tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81555214974769452422024-03-12T19:51:30.973-07:00Mystery of the missing FBI Wanted poster...solved!By Ken BrooksUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155521497476945242.post-37064681165603931032009-02-24T06:44:00.000-08:002009-11-30T08:01:24.866-08:00Patty Hearst...armed and dangerously hot<span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:180%;" >Over three decades ago--in February 1974--newspaper heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped from her San Francisco apartment, sparking the largest manhunt in United States history.<br /><br />The comely 19-year-old college student had been abducted by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, a band of radicals that included William Harris and wife Emily. As ransom, the group demanded the Hearst family distribute millions of dollars of food to the needy.<br /><br />Patty, meanwhile, was being brainwashed--or so she later claimed.<br /><br />Two months after her abduction she declared allegiance to the radicals and actually participated in SLA bank-jobs and shootouts. It wasn't long before those infamous FBI "Wanted" posters featuring Hearst and the Harrises hung on the walls of post offices nationwide.<br /><br />That fall I graduated college and found a job back home in the Florida panhandle town of Panama City. My work required a daily trip to the downtown post office, and each day I passed that FBI poster, fascinated by its ominously stark black-and-white photos and a warning to consider these folks "armed and dangerous."<br /><br />Months dragged by; Hearst and the Harrises went underground. Meanwhile, the media grabbed the story and wouldn't let go. For over a year the Hearst Case--like the O.J. trial and the search for Bin Laden--would occupy center stage in America's consciousness.<br /><br />Around the country, Patty was being sighted more often than Elvis--and he wasn't even dead yet.<br /><br />Throughout the spring of '75, as the story gained momentum, the poster's allure became stronger. On one of my trips to the post office I pointed out the poster to a friend. "Now that," I said, "would be a cool keepsake." After all, I said, the FBI must have printed hundreds of these.<br /><br />My friend cut me off. "Don't even think about it," he said, then added: "...and if you do, I don't want to know about it."<br /><br />In any case, Hearst and the Harrises were finally arrested in September of '75. Patty served two years of a ten-year sentence before being released at the behest of President Jimmy Carter. She was officially pardoned in 2000, in one of Bill Clinton's final acts as president.<br /><br />And that way-cool FBI "Wanted" poster? It's been in my possession over a quarter-century now. I saw one offered on Ebay recently; they were asking $155 for it, but I wouldn't part with mine for any price.<br /><br />I wish I could remember how I obtained mine, but...well, you know how it is. Memory turns hazy after so many years. If the FBI is curious, let's just say I'm fairly certain...I... <span style="font-style: italic;">um...</span>asked a post office employee for the poster--and we'll leave it at that!</span><br /><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:180%;" ></span><br /><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:180%;" >________________________</span><br /><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:180%;" ></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >This article originally appeared in </span><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><em>Yesterday </em></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><em>in Florida</em> </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >magazine, Issue #11</span></span><br /><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ></span><br /><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >____________________________________________________</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0