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Story that Angered Indianapolis Mayor in Famous Crimes #1, at Auction

Published Sat, 11 Jun 2022 09:32:10 -0500

Democrat Albert G. Feeney became Mayor of Indianapolis at the beginning of 1948 after a long background in politics and law enforcement in Indiana. A famous name in the state in the era, Feeney had played football at Notre Dame as a teammate of Knute Rockne, was on the legendary Canton Bulldogs team during the foundation of the NFL, and was later on Rockne's coaching staff at Notre Dame. Beginning in the 1930s, Feeney became Superintendent of the Indiana State Police, and in charge of the Department of Criminal Identification and Investigation. At the end of that decade and on into the early 1940s, he was elected Marion County, Indiana Sheriff, where he was known for a focus on juvenile delinquency. Feeney had run on a platform of fiscal responsibility and fighting political graft to become Indianapolis mayor, but upon taking office he almost immediately went to war on the comic book industry. There's a copy of Fox Feature's Famous Crimes #1 (Fox Features Syndicate, 1948) Condition: VG+ which contains the story that seems to have shocked him the most up for auction in the 2022 June 12-13 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122224 from Heritage Auctions.

Famous Crimes #1 (Fox Features Syndicate, 1948)

Indianapolis was far from the only local government taking on comic books like Famous Crimes in 1948. Despite a New York State statute prohibiting the sale of publications with "pictures and stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or crime" being declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in WINTERS v. PEOPLE OF STATE OF NEW YORK (decided March 29, 1948), a number of other states and cities were ramping up their attempts to enforce similar statutes which targeted comic books. And just as importantly, pressure was also being brought to bear on comic book distributors, which was an angle that Feeney used as well.

Feeney blew his cool over the true-crime tale titled "Clara Peete, the Beautiful Beast" that appears in Famous Crimes #1. Notorious publisher Victor Fox also used this story in Phantom Lady #16 and it also apparently appears in a March of Crime rebound volume, which is part of what drew the Mayor's ire, it seems.

The Mayor termed the book an apparent attempt to violate a voluntary agreement between the city and the distributor.

"This does not set well with me," he wrote, "and I ask that you contact the suppliers of this new publication with the request that they refrain from placing any of these magazines on stands where children may purchase them."

The "particularly sordid" comic concerned a woman who murdered two persons, disposing of their bodies by burning one and rolling another in a rug.

In response to this sort of outrage, several industry publishers formed the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers and announced their code guidelines in June of this year. There's a copy of Fox Feature's Famous Crimes #1 (Fox Features Syndicate, 1948) Condition: VG+ which contains the story that seems to have shocked him the most up for auction in the 2022 June 12-13 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122224 from Heritage Auctions.