The Empty Robe: The Story of the Disappearance of Judge Crater

by Stella Wheeler Crater, Oscar Fraley

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime

159 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

Reviews

[Sparrow .]

These Dell paperbacks of the 1960s – this one was 50 cents – (published in ’61) really fit in your pocket! I read it propulsively. The Empty Robe is not high literature, but, as the much-beloved Saturday Review says on the front cover – above the title! – it’s “the most famous and baffling case of the century… absorbing, fascinating.”

This spouse you are married to, who is he, really? Could he have a secret showgirl-girlfriend you never know of, until one day he abruptly and inexplicably vanishes?

Yes, quite possibly he does.

But if you are Stella Crater, you will refuse to believe it, till you slip soundlessly into your grave.

A judge is an exalted, muttering, priest-like being – though Crater was only briefly a judge. It’s disturbing to think that a robe-clad jurist has a sex urge, limitless greed, dirty feet. (I’m not saying this is true of Crater. He remains – until I search on Wikipedia – an enigma.)

Opening the book at random:

“After the judge failed to return the following week, did you make any further inquiries?”
“Yes. I sent the chauffeur down to New York.”

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so grateful to the Dr. William A.S. Sarjeant Literature Collection for supplying me with a copy to read.

It was amazing to read this story from the perspective of Judge Crater's wife.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told in the words of his wife, this is the story of the infamous disappearance of Judge Joseph Crater back in 1931. He was never located. Stella Crater wrote a slim but solid account of the circumstances surrounding her husband's disappearance; the facts she gave seem to be accurate, as they match up with other accounts I have read. More importantly in my view, Stella gives an excellent portrait of her husband's personality and her own, and as you read about what happened to her during the search you come to grips with common problems in left-behind families that most people don't think about: for instance, she suffered numerous financial problems after her husband vanished because his income had of course stopped and most of their assets were in his name.

The primary thing that strikes me about this book, however, is Stella's immense capacity for self-delusion and blind faith. It's really rather sad. She goes out of her way to assure the reader that her husband—whom she obviously adored—was an honest and honorable man in all aspects of his life and that he had never been unfaithful to her. She is absolutely sure of all this, in spite of ample evidence of Judge Crater's extramarital affairs and political corruption and in spite of the fact that, prior to his disappearance, Stella really knew very little about his finances or his business life. She didn't even find out he had been appointed to the state Supreme Court until she read it in the newspapers after the induction ceremony. This book is definitely worth reading for the characterization alone, it you can find it. I have read only one other full-length book about Joseph Crater's disappearance, Richard Tofel's Vanishing Point: The Disappearance of Judge Crater, and the New York He Left Behind.

[KL · Rating 3 out of 5]

A true, if biased, account of the disappearance of New York Supreme Court Justice Joe Crater, as seen through the eyes of his wife, Stella Crater. The story recounts Crater's disappearance in August of 1930 and the subsequent investigation. Though Crater was finally declared dead seven years after his disappearance, the case still remains open and unsolved.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get that it was a different era and women had a different place in society, but truly the wife sounds like a melodramatic twit which ruined an otherwise interesting story.