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The E-Sylum:  Volume 4, Number 49, December 2, 2001, Article 12

  BOBBY GREENLEASE

  In 1953, six-year-old Bobby Greenlease was kidnapped from
  his school by Carl Austin Hall and Bonnie Brown Heady for
  a $600,000 ransom.  "Bobby was the son of Robert C. and
  Virginia Greenlease.   His 71-year-old father was one of the
  largest Cadillac dealers in the nation. The Greenleases lived
  in Mission Hills, Kan., the most elite suburb in the Kansas
  City area.

  "In the late morning of Sept. 28, 1953, the 41-year-old
  Heady walked into the school and told a nun she was Bobby?s
  aunt ? that she and Virginia Greenlease had been shopping on
  the County Club Plaza when Virginia had a heart attack. She
  said she was there to take Bobby to the hospital.

  The Greenlease family got its first inkling of the disaster when
  the nun who had allowed Bobby to leave school with Heady
  called the Greenlease home in mid-afternoon to inquire after
  the health of Mrs.Greenlease.

  Hall began his contact with the Greenlease family by sending
  them a pin that Bobby had been wearing when abducted, and
  demanding a ransom of $600,000 in $10 and $20 bills.  Hall
  had calculated that this amount of money would weigh 80
  pounds, and that a million dollars would weigh too much for
  him to carry.  Hall specified that the ransom money would
  have to be collected from all 12 of the Federal Reserve banks
  ? 20,000 $20 bills and 20,000 $10 bills.

  Robert Greenlease called in several of his closest friends and
  undertook to comply with Hall?s demands. He contacted the
  head of a local bank, Arthur Eisenhower, brother of the
  incumbent president of the United States, Dwight D.
  Eisenhower. Arthur Eisenhower saw to it that the serial number
  on every bill was recorded (the list of serial numbers was later
  printed in a number of newspapers)."

  [The child was killed within thirty minutes of his abduction.
   Only half of the ransom money was recovered - Editor]

  http://www.crimemagazine.com/greenlea.htm

  It would be an interesting project to locate and republish
  lists of the serial numbers of bills from these and other
  famous crimes.  Perhaps some survivors lie anonymously
  today in dresser drawers, private collections, or even
  dealer stock.  It would be a great "cherry-pick" to find one
  of the notes in any condition.

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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