Arthur Barry – If there is something

Dean Jobb continues to promote a false true crime narrative

In a recent interview with the Crime Writers of Canada podcast, Dean Jobb, author of A Gentleman and a Thief, doubles down on his contention that jazz-age jewel thief, Arthur Barry, crashed a Long Island cocktail party in 1924, befriended the Prince of Wales, and whisked his new royal pal off on a secret tour of Broadway speakeasies.

The claim strains credulity, but Jobb provides the following defense:

“I lead off with him (Arthur Barry) meeting the Prince of Wales, the future Edward the VIII, who was visiting Long Island in the twenties. Barry crashes a party, because there were a whole bunch of Long Island parties for the prince and his entourage, and ends up meeting the prince, takes him on a clandestine tour of the bright lights of Broadway and the speakeasies.

“I mean, a writer has to go, really? Did this really happen? Well, start digging into reporters. I find memoirs or memories of reporters who covered the story, who vouch for it, who did their homework. The coverage makes it clear that the prince disappeared right at the time Barry says he was doing this. So, it’s a matter of digging as deeply as you need to in the record to verify for your own peace of mind. But you owe it to the reader, and if you’re not sure, you tell the reader that.”

As I’ve shown in previous blog posts, all the contemporary newspaper accounts of the party Jobb describes have the Prince of Wales dancing at the Cosden estate until dawn and returning to the Burden estate that morning. None mention Wales slipping away from the party to experience the nightlife of Broadway.

Rather than belabor that point here, I’ll address the following contention: “The coverage makes it clear that the prince disappeared right at the time Barry says he was doing this.” The “coverage” Jobb refers to involves an episode that occurred the night following the Cosden party. The “small but jolly” Cosden gathering described in Jobb’s book began late in the evening of Wednesday, September 3, 1924 and continued through the early morning hours of Thursday, September 4. The period of time when Wales went missing began in the afternoon or early evening of Thursday, September 4 and continued until the next morning, Friday, September 5.

Here is the passage Jobb quotes from to show “that the prince disappeared right at the time Barry says he was doing this.” The article was penned Thursday night, September 4, one night later than the night of the Cosden party, and appeared in the following morning’s Buffalo Courier.

“The whereabouts of the Prince of Wales were shrouded in mystery tonight. At midnight he had not returned to the Burden estate where he is stopping.

“He had dinner at the home of J.S. Cosden…It was reported that he left the Cosden home shortly after dinner, but since that time he has been playing a game of hide and seek with those who sought to check his movements.

“Some believe he went for a boat ride up Long Island Sound, others say he attended an all-night dance party at some nearby home, but others believe he went in disguise to one of the white light jazz palaces on Broadway.”

Not only does this passage describe a different night from that of the late-night Cosden party, it describes a completely different set of events. Wales had dinner at the Cosden home and he left, possibly by boat, and either went to a party or to check out the white light jazz palaces of Broadway. He’s not fleeing a late night party, he’s leaving after having dinner. How does Jobb not recognize that these are not only separate dates but separate events as well?

While the order of events may seem a little confusing to someone unfamiliar with the Prince’s 1924 visit, it isn’t to someone who has casually researched the topic, and it shouldn’t be confusing to someone who has researched and written a work of nonfiction where an alleged encounter between Arthur Barry and the Prince of Wales plays a central role.

The prince’s movements over the 24 hours in question go something like this: Wales attends a late night party at the Cosden estate and dances until dawn. He then returns to the Burden estate and sleeps until around noon. Then he goes to the polo fields for the afternoon. Sometime in the late afternoon, he returns to the Cosden estate where he either plays golf or takes a stroll around the Cosden’s nine hole golf course. Then he eats dinner, hops in a motorboat, and disappears off into the Long Island Sound. From there his whereabouts are unknown for the next 12-24 hours.

These events are widely covered by the newspapers of the day. Here’s a question the New York Daily News posed regarding the prince’s missing hours:

“What the folk down Long Island way wanted to know was where the prince passed the time from 2 p.m. Thursday until his reappearance yesterday.”

Does that sound like Wales stole away from a late night party with a stranger he just met, or does it make more sense that he went missing the following afternoon? How does Jobb miss that unless he’s intentionally taken the route of ignoring the truth and printing the legend?

Wales dances all night at Cosden estate

One hundred years ago this morning, September 4, 1924, Edward the Prince of Wales wearily returned to the James Burden estate after a night of gayety that included a stag dinner party followed by dancing until dawn at the home of Joshua S. Cosden.

As the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that day, “It was another dancing party which kept Wales out all night, this time at the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Cosden at Sands Point. The party was a small but jolly one. Other guests included Lord and Lady Mountbatten, Lord and Lady Milhaven and the Hon. Mrs. Richard Norton.”

Reporter Frank Getty was keeping close tabs on the prince that morning, writing in the Brooklyn Daily Times, “‘Please use the rear entrance,’ was the unwritten order at the James A. Burden estate today. In one of the bedrooms in the front of the big red brick house a young man was sleeping. He needed to. He had been out all night for the third time in three days. Edward, Prince of Wales, kept his fair curls tight on the pillow all morning. Downstairs, menials and secretaries tip-toed about. At the gates to ‘Woodsides,’ the gray-clad troopers shooed visitors around to the back door.

“Last night, after a dinner at the Piping Rock Club, the Prince, together with Lord and Lady Mountbatten and the Marquis and Marchioness of Milford Haven, went off to a dance at the Long Island home of Joshua S. Cosden. It lasted until 5 A.M.”

The New York Daily News reported, “Before going to the Cosden manor the prince attended a stag at the Piping Rock club…. After the stag the prince went to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joshua S. Cosden, where he danced until morning.”

Grace Robinson wrote about the morning of September 4, “Before inspecting his third Long Island sunrise from the Cosden manor, the prince had been with the Piping Rock club at a gay stag…. After the stag, the prince went to the Cosdens where he danced until morning.”

Robinson also detailed how reporters assigned to follow the prince struggled to adjust to his brutal schedule. “The prince, having slept all of five hours, was at the private polo field of John S. Phipps promptly at noon. Reporters who went there were amazed to find him in tan jersey and Indian polo helmet cavorting about on his favorite mare, Kitty. He seemed fresh and eager for the sport, while the journalists were still nursing headaches following all night duty on the Piping Rock dinner and the Cosden dance.”

Following the “small but jolly’ Cosden party, there is clear consensus among reporters regarding the prince’s activities and whereabouts the previous evening and through the night until dawn. There is no confusion, no conflicting reports coming from the gaggle of reporters assigned to follow Wales. Nowhere in any of the contemporary accounts of the prince’s actions that night is there even a hint that Wales made a new friend at the Cosden party, and the pair motored to Broadway to go on a speak crawl.

Yet, fast forward a hundred years and that is exactly what a former journalist and current writing professor would have us believe. And if Dean Jobb, author of A Gentleman and a Thief, had presented his book as a work of historical fiction, he could be congratulated for authoring a damn fine story. But he claims it’s a work of creative non-fiction. In a note to readers, he writes, “No quotations have been altered; no details have been added or embellished. All scenes and events unfolded as described. Where there were differing accounts of conversations or what happened, I relied on what was said at the time, rather than what Barry and others remembered or asserted long afterward.”

In the words of Colonel Sherman T. Potter, “Horse Hockey!” Jobb clearly read at least some of the accounts I just presented, because he refers to the Cosden party as a “‘small but jolly’ gathering.” Yet he ignores “what was said at the time” in favor of the much later recollections of a thief and a con man. The book is full of these poor choices. As a work of historical fiction, it’s a great story. As a work of history, it’s severely lacking.

Did Arthur Barry commit the Cosden jewel theft?

In the days following the capture of Arthur Barry, investigators were eager to pin a long list of Long Island jewel thefts on the gentleman burglar and his partner in crime, Boston Billy Williams. One job authorities were especially eager to hang on the pair was the early morning robbery of the J. S. Cosden estate, where the Cosdens and Lord and Lady Mountbatten lost $125,000 in precious jewels to thieves during the Prince of Wales American visit of 1924.

As the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on June 8, 1927, “Nassau County authorities investigating the $100,000 jewel robbery in the Kings Point home of Jesse L. Livermore ten days ago believed today that they had reached a solution of the sensational $250,000 jewel thefts from the Port Washington estate of Joshua E. Cosden three years ago…”

Although Barry cooperated extensively with investigators, confessing to the Livermore robbery and a number of other area thefts, he did not confess to the Cosden robbery, much less reveal his alleged friendship with His Royal Highness.

Reporting Nassau County District Attorney Elvin N. Edwards statements to the press following Barry’s arraignment, the Montreal Gazette wrote, “Mr. Edwards said that Barry had denied complicity in the robbery at the home of Joshua E. Cosden, near Port Washington, L.I.…Barry admitted other robberies so readily, Mr. Edwards said, that he did not see any reason to doubt his denials of these crimes.”

So, in late August 1927, when a burglar silently exited the Southhampton bedroom of Mrs. James Hastings Snowden with $100,000 of her finest jewelry as she soundly slept, the idea that other sneak thieves might be responsible for some of the high profile Long Island gem thefts became not just a real possibility, but a near absolute certainty. After all, Arthur Barry and William Monahan were by this time securely behind bars, yet the plundering continued.

Having previously debunked Arthur Barry’s jailhouse tale of sneaking into the “small but jolly” Cosden party and sneaking off with the Prince of Wales in the early morning of September 4, 1924, it is now time to consider the likelihood of whether Barry carried out the Cosden theft.

Everything that is known about Barry’s alleged involvement in the Cosden robbery appears to originate with Grace Robinson’s 1932 interview with the gentleman bandit. Dean Jobb’s A Gentleman And A Thief relies heavily on this account, as well as on Anna Blake’s telling and that of Barry’s biographer, who, of course, received the story from Arthur Barry.

Barry’s interview with Robinson comes a full eight years after the Cosden robbery, allowing for no small amount of revisionism to creep into the narrative of his career as a gentleman thief. In the November 3, 1932 edition of the New York Daily News, under the byline Arthur Barry as told to Grace Robinson, Barry first reveals his tale of how he became chums with the Prince of Wales. “If I were asked to name the very pinnacle of my success as a gentleman burglar, I would mention my friendship with the Prince of Wales. I met His Royal Highness in a New York night club when he made a sortie to Broadway during his famous Long Island holiday in 1924.”

This story of Barry’s first encounter with Wales is interesting because it contradicts what would become the accepted narrative that Barry first encountered Wales at the Cosden party.

Barry goes on to say about his alleged friendship with Wales, “I make the admission reluctantly – it sounds like bragging, but I tell it in no boastful spirit. It merely shows how far a gentleman burglar can get, if he brings look and manners to his profession of collecting jewels.”

Journalist Grace Robinson interrupts Barry’s narrative to provide some background information. “Note: Barry’s reluctance is not feigned. He repeatedly denied knowing the Prince, and it was not until I confronted him with statements from persons who remember the incident well, that he confessed to having Wales for a drinking buddy in two exclusive hot spots in the smart Broadway of 1924”

Arthur Barry then makes another reluctant admission, “In this connection I may as well admit that it was I who pulled off the Joshua S. Cosden robbery. That statement will interest the police. For it’s never been hung on me.”

So up until 1932, more than eight years after the Cosden robbery, Barry denied a role in the theft and avoided revealing any connection to his alleged drinking buddy, Wales. If not for Grace Robinson setting Barry straight on some of these details and coaxing the real story out of him, we may have never known about this historic encounter.

Barry avoids going into detail about the Cosden theft and returns instead to his first meeting with the Prince of Wales. “On a night which was shortly before or shortly after the Cosden robbery I was drinking champagne in the Deauville Club … .Suddenly without warning, the Prince walked in.” After Barry and Wales ordered more champagne and “everybody became chummy,” the two parties “pulled tables together, and I was introduced to His Royal Highness as ‘Dr. Gibson.’”

This admission is astonishing because in the very first paragraph of Dean Jobb’s book, A Gentleman And A Thief, we are told that Arthur Barry introduced himself as Dr. Gibson to Wales and company as they exchanged pleasantries around the Cosden punch bowl. How is it that Barry is claiming to have first met Wales at the Deauville Club?

Once again, Grace Robinson has to call a timeout and interrupt Barry’s account to provide some much needed clarification. “Note: At this point Barry, who was speaking in the presence of six policemen, refused to tell more. From friends out of Barry’s past, we have an amazing story which differs from his own account.”

Apparently someone forgot to tell Barry how he actually became pals with Wales, and now Grace Robinson sets the story straight. Robinson then delivers an account which, more or less, lines up with that of Jobb’s book, revealing, “The next night, Barry, now familiar with the ‘inside lay’ at the Cosden home, perpetrated his notorious job there. Two or three nights later occurred the meeting in the Club Deauville, which Barry has related above.”

Only it wasn’t the next night that the Cosden jewel theft went down, it was five nights later. The night before the Cosden break-in, the royal entourage attended a party at the home of F. Ambrose Clark. The night before that Wales attended a dinner of 48 guests at the Piping Rock Club, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, and “After the dinner the Prince embarked on the sort of little party that he likes best. He did not go to a New York dance, nor did he seek out a tremendous monied palace, but instead he went to the simple little farm retreat owned by Henry Alexander at Glen Cove….There were 25 couples of the young people and the Prince and the young men and girls danced and strolled about the comfortable little homey place under the light of a brilliant moon.”

The more Grace Robinson and Arthur Barry try to construct this tale of Barry crashing the Cosden party and befriending the Prince of Wales, the more the pieces bump up against stubborn reality. Any investigator hearing this account would have to conclude that Barry is lying, and Grace Robinson, in her zeal to land a great story, is leaning into credulity and trying to help Barry along. Additionally, anyone today, who claims to be interested in the truth and who uncritically accepts the Arthur-Barry-as-told-to-Grace-Robinson narrative, is committing the sin of not letting the truth get in the way of a good story.

However, just because Barry is fabricating events after the fact doesn’t mean there couldn’t be some truth to his tale. It is possible that he committed the Cosden robbery, but the real story is a bit more mundane. It is also possible that Barry encountered the Prince of Wales at the Deauville Club, and even chatted with him, but never became his friend and ‘drinking buddy.’ However, since Barry’s story contains so many falsehoods and contradictions, it becomes difficult to believe any of it. Instead, it makes more sense to default back to the position of investigators at the time of Barry’s arrest and believe his claim that he was not responsible for the Cosden break-in. Almost all the information that later emerges either turns out to be unverified or provably false. Add to that that there were high profile jewel thefts before Barry became active, and the thefts continued after he was locked up, and it’s clear that Barry’s operation was not the only game in town.

Arthur Barry did not accompany Prince of Wales on ‘little lark’ to Manhattan

The morning of September 3, 1924, the Prince of Wales slept until past noon at the Long Island estate of James Burden, where Wales lodged during his royal visit to the United States. As was becoming a routine, Wales partied late the night before and didn’t return to his lodging until between five and six in the morning. Press reports reveal the prince had dined at the home of Henry R. Winthrop of Woodbury the previous evening and danced there until 2:00 a.m. Following the Winthrop affair, Wales and a small contingent of revelers led by Mrs. Vincent Astor motored to her estate on Hempstead Harbor to prolong the gayety.

So as morning broke on the third of September, Wales was in no condition to participate in any of his usual princely activities. As Frank Getty reported, “Wales was scheduled to follow the hounds in one of the fashionable Long Island hunts, but since he got in from a late party only after 5 a.m., he called off the hunt plan and slept instead.”

William Woodford wrote of the canceled hunt, “Wales did not stir, nor did the bugle sound the chase. Instead he was slumbering, as he still was well after noontime, heedless of hounds, horses or even of his favorite game of polo.”

However, Wales did heed the call of the polo grounds that afternoon, attending the British team practice at Meadow Brook field followed by the American workout at W.R. Grace field, Westbury.

That evening, September 3, 1924, Wales again enjoyed the camaraderie of the polo crowd, attending a stag dinner at the Piping Rock Club at Locust Valley. An orchestra provided music, many toasts were made and Will Rogers delivered a 20 minute monologue that “made a great hit.”

“Leaving the Piping Rock Country Club at about midnight, the royal visitor went with his cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, and Lady Mountbatten, and Lord and Lady Milford Haven to the home of J. S. Cosden at Sands Point, where a jolly and small house party kept the fun going until the sun sent its first rays over Long Island. Then the prince went home,” The Buffalo News reported the following day, September 4.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle provided a similar description of events following the Piping Rock Club dinner. “It was another dancing party which kept Wales out all night, this time at the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Cosden at Sands Point. The party was a small but jolly one.”

Grace Robinson wrote on September 4, “After the stag, the prince went to the Cosdens where he danced until morning.”

Accounts of Wales’ whereabouts the evening of Wednesday, September 3 through the early morning hours of Thursday, September 4 all agree that Wales danced the night away at the Cosden estate and only left at daybreak to return to his Long Island lodging. None of the contemporary descriptions of the “small but jolly” Cosden shindig contain any mention of a secret royal excursion “to one of the white light jazz palaces of Broadway.”

While the Prince of Wales’ movements are unanimously agreed upon the night of the Piping Rock stag and the Cosden party, the following day’s itinerary is a little more shrouded in mystery.

Following his daybreak return from the Cosden festivities, Wales slept for about five hours at the Burden estate. Upon rising the morning of Thursday, September 4, Wales immediately headed for the polo field. As Grace Robinson reported, “The prince, having slept all of five hours, was at the private polo field of John S. Phipps promptly at noon….He seemed fresh and eager for the sport, while journalists were still nursing headaches following all night duty on the Piping Rock dinner and the Cosden dance.”

Later in the afternoon, after polo, Wales returned to the Cosden estate where other members of the royal entourage were staying during the visit. As John K. Winkler reported, “Late this afternoon he motored to the Cosdens after his polo game with Rogers and members of two scratch teams and had a try at golf.”

The Cosden’s gardener appeared to verify this account, telling reporters that Wales “had shot a few holes of golf” on the Cosden’s private links.

While differing on a few details, Grace Robinson’s reporting on Wales’ late afternoon activities lines up with other accounts. “He inspected the oil man’s nine hole golf course, but did not play. He sauntered through the beautiful shaded walks…enjoying the wild scenery. Finally he walked down to the private dock, where the Cosden yacht, the Crimper, was lying at anchor. H.R.H. stepped aboard a speed boat and was soon speeding across Long Island sound toward Greenwich, Ct.”

The speedboat getaway from the Cosden estate during the late afternoon or early evening of Thursday, September 4 caused the press to lose track of Wales until the following morning. Whether he ended up bar hopping in Manhattan that night or simply returned to the Burden estate was the cause of a great deal of frenzied speculation in the papers the following day.

One thing we can know for certain is that Arthur Barry did not befriend Wales at the Cosden party and lure him away to the white light of Broadway, as Arthur Barry bragged and Dean Jobb would have us believe in his new book, A Gentleman And A Thief. Barry was indeed a thief and a con man, and his latest con is to convince a modern day audience that he was once the Prince of Wales’ wingman.

A small but jolly gathering

In September of 1924, Edward, the Prince of Wales, made a much publicized visit to the United States. To call it “much publicized,” however, fails to adequately describe the media frenzy that accompanied his visit. The press hounded Wales mercilessly, reporting on his every movement: where he dined, where he danced, where he played, how long he slept, when he rose. The press of the day literally tried to account for every moment of his time on American soil.

While in the states, Wales spent almost the entirety of his visit among the American aristocracy of Long Island, New York. Most nights, Wales and his entourage, which included the Lord and Lady Mountbatten and Mrs. Richard Norton, were entertained at some lavish Long Island affair where they danced and partied until the wee hours of the morning.

One of these luxurious all-nighters took place at the estate of Joshua S. Cosden, a prosperous oil man who rose from very humble beginnings to become one of the richest men in America. It is this party that plays a prominent role in the forthcoming Dean Jobb true crime book, A Gentleman And A Thief. The book tracks the life and criminal endeavors of jazz age gentleman jewel thief Arthur Barry, who Jobb credits as the chief culprit behind the Cosden jewel robbery, which occurred during the royal visit of 1924.

In addition to being a critically acclaimed true crime author, Jobb is a professor emeritus at the University of King’s College where he specializes in creative nonfiction. Indeed, Jobb describes his true crime books as works of creative nonfiction, meaning he’s sticking to the facts, but utilizing a creative narrative-driven presentation.

Although Gentleman And A Thief doesn’t officially release until next month, the prologue of the book is available for sampling on Amazon’s website. The narrative dives straight into the Cosden party and Arthur Barry’s alleged presence there. According to Jobb, “It was there, in the midst of what one press report termed a ‘small but jolly’ gathering, that Gibson (Arthur Barry) met the prince.” Jobb’s prologue also describes in some detail Wales’ alleged surreptitious late night journey to a couple of notable Manhattan speakeasies. Whether or not these events actually took place at all, and that point is definitely up for debate, one thing for certain is the events could not have taken place as Jobb describes them.

The Cosden party Jobb describes took place during the late night hours of Wednesday, September 3, 1924 into the early morning hours of September 4. The Thursday, September 4 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports, “Last night the Prince shared honors with polo players of both the British and American international teams at a stag dinner given for them at the Piping Rock Club at Locust Valley.” Will Rogers entertained the group with a 20 minute monologue, and according to the Daily Eagle account, “After the dinner the Prince left for a dance.” Earlier in the article it read, “It was another dancing party which kept Wales out all night, this time at the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Cosden at Sands Point. The party was a small but jolly one. Other guests included Lord and Lady Mountbatten, Lord and Lady Milhaven and the Hon. Mrs. Richard Norton.”

This “small but jolly” account of the Cosden party got picked up by the Associated Press and appeared in newspapers across the country. The problem with Dean Jobb’s depiction of that night is that not only did Wales not leave the party with Arthur Barry, but Wales’ alleged secret excursion into Manhattan nightlife took place the following evening.

Popular journalist of the day Grace Robinson wrote on September 4: “Before inspecting his third Long Island sunrise from the Cosden Manor, the prince had been with the Piping Rock Club at a gay stag….After the stag, the prince went to the Cosdens where he danced until morning. And along went Lord and Lady Mountbatten, Lord and Lady Milford Haven and the rest of the who’s who.” This account is interesting because years later it will be Grace Robinson pushing the Arthur Barry story that he left the Cosden party with the prince.

So contemporary accounts of the “small but jolly” Cosden party make no mention of the Prince slipping away. That’s because Wales’ alleged foray into Manhattan occurred the following evening. On Friday, September 5, 1924, the newspapers were buzzing with speculation over the whereabouts of Wales between 2:00 to 5:00 Thursday afternoon September 4 and the early morning hours of Friday, September 5. Rumors start flying about Wales’ possible attendance at the El Fey Club 107 West 45th street, Manhattan, because a car bearing a license plate traced back to the Burden estate, where Wales was lodged, was seen near the club in the early morning hours of Friday, September 5. Despite denials by the club owner and the prince’s spokesperson that his grace had not graced the club’s premises, rumors persisted.

Jobb quotes a newspaper account which read, “he went in disguise to one of the white light jazz palaces on Broadway.” This account appears in Friday, September 5 newspaper editions, speculating as to the Prince’s whereabouts the previous evening into early morning. It concerns a time period a full 24 hours after the Cosden party where Arthur Barry, alias Dr. Gibson, allegedly lured Wales away to the “White Light Belt.”

Whether or not Wales pulled a Manhattan Holiday and stealthily eluded the press and his handlers to bask in the white light of Broadway was unclear at the time and remains unclear today. However, what is clear is that the account depicted in Jobb’s book could not have happened the way he described it. Maybe there was some other Cosden party that Arthur Barry lured His Royal Highness away from, but it wasn’t the “small but jolly” one.

If it can be shown that I’m confusing my dates, I’ll be happy to admit my error. However, it seems pretty clear that the specific events Jobb references did not take place on the same night. At any rate, I’m looking forward to reading the rest of Jobb’s book. The Cosden case and other area gem thefts have been of great interest to me for quite some time, and I’m anxious to learn what else Jobb has uncovered.