The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-08-06

 which enveloped Crater also swal- lowed up the taxicab and the driver. Neither has ever come to light.
 When Justice Crater rode oil to whatever destiny was his, he left behind an ever-broadening wake of speculation, gossip and hints of po- litical scandal, bu. not single clew to his fate.
 His wife, Mrs. Stella M. Crater, believes that he is dead-that he was murdered. She believes that some sinister force, some way con nected with politics, swallowed up her husband and left no trace of him upon earth.
 Statutory Period Ended
 Now that the seven-year statutory period has elapsed, she wants him declared legally dead. She needs his insurance. some $20,000.
 For nearly month after Crater disappeared his friends and political associates said nothing. They be- lieved he would reappear. They did not wish to jeopardize with what might prove to be unpleasant pub licity his chances of winning the democratic nomination for election to the full 14-year term on the su- preme court bench.
 But after this month of silent waiting, the search started. Police, a private detective, friends Of the jurist, Mrs. Crater herself and news papers launched investigations which eventually covered the United States and extended into Canada, Mexico, Europe, Africa and Aus tralia.
 Police offered a 5000 reward. Be- fore 1t was withdrawn a stack ot letters two feet high and contain ing purported leads" to Crater's whereabout had accumulated at po- lice headquarters. The jurist was found" repeatedly.
 Unidentified Bodies Checked
 Unidentified bodies of suicides and murder victims throughout the na- ton were checked against Crater's description. Only one bore any strong resemblance to the missing jurist. A Pinkerton detective short ly after the disappearance found a dead man on the grounds of the Agua Caliente Jockey Club in Lower California. But like others before and since this Head" also failed.
 Only three theories as to what happened to Crater appear to be at all plausible:
 1. He committed suicide.
 2. He disappeared of his own vo- lition and still lives.
 3. He was murdered.
 Mrs. Craterand most of his friends have ruled out the first.
 Joe could take Q blow" his wife said recently, breaking her long si- lence to reporters. He would fight back. He wouldn't kill himself"
 Political Angle Considered
 Those who hold to the theory ot suicide point out that Tammany might have decided not to make him the halls nominee for election 10 succeed himself. Proud of the ap- pointment to the bench, made by Franklin D. Roosevelt, then gov ernor of New York state, Crater may have felt that life was no long, CT worth living. There is more evi- dence to support the theory that Crater left of his own accord, al- though there Is none to indicate he still lives.
 Justice Crater was appointed to the bench on April 8, 1880, on the recommendation of Sen. Robert F. Wagner, whose secretary he had been before Wagner resigned from the appellate division to run for the senate. Previously he had served as receiver for the Libby Hotel, 8 cost ly white elephant which had been erected to serve as Ritz for Jews" on the Lower East Side and which, after falling into receivership, was condemned by the city to make room for a housing and street-widening project.
 The Libby proceedings were con- cluded but the Ewaid case still was developing when, g days before he was to take his place on the bench Crater joined his wife at their Bel grade Lakes, Me, summer camp.
 He arrived at the camp on Aug. 2. That night he made several tele- phone calls to New York. Whatever the calls were about, they made him extremely "irritated," his wife said Some profess to believe that he was told then that Tammany did not m- tend to give him the nomination. .
 The next day Judge Crater told hE wife he would have to return to New York, but he promised to return in time for her birthday the following week.
 Departed for New York
 He left that night" Mrs. Crater said. That was the last time ] ever saw him." ....
 Investigators subsequently, learned something ot Judge Crater's movc- ments in New York. On Aug. 4 he visited his town apartment at 40 Fifth Avenue and told the maid he would leave for camp again Aug. 2. On Aug. s he visited his oftace in the Supreme Court building. The next day he and his confidential secre- tary, Joseph Mara, spent the morn- ing removing personal papers from the office. He sent Mara out to cash two checks totaling $6,l60. Simon H. Rifkind, Senator Wagner's law partner in whose suite Crater for merly had maintained an office, vis- tied and conferred with the judge.
 Later Crater and Mara returned to the apartment where the justice dismissed his aide with the remark that he was going swimming up Westchester way" That remark, relayed by Mara, never made sense | to Mrs. Crater. Her husband did not like and seldom went swimming.
 Bought Thester Ticket