Redemption
Edward 'Monk' Eastman was tough. A vicious thug, he loved animals so much that he would refuse to sell any in the pet store he owned. Heaven help anyone who abused animals around him. The nickname is short for monkey, a tribute to his second story abilities as a burglar. Monk was about 5' 7" tall, and was a scrapper beyond all belief. Monk put together a gang of mostly Jewish criminals, they started with extorting pushcart owners and soon were working for Tammany as poll repeaters and leg breakers. This led to him being identified as Jewish, he was of English stock. His habit of giving false names has made it very hard to keep track of him, he is still sometimes identified as William Delaney, illiterate.
The noted actor (and Cornell mathematics professor) Louis Wollheim was said to greatly resemble Eastman, which did not hurt his tough guy image one bit. Wollheim was a badass as well, his nose is the result of a football injury and a fistfight on the same day.
Monk was eventually sentenced to 10 years in Sing Sing and did 5 of them. When he got out Tammany was losing it's power and the world had moved on without him. He did another stretch for burglary and then enlisted in 1917 at the age of 42. The doctors were astonished at the scars and damage on his body. When asked if he had been in a war before, he replied, "Yeah, a lot of little ones in New York".
Private Eastman behaved in an exemplary manner during the war all the way through to the final taking of the Hindenburg Line, a meat grinder battle. The 106th Regiment was in combat for 4 months while the average doughboy spent one week on the front in battle. The 27th Division was reduced to 1/10th of it's strength it had when it arrived in France. Private Eastman was wounded multiple time and gassed, each time he left the hospital to return to his unit. He stayed in the front when his regiment was relieved and carried in wounded. On at least two occasions his behavior should have got him the Medal of Honor. He had no discipline marks against him at all, and was universally admired for his courage and stamina.
27th Division Patch. The monogram is NYD, for New York Division, the outside circle and the constellation of Orion is a pun on the commanding general's name, John F. O'Ryan.
Monk Eastman's funeral, December 30th 1920.
Monk Eastman was murdered by a bent Prohibition agent as he left the Blue Bird Cafe December 26th in 1920. Monk had no interaction with his killer and the killing was certainly a hit. The murderer did 17 months in stir following his confession. No one knows why he killed Eastman, but a lot of people probably could have guessed correctly. A cheap unloaded gun was found near Monk, a throw down that was horse laughed at by everyone who knew Eastman.
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ReplyDeleteMonk was a very bad person. It is odd that he had so much empathy for animals, he was a ferocious opponent and thought nothing of breaking someone's head just for laughs. He had genuine leadership qualities, and his performance in the war was astonishing. Not once did he break a rule, or steal, or slack off, unbelievable to me. While lot's of bad men have courage, usually their impulses keep them in trouble and make them useless as soldiers. Monk rated some high honor medals, it is possible that command was ordered not to give him any. In addition to all of that, the five years he spent in Sing Sing broke his health so he was in constant combat and heavy labor in his forties, I cannot admire that to much. His murderer only did a few months or so, he never explained why he killed Monk.
ReplyDeleteI can only conclude that Eastman was trying to make up for his past life, and this country got the benefit of that. He seems to have been as fearless as a man can get, and that would have steadied the boys who make up the bulk of every army. No wonder that so many of his comrades came to his funeral.