Eccentric millionaire Edward Ridley

A CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF EDWARD RIDLEY

In May 1933, police were called to  a crime scene at a damp hovel  below what had once been  Ridley and Sons  Department Store complex, on the Lower East Side of New York.  The Ridley family had disposed of the property when the giant emporium closed down in 1901.   However, the reclusive  and eccentric Edward Ridley did not sever all connection. He set up a successful  real estate and money lending business in the sub-basement, below the old stables. It was 35 feet below ground level. Apparently Ridley chose the location because he didn’t want to be disturbed by the rumble of  a nearby elevated railway.

For thirty years the frugal millionaire quietly commuted to this mean  little office from his boarding house in New Jersey. The only time he had to confront the wider world was when he  arrived one morning  in 1931 to find his   long time  confidential assistant, Herman Moench,  shot dead . Neither the killer nor the weapon used could be found.  Moench had known Ridley from the age of nine, and had worked as his confidential secretary for decades

ENTER MR LEE WEINSTEIN

It seems that the old man’s judgement was failing, because he chose an unlikely person as Moench’s replacement. Perhaps because his world was so narrow,  he employed virtually the closest person at hand. This was Lee Weinstein, one  of two  brothers who managed the garage  above,  on street level  (originally  the building’s stables).  Weinstein was terrible  at maths,  and secretly  enlisted  the help of two accountants, George Goodman and Arthur Hoffman,  to help with Ridley’s complicated affairs. They were not on the payroll, but it would transpire that they were being amply rewarded by Weinstein.

On May 10 1933 Harry Weinstein tried to reach his brother Lee by telephone.  When that failed he went down to the subterranean office to be confronted  by Edward Ridley’s body at the entrance and his brother’s further inside.

The scene was horrific.  The old man himself had been beaten to death with an iron bar and a book-keeper’s stool. He must have put up a fight, because  portions of his beard had been pulled out by the roots.  Next to him was  44 year old Weinstein  who had been shot multiple times in the chest (some reports said five, others seven).

A photograph of detectives at the murder scene shows them examining one of  the many derby hats found.  Edward Ridley habitually wore a derby, and presumably he was too frugal to dispose of his old ones.   More sinister is the broken stool in the foreground of the  photo. It was found covered in blood.

Edward Ridley in his customary derby hat.
(Getty Images)

Bizarrely, forensic examination of spent  bullet cases revealed that the same gun   was used to kill  both Herman Moench  and  Lee Weinstein.  It was a  .32 caliber  automatic revolver. As in the previous shooting, robbery did not appear to be the motive . What possible reason  could there have been for someone to shoot both of  Ridley’s assistants?  And was the old man battered to death because he disturbed Weinstein’s  killer, who had run out of ammunition?

DIAGRAM OF THE MURDER SCENE

The ramp shown in the diagram below was built for access to the stables by delivery horses in the old days.

RIDLEY’S FORTUNE

In the course of the investigation, Edward Ridley’s will came to light. This was a surprise, because he had always resisted making one.   It was dated March 4 1932, and witnessed by the accountants Goodman and Hoffman.  Ridley’s usual solicitor had not been involved, and there was a bequest of $200,000 to the dead Lee Weinstein.  Clearly the will was fraudulent.  Ridley’s eyesight was very poor and it was assumed he had unwittingly  signed the will in a sheaf of other papers. It was further revealed that Weinstein, Goodman and  Hoffman had been stealing from Ridley for quite some time. Weinstein had purchased a Cadillac on the proceeds.  The information increased the already intense public interest in the case, but did not appear to have any bearing on the murders. The crooked accountants  ended up in Sing Sing, but as they told the detectives, they needed Weinstein  alive to keep the cash flowing. They had nothing to gain  (and quite a bit to lose)  by his death.  A $10,000 reward was offered by the administrators of  Ridley’s estate.

Edward Ridley was buried in Green-Wood cemetery, Brooklyn.  With an estate of approximately $3,000,000 at stake  it was hardly a surprise when someone went to court  in 1934 claiming to be the illegitimate son of Ridley. His story was  quickly disproved and  the case was  thrown out. The money was eventually dispersed among nieces and nephews.

The old man’s landlady, Miss Emma Boucher,  was devastated  by his brutal  murder.  She immediately put her boarding house up for sale.  She too was in her eighties, and had postponed retirement to maintain a home for her eccentric lodger.

In 1946 there were reports that the New York Police Department were investigating a secret new clue which it was hoped would  finally crack the complex case.  However,  as far I can discover, nothing eventuated.   Officially, all three deaths remain unsolved.  One thing is for sure;  Edward Ridley’s death was even stranger than his life.

Only this small portion of the Ridley and Sons building remains, protected by a heritage order.

AUTHOR’S THEORY –  It’s my belief that a disgruntled client, perhaps with underworld connections, was responsible for the deaths.  Moench, and subsequently Weinstein, were virtually running old Ridley’s business and perhaps it was felt that by taking them out the problem would be solved.  I’m sure the killer of Moench expected the business to collapse after his death. Weinstien’s  bizarre appointment allowed it to continue, and would  have been a complete shock.   Edward Ridley was little more than a figurehead, and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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9 Comments
  1. I do like a ‘happy ever after’ – but of course I don’t always get one! What a sad sad tale. I think I’ll have to go back to reading The Famous Five by Enid Blyton. At least they had an adventure AND solved the mystery.

  2. In 1990 I went to a local Jr. College and in one of my classes I was assigned this case to research and write a report on. We had computers but no internet as that didn’t start until 1991. Yes I’m old lol. My research was done at the local library on microfiche. Such fun! Not really. I didn’t find a lot of information but enough to piece together a paper on. The newspapers seemed to concentrate more on the family members wanting to contest the Will, which I found out reading this, that most of the money went to them anyway.
    I received an A on my paper and held onto it for quite a while.. Still not certain what ever happened to it. It was a pleasure to read your investigations into this terrible set of murders, and it brought back lots of memories for me. I don’t know why but today was the very first time I’ve ever tried to look it up on the web. I found a couple of stories, all interesting and with various differences. You’re is the first with actual photos. Those have me goosebumps.
    Thank you for posting this story and I hope you have great success in your future writings.

    • Pauline

      Thanks for taking the trouble to leave a message Dawn. I came across this story while researching something else and became so intrigued by it. By the way, I am probably a lot older than you, and remember microfiche all too well. Well done for your A!

  3. I am researching my great grandmother Eliza Kate Hunt Ridley and came across this story in an English newspaper article. Albert was her cousin. Although she did have a legitimate claim to his fortune she decided not to travel to America as she felt too old to fly that far.

    • Pauline

      Ooh, how interesting Liz. Thanks so much for taking the trouble to leave this information.

  4. I know these posts are a few years old at this point, but I absolutely loved finding them today. Like a commenter above, I too wrote a paper on this murder mystery. When I was in high school, my wonderful English teacher gave us options on what to do for a thesis paper and many of us took her up on her suggestion to research unsolved crimes. Yes, microfilm and microfiche for me as well – a joy to spend those weekend days at the local library, trying to find all the articles I could about this case. I like to listen to true crime podcasts these days and something about what I was listening to this morning reminded me of this story. A little bit of googling with the bits of pieces I remembered and here I landed. I then starting digging around in closets, found a memory box of high school and college things…and FOUND A COPY OF MY PAPER!!! My thesis at the time was that the two accountants did it. While yes, as they said, it would seem as if they would have nothing to gain and everything to lose with Weinstein’s death, I still believed it was them. Done in anger or frustration with a scheme that was falling apart – I had a clearly written out theory of the whole crime, including the first secretary’s murder. Loved reading through my paper from three decades ago. And loved finding this – the pictures are wonderful. Thank you!

    • Pauline

      Thanks for leaving such an interesting message Arlene. What a great English teacher you had. I will have to revisit the case myself. I too love reading about unsolved murders and there are many similar articles on this site. I hope you received a good mark for your paper! 😍

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