...Exonerated three times. Roscoe Arbuckle was found to be completely innocent of the crime(s) he had been accused of, falsified incrimination covering up the blackmail and lies perpetrated against him by a series of people.
So, we come to this. Roscoe Arbuckle was exonerated by Jury 3 times clearly because all of the evidence and witnesses proved that he did not murder Virginia Rappe, that she died, unfortunately, due to her own ailments, that she was never raped... period. The first trial began on 14 November 1921 and ended with a hung jury on 4 December 1921. Two more trials were enlisted, the second on 11 January 1922 and the third on 13 March 1922, with the jury deadlocked before clearing Roscoe of any wrongdoing. Let's look at the conclusive facts proving Roscoe's ultimate innocence:
"On November 28, Arbuckle testified as the defense's final witness. He was simple, direct, and unflustered in both direct and cross-examination. In his testimony, Arbuckle claimed that Rappe (whom he testified he had known for five or six years) came into the party room (1220) around noon that day, and that sometime afterward he went to his room (1219) to change clothes after Mae Taub, daughter-in-law of Billy Sunday, asked him for a ride into town. In his room, Arbuckle discovered Rappe in the bathroom vomiting into the toilet. He then claimed Rappe told him she felt ill and asked to lie down, and that he carried her into the bedroom and asked a few of the party guests to help treat her. When Arbuckle and a few of the guests re-entered the room, they found Rappe on the floor near the bed tearing at her clothing and going into violent convulsions. To calm Rappe down, they placed her in a bathtub of cool water. Arbuckle and Fischbach then took her to room 1227 and called the hotel manager and doctor. At this point all those present thought Rappe was just very drunk, including the hotel doctors. Probably assuming Rappe would simply sleep it off, Arbuckle drove Taub into town." NOTE: Those who knew Virginia Rappe testified that when she did get drunk, she would tear at her clothing.
1. "Bambina" Maude Delmont was a proven liar, by her own admission and by witnesses who referred to her as the "black madam," a women who made a living off of blackmailing clients and other. Evidence showed that a specific telegram sent by Maude to District Attorney, Matthew Brady who, himself, clearly, whose political aspirations included running for Governor of California, revealed her devious intent all along. The contents of the aforesaid telegram sent to a couple of people known by Delmont said, simply: “We have Roscoe Arbuckle in a hole here…Chance to make some money out of him”
2. The Lies: "An autopsy report showed that Virginia Rappe had died four days after the party from acute peritonitis – an inflammation of the abdominal lining brought on from a ruptured bladder. Most of the evidence used to charge Arbuckle had come from the testimony of Maude Delmont. She claimed that she had seen Arbuckle assault and rape Miss Rappe. The District Attorney in San Francisco at the time was a gentleman named Matthew Brady. Described by others as 'arrogant, ruthless, and short-tempered,' he had decided to bring charges against Arbuckle based solely on the eye-witness testimony of Ms. Delmont." [Unfortunately for Brady,] "his only 'evidence' was Delmont’s testimony. Brady then learned that during the time in question, his star witness had been drunk and locked in a bathroom with another (male) party guest. There were multiple witnesses who testified that it simply wasn’t possible for her to have seen the things she claimed.[1]
"Brady's first witnesses during the trial included Betty Campbell, a model, who attended the party and testified that she saw Arbuckle with a smile on his face hours after the alleged rape occurred; Grace Hultson, a local hospital nurse who testified it was very likely that Arbuckle raped Rappe and bruised her body in the process; and Dr. Edward Heinrich, a local criminologist who claimed that the fingerprints on the door to the hallway proved that Rappe had tried to flee, but that Arbuckle had stopped her by putting his hand over hers. Dr. Arthur Beardslee, the hotel doctor who had examined Rappe, testified that an external force seemed to have damaged the bladder. During cross-examination, however, Campbell revealed that Brady had threatened to charge her with perjury if she did not testify against Arbuckle. Dr. Heinrich's claim to have found fingerprints was cast into doubt after McNab produced a maid from the St. Francis Hotel who testified that she had thoroughly cleaned the room before the investigation took place. Dr. Beardslee admitted that Rappe had never mentioned being assaulted while he was treating her. McNab was furthermore able to get Nurse Hultson to admit that the rupture of Rappe's bladder could very well have been a result of cancer, and that the bruises on her body could also have been a result of the heavy jewelry she was wearing that evening.[3] NOTE: The bruises on Virginia Rappe's arm could also have been from trying to lift her weighted body off the floor.
Matthew Brady's case had quickly fallen apart. "...a quick check of Delmont’s background produced a police record that contained more than 50 counts of bigamy, fraud, racketeering, and extortion…along with an outstanding warrant."[2]
Much like today, the corruption within the judicial system seems to be constant and the rule of law disregarded. In 1921, both the Judge on the case and District Attorney Brady had it in for Arbuckle, akin to today's judicial and political system persistently targeting former President Donald J. Trump. At least in Roscoe's case the jurors were not biased against him, but for one woman, Helen Hubbard, whom, as it turned out, had a connection through her husband to District Attorney Brady.
""The third trial began March 13, 1922, and this time the defense took no chances. McNab [one of Roscoe's attorneys]took an aggressive defense, completely tearing apart the prosecution's case with long and aggressive examination and cross-examination of each witness. McNab also managed to get in still more evidence about Rappe's lurid past and medical history." [Those who knew her claimed Rappe was promiscuous, had had several abortions, and had an illegitimate child.] "Another hole in the prosecution's case was opened because Prevon, a key witness, was out of the country after fleeing police custody and unable to testify.[4] As in the first trial, Arbuckle testified as the final witness and again maintained his denials in his heartfelt testimony about his version of the events at the party. Buster Keaton is said to have been in the courtroom and provided important evidence to prove Arbuckle's innocence; Delmont was involved in prostitution, extortion, and blackmail. During closing statements, McNab reviewed how flawed the case was against Arbuckle from the very start and how Brady fell for the outlandish charges of Delmont, whom McNab described as "the complaining witness who never witnessed".
What should have been discussed in this case, but seems to have been seriously overlooked, is the presence of a man named Fred Fishbach/Fishback, a shady character whom insisted that Roscoe go to San Francisco when Arbuckle originally declined due to a health issue at the time: 2nd degree burns on his buttocks from sitting unintentionally on an acid-laced rag while waiting for his car to be fixed. The acid burned through Roscoe's pants and burned his flesh. Needless to say, such a condition would have been quite painful and a deterrent against such forcible activity as was claimed. So let's see what we can find out on Mr. Fred Fishbach...
Fred Fishback was born in Romania and after coming to the United States, landed a job at Mack Sennet Studios as cameraman. This is where he met Roscoe Arbuckle. Later he became a director. Strangely, or, perhaps, ironically, Fishback changed his name after the scandal to Fred Hibbard, very close to "Hubbard," the single juror who wanted Arbuckle found guilty.
Fishback's actions before "the party" seem to call into question whether he knew Maude Delmont and/or Virginia Rappe personally and had invited them both to Roscoe's suite without the latter's knowledge. It was Fishback who devised the three-day Labor Day weekend party, also procuring the alcohol [during prohibition] and inviting guests while Roscoe foot the bill having no idea of all that Fishback had planned.
Interestingly, an article by Rosmarin Law, a law firm operated by Mark Phillips and his daughter, researcher Aryn Phillips, re-examine criminal cases of the past. Here they happened upon Roscoe Arbuckle's 1921 case, and their research has turned up some astonishing information, quite noteworthy in Roscoe's continued defense. Here are a few excerpts from the article:
"The following day was Monday, September 5, and the national holiday. Beginning in the morning Arbuckle’s suite began to fill with friends, and witnesses estimate that anywhere between fifteen and twenty people dropped by at various times throughout the day. Amongst them was a curious trio invited by Fischbach; petty criminal Maude Delmont, who described herself as a model, 25 year old bit actress Virginia Rappe, and Rappe’s manager, Al Semnacher. Arbuckle had never met any of them except in passing and there is some dispute about what they were doing in San Francisco that weekend, but according to witnesses familiar with the individuals the young actress was in San Francisco to have an abortion. Young Virginia Rappe’s brush with history is limited solely to the events of that day in Arbuckle’s suite at the St. Francis. Born Virginia Rapp, she added the “e” to her last name because it sounded more elegant. According to interviews given after her death by her grandmother, Rappe was born out of wedlock following an affair between her mother, Mabel, and an English nobleman visiting Chicago where she lived. In an era where illegitimacy was still frowned upon, the pregnant Mabel moved to New York where her daughter was born, and where Mabel died eleven years later. Young Rappe then returned to Chicago to be raised by her grandmother. Growing up she was indiscriminate in her relationships. She had at least five abortions by the age of sixteen, and at age seventeen gave birth to an out-of-wedlock child which she gave into foster care. Her good looks led to a modeling career in her teens and she moved to San Francisco where she pursued that work. She was engaged to a dress designer named Robert Moscovitz, but he was killed in a trolley accident before their wedding. Distraught and in financial straits, Rappe moved to Los Angeles where she took a room with an aunt. In 1917, Rappe met and began dating director Henry Lehrman, and he helped her find the roles in her four credited films, although it is likely that she supported herself by prostitution. Rappe’s stormy relationship with Lehrman was well-known in Hollywood and unpopular. The two were accused of spreading venereal disease and lice, and Mack Sennett once ordered them off the Keystone lot and had it fumigated. Some people close to Rappe believed that in September of 1921 she was pregnant by Lehrman and heading to San Francisco that Labor Day weekend to abort his child. Maude Delmont was a different kettle of fish entirely. Of uncertain age, her photo reveals her to be a woman of middle age with a dour expression. Using a string of aliases, she had an extensive police record, with at least fifty charges filed against her on crimes ranging from bigamy to extortion. She has been described as a professional co-respondent, a woman hired to provide compromising photos or evidence in divorces. How she met Semnacher is a matter of conjecture, but just the month before he had filed in San Francisco for divorce from his wife, and he admitted to having hired Delmont to obtain evidence of his wife’s adultery. Delmont met Semnacher at his Hollywood home on Saturday, September 3, where she was introduced to Rappe, and the three drove north to San Francisco."
It is not known if Fred Fishback kept in touch with Roscoe or kept his distance since the studios put a cap on anyone who defended Roscoe at the time of trial. Buster Keaton was reprimanded by the studio for defending Roscoe and appearing in the courtroom with evidence in support of his friend.
What we know as fact, stands alone as the testimony for aquittal in the PeoplevsRoscoeArbuckle Case.
1. Medical evidence, including autopsy, refutes all allegations that Miss Rappe was raped or attacked in any way.
2. The star witness was a proven con-artist, blackmailer, madam, and avid drug user.
3. The photograph of a room is not Room 1219 of the St. Francis Hotel which is largely kept today as it was in 1921. (photos herewith)
[The room on the left is not Room 1219, nor 1221 of the St. Francis Hotel. The Room on the right is Room 1219 and looks almost exactly as it did in 1921. Room 1219 is said to be the very room where in 1950, Al Jolson died of a heart attack.]
4. Miss Rappe, herself, before she died, told doctors that Roscoe did nothing to her.
5. Witnesses for the prosecution who knew Virginia Rappe testified to her character relaying that she was a promiscuous woman who had had multiple abortions and an illegitimate child, that she drank excessively and when drunk, tore her clothes off.
6. Roscoe had no idea that Miss Rappe was anything more than drunk and ill from the condition. He did not plan on staying at the party for he was not well and did not want to attend in the first place.
7. The look of shock and trauma upon Roscoe's face when charged, as photographs tell, is not the look of one who has harmed or taken the life of another. Actress Louise Brooks said that Roscoe, who later directed her in a film, "He made no attempt to direct. He sat in his chair like a man dead."
8. No different than it's biased reporting today, the liberal media 100 years ago also drove elections, convicted or acquitted criminals, and created attack channels for government officials, aiding them in going after those who did not agree with their sordid agenda. The King of the news outlets at the time was none other than William Randolph Hearst, the same who had a hand in promoting a war between the US and Spain, inciting the Spanish-American War in 1898. In 1921 and 1922, Hearst tore apart Roscoe Arbuckle piece by piece, news headlines accusing him of rape and murder and other sexual deviations even before the trial was underway, convicting him in ink so that all Christian organizations, churches, ladies groups, and many Americans in general, began to despise Fatty Arbuckle who once made them all forget their troubles.
9. Both the judges and jurors, and, specifically, the District Attorney, purposely overlooked concrete, factual evidence, statements by physicians and witnesses whose testimony alone would have exonerated Arbuckle. To wit; a statement made public by the medical doctor who examined Miss Rappe posthumously: "The post-mortem examination showed a ruptured bladder, the rupture being due to natural causes. There were no marks of violence on the body. There was absolutely no evidence of a criminal assault, no signs that the girl had been attacked in any way."5
10. "The first trial produced 60 witnesses, including 18 doctors. Through defense witnesses, lawyer Gavin McNab revealed Virginia Rappe's moral as well as medical history: As a young teenager, she had had five abortions in three years; at 16, she had borne an illegitimate child; since 1907, she had had a series of bladder inflammations and chronic cystitis; she liked to strip naked when she drank; the doctor who attended her in the several days before she died concluded that she had gonorrhea; when she met Arbuckle for the first time on Monday, she was pregnant and that afternoon had asked him to pay for an abortion; on Wednesday, she had asked her nurse to find an abortionist."6
The media throughout the centuries has ruined America and the American way of life, but for a few news outlets who remain on the side of the people. On 4 October 2021, The New Yorker continued to follow suit with a rather biased article written by Michael Schulman wherein he appears to judge Roscoe in a darker version of beauty and the beast and for living his life accustomed to wealth. He does, however, call out the media outlets of the day and their sensational reporting on the case.
"The scandal was a media bonanza. Without real competition yet from radio or newsweekly magazines, newspapers were the only game in town, often publishing multiple editions a day. The Los Angeles Times: “plan to send arbuckle to death on gallows.” The San Francisco Call and Post: “arbuckle dances while girl is dying, joyous frolic amid death tragedy.” The Oxnard Daily Courier: “arbuckle, the beast.” Many outlets used the word “orgy” to describe the Labor Day party. William Randolph Hearst’s papers, which helped pioneer yellow journalism and anticipated the likes of the National Enquirer and the Daily Mail, were particularly sensational. On September 13th alone, Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner ran seventeen stories about the scandal—a harbinger of the twenty-four-hour gossip industry that runs on Schadenfreude. As Swanson wrote in her autobiography, “The newspapers had proved in less than a week that the public got a much greater thrill out of watching stars fall than out of watching them shine,” and “Filled up with liquor,” the Dayton Daily News declared, “his low bestiality asserts itself in treating a woman like a grizzly bear would a calf.”
The only favorable statement from the piece regarding Roscoe came from Roscoe, himself.
"Abandoned by his studio and much of his public, Arbuckle had plenty to say about his state of affairs. 'I have suffered,” he told reporters. 'All I ask in repayment of the wrong done me is that the world which once loved me now withhold its judgment and give me a chance to prove before another jury that I am innocent.”
It is most unfortunate that a young woman died. The pain and suffering endured by Roscoe Arbuckle for years after clearly took its toll on his life. Hopeless, even helpless...he had lost his home, his cars, his fortune...he turned to drink. Without question, Hollywood and the media (William Randolph Hearst, et. al.) killed Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.
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