Terror in the City of Champions (49 page)

Anyone who writes authoritatively about the Black Legion owes a debt to historian Peter H. Amann and attorney Maurice Sugar, both of whom devoted years to researching the organization and left their files accessible to all at the Walter P. Reuther Library. In particular I drew upon Sugar’s extensive news clippings and Amann’s oral histories and collection of Michigan State Police reports. I would also like to thank these individuals for their helpful contributions, both large and small: Greg Bishton, Jamie Bishton, Sara Cochrane Bollman, Basil Mickey Briggs, Holly Campbell, Mark Jerome Cavanagh, Barbara Chenot, Elizabeth Clemens, Mary Teresa Coulter, Nancy Durston, Lisa Edmondson, Ned Garver, Rick Gehringer, Dennis Hurkett, Danielle Kaltz, Maurice Kelman, Robert Krajenke, Christian Kraus, Nancy Kreider, Cassidy Lent, Gloria Lewis, Amy Marsh, Jessica Masten, Marti Morris, David Nantais, Francis Parker, Chris Pidcock, Lois Ralph, Amy Reytar, Barbara Rock, Matt Rothenberg, Carl Scheib, Bobby Shantz, Linda Ann Shaw, Patterson Smith, Garnett Stokes, and the late Fr. Leo Wollenweber.

Finally, I offer my heartfelt appreciation (and love) to my partner in life, Beth Bagley-Stanton, always my first reader; my caring and talented sons, Taylor, William, and Zack (and daughter-in-law Molly Heinsler); my friend Mike Varney; and my whole extended family.
Terror in the City of Champions
marks my first book since the death of three people dear to me whose devotion was unconditional: my mother-in-law, Marjorie Bagley; my oldest sister, Janis Stanton-Peterson; and my father and hero, Joe Stanton. They are part of this work too.

N
OTES

All direct quotes that appear in
Terror in the City of Champions
have been sourced on the following pages. I’ve also supplied citations where materials were difficult to find, where information was potentially controversial, or where I felt explanations were necessary. The only abbreviations used in these notes are for the three Detroit daily newspapers, which are referenced extensively:
DFP
for
Detroit Free Press
,
DN
for
Detroit News
, and
DT
for
Detroit Times
.

P
ART
I
:
S
OMETHING
A
FOOT, 1933–1934

Mickey and Dayton

3.
Mickey Cochrane arriving in Detroit:
DFP
,
DN
, and
DT
, December 15–17, 1933.

3.
“a soul of torment”:
New York Daily News
, August 29, 1934.

3.
Mickey Cochrane biography: Numerous sources, including Bevis’s
Mickey Cochrane
, Newcombe’s “Black Mike of the Tigers,” and Salsinger’s
DN
profile, August 21, 1934.

4.
Car sales fell by four million: Holli,
Detroit
, 126.

5.
“If baseball is a sport . . .”: Lieb,
The Detroit Tigers
, 196–97.

5.
Frank Navin biography: Numerous sources, including Lieb,
The Detroit Tigers
;
Detroit News Tribune
, October 10, 1909;
DN
, February 24, 1918;
DT
, October 1, 1922; and
New York Times
, November 14, 1935.

6.
“He put on one of the greatest examples . . .”: Bevis,
Mickey Cochrane
, 48.

6.
“Men fall naturally into his groove . . .”:
DN
, July 1, 1934.

6.
Navin borrowed $100,000:
DN
, July 1, 1934.

7.
Stomach ailments:
DN
, November 13, 1935, and
DFP
, November 14, 1935.

7.
“I wish I could let my feelings . . .”: Bak,
A Place for Summer
, 119.

7.
Scene inside Navin’s office:
DN
, December 17, 1933.

7.
“Now we can shove him off . . .”:
DFP
, December 16, 1933.

9.
“Why Detroit? . . .”:
DFP
, April 10, 1934.

9.
“In the South they had labor trains . . .”: Moon,
Untold Tales, Unsung Heroes
, 80.

9.
“It is a city of strangers . . .”: Davis, “Labor Spies and the Black Legion,” 171.

9.
“They are everywhere . . .”: Dos Passos, “Detroit City of Leisure,” 281.

10.
Walbri Court Apartments: Author interview with Basil “Mickey” Briggs.

11.
Dayton Dean biography: Numerous news sources, plus Dean’s “Secrets of the Black Legion.”

11.
“We shot them down. . . . I always obey orders.”:
DN
, June 4, 1936.

12.
Dayton’s Dean’s Black Legion initiation: Dean, “Secrets of the Black Legion,” 5.

14.
“It was his religion, his whole life . . .”:
DT
, June 6, 1936.

A Friend Disappears

15.
“to get a good rest”:
DN
, January 4, 1934.

Spring in Lakeland

16.
Lakeland hotel scene:
DFP
, March 11, 1934.

17.
“What do you say if we all sing ‘Mammy’?”: Ibid.

17.
“There’s never been another like him”:
DT
, September 24, 1934.

17.
“perfect model for the [clerical] collar ads”: Ibid.

17.
Charlie Gehringer biography: Numerous sources, including Skipper’s
Charlie Gehringer
and Stanton’s
The Road to Cooperstown
.

18.
“I had to pick a team . . .”:
DFP
, March 18, 1934.

18.
“Like most members of his race . . .”: Ibid.

18.
“Dah she comes . . .”:
DFP
, March 11, 1934.

19.
Sewell-Greenberg bus incident: Based on several sources, including A. B. “Happy” Chandler Oral History Collection, Truett “Rip” Sewell interview.

20.
“You’re better than any team . . . all these years”:
DN
, June 30, 1934.

20.
“You’ve been a second-division . . . any ball club”: Ibid
.

20.
“It feels like it’s . . .”:
DFP
, March 13, 1934.

21.
“They’ve been babied so much . . .”:
DN
, August 14, 1934.

21.
“He is no star . . .”:
DFP
, March 17, 1934.

Major-General Bert

22.
Origins of the Black Legion: For a thorough, authoritative account of the legion’s beginnings and the roles of Shepard and Effinger, see Amann’s “Vigilante Fascism.”

22.
“I will shoot square with everybody . . .”:
Lima Sunday News
, August 12, 1934.

24.
“The first prerequisite of a prospective member . . .”:
DN
, August 26, 1936.

25.
“Nobody wants to see a red flag . . .”:
DN
, June 5, 1936.

25.
“But not good enough . . .”: Anonymous, “I Was a Captain in the Black Legion,” 129.

26.
“When men have pledged themselves . . .”:
DN
, May 26, 1936.

26.
“I have had many disappointments . . .”: Lupp letter to Arthur Cross, dated February 3, 1936, Michigan State Police files, Amann Collection, Box 5A.

28.
Chief Charles Barker who:
DFP
, June 16, 1936.

28.
R
ED’S
S
LAYING
S
TILL
M
YSTERY
:
DN
, December 23, 1933.

28.
“in fact, to all the plants that had strikes . . .”:
DN
, June 2, 1936.

A Future Together

30.
John Bielak’s life and murder: Numerous sources, including
DN
and
DFP
, March 16–17, 1934;
DN
, June 1, 1936;
DT
, June 2, 1936;
DN
, June 19, 1936; and
DN
, August 27, 1938.

The Bee Is Buzzing

32.
“We’re running out everything . . .”:
DFP
, April 22, 1934.