DATELINE TOOBWORLD: OCTOBER 9, 1958

'THE THIN MAN'

"HOUSEWARMING"

(October 31st, 1958)

Things that happened on Thursday, October 9, 1958, 60 years ago today:

From the West Virginia Archives & Histories:

Senator John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.) spoke in behalf of the entire Democratic ticket Thursday at a luncheon sponsored by the Wood County Democratic Committee. Senator Kennedy specifically urged the election of Robert C. Byrd and Jennings Randolph, who are the Democratic nominees for the Senate.

(Parkersburg Sentinel)

From the Hartford Courant:
Before his election to the papacy, Pius XII served as Cardinal Secretary of State, in which capacity he worked to conclude treaties with European and Latin American nations, most notably with Nazi Germany. His reserved leadership of the Church during World War II remains the subject of controversy, according to Reuters. After the war, Pius XII advocated peace and reconciliation, including lenient policies towards Axis nations.  

(O'Bservation: The Pope died on this date.)

From Wikipedia: 

The New York Yankees won the World Series, beating the Milwaukee Braves in the seventh game.  The game was played at County Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

• Eddie Mathews struck out eleven times, a World Series record that Wayne Garrett would tie in the 1973 World Series. The co-records would stand until the 1980 World Series, when Willie Wilson of the Kansas Royals struck out twelve times.
  
• The Braves, as a team, struck out 56 times, a new World Series record. In addition to Mathews' 11 strikeouts, Del Crandall also struck out 10 times, making it the first time two different players from the same team struck out 10 or more times in a single World Series.
  
• This was Casey Stengel's seventh world championship, which tied him with Joe McCarthy for the most World Series won. It would also be Stengel's last.
  
• The 3–1 deficit overcome by the New York Yankees was the first ever in a best-of-seven by an American League team. The only other instance was by the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1925 World Series.

For all the stats, click here.

On the Toobworld timeline, thieves took advantage of the Big Apple's fixation on that last game to rob a jewelry store.  Their score was the "Snow Fairy", the world's largest uncut diamond, which was worth millions. (According to former detective Nick Charles - I think he was underestimating its value by quite a bit.)  

The gang was led by a man named Sitwell who used his position as the owner of a floral shop as a cover for his nefarious activities.  The diamond was hidden away in a New Jersey rest home for senior citizens, where skilled diamond-cutters from the Netherlands were brought in to cut the Snow Fairy.  (Sitwell's scheme would be an inspiration to a New Jersey mobster Tony Soprano four decades later.  Soprano would also use a nursing home as a front his illegal activities.)

Nick Charles was able to retrieve the Snow Fairy (seen at the top) and bring the criminals to justice about two weeks after the heist.

BCnU!