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April 26, 1925
Meyn Balibte Libby,
You have been so near in my mind and my heart in the days since I left our home. I miss you more than you can imagine or sometimes more than I think I can bear.
I spent almost two days on a train with guards that took us west to Kansas. I stayed attached by the wrists to our caretakers the whole time, like they thought I was going somewhere. My guard had no humor, and he smells bad, but he is now in the past.
The cell is small and dark. Libby, this is not for me. You have to get me out of here. Harry he has contacts. Nothing more important you should do than write to contacts Harry and Sidney know for clemency. For sure Governor Small and Senator McKinley. Maybe even President Coolidge.
The food tastes like nothing. They throw it on a tray. Potatoes. Beans. Porridge. Grey tasteless soup like you wouldn’t give to a dog.
They will allow me to write to you often and to get your letters. I have to write them in English. If only I could write you in Jewish but not allowed.
It is cold here. Everything. The walls are cold to touch. The bed is cold. I can hear the wind whipping around the building at night. I want you should please find a way to send me wool socks and a warm sweater.
I love you, my dear and the girls. Stay well.
Your Max
April 27, 1925
My Beloved Max,
It is so strange for me to have you not beside me every day. I miss having you to talk to. I keep wanting to bring you a glass tea, but I cannot do that. I forget that you are not just in the next room.
I think of you all day, Max. Everything reminds me of you. Your mama, of course and your brother and the girls,.
I listen for you to come home at the end of the day. I made a chicken dumpling soup yesterday and I know how much you like that. Your blue dressing gown that hangs in the wardrobe. Even the smell is still of you. I don’t want to say too much. Sidney said that the prison guards read all the mail.
You must not worry. The girls and I we are doing fine. We although we talk about you all the time. They send kisses and I know they will be writing to you soon. Shayna, of course, is organizing all that.
With Harry and Sidney, we will be contacting people for your clemency and early release. I make sure it will happen soon and that you will not be away for long.
Your brother Leonard. I am sure he means well, but sometimes he sometimes gets in my way. He is so concerned about your Mama. She likes to see him and I think she gets stronger every day. I know he loves her very much.
With Great Fondness,
Your Libby
April 27, 1925
Dear Papa,
I am so excited to write to you. We are fine. All of us miss you so much and we all wrote letters.
I got a A- on my geography test yesterday. I mixed up Mississippi River and Missouri River.
Uncle Harry showed me Kansas on a map. What is it like in Kansas?
The rain melted all the snow and it is terribly muddy outside. Especially on the parkway. Mama won’t let me go out until it gets dry. She says I will get wet feet and catch my death. It would be ok if I wore my galoshes, but they are too small for my big feet. Mama still thinks I’m a child. She is so boring.
Otherwise, everything is fine here.I used to think Uncle Leonard looked a lot like you, but I don’t anymore.
Please write me back if you can.
XOXO,
Your Daughter Bernice
TELEGRAM
LB CHICAGO IL 1109A MAY 4 1925
MAX & ARON GLICKMAN
CARE WARDEN BIDDLE LEAVENWORTH
LEAVENWORTH KANS
OBTAIN FROM WARDEN APPLICATIONS FOR EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY AND FORWARD
SEND TO ME AT ONCE BY SPECIAL DELIVERY PROPERLY SIGNED BY BOTH OF YOU
LIBBY GLICKMAN
1215 INDEPENDENCE BLVD
1140AM
May 5, 1925
Dearest Shayna, Leah, and Bernice,
I was so happy to hear from my beautiful girls. Thank you, all of you.
Can you imagine, the people in charge gave me a shovel to clean up after the horses. Imagine me taking care of horses. As the weather is warming up it is nice to be outside
Shayna, Mama she said you have a beau. I want you should tell me more about him and his family.
Leah, don’t be sad. I am fine and Mama and Uncle Sidney working to get me home early.
Bernice, I am glad you are doing your schoolwork. I love reading your letter. And, little Snotnose, you should do what Mama says.
I have to go now.
Love to you all, Papa
Sidney Kahn
Attorney and Counselor at Law
69 W. Washington St.
Chicago, Illinois
May 10, 1925
Dear Sidney:
I have been here now two months and nothing. You said not to worry. You said this would be no time. And nothing!
This place is filthy and filled with the lowest of the low. Worse than the gangsters on the streets of Chicago. They lie. They fight. They steal. And for what? A piece of bread. A seat at a table. It is not here like in the moving pictures.
They have me on a farm shoveling drek from a cow. Much longer I cannot be here. I am not any more a young man. I will die here.
What you are doing to get me out? You are my lawyer, no?
Max
Sidney M.Kahn, Attorney-At-Law
69 W. Washington St.
Chicago, Illinois
September 10, 1925
Max Glickman
C/O Leavenworth Prison
Leavenworth, Kansas
Dear Max:
I fully understand your concern. Be patient. Things take time. We are talking to very important people on your behalf.
I am attending to this and so are Harry and Libby. We will get you out as soon as possible. You have my word.
Hold tight. We are working on this.
Yours,
Sidney M. Kahn
Counselor and Attorney-at-Law
SC/bg.
Everyone is trying to get this done, Max.
Your wife has been pulling her hair out.
Just calm down. This takes time. -- S
September 8, 1925
Dear Papa,
It still feels like summer here and today is Yom Kippur.
Me and Mama and Shayna and Leah are going to Aunt Pearle and Uncle Harry’s to break the fast. Bubbe is too tired, but she will break the fast with Uncle Leonard here at home. I cheated on my fast today. I’m sorry, but I was hungry. Like Mama sometimes says, I think God will forgive me.
Papa, I love you and I miss you so much.
Love,
Bernice
September 11, 1925
My Dear Max,
The High Holidays are behind us.
Your brother, Leonard, went home today. We are grateful to him, but it was time. He thinks different than you and me. His changes upset your Mama. Now she and I are more comfortable. We are all relieved.
Your mama and the girls and me doing ok. You shouldn’t worry.
Stay well, my beloved. Sidney thinks McKinley knows you make contribution to his election and that he is paying attention. This is good.
Love, Libby
September 12, 1925
My Dear Sister Dora,
It’s been a hard time.
I want you should know I sent Leonard away.
I told you something bad happened. I woke last week I don’t even know what time to find Max’ brother in my bedroom. He had on only his pants. I grab my shawl and wrap it around me and jump up holding the shawl closed tight. What you doing, I say. I mean business, but I have to be quiet so Gittle and the girls not hear. Gittle would blame me.
He was talking with such a funny voice like he couldn’t breathe. He say, Libby, come on. You owe this to me. I’m like a husband here. Then he say, You are so beautiful. Please.
Dora, my heart was beating out of my chest. I got light in my head. I grab a lamp ready to hit him.
Get out, I said. Get out now and I won’t tell anyone.
He stops . Such a look he gives me. He calls me a stupid no-good bitch. Then he starts talking about Max.
Max got what he deserve when he marries a tramp like you. Max is in prison where he belongs he says almost spitting, and then he is gone.
I close the door quick and lock it. I couldn’t stop crying. I don’t sleep the rest of the night. What kind of man is this? He is my husband’s brother.
I make him get him a train ticket back to Toronto, I should never see him again. I will tell Max what I have to do to make it right, but my dear sister, don’t tell anyone.
Your loving sister,
Libby
September 16, 1925
Dear Max,
I go home to Toronto in Canada last week. Mama is better. God willing, she is recovering.
It is not for me to live in another man’s house, Max. Enough already. Don’t listen If anyone tells you different. Mama always said I am not as smart as you. Maybe she is right.
I am sure Libby do okay on her own and with her brother and sisters who are close by. Let me know if you need anything.
Your brother,
Leonard
TELEGRAM
UNITED STATES PENITENTIARY
Leavenworth, Kansas
Washington, D. C.
September 26, 1925
Warden,
Kindly wire me Parole Boards action on
Glickman Brothers case.
(Signed) Senator McKinley
TELEGRAM
UNITED STATES PENITENTIARY
Leavenworth, Kansas
Sept. 26, 1925
Senator McKinley
Senate Building
Washington, D. C.
Replying your telegram, Glickman brothers appeared before parole board at September meeting and were denied favorable recommendation.
Biddle, Warden
Copy to
Parole Officer
November 7, 1925
My Dear Libby,
I have had so little to say since the Board of Parole refused to hear my story.
It is cold to the bone. The sweater helps keep me warm and I am keeping busy with my work here. I don’t know how the horses stay warm.
My body hurts. I am not accustomed to such hard physical work and I am so tired always. At night I wrap myself in my blanket on my bed, but the cold it just seeps through.
I know you busy with Mama and the girls, but you must work with Sidney and Harry to get me out of here.
Your Max
January 21, 1926
My Dear Libby,
Oy, how I want to see you and talk to you.
Today I was called again before the board of parole. You would be proud. I tell them I am a businessman with employees and important clients like the Marshall Field Company. I also tell them that I am friends with important people Senator McKinley and Mayor Dever and the Alderman Arvey. I ask Mr. Gordon if he knew them and could talk them for me. I think he was impressed because he said maybe he should grant me a parade.
I will be home soon, knock on wood.
Max
Leavenworth, Kansas
January 22, 1926
Mr. Gordon, President
Board of Parole Institution
Dear Sir,
My friends, including Senator McKinley, asked that I have a rehearing at this meeting of the board so that I might be again permitted to resume my business in Chicago.
I hope you will grant me a few minutes interview this morning.
Thanking you, I am,
Yours very truly,
Max Glickman
Note: Your remark
that you wanted to
“grant me a parade”
prompts my addressing
you
January 22, 1926
TO:
Max Glickman
Replying to your letter of the 22nd
Beg leave to advise that I cannot grant you
an interview for lack of time.
Respectfully,
George A. Gordon
SidneyKahn
Attorney and Counselor at Law
69 W. Washington St.
Chicago, Illinois
January 23, 1926
Dear Sidney:
Gordon from The Board of Parole won’t hear me.
Sidney, I am surrounded by bad people. Criminals. Fighting. They stand and pish on a wall wherever they are. I wear an old thin prison schmatah. I can’t eat. Sidney, I can’t do this another year.
Yesterday I forgot to close the door to my cell. When I got back, the guard standing there called me a no-good Jewboy. He wrote me up while his partner stood by and laughed. I heard the partner mutter. “Good,” he said, “Godamn baby-killing kikes.”
Never have I felt so small and weak as I did then. Do you think this will make my release harder? Please don’t tell Libby.
I want you should bring in Jacob Arvey. Harry has good connections. So do you. He can write to Mayor Dever or even Governor Small. You are living. I am not. See what Arvey can do. Max
February 5, 1926
Dear Max,
The Board of Parole made big mistake. I am sure. Sidney thinks the mayor and governor are helping and you will be released soon.
We are doing fine without your brother here. I am sure that his family was glad to see him. Have you heard from him? What did he say?
Shayna she is nearly a year seeing her young man and I think getting serious. He comes by. Stays for dinner. Makes us laugh. His family lives in the neighborhood. Russian Jews. The father has a good business nearby. A billiard hall and a restaurant and other things. Shayna thinks also he owns horses that run on a track.
Max, this may be a match. And it looks like his papa has money. So maybe a love match is not so bad? Could be a wedding when you get home. He will wait for your blessing.
I miss you, mein lib and I am tired now.
Libby
February 8, 1926.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
MAX GLICKMAN was received at this institution on April 23, 1925. From Chicago under sentence of Fifteen (15) Months and a Fine of Two Thousand ($2,000.00) Dollars for violation of the Bankruptcy Act.
Glickman is employed on the Institution Farm, where his services are efficient and very satisfactory.
He has maintained a good conduct record, having been reported but once for a minor infraction of the institutional rules.
Respectfully,
WARDEN.
May 15, 1926
Dear Papa,
This is Bernice. Hello from home.
Guess what? We got all dressed up to go visit Shayna’s beau and we met his parents. Mama said we should call them Uncle Abe and Aunt Ida. Nathan (that’s Shayna’s beau) has two big sisters and a little brother. Their names are Fanny and Dottie and Joey.
We ate cake and talked. Aunt Ida’s cake isn’t as good as Mama’s cake. But I ate it anyway.
School is good. I got a B+ on a history test about the Civil War.
Papa when will you be home? Mama hasn’t made pickled fish since you were gone. No one sits in your place at the table.
Love,
Bernice
March 15, 1926
Dear Max,
We went by the Rothmans for cake and coffee last night. All four of us. The girls looked pretty. Shayna she was a nervous wreck that everyone should get along.
It was the first time together for the families. Nathan’s father talked nice about you . He say you are quiet but you laugh at his jokes. He talks to me private and tells me not to worry about you are in Leavenworth. He says he was in jail some years back and he understands how you feel.
A proposal may be not too far off. Maybe this summer or fall we have a wedding after you are home. It good that they marry young and grow up together.
Sidney thinks Senator McKinley is taking action thanks God.
Your Libby
February 1, 1926
Mein Libby,
I met Abe at lunch with Sidney. He tells dirty jokes but a good man and a good provider. So long as his son is good to Shayna is all I care. It’s just they’re so young. I should be there.
Sidney said he and Harry went by Jacob Arvey, the alderman. Arvey promises to be sure Mayor Dever sends official letter to Governor Small. This time make sure he do what he says.
Bell ringing for dinner. Kiss the girls for me.
Your Max
April 27, 1926
Max,
I just went by Sidney Kahn at his office. He shows me a letter from Senator McKinley that he sent from Washington DC, Special Delivery to the Governor and the Warden.
Sidney says he thinks it may what we have been waiting for. Oh, please God.
Let me know as soon as you hear.
Libby
May 12, 1926
Libby!
The warden he finally hears from the Senator and they are preparing for me to go home!
Libby, I will be by you so soon. I will drink tea in the sitting room and eat dinner by you and Mama and the girls. I will take walks in the big park. Tell the girls.
Someone will take me on train back to Chicago. Sidney, that schmuck, will have all the information.
Love, Max
Hon. O Q. Clafin
United States Commissioner,
Kansas City, Kansas.
May 15, 1926
Dear Sir:
I beg to call your attention to the fact that I have not yet received from you the release under Section 1049 UARS of MAX GLICKMAN, Register No. 23219, who is due to be released on May 22, 1926.
I will appreciate your courtesy in sending same to me as promptly as you conveniently can, in order that there may be no delay in releasing Glickman.
Respectfully,
WMF/ob. RECORD CLERK
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1 comment
You capture the nuances of different voice in your letters. I like the ethnic feel of the characters. You capture the yiddishkeit of the times perfectly. Very well done.
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