-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.lcolby.com/harding.htm <A HREF="http://www.lcolby.com/harding.htm">"In Defence of Smokers", by Lauren A. Colby / P </A> ----- © 1999, Lauren A. Colby. Version 2.3A Review of "The Strange Death of President Harding" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A Review of "The Strange Death of President Harding" The Strange Death of President Harding By Gaston B. Means as told to May Dixon Thacker Guild Publishing Corporation (1930) Warren Harding was elected president in 1920, on the basis of a promise ofstrong support for Prohibition, but an equal promise not to enforce it, especially in theWhite House. He kept his promise, so far as it applied to the White House, but nototherwise, and an enforcement system went into effect, staffed by federal agents. Gaston Means was an agent and investigator for the Justice Department's Bureauof Investigation (the forerunner of the FBI). Means made $83 a week at his governmentjob, but he made far more as a member of a political gang (the members of which Iwill sometimes call the conspirators). The gang was led by Harry M. Daugherty, theAttorney General. The gang installed Means in a palatial house, situated at 903 16thStreet, N.W., in Washington, D.C. There Means moved in, with his wife and childrenand there, he spent most of his time. He had at his constant disposal a $5,000 Cadillacand chauffeur. In the back yard, he constructed an underground safe for the keeping ofmonies, derived from a number of scams including (but not limited to) Prohibitiongraft, sales of Federal Judgeships, dismissal of civil and criminal actions againstindustrial plants, sales of pardons and paroles, sales of government lands, etc. Members of the gang included Secretary of the Interior Fall; Jess Smith, HarryDaugherty's Man Friday, who lived with D augherty in Washington and spent muchtime at 903 16th Street; Gen. Sawyer, the President's physician; C.F. Cramer, theattorney for the Veteran's Bureau; John T. King, a lobbyist and politician; Col. T. B.Felder, an attorney who served as adviser to the clique; and many others. Publicly, at least, Warren Harding was an amiable, kindly man. He wasincredibly handsome and attractive to the opposite sex, and it was generally known thathe had numerous affairs with a variety of different women. Florence Harding,Warren's wife, was older than Warren. Unlike Warren, who was not an ideologue,Florence was a fervent suffragette and crusader for women's rights. She was also ascold, and made her husband s life miserable with her constant nagging. Early in the Harding Administration, Florence Harding summoned GastonMeans to meet with her. She had heard, she explained, that a vile rumor wascirculating in Washington that her husband had sired an illegitimate son by a womannamed Nan Britton, who lived in Chicago. She asked Means to investigate the rumorand prove that the story wasn't true. Means, who fancied himself a great investigator,accepted the assignment. She promised to pay him. Alcohol Prohibition was a great source of profit to the conspirators who formedthe gang. For a price, government officials could provide papers which allowed peopleto withdraw quantities of whiskey and gin from bonded warehouses. Also, for aprice, bootleggers could purchase protection from federal agents who might otherwiseinterfere with their business affairs. Means, himself, frequently travelled to New Yorkto handle these transactions. There, he would rent two adjoining rooms in a first classhotel, e.g., the Vanderbilt. Each bootlegger seeking protection for his businessactivities, whether they be in Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, or wherever, would beinstructed to come to one of the rooms at an odd time, e.g., 11:42 AM, 2:26 PM, etc.,and to bring with him the required sum of money. In the room there would be a largeglass jar, with a large sum of cash, e.g., $10,000 or $50,000 already deposited therein(so as to reassure the client that he was not alone; that others were also purchasingprotective services). Each bootlegger would then deposit the required sum of money inbills, while Means watched through a peephole in the adjacent room to make sure thatthe money already in the bowl was not removed, and that the required payment wasmade. Not once was he short-changed, such was the honesty of his clients. In thismanner and over time, Means brought in $7,000,000 from the New York operations,and similar large sums from Detroit, Chicago, etc. While all this was going on, Means' investigation of Nan Britton proceeded.Through nefarious means, he managed to gain admittance to the apartment in Chicagowhere Britton was staying, and to actually steal letters which Harding had written toBritton, confirming his affair with her. Means also found numerous gifts whichHarding had made to Britton s son, e.g., a ring, a baby carriage, etc. Thus, theinvestigation did not serve its intended purpose: it confirmed, rather than disproved therumors. It also led to the suspicion, in Means' mind, that the conspirators were usingthe affair to blackmail the President into signing executive orders, transferring certaingovernment oil leases from the Navy Department to the Secretary of Interior, who, as apart of the conspiracy, sold them to private interests (the Teapot Dome Scandal ). Eventually, Means reported what he had found to Mrs. Harding. She demandedthat he go back to Chicago and actually steal all of the gifts which had been given to thebaby. Incredibly, he did exactly that, returning with all of them except the babycarriage. Mention has been made of Jess Smith. He was a former haberdasher who hadcome to Washington with the Hardings and Daugherty, from Ohio. As time went on,rumors began to circulate of possible indictments. Jess Smith was a frequent visitor tothe residence on 16th Street and, on the occasion of one of his visits, he revealed thathe was fearful for his life; that he thought that he might be singled out by theconspirators for knowing too much. He had heard that there was a little white powder which was sometimes slipped into the food or drink of suspected traitors, to kill andsilence them, and this worried him. He disclosed, however, that as a protection, he hadkept detailed records of all of the relevant transactions carried out by the gang,including the Prohibition payments, etc. When word of this reached the conspirators,they were filled with fear; everybody had agreed not to talk, but nobody was sure thatSmith wouldn't talk; he was considered a weak link. On May 30, 1923, at 4:00 AM Means received a telephone call from one of hissuperiors, telling him to come to the Wardman Park Hotel. When he arrived at theHotel, he was confronted by one of his superiors at the Bureau of Investigation whoadvised him that Jess Smith had shot himself. It was believed that Smith was carryingon his person the papers which were his insurance. Means was told to search the bodyand retrieve the papers. Entering the apartment, Means saw Smith's body lying on the floor with armextended, a revolver on the ground just three or four inches beyond the outstretchedhand. This surprised Means very much, because he knew that Smith had an extremeaversion to guns and had never fired one in his life. Furthermore, nobody in the hotelhad heard a gunshot. Means wondered whether Smith had been killed by a little whitepowder and then shot and moved to the hotel. Whatever the case, Means searched thebody and found a shoulder harness, holding a large cache of papers. He removed themand gave them to his superiors. Thus, another crisis was averted. There were, however, other crises. Florence and Warren Harding had beenpreoccupied with winning a second term. But Mrs. Harding began to become evenmore preoccupied with Nan Britton. Ms. Britton had come to Washington to be closerto the President, and she began seeing him in both the White House and friends'homes. Mrs. Harding became aware of these visits and became increasingly agitated.At a meeting at the White House Florence Harding confronted Means. She had heardthat there was a little white powder which could be slipped into a person's food ordrink and would induce death. She demanded of Means to know where she could getsome of this white powder but, according to his account, he did not tell her. In July, 1923, the Hardings departed on a vacation trip to Alaska. Coming back,in Vancouver, the President was taken ill with what appeared to be food poisoning,although no one else in the party became ill, despite having eaten the same food. Theparty continued from Vancouver to San Francisco by train. When they got to SanFrancisco, the President and the First Lady checked into a hotel, where the Presidentwas attended by his physician, General Sawyer, and by his wife. There, the Presidentsuddenly died. Returning to Washington for the funeral, Florence Harding summoned Means toa meeting at the home of a friend. There, Means relates the following conversation: "She continued: 'and one day, he [the President] was writing a letter. I casuallyasked him - to whom he was writing. He replied that he was writing to his old father -in Marion. He lied. That letter was to Nan Britton. I intercepted it...No - I have noregrets. ............... I was alone with the President... and only for about ten minutes. It was time forhis medicine...I gave it to him...he drank it. He lay back on the pillows for a moment.His eyes were closed...He was resting...Then - suddenly - he opened his eyeswide...and moved his head and looked straight into my face. I was standing by hisbedside.' As she paused, I could not refrain the question: You think he knew? 'Yes, I think he knew. Then - he sighed and turned his head away - over - on thepillow...After a few minutes, I called for help. The papers told the rest.'" After the funeral, Mrs. Harding went to live for a time with the family ofGeneral Sawyer in Ohio. While she was there, General Sawyer died, suddenly, in amanner very similar to President Harding. Some months later, Florence Harding alsodied. The Harding administration and its aftermath were littered with the corpses ofpeople who might have revealed many secrets but were silenced. G.F. Cramer,attorney for the Veteran's Bureau allegedly committed suicide. Lawyer Thurston, anindependent Boston attorney who collected Alien Property graft, died suddenly inBoston. Col. T.B. Felder, who served as adviser to the Harding clique and as Means'personal attorney, died suddenly in Savannah, GA. John King, a politician and lobbyistindicted with Daugherty in the Alien Property scandal, died suddenly in New York. C.F. Hateley, an Agent of the Justice Department who was close to Daugherty, diedsuddenly at the Burlington Hotel in Washington. In October, 1923, Means, himself, was indicted. The conspirators devised ascheme: Means was to plead guilty, saying he was solely responsible for the actscharged in the indictment. He would not talk to prosecutors or the press and, in return,it would be arranged that he receive a large monetary fine, but no jail time. At the lastmoment, for reasons which Means does not make entirely clear, he changed his mind,and testified against the gang in Senate hearings. At that point, the deal fell throughand, when he entered his guilty plea, he was sentenced to three years imprisonment inAtlanta Penitentiary. He served all three years, and was released July 19, 1928. He did,however, live to tell his story. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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