Rare Vintage Linen Post Card - 1925 Gang, Mob, Murder postcard to Virginia Brannen 6years prior to her murder Start Price USD 2,000.00 Current Price USD 2,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Saturday, July 19, 2008 End Time Saturday, July 26, 2008 Location Houston, TX See more about 'Rare Vintage Linen Post Card - 1925 Gang, Mob, Murder ' Description Rare Soldier Sharpshooter Comic Linen Post Card - 1925 Post Card Date: Jan 21, 1925 Maine 7PM Virginia Brannen was my great aunt on my fathers side of the family.  Her sister was my grandmother and she never talked about any of this.  I have had this card for some time and asked many questions about Virginia Brannen, my great aunt, but never got straight answers.  I ran across the postcard again a few days ago.  I put Virginia Brannen in a google search and the following is what I found.  After all the years that I have heard bits and peices about her, this is enough for me to be satisfied that the information below is indeed about my great aunt Virginia Brannen to whom this card is adressed to. In excellent shape here is your chance to own a peice of history. The Hand of Death At about 10 a.m., on April 27, 1931, a young man who was making a meat delivery in Yonkers drove down Valentine Street. As he passed St. Joseph's Catholic Seminary, he noticed something odd sticking out from behind a three-foot stonewall. The deliveryman parked his truck and got out for a closer look.  He saw a small human hand projecting above the wall. When police arrived, they discovered the body of a woman who had been shot in the heart. She had been dead only an hour or so. Powder burns on her clothes indicated that she was shot at close range. Investigators determined that she was killed somewhere else and dumped behind the wall after she was dead. Tire tracks were found close by, and a trail of blood led from the tracks to the location where the body was found. Later in the day, detectives were able to identify the victim through her personal papers as Virginia Brannen, 28, who lived in Bangor, Maine. She had moved to New York City just 10 days before. She got a job on West 125th Street in Manhattan at a dance hall called the Primrose Club.  Detectives paid a visit to the club and located two people who were in a car with Brannen shortly before she was killed. Rudolph Duringer shows detectives the site of Virginia Brannen's bodyafter his capture A witness named Robert LeClair  told cops he was  at the Primrose Club partying most of the night with friends including Virginia Brannen. He said that after they left the Primrose they went barhopping, including to some speak-easy clubs in the Bronx. LeClair, one of his friends was a man named Rudolph "Fat" Duringer who had a romantic interest in Virginia.  But Duringer seemed upset by something and rarely talked during the night. He said Duringer's buddy, a young man named Frank, drove the car all night because he was the only one who was sober. LeClair claimed he fell asleep and was awakened by two gunshots a short time later. He said he heard Virginia cry out: "My God! Take me to a hospital!" When LeClair turned around, he saw Duringer with a pistol in his hand and Virginia bleeding badly. Then, Frank pulled the car over and threw LeClair and his girlfriend into the street and sped off. Some time later, Frank and Duringer came back with the car, but Virginia was gone. Detectives obtained a home address for Duringer in Ossining, a small town in Westchester County, only 15 minutes from Yonkers. When cops raced to Duringer's boarding house, they discovered he had left his room the day before and never returned. But through interviews in the neighborhood, cops ascertained that "Frank" had visited Duringer many times and had even stored a car in his garage over the winter. Soon, "Frank" was identified through mug shots which were shown to LeClair and other people from the Primrose. Frank was "Two-Gun" Crowley. In the meantime, Bronx cops found Duringer's bullet-scarred sedan abandoned on East 155th Street. In the back seat lay a blood-saturated blanket and four discharged .38 cartridges. In the meantime, Duringer was being held in the Bronx for the murder of Virginia Brannen. Prosecutors were already building a case against him while Helen Walsh was being held as a material witness in a secret location. Rumors surfaced that the Brannen girl was killed as a favor for an unknown party who paid Crowley and Duringer $300 for the job. "Nonsense!" said Inspector Harold King, chief of Nassau County Detectives to a reporter from The New York Times, "That murder was a sordid sex murder and the payment of money had no connection with it." Duringer had already made a confession to detectives and explained why he killed her. "She told me she was going to marry someone else," he said. "I loved her and so I shot her!" On December 10, 1931, "Fat" Duringer said his own goodbyes as he stepped into the death chamber for the murder of Virginia Brannen. Brillis, Nick, Police Officer, Yonkers Police Department who provided research and official police records on the murder of Virginia Brannen from the Yonkers Police Historical Society.     * PLEASE READ TERMS * Payment must be received within 7 days of winning bid or item may be re-listed. I'll Email winner within 3 days. Contact seller with any questions. I Accept the Following Payment types:   Merchant credit card Visa / MasterCard Discover American Express   ONLY Paypal (recommended) Credit Cards (through Paypal) (FREE SHIPPING ONLY TO THE U.S.) To insure delivery and Faster shipping, I can ship USPS Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation #.   (For International shipping) Please contact me first to get shipping price depending on location... Shipping does not include insurance, If you wish to purchase insurance, additional charges will be added, Insurance is optional. Thank you for viewing my auction.  Please email me with any questions prior to end of auction. I do my best in describing the items and I encourage questions during the auction period. Additional Notes: By placing a bid on an item you are stating you have read and agreed to these terms listed in the auction. Thank You, Barbara Place a Bid!