November 3, 1973, New Castle News [PA] page 1, Stand-Alone Photo, Admitted Arsonist,
The caption writer for United Press International must have been startled by the intensity the young man displays in his photograph---for this is what went out on the wire:
Raymond Wallender, 32, tries to cover his face while leaving a peephole to see where he is going today as he is led by police to Central Lockup in New Orleans. Wallender had just been returned by police from Sacramento, Calif., where he admitted to police he was the man who set the fire that killed 33 persons in a French Quarter up stairs bar, --- Page 2
November 3, 1973, UPI - New Castle News [PA] page 1, Arson Suspect,
NEW ORLEANS (UPI) -- Raymond Wallender, a transient who police said told them he set a French Quarter fire that killed 33 persons, arrived in New Orleans today, muttering obscenities and making rude hand gestures at photographers.
Police rushed the bearded Wallender in handcuffs from his plane down a corridor to a waiting patrol car and took him to their headquarters to complete paperwork for the extradition proceedings from Sacramento, Calif.
It had been announced earlier that Wallender, 32, would not arrive on the scheduled flight for fear friends of some of the fire victims might try to kill him. But lawmen put him on the flight anyway.
Wallender confessed to Sacramento authorities last week and two New Orleans detectives flew to California to check his story. Thirty-two murder warrants were issued against him.
That the effect the images taken of Wallender during his perp walk had on observers went beyond turning a wire-service reporter into a bumbling expositor, is evidenced by as neutral and disengaged a source as one could hope to find---the single-minded e-Bay entrepreneur, who was offering for sale:
Rare. Offered is the seventh issue of the short-lived and historically important "Chicago Gay Crusader" (Issue #7, November 1973) published by the Advocates of Gay Action Publishing Co-op out of Chicago , Illinois . Only 26 issues were published of this newspaper during the years 1973-75,
November 1973, Chicago Gay Crusader #7, Suspect in 33-death fire arrives, Gays Zap NBC and Gillette,
which contains on an inner page what he describes as a
...chilling photograph reprinted from The Chicago Daily News of November 3, 1973 entitled "Suspect in 33-death fire arrives" ("Raymond Wallender - center - who told authorities in Sacramento, Calif., that he set a French Quarter bar fire that killed 33 persons, is escorted by policemen after his arrival at New Orleans Airport Friday night.")
(The rest of the sellers' listing is at the bottom of this blog. It makes for interesting reading, including, "a lengthy news article "MCC [ Metropolitan Community Church , Chicago] Begins $100,000 Fund Drive.")
While the seller doesn't display the image, by his description I believe it must be the following, or one very similar to it:
November 4, 1973, AP - The Odessa American [TX] page 10-C, Californian Says He Set New Orleans Bar Ablaze,
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One of the few history books to contain an account of the involvement of Raymond C. Wallender, (also known, variously, as Raymond L. Wallender) in the Upstairs Bar fire, is Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney, in Out For Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America, [New York: Touchstone, 1999] where in a footnote on page 181 they report that:
Investigators assumed that someone who had entered from the street---or exited the bar---set the fire on the stairs, pressed the buzzer and walked away. No other cause was ever identified. But no evidence remained in the charred ruins. And although an inmate of the county jail in Sacramento, California, confessed four months later to setting the fire, waived extradition and was brought to New Orleans and charged with murder by the New Orleans Police Department, the District Attorney's Office released him after twelve days of questioning, saying he hadn't done it. The man Raymond C. Wallender, thirty-two, who identified himself as homosexual, told authorities that he had doused the stairs with gasoline purchased from a nearby station and thrown a cigarette lighter in to ignite it. No lighter or trace of gasoline was found. No one else was ever charged.
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Raymond Laddie Wallender
Raymond C. Wallender, age 32
Wallender
John Volz
Out For Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America, by Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney [New York: Touchstone, 1999]
books.google.com/books?isbn=1476740712
Dudley Clendinen, Adam Nagourney - 2013 - Social Science The man, Raymond C. Wallender, thirty-two, who identified himself as homosexual, told authorities that he had doused the stairs with gasoline purchased from a ...
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Interestingly, it was during the autumn of 1973, while the New Orleans' arson crime that led to 32 fatalities, and several very serious injuries, remained unsolved, and a series of young, male, homosexual actors passed through to audition for a part on the gameshow, Pin The Rap On the Donkey, that perhaps the first homosexual theme was introduced on a network sitcom in primetime---on an episode of Sanford and Son that aired Oct. 19, 1973. While the homosexual characters are incidental, no one is laughing at them personally, in what was just a case of "mistaken destination." Conservative, middle-class Americans were shocked at the off-handed treatment of a topic they'd only known as an extremely serious one, in which, in the end, the homosexual must always suffer, which is certainly the case here.
October 19, 1973, The Ottawa Journal, page 40, TV Listings, Sanford and Son,_________________________________________________________________________________
October 31, 1973, McClatchy - The Fresno Bee [CA] page E7, Prisioner Admits Setting Tragic New Orleans Gay Bar Fire,
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Somebody gave Wallender an extremely good, extremely expensive looking haircut in the Sacramento jail just before he was brought east---when normally they only buzz cut inmates to get rid of their head lice. Combined with the apparent direction and choreography from a public relations handler so stylistically realized that it looks like he's teaching Madonna how to Vogue 17 years before her big hit---it's a wonder no one thought to carve a swastika into his forehead (they did, but didn't want to repeat themselves so soon.)
November 1, 1973, UPI - Daily Independent Journal [San Rafael, CA] page 3, Ex-Convict Tells About Hotel Fire,
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It's everywhere that you go (look around)
You try everything you can to escape
The pain of life that you know (life that you know)
When all else fails and you long to be
Something better than you are today
I know a place where you can get away
It's called a dance floor, and here's what it's for, so... lyrics
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October 19, 1973, The Ottawa Journal, page 40, TV Listings, Sanford and Son,
October 31, 1973, McClatchy - The Fresno Bee [CA] page E7, Prisoner Admits Setting Tragic New Orleans Gay Bar Fire,
November 1973, Chicago Gay Crusader #7, Suspect in 33-death fire arrives, Gays Zap NBC and Gillette,
November 1, 1973, UPI - Daily Independent Journal [San Rafael, CA] page 3, Ex-Convict Tells About Hotel Fire,
November 1, 1973, Reuters - Toledo Blade, page 10, Man Admits Fatal Bar Blaze; 32 Died In Fire In New Orleans,
November 1, 1973, AP - The Kansas City Star [MS] page 17, Confession in Fatal Bar Fire,
November 1, 1973, AP - The San Bernardino County Sun [CA] page 28, Transient says he set blaze in bar,
November 2, 1973, AP - Santa Cruz Sentinel [CA] page 8, Warrant Issued For New Orleans Arson Suspect,
November 2, 1973, UPI - The Delta Democrat-Times [Greenville, MS] page 2, Arson suspect waives extradition,
November 3, 1973, New Castle News [PA] page 1, Stand-Alone Photo, Admitted Arsonist,
November 3, 1973, UPI - New Castle News [PA] page 1, Arson Suspect,
November 3, 1973, AP - The San Bernardino County Sun, page 4, Will face murder charge,
November 3, 1973, UPI - The Times Standard [Eureka, CA] page 5, Homosexual waives extradition,
November 4, 1973, Northwest Arkansas Time [Fayetteville] page 2A, Authorities Investigating Arson Claim,
November 4, 1973, AP - The Odessa American [TX] page 10-C, Californian Says He Set New Orleans Bar Ablaze,
November 5, 1973, UPI - Panama City News-Herald [FL] page 2, Murder, Arson Suspect Caught,
November 5, 1973, Independent [Long Beach, CA] page A-2, Police 'fan' claims sex with 300 plus,
November 5, 1973, UPI - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal [TX] page 16-C, Suspected Arsonist's Hearing Scheduled,
November 16, 1973, AP - The Des Moines Register [IA] Confession of Arsonist Called Lie,
November 16, 1973, Daily Independent Journal, San Rafael [CA] page 6, New Orleans Arson Confession In Fatal Fire Said Fraudulent,
November 16, 1973, The Fresno Bee [CA] page 12, New Orleans DA Doubts Fatal Fire Confession,
November 16, 1973, UPI - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, page 8A, New Orleans DA Office To Reject 33 Warrants,
November 16, 1973, AP - The Milwaukee Journal, Fire Confession Termed Bogus,
November 16, 1973, Lincoln Evening Journal [NE] page 3, Not the One,
November 17, 1973, UPI - Lodi News-Sentinel, page 16, Admitted murderer admits lie.
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November 1, 1973, Reuters - Toledo Blade, page 10, Man Admits Fatal Bar Blaze; 32 Died In Fire In New Orleans,
Raymond L. Wallender, in custody here since Aug. 31 on charges of theft and assault with a deadly weapon admitted setting the blaze in a note to a deputy. The note said he wanted "to make a statement on a vicious crime. A lot of people died."
Deputies said Wallender confessed starting the blaze with a plastic bucket of gasoline which he spread on the first floor of the building.
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November 1, 1973, AP - The Kansas City Star [MS] page 17, Confession in Fatal Bar Fire,
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November 1, 1973, AP - The San Bernardino County Sun [CA] page 28, Transient says he set blaze in bar,
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November 2, 1973, AP - Santa Cruz Sentinel [CA] page 8, Warrant Issued For New Orleans Arson Suspect,
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November 2, 1973, UPI - The Delta Democrat-Times [Greenville, MS] page 2, Arson suspect waives extradition,
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November 3, 1973, AP - The San Bernardino County Sun, page 4, Will face murder charge,
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November 3, 1973, UPI - The Times Standard [Eureka, CA] page 5, Homosexual waives extradition,
Raymond Laddie Wallender
Sacramento Sheriff's Capt. Jerry Saulter
New Orleans officer Charles Schlosser Jr.
New Orleans officer Sam Gibbia
Louisiana Attorney General William Gueste
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November 4, 1973, Northwest Arkansas Time [Fayetteville] page 2A, Authorities Investigating Arson Claim,
Bill Miller, a spokesman for the Sacramento sheriff's office
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November 5, 1973, UPI - Panama City News-Herald [FL] page 2, Murder, Arson Suspect Caught,
He had been jailed in Sacramento, Calif., on a shoplifting charge when he startled investigators with his unsolicited confession about the fire.
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I threw this in just for the hell of it:
November 5, 1973, Independent [Long Beach, CA] page A-2, Police 'fan' claims sex with 300 plus,
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November 5, 1973, UPI - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal [TX] page 16-C, Suspected Arsonist's Hearing Scheduled,
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November 16, 1973, The Fresno Bee [CA] page 12, New Orleans DA Doubts Fatal Fire Confession,
Wallender told authorities he set fire to the lounge to get revenge against a patron who reneged on an offer to pay $200 to one of Wallender's companions to perform a sex act.
He also told officers he started the fire around 6 a.m., when in fact, it began about dusk, Assistant District Attorney John Volz said.
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November 16, 1973, AP - The Des Moines Register [IA] Confession of Arsonist Called Lie,
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November 16, 1973, UPI - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, page 8A, New Orleans DA Office To Reject 33 Warrants,
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November 16, 1973, AP - The Milwaukee Journal, Fire Confession Termed Bogus,
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November 16, 1973, Daily Independent Journal, San Rafael [CA] page 6, New Orleans Arson Confession In Fatal Fire Said Fraudulent,
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November 16, 1973, Lincoln Evening Journal [NE] page 3, Not the One,
Facts contradict claims by Raymond Wallender, a transient, that he set a June 24 fire in a New Orleans bar that killed 33 persons, according to Ass't District Atty. John Volz. Volz said several errors in Wallender's story and a crucial time difference led authorities to discount the confession Wallender made in California last month.
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November 17, 1973, UPI - Lodi News-Sentinel, page 16, Admitted murderer admits lie.
U.S. Magistrate Robert Collins
Dan Rivette, a court-appointed attorney
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Chicago Gay Crusader #7 1973 Drag Queens Photos Rare
Rare. Offered is the seventh issue of the short-lived and historically important " Chicago Gay Crusader " (Issue #7, November 1973) published by the Advocates of Gay Action Publishing Co-op out of Chicago , Illinois . Only 26 issues were published of this newspaper during the years 1973-75, and I am individually listing those issues I have. A folded newspaper, as issued, when unfolded contains 20 pages including front and rear covers.
A newspaper primarily focused on the gay community of Chicago , Illinois , with articles, announcements, columns, resources, classified ads, art and photography, and vintage advertisements. Highlights include:
-headline
" GAYS ZAP NBC AND GILLETTE "
with accompanying article
" DEMONSTRATION AT MERCHANDISE MART "
(with two photos: " Chicago gay activist groups joined a nationwide chorus of protest against anti-homosexual themes and derogatory jokes in NBC-TV network shows");
-news article " High Court Lets Old Sodomy Conviction Stand ";
-news article " Hazards, Bias in [Gay] Bars To Be Investigated ";
-news article " Identify Dead Woman Accused of Bar Shooting " ("The bartender who was shot at the Baton, 436 N. Clark St., Oct. 23, has now been released from the hospital and is recovering without complications. In the meantime, the woman accused of the shooting and subsequently killed by police has been identified");
-delightful illustrated half-page advertisement for the Chicago Transvestite Association ;
-lengthy news article " MCC [ Metropolitan Community Church , Chicago] Begins $100,000 Fund Drive ";
-chilling photograph reprinted from The Chicago Daily News on November 3, 1973 entitled "Suspect in 33-death fire arrives" ("Raymond Wallender - center - who told authorities in Sacramento, Calif., that he set a French Quarter bar fire that killed 33 persons, is escorted by policemen after his arrival at New Orleans Airport Friday night");
-delightful news article " [Dr. Franklin] Kameny [of Washington D.C.'s Mattachine Society] 'Solicits' Police Chief for Sodomy " ("In a challenge to the District of Columbia sodomy law, veteran gay rights activist Dr. Franklin E. Kameny has sent letters soliciting three top law officials for gay sex acts");
-Gay Crossword Puzzle ;
-column " Bobby Barfly " by Bobby Barker;
-splendid centerfold photospread of Chicago drag ball entitled "FELICIA'S 7TH ANNUAL COSTUMES ON REVIEW" (with 16 photos);
-delightful comic strip " The Adventures of Granny Goosemgood " by Al Revchenbach ("CAN SUPER GOOSER SAVE THE DAY?? OR WILL SHE BE THE BLUE PLATE SPECIAL?? WILL MAYOR DOILY PAY THE RANSOM?? OR WILL LANCE AND MICKY GO FOR A SWIM?? WILL CHICAGO BECOME THE CRAB CAPITOL OF THE USA ?");
-splendid examples of calls received " Friday Night on the Gay Switchboard ";
-classified ads " Pat's Personals " ("CHICAGO BUTCH LEATHER LOVERS - Dig 3-way or groups with same");
-much, much more.
Condition: pages lightly age-yellowed; front and rear covers detached but present (with attendant small edge chips and short closed edge tears); small corner chip not affecting text; light sunning to left edge of front cover; overall in Good condition. A marvelous glimpse into Chicago 's rich gay history, and exceedingly rare.
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