George Remus (November 14, 1874 - January 20, 1952) was an American lawyer and con artist during the Prohibition era. Remus is known to have appointed himself to a third person after he ascended to power during the early days of the Prohibition; which "he" continues to do until his death. It has been claimed that he is the inspiration for the title character Jay Gatsby in The Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
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Remus was born in Berlin, Germany in 1874 to Frank and Maria Remus. Remus's family moved to Chicago at the age of 5. At the age of 14, George supported the family by working at his uncle's pharmacy because Remus's father could not work. Remus became a certified pharmacist at the age of 19 after graduating from the Chicago College of Pharmacy and purchasing a pharmacy at the age of 21.
Within five years, Remus expanded, buying another drugstore. Remus soon gets bored with the pharmaceutical business and at 24, he has become a lawyer.
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Legal and bootlegging careers
Remus attended the Illinois College of Law (later joined DePaul University College of Law) and was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1904. Remus specializes in criminal defense, primarily murder, and becomes rather famous. In 1920, Remus earned $ 50,000 a year (about $ 611,000 today), a huge amount at the time.
The Alcohol ban began on 17 January 1920 with the ratification of the 18th Amendment, and within months Remus saw that his criminal client became very rich very quickly. He decides to become a criminal himself, using his knowledge of the law to avoid punishment.
Remus memorized the Volstead Act and found a gap where he could buy distilleries and pharmacies to sell liquor "bound" to himself under a government license for medicinal purposes. The employee Remus would then hijack his own drink so he could sell it illegally. Remus moved to Cincinnati, in a country where 80 percent of American bonded whiskey resides, and buys most whiskey producers. In less than three years, Remus earned $ 40 million with help from trusted second person George Conners. Remus has many of America's most famous distilleries, including Fleischmann Distillery, which Remus bought for $ 197,000, a price that includes 3,100 gallons of whiskey.
In addition to serving the Cincinnati community, many other small towns, such as Newport, Kentucky, began to serve as a drinking town where gamblers open small casinos to entertain their drunk customers.
One of Remus enriched distilleries is Death Valley Farm, purchased from George Gehrum. The outside world thought it was accessible only by a dirt road. Distillery is actually located on 2656 Queen City Ave. Alcohol is distilled in the attic of the house, then auctioned below. The basement is where the trap door is located and the tunnel is about fifty to 100 feet long and six feet below the earth. Shoemakers will push the product along the tunnel to the waiting car, usually making it safe. It is believed to be the only undamaged location in the Cincinnati area. In 1920, the attack by the hijackers took place, but the armed guard Remus, led by John Gehrum, fired shots at the hijackers and, after a brief fight, the wounded attackers left.
In addition to being "King of the Bootleggers", Remus is known as a friendly host. He had many parties, including a 1923 birthday party for his wife Imogene, where he appeared in a brave swimsuit with other aquatic dancers, accompanied by a fifteen-piece orchestra. The children in the area also saw Remus as a father figure. Jack Doll recalled an episode in which Remus played by throwing a boy into his Olympic-size swimming pool and then giving him $ 10 to buy a new suit. Doll states that a complete man's outfit can be bought for a dollar in 1920.
Remus and his wife held a New Year's Eve party in their new home, dubbed Marmar Castle, in 1922. Guests included one hundred couples from the most prestigious families in the area. As a farewell gift, Remus presents all the men with diamond sticks, and gives the wife every guest a new car. Remus held a similar party in June 1923, during his trouble with the government, when he gave every female guest (from fifty present) a new Pontiac.
Personal life
Wedding
On July 20, 1899, Remus married Lillian Klauff. Their daughter, who was born in 1900, was Romola Remus, who became a little actress in a silent film, playing the first Dorothy Gale in the 1910 version of The Wizard of Oz when she was eight years old. The marriage ended in a divorce in 1920 after Remus began an affair with his legal secretary, Augusta Imogene Holmes (nÃÆ' Â © e Brown). Holmes is a young widow with a daughter, Ruth. Remus and Holmes were married in Newport, Kentucky in June 1920.
Legal issues
In 1925, Remus's plan to use his legal knowledge to evade the law was chaotic. He was indicted for thousands of violations of the Volstead Act, convicted by a jury that made his decision in under two hours, and was given a two-year prison term in federal prison. He spent two years at the Atlanta Federal Jail for bootlegging. While in prison, Remus befriends other inmates and finally confesses to him that his wife, Imogene Holmes, has control of his money. The prisoner was Franklin Dodge's secret prohibition agent, who was there to collect such information. Instead of reporting information, Dodge resigns from his job and starts having an affair with Remus's wife. Dodge and Holmes liquidated Remus's assets and hid as much money as possible, in addition to trying to deport Remus, and even hired a hitman to kill Remus for $ 15,000. In addition, Remila's Fleischmann Distillery is sold by Holmes. Remus's wife gave him her husband who was jailed for only $ 100 of the millions of dollars he created.
In late 1927, Imogene Holmes filed for divorce from Remus. On the way to court, on October 6, 1927, for the finalization of the divorce, Remus had his driver chase a taxi carrying Holmes and his daughter through the Garden of Eden in Cincinnati, eventually forcing him out of the way. Remus jumped out and fiercely shot Imogene in the stomach in front of the Spring House Gazebo to the horror of the park's visitors.
Prosecutors in this case are Charles Phelps Taft II, 30, son of US Supreme Court Justice and former President William Howard Taft and brother of future Senator Robert A. Taft. Although he has lost his latest big case against other pirated makers, Taft is seen as a man with a bright political future. The trial made national headlines for a month, when Remus defended himself on murder charges. Remus pleads for temporary insanity, and the jury only deliberates nineteen minutes before releasing him. The State of Ohio then tried to surrender Remus to a mental hospital because the jury considered him crazy, but prosecutors were thwarted by their previous claims (backed by the prosecutor's office of three famous psychiatrists) that he could be tried for murder because he was not insane.
The year later and death
George Remus then moved to Covington, Kentucky (across the Ohio River from Cincinnati) where he lived the next twenty years of his life simply without incident. She married for the third and last time for her old secretary, Blanche Watson. Remus runs a small contracting company, Washington Contracting, until he suffered a stroke in August 1950. For the next two years, he lived in a boarding house in Covington under the care of a nurse. Remus died on January 20, 1952 at the age of 77 years. He is buried next to his third wife at Riverside Cemetery in Falmouth, Kentucky.
In popular culture
Remus adalah subjek dari Craig Holden, The Jazz Bird A Novel , Simon & amp; Schuster, Juni 2008
Remus is featured in Ken Burns 2011 documentary, Prohibition ; the text written by Remus was read by Paul Giamatti. Remus has also been described by Glenn Fleshler as a supporting character on the Hogg's Prohibition-era Boardwalk Empire beginning in the second season. In this series, he is described as having the characteristics of calling himself a third person.
In 2014, Queen City Whiskey starts producing bourbon whiskey and a small batch of whiskey named George Remus. Whiskey is distilled locally and introduced in liquor stores and select bars throughout the Cincinnati area.
References
Further reading
King of the Bootleggers: A Biography of George Remus by William A. Cook, McFarland, Jefferson, NC. 2008.
External links
- New York Times: Bootlegger's Wife by David Willis McCullough
- TIME.com: American Justice
- Gangsters in Our Backyard by Bryan Meade
- "George Remus". Attorneys, Pharmacists, Bootlegger Prohibition . Discover the Tombs. May 26, 2006 . Retrieved March 17, 2018 .
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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