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.
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