Secrets of the Hon. Richard J. Bookhout Revealed!

1. THE HON. RICHARD J. BOOKHOUT'S CAREER in American jurisprudence spanned more than three decades, but arguably his crowning moment was when:

A. He presided over the probate and breakup of the Clark Fortune in Cooperstown after the death of Steve Clark Sr., philanthropist and heir to the multimillion Singer Sewing Machine fortune.

B. He won a handsome settlement in a malicious defamation suit against his Democratic opponent, who had falsely accused him of okaying a plea bargain for a suspected bootlegger in exchange for three unmarked cases of Old Overholt.

C. He made good on his vow not to rest until the capricious, cold-blooded killers Sacco and Vanzetti were either exectuted, imprisoned or placed under lifetime house arrest in the Pratt Hotel on Pioneer St., where they would be forced to order no other food except from the hotel menu.

D. He brought to justice Judge Fred Loomis and his notorious gang of cutthroats and highwaymen who, despite numerous breaches of justice, had always managed to elude the sheriff by disappearing into Nine-Mile Swamp.

2. IN ONE OF FIRST ACTIONS AFTER BEING ELECTED to the bench for his first term, outgoing District Attorney Richard J. Bookhout:

A. Placed his late grandfather's edition of the King James Bible on the bench in his courtroom in Cooperstown.

B. Bought an Army surplus jeep so that he would have reliable transportation between Oneonta and Cooperstown.

C. Took the .32 caliber automatic pistol he had always kept to protect himself against violent criminals while he served as district attorney, filled it full of cement and turned it into a paperweight to place on his bedroom bureau.

D. Drove past the Grove Street home of County Democratic Chairman Dr. Alexander F. Carson at midnight, blowing his horn repeatedly.

3.  THE LATE MULTIMILLIONAIRE PHILANTHROPIST Steve Clark was only too familiar to Judge Richard J. Bookhout's brother-in-law, Frank Fieg, because Frank on at least one occasion had been asked by Steve to:

A. Hold a golf umbrella over the head of his little girl Jane so that she would not be sunburned while watching the outdoor induction ceremonies in front of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

B. Operate a manual clay pigeon catapault so Steve could shoot skeet with his friends Averill Harriman, Malcolm Forbes, Henry J. Kaiser and Thurston Howell III.

C. Help start Steve's 1925 Model T Ford pickup as Steve pulled down the hand throttle and called out repeatedly; "Frank! Frank! Turn the crank!"

D. Cut a hole in the ice so that Steve could burst out of his 135-degree sauna and jump through the hole into the frigid water completely naked.

4. DOROTHY FIEG ROMAN'S SON JOHN has been a familiar visitor in Cooperstown over the past 50 years and it is impossible to remember how many trips he made while growing up (and later with wife Anne)  or how many places he has stayed. The Phoenix Inn bed and breakfast, where John and Anne stayed during the 2009 Fieg Family reunion, had once been a well-known location to District Attorney Richard J. Bookhout because

A. This was the house where Richard and his wife Flossie honeymooned after they eloped.

B. The sleeping quarters are located above the boat house where the Bookhouts' boat, The Flossie B., was drydocked in the offseason.

C. The Bookhouts had been trying to close a deal to buy the building to use as a summer camp when they were outbid by relatives of summer resident Augustus Busch, heir to the Anheuser Beer fortune.

D. The Phoenix Inn had been something like a speakeasy, where not only under-age drinking was suspected but where girls were thought to have sold themselves into prostitution.

Click on the link below to find out the answers!