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Dołączył: 16 Lis 2010
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Wysłany: Pią 2:59, 26 Lis 2010 |
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Deaths of the Collyer Brothers
Langley Brothers were well Educated
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Increasing Crime Turned Brothers into Recluses
By now, the brothers were the subject of local gossip and newspapers started sending out reporters to track down a good story.
Psychologist World describes their actions: “They boarded up the windows to their house and set up booby traps. Their gas and water was turned off because they refused to pay and they used only a small heater.” The front entrance was blocked by boxes stuffed with junk.
Their father left the family in 1909 and died in 1923; Susie Collyer died in 1929. The brothers inherited everything – the house, medical equipment, furniture, and books.
After two hours of clambering over the mess, police found Homer’s body,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], but there was no sign of Langley.
One of these was Helen Worden who wrote an article (August 11, 1938) about the Collyers for the now-defunct World-Telegram newspaper. Ms. Worden reported every local rumour about the house being stuffed with valuable antiques,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], rugs, books, and a huge stash of money that Langley would not put in a bank. None of this was true.
The children of gynecologist Herman L. Collyer and Susie Gage Frost Collyer, both young men graduated from Columbia University. Homer got a degree in engineering though never practiced his profession preferring to devote himself to music; he was a very accomplished pianist. Langley got a law degree and worked in the field of admiralty law.
Langley Collyer Collected Garbage
Authorities began the mammoth task of cleaning up the house. In all workmen carted away 136 tonnes of the brother’s collection that included a 2,500-volume law library, described as just one-tenth of the books in the house.
In an article written for New York Press (October 5, 1999) William Bryk lists some of the material taken away: “…telephone directories, three revolvers, two rifles, a shotgun, ammunition, a bayonet and a saber, a half-dozen toy trains, toy tops, a toy airplane, 14 upright and grand pianos, cornets,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], bugles, an accordion, a trombone, a banjo; tin cans, chandeliers, tapestries, a portrait camera, enlarger,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], lenses and tripods…
On the morning of March 21, 1947 police received an anonymous tip that a dead body was in the house in which the Collyers lives. When the police arrived they could not, at first, get into the property. The doors were blocked by boxes; they tried the basement but the stairs were jammed with packing cases and debris.
Eventually, they forced open a first-floor window and found rooms stacked from floor to ceiling with clutter. The building was crawling with rats and the stench was nauseating.
Homer and Langley Collyer were an extraordinary pair of brothers. They were born into one of New York City’s oldest families (Homer in 1881 and Langley in 1885) and lived in a mansion on Fifth Avenue near 128th Street, at a time when the Harlem address was fashionable.
Carting away a Lifetime of Saved Junk
The Stock Market Crash and the beginning of the Depression saw crime increasing in Harlem and elsewhere. There was an attempted break-in and this prompted the brothers to begin turning their home into a bit of a fortress.
The younger brother roamed the streets late at night and dragged home whatever he found that he took a fancy to. In 1933, Homer went blind so Langley hoarded newspapers in case his brother regained his eyesight and wanted to catch up on the news.
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