governor.
Interestingly, Stoughton was also a key early benefactor of Harvard.
NOW FOR A QUICK QUIZ WITH ABSOLUTELY NO THEME AT ALL
1. What's more populous, France or Germany?
2. What's bigger (in square miles), North Carolina or New York
state?
3. Which has more calories, a Big Mac or a Whopper?
4. Who lost more big league games, Gaylord Perry or Phil Niekro?
5. Who's taller, Spud Webb or Muggsy Bogues?
ANSWERS:
Germany
New York
Whopper
Niekro
Webb
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Jeff Elder is a columnist for The Charlotte Observer. Comment or try to stump him by clicking here. If you send him a great question, he'll send you a Glad You Asked T-shirt.
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© 2005, The Charlotte Observer Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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