Harry Oakes
Encyclopedia
Sir Harry Oakes, 1st Baronet (December 23, 1874 Sangerville, Maine
– July 7, 1943 Nassau, Bahamas
) was an American
-born British
Canadian gold-mine owner, entrepreneur
, investor and philanthropist
. He earned his fortune in Canada
and moved to the Bahamas in the 1930s for tax purposes. He was murder
ed in 1943 under notorious circumstances in the Bahamas. The cause of his death and the details surrounding it have never been entirely determined, and have been the subject of several books and four films.
, Maine
; his father was a prosperous lawyer
. He graduated from Foxcroft Academy
and then Bowdoin College
in 1896 and then spent two years at the Syracuse University
Medical School. However, in 1898, he left medical school before graduation and made his way to Alaska
at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush
in hopes of making his fortune as a prospector
. For the next 15 years, he sought gold around the world, including California
and Australia
, before finally striking it at Kirkland Lake in Northern Ontario
, Canada
, in 1912. This mine is located in rocky wilderness about 600 km north of Toronto, Ontario, near the province's border with the province of Quebec
. Oakes established a company, Lake Shore Mining, to develop his mine. Some 20 years later, his mine was the most productive in the Western Hemisphere
, and it ultimately proved the second largest gold mine ever found in the Americas (the largest was the Homestake Mine
, the basis of the Hearst
fortune). By 1920, Oakes was thought to be Canada's richest individual.
Oakes married his wife Eunice, an Australian, in 1923 in Sydney, Australia; the two had met aboard a cruise ship, and she was approximately half his age when they married. Their first child, Nancy, was born in 1924, and they eventually had five children, each separated by two years.
Oakes became interested in golf
and, in the late 1920s, hired top golf course architect Stanley Thompson
to build a nine-hole course for him, the "Sir Harry Oakes Private Course", in Niagara Falls, Ontario
.
in 1939 as a reward for his philanthropic endeavours in the Bahamas, in Canada, and in Britain. For example, he donated $500,000 in two bequests to St. George's Hospital in London, England, and gave a million dollars to charities in the Bahamas. He became a Bahamian citizen, and a member of the colony's parliament
, the House of Assembly
.
Oakes soon proved to be a dynamic investor, entrepreneur
and developer in the Bahamas. He had a major role in expanding the airport
, Oakes Field, in the capital city Nassau
, bought the British Colonial Hilton Nassau
, built a golf course and country club, and developed farming and new housing. All this activity greatly stimulated the struggling economy in what had been a sleepy backwater, with only about 70,000 inhabitants in the early 1940s. This activity took place mainly on the principal island of New Providence
; it was estimated that Oakes owned about one-third of that island by the early 1940s. Oakes had become the colony's wealthiest, most powerful, and most important resident by the early 1940s.
. He had been battered to death, his corpse partially burned and strewn with feathers.
(formerly King Edward VIII of Great Britain
), who had become a close friend of Oakes during the three years previous, took charge of the investigation from the outset. The Duke first attempted to enforce press censorship
, but this was unsuccessful. Oakes's vast wealth, fame, and British title, combined with the ghastly nature of the crime, generated worldwide interest in the case. Etienne Dupuch
, the colony's foremost newspaper publisher, and a friend of Oakes, ensured constant coverage of the case for the next several months. The Duke of Windsor believed that the local police lacked the expertise to investigate this dreadful crime against the colony's wealthiest and most important citizen. Since World War II
was raging, making it difficult to bring detective
s from Scotland Yard
in London
across the Atlantic Ocean
, which is what normally would have been done, the Duke turned instead to two American policemen he knew in the Miami force. The Bahamas was a British Crown Colony at the time, but there were British Security personnel stationed in wartime in New York City
and Washington, D.C.
, who could potentially have traveled easily and quickly to Nassau for an investigation. Bringing in the Miami detectives, one of whom (Melchen) had earlier guarded the Duke of Windsor in Miami, proved an unfortunate decision.
The two American detectives were, in theory, called upon to assist Bahamian law enforcement, but they actually completely took over the investigation, to the great dismay of local police. By evening on the second day of the investigation, some 36 hours after Oakes's body was discovered, Captains Melchen and Barker had arrested Oakes's son-in-law, Count
Alfred de Marigny
, who wasn't formally a count, since he had obtained the French title from his mother's side of the family. De Marigny had elope
d with and married Oakes's daughter Nancy in New York City (where she was studying), without her parents' knowledge, two days after her 18th birthday, in 1942. Once she had reached age 18, Nancy no longer needed her parents' permission to wed. De Marigny, 14 years older, had met Nancy at the Nassau Yacht Club, where he was a prominent competitive sailor. The two had been dating for a couple of years before their marriage, without her parents apparently fully realizing the seriousness of their relationship. De Marigny was accused of the crime. He was thought to have been on bad terms with Harry Oakes, due to de Marigny's playboy
manners and lack of a meaningful career, the fact that he had been married twice before for short periods to wealthy women, and because he had not asked Oakes's permission to marry Nancy. Harry Oakes and de Marigny had in fact quarrelled on several occasions, and these episodes had been witnessed by other people.
When Nancy was informed of her father's death and her husband's arrest, she was in Miami, on her way for the summer to study dance
with Martha Graham
at Bennington, Vermont. It was her great friend Merce Cunningham
who first gave her the bad news. She then traveled to Bar Harbor, Maine
, the family's summer home, to join her mother, at her husband's request. But Nancy soon returned to Nassau and began to organize her husband's defense. She was convinced that de Marigny was innocent and stood by him when many others, including her family, believed him guilty. The young Countess soon became a favorite with the press world wide for her auburn hair, deep-set eyes, fine figure and mild resemblance to Katharine Hepburn
. The murder managed to knock the war off the front pages temporarily. Nancy spent heavily to hire a leading American private investigator, Raymond Schindler, to dig deeply into the case, and a top-rank British-trained Bahamian lawyer, Godfrey W. Higgs, to defend her husband. Their combined hard work, talents and experience eventually overcame the local Bahamian and Miami Police-assisted standards of investigation and prosecution, as the defense team found serious flaws with the prosecution's case.
De Marigny had hosted his own late-running dinner party the night of the murder, with several guests at his own home, and had driven some of them home afterwards, as late as after 1 a.m. the next day. Nevertheless, he was committed for trial, and a rope was ordered for his hanging. Alfred de Marigny was eventually acquitted, following a trial which lasted several weeks, after the detectives were suspected of fabricating evidence
against him. The chief piece of evidence against de Marigny at the trial was a fingerprint
of his, which Captain Barker claimed had been found on a Chinese screen in Oakes's bedroom where the body had been found. Later, it was discovered that the print had actually been lifted from the water glass that de Marigny had used during his questioning with the Miami Police captains, and that de Marigny was being framed.
Immediately after Sir Harry's funeral had been held in Bar Harbor, Maine (the family's summer home), a few days after his death, Captain Barker, visiting by invitation, had told Countess Nancy de Marigny and Lady Eunice Oakes that he had already positively identified de Marigny's fingerprints on the Chinese screen, justifying de Marigny's status as the main suspect in the murder. Very detailed and thorough cross-examination at the trial, several months later, by de Marigny's lawyer showed that Captain Barker had not in fact positively identified the single fingerprint belonging to de Marigny until several days later than Barker had originally claimed (after he had returned to Miami, in fact), and that Barker had taken several dozen other fingerprints from Oakes's bedroom, many of which were still unprocessed weeks later. An American fingerprint expert witness, testifying for the defense, called into question the professionalism of the techniques used by Captain Barker in the investigation. The expert testified that the de Marigny print very likely could not have come from the Chinese screen, since none of the background pattern design from the screen itself appeared on the de Marigny print photograph, although other photos of fingerprints lifted from the screen did show this background pattern. De Marigny testified that he had not visited Westbourne, Oakes's home and the murder site, for the previous two years before Oakes's death, because of ongoing conflict with Oakes. Several of de Marigny's dinner party guests from the fateful night testified at the trial, and strengthened de Marigny's alibi, which was that he was hosting the party, and later drove several guests to their homes, late at night, with a witness in the car, near the time when the murder was committed. The approximate time of the murder had been determined by two Bahamian medical examiners. Significantly, the Duke of Windsor arranged to be away from the Bahamas while the murder trial was in progress, and so he was not available to be called as a witness.
Oakes's murderer was never identified by official investigation, and there were no subsequent court proceedings in the case after de Marigny's acquittal. The case received worldwide press coverage at the time, with photos of the beautiful and charming Nancy de Marigny in court. It has been the subject of continuous interest ever since, with several books and films, even into the 21st century.
, to where he was deported, to stay with old friend Ernest Hemingway
. De Marigny was deported after a recommendation by the murder trial's jury, because of his supposedly unsavory character and frequent advances towards young girls in the Bahamas. De Marigny and Nancy separated in 1945, and were later divorced in 1949. He moved to Canada
in 1945, served for a time in the Canadian Army, but was later deported from Canada as well. He married once more (his fourth), eventually settled in Central America
, and died in 1998. De Marigny was a tall (6' 5"), handsome man, a charming and bright conversationalist, an accomplished competitive sailor who won many regattas, and he later wrote two books.
Nancy had left Cuba by the late 1940s, and lived in Hollywood, California, where she had a long love affair with 1950s Hollywood actor Richard Greene
. She has a daughter Patricia Oakes. She remained close friends with Greene until his death. In 1952 she married Baron Ernst Lyssardt von Hoyningen-Huene (adopted cousin
of the artist George Hoyningen-Huene
, who was the only son of Baron Barthold Theodor Hermann (Theodorovitch) von Hoyningen-Huene, a German
nobleman who had estates in Estonia
which were confiscated by the Soviets during World War II
and was the Nazi Germany
ambassador
to Portugal
during World War II
,). They had a son, Baron Alexander von Hoyningen-Huene. That marriage lasted until 1956. Nancy died in 2005 and is survived by her two children, Patricia and Alexander, and her two grandchildren, John Alexander Roosevelt and Shirley Leigh-Wood Oakes.
Geoffrey Bocca (1924–1983) wrote the book The Life and Death of Sir Harry Oakes, published in the United States by Doubleday and Company. Bocca, then working as a bartender in New York City, had met private detective Raymond Schindler, one of his customers, who had investigated the Oakes case, working for Nancy de Marigny. Bocca used Schindler's notes, researched the case very thoroughly, and his book was a best-seller. Bocca, who earlier had worked in England for Lord Beaverbrook as a journalist, eventually published about 30 books.
by Robert Hale publishers. Prior to the publication of the first edition, Houts, an American lawyer and graduate of the University of Minnesota
School of Law, who had had a long career as a coroner
, judge, agent with the FBI, and university law and criminology
professor
, dating back before World War II
, had spent several years investigating the Oakes case.
Houts, a prolific author who would eventually publish 44 books, was threatened with a lawsuit by Sir Harold Christie, who was the only other person staying overnight in Oakes's home when Oakes was killed. Consultations between Houts's publisher and Christie's lawyers, led by former U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell, took place, and the book was published after only a short delay, with the agreement that Christie would be able to make a statement telling his side of the story, to be inserted into future editions of the book. The publishers waited, but Christie's statement never came, nor did he sue. Christie died in Europe in September, 1973.
In both the first and second editions of Houts's book, both editions of which sold very well, Houts proposed the theory that American gangster
boss Meyer Lansky
was behind the killing of Oakes, due to Oakes's resistance to casino
gambling
in the Bahamas. Lansky had apparently already obtained the approval of the Duke of Windsor
for Lansky's plans to develop gambling on the islands, after meeting with the Duke in Miami. Lansky was working with Christie, a property developer and Bahamian legislator, and other notable Bahamians, including Stafford Sands
(who served as the jury foreman at the de Marigny murder trial), to bring this about, with significant new construction of hotels to house tourists as part of the plan. Houts wrote that Oakes had earlier apparently given his approval for the casino project, but had changed his mind, strongly opposing it, by the time of his murder. Houts wrote that Lansky had sent several henchmen to meet Oakes on the night of the murder. The henchmen were to intimidate, try to persuade, and rough up Oakes if necessary, but not kill him, during a late-night meeting with Christie, held aboard a fast powerboat which had traveled from Miami to Nassau earlier that day. But Oakes, age 68, instead wound up dying, and this was then covered up, with Oakes's body being taken back to his home by Christie (who was spotted as a passenger in his own station wagon by a Nassau Police Captain late that night, a fact which came out at the trial of de Marigny, and which directly contradicted Christie's statement that he had not left Oakes's home overnight), and a fake killing then staged at Oakes's home, 'Westbourne'. Oakes had earlier, in 1940, allowed the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to stay at Westbourne while their official residence, Government House, was being renovated, and the Duke had himself slept in the very bed where Sir Harry's body was found.
It had troubled Bahamian legal authorities in the lead-up to the de Marigny trial that Oakes's body had apparently been moved, a fact ascertained by examination of blood data, which showed blood flowing uphill, according to the case eventually presented by prosecutors. Houts also wrote that Lansky later privately punished his henchmen who had been involved with the murder, but did not specify the punishment.
was a very prolific British author, both in fiction and non-fiction. His book, also called Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?, published in 1983 and reissued in 2001 and 2011, manages to connect the Oakes murder with the 1942 sinking of the Normandie
ocean-liner in New York
harbour and the Allied landings in Sicily
. The former Daily Express
foreign correspondent was a respected author of his day, but some of those with a keen interest in the murder believe his account to be a little far-fetched and fanciful. Even so, it is tightly-written and entertaining, and a worthwhile addition to the body of work now devoted to the case. It was the basis of a TV movie, Passion in Paradise, starring Marlon Brando
in 1989.
released the film Eureka
, starring Gene Hackman
, who played the character Jack McCann, based upon Harry Oakes.
in his 1988 book King of Fools (a biography
of the Duke of Windsor
), and expanding further on the work done by Marshall Houts a decade earlier, is that Oakes was murdered by associates of mob boss Meyer Lansky
, after Oakes resisted Lansky's plans to develop casino
s on the Bahama Islands. Lansky, together with other major organized crime
figures, already had extensive casino interests in neighbouring Cuba. Early in his career, Parker had worked as a journalist
in the Bahamas for several years, and dug into the Oakes case quite deeply. The botched investigation was undertaken by two Miami police detectives who were suspected of being on Lansky's payroll, and the Governor-General
of the Islands, the Duke of Windsor
, was warned off instigating a more professional investigation into the murder. Parker goes so far as to draw potential business connections between Lansky and the Duke of Windsor, who had earlier met in Cuba. Parker wrote that the Duke of Windsor had tried unsuccessfully to impose press censorship of the case from the start. The Duke directed the Oakes murder investigation from the beginning, but he and the Duchess of Windsor contrived to be out of the colony, visiting the United States, during the de Marigny trial, so the Duke was not called as a witness to explain his actions. The Duke kept his own detailed knowledge, and reasoning for his actions, involving the Oakes case to himself for the rest of his life (he died in 1972, shortly before Houts's first edition was published), and did not elaborate upon it in his best-selling 1951 autobiography
, A King's Story.
made a 1989 television
movie about the case called Passion and Paradise, starring Armand Assante
as de Marigny and Rod Steiger
(with an inaccurate Maine accent) as Harry Oakes.
wrote about the case in both the first (1988) and second (2005) editions of his book The Duchess of Windsor: The Secret Life (a biography of the Duchess of Windsor), and carried out a thorough investigation with the assistance of modern experts in criminology. Higham also dug deeply into archival sources. Higham's conclusion in the second edition of his book, published in 2005, is that Oakes was murdered by an Africa
n ritual
specialist from South Florida
, who had been hired and brought into Nassau by airplane on the day of the murder by Harold Christie, a Bahamian mulatto
business associate of Oakes. Christie and Oakes, the much wealthier man, had been friends and business partners for many years, and Christie had in fact facilitated Oakes's move to the Bahamas. But the two had apparently fallen out shortly before Oakes's death, because of Christie's dealings over the sale of Bahamian property on the island of New Providence
, which was slated to be used for a new airfield by the Royal Air Force
, a project of which the Islands' Governor-General
the Duke of Windsor
, a serving major-general at the time, who had been appointed by the British government, would certainly have been aware and involved with at the top level, since it had important strategic and economic implications, and would involve large expenses. Christie, who was also a member of the colony's legislature
, the Parliament of the Bahamas
(House of Assembly
), had been a dinner guest at Oakes's home on the evening the murder occurred, as the investigation found, and he had stayed overnight in Oakes's home on many occasions before that. Christie had slept in a bedroom only a few meters away from that of Oakes on the night of the murder, and claimed he had neither heard nor seen anything suspicious. Christie had to take the witness stand for an extended period during the de Marigny trial, and his testimony was not convincing to the jury. Christie was later knight
ed for his own contributions to the Bahamas, and died a wealthy man in 1973. He had apparently told close friends, several years afterwards, that he was, in fact, directly involved in Oakes's murder.
2002 novel Any Human Heart
, in which a British spy
, sent to keep an eye on the Duke of Windsor, refuses to help the US detectives frame de Marigny for the crime. In 2010 the novel was adapted into a British TV serial of the same name
.
in The Canada Post as the most 'explicitly accusatory' of all the Oakes books. Marquis dismisses the Meyer Lansky theories out of hand, and claims the murder was strictly a local affair, with white Bahamian businessmen—including Sir Harold Christie—getting rid of Oakes to prevent movement of his vast fortune to Mexico
, a move that would have undermined the entire Bahamian economy at the time. Marquis, who was editor of Nassau's leading daily newspaper for ten years, also believes the Duke of Windsor, as Governor of the Bahamas, conspired to frame Count Alfred de Marigny by hiring two crooked Miami detectives to conduct the murder investigation. This, he maintains, was also to prevent inquiries by the FBI and Scotland Yard, who he feared would expose his own involvement in illegal money transfers to Mexico during wartime currency restrictions. Marquis makes two very telling revelations in support of his theories. One concerns a passport found amongst rubble in a Nassau street, the other a comment from the Bahamas police chief who was transferred to Trinidad and Tobago
at the height of the Oakes inquiries (this second item has also been used by other authors). He also cites the involvement of the Oakes family lawyer, Walter Foskett, who he claims was robbing Sir Harry Oakes, and was in dispute with him at the time of the killing. Publishing editor Julia Tan said Marquis's book was 'exquisitely conceived' and 'makes the James Bond
novels of Ian Fleming
look pale by comparison.'
, claims that de Marigny was, in fact, the murderer after all.
During the December 2006 television documentary Murder in Paradise James Owen
, the presenter, stated that he had seen documents from the British National Archives that were not intended for public release. They contained details of a Scotland Yard
investigation that took place four years after the trial, and which concluded that de Marigny was indeed the murderer. The programme noted that as a possible motive, Oakes had uncovered corruption
during the building of Nassau International Airport, and was scheduled to fly to Miami to make a statement to the authorities the day after he was murdered.
is now a museum
, dedicated to his life and to the region's mining history. Kirkland Lake is where he made his fortune as a prospector. He was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame
.
The title Oakes Baronets
of Nassau
was assumed by Sir Harry's son, Sir Sydney Oakes (1927–1966). Upon his death, Sir Christopher Oakes (born 1949), son of Sir Sydney, inherited the title.
, Harry Oakes donated a 16 acres (64,749.8 m²) parcel of land, formerly a farmer's field, in what is now the central area of Niagara Falls, Ontario
, at the intersection of Stanley Avenue and Morrison Street. Oakes also funded a make-work project and supplied tools to build a park at the location. Crews worked for $1 per day, switching every five days to permit as much employment as possible.
Oakes Park officially opened on August 31, 1931. Today, it is a multi-use, municipally owned and operated recreational complex. The main facilities are a baseball
stadium used by the Greater Niagara Baseball Association and other elite youth and senior baseball clubs, two smaller baseball fields for younger divisions, a soccer pitch, and athletics facilities including a 400-metre track. The main baseball diamond has outfield dimensions of 318-402-322 ft, and is equipped with a press box, electronic scoreboard, and clubhouses.
, donated the land at the foot of Clifton Hill
and Niagara Parkway
to the commission in 1936. The property had formerly been the site of the Clifton Hotel
, which had been destroyed by fire on December 31, 1932.
in 1924 and constructed a 37-room Tudor- style mansion, where he and his wife, Lady Oakes, took up residence from 1928 to 1935. Oakes ended up moving to the Bahamas afterward, due to what he felt was excessive taxation by the Canadian government. The Bahamas, on the other hand, was virtually tax-free. Oakes's son, Sir Sydney Oakes, later occupied the residence. Since 1982, Oak Hall has been the headquarters for the Niagara Parks Commission.
, founded in 1823, three years after statehood and one of the very few public high school "academies" still left in Maine. The present campus is on the former Oakes farm on outer Main Street on the way to Sangerville, his birthplace. His siblings have contributed to Foxcroft Academy's endowment.
, and the soon-to-follow Great Depression
, Oakes bought 2600 acres (10.5 km²) of partially developed land in northern Palm Beach County
, Florida
, from Harry Seymour Kelsey, who lacked the finances to rebuild his shattered development. Before his untimely death, Oakes had spent a great deal of money on development of this property, which was later bought by John D. MacArthur
, who completed its development. It includes most of today's North Palm Beach
as well as Lake Park
, Palm Beach Gardens
and Palm Beach Shores
. Oakes' castle-like home in North Palm Beach became the clubhouse for the village country club.
Sangerville, Maine
Sangerville is a town in Piscataquis County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,270 at the 2000 census. The town was named after Colonel Calvin Sanger, a landowner...
– July 7, 1943 Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-born British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Canadian gold-mine owner, entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, investor and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
. He earned his fortune in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and moved to the Bahamas in the 1930s for tax purposes. He was murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed in 1943 under notorious circumstances in the Bahamas. The cause of his death and the details surrounding it have never been entirely determined, and have been the subject of several books and four films.
Early life, mining career, family
Oakes was born in SangervilleSangerville, Maine
Sangerville is a town in Piscataquis County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,270 at the 2000 census. The town was named after Colonel Calvin Sanger, a landowner...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
; his father was a prosperous lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
. He graduated from Foxcroft Academy
Foxcroft Academy
Foxcroft Academy located in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, was established as a private college preparatory school on January 30, 1823. According to its handbook, part of its historic mission as a private school is the education of secondary students from Maine communities who are without a high school...
and then Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
in 1896 and then spent two years at the Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
Medical School. However, in 1898, he left medical school before graduation and made his way to Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
in hopes of making his fortune as a prospector
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
. For the next 15 years, he sought gold around the world, including California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, before finally striking it at Kirkland Lake in Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, in 1912. This mine is located in rocky wilderness about 600 km north of Toronto, Ontario, near the province's border with the province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. Oakes established a company, Lake Shore Mining, to develop his mine. Some 20 years later, his mine was the most productive in the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
, and it ultimately proved the second largest gold mine ever found in the Americas (the largest was the Homestake Mine
Homestake Mine (South Dakota)
The Homestake Mine was a deep underground gold mine located in Lead, South Dakota. Until it closed in 2002 it was the largest and deepest gold mine in North America, producing more than 40 million ounces of gold. The Homestake Mine is famous in scientific circles for being the site at which the...
, the basis of the Hearst
George Hearst
George Hearst was a wealthy American businessman and United States Senator, and the father of newspaperman William Randolph Hearst.-Early life and education:...
fortune). By 1920, Oakes was thought to be Canada's richest individual.
Oakes married his wife Eunice, an Australian, in 1923 in Sydney, Australia; the two had met aboard a cruise ship, and she was approximately half his age when they married. Their first child, Nancy, was born in 1924, and they eventually had five children, each separated by two years.
Oakes became interested in golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and, in the late 1920s, hired top golf course architect Stanley Thompson
Stanley Thompson
Stanley Thompson was a Canadian golf course architect. He was a co-founder of the American Society of Golf Course Architects....
to build a nine-hole course for him, the "Sir Harry Oakes Private Course", in Niagara Falls, Ontario
Niagara Falls, Ontario
Niagara Falls is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The municipality was incorporated on June 12, 1903...
.
Moves to Bahamas
Oakes took British citizenship and for tax reasons lived in the Bahamas from 1935. He was invited to the British colony by Harold Christie, a prominent Bahamian real estate developer and legislator, who became a close business associate and friend. Oakes was created a baronetBaronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
in 1939 as a reward for his philanthropic endeavours in the Bahamas, in Canada, and in Britain. For example, he donated $500,000 in two bequests to St. George's Hospital in London, England, and gave a million dollars to charities in the Bahamas. He became a Bahamian citizen, and a member of the colony's parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
, the House of Assembly
House of Assembly
House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level....
.
Oakes soon proved to be a dynamic investor, entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and developer in the Bahamas. He had a major role in expanding the airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
, Oakes Field, in the capital city Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
, bought the British Colonial Hilton Nassau
British Colonial Hilton Nassau
British Colonial Hilton Nassau is a luxury five-star or AAA four-diamond colonial hotel in downtown Nassau, Bahamas, located on the only private beach of Nassau, on the site of the Old Fort of Nassau, near the Christ Church Cathedral and Greek Orthodox Church...
, built a golf course and country club, and developed farming and new housing. All this activity greatly stimulated the struggling economy in what had been a sleepy backwater, with only about 70,000 inhabitants in the early 1940s. This activity took place mainly on the principal island of New Providence
New Providence
New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It also houses the national capital city, Nassau.The island was originally under Spanish control following Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World, but the Spanish government showed...
; it was estimated that Oakes owned about one-third of that island by the early 1940s. Oakes had become the colony's wealthiest, most powerful, and most important resident by the early 1940s.
Death
On July 8, 1943, Oakes was found murdered in his mansion, known as Westbourne, in NassauNassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
. He had been battered to death, his corpse partially burned and strewn with feathers.
Investigation and trial
The Bahama Islands’ Governor, the Duke of WindsorDuke of Windsor
The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...
(formerly King Edward VIII of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
), who had become a close friend of Oakes during the three years previous, took charge of the investigation from the outset. The Duke first attempted to enforce press censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
, but this was unsuccessful. Oakes's vast wealth, fame, and British title, combined with the ghastly nature of the crime, generated worldwide interest in the case. Etienne Dupuch
Étienne Dupuch
Sir Étienne Dupuch, OBE was the editor of the Nassau Tribune from 1919 and served in the Bahamian House of Assembly for 24 years....
, the colony's foremost newspaper publisher, and a friend of Oakes, ensured constant coverage of the case for the next several months. The Duke of Windsor believed that the local police lacked the expertise to investigate this dreadful crime against the colony's wealthiest and most important citizen. Since World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
was raging, making it difficult to bring detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
s from Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
across the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, which is what normally would have been done, the Duke turned instead to two American policemen he knew in the Miami force. The Bahamas was a British Crown Colony at the time, but there were British Security personnel stationed in wartime in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, who could potentially have traveled easily and quickly to Nassau for an investigation. Bringing in the Miami detectives, one of whom (Melchen) had earlier guarded the Duke of Windsor in Miami, proved an unfortunate decision.
The two American detectives were, in theory, called upon to assist Bahamian law enforcement, but they actually completely took over the investigation, to the great dismay of local police. By evening on the second day of the investigation, some 36 hours after Oakes's body was discovered, Captains Melchen and Barker had arrested Oakes's son-in-law, Count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
Alfred de Marigny
Alfred de Marigny
Alfred de Marigny was a French Mauritian acquitted of the murder of his father-in-law, Sir Harry Oakes.-Biography:Marie Alfred Fouquereaux de Marigny, whose real name was Alfred Fouquereaux, "de Marigny" being his mother's name, was born on March 29, 1910 in Mauritius to a well-off French family....
, who wasn't formally a count, since he had obtained the French title from his mother's side of the family. De Marigny had elope
Elope
To elope, most literally, merely means to run away with a girl and to not come back to the point of origination. More specifically, elopement is often used to refer to a marriage conducted in sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving hurried flight away from one's place of residence together...
d with and married Oakes's daughter Nancy in New York City (where she was studying), without her parents' knowledge, two days after her 18th birthday, in 1942. Once she had reached age 18, Nancy no longer needed her parents' permission to wed. De Marigny, 14 years older, had met Nancy at the Nassau Yacht Club, where he was a prominent competitive sailor. The two had been dating for a couple of years before their marriage, without her parents apparently fully realizing the seriousness of their relationship. De Marigny was accused of the crime. He was thought to have been on bad terms with Harry Oakes, due to de Marigny's playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
manners and lack of a meaningful career, the fact that he had been married twice before for short periods to wealthy women, and because he had not asked Oakes's permission to marry Nancy. Harry Oakes and de Marigny had in fact quarrelled on several occasions, and these episodes had been witnessed by other people.
When Nancy was informed of her father's death and her husband's arrest, she was in Miami, on her way for the summer to study dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
with Martha Graham
Martha Graham
Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
at Bennington, Vermont. It was her great friend Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...
who first gave her the bad news. She then traveled to Bar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population is 5,235. Bar Harbor is a famous summer colony in the Down East region of Maine. It is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory and Mount Desert Island...
, the family's summer home, to join her mother, at her husband's request. But Nancy soon returned to Nassau and began to organize her husband's defense. She was convinced that de Marigny was innocent and stood by him when many others, including her family, believed him guilty. The young Countess soon became a favorite with the press world wide for her auburn hair, deep-set eyes, fine figure and mild resemblance to Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
. The murder managed to knock the war off the front pages temporarily. Nancy spent heavily to hire a leading American private investigator, Raymond Schindler, to dig deeply into the case, and a top-rank British-trained Bahamian lawyer, Godfrey W. Higgs, to defend her husband. Their combined hard work, talents and experience eventually overcame the local Bahamian and Miami Police-assisted standards of investigation and prosecution, as the defense team found serious flaws with the prosecution's case.
De Marigny had hosted his own late-running dinner party the night of the murder, with several guests at his own home, and had driven some of them home afterwards, as late as after 1 a.m. the next day. Nevertheless, he was committed for trial, and a rope was ordered for his hanging. Alfred de Marigny was eventually acquitted, following a trial which lasted several weeks, after the detectives were suspected of fabricating evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
against him. The chief piece of evidence against de Marigny at the trial was a fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
of his, which Captain Barker claimed had been found on a Chinese screen in Oakes's bedroom where the body had been found. Later, it was discovered that the print had actually been lifted from the water glass that de Marigny had used during his questioning with the Miami Police captains, and that de Marigny was being framed.
Immediately after Sir Harry's funeral had been held in Bar Harbor, Maine (the family's summer home), a few days after his death, Captain Barker, visiting by invitation, had told Countess Nancy de Marigny and Lady Eunice Oakes that he had already positively identified de Marigny's fingerprints on the Chinese screen, justifying de Marigny's status as the main suspect in the murder. Very detailed and thorough cross-examination at the trial, several months later, by de Marigny's lawyer showed that Captain Barker had not in fact positively identified the single fingerprint belonging to de Marigny until several days later than Barker had originally claimed (after he had returned to Miami, in fact), and that Barker had taken several dozen other fingerprints from Oakes's bedroom, many of which were still unprocessed weeks later. An American fingerprint expert witness, testifying for the defense, called into question the professionalism of the techniques used by Captain Barker in the investigation. The expert testified that the de Marigny print very likely could not have come from the Chinese screen, since none of the background pattern design from the screen itself appeared on the de Marigny print photograph, although other photos of fingerprints lifted from the screen did show this background pattern. De Marigny testified that he had not visited Westbourne, Oakes's home and the murder site, for the previous two years before Oakes's death, because of ongoing conflict with Oakes. Several of de Marigny's dinner party guests from the fateful night testified at the trial, and strengthened de Marigny's alibi, which was that he was hosting the party, and later drove several guests to their homes, late at night, with a witness in the car, near the time when the murder was committed. The approximate time of the murder had been determined by two Bahamian medical examiners. Significantly, the Duke of Windsor arranged to be away from the Bahamas while the murder trial was in progress, and so he was not available to be called as a witness.
Oakes's murderer was never identified by official investigation, and there were no subsequent court proceedings in the case after de Marigny's acquittal. The case received worldwide press coverage at the time, with photos of the beautiful and charming Nancy de Marigny in court. It has been the subject of continuous interest ever since, with several books and films, even into the 21st century.
Aftermath
Nancy, after the court case was over, went with Alfred de Marigny to CubaCuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, to where he was deported, to stay with old friend Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
. De Marigny was deported after a recommendation by the murder trial's jury, because of his supposedly unsavory character and frequent advances towards young girls in the Bahamas. De Marigny and Nancy separated in 1945, and were later divorced in 1949. He moved to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1945, served for a time in the Canadian Army, but was later deported from Canada as well. He married once more (his fourth), eventually settled in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, and died in 1998. De Marigny was a tall (6' 5"), handsome man, a charming and bright conversationalist, an accomplished competitive sailor who won many regattas, and he later wrote two books.
Nancy had left Cuba by the late 1940s, and lived in Hollywood, California, where she had a long love affair with 1950s Hollywood actor Richard Greene
Richard Greene
Richard Marius Joseph Greene was a noted English film and television actor. A matinee idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood, which ran for 143 episodes from 1955 to 1960.It has been...
. She has a daughter Patricia Oakes. She remained close friends with Greene until his death. In 1952 she married Baron Ernst Lyssardt von Hoyningen-Huene (adopted cousin
Cousin
In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...
of the artist George Hoyningen-Huene
George Hoyningen-Huene
Baron George Hoyningen-Huene was a seminal fashion photographer of the 1920s and 1930s. He was born in Russia to Baltic German and American parents and spent his working life in France, England and the United States.-Europe:...
, who was the only son of Baron Barthold Theodor Hermann (Theodorovitch) von Hoyningen-Huene, a German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
nobleman who had estates in Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
which were confiscated by the Soviets during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and was the Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
,). They had a son, Baron Alexander von Hoyningen-Huene. That marriage lasted until 1956. Nancy died in 2005 and is survived by her two children, Patricia and Alexander, and her two grandchildren, John Alexander Roosevelt and Shirley Leigh-Wood Oakes.
Geoffrey Bocca
In 1959, English author and historianHistorian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
Geoffrey Bocca (1924–1983) wrote the book The Life and Death of Sir Harry Oakes, published in the United States by Doubleday and Company. Bocca, then working as a bartender in New York City, had met private detective Raymond Schindler, one of his customers, who had investigated the Oakes case, working for Nancy de Marigny. Bocca used Schindler's notes, researched the case very thoroughly, and his book was a best-seller. Bocca, who earlier had worked in England for Lord Beaverbrook as a journalist, eventually published about 30 books.
Marshall Houts
Marshall Houts (1914–1993) wrote the 1972 book Kings X. This work was published in a second edition in 1976 under the new title Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?, in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
by Robert Hale publishers. Prior to the publication of the first edition, Houts, an American lawyer and graduate of the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
School of Law, who had had a long career as a coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
, judge, agent with the FBI, and university law and criminology
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
, dating back before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, had spent several years investigating the Oakes case.
Houts, a prolific author who would eventually publish 44 books, was threatened with a lawsuit by Sir Harold Christie, who was the only other person staying overnight in Oakes's home when Oakes was killed. Consultations between Houts's publisher and Christie's lawyers, led by former U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell, took place, and the book was published after only a short delay, with the agreement that Christie would be able to make a statement telling his side of the story, to be inserted into future editions of the book. The publishers waited, but Christie's statement never came, nor did he sue. Christie died in Europe in September, 1973.
In both the first and second editions of Houts's book, both editions of which sold very well, Houts proposed the theory that American gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
boss Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky , known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a Polish-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States...
was behind the killing of Oakes, due to Oakes's resistance to casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
in the Bahamas. Lansky had apparently already obtained the approval of the Duke of Windsor
Duke of Windsor
The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...
for Lansky's plans to develop gambling on the islands, after meeting with the Duke in Miami. Lansky was working with Christie, a property developer and Bahamian legislator, and other notable Bahamians, including Stafford Sands
Stafford Sands
Sir Stafford Lofthouse Sands was a former finance minister of the Bahamas. He helped create the Bahamas' tourism industry....
(who served as the jury foreman at the de Marigny murder trial), to bring this about, with significant new construction of hotels to house tourists as part of the plan. Houts wrote that Oakes had earlier apparently given his approval for the casino project, but had changed his mind, strongly opposing it, by the time of his murder. Houts wrote that Lansky had sent several henchmen to meet Oakes on the night of the murder. The henchmen were to intimidate, try to persuade, and rough up Oakes if necessary, but not kill him, during a late-night meeting with Christie, held aboard a fast powerboat which had traveled from Miami to Nassau earlier that day. But Oakes, age 68, instead wound up dying, and this was then covered up, with Oakes's body being taken back to his home by Christie (who was spotted as a passenger in his own station wagon by a Nassau Police Captain late that night, a fact which came out at the trial of de Marigny, and which directly contradicted Christie's statement that he had not left Oakes's home overnight), and a fake killing then staged at Oakes's home, 'Westbourne'. Oakes had earlier, in 1940, allowed the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to stay at Westbourne while their official residence, Government House, was being renovated, and the Duke had himself slept in the very bed where Sir Harry's body was found.
It had troubled Bahamian legal authorities in the lead-up to the de Marigny trial that Oakes's body had apparently been moved, a fact ascertained by examination of blood data, which showed blood flowing uphill, according to the case eventually presented by prosecutors. Houts also wrote that Lansky later privately punished his henchmen who had been involved with the murder, but did not specify the punishment.
James Leasor
James LeasorJames Leasor
James Leasor was a prolific British author, who wrote historical books and thrillers. Leasor's 1978 book, Boarding Party, about an incident that took place in the Second World War, was turned into a film, The Sea Wolves, starring Gregory Peck, Roger Moore and David Niven.-Biography:Leasor was born...
was a very prolific British author, both in fiction and non-fiction. His book, also called Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?, published in 1983 and reissued in 2001 and 2011, manages to connect the Oakes murder with the 1942 sinking of the Normandie
Normandie
Normandie may refer to:* The region of Normandy in north-west France and the Channel Islands* Normandie , iron-clad battleship of the 1860s.* Normandie class battleships from World War I...
ocean-liner in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
harbour and the Allied landings in Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. The former Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
foreign correspondent was a respected author of his day, but some of those with a keen interest in the murder believe his account to be a little far-fetched and fanciful. Even so, it is tightly-written and entertaining, and a worthwhile addition to the body of work now devoted to the case. It was the basis of a TV movie, Passion in Paradise, starring Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
in 1989.
Nicolas Roeg
In 1984 director Nicolas RoegNicolas Roeg
Nicolas Jack Roeg, CBE, BSC is an English film director and cinematographer.-Life and career:Roeg was born in London, the son of Mabel Gertrude and Jack Nicolas Roeg...
released the film Eureka
Eureka (1984 film)
Eureka is a 1983 film, directed by Nicolas Roeg. It is the story of a Klondike prospector, Jack McCann who strikes it rich, yet ends up fearing that his daughter Tracy and his son-in-law are scheming to take his wealth and his soul; moreover, greedy investors are also hunting McCann's...
, starring Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
, who played the character Jack McCann, based upon Harry Oakes.
John Parker
One theory, put forth by John ParkerJohn Parker (author)
John Parker is a British author and journalist.-Journalism:After leaving school, he found work at the Northampton Chronicle and Echo and worked in a number of local newspapers before getting a job in the Bahamas with the Nassau Daily Tribune...
in his 1988 book King of Fools (a biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of the Duke of Windsor
Duke of Windsor
The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...
), and expanding further on the work done by Marshall Houts a decade earlier, is that Oakes was murdered by associates of mob boss Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky , known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a Polish-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States...
, after Oakes resisted Lansky's plans to develop casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
s on the Bahama Islands. Lansky, together with other major organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
figures, already had extensive casino interests in neighbouring Cuba. Early in his career, Parker had worked as a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
in the Bahamas for several years, and dug into the Oakes case quite deeply. The botched investigation was undertaken by two Miami police detectives who were suspected of being on Lansky's payroll, and the Governor-General
Governor-General
A Governor-General, is a vice-regal person of a monarch in an independent realm or a major colonial circonscription. Depending on the political arrangement of the territory, a Governor General can be a governor of high rank, or a principal governor ranking above "ordinary" governors.- Current uses...
of the Islands, the Duke of Windsor
Duke of Windsor
The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...
, was warned off instigating a more professional investigation into the murder. Parker goes so far as to draw potential business connections between Lansky and the Duke of Windsor, who had earlier met in Cuba. Parker wrote that the Duke of Windsor had tried unsuccessfully to impose press censorship of the case from the start. The Duke directed the Oakes murder investigation from the beginning, but he and the Duchess of Windsor contrived to be out of the colony, visiting the United States, during the de Marigny trial, so the Duke was not called as a witness to explain his actions. The Duke kept his own detailed knowledge, and reasoning for his actions, involving the Oakes case to himself for the rest of his life (he died in 1972, shortly before Houts's first edition was published), and did not elaborate upon it in his best-selling 1951 autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, A King's Story.
Harvey Hart
Canadian director Harvey HartHarvey Hart
Harvey Hart was a Canadian film director and television producer.Hart studied at the University of Toronto, before being hired by the CBC in 1952...
made a 1989 television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
movie about the case called Passion and Paradise, starring Armand Assante
Armand Assante
-Personal life:Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine , a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family...
as de Marigny and Rod Steiger
Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
(with an inaccurate Maine accent) as Harry Oakes.
Charles Higham
Prolific author Charles HighamCharles Higham (biographer)
Charles Higham is an author, editor and poet. Higham is a recipient of the Prix des Créateurs of the Académie Française and the Poetry Society of London Prize.-Biography:...
wrote about the case in both the first (1988) and second (2005) editions of his book The Duchess of Windsor: The Secret Life (a biography of the Duchess of Windsor), and carried out a thorough investigation with the assistance of modern experts in criminology. Higham also dug deeply into archival sources. Higham's conclusion in the second edition of his book, published in 2005, is that Oakes was murdered by an Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
specialist from South Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, who had been hired and brought into Nassau by airplane on the day of the murder by Harold Christie, a Bahamian mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
business associate of Oakes. Christie and Oakes, the much wealthier man, had been friends and business partners for many years, and Christie had in fact facilitated Oakes's move to the Bahamas. But the two had apparently fallen out shortly before Oakes's death, because of Christie's dealings over the sale of Bahamian property on the island of New Providence
New Providence
New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It also houses the national capital city, Nassau.The island was originally under Spanish control following Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World, but the Spanish government showed...
, which was slated to be used for a new airfield by the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
, a project of which the Islands' Governor-General
Governor-General
A Governor-General, is a vice-regal person of a monarch in an independent realm or a major colonial circonscription. Depending on the political arrangement of the territory, a Governor General can be a governor of high rank, or a principal governor ranking above "ordinary" governors.- Current uses...
the Duke of Windsor
Duke of Windsor
The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...
, a serving major-general at the time, who had been appointed by the British government, would certainly have been aware and involved with at the top level, since it had important strategic and economic implications, and would involve large expenses. Christie, who was also a member of the colony's legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
, the Parliament of the Bahamas
Parliament of the Bahamas
The Parliament of The Bahamas is the bicameral national parliament of Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The parliament is formally made up by the Queen , an appointed Senate, and an elected House of Assembly...
(House of Assembly
House of Assembly
House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level....
), had been a dinner guest at Oakes's home on the evening the murder occurred, as the investigation found, and he had stayed overnight in Oakes's home on many occasions before that. Christie had slept in a bedroom only a few meters away from that of Oakes on the night of the murder, and claimed he had neither heard nor seen anything suspicious. Christie had to take the witness stand for an extended period during the de Marigny trial, and his testimony was not convincing to the jury. Christie was later knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
ed for his own contributions to the Bahamas, and died a wealthy man in 1973. He had apparently told close friends, several years afterwards, that he was, in fact, directly involved in Oakes's murder.
William Boyd
The murder was fictionalized in William Boyd'sWilliam Boyd (writer)
William Boyd, CBE is a Scottish novelist and screenwriter.-Biography:Of Scottish descent, Boyd spent his early life in Ghana and Nigeria, in Africa...
2002 novel Any Human Heart
Any Human Heart
Any Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart is a 2002 novel by William Boyd, a Scottish writer. It is written as a lifelong series of journals kept by the protagonist, Logan Mountstuart, a writer whose life spanned the defining episodes of the twentieth century, crossed several...
, in which a British spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
, sent to keep an eye on the Duke of Windsor, refuses to help the US detectives frame de Marigny for the crime. In 2010 the novel was adapted into a British TV serial of the same name
Any Human Heart (TV series)
Any Human Heart is a 2010 BAFTA award–winning TV adaptation of the novel Any Human Heart by William Boyd. It was announced in April 2010 and broadcast in four parts from 21 November to 12 December 2010 on Channel 4 in the UK and in three parts during February 2011 on the PBS series Masterpiece in...
.
John Marquis
John Marquis's book, Blood and Fire: the Duke of Windsor and the Strange Murder of Sir Harry Oakes, was published to critical acclaim in 2005. It was described by American reviewer Art Paine as 'the best written of all the Oakes books to date' and by Sir Christopher OndaatjeChristopher Ondaatje
Sir Philip Christopher Ondaatje, OC, CBE is a Sri Lankan-Canadian businessman, philanthropist, adventurer, writer and Olympian. He lives in the United Kingdom.-Overview:...
in The Canada Post as the most 'explicitly accusatory' of all the Oakes books. Marquis dismisses the Meyer Lansky theories out of hand, and claims the murder was strictly a local affair, with white Bahamian businessmen—including Sir Harold Christie—getting rid of Oakes to prevent movement of his vast fortune to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, a move that would have undermined the entire Bahamian economy at the time. Marquis, who was editor of Nassau's leading daily newspaper for ten years, also believes the Duke of Windsor, as Governor of the Bahamas, conspired to frame Count Alfred de Marigny by hiring two crooked Miami detectives to conduct the murder investigation. This, he maintains, was also to prevent inquiries by the FBI and Scotland Yard, who he feared would expose his own involvement in illegal money transfers to Mexico during wartime currency restrictions. Marquis makes two very telling revelations in support of his theories. One concerns a passport found amongst rubble in a Nassau street, the other a comment from the Bahamas police chief who was transferred to Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
at the height of the Oakes inquiries (this second item has also been used by other authors). He also cites the involvement of the Oakes family lawyer, Walter Foskett, who he claims was robbing Sir Harry Oakes, and was in dispute with him at the time of the killing. Publishing editor Julia Tan said Marquis's book was 'exquisitely conceived' and 'makes the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
novels of Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
look pale by comparison.'
James Owen
The most recent (2006) book on the Oakes murder, A Serpent in Eden, by James Owen (British author)James Owen (British author)
-Biography:Owen was born in Holland Park, London, and was educated at Eton College and University College, Oxford. After a brief period as a barrister, he worked for The Daily Telegraph newspaper as a journalist from 1995 until 2001...
, claims that de Marigny was, in fact, the murderer after all.
During the December 2006 television documentary Murder in Paradise James Owen
James Owen (British author)
-Biography:Owen was born in Holland Park, London, and was educated at Eton College and University College, Oxford. After a brief period as a barrister, he worked for The Daily Telegraph newspaper as a journalist from 1995 until 2001...
, the presenter, stated that he had seen documents from the British National Archives that were not intended for public release. They contained details of a Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
investigation that took place four years after the trial, and which concluded that de Marigny was indeed the murderer. The programme noted that as a possible motive, Oakes had uncovered corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
during the building of Nassau International Airport, and was scheduled to fly to Miami to make a statement to the authorities the day after he was murdered.
Oakes's legacy
Oakes' former home in Kirkland Lake, OntarioOntario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
is now a museum
Museum of Northern History
The Museum of Northern History is a historic house museum located in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada with approximately 5,000 pieces showcasing the history of northern Ontario in particular relation to mining. The museum is located in the Sir Harry Oakes Chateau. The museum also holds art...
, dedicated to his life and to the region's mining history. Kirkland Lake is where he made his fortune as a prospector. He was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame
Canadian Mining Hall of Fame
The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame aims to recognize the accomplishments of leaders in the mining industry.It was conceived by Maurice R. Brown as a way to recognize and honor the legendary mine finders and builders of this Canadian industry. The Hall was established in 1988...
.
The title Oakes Baronets
Oakes Baronets
There have been three Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Oakes, all in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. Two of the creations were in favour of the same person....
of Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
was assumed by Sir Harry's son, Sir Sydney Oakes (1927–1966). Upon his death, Sir Christopher Oakes (born 1949), son of Sir Sydney, inherited the title.
Oakes Park
During the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, Harry Oakes donated a 16 acres (64,749.8 m²) parcel of land, formerly a farmer's field, in what is now the central area of Niagara Falls, Ontario
Niagara Falls, Ontario
Niagara Falls is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The municipality was incorporated on June 12, 1903...
, at the intersection of Stanley Avenue and Morrison Street. Oakes also funded a make-work project and supplied tools to build a park at the location. Crews worked for $1 per day, switching every five days to permit as much employment as possible.
Oakes Park officially opened on August 31, 1931. Today, it is a multi-use, municipally owned and operated recreational complex. The main facilities are a baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
stadium used by the Greater Niagara Baseball Association and other elite youth and senior baseball clubs, two smaller baseball fields for younger divisions, a soccer pitch, and athletics facilities including a 400-metre track. The main baseball diamond has outfield dimensions of 318-402-322 ft, and is equipped with a press box, electronic scoreboard, and clubhouses.
Oakes Field
An entire district in Nassau, Bahamas was named after Sir Harry Oakes, complete with a memorial.Oakes Garden Theatre
Designed as an ampitheatre, Oakes Garden Theatre was opened in September 1937. Oakes, a member of the Niagara Parks CommissionNiagara Parks Commission
The Niagara Parks Commission, or Niagara Parks for short, is an agency of government of Ontario which maintains the Ontario shoreline of the Niagara River.- History :...
, donated the land at the foot of Clifton Hill
Clifton Hill (Niagara Falls)
Clifton Hill is one of the major tourist promenades in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The street, close in proximity to Niagara Falls and the Niagara River, leads from River Road on the Niagara Parkway to intersect with Victoria Avenue. The street contains a number of gift shops, wax museums, haunted...
and Niagara Parkway
Niagara Parkway
The Niagara Parkway, formerly known as Niagara Boulevard and historically as the Niagara Road, is a scenic road in the province of Ontario that travels on the Canadian side of the Niagara River from the town of Fort Erie to Niagara-on-the-Lake...
to the commission in 1936. The property had formerly been the site of the Clifton Hotel
Clifton Hotel (Canada)
The Clifton Hotel was the site of the 1914 Niagara Falls peace conference.-History:The original Clifton Hotel was lost to fire in 1898. Its replacement was destroyed by fire on December 31, 1932. Harry Oakes, a mining millionaire bought the property and presented it to the Niagara Parks Commission...
, which had been destroyed by fire on December 31, 1932.
Oak Hall
Oakes bought property just above Dufferin IslandsDufferin Islands
Dufferin Islands are a group of scenic man-made islands located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, approximately 1/2 mile south of the Horseshoe Falls...
in 1924 and constructed a 37-room Tudor- style mansion, where he and his wife, Lady Oakes, took up residence from 1928 to 1935. Oakes ended up moving to the Bahamas afterward, due to what he felt was excessive taxation by the Canadian government. The Bahamas, on the other hand, was virtually tax-free. Oakes's son, Sir Sydney Oakes, later occupied the residence. Since 1982, Oak Hall has been the headquarters for the Niagara Parks Commission.
The Willows
Sir Harry Oakes and his family kept a summer home called "The Willows" in Bar Harbor, Maine. It is now an inn called The Atlantic Oakes-By-the-Sea.Foxcroft Academy
Oakes graduated from Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft, MaineDover-Foxcroft, Maine
Dover-Foxcroft is a town in Piscataquis County, Maine, United States, and the county's largest town and county seat. As of the 2000 census, the population was 4,211.-History:...
, founded in 1823, three years after statehood and one of the very few public high school "academies" still left in Maine. The present campus is on the former Oakes farm on outer Main Street on the way to Sangerville, his birthplace. His siblings have contributed to Foxcroft Academy's endowment.
Real estate investment in Florida
After the disastrous Florida Hurricane of 19281928 Okeechobee Hurricane
The Okeechobee hurricane, or San Felipe Segundo hurricane, was a deadly hurricane that struck the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Florida in September of the 1928 Atlantic hurricane season...
, and the soon-to-follow Great Depression
Great Depression in the United States
The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement...
, Oakes bought 2600 acres (10.5 km²) of partially developed land in northern Palm Beach County
Palm Beach County, Florida
Palm Beach County is the largest county in the state of Florida in total area, and third in population. As of 2010, the county's estimated population was 1,320,134, making it the twenty-eighth most populous in the United States...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, from Harry Seymour Kelsey, who lacked the finances to rebuild his shattered development. Before his untimely death, Oakes had spent a great deal of money on development of this property, which was later bought by John D. MacArthur
John D. MacArthur
John Donald MacArthur was an American businessman and philanthropist who established the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, benefactor in the MacArthur Fellowships.-Early life:...
, who completed its development. It includes most of today's North Palm Beach
North Palm Beach, Florida
North Palm Beach is an incorporated village in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 12,064 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 12,645...
as well as Lake Park
Lake Park, Florida
Lake Park is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,721 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 9,080.-Geography:Lake Park is located at ....
, Palm Beach Gardens
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Palm Beach Gardens is a city in Palm Beach County in the U.S. state of Florida. The city is in the center of a rapidly-developing area north of West Palm Beach in the northern part of the county and the South Florida metropolitan area. , the population was 48,452...
and Palm Beach Shores
Palm Beach Shores, Florida
Palm Beach Shores is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 1,269 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 1,511.-Geography:...
. Oakes' castle-like home in North Palm Beach became the clubhouse for the village country club.
Further reading
- The Life and Death of Sir Harry Oakes, by Geoffrey Bocca, New York, Doubleday, 1959.
- Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?, by Marshall Houts, London, Robert Hale, 1976, ISBN 0-791-5499-2.
- Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?, by James LeasorJames LeasorJames Leasor was a prolific British author, who wrote historical books and thrillers. Leasor's 1978 book, Boarding Party, about an incident that took place in the Second World War, was turned into a film, The Sea Wolves, starring Gregory Peck, Roger Moore and David Niven.-Biography:Leasor was born...
London 1983, 2011. ISBN 978-1-908291-06-6 - King of Fools, by John Parker (author)John Parker (author)John Parker is a British author and journalist.-Journalism:After leaving school, he found work at the Northampton Chronicle and Echo and worked in a number of local newspapers before getting a job in the Bahamas with the Nassau Daily Tribune...
, (American edition), New York, St. Martin's Press, 1988. - "Blood and Fire, the Duke of Windsor and the Strange Murder of Sir Harry Oakes" by John Marquis (LMH Publishing, 2005)
- The Duchess of Windsor: The Secret Life, 2nd edition, by Charles HighamCharles Higham (biographer)Charles Higham is an author, editor and poet. Higham is a recipient of the Prix des Créateurs of the Académie Française and the Poetry Society of London Prize.-Biography:...
, 2005. - The real-life murder case behind Any Human Heart, by William Boyd, The Guardian, 13 November 2010.
External links
- Harry Oakes Murder thegrapevine.ca (Canada)
- Images of Oakes Garden Theatre Niagara Falls Niagara Falls Public Library (Ont.)
- Images of Oak Hall Niagara Falls Public Library (Ont.)
- Atlantic Oakes By-the-Sea Hotel Bar Harbor, Maine