Locked Room Mysteries In Real Life: Isodore Fink

The last article on locked room mysteries in real life (available here) detailed a sinister real life crime that closely resembled a fictional story written almost two decades earlier. This post centres around the opposite case - a number of mystery writers attempting to create a rational explanation for a true unsolved crime.

Police Commissioner Mulrooney.
Source: Pinterest

The case in question is the murder of Isodore Fink, a Polish immigrant who ran a laundry in New York in the early 20th century. Fink died on 9th March 1929 in circumstances the NYC Police Commissioner called an “insoluble mystery”. The case inspired both William March and Ben Hecht to write the fictional short stories "The Bird House" and "The Mystery of the Fabulous Laundryman".

Isodore Fink was somewhat of a loner, having no friends or close contacts to speak of. Known as a recluse by the neighbours, he was also extremely security concious and had gone to great lengths to secure his apartment with bars over the windows and bolts across the door. Despite his precautions, he was shot in his home in a murder that has remained unsolved to this day.

Source: StrangeCompany

The details of the crime were as follows: Fink had returned home after running several laundry deliveries (he operated his laundry business from the same apartment), and put a hot iron on the gas stove. Soon thereafter, a neighbour heard screams and possibly the sound of blows (but no gunshots), and alerted a passing policeman. Finding the doors and windows firmly sealed, the officer noticed a transom window above the door and lifted a small child through it, who proceeded to unlock the door from the inside.

Locked Room Mysteries In Real Life: The Day The Children Vanished

This series of articles explores the bizarre occurrences in which real events bear close resemblance to fictional locked room mysteries or impossible crimes. In this example, a bus of children disappears in circumstances eerily similar to Hugh Pentecost's short story "The Day the Children Vanished".

Some of the children resting at the Santa Rita prison farm.
Source: Evening Independent.

(Spoilers below)

The Day the Children Vanished

Hugh Pentecost's short story, originally published in 1958, centres around a core mystery - a bus of schoolchildren is seen driving onto a waterside stretch of road flanked by a high wall, but fails to come out at the other end. The road is searched, but no sign of the bus remains. With no possible turns or exits, the disappearance is as puzzling as it is terrifying. Some of the children's clothes are discovered in a nearby quarry, but again the bus is nowhere to be found.

Locked Room Mysteries In Real Life - Sherlock S03E02 The Sign of Three

There's been a bit of criticism levelled at the central mystery of Sherlock - The Sign of Three. The crime has been called both unrealistic and impractical.

In an unlikely case of truth proving stranger than fiction, the events in Sherlock - The Sign of Three are actually based on a real-life crime.

Sherlock's best man speech. What could go wrong?

(Spoilers below)

Sherlock S03E02 - The Sign of Three

Alfie Enoch as Private Bainbridge

The primary case(s) at the heart of The Sign of Three is the death of Private Bainbridge of Her Majesty's Household Guard. Killed in a locked shower with no sign of the murderer, Sherlock begins to suspect the murderer could strike again at John's wedding. Sherlock identifies the potential second victim as Major James Sholto, and manages to determine the method of the crime before Sholto is killed.

The concept of the case is a classic locked room mystery (Sherlock even refers to it as such upon finding Bainbridge's body). The method - the victim was stabbed by a very sharp blade that penetrated his uniform imperceptibly - fits neatly within the "fatal wound was inflicted prior to the victim entering the locked room" category. The Sign of Three offers a slight twist on this format by making the victim(s) unaware of their wounds (their tight fitting uniforms act as a tourniquet and prevent blood-loss while worn).

Locked Room Mysteries In Real Life - The Duel Of Shadows

The reveal - explaining of how the events occurred - is often the most rewarding part of a locked room mystery or impossible crimes story. The key to an edifying ending is ensuring the method is both ingenious and feasible. While there have been a huge variety of solutions proposed by the multitude of authors operating within the genre, very few have been replicated in reality.

As with any fiction, the methodologies don't have to have happened to be creditable. The audience just have to believe that they could happen. Maintaining realism is key to keeping the reader engaged with the story - if the world of the story operates within the same laws as our world we have a fair chance of figuring out the solution prior to the reveal.

Perhaps it is the somewhat contrived nature of the genre that means crimes are rarely attempted outside of fiction. Stories tend to overcomplicate what could more easily be accomplished in an attempt to provide the reader with a fulfilling story.

That being said, there are a few impossible crime stories that have striking similarities to real life events.

"Truth is always strange; stranger than fiction." - Lord Byron

(Spoilers below)

The Duel of Shadows by Vincent Cornier

The Duel of Shadows is a short story, originally published in Pearson's Magazine in 1934. Written by Vincent Cornier, it covers the inexplicable shooting of Henry Leonard Westmacott who was seemingly attacked by an invisible assailant while dozing in an armchair.