Charles R. Apted

Charles Robert Apted (1873–1941)[2][3] was for 39 years a Harvard University official in various capacities, for much of that time chief of the Harvard Yard police[4] ("Harvard Cop No. 1", the Boston Globe called him)[5] and su­per­in­tend­ent of Harvard buildings.[3] His Boston Globe obituary called him "both feared and beloved by under­grad­u­ates during three university pres­i­den­tial administrations".[3]

"Colonel"

Charles R. Apted
Apted in 1918
BornJune 18, 1873
Boston
DiedJune 5, 1941 (aged 67)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
EducationChelsea Public Schools[1]
Alma materHarvard College (honorary)
Occupation(s)Chief, Harvard Yard police · Supt. of Harvard buildings · Cambridge City Councillor
EmployerHarvard University
Title"Harvard Cop No. 1"
SpouseEva Catherine (Hunt) Apted[1]
Parent(s)Henry Edmund Apted
Maria Chesterman[1]

He gained national prominence in 1915, when he identified deranged former Harvard German instructor and wife-poisoner Eric Muenter as the dynamite-wielding intruder who had shot J. P. Morgan, Jr. and bombed the US Senate.[4][6]

Background

Apted was born in Boston of English-immigrant parents, and worked for a time in insurance.[2] He married Eva C. Hunt on June 16, 1898.[1]

He was elected to the Cambridge, Massachusetts "common council" in 1914, and to the city council (under a new city charter) in 1915[1] or 1916.[2] In his first three years in office he was "chairman of every social event of the city council", and was for many years grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias.[2]

Harvard career

He began at Harvard in 1902 as a clerk in the office of the Supervisor of Caretaking. "Old Harvard grads remember him for the sympathetic help he gave some of the poorer students [when] he had charge of the Furniture Loan Department", said The New York Times. By 1921 he was Supervisor of Caretaking (later Su­per­in­tend­ent of Buildings) himself, and by his retirement in 1941 four hundred Harvard staff were under his supervision, including twenty-two "yard cops".[7]

His duties included oversight of the Harvard Police Patrol.[7] In this capacity he was "both guardian and disciplinarian",[4] keeping student misbehavior under control within Harvard's confines‍—‌"His cry of 'Break it up' as he headed for the focal point of any riot or disturbance became famous in the annals of the College"‍—‌and extricated Harvard "boys" from trouble with authorities outside the school's gates.[8] "With police forces for miles around 'Charlie's' word was as good as bail", said The Harvard Crimson.[9] The "mild-mannered, bespectacled" [10] Apted also protected students in trouble‍—‌especially those from prominent families‍—‌from publicity;[11][12][8][7] in 1932 the City Council criticized him for refusing to reveal the names of participants in a riot, which had grown from the serenading of Radcliffe women to trash fires and an assault on a police station.[13][14]

External images
image icon Apted with the Sacred Cod, which he had recov­ered from "Codnappers"
image icon "Showing how [Apted] protects Harvard students when they get into trouble ..."
image icon Apted examining "a hammer arranged as substi­tute to keep Memo­ri­al Hall bell ringing, after the 60-pound clapper had vanished. Some students believe Yale under­grad­u­ates might know clapper's whereabouts."

In 1933 it was into his hands that the so-called Sacred Cod‍—‌the emblem of the Com­mon­wealth of Mas­sa­chu­setts "codnapped" days earlier from the Mas­sa­chu­setts State House‍—‌was delivered by two young men at a late-night rendezvous, to which he had been directed by a mysterious telephone call.[15][16] Following his "single-handed recovery of the emblem ... after both city and state police had been baffled at every turn", the Crimson reported that he had been "advanced to the rank of Colonel in the Yard Police", adding that his rise had been "meteoric. Ranked as Captain a year ago, he was advanced to the title of Major as a result of his work in the famous Memorial Hall clapper case last spring." (The "ranks" were unofficial, bestowed by the student body as a sign of affection.[7] On his retirement the Crimson nominated him to become "the first full General in Harvard history.")[17]

When Harvard athletes were suspected in the March 1934 disappearance of Yale's "ugly bulldog mascot", Handsome Dan,[7][18][19] Yale officials asked Apted to find it.[20][21] He delivered it some days later to Yale's New Haven, Connecticut, campus, though not before the Lampoon photographed Handsome Dan licking the boots of the John Harvard statue,[22][23] which had been smeared with hamburger.[19] ("Dog licks man", a Crimson headline read.)[24][lower-alpha 1]

More serious matters investigated by Apted over the years included Prohibition-era bootlegging,[12][7][31] illegal gambling,[12] a rash of defacements of donors' portraits,[32] death threats against Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell during his involvement in the Sacco-Vanzetti case,[33] and the theft of thousands of Harvard library books by a former graduate student.[34] In an extortion racket smashed in 1938, two "young and good looking" girls ("one being a blonde and the other a redhead") lured their freshman victims to a Brighton, Mas­sa­chu­setts apartment, then demanded "financial assistance" in return for not alleging to Harvard officials that im­pro­pri­e­ties had ensued.[35][lower-alpha 2]

In 1915 a "Frank Holt" was subdued by a butler armed with a lump of coal after shooting financier J. P. Morgan, Jr. at Morgan's Glen Cove, New York home. Dynamite was found in the assailant's coat,[37] and he quickly confessed to planting the bomb which had wrecked a United States Senate reception room the day before.[38][39] Soon a tip was received in Cambridge[40] pointing out a resemblance between "Holt" and Eric Muenter, a Harvard German instructor who had disappeared in 1906 after poisoning his pregnant wife with arsenic-laced "beef tea";[41][42] Apted (who had lived near Muenter in Cambridge) was dispatched to New York, where he identified Muenter,[43][40] who soon after committed suicide.[44] "The newspapers had a field day with Morgan, the Capitol, Harvard and murder all in one story," the Crimson wrote years later.[45]

Retirement

Though not a Harvard graduate, Apted felt "as much like one as all the Lowells and Quincys and Adamses and Kirklands together", and was an honorary member of the class of 1906 after enrolling in two architecture courses that year.[7] "The list of students with whom 'Charlie' was acquainted reads like a Who's Who," said the Crimson. "Franklin Roosevelt, for instance, and 'all his damn kids.' Then there is Leverett Saltonstall, Felix Frankfurter, Robert Benchley, Arthur Holcombe, Joe Kennedy, Archy Davison, and [Harvard President] 'Jim' Conant" [9] (whom Apted once called "a good boy"). "The world would be surprised if they knew, as I do, the various stunts pulled at Harvard by some of the biggest men in the country," he said.[4]

A 1940 dinner in his honor‍—‌"in Harvard's paneled old Memorial Hall [at which] 600 Harvard men dined and wined him [and] the Harvard Glee Club sang 'Behold the Lord High Executioner'‍" (though with Executioner changed to Protector)[4]‍—‌was reported in Time magazine's Education section and The New York Times.[8][7] Scheduled speakers included Mas­sa­chu­setts Governor Leverett Saltonstall, Attorney General Paul A. Dever, Harvard Presidents Conant and (emeritus) A. Lawrence Lowell, as well as a senator, two judges, and the mayor of Cambridge.[46] At the dinner he announced that had made definite planes to retire "in the near future".[47]

In February 1941 the Crimson reported that Apted intended to publish his memoirs,[33] but he died on June 5. His front-page Boston Globe obituary said:

Long after the memories of other college officials had dimmed into the past, Harvard men remembered "Col." Apted. He was both feared and beloved by under­grad­u­ates during three university pres­i­den­tial ad­min­i­stra­tions, and he was the subject of more class day anecdotes, probably, than even such other traditional Harvard characters as Profs. Charles Townsend Copeland and George Lyman Kittredge.[3]

See also

Notes
  1. At one point during the affair certain Yale students‍—‌suspecting that editors of the Harvard Lampoon were also involved, and wanting a hostage they might trade for their dog‍—‌attempted to kidnap the Lampoon's president and "Ibis"[25][26] (vice-president).[27][28] The attempt failed when the victims were able to summon assistance via police whistles they had taken to carrying as a pre­cau­tion­ary measure.[25]
    It was rumored that Handsome Dan's disappearance was part of a series of tit-for-tat thefts by Harvard and Yale students in alternation,[29] and in November the Lampoon exploited this rumor in a "carefully planned publicity scheme" promoting an upcoming special issue of their magazine: "a series of telegrams ... conveyed the [news] that practically all the magazines had been stolen", with the implication that the robbery was in retaliation for the Handsome Dan theft. "The met­ro­pol­i­tan papers gave the affair wide publicity, and made the [theft] almost a national calamity, only to get word finally from Harvard that the issue had mysteriously been returned ... It later appeared that the robbery was a mere hoax ... but so well did the plan work that a tremendous number of sales were made over the weekend, and one batch of 2,000 copies was disposed of in 15 minutes." [25]
    The disappearance of the Harvard Band's giant bass drum, on the eve of the annual Harvard-Yale football game later that month, was similarly rumored to be revenge for Handsome Dan.[30]
  2. Around this same time, a student received an envelope containing "a picture of a disrobed female reposing on a bench", together with a letter reading, "Remember the Riviera or was it Revere? Five thousand dollars ... OR ELSE." Fearing the signature, "Bev, the clutch", was that of "a notorious Harvard Square and Huntington Avenue blackmailer", he turned over the letter (and, "reluctantly", the photograph) to Apted. The letter was determined to be a hoax.[36]

References
  1. Harvard College Class of 1906 Secretary's Third Report. 1916. p. 23.
  2. "Brief Sketches of Men Prominent in Civic Life of Cambridge—Officials at City Hall and Elsewhere – Charles R. Apted". Cambridge Tribune. Vol. XLI, no. 15. June 8, 1918.
  3. "Col. Apted, Harvard Yard Chief, Dead". Daily Boston Globe. June 6, 1941. p. 1.
  4. "Chas. Apted Dies; 'Cop' at Harvard – 'Yard' Chief, 67, Guardian and Disciplinarian to Students for 39 Years, Stricken – Noted 'Trouble Shooter', He Waded Into Midst of 'Riots' on Campus – Was Dubbed 'Lord High Protector' ". The New York Times. June 6, 1941. p. 21.
  5. "Proposes Racing Dog Replace Sacred Cod". Daily Boston Globe. June 5, 1937. p. 13.
  6. "Man Who Shot J. P. Morgan Twice Admits Setting Bomb At National Capital – Former German Instructor At Cornell Talks Freely After Third Degree Is Used, and Says He Wanted To Stop Shipment of Munitions To Europe. Is Suspected of Other, Similar Crimes. Describes Construction of Rare Type of 'Infernal Machine'. Financier Reported in Excellent Condition. Has Two Bullet Wounds In His Hip". Hartford Courant. July 4, 1915.
  7. "Harvard Honors 'Yard Cop' Chief". The New York Times. February 7, 1940. p. 13. closed access
  8. "Education: Break It Up, Boys!". Time. February 19, 1940.
  9. "Death Ends Career of General Apted – Riots Fizzled at His Cry, "Break It Up"; Had Harvard "Greats" For His Friends". The Harvard Crimson. June 6, 1941.
  10. "Milestones". Time. June 16, 1941.
  11. "Pictures to the Editor – Harvard protection". Life. Time Inc. February 1, 1937. p. 68. ISSN 0024-3019.
  12. "Prank Prevention Ends for Charley, Legendary Chief of Harvard's Yard". The Milwaukee Journal. February 16, 1940.
  13. "Harvard Police Chief Comes in for Criticism". The Meriden Daily Journal. May 17, 1932.
  14. "Continue Cases Against College Rioters". Lewiston Evening Journal. April 22, 1932. pp. 1, 2.
  15. "'Sacred Cod' back in Honored Place". The New York Times. April 29, 1933.
  16. "Apted Puts in Bid For Sacred Cod If Greyhound Really Replaces It". Daily Boston Globe. June 5, 1937. p. 4.
  17. "Prmotion for Merit". The Harvard Crimson. February 7, 1940.
  18. "Bingham Denies Mermen Kidnaped Handsome Dan – Advises Farmer Athletes Are Not Connected With Affair". The Harvard Crimson. March 21, 1934.
  19. Untitled. 1934. p. 730. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help) closed access
  20. "Apted Demoted for Lack of Diplomacy in Dog Case". The Harvard Crimson. March 26, 1934.
  21. "The Crime". The Harvard Crimson. March 21, 1934.
  22. "Yale's Pet Back, But Photographs Show Treachery". Berkeley Daily Gazette. March 26, 1934.
  23. "Handsome Dan II To Appear In Newsreel at University – Apted Figures in Filming of Stolen Yale Mascot". The Harvard Crimson. March 28, 1934.
  24. "First Eli Bulldog Barked at Opponents In 1890; Second Licked Harvard's Feet". The Harvard Crimson. November 25, 1950.
  25. "On the Campus". Princeton Alumni Weekly. Vol. XXXV, no. 8. November 16, 1934. p. 171. PRNC:32101081976852.
  26. "Yale Men Balked in 'Kidnap' Move; Harvard Students Foil an Attempt to Abduct President of the Lampoon". The New York Times. March 18, 1934. p. 27. closed access
  27. Adam Begley (2014). Updike. HarperCollins. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-06-210966-8.
  28. "Yale Gets Hot Under Collar As Mascot Stays At Harvard". The Baltimore Sun. March 20, 1934.
  29. "The Press – As the Tribune Sees It". The Harvard Crimson. March 24, 1934.
  30. "Band Fears Yale Trickery as Large Drum is Missing". The Harvard Crimson. November 27, 1934.
  31. "Dry Agents Pinch Two on Gold Coast – Raid of Federals Trap Caterers to Student Tastes – Drive on Harvard Denied by Dry Agents". The Harvard Crimson. December 2, 1929.
  32. "Vandal Slashes Portrait of Isidor Straus In the Harvard Hall Erected to His Memory". The New York Times. June 2, 1931. p. 14.
  33. "General Apted Will Publish Autobiography: Robert Playfair to Edit, Organize Memoirs New Book in Response to Pleas By Many College Graduates". The Harvard Crimson. February 5, 1941.
  34. "Indict Book Thief on Twenty Counts – Former Prepara­tory School Teacher, Arrested Two Weeks Ago, Had Home Stocked With Library Books". The Harvard Crimson. November 4, 1931.
  35. "Students Suspects as Vice Racket is Bared – Freshmen Approached in Yard Openly". The Harvard Crimson. March 28, 1938.
  36. "Blackmail Jokesters Hoax Apted and Leahy – City Police Called on Hint of Woman Racket". The Harvard Crimson. June 8, 1938.
  37. "Intruder Has Dynamite – Forces His Way Into Banker's House at East Island, L. I. – Mrs. Morgan Risks Life – Leaps in Front of Husband, Who Thrusts Her Aside and Knocks Holt Down. – Wife Seizes His Revolver – As Financier Struggles on Floor She Aids Him Until the Servants Arrive. – British Ambassador Near – Sir Cecil Spring Rice a Guest at Breakfast Party Which the Shooting Interrupts" (PDF). The New York Times. July 4, 1915.
  38. "His Letters Expose Holt – Washington Officials Get Early Proof He Caused Capitol Explosion. – Screeds Nearly Identical – Four, Sent to the Newspapers, Told of Protest Against Munitions Export. – Mailed Just Before Blast – "Don't Put This on Germans or Bryan; I am an Old-Fashioned American – "R. Pearce" the Signature – Two Missives Are Originals and Two Duplicates, as He Had Only One Carbon Sheet" (PDF). The New York Times. July 4, 2015.
  39. "May Indict Holt at Capital – Grand Jury Probably Will Take Up Senate Dynamiting" (PDF). The New York Times. July 5, 2015.
  40. "Muenter Case Cleared UP – Frank Holt, Assailant of J. Pierpont Morgan, and the Man Who Placed Bomb in Capitol at Washington, Identified as Prof. Erich Meunter, Wanted Here for Wife Poisoning". Cambridge Chronicle. July 10, 1915. p. 9.
  41. "Holt Looks Like Fugitive Muenter – Cambridge Police Discover Resemblance to Harvard Instructor Whose Wife Was Poisoned" (PDF). The New York Times. July 4, 1915.
  42. "Holt is Meunter, Say, Associates – Student Friend Tells of Fugitive Harvard Professor's Return Under New Name. – Others Recognize Picture. – New York Detectives Working on the Theory That the Two Men Are the Same" (PDF). The New York Times. July 5, 1915.
  43. "Found Holt Scarred as Was Dr. Muenter – Physician Got New Evidence that Dynamiter Was Man Sought for Murder. – Ten Points of Similarity – Prisoner Tried to Starve Himself and Had Cut Wrist—Delayed Promised Statement" (PDF). The New York Times. July 7, 1915.
  44. "Climbs Bar for Plunge – Guard Relaxes His Vigilance Although Holt Tried Suicide Before – Exposed as Wife Slayer – J. P. Morgan's Assailant Also Had a Bomb Factory at Central Park, L. I. – Gayety Causes Suspicion – Dynamiter, Thought Demented, Joked and Laughed Just Before His Death – District Attorney Angry – Promises Inquiry to Determine if Keepers Were Guilty of Neglect of Duty" (PDF). The New York Times. July 7, 1915.
  45. "Muenter, Once German Teacher Here, Killed Wife, Shot Morgan, Sabotaged in World War I – Opposed Slaughter, Wanted To End Conflict by Himself". The Harvard Crimson. February 14, 1942.
  46. "Banquet to Honor Apted Upon 39th Year of Service – Colonel of Yard Police Definitely States That Celebration Does Not Mark His Retirement". The Harvard Crimson. January 5, 1940.
  47. "Colonel Apted Plans to Resign As College Police Chief Shortly". Harvard Crimson. February 7, 1940.
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