Trash Talker

I've included the bulk of my research in the book manuscript with the goal of making it thorough and complete. However, a few things popped up that I chose not to include. The most notable of these deliberate omissions is Mr. John E. Bleekman, or as I call him, the Trash Talker.

In the New York Time article published August 6, 1917, "Mrs. de Saulles Tells Her Story of the Tragedy," there is mention of John E. Bleekman visiting Blanca in jail the previous day. Let's pause and think about that. One day after seeing the headlines in the newspapers, this guy Bleekman hot-tails it over to the Nassau County Jail and spouts off to the reporters, "...he could prove that de Saulles had boasted in 1911 that he was going to marry a woman for her great wealth and that he borrowed the money with which to go to Paris to marry her. Further allegations by Mr. Bleekman went considerably beyond anything said by Mrs. de Saulles against the dead man."  If there were t.v. back then, he'd be on camera.

Months later, John Bleekman was NOT called to testify at the murder trial. From what I can tell, his hearsay, gossipy trash talk never entered into the record, and he pretty much faded away. Say what you will about Blanca's defense attorney's scruples, but as a lawyer Henry Uterhart was methodical and thorough. The fact he did not use Bleekman says to me that Bleekman's trash talk could not be corroborated.

So, who is this guy?

Not wasting too much time, I found that Bleekman was a business partner of Archibald S. White. The two men, among other projects, started the groundwork on the Cincinnati Railway Terminal that eventually would be the third largest train station in the U.S. (at the time). So, one possibility is that Jack de Saulles owed Bleekman money or they were business rivals.

Archibald S. White's name popped up in my research once before, in personal correspondence between Jack and a confidante of President Woodrow Wilson. In those letters, Jack made a recommendation on behalf of A. S. White for a post in the president's cabinet, because White had contributed financially to the campaign efforts. I don't know if White ever "made it" to Wilson's cabinet, and I don't feel inclined to dig into it much further. The bottom line is, White was a rich and powerful railroad builder, a lesser known J.P. Morgan type of guy, and it looks like he (and his partner Bleekman) had their hooks in Jack. Whatever back room deals they had were done behind closed doors, and as the saying goes, dead men tell no tales.