It’s All About The Flipper

By Suzanne Norquist

Before video games, there was pinball, a harmless arcade game. Yet, for a time, many U.S. cities outlawed the device. Police would raid amusement centers and smash the machines in a dramatic show of force.

Before I get to that, I’ll take a step back. Where did this game come from anyway?

It’s actually an offshoot of popular European lawn games.

People with time on their hands needed something to do on bad-weather days. The French created Bagatelle, a table game in a wooden box, in the late 1700s. Players would use sticks, resembling pool cues, to push balls around a board. Pins sticking out of the board formed obstacles, which explains why it became pinball.

In 1871, Montague Redgrave reduced the size and added a coiled spring and plunger. He got a U.S. patent on this Bagatelle game.

The game didn’t change much until the 1930s, when the coin-operated pinball machine came on the scene. Manufacturers offered several variations with different names and features. Those included Whiffle Board, Bollyhoo, Bingo, and Baffle Ball, to name a few. The first one to be called pinball didn’t show up until 1936.

The Great Depression increased the demand for these machines, as they offered an inexpensive escape from life’s troubles.

In 1933, battery-operated lights and sounds enhanced the game. The “tilt” mechanism was added in 1935 to keep people from cheating by shoving the machine. And by 1937, bumpers created additional excitement.

Many manufacturers were located in Chicago, home of the mob. It didn’t take long for unsavory types to discover the joy of gambling on the outcome of the game. With a simple plunger to propel the ball, it was a game of chance. (On a side note, the cash-operated machines also provided a handy way to launder money.)

The gambling caused many cities to outlaw the game—that and the fact that people shouldn’t waste their hard-earned money on pinball. In 1937, the Illinois Attorney General said the machines should be outlawed. In 1942, the Illinois Supreme Court said that “mechanical gambling devices” could be banned, leaving the definition open to interpretation.

In 1942, the mayor of New York declared an all-out war on the machines. Police confiscated them in prohibition-style raids. They smashed them with sledge hammers and threw them into the river.

Other major cities followed suit.

In 1947, flippers were added to the pinball machine, transforming it from a game of chance to a game of skill. The player could “flip” the ball before it rolled out of the box for a higher score. Early flippers were much shorter than modern ones and faced the outside of the machine instead of inside.

Laws banning the machines remained on the books in California and New York until the mid-1970s. A large part of the argument to change the law hinged on the idea that it was, in fact, a game of skill.

There’s actually a movie about the reversal of the ban, Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game (2022). Who knew?

Without the flipper, it would be like any other casino game, subject to gambling restrictions. The flipper changes everything.

Pinball and other arcade games gave way to modern video games, however, old-fashioned pinball is making a comeback. Nothing can beat the thrill of pressing a button to flip the flipper at just the right moment.

*** 

Love In Bloom 4-in-one collection

“A Song for Rose” by Suzanne Norquist

Can a disillusioned tenor convince an aspiring soprano that there is more to music than fame?

“Holly & Ivy” by Mary Davis

At Christmastime, a young woman accompanies her impetuous younger sister on her trip across the country to be a mail-order bride and loses her heart to a gallant stranger.

“Periwinkle in the Park” by Kathleen E. Kovach

A female hiking guide, who is helping to commission a national park, runs into conflict with a mountain man determined to keep the government off his land.

“A Beauty in a Tansy”

Two adjacent store owners are drawn to each other, but their older relatives provide obstacles to their ever becoming close.

Republished from Bouquet of Brides

Buy links: https://books2read.com/u/bOOx8K

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Bloom-Mary-Davis/dp/B0FPLFYCXR/

 

Multi-published author Suzanne Norquist has worked as a chemist, professor, financial analyst, and even earned a doctorate in economics. Everything fascinates her. Research feeds her curiosity, and she shares the adventure with her readers. She lives in New Mexico with her mining-engineer husband and takes road trips to visit her children and grandchildren. When not writing, she hangs out with her two active Siberian Huskies, takes piano lessons, and studies the Bible with the church ladies.

Faith in the Tempest: When the Storm Comes

—By Tiffany Amber Stockton

If you haven't snagged your FREE e-book copy of Magic of the Swan, join the FanTAStic Reader community and receive the book today.

August always makes me think about storms. There's something about this time of year — the heavy air, the way the light changes before a weather system moves in — that feels charged with possibility, and not always the good kind. For the communities along Virginia's Eastern Shore, August has historically been the month when everything could change overnight.

The Storm That Changed Everything

On August 23, 1933, a hurricane hit the Eastern Shore and continued battering the coast for two days. By the time it moved off, the town of Broadwater on Hog Island was practically destroyed, as were houses on Assateague. The resort on Cobb Island was totally destroyed.

Locals still call it simply "the '33 storm," and older families along the Shore speak of it the way people speak of a turning point. A before and after that reshaped everything. The storm ended what historians call the Golden Age of Virginia's barrier islands. Prior to that August, people actually lived year-round on several of these islands. After it, most never came back.

The storm produced 100-year flooding from its surge, setting records that stood for 70 years, and caused at least 47 deaths across the region. In Virginia alone, storm surge reached nearly ten feet above normal water levels in Norfolk, destroying boats in harbors and washing out roads and bridges.

A Town That Refused to Simply Disappear

Broadwater was a thriving waterman's community of about 300 people. Houses, a school, a church, a cemetery. The 1933 hurricane inundated the entire island. The pine forest that had sheltered the town for generations was killed by saltwater. The lighthouse was eventually swallowed by the sea.

But the people didn't simply walk away and leave everything behind. Many of the houses and other buildings were loaded onto barges and moved to the mainland, where they still stand today in the towns of Willis Wharf and Oyster, Virginia.

Read that again. They put their houses on barges.

These weren't people who gave up easily. They took what they had built, loaded it onto the water that had just tried to destroy them, and carried it somewhere safer. The community didn't disappear. It relocated. Schools closed. Churches emptied. Stores vanished. What had once been functioning island communities slowly became ghost landscapes of marsh grass, cedar trees, and collapsing pilings. But the people themselves, and the things they had made? Those survived.

What You Do When the Waters Rise

So, what sustained these communities through that kind of loss?

They weren't strangers to hardship. Life on a barrier island was never easy. Isolation, unpredictable weather, work that was physically grueling and economically uncertain. The storms of 1896 and then 1933 weren't the first time the sea had tested them. But the faith tradition that ran through these communities was the thing underneath everything else.

After the hurricane, immediate emergency relief was organized through local Red Cross chapters. Materials to rebuild homes, furniture, household goods, issued family by family according to need. That kind of mutual aid only happens in communities held together by something more than geography.

Psalm 46 says God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, and then immediately: "Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea." The people who wrote those words knew exactly what it felt like to watch the ground beneath them literally shift and give way. So did the watermen of Hog Island who floated their houses to safety on barges.

The Shore Remembers

One of the things that strikes me most about researching this stretch of coastline is how long the memory runs here. Along the Eastern Shore, older families still speak of the storm in ways that sound like a turning point in local history.

Formative events become part of how a community understands itself. The '33 storm is in the Eastern Shore's bones. A shared reference point for what it means to face something enormous and find a way through it anyway.

Most of us aren't going to face a hurricane that washes away our town. But we all face seasons that feel like the ground is giving way. Circumstances that seem designed to take everything we've built. When the waters rise, what do you put on the barge? What is worth carrying to the other side?

Those island folks chose their homes, their community, their faith. They started again on the mainland with the bones of the old life still intact around them. I don't know about you, but I find that more than a little inspiring.

Admiral Bertram Ramsay: The Man Behind Dunkirk

by Martha Hutchens

Photo: Lt. C. J. Ware, Royal Navy official photographer.
Imperial War Museums collection
(public domain via Wikimedia Commons).

What kind of man rescues 338,000 men—and that isn’t the highlight of his career? His name was Bertram Ramsay.

Ramsay was born in 1883 to a military family. His father, William Ramsay, served in India, where he met a young lieutenant named Winston Spencer Churchill. The senior Ramsay must have made a good impression, because later on Churchill helped Ramsay’s second son enter Sandhurst.

Bertram, who was a third son, was sent off to Britannia, a place where young men began training for the Royal Navy. And by young, I mean 13 years old.

Bertram entered training 47th out of 61 candidates. He left at nearly the same level. He wrote to his mother saying that he did not believe he would become a midshipman. In fact, he almost didn’t make it into the Navy at all. His first medical examination detected a problem with his heart. For some reason, the test was run again, and he was cleared for duty.

Bertram became a midshipman at age 16. Five years later, he’s a lieutenant, known for having high standards and not much tact. At one point, he is the lieutenant on the Albemarle, which draws up alongside HMS Queen, captained by David Beatty, who later becomes Lord Beatty. Ramsay saw something that he considered poorly done and sent the message saying, “Queen’s signalmen are a disgrace to the fleet.” Beatty is furious and demands an explanation from the admiral in charge. The admiral knows nothing about the entire situation, but promises to “look into it and deal with it.” 

Cliffs of Dover, image by 4KClips, Deposit Photos

In 1915, Ramsay is given his first ship, a small craft in the English Channel. For most of World War I, he patrols the strait that separates Dover from Dunkirk. At the time, Germany occupied Belgium, so this body of water saw a lot of action. Nearby Ostend and Zeebrugge served as major German U-boat bases.

Ramsay’s career was not always smooth. On two occasions, he bumps into another ship. His commander-in-chief, Admiral Keyes, isn’t pleased, but doesn’t seem to take any action. Later, Ramsay is put in command of several destroyers. One of them sights a submarine, and Ramsay sends all of the destroyers after it. They drop depth charges and only later learn that it is a British sub, which was fortunately not harmed. Ramsay was cleared of responsibility at a court of inquiry. His commander-in-chief, however, brought him in and demanded that he explain himself. Ramsay pointed out that if the admiral’s staff had sent information about a British sub in the area, they would not have dropped the depth charges. While probably true, this once again showed an astonishing lack of tact.

After the war, Ramsay stayed in the Royal Navy, serving in various posts. He married and had two children. In 1935, he was offered a position of Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief of Home Fleet, Sir Roger Backhouse. This collaboration did not run smoothly. Backhouse did not like delegation, preferring to keep all of the decisions in his own hands. Ramsay believed in finding new talent and training it well, and then delegating to it. After a few months, Ramsay left this position. While it seemed to be an amicable resignation, rumors arose that he behaved badly. Though Backhouse spoke up for Ramsay, he was not offered another position until 1937. This was a position he did not feel he could accept.

Ramsay was put on the retired list on October 10, 1938. This is almost 40 years after he entered the Navy, and he was likely unhappy with how his career ended. Little did he know what was still ahead of him.

Shortly after this, Backhouse becomes the First Sea Lord, and he nominates Ramsay to be the flag officer at Dover if war should break out. After all, Ramsay had spent most of WWI patrolling the Dover Strait in a small, shallow-draft boat.

In August 1939, Ramsay is posted back to Dover to set up the command, just ahead of the start of the war. After decades in the Navy, Ramsay has many contacts in the military. Because of this, he hears a lot about events in France. He also knows the Dover Strait very well from his time patrolling it. He quietly began preparing for what he feared might be coming.

He tells the Admiralty to collect and organize as many shallow-draft boats as possible because he sees that Britain may one day have to take soldiers off the beaches of France. Though he has battleships and destroyers, they cannot get close enough to the shore. So when the order to evacuate came, he already had the planning in place.

Churchill and Ramsay review after action reports
image by William George Horton, public domain

On Sunday, May 26, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk began. The original estimate was that they could rescue about 45,000 men. Ramsay sent men across the Channel to be his eyes and ears. He needed to know where the troops were, what kind of ships would work, and where not to send ships at all. The work went on for six solid days. On Sunday, June 2, Ramsay’s men in France, with classic British understatement, sent the signal:

BEF evacuated.

Ramsay thought he was done, but there were still French soldiers there. When Ramsay pointed out that his men were exhausted after six days and nights, the First Sea Lord said they had to keep going.

On Monday, June 3, 1940, Ramsay addressed his men.

“We cannot leave our Allies in the lurch, and I must call on all officers and men…to let the world see that we never let down our Ally.”

They spent one more day rescuing as many of them as they could. The final tally was 338,000 men.

Much has been written about the evacuation of Dunkirk. In fact, there is a post on Heroes, Heroines and History by Cindy Stewart about the national call to prayer over this potential disaster. You can find it here.

At the beginning, I mentioned that Dunkirk wasn't the highlight of Ramsay's career. He was just getting started. I'll tell the rest of his story next month.

One final note. Dunkirk was not the largest sea evacuation in history. If you'd like to learn about the evacuation that eclipsed Dunkirk's record, click here.

Best-selling author Martha Hutchens is a history nerd who loves nothing more than finding a new place and time to explore. She won the 2019 Golden Heart for Romance with Religious and Spiritual Elements. A former analytical chemist and retired homeschool mom, Martha occasionally finds time for knitting when writing projects allow.

Martha’s debut novel, A Steadfast Heart, is now available. You can learn more about her books and historical research at Martha Hutchens.com.

When his family legacy is on the line, rancher Drew McGraw becomes desperate for someone to tame and tutor his three children. Desperate enough to seek a mail-order bride. But when the wrong woman arrives on his doorstep, Drew balks.

Heiress Kaitlyn Montgomery runs straight from the scandal chasing her toward a fresh start on a secluded ranch. She strikes a bargain with Drew—a marriage convenient for both of them.

But the more Kaitlyn adapts to ranch life and forms a bond with Drew’s children and their enigmatic father, she realizes that this ranch is where she is meant to be. And then her past catches up with her…

Deals on Wheels - The Innovative Development of Shopping Carts

 By Mary Dodge Allen

Shopping carts... have you ever thought about how this simple invention revolutionized the chore of shopping?

Most of us take shopping carts for granted as we cruise up and down store aisles, filling them with items we need, along with additional items we find on sale - deals too good to pass up.

Shopping Cart, overflowing (Public Domain)

But what if there were only hand-held bags or baskets available to hold your items as you shopped? That's how shopping was done before the mid-1930's.

In the early days of shopping, individual stores - bakers, butchers, dry goods, produce - were staffed with clerks who stood behind a counter and retrieved items for customers - who brought their own bags or baskets to carry home their purchases.

Sylvan Goldman - Shopping Cart Inventor

Sylvan Goldman, undated photo (Public Domain)

After WWI, the grocery business began expanding, with the opening of "supermarkets" that housed many departments - baked goods, meats, dry goods, produce - under one roof. These larger stores introduced the self-service concept of shopping. 

At this time, Oklahoma native Sylvan Goldman was working in California as a grocery wholesaler. He was impressed with the self-service supermarkets that began opening up, but he saw a problem. Although many items were now available, the continued use of bags and baskets limited the number of items shoppers would buy and carry home. Shoppers didn't want to overfill them and carry around the extra weight.

Early Humpty Dumpty Super Market (Public Domain)

In 1920, Sylvan and his brother Alfred established the Humpty Dumpty chain of supermarkets in their home state of Oklahoma. Sylvan Goldman and Fred Young - an employee and mechanic - began tinkering with the idea of a wheeled cart. Their first cart design consisted of two wire baskets placed on the frame of a metal folding chair, with wheeled castors on its legs.

Goldman's First Grocery Cart (Public Domain)

The Debut that Flopped... at First

On June 4, 1937, Sylvan Goldman placed an advertisement in the Oklahoma City Times. He introduced his shopping carts with this intriguing question:

"Can you imagine winding your way through a spacious food market without having to carry a cumbersome shopping basket on your arm?"

At first, shoppers resisted this new concept. Women compared the carts to wheeled baby carriages, and one woman told Goldman, "I've pushed my last baby."

Male shoppers also saw the carts as too feminine, not something a 'manly' shopper would use.

Goldman's Brilliant Marketing Idea

Shopper using Goldman's cart (Public Domain)

Not one to be discouraged, Goldman decided to hire actors, both men and women, to walk around his store, using the carts to shop. When customers saw these attractive people using the carts, they began using them, too. In a matter of weeks, shopping carts were being used in all of Goldman's stores.

In September 1937, Goldman introduced his cart at the first Super Market Convention. He also produced a promotional film for supermarket managers across the country. His carts caught on quickly, and Goldman's Folding Carrier Company became the country's largest shopping cart manufacturer.

A 'double-decker' version of Goldman's shopping cart even appeared on the August 31, 1940 cover of the Saturday Evening Post magazine:

Aug. 31, 1940 cover photo (Public Domain)

An Innovative Competitor

In 1946, Orla Eugene Watson, a Kansas City inventor, devised a shopping cart with two innovative changes:

1 - A swinging rear gate that allowed carts to nest inside each other, saving valuable retail floor space.

2 - A unified frame and basket, which made the carts permanently stable (unlike Goldman's carts, which required assembly before every use.)

Orla E. Watson, with his carts (Public Domain)

The following year, Goldman added Watson's innovations to his cart design and applied for a patent. A legal battle followed, with Watson alleging patent infringement. Both competitors finally agreed to a satisfactory out-of-court settlement in 1949.

Shopping Carts, A Cultural Icon

Humans have been using wheeled carts throughout history. Sylvan Goldman's invention of the shopping cart was the right idea at the right time. The shopping landscape was quickly changing. Supermarkets were providing a large amount of goods under one roof, and the the growing use of cars made bulk shopping possible. What was lacking was an efficient tool to make it all work - the shopping cart.

"The wonderful thing about food is that everyone uses it, and they only use it once." 

- Sylvan Goldman

Today, nearly 25 million shopping carts are being used in all types of retail stores throughout the U.S. That's about one cart for every 13 Americans.

________________

Mary Dodge Allen is currently finishing her sequel to Hunt for a Hometown Killer. She's won a Christian Indie Award, an Angel Book Award, and two Royal Palm Literary Awards (Florida Writer's Association). She and her husband live in Central Florida. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Faith Hope and Love Christian Writers. 

Website: www.marydodgeallen.com

Recent release, anthology devotional: El Jireh, The God Who Provides

Mary's story, entitled: A Mother's Desperate Prayer, describes her struggle with guilt and despair after her young son is badly burned in a kitchen accident. When we are at the end of all we have, El Jireh provides what we need. 

Click the link below to purchase on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/El-Jireh-God-Who-Provides/dp/1963611608

Mary's novel: Hunt for a Hometown Killer won the 2022 Christian Indie Award, First Place - Mystery/Suspense; and the 2022 Angel Book Award - Mystery/Suspense.

Click the link below to buy Hunt for a Hometown Killer at Amazon.com:

Hunt For A Hometown Killer: A Novel: Allen, Mary Dodge: 9781952369704: Amazon.com: Books

Link to Mary's Spotlight Interview:   Mary Dodge Allen Author Spotlight EA Book

Women of Resistance: Marie Heffenisch

Can you find Luxembourg on the map? I couldn’t until I read about today’s brave woman of resistance, Luxembourg native, Marie Heffenisch. Smaller than the US state of Rhode Island Luxembourg is a landlocked country bordered by Germany, Belgium, and France, and is ruled as a Grand Duchy (the last such country in the world). Wikipedia defines a Grand Duchy as “an independent, sovereign country or territory governed by a monarch with the title of Grand Duke or Duchess. Historically considered smaller and less powerful than a kingdom, this specific type of monarchy ranks between a regular duchy (ruled by a duke) and a kingdom.”

Nathalie Marie Olga Heffenisch was born October 14, 1902 into a middle-class family that owned a café. When she was twelve years old, Germany violated 

Luxembourg’s stance of neutrality and invaded during its efforts to defeat France during World War I. After the war, great political unrest rippled through the country because many citizens felt Duchess Marie Adélaïde had collaborated with the Germans. Her abdication was called for, and a rebellion occurred within the Luxembourgish Army that declared itself the army of the new republic. A referendum about abolishing the monarchy was taken but failed with almost eighty percent choosing to reject the establishment of a republic and to maintain the monarchy. Meanwhile, Belgium was pushing for annexation of Luxembourg. The duchess abdicated in favor of her sister Charlotte, and life slowly calmed down.

Then two decades later, Germany once again invaded Luxembourg, and a program of “Germanization” began. Within a year, resistance groups had formed that included aiding political refugees and hiding those evading conscription into the Wehrmacht. In 1942, the country was annexed into Germany.

When she was widowed in 1932, Marie took over management of the Hôtel Hengesch in Dudelange, and thanks to her experience working in her family’s restaurant business, grew the operation to a small-scale commercial enterprise. Having lived through the first German occupation as a young girl, she joined a resistance group at the war’s onset in 1940. At first, she hid men evading conscription, oversaw the production of forged papers, and allowed illegal newspapers and leaflets at the hotel. Eventually, she allowed meetings at her facility, aided in the distribution of underground publications, and forged documents.

It is unknown how the occupying forces discovered her involvement in the resistance, but she was arrested on June 17, 1944. Was she reported by a collaborator? Had a resistance member provided the information under torture? Did the Germans simply keep watch on the hotel as part of a larger operation?

At first Marie was imprisoned in Luxembourg time where she was interrogated. Very little is known about this time of her incarceration. She was eventually transferred to the dreaded Ravensbrück concentration camp, the primary camp for female prisoners where medical experiment, forced labor, and executions were part of everyday life. Numerous reports by other prisoners indicate that Marie shared generously from her small rations specifically to younger inmates.

Marie was liberated by the Soviet Army on April 30, 1945, and she returned to Luxembourg two months later where she went back into the hotel business. She was later awarded the Médaille de l’Ordre de la Resistance and passed away January 9, 1985.

____________________

Shetland Sunset

Bonded by a cause but an ocean apart, will their love survive a world war?

After months in Norway helping his cousins with their fishing business, American Askel Westgard seems trapped when the Germans invade until he has a chance to get back at the Occupiers as part of the Shetlandsgjengen, or Shetland gang, a group of fishermen who transport weapons and equipment from Shetland to Norway under cover of darkness. Unfortunately, the beautiful Norwegian woman he’s just met refuses to join him in safety. Will he ever see her again?

Distraught when the Germans overrun her beloved Norway, Tonje Bondevik refuses to take the occupation sitting down. She joins the fledgling resistance movement, deriving great satisfaction distributing the underground newspaper and performing acts of sabotage…until the day the Nazis come looking for her, and she must flee for her life. Perhaps she should have listened to the handsome Norwegian American when he offered to take her to Shetland.

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/4AWqJk

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction 

about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state, immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors, and drinks copious amounts of tea.

Sources:
https://grokipedia.com/page/marie_heffenisch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Heffenisch
https://www.rues-au-feminin.lu/streets/center/rue-marie-heffenisch/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourg_Resistance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourg_in_World_War_II

Photo Credits:
Luxembourg: Encyclopedia Britannica

Photo of Marie: https://www.rues-au-feminin.lu/streets/south/rue-marie-carmes-heffenisch/

Hotel Bed: Pixabay/Erick Palacio

Ravensbruck: https://www.yadvashem.org/articles/general/women-in-ravensbrueck.html

Real Life Murders on an American Sailing Ship - and the Mystery Author Who Helped Arrange a Presidential Pardon

By Mary Dodge Allen

On July 5, 1896, a sailing ship, the Herbert Fuller, set sail from Boston, Massachusetts carrying a load of lumber bound for Argentina. Nine days later, in the early morning hours of July 14th, Captain Charles Nash, his wife Laura, and his second mate August Blomberg were found dead in their sleeping quarters - brutally murdered, with an axe. 

The Herbert Fuller (Public Domain)

That Fateful Night:

Captain Nash and his wife Laura were in their mid-thirties and childless, so Laura often traveled with her husband on sea voyages. The captain was sleeping in the 'after cabin' (chart room), while his wife slept in the captain's cabin. The second mate, August Blomberg, was sleeping in his room nearby.

Lester Monks, the son of a wealthy Boston family, was the first to discover the bodies. Monks was traveling as a last-minute guest, and because his family had connections with Captain Nash, he was allowed to sleep in the passenger's cabin, located in between the 'after cabin' (chart room) and the captain's cabin.

Diagram of Cabin Locations on the Herbert Fuller (Public Domain)

Diagram Above: 

The large rectangular 'after cabin' (chart room) where the captain was sleeping is on the left. 

The captain's cabin, where his wife was sleeping is in the right hand corner. 

The passenger cabin where Lester Monks was sleeping is immediately left of the captain's cabin, between it and the 'after cabin' (chart room).

Lester Monks claimed he woke up hearing a woman scream next door. After discovering the bodies of the captain and his wife, Monks alerted first mate, Thomas Bram, who was awake and keeping watch on deck. They both hurried to inform the second mate, August Blomberg, and found his murdered body. 

When they gave the crew this shocking news, it was decided the ship should turn back. Because of fierce winds and rough seas, they determined that the nearest port was Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

Instead of a burial at sea, they chose to return with the bodies. To avoid the stench of decomposition, they wrapped the three bodies in canvas shrouds, placed them inside the captain's folly boat (used to ferry people and goods to shore) and towed the small boat behind the ship. 

Suspicions and Conflicting Accounts:

During the seven-day voyage to Halifax, the remaining eight crewmen and passenger Monks were all on edge, knowing an axe murderer was among them. Each person wrote individual accounts of that night in the ship's logbook, along with their theories.

Eventually, Monks and several crewmen singled out two of the crew - the only ones awake and on duty that night - first mate Thomas Bram, who was on watch, and Charley Brown at the ship's wheel. Both men were placed in irons for the rest of the voyage.

The ship reached Halifax on July 21st, and everyone on board was jailed and interrogated. Canadian police officials had to sort through wild accusations and conflicting stories. Reporters, eager to get a scoop on these gruesome murders, also published conflicting accounts.

Newspaper account (Public Domain)

The police narrowed it down to three primary suspects:

Newspaper Drawing of Lester Monks (Public Domain)

Passenger Lester Hawthorne Monks: 

At age 20, he'd had a troubled past of heavy drinking and was a Harvard University dropout. His father, a prominent Boston businessman, had hoped a long sea voyage would help his son stop drinking and regain his health. But Monks had other ideas, bringing aboard bottles of brandy and whiskey, along with 60 bottles of beer.

Monks appeared nervous and his story varied, depending on who interviewed him. He claimed Bram was guilty because he had been drunk that night and acted suspiciously. (Others who knew Bram said he was a religious man who drank very little.)

Monks had occupied the cabin in between the sleeping quarters of the captain and his wife, and the partitions between the rooms were thin. Detectives questioned how he could sleep through the noise of three brutal axe murders, and then wake up and investigate after the deeds were done.

Strangely, Lester Monks was also reading a book in his cabin that night, written by W. Clark Russell, about shipmates committing murder and mutiny.

Newspaper Drawing of Charley Brown (Public Domain)

Crewman Charley Brown: 

He was a Swedish sailor whose real name was Justus Leopold Westerberg. He claimed that while he was at the ship's wheel that night, he looked through a small window in the captain's sleeping quarters and saw first mate Thomas Bram swinging an axe. But when Brown was relieved from duty an hour later, he made no mention of seeing this shocking sight to any crewman. 

Brown was considered peculiar by the crew, because he frequently muttered and talked to himself. He had also been hospitalized in Rotterdam for his paranoid delusions, and while in the hospital, he attempted to kill a nurse.

Newspaper Drawing of Thomas Bram (Public Domain)

First Mate Thomas Bram: 

He was an experienced sailor from Saint Kitts. The crew said he had often complained about the captain. And when Bram found the bloody axe, he immediately threw it overboard. He said he feared a mutiny and wanted to prevent the murderer from attacking again. Bram declared, "I assure you I did not commit the murders."

The Suspects Transported to Boston:

The U.S. consul general in Halifax began sorting through the evidence, and since the crimes happened on an American ship in international waters, he decided the Canadian officials had no authority in the matter. All of the jailed suspects boarded a steamer, which arrived in Boston harbor on July 27th.

Boston Newspaper Account (Public Domain)

Frank Monks - Lester's wealthy father - hired a Boston lawyer, who pointed out that Lester was a well-spoken man from a prominent family and also a Harvard student (omitting the dropout fact). Authorities quickly dismissed Lester Monks as a suspect.

The other crewmen were also dismissed, including Charley Brown, who claimed he couldn't have tied off the ship's wheel while in rough seas, long enough to commit three murders. 

This left Thomas Bram as the prime suspect.

During interrogation, Bram was told that Charley Brown claimed he saw him killing the captain through the 'after house' (chart room) window. Bram said, "He could not have seen me from there [the ship's wheel]."

This statement could have been interpreted in two ways: as an admission of guilt or a profession of innocence. Authorities claimed it proved his guilt. In 1897, Bram was convicted of the murders and sentenced to death.

But due to a violation of legal procedure, Bram was awarded a second trial. In 1898, he was found guilty again, but given a life sentence. Due to his good behavior, Bram was paroled in 1913. He continued maintaining his innocence and sought to have his name cleared.

Enter: A Best-Selling Mystery Author, known as the 'American Agatha Christie'

I wrote about this amazing author in an earlier blog: Mary Roberts Rinehart Blog

Mary Roberts Rinehart (Public Domain)

Mystery author Mary Roberts Rinehart learned about this murder case after Bram was paroled. She thought it would make an interesting plot for a novel. But as she conducted her detailed research, she came to believe that Bram was innocent.

Her fictional mystery novel, The After House, published in 1914, was loosely based on the real murder case. In it, the fictional crewman at the ship's wheel (based on Charley Brown) was the deranged axe murderer. And the fictional first mate (based on Thomas Bram) was framed by him.

The book cover (Public Domain)

Former President Theodore Roosevelt was a fan of her books. After reading The After House, he also believed Bram was innocent. He - along with other people of prominence - began campaigning for Bram, saying he deserved a presidential pardon. In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson issued Bram a full pardon.

Since that time, the three brutal and tragic murders committed on the sailing ship, Herbert Fuller have officially remained unsolved.

______________

Mary Dodge Allen is currently finishing her sequel to Hunt for a Hometown Killer. She's won a Christian Indie Award, an Angel Book Award, and two Royal Palm Literary Awards (Florida Writer's Association). She and her husband live in Central Florida. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Faith Hope and Love Christian Writers. 

Website: www.marydodgeallen.com

Recent release, anthology devotional: El Jireh, The God Who Provides

Mary's story, entitled: A Mother's Desperate Prayer, describes her struggle with guilt and despair after her young son is badly burned in a kitchen accident. When we are at the end of all we have, El Jireh provides what we need. 

Click the link below to purchase on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/El-Jireh-God-Who-Provides/dp/1963611608

Mary's novel: Hunt for a Hometown Killer won the 2022 Christian Indie Award, First Place - Mystery/Suspense; and the 2022 Angel Book Award - Mystery/Suspense.

Click the link below to buy Hunt for a Hometown Killer at Amazon.com:

Hunt For A Hometown Killer: A Novel: Allen, Mary Dodge: 9781952369704: Amazon.com: Books

Link to Mary's Spotlight Interview:   Mary Dodge Allen Author Spotlight EA Book

Why A Fresh Perspective on the German Occupation of France Provokes Reflection

 By Donna Wichelman

In June 2026, I returned to a series on World War Two I began in the spring of 2024. It's my desire now to reprise the series over the next months, as it is a topic that has fascinated me most of my life, listening to my parents talk about the era.

In October 2023, I had the privilege to interview several survivors from WWII: a gentleman and three lovely ladies. In June, I recalled the interview with René Avril, who passed away at the beginning of 2025. Today, I want to first honor Madame Marie-José Delage, who also sadly passed away in April 2025, and then flash back to the interview with Madame Delage and her friend Madame Pierrette Couillandeau, who told us much about their lives during the German occupation in Libourne, France.

It was through the husband of a very good friend of mine that I learned of Madame Delage's passing. He shared with me a ten-page document of her professional contributions as a professor emerita at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and a patrologist who was a scholar of the history, life, and writings of the early Christian Church fathers. This included analyzing texts and studying ancient languages from the first to the eighth centuries C.E. Her study of particular interest and a specialty she became known for was the Life of Saint Caesarius of Arles, who lived from 470 to 542 C.E and served as Bishop of Arles in the sixth century. 

Marie-José Delage, Donna's Gallery, October 2023

Though I had known Madame Delage led a full and illustrious life, I hadn't understood the extent of her contribution to intellectual and religious communities around the world. It made me even more grateful for the opportunity to interview her about her life during the occupation. Her contribution to my research can't be overstated. I've used many of her thoughts and material for my novel. But even more poignant is the resounding question regarding her life and the lives of many others that must be asked: what would have been lost to the world if Adolf Hitler had had his way?

Thankfully, her story lives on in this blog and the pages of the book I'm writing.

In some ways, said Madame Delage and Madame Couillandeau, as children, they understood little of what occurred in June 1940 when the Germans occupied their community of Libourne. But their lives had been changed nonetheless.

Donna with Mme Marie-José Delage, October 2023: Donna's Gallery

Madame Pierrette Couillandeau and Madame Marie-José Delage pointing to a bullet hole in their building from the war: Donna's Gallery, October 2023

Madame Delage was on holiday (vacation) with her mom and aunts in Arcachon, a popular seaside resort on the Atlantic coast fifty-five kilometers (thirty-four miles) southwest of Bordeaux. Someone came to say there was a call for her mother. When her mom took the call, Madame Delage's father said they must return home immediately if they wanted to see him, because he'd been recalled to serve in the French military. In the end, they met in Bordeaux.

Madame Delage's father had served in World War I in the artillery department and came back wounded and with what we would call today, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Like so many servicemen before and after him, he never spoke of his experiences; he couldn't.

So when the French military recalled Madame Delage's father to the service, he was shocked. Though they didn't send him to the front, they posted him in Pottier, several hours north of Libourne, to be a guard in charge of the station there. After the Germans occupied France, the German Army sent him to a factory near Bergerac, where they made gunpowder.

German Soldier Stationed in Libourne, Libourne City Archives

Tragically, the experience proved to be Madame Delage's father's undoing. He rang his wife to say he was escaping to Canada, and they would never see him again; she never did.

Life continued as usual in Libourne for Madame Delage and Madame Couillandeau. They played as children, their families doing the best they could to survive the terror that had struck France and the rest of the world. The Germans set up a puppet regime under Marshal Philippe Pétain's Vichy government. A Nazi flag flew on the Libourne Town Hall. All the while, German guards were posted at various stations across town and near the demarcation line into Free France twenty kilometers away.

Nazi Flag on Libourne Town Hall, Libourne City Archives

German troops in Libourne meant the townspeople didn't have enough to eat since German soldiers requisitioned the crops, and everyone else got the leftovers. But Madame Delage and Madame Couillandeau's families found a solution to their hunger. A family they knew in a nearby town whose children attended school in Libourne had taken in children from the north whose families sent them away early on to escape the Germans. Between all the children, they were able to partition the rations. They also bartered with one another for various other needs.

One of the most difficult hardships for French families was how husbands were snatched from their families, leaving the wives to manage on their own with their children. Wives might receive letters once a month and then didn't hear from their husbands for quite some time. The neighbors would postulate that the husband was dead, but then another letter would appear in the post box. They just didn't know if the day would arrive when their husband wouldn't come home.

While it was never easy to know who fought for the Resistance, many ordinary people resisted in their own ways. One lady had a grocery shop. When the Germans came in to buy food, she would play with them, slicing their cheese thinly or saying she couldn't hear them. Another woman managed to help Jews escape over the line of demarcation. Clandestine networks worked everywhere to help Jewish families hide in their homes or escape across the demarcation line.

French Resistance the Day after Liberation, Libourne City Archives

Madame Delage knew someone who had heard of a German soldier stationed near the demarcation line who was also a Benedictine monk. A compassionate man, he helped Jews and others escape into Free France. At one point, the monk came between a young person and their parents and paid for his compassion with his life.

Many anecdotes exist of those who helped at risk to their own lives. "These people who we viewed as ordinary people," Madame Delage said, "turned out to be heroes."

Indeed, when liberation finally came to Libourne on 29 August 1944, the Germans retreated, but not before they blew up a central bridge over the Dordogne River and killed eight people. Still, in the midst of the chaos, the celebrations commenced the next day. Flags flew, garland hung on balcony railings and windows, and people crowded onto the Place Abel Surchamp, Libourne's city square, as the Libournais clamored and cheered the Resistance troops who had fought the good fight for the long-awaited day. 

Today, that day is still remembered all across France and celebrated on VE-Day--Victory in Europe Day--May 8th every year. 

Bridge Blown Up by the Retreating Germans, Libourne City Archives

Donna is an Angel Book Award-winning author of Historical Romance for A Song of Deliverance. Book Two in the Silver Singing Mine series, Rhythms of the Heart, was released in November 2025. Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna's love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God's love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness.

Donna was a communications professional before becoming a full-time writer. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two indie-published romantic suspense novels, Light Out of Darkness and Undaunted Valor, in her Waldensian Series. 

Donna and her husband of forty-one years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and bike, kayak, and travel whenever possible.