THIS IS THE FAMILY I WAS BORN INTO.

     My cousin Herman was a man on the make.  He was handsome, intelligent and married a beautiful woman from a prominent family.
Everything was working for him. 
     He started out as a teller working for Otto Metchler at the Industrial Bank & Trust and by the time he was in his mid forties he was cashier.  The world was his.  
     Then came the 4th of July weekend when the bank was closed for a four day holiday.  When the bank was opened for business again Herman did not show up.  Nor did one of the lady tellers.  And furthermore, the vault door was open and the vault was empty.  Like cleaned out.
     Herman had apparently, fled with his lover.  They surfaced in sunny California far from the Indiana winters and Herman's wife and family.  
     Herman's father reportedly mortgaged all of his farmland to pay off the bank to keep it out of the press and keep Herman out of jail.
     Herman much later died in obscurity in South Carolina. 

THIS IS THE FAMILY I MARRIED INTO

Or:  How Uncle Dave stole the Navy Payroll 

                     This was told by my ex wives aunt,                                 a sister to Uncle Dave.  I am                                       changing names to keep from

 getting into trouble. 

During WW II, Uncle Dave was a Commander in the Navy stationed on an island in the Pacific.  The island was hit by a typhoon and everyone ran for cover.  Everyone except for Uncle Dave who ran for the Navy Payroll.

For some time after that he sent money home to his mother.  It was hidden in clocks and saddles and anything else he could conceal it in.

For several years after the war, the FBI was sniffing around Mariposa.  They were watching Dave closely but they never did find anything they could pin on him.) 

Uncle Dave was heavily involved in the Black market during----and perhaps after----WW II.  If he could have gotten back into Japan he would have been a very wealthy man.  The Government was watching his every move and if he would have tried to leave the country he would have been detained.

                                                         

About two miles East of Mariposa and about ¼ miles South on the East side of  the road, sitting on top of a small knob was a vertical white clapboard two and one half story house which was the family homestead.  At the top of a steep narrow flight of stairs there was a small padlocked room containing a wringer washing machine, also padlocked.  The washing machine was full of cash.

.It is possible that the money was laundered out of Chicago through family connections.  Uncle Dave had a cousin who was married to a man who farmed a section of land one county to the North.  They in turn were close friends with the president of the bank in the county seat.  Entirely supposition but when there is smoke, there’s fire.

At any rate, for several years after the war, Dave quietly farmed and then took some of the cash and got a matching mortgage and bought a small piece of ground.

He continued this practice until, at the time of his death, he owned extensive farmland in Indiana plus controlling interest in a utility company in the nearby city of Indifference.  He also held a chair in either History or English at State University

                        The Shadow says: Behind every great fortune there is a great crime.