Radio Script #313
Little Talks On Common Things
October 7, 1956
In these times when the news is ful I of hate and violence, when cruelty and barbaric horror seem uppermost, it is good to note a few rays of sunshine in a shadowed world.
One of those sunny rays is the story of the 25 Japanese Maidens. The man chiefly responsible for that accomplishment, which shall describe in a moment; is Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review. am proud to know personally the great American who worked out this experiment in good wi I I, for when we had our first Co I by Convocat ion in 1953, I had the honor to be ~·1r. Cous in’s personal host, and thus came to know one of the great humanitarians in the modern wor I d.
Mr. Cousins, visiting Hiroshima soon after the war, was appal led not so much by the physical ruins left by the bomb as by the sight of the maimed, scarred human beings who had not been given a merciful, instant death. by the awful blast, but who were doomed to slow, painful dying by the effects of radioactive rays.
It occurred to Mr. Cousins that American plastic surgery might help some of the cases, especially the young. So the editor appealed to that wonderful humanitarian agency of which Maine’s own Rufus Jones was once the distinguished head — the Friends Service Committee. As a result, 25 girls, al I about 18 to 20 years old, were selected in HiroShima, brought to New York, and given required operations and treatment, al I at American expense. Ski I Iful surgeons gave their services without fee, great hospitals provided free beds, and between hospital visits the girls were housed in Quaker homes near New York.
In mid-June this year the girls returned home — al I but one of them. One had died on the operating table. But, sad as her death was, it brought no defeatism to the other girls. The girl scheduled for the next operation went directly to the head nurse and said she was ready for the doctors immediately, and please tell the doctors, she said, that al I the other girls were ready too. They knew the kind doctors were not to blame for their comrade’s death.
Though most of the girls had changed their American homes three or four times, the ties of the Quaker fami lies that bound them became strong and lasting.
This was especially true when there were chi Idren in the host’s fami Iy, and many of the girls preferred to play with the chi Idren rather than go out. Those 24 girls returned to Japan not completely freed from scars. MiracUlous as is plastic surgery, it cannot completely restore battered faces to their original condition. The girls understand that. But they know the value of being able to use fingers that had been twisted out of shape, of being able to eat without being fed, or to turn the head without turning the whole body. But most of all they know the value of acceptance and affection and of having
a new chance to develop their own abilities.
A few weeks ago the mayor of Hiroshima wrote a long letter to Mr. Cousins, tel ling about the arrival of the maidens in Japan. In that letter the mayor said: HLet me again assure you that nothing can make us forget this project, and nothing can depirve it of the vast spiritual significance which no one with an honest heart can fa i I to see.
Those 24 maidens, whose lives were blasted by a single American atomic bomb, go back to Japan with lives restored to usefulness by American understanding and kindness. How wonderful it would be if the good wi II and humaneness shown in this experience could so grip al I peoples of the earth that never again would it be possible to drop on any Hiroshima anywhere in the world another atomic bomb.
An interesting story of the old days concerns the robbery of the Norway Savings Bank in 1867. At that time, nearly 90 years ago, the funds of that Oxford town’s little savings bank were kept in an ordinary safe in the store of Lee and Mixer, in the same bui Iding which later became the headquarters of one of Maine’s best known weekly newspapers, the Norway Advertiser. Sometime during the night of Saturday, September 21, the safe had been br0ken open and its contents carried away.
The loss was discovered by Charles Sanderson, a Norway lawyer who was himself one of the bank’s trustees. An early riser, he got up early that Sunday morning and went out for a walk before sunrise. Noticing fresh tracks of a horse and wagon leading to and from the Congregational horse sheds, Sanderson suspected that thieves had been at work somewhere in the vi Ilage. At once thinking of the Savings Bank, he went to the store where the bankTs bus~ iness was conducted. He found the door open, the safe door blown off its hinges, and the safe empty.
Sanderson proved himself something of a detective. Measuring the horse’s tracks, he found that the animal had a peculiar shaped shoe on one hoof to prevent what horsemen cal I interfering. He noticed also that the suspected team had departed in the direction of Oxford. Off he started in pursuit. He was able to fol low the tracks through Welchvi I Ie and the Shaker Vi I lage on Ricker Hi II to Gray Corner. There he procured a fresh horse before continuing o n to Portland. A few mi les out of the city he found the same tracks near a watering trough and knew he was sti I I on the trai I. After giving information to the Portland police, Sanderson returned to Norway.
The next day Sanderson went to Boston. Feeling certain the robbers had not yet had time to get far out of Maine, Sanderson and a Boston detective stood watch at the station to observe persons taking trains for New York or the West. Sanderson surmised — correctly as it turned out — that one or more of the robbers could be recognized as someone who had been seen in Norway.
AI I at once Sanderson spotted a man whom he had known in Norway as Langdon Moore. The man was stopped and questioned, but as there was no evidence against him, he boarded the train. Sanderson and the detective fol lowed. On the way to Springfield they passed through the train but saw nothing suspicious about Moore, who was sitting with a man to whom he seemed a stranger.
Not unti I long afterward did they learn that Moore’s seatmate was Charles Haight of New York, and that on the rack over their heads, in a big valise, was money from the Norway safe.
The robbery turned out to have been the work of th ree men: Langdon Moore, Char les Ha i ght and Truman Young of Nashua, New Hampsh ire, who was ca lied Doc Young. Moore and Young had both spent some time in Norway and were recognized by several citizens. The robbers got away with less than $3,500, although they had expected to find at least $10,000. It was Young’s greed for more which led to their discovery and conviction.
Abandoning Moore and Haight, Young at once planned another robbery, this time at a bank in Cornish. He was caught and turned over to a deputy sheriff for transportation to the county jai I at Alfred:
Hearing of this robbery, Sanderson thought it might have been committed by the same gang that had robbed the Norway Bank. So off he started for Cornish.
There he learned that the deputy, with Young in his custody, had left only an hour before for Alfred. On going into the Saco House at Saco, Sanderson learned that Young and the deputy had stopped there for dinner and were sti I I in the hotel. When they emerged from the dining room, Sanderson put his hand on Young’s shoulder and told him he was under arrest. The deputy, who already had Young under arrest and on the way to jai I, protested: “What ri ght have you to take th is man?:’ he demanded. Sanderson produced a warrant for Young’s arrest for robb i ng the Norway bank. The deputy drew his revo I ver and announced that he would bore a hole through Sanderson if he did not let the prisoner alone. TTBore away~l, said the Norway lawyer, !7but I’m going to keep hold of him”; and Sanderson held his grip unti I the Saco city marshall appeared, honored Sanderson’s warrant, and himself took charge of the prisoner.
The Oxford County authorities secured custody of him, after much wrangling and at the March term of court, Young was brought to trial for robbery of the Norway bank. The defense attorney stated that the p I ace that was robbed was not a banking house, but merely a store with the bank’s money in its safe, and therefore the indictment was defective in charging Young with breakinq and enteri ng a bank. Neverthe less the jury found the man gui Ity, and he qot a sentence of nine years at hard labor.
After he got to the prison in Thomaston, Young implicated Moore and Haight, of whose gui It Sanderson had al I along felt certain. From Young the authorities finally learned detai Is of the robbery. Having spent some time in Norway, Young decided breaking the safe in the store-located savings bank would be easy for an expert craftsman. Knowing such an expert in the person of Moore, he induced the latter to corre to Norway and look over the s ituat ion. Moore agreed that it should be an easy job.
Young hired a team in Portland and a few mi les beyond Gray Corner, he picked up Moore and Ha i ght, wa i ti ng there by previ ous arrangement. The horse had a pecu liar shoe on one hoof. They reached Norway vi II age about 10 0′ clock on Saturday evening, and put their team in the horse sheds of the Congregation~. a I Church. There they waited unti I they fe It sure the whole vi 1 I age was in bed.
It was a bright moonlit night. On reaching the vicinity of the store, Young posted himself behind a tree to watch for unlikely, but possible, passersby, whi Ie Moore and Haight entered the bui Iding through a window. After hanging a piece of cloth over the window to prevent be,t.ng seen from the outside, they bored a hole in the safe door, fi I led the hole with powder and attached a fuse. After making sure that there was no one in the bui Iding or in the street, Moore lighted the fuse. He had just joined Young and Haight across the street when the explosion occurred.
Seeing that apparently no one had been awakened by the noise, the thugs reentered the store, scooped the contents of the safe into a bag, and departed.
On the way to Oxford they stopped to examine the loot and divided it into three equal parts. Among the things taken were papers of no value to the robbers, but of much consequence to the bank. These they buried under a tree a few yards from the road.
Reaching Portland early Sunday evening, they returned the team to its owner and hired another to drive to Great Falls, New Hampshire, where they arri ved before day light on Monday morni ng. There they broke up, Young goi ng his way, wh i Ie Moore and Ha i ght went on to New York.
With the characteristic honor among thieves, Moore showed unusual concern for the bank’s papers. In such circumstances a robber usually throws away what he cannot use. But in this instance Moore made a careful diagram and sent it to the bank’s president. Sure enough, the papers were found under a tree near Oxford, just as Moore’s diagram described. Of course it was long afterward before the authorities knew where the diagram came from, but Young’s eventual arrest and confess i on brought a II to light.
What was important next for the bank officials was to get return of at least a part of the loot. I t was the c lever Sanderson who thought of a p I an.
He knew of ~~oore ‘s reputed hi gh-mi ndedness and had learned from Young that it was r~ore who had made and sent the diagram. So he wrote a letter to Moore at an address which Young said would eventually reach the man. In the letter Sanderson spread a sentimental appeal, saying that much of the stolen property was the life savings of poor people, earned by long hours in shop and factory, and urged Moore to use his influence to recover the money. The letter worked, for shortly afterward a man shovJed up ready to negotiate a settlement. He returned to New York wiTh the bank’s te rms • A fte r a few wee ks, the same man came aga i n to Norway with the money. Before handing it over, he demanded from the bank officers a signed release of Moore and Haight from any I iabillity to the bank, the promise nOT to prosecute them for burglary, and the handing over of the extradition papers that could be used to bring them from New York. The bank officers refused to sign any such agreement, as iT would clearly implicate them in a felony. The gO-between returned to New York for further consultation.
Finally, by arrangement with the legal authoriTies, the bank officers agreed to the robbers’ terms. The money was returned and the culprits escaped prosecution.
But not for long. Moore and Haight couldn’t keep their hands off money easi Iy plucked from safes. They were soon arrested for robbing a bank at Rockland, and each got seven years in Thomaston.
Thus ended the Norway bank robbery. The perpetrators mi ght never have been discovered if it had not been for the keen eyes and the persistence of Norway’s early-rising lawyer, Charles Sanderson, who noted that someone late at night had driven out of Norway a horse with a peculiar shoe.
Year: 1956