John Elbert Wilkie
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John Elbert Wilkie (1860 – 13 December 1934) was an American journalist and head of the United States Secret Service from 1898 to 1911.
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[edit] Indian rope trick
Under the name "Fred S. Ellmore" ("Fred Sell More") Wilkie wrote of the Indian Rope Trick while working at Chicago Tribune in 1890. The Tribune piece received wide publicity, and in the following months and years many people claimed to remember having seen the trick as far back as the 1850s. None of these stories turned out to be credible, but as it was repeated the story became more and more ingrained.
About four months after the story was first printed, the Tribune printed a retraction, and proclaimed the story to be a hoax. However, the retraction received little attention. Historian Peter Lamont exposed the entire "trick" as a hoax in 2005.
[edit] Secret Service
Wilkie spent 14 years as a controversial director of the Secret Service, during which he acquired a reputation for forgery and skullduggery, and for masterly manipulation of the press.
He died of heart failure in Chicago.
[edit] Chicago transportation official
Wilkie also served as assistant to the president of the Chicago Surface Lines and vice president of the Chicago Railway company.
[edit] References
- John Elbert Wilkie obituary. Time magazine
- Staff report (December 14, 1934). John E. Wilkie dies. Traction Official; Former United States Secret Service Head and Officer of Chicago Surface Lines Co. LONG WITH TRIBUNE THERE. Served as City Editor. Fought Spies During War With Spain While in Washington. New York Times
- Norman Ansley. The United States Secret Service. An Administrative History. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, Vol. 47, No. 1 (May - Jun., 1956), pp. 93-109
- Peter Lamont (2005). THE RISE OF THE INDIAN ROPE TRICK. How a Spectacular Hoax Became History. Thunder's Mouth Press.
- Wilkie sworn in as Chief. The New York Times, February 28, 1898.
- Wilkie brought in fresh blood. The New York Times, January 29, 1911.
- Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (2002). Cloak and Dollar: A History of American Secret Intelligence. Connecticut: Yale University Press
- Wilkie, John. The Secret Service in the War. The American-Spanish War: A History by the War Leaders. Connecticut: Chas. C. Haskell & Son, 1899
- WILKIE, FORMER HEAD OF SECRET SERVICE, IS DEAD. Surface Lines Official in Recent Years. Chicago Tribune Dec 14, 1934
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