Drawing Salves

Dateline: 8 February 2015

Old Fashioned Black Salve
"For Man or Beast"

I am intrigued by drawing salves. I first learned of the whole concept of a salve that can draw out splinters just a few years ago from a friend who said his mother always had it on hand, and used it often. It turns out that a lot of families once kept a container of drawing salve in the cupboard. It isn’t just for splinters, it is for most any skin irritation, like sunburn, insect bites, pimples, boils, and so on.

When I mentioned drawing salves to a neighbor last summer, she said, “Oh, yes. ichthammol. That’s good stuff. Doc Mackey used a lot of it.”  Doc Mackey (now deceased) was the veterinarian in these parts for a very long time. He is something of a legend. Most everyone has a Doc Mackey story. I’ve heard it said that, on occasion, he treated needy humans with veterinary medicines. 

I'm pretty sure that Ichthammol is a brand name of ammonium bituminosultfate. Here is an internet definition of ammonium bituminosultfate:

"A viscous fluid, reddish brown to brownish black, with a strong, characteristic, empyreumatic odor, soluble in water and in glycerine; obtained by the destructive distillation of certain bituminous schists, sulfonating the distillate and neutralizing the product with ammonia. It is used in skin disorders; its beneficial effect is due to its mild irritant, stimulant, antiseptic, and analgesic action; used in 10-20% concentrations in ointment ("drawing salve").

In other words, it's made from a rock. 

It is possible to mix up your own drawing salve, and I plan to do that someday. There are a few recipes on the internet (Here is one), but they differ quite a bit. None have ichthammol because I don’t think it can be purchased in it’s pure form by just anyone. 

Many drawing salves have pine tar as an ingredient. I’m partial to pine tar and I’m pretty sure I want to use pine tar in my recipe. I bought a container of high-quality, organic pine tar a few years ago, with the intention of making some pine tar soap, but that didn’t happen. So it will go into my homemade drawing salve.... someday.

In the meantime, I have purchased several different drawing salves and found others on the internet. I'm listing them below, along with their ingredients and instructions. 

If there is an Amazon.com link for the product, I’m including it because you can go to the links and read the comments and testimonials from people who have used the product. The comments make for some interesting reading.

One important point I should make clear is that some of these general purpose drawing salves are black in color but they are not the same as the black salve with bloodroot that is a traditional remedy for skin cancers (as shown in This You Tube Movie). 

QURET

Drawing Salve

“Since 1918”

Amazon Link: Quret Drawing Salve

Manufacturer: Jamark Labratories, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Color: dark amber

Smell: wintergreen

Ingredients: Petrolatum, Beeswax, Castile Soap, Tallow, Rosin, Methyl Salicylate, Chlorothymol.

Information on container: “An effective drawing agent and soothing ointment. Place Quret on bandage, apply to affected area. For minor skin irritations, sunburn, etc. place a small amount on fingertip, dip in water, smooth on area. Repeat application twice a day or as needed.”

Comments: My family has used this for a couple of years. I don’t have any medical miracle stories. It certainly seems to have helped with splinter removal and healing of minor skin irritations.

####

Smile’s PRID

Homeopathic Salve

All Natural Drawing Salve

Amazon Link:  Smiles PRID Drawing Salve

Manufacturer: Hylands, Inc., Los Angeles, California

Web Site: Hylands Homeopathic

Color: Dark amber (darker than Quret) with a reddish hue.

Smell: mild medicinal 

Ingredients: Carbolicum Acidum, Ichthammol, Arnica Mont, Calendula Off, Echinacea Ang, Sulphur, Hepar Sulph, Silicea, Rosin, Beeswax, Petrolatum, Stearyl Alcohol, Methyl and Propyl Paraben.

Information on Container: “Uses: Temporary relief of pain and irritation associated with boils, minor skin eruptions and redness. Also aids in relieving the discomfort of minor skin irritations, superficial cuts and scratches”

“Directions: Wash affected area with hot water, dry and apply PRID twice daily on clean bandage or gauze. Do not squeeze or pressure irritated skin area. After irritation subsides, repeat application once a day for several days. Children under two years, consult a physician.”

Comments: I purchased a tin of this at WalMart

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Pa Smith’s 

Black Drawing Salve

Manufacturer: Applachian Heritage Soaps, Marietta, Ohio

Web Site: Pa Smith's Black Drawing Salve

Color: Black

Smell: Medicinal

Ingredients: Olive oil (infused with alfalfa, comfrey, plantain, and poke root), Pine Tar, Castor Oil, Beeswax, Vitamin E.

Information on Container: “This old-time recipe was used to draw out infection, splinters and boils. Every farmer valued this salve and even the delicate used it for psoriasis and excema.”

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Grandma’s Black Salve

Healing and Drawing Ointment

Manufacturer: Grandma’s Black Salve, Cameron Park, California

Web Site: Grandma’s Black Salve

Color: Black

Smell: (unknown)

Ingredients: Lard, Onions, Olive Oil, Beeswax, Pine Tar, Grapefruit Seed Extract.

Comment: This is the only drawing salve I know of with onions!  

####

Union (Black) Salve

Manufacturer: H & H Remedies, New Philadelphia, Ohio

Web Site: H & H Remedies

Color: Dark Brown

Smell: Medicinal

Ingredients: Sheep Tallow, Pine Tar, Carbolic Acid, Castor Oil, Mineral Oil, Lanolin, Beeswax, Petrolatum.

Description: “Fantastic product for healing cuts and abrasions, and relief for minor burns, sunburns, minor skin irritations, and bites of non-poisonous insects.”

Comment: This is an old (100 years) family business and recipe. The company is now operated by the  great grandson of the man who developed the salve. It is described not only as a drawing salve, but a healing salve too. There are numerous testimonies of this salve being used with amazing results on serious burns. A free mini-sample is available upon request.

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Hills Remedy

Black Drawing Salve

Manufacturer: Hills Remedy, Toledo, Ohio

Web Site: hillsremedy.com

Color: Black

Smell: Unknown

Ingredients: Olive Oil, Beeswax, Honey Powder, Activated Charcoal, Kaolin Clay, Cocoa Buttr, Shea Butter, Calendula, Chamomile, Chaparral, Chickweed, Comfrey, Echinacea, Golden Seal Root, Lobelia, Marshmallow Root, Mullein, Plantain, Red Clover, Eucalyptus Essential Oil, Lavender Essential Oil, Myrrh Essential Oil, Vitamin E.

Description: “Black Salve works by softening the skin surrounding the infection or foreign body. This allows the foreign body or substance to be “drawn” to the surface of the skin. Hills Remedy’s BLACK SALVE also contains many healing herbs which aid in quick healing.”

Comment: Web site provides insights into the useful qualities of each ingredient. 

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Dr. Christopher’s 

Black Ointment

Amazon Link: Dr. Christopher’s Black Ointment

Manufacturer: Wholistic Botanicals, Spanish Fork, Utah

Web Site: drchristopher.com

Color: Black

Smell: Strongly medicinal

Ingredients: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Chaparral Leaf, Comfrey Root, Red Clover Blossom, Mullein Leaf, Plantain, Chickweed Herb, Marshmallow Root, Goldenseal Root, Lobelia, Poke Root, Pine Tar, Mutton Tallow and Beeswax.

Information on Container: “Apply externally as needed or as directed by your health care professional.”

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Vet One

Drawing Salve

Amazon Link: Vet One Drawing Salve

Distributed by: www.vetone.net

Color: Black

Smell: None

Active Ingredients: Ammonium Bituminosulfonate, 20%

Inactive Ingredients: Anhydrous lanolin, amber petrolatum

Information on Container: “Purpose: For hooves, nails and skin of horses and dogs.”  “For external use only. Not for human use.”

###

I'm far from an authority on drawing salves, and I haven't tried all of them, so I can't tell you which one is the best to get. It may well be that every one of them is a worthwhile formulation. But I am partial to the, empyreumatic pine tar formulations, like Pa Smith's, Union Black Salve, and Dr. Christopher's, even if they lack Ichthammol.

As far as getting the most ointment for your money, the veterinary drawing salve is by far the best value.

####

I'm wondering.... Do you have any experience with, or insights into, drawing salves? Please share in the comments below.

Samuel Leeds AllenAnd The Planet Jr. Name

Dateline: 11 February 2015

(A Repost From 2011)

Samuel Leeds Allen
1841-1918
Founder of the Planet Jr. Company

At my Planet Whizbang wheel hoe web site I have a Story About Samuel Leeds Allen, the man who made the Planet Jr. wheel hoe, and so many other agricultural implements, back in the 1800s. In my story about Allen, I say that I would like to know more about him, and I'd really like to know how in the world he came up with the "Planet Jr." name.

Well, a couple weeks ago I got an e-mail from Leslie McManus, the editor of Farm Collector magazine, with the following information.

A Planet drill was developed by S.L. Allen from two washtubs riveted together, rim to rim, with a wooden tire and handles added in subsequent iterations. Allen, an amateur stargazer, noticed the device’s resemblance to the planet Saturn, hence the name of the implement. Later he developed a smaller version of that seed drill, and called it the “Planet Junior.” 

For those who may not know, a “drill” is a tool for planting seeds, in the ground, in a row. Mr. McManus also told me the following...

Allen’s daughter, Elizabeth R. Allen, wrote a book about her father; the book (“Samuel L. Allen — Intimate Recollections and Letters”) was published by Franklin Printing Co., Philadelphia, in 1920. Obviously small run and out of print, but perhaps an eBay search will prove fruitful.

All of that was great to know but the story gets even better because four hours later, I got an e-mail from S.L. Allen’s great granddaughter:

Great grandfather invented a fertilizer drill for spreading guano.  He named it the "Planet Drill" because of its resemblance to the planet Saturn and its rings.  The seed drill that immediately followed was called "Planet Jr". These were the first of the Planet Jr. family.  This occurred in 1866.  Hope this helps your desire for information concerning the naming of the farm implement line.

Isn’t the internet just an amazing thing! I asked Mr. Allen’s great granddaughter a couple questions and she wrote back...

Great Grandfather had the first mail order company in the US.  The Brandywine Museum in Delaware has an exhibit which is interesting.  At one point, the farm implements were being pulled by water buffalo and camels as well as horses and mules--in other words--all over the world.

Elizabeth was never married.  Charles Jackson, the son, was my Gramp.  The book, which is on line amazingly, is a collection of letters and Elizabeth's recollections as well as others who knew him.  Hope you enjoy it.  I didn't know that copies were still available as it was a private printing by Franklin Press.  The book ends with tributes offered after Samuel's death.  I particularly like the Goethe quote at the end.  I also carry it with me.

So the book was online? I went looking for it, and FOUND IT HERE.

I have not read far into the book yet, but right in the beginning I discovered.... 

Precepts of Samuel L. Allen 

(found among his earliest papers)

[slightly edited]

Acquire the Habits of : 

Punctuality in everything. Attention. Observation. Patience. Doing things systematically. Finishing everything undertaken. Untiring industry.

Cultivate the Habits of : 

Thoroughness in every study. Doing everything well. Learning something from everyone. Thinking deeply, powerfully, and comprehensively. Reviewing — remembering that next to perseverance it is the great secret of success as a student.

Cultivate the Habits of a Gentleman: 

Politeness. Cheerfulness. Good humor. The memory, by observation, reading, conversation and  reflection. Command over my temper. The conscience.

Cultivate the Habits of: 

Daily prayer. Self-control of the tongue. Self-control of the feelings. Self-control of the thoughts. Self-control of the heart. Soundness of judgment. Humility and liberality of heart.

Beware of: Temptations: 

Light reading (which enfeebles the mind and corrupts the heart). Silly speeches. Silly acting. Fault finding. Bad company. The first step in sin. Secret sins. Bad books. Indulging in reveries of imagination. Contracting the habit of procrastination. Levity upon sacred subjects.

Do not refuse to walk in a difficult path of duty.  Never neglect any opportunity of self-improvement. Strive to improve thoughts when alone. Have a plan laid beforehand for every day. Have regard to the position of the body. Be simple and neat in personal habits. Treat properly my parents, friends and companions. Seek to " know thyself." Form fixed principles on which to think and act. Faithfully review my conduct at stated intervals. LiveNever neglect any opportunity of self-improvement. Strive to improve thoughts when alone. Have a plan laid beforehand for every day. Have regard to the position of the body. Be simple and neat in personal habits. Treat properly my parents, friends and companions. Seek to " know thyself." Form fixed principles on which to think and act. Faithfully review my conduct at stated intervals. Live to do good and make this my aim in company and conversation. Do not waste the company's time or my own by talking trifles. Do not endeavor to be a wit or punster. Do not view words in an unnatural light for the sake of smart sayings. Beware of severe speaking. Be careful in introducing topics of conversation. Say as little as possible about myself, friends, deeds, etc.

==========

Those precepts remind me of George Washington’s Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior In Company and Conversation, which he transcribed when he was a teenager. I’m thinking it may have once been popular for young men to put into writing some personal guidelines for how to best conduct themselves in life. What a fine idea. 

Making A ToolFor Getting SnowOff The Roof

Dateline: 11 February 2015

That's a full foot and a half of snow. 

The snow around here is getting high enough that many people are concerned about the weight of it on their roof. A heavy snow load can collapse a roof, and there have been plenty of instances of that around here over the years. 

I’ve never been too concerned about the weight of snow on my house roof because I built it and I know it is built well. Besides that, the roof does not have a low pitch and is in a place where it doesn’t seem to accumulate as much snow as some other roofs hereabouts.

But our second house, a factory-manufactured “doublewide” just down the road, is a different story. The roof pitch isn’t much, and the house is so sheltered that the snow really piles up, as the picture above shows.

To make matters worse, weather reports were predicting freezing rain here a few days ago. Snow on a roof holds rain water like a sponge, and the weight load really skyrockets. It’s a recipe for possible disaster. So I needed to get the snow off that roof for sure.

I could have just shoveled the whole roof off by hand, but I was intrigued by several clever snow-removal devices that I saw on YouTube. This Video of a tool from Finland was the first I saw, and it sure was inspiring. I watched videos of many other snow removal tools and came to the conclusion that This One (also from Finland) was the most intelligent and effective design.

With that in mind, my middle son and I spent last Saturday morning making a prototype tool for roof snow removal. It was a collaborative effort. 

I told my son that if we figured out a good design, I would help him get it to market (for next winter). We would sell them through Planet Whizbang and he could keep the profits. My business and workshop would serve as an incubator for his own start-up business. That would please me to no end. So we made our prototype and here is a video of it in action (on the roof of my workshop)...

That first prototype was encouraging, but it had some problems. We modified the design and it worked better. But a whole new, improved prototype is in the works. Maybe we can get that together by next weekend.

By then, I will have the 24-foot Graelick, telescoping aluminum extension pole I ordered. The pole is much lighter than the two sections of 1” diameter steel conduit we were using in the video. I used the conduit because I had several lengths on hand (I use them when making My Garden Trellis Spans). A lightweight, 24-foot extension pole could prove to be a handy tool for other homestead tasks.

Even with the heavy handle and not-yet-finalized design, our snow removal tool did a truly remarkable job of removing most of the snow from the doublewide roof. 

This first push up the roof shows how nicely the tool slices through and releases the snow.

###

There is yet another (and much simpler) way of getting a lot of snow off a roof. This Video is also from Finland and it is well worth watching if you have an interest in this subject.

David Good, My Wheel Hoe, Anne Marie & The Garden Idea Book

Dateline: 9 February 2015

David Good, with his Whizbang wheel hoe.

I first “met” David Good a few years back when he purchased one of my Whizbang Wheel Hoe Kits. A little while later, he posted a Review Of The Tool at his popular blog, Florida Survival Gardening. I’ve been a reader of his blog ever since, and I’ve learned a lot (I’ve also been entertained).

Recently David e-mailed me about an upcoming garden video project he is going to be part of. It will feature a lot of well-known gardeners. He said he is going to mention my Whizbang wheel hoe in the video. That’s really nice of him. David referred to my wheel hoe in an e-mail as...

 “...the most elegant little workhorse. Compared to my [name deleted], it is a much better weeder.”  

Coming from David, that means a lot. (I deleted the name of the other wheel hoe because I make it a point not to be critical of any of my competitors in public.)

I sell about 100 wheel hoe kits a year. That’s not many. But it’s not bad considering that I do not do any print advertising. The nice part is that I get good feedback. A couple of small farmers have actually bought an additional wheel hoe kit after they put their first one to use and found it to be a worthwhile tool.

I debated whether or not to keep selling the kits when my supply of parts ran out. But the parts ran out in late December of last year and I scrambled to get the materials for another 200 kits made. Even though I don’t earn a lot of money with my wheel hoe, I enjoy selling the kits. There is no good reason not to keep making and selling them.

David Good also bought some of my Classic American Clothespins when they came out, and he wrote a Great Little Review of them too. David's review of my clothespins is notable for insinuating (in a nice way) that I am totally insane.

And now, David Good, my internet gardening compadre, has gone and written A Dandy Review Of The Planet Whizbang Idea Book For Gardeners at his newest blog, The Brilliant Homestead. At one point in the review, David wrote that my book...

"...nestles in the sweet spot somewhere between the down-to-earth and the skyward-reaching tendrils of imagination."

Wow. That's some good writing! Thank you, David.

Speaking of my garden idea book, it has sold well, due in large part to the amateur YouTube videos I made last summer. The first video, Four-Day Carrots, now has almost a quarter of a million views! If you have a book or a product to sell, it makes a lot of sense to tap into YouTube to market your product. I’m a believer. I need to be doing more YouTube movies.

Another reason my Garden Idea book has sold well is that the reviewers at Amazon have been very kind to me by overlooking the book’s many little flaws. I will be fixing the flaws in the 2nd printing, which I anticipate doing in about a year.

With that in mind, I have just had the book professionally edited. Most book publishers get their book edited before publishing it. That is the right way to do it. I know better than to publish a book without editing, but spring was coming, time was short, and I just wanted to get the project done.

How I found a person to edit the book is kind of an interesting story. A woman named Anne Marie bought some clothespins from me last year. I included a paper with the order, telling about the clothespins. Part of the paper said  “These clothespins have been carefully crafted by my family and I...”  That choice of words on my part prompted the following e-mail:

==========

Hi Herrick,

I am thrilled with my clothespins! The old weak ones will be donated to the local charity thrift store.

I hope you won’t mind if I point out a grammatical error in your “Thank you” note. In the first sentence, “my family and I” is the object of the preposition “by.” As such, the pronoun should be in the objective case: “me.” 

Just as you would never say, “These clothespins were crafted by I,” neither should you say “…by my family and I.” For some reason people tend to shy away from “me” (and “her” and “him”) when used following “and.” All it takes is a quick test (e.g., leave out family and just talk about yourself) and you can see that the objective case pronoun is the proper one to use. 

If “My family and I” is the subject of the sentence (“My family and I crafted these clothespins in our home workshop…” then the nominative case (I, he, she…) is correct. (You wouldn’t say “Me crafted these clothespins.") I hope this makes sense!

Best wishes for continued success with Planet Whizbang!

Anne Marie 

Retired high school English teacher

==========

Well, I didn’t mind being corrected at all. Fact is, I appreciated it (and made the change). 

I am in awe of people who, unlike myself, really know their grammar (objective case pronoun?), and it was evident to me that Anne Marie would be a good person to edit my garden book. I asked, she expressed an interest, and I sent a copy of the book her way. 

Anne Marie liked the book, and told me what it would cost to have her do the editing. I agreed, some e-mails were exchanged along the way, and I received the heavily edited book back a few weeks later.

I couldn’t be more pleased with the way it all played out. The bad news is that I have a LOT of work ahead of me to get the book shipshape for the 2nd printing. 

So that’s the story of how two people, David Good in Florida and Anne Marie in Colorado, have blessed me with their interest in my products and their professional expertise. They are not, of course, the only two people to do this, but they are two people who I’m particularly thankful for today.

A section of edited page.

The Joy OfSnowblowing

Dateline: 6 February 2015

My Snowblower

Central New York state is known for getting quite a bit of snow, and this winter is shaping up to be a particularly snowy one.  When I was growing up, my parents never had a snowblower or plow to clear snow out of the driveway, and they never had the money to hire someone to plow their driveway, and I was the only boy in the family, so I got plenty of experience at shoveling snow by hand. It was good work.

My three sons grew up with the same shoveling experience because I didn’t have a snowblower or plow, or an excess of money to hire someone else to do the work. Besides that, I felt that it was good for boys to be outdoors, shoveling snow by hand, just like I did when I was their age.

But three years ago, after hearing from so many of my co-workers who had snowblowers, and after coming to the realization that my body is not the physical specimen it once was (and with my boys not living here any more), I spent the money for a good-quality snowblower.

Since I don’t have a garage or barn, I keep my snowblower on the back patio, covered with a tarp (weighted down around the edges with blocks of firewood). I have a power cord there for the electric starter, which works like a dream.

I’ve discovered that my snowblower is a simple, efficient, and economical machine to use. And, with the perspective of hand-shoveling snow for so many years, snow-blowing is a real joy.

A snowblower is a great example of how incredibly efficient an internal combustion engine is at getting work done. Or, more specifically, how efficient fossil fuels (i.e., gasoline) are at getting work done.  

I did some searching on the internet and found that one gallon of gasoline has an energy potential equivalent to 300 man-hours of work (another source said 500 hours). That sounds kind of high to me when I consider my snowblower. 

I think I get around six “shoveled” driveways out of a gallon of non-ethanol gasoline. Six into 300 man-hours per gallon of fuel would be 50 man-hours of work. It certainly wouldn’t take me 50 hours to hand-shovel the driveway.

Nevertheless, small engines are capable of doing a lot of work, and I’m thankful for my snowblower.

Yours truly, February 2015

The Incredible Dr. Pol

Dateline: 4 February 2015

Why is this cow on its back? Well, it's probably because it has a twisted stomach. If so, Dr. Pol (right) has gotten the stomach back in place and is putting in a few stitches to hold it there. You will be familiar with this procedure after watching The Incredible Dr. Pol.

Since I don’t have cable service or watch any television (and haven’t for years) I tend to be one of the last to find out about any particularly good programs that are worth watching. Such is the case with The Incredible Dr. Pol. The show first aired in 2011 and I just “discovered” it last week. 

I found it as I was browsing through Netflix, looking for something that was positive or educational to watch on a cold winter night. I’m not into watching comedy, crime, horror, sports, westerns, romance, or war movies. Some historical and biographical documentaries interest me. A wholesome family-focused movie (usually of older vintage) will get my attention too. I would guess that 99% of the titles offered on Netflix are unappealing to me—many are downright offensive. 

So when my browsing mouse landed on The Incredible Dr. Pol, a “reality” show about a veterinarian in Michigan, and I saw it was rated five stars, I decided to give it a try. It was a pleasant discovery. Marlene and I have now watched most of the first two seasons (all that are available on Netflix), and we have become great fans of the incredible doctor. There are so many good aspects to this fascinating, family-friendly program. 

Dr. Pol amazes me because he is still going strong at 70+ years of age. The man is not only a dedicated master at his craft but a very hard worker. As a large animal vet he goes out to farms and is often up to his armpits in the rectums of cows and horses. Delivering problem calves can be particularly brutal. The Dr. typically strips to the waist for such deliveries and may struggle for over an hour with bare hands and arms deep in the uterus. It’s a messy life and death struggle and sometimes the calf doesn’t come out alive. If it does, it always gets a cold bucket of water splashed onto its head. The water shocks the calf and it “gasps” into breathing

After watching some episodes of the show you will learn a lot about dealing with animals and treating them. For example, I dare say I could reinstall a prolapsed bovine uterus, if I had to, but I sure wouldn’t want to.

Aside from the diversity of animal problems and solutions, and the amazing vitality of Dr. Pol, the show focuses on Dr. Pol’s family (his son and wife help with the business), his clinic employees, and so many long-time community relationships. It is powerfully endearing to my agrarian mindset.

Like any reality show for television, there are some contrived aspects, but they don’t detract from the genuineness of what Dr.Pol and his veterinary team do. 

I suspect most people reading this already know about Dr. Pol. If, however, you have not yet watched The Incredible Dr. Pol, I heartily recommend that you check out some show clips and episodes on YouTube or Netflix.

Dr. Pols' wife, Diane, is an integral part of the family business.
She takes the calls and "tells him where to go."

My Close CallWith A NotoriousMob Hit-Man

Dateline: 3 February 2015

After my last blog post, in which I mentioned the anniversary of my deliverance from a prison job, I did a Google search of Harold Konigsberg. I found (At This Link) that he has finally died. That being the case, I feel it is time to tell this story. Although, I once wrote here that I had no interest in telling any stories from my “prison days,” this will be the one exception.

That’s Harold Konigsberg, back in the day.  He murdered at least 20
people before the Law caught up with him. They say he enjoyed
murdering people, and he never had any regrets.
He was a classic homicidal psychopath.

I don’t recall the exact year this story happened. Maybe 2007. It doesn’t matter. The point is that it did happen. And were he not in prison, I can’t help but think that Harold Konigsberg would have strangled me with his bare hands (as he liked to do) for getting in his way— for ruining a business deal that he was intent on making. Before it was over, Harold Konigsberg knew exactly who I was, and what I had done, and I did not feel comfortable about it.

###

This story began on a Sunday, after church. My pastor (I’ll call him Mr. W.) told me that he had received a letter from an inmate at Auburn Correctional Facility (where I worked at the time). The inmate wrote because he wanted to purchase Mr. W’s business. 

Mr. W. owned a successful manufacturing company that was started decades ago by his father. The company was growing and had been featured in a local newspaper story. Harold Konigsberg had read the story and saw a good opportunity.

The letter was a multi-page document in which Harold explained that his family had prior experience with such businesses, and that he had the money to make the purchase. More than once, he stated that “my daughters and I will own 51% of the business.” Harold didn’t want to own the whole company, he just wanted to be the managing partner.

A copy of the letter was mailed to Mr. W. by Harold’s attorney, who also happened to be his daughter. If I recall correctly, he had two daughters, and both of them are attorneys. Another copy of the letter was hand-delivered to Mr. W. at his home by a prison guard. The guard was a local man who had known Mr. W. for many years. I didn’t know the guard, but I knew some of his family.

I was shocked by the fact that a prison inmate would write a letter wanting to purchase Mr. W’s business, but I was more shocked that a prison guard was acting on behalf of Harold. That was not right. The guard was encouraging Mr. W. to meet with Harold at the prison to discuss this business proposition.

I told Mr. W. that I would take a copy of the letter to work with me the next day, and discuss the matter with some people I trusted to give me good counsel. 

I showed the letter to two men I worked with who had been at the prison a long time, and who I knew were privy (one directly, and the other indirectly) to Harold’s files and his history.

The first man, Mr. S., took an immediate interest in the letter. I remember him saying, “This is not good. Harold is a very, bad man.”  The other man, Mr. H., was equally concerned and serious about the matter.

We discussed the letter, and shared it with another employee for his opinion. One of the things we were trying to discern was if the letter was threatening in any way. We came to the conclusion that the repeated phrase, “My daughters and I will own 51% of the business” sounded like a threat. Harold wasn’t asking to buy the business. He was telling Mr. W. that he was going to buy it and would own 51%.

When I mentioned to my concerned co-workers that a guard had hand-delivered a copy of the letter to Mr. W., that raised their eyebrows. After a long pause, one of them asked who it was? I said I felt like keeping that part of the story to myself. They didn’t press the matter.

I also mentioned that Mr. W. was giving serious thought to meeting with Harold. Although he had no interest in selling his business, he felt like it might be a good opportunity to share his Christian faith. At this announcement, one of the men dropped his head and shook it, like he couldn’t believe it was happening. The other man said, “That’s a bad idea.”

I gave the letter to Mr. H. He said he was going to take it directly to the Superintendent. Mr. S. put in a call to his close contact in the inmate counseling department. It would not take long for virtually everyone in the prison to know what was going on. I knew that would be the case, and I was glad that someone was taking it seriously.

Mr. H. and Mr. S. shared with me some of Harold’s history. He was as bad as they get. He had been in Auburn a long time. He was an old man. But Mr. S. made it clear that, old as he was, Harold was still a powerful and physically dangerous person. It also sounded like Harold was not treated like the average inmate. He tended to get away with bending the rules. No one in authority gave him any trouble. He was, Mr. S. told me, a master at manipulating people to get his way, even behind bars.

The next day at work, Mr. S. had two photocopies of an article from the New Yorker magazine about Harold. One copy for me. One copy for Mr. W. The article was titled Blood Relation and was written by Harold’s nephew, Eric Konigsberg.

Eric Konigsberg had grown up not knowing anything about his infamous uncle (his family had kept Harold a secret for a long time). After he found out, he ended up visiting Uncle Harold in prison, and getting Harold’s story from Harold himself. 

I’m not someone who has any interest in gangsters and their sordid lives, but I certainly read that article. It was disturbing, to say the least. Harold was a brutal, merciless beast of a man. And, as Mr. S. had said, the article made it clear that Harold was very adept at getting his way, even while in custody. 

The New Yorker article had been something of a sensation when it was published. Mr. S. told me that Harold was not happy with it. Mr. S. told me that the last time his nephew visited him (after the article was published), Harold made a scene in the visiting room, threatening to Kill the nephew. Harold himself may not have had an opportunity to get his hands on his nephew’s neck, but he surely had mob friends on the outside.

Nevertheless, the nephew went on to publish the book, Blood Relation, expanding on the story of his wicked uncle.

I took the magazine article directly to Mr. W. after work on the day I got it. I emphatically advised him NOT to meet with Harold. The New Yorker article had convinced me. All I could think of was a spider web. Harold was the spider. Mr. W. was the fly. I was concerned that Mr. W. should not get anywhere near the web. But the prison guard “friend” of Mr. W. was encouraging Mr. W. to go meet with Harold.

The next day at work, Mr. S. and I went “up front” (to the administrative offices of the prison) to meet with Harold’s counselor. That sounded good to me. We were making some progress at getting this problem taken care of.

To his credit, Harold’s counselor took the matter seriously. But, during our meeting, the Superintendent of the prison came in and really disappointed me. My assumption was that he would see the seriousness of the situation and simply put an end to it.

The Superintendent didn’t take it seriously. He told me that there was nothing he could do about it. He said that if Mr. W. was concerned, he needed to write a letter to him (the Superintendent) expressing his concerns.

I was flabbergasted. I said, “You've gotta be kidding me! Mr. W. is a victim here. He doesn’t want to make waves and antagonize Harold. He’s not going to write a letter to you. He just wants to be left alone. I’m Mr. W’s friend, and I’m telling you for him. He just wants this guy to leave him alone.”

The superintendent shrugged his shoulders, said he was sorry, and walked away. The man was a coward. I lost all respect for him at that moment.

What’s more, the Superintendent expressed no interest at all in knowing anything about the guard that was working for Harold. He surely knew that part of the story. And the higher-ups in security surely knew it too. Had anyone in the administration asked me about the guard, I would have given them the name.

But I was actually glad they didn’t ask. The guard was not a bad guy. He was apparently caught in Harold’s web. And he wasn’t the only one.

The counselor met with Harold and somehow managed to convince him that it was not a good idea to pursue the purchase of Mr. W’s business. Besides that, Mr. W. had decided not to meet with Harold. The episode came to a close. But there are a couple of afternotes to this story.

A month or so after this all took place, a guard came to me and wanted to know the story directly from me. This guard (I’ll call him Officer K.) knew Mr. W. and had been in his class in high school. Officer K. was someone I knew as a good guard (there are good guards and not-so-good guards in prison). He also knew Harold. Officer K. was upset about the guard that was working for Harold. He asked his name. I wouldn’t give it. He then said he was going to ask Harold about all of this and get his story.

Awhile after that, I saw Officer K. and asked him if he had spoken to Harold. He said that he had. Harold told him that he had every intention of buying Mr. W’s company but “Some guy named Herrick Kimball ruined it all.”

I thought Officer K. might be joking, but he was serious. “How did Harold get my name?” I asked. 

“I don’t know. But he knows who you are.”

Wow. That made me kind of uncomfortable. My imagination started running wild. I got a little paranoid after that. I half expected a big black car with darkened windows and New Jersey license plates to pull into my driveway at home. I imagined big guys in dark suits with sunglasses getting out of the car. I decided that if that happened, I would not go out and talk to them. I would just start shooting. 

Fortunately, it was not too many months after these things took place that Harold was transferred to another prison. Something had happened. A couple guards were “locked out” pending an investigation (the guard that advocated for Harold with Mr. W. was not one of them). The rumor was that relatives of these guards were given jobs by Carnival Cruise Lines, as a result of Harold’s influence. It turns out Harold’s “family” owns the company. Or.... maybe they just own 51%.