On August 6, 1930, New York Supreme Court judge Joseph Force Crater vanished near Times Square in Manhattan. The disappearance of the well-dressed 41-year-old sparked a nationwide investigation, earning him the title “the missingest man in New York.”
Born in 1889 to Irish immigrants, Crater grew up in Pennsylvania and earned his law degree from Columbia University in 1916. He worked his way up from a lowly clerk to a successful lawyer, building numerous political connections in New York City. In April 1930, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to the state bench, bypassing the candidate endorsed by the powerful Tammany Hall political machine. Rumors circulated that Crater, known for his fondness for showgirls, had bribed Tammany bosses for his prestigious new position.
On August 3, 1930, Crater returned to New York from a trip to Maine, leaving his wife, Stella, behind and promising to return within a week. His law clerk reported that on the morning of August 6, Crater destroyed various documents, moved several portfolios of papers to his Fifth Avenue apartment, and arranged for $5,000 to be withdrawn from his bank account. That evening, he left his office, bought a ticket to the Broadway comedy “Dancing Partner,” and had dinner with his lawyer friend William Klein and a showgirl named Sally Lou Ritz at a Manhattan chophouse. His dining companions last saw him walking down the street outside the restaurant, presumably heading to the play.
Crater’s disappearance was reported on September 3, triggering a dramatic manhunt and investigation. His suspicious behavior before his disappearance led to speculation that he had fled the country with a mistress or been a victim of foul play. The case captured so much media attention that “pulling a Crater” became a popular expression for going AWOL. Comedians also used the unsolved case in their routines, with the line “Judge Crater, call your office” becoming a standard joke.
At his wife’s request, Joseph Force Crater was declared legally dead in 1939. In 2005, New York police revealed new evidence in the case. A woman who died earlier that year left a handwritten note claiming that her husband and several other men, including a police officer, had murdered Crater and buried his body beneath a section of the Coney Island boardwalk. That site had been excavated during the construction of the New York Aquarium in the 1950s, long before technology could detect and identify human remains. Thus, the mystery of Judge Crater’s fate remains unsolved.
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