PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V4 2001 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 49, December 2, 2001, Article 12 BOBBY GREENLEASE In 1953, six-year-old Bobby Greenlease was kidnapped from his school by Carl Austin Hall and Bonnie Brown Heady for a $600,000 ransom. "Bobby was the son of Robert C. and Virginia Greenlease. His 71-year-old father was one of the largest Cadillac dealers in the nation. The Greenleases lived in Mission Hills, Kan., the most elite suburb in the Kansas City area. "In the late morning of Sept. 28, 1953, the 41-year-old Heady walked into the school and told a nun she was Bobby?s aunt ? that she and Virginia Greenlease had been shopping on the County Club Plaza when Virginia had a heart attack. She said she was there to take Bobby to the hospital. The Greenlease family got its first inkling of the disaster when the nun who had allowed Bobby to leave school with Heady called the Greenlease home in mid-afternoon to inquire after the health of Mrs.Greenlease. Hall began his contact with the Greenlease family by sending them a pin that Bobby had been wearing when abducted, and demanding a ransom of $600,000 in $10 and $20 bills. Hall had calculated that this amount of money would weigh 80 pounds, and that a million dollars would weigh too much for him to carry. Hall specified that the ransom money would have to be collected from all 12 of the Federal Reserve banks ? 20,000 $20 bills and 20,000 $10 bills. Robert Greenlease called in several of his closest friends and undertook to comply with Hall?s demands. He contacted the head of a local bank, Arthur Eisenhower, brother of the incumbent president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Arthur Eisenhower saw to it that the serial number on every bill was recorded (the list of serial numbers was later printed in a number of newspapers)." [The child was killed within thirty minutes of his abduction. Only half of the ransom money was recovered - Editor] http://www.crimemagazine.com/greenlea.htm It would be an interesting project to locate and republish lists of the serial numbers of bills from these and other famous crimes. Perhaps some survivors lie anonymously today in dresser drawers, private collections, or even dealer stock. It would be a great "cherry-pick" to find one of the notes in any condition.

Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum