From the beginning, the Boys Club was uncooperative and very ambiguous. They refused to investigate the atrocity I had alleged, and they refused to state whether they would help if I proved to them that I was telling the truth. At this point, we had reached an impasse: they demanded full disclosure, including the names of the perpetrators and copies of my medical records, without any reciprocal exchange of information from them and with out any assurance whatsoever that they would help me if the allegations proved true. For all I knew, they could take my medical records and use them to discredit me and take the names of the perpetrators to warn them that I was coming.
In the following letter, I pleaded for a clarification of their intent, which they refused me.
June 17, 1997
Dear Mrs. Moseley:
I fired my attorney last week, and I will not be hiring another one, at least not for the time being. I brought Mr. Hardoon into this matter with the hope that he would mediate the terms of an agreement between us. From the beginning, I made it emphatically clear to him that all I wanted were the funds I need for an opportunity to confront my past and to recover from it. Perhaps he conceived a much broader agenda; I don’t know. In any case, regardless of his reasons, he could not help me, and you will not hear from him again. Nor will you hear from anyone else on my behalf. I prefer to carry the ball myself for a while, until my own game plan has played out entirely.
I have now attempted every conceivable avenue by which I might have obtained the funds I need to confront my past, and I have not succeeded. Clearly, my life hangs in the balance here. If I fail to raise the funds I seek for the opportunity to heal myself, I am condemned to suffer for another three decades through a daily recurrence of the assault that was inflicted upon me in 1963. That is not going to happen. I am going to move ahead swiftly and incisively, but before I make my next move and cross the Rubicon, I am appealing to the Boys’ Club for their help one last time.
As you know, I met with Mr. Gagne on April 7 in his office, and I showed him documents which supported every point put forth in my letter to you on January 28. During our meeting, at no time did Mr. Gagne offer me any assistance in my efforts to recover from the injuries I suffered at the Jordan Gym in July of 1963. Nor did he offer me assistance after consulting with your board of directors. When I spoke with him at that time, on April 10, I was stunned by his announcement that your directors were requesting copies of my medical records and the names of my assailants without an offer of help in return. I appreciate your need to know, but I reserve the right to expose these two monsters if I have to make a public appeal for the funds I need. And if I have to expose them, I will catch them totally unawares.
For the last time, I ask that you please declare your intent in this matter. This is a point of deep concern to me, and I think rightly so. To this date, almost nine months later, despite an ongoing painful illness, a passionate plea to help me cure it, and an offer of substantial evidence of the crime that caused it, I have heard nothing.
If you think you can find your way to helping me, and if you think you can bring it forth quickly, please ask Mr. Gagne to page me at [telephone number redacted], or ask your attorney to page me.
Sincerely,
[signed]
James Chester
Follow Up: The Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston responded to this appeal with a letter from their attorney, Judith Malone, Palmer & Dodge LLP.