Any admirer of
detective fiction must recognize the importance of Dashiel Hammett as a writer
and an inspiration. His masterpiece, The Maltese Falcon, has been as
influential on the art of cinema as Hammett’s other work has been in the
development of crime writing. Hammett’s experiences as a private detective gave
his work authenticity and he often based fictional characters on the people he
met in that work. Warren Harris has done groundbreaking research on one of
those criminals who inspired Hammett’s characters: Edwin A. “The Midget” Ware.
Ware was the inspiration for The Maltese Falcon character Wilmer, the gunsel
beautifully portrayed by Dwight Fry and Elisha Cook Jr. in the classic films
made from Hammett’s novel. Recently I had the great fortune to receive an
inquiry from Mr. Harris concerning a crime that occurred in Portland in 1932.
Harris’s question led me to this interesting little piece of Portland
weirdness. So here it is, Portland’s connection to The Maltese Falcon, now
that’s Weird Portland.
Edwin “The Midget” Ware, Fresno’s notorious Midget
Bandit, finished a long prison term in 1932. Newly discovered evidence proves
that after being released from prison Ware traveled north with a companion and
spent some time (about thirty days) in the Rose City before going on to his
fatal encounter with the Law in Washington state in 1934. Ware, born in 1905, began his criminal career
early with a series of robberies in Fresno and Los Angeles, CA in 1921, when he was seventeen.
Inspired by the exploits of southern California armed robber Roy “The Smiling
Bandit” Gardner, and the intense press coverage his crimes received, Ware began
his life of crime in emulation of his hero and with a strong instinct for
publicity. The Fresno Herald, was the first to call Ware the
Midget Bandit, but soon papers all over California featured the sobriquet in
headlines and at the peak of his crime wave, the Midget Bandit even got
headlines in the New York Times. It
might have been the newspaper headlines that inspired Dashiel Hammett, but it
is more likely (although still undocumented) that the ailing private detective
had a personal meeting with Ware, most likely in the Fresno jail in 1921.
Hammett’s comments about his inspiration for the character of Wilmer seem to
point to the personal meeting theory.
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| Edwin Ware was 27 years old when arrested inSeattle, long past his prime as a robber and as a publicity hound. He was veryclose to the end of his short, violent life. |
Ware and his partner,
Jess Taylor (aka James Blythe) another ex-convict, arrived in Portland around
December 1, 1932. There is no evidence that either man knew anyone in Portland,
if they had things might have gone much better for them. At that time there
were several armed robbery gangs operating out of Portland. The most powerful
was the gang run by Shy Frank Kodat from his speakeasy/boarding house on SE
Water Street. Kodat specialized in recruiting promising young robbers and
burglars from the Oregon State Prison. Claiming that he was working to
rehabilitate these ex-cons he helped them plan and pull off robberies all over
Oregon, Washington and northern California. The main rule was, no jobs in
Portland. Although the rule was sometimes broken, and Kodat’s power was often
defied and challenged, Shy Frank enforced his will brutally and often used the
Police Bureau as an ally in his fight against the competition.
Ware later told
Portland Chief of Detectives, Harvey Thatcher, that he and Taylor had been
planning a bigger robbery, but had needed cash to advance their plans. On
December 3, 1932 the two ex-cons attempted to rob a Pool Hall on NW 6th
and Flanders. The Oregonian
originally called the place a “soft drink shop,” which was often a codeword for
a place that sold illegal alcohol. It is pretty likely that Louie Azich and Jim
Walch, two local working men, were drinking illegal beer while they shot pool
with three or four other men that night. Taylor took the lead when the two ex-cons came
in, pointing a gun at the patrons and ordering them to line up. Ware, who was
known as a “two-fisted gunman” in his earlier days because of his propensity
for using two guns, only had one gun this time and most likely he never even
drew it, just backing up his partner. It
is not clear whether Patrolman Clarence Spaugh was called to the scene of the
crime by a passerby, as in the official version, or if he was waiting somewhere
close by, but he sneaked up on the two armed robbers and got the drop on them.
The indignant group of pool players joined in the arrest and Taylor was badly
beaten, being hospitalized for several days after the robbery attempt.
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| Portland Patrolman Clarence Spaugh sneaked up on the two armed robbers and got the drop on them. The crowd of would-be victims administered a little “street justice” to the brash Californians. Photo courtesy of Portland Police HistoricalSociety. |
Taylor was sentenced to
a year for attempted robbery and Ware got thirty days for carrying a concealed
weapon. Both men were wanted for a robbery/assault in San Francisco a few days
earlier and were scheduled to be returned to California after their release.
Taylor probably spent his year in Salem, where presumably he learned about the
facilities available to ex-cons in Portland so he wouldn’t make the same
mistake again. Ware probably spent some more time in jail after he finished his
thirty days in the Multnomah County lockup. It looks like he was smart enough
to avoid the “tough town” of Portland the next time, but he didn’t fare much
better in Seattle. He was arrested there in 1933 and killed in an attempted
jailbreak in Walla Walla in 1934.
Of course this wasn't the first time that ex-convicts from California found more trouble than they wanted in the Rose City. Here is a much earlier version of the story Mayhem on Morrison Street from my book Murder and Mayhem in Portland. You might also like my latest book, with JB Fisher Portland on the Take.
If you like my work I hope you will support my patreon.com campaign. https://www.patreon.com/jdchandler 