Palmer Dodge Attempts to Restart Negotiations with Rape Victim

First E-mail, A Demand For Help, From James Chester To Judith Malone

Wed, July 14, 1999 7:39 AM EST

I am going to the newspapers and the television stations tomorrow morning.

That is how much time the Club has to make an offer to help me.

Sincerely,

James Chester

Response To First E-mail, From Judith Malone To James Chester; An Overture To Settle

Wed, July 14, 1999 2:35 PM EST

As you may be aware, I spoke with your attorney last week and informed him that the Club was willing, as it always has been, to keep talking to you about the issues that you have raised. Since you ceased your communication with the Club last summer, there have been some changes at the Club that you should be aware of. The Club has a new president, Linda Whitlock. She has been informed of your previous communications with the Club and is concerned about the issues you have addressed and is talking to people at the Club about how best to respond.

Ms. Whitlock has been informed of the efforts that the Club has made to work with you. As I am sure you will recall, shortly after you first contacted the Club in September of 1996, we arranged a meeting between you and the Vice President of Administration. The events that you relate occurred some thirty-six or more years ago. While the Club was sympathetic to your difficult situation, we understandably asked for whatever corroboration you could provide in order for us to determine how to proceed.

The Club has very few records from the early 1960s. The Club has no record of your attendance at any camp. You have alleged on various occasions that the incidents occurred in three different years. The Club did confirm that there is no one currently employed at the Club who was working there during the years in question. You have been unable to identify anyone who was involved in these events and the one person whose name you gave us, was able to convince both us and your own legal counsel that he was not affiliated with the Club or its summer program. At the end of last summer we did not know what else we could do except to continue to be open to receiving any additional information that you might have. Although we were willing to do that, you indicated that you no longer wanted to deal with the Club.

After many months of silence, you have now contacted members of the Board. From this we have concluded that you do wish to continue a dialogue with the Club. Perhaps it would be most helpful at this juncture for you to tell the Club exactly the nature of the help that you are looking for from the Club as was referenced in your earlier e-mail to me.

Sincerely,

Judith A. Malone

Second E-mail, From James Chester to Judith Malone

Wed, July 14, 1999 3:29 PM EST

Dear Attorney Malone,

Here is my response to your email which I received one hour ago.

Dear Mr. Chester,

As you may be aware, I spoke with your attorney last week and informed him that the Club was willing, as it always has been, to keep talking to you about the issues that you have raised. Since you ceased your communication with the Club last summer, there have been some changes at the Club that you should be aware of. The Club has a new president, Linda Whitlock. She has been informed of your previous communications with the Club and is concerned about the issues you have addressed and is talking to people at the Club about how best to respond.

1. You say the Club is willing to continue talking with me, but the Club declined to speak with Dr. Wool when I brought her forward, and the Club has made no attempt to speak with Father Healy since I have produced his affidavit. It seems to me that the Club is willing to talk but it is not willing to consider any corroboration that I bring to them. Am I wrong? We’ve been talking for three years!

2. I became aware that Mrs. Moseley was about to resign several weeks before she announced her resignation — via reports in the Boston Globe. I became aware of Linda Whitlock and her move from BBN (?) shortly afterward. I have known about her all along.

Ms. Whitlock has been informed of the efforts that the Club has made to work with you. As I am sure you will recall, shortly after you first contacted the Club in September of 1996, we arranged a meeting between you and the Vice President of Administration. The events that you relate occurred some thirty-six or more years ago. While the Club was sympathetic to your difficult situation, we understandably asked for whatever corroboration you could provide in order for us to determine how to proceed.

The Club has very few records from the early 1960s. The Club has no record of your attendance at any camp. You have alleged on various occasions that the incidents occurred in three different years. The Club did confirm that there is no one currently employed at the Club who was working there during the years in question. You have been unable to identify anyone who was involved in these events and the one person whose name you gave us, was able to convince both us and your own legal counsel that he was not affiliated with the Club or its summer program. At the end of last summer we did not know what else we could do except to continue to be open to receiving any additional information that you might have. Although we were willing to do that, you indicated that you no longer wanted to deal with the Club.

1. I assert that my meeting with Mr. Gagne was put together for no other reason than to determine the amount of compensation I was demanding from the Club. At no time during the meeting — or afterwards during our telephone conversation — did he offer any help whatsoever with my investigation.
Indeed, the Club refused outright — in its very first correspondence with me — to investigate my allegations.

2. The events which I relate did indeed occur thirty-six years ago, but five months ago I produced an affidavit stating that I disclosed details of this assault to both Dr. Wool and a friend twenty years ago. And almost ten years before that, in 1972, I had to be hospitalized because I began reliving an incident from my childhood, which I have described as involving an older male individual threatening me in a sexual manner while in a small room. Fr. Healy’s affidavit corroborates my description of the scene, and Dr. Wool’s letter does also.

3. It is true that I have alleged on various occasions that this incident occurred in three different years. But that was before I conducted a brief investigation in the fall and winter of 1996-7 which proved (by photographic documentation) exactly when I attended the camp and that I did in fact attend the camp. Since then, I have stated consistently that the attack occurred in the summer of 1963.

4. Regarding the few records from the early sixties which the Club possesses, they should have allowed me to examine those records. The Club had no problem demanding all my documents, yet they refused to reciprocate with even a gesture of help with my investigation.

5. As for my not producing one of the other boys, I am entirely confident that if I go public with my allegations, one of those boys will come forward, and God help the Club if he does. I think you understand that. You know that I have the names and addresses of at least half of the other boys plus most of the counselors. I have been unable to contact them because it has been extremely difficult for me to talk about the things that were done to me in that room. However, I have finally succeeded in coming out with it. Though I know it will be painful, I feel it is a scream for help and I must make it, no matter how frightened I am to scream.

6. Neither of us has proven that [unredacted] did not participate in this atrocity. Neither one of us. He has denied it, and that is all we have: a denial. My letter to Larry Hardoon about [unredacted]’s denial reflects nothing more than prudence on my part. I would like you to know that I am aware of extensive television coverage of the Club and its members during the early sixties. I distinctly remember Arch MacDonald coming out to the Club and taking pictures of all of us, including counselors, on the front porch. And then there are all those pictures of the boys who participated in Community Auditions, Bozo the Clown, and Major Mudd’s show. These television programs showcased the Club’s boys. I will most definitely seek permission to view them, and I will view them meticulously. However, I must first go public in order to obtain them.

7. You claim that the Club was open to any additional information I might produce. I claim that you were not open to receiving it. I claim that you declined to speak with a highly credible and professional individual who came forward with limited information about the crime. I claim further that Dr. Wool knows all about this crime and its effect on me, and I can prove that she knows. I also claim that Dr. Wool’s attorneys have been in touch with you and that you have corresponded with each other. Lastly, if I go public, I will accuse Dr. Wool of a cover-up, plain and simple. She should be ashamed of herself, and, on the two occasions I have seen her in the last two years, she was.

8. I terminated my correspondence with the Club’s attorney because I felt I was not being given fair consideration. And if I am forced to go public, it will be for the same reason.

After many months of silence, you have now contacted members of the Board. From this we have concluded that you do wish to continue a dialogue with the Club. Perhaps it would be most helpful at this juncture for you to tell the Club exactly the nature of the help that you are looking for from the Club as was referenced in your earlier e-mail to me.

After months of continued but limited investigation, I have contacted the national organization as one of many stages in my going public. I am now prepared to move this matter into a more public forum.

You know exactly what I am demanding because my attorney has told you, just last week. I will not compromise my demands; they are pathetic and pitiful demands when you consider what I have been through. However, given the Club’s meager funds, I will allow payment in two parts, one now and another one year later. That is the best consideration I can offer.

Please respond forthwith. I have reached the end of the line.

Third E-mail, Response From Judith Malone to James Chester, Request For A Meeting

Thu, July 15, 1999 1:40 PM EST

Dear Mr. Chester:

I have shared your thoughtful response to my message of yesterday with Ms. Whitlock at the Club. She would like to review the information that you have mentioned. Do you have copies of the photographic evidence which caused you to conclude that 1963 was the correct year and would you be willing to share that with us? Ms. Whitlock would also be willing to have a meeting with you and with Mr. Hardoon when you are both available if you would be willing to do so.

Sincerely,

Judith A. Malone

Fourth E-mail, From James Chester to Judith Malone, Agreement To Meet and A Warning

Fri, July 16, 1999 8:32 AM EST

Dear Attorney Malone:

Attorney Hardoon is out of the loop, and I have not yet made a decision about bringing him back in. I will conduct my own business, as I have been doing all along. Please assure Ms. Whitlock that I know what I am doing.

At this point in time, I am intensely focused on forcing a decision, and I am disinclined to stand down. If you don’t mind my saying so, these meetings should have been held quite some time ago. Nonetheless, out of deference to Ms. Whitlock, I will agree to one meeting, provided it is called immediately. You can bring anyone you wish and any number of people. If you like, you may assemble the entire Board of Directors.

Again, I insist that the meeting be held immediately. You should expect me to intensify my insistence afterwards that the Club make a decision.

Please email the date, place and time to me.

Please understand that this situation is now critical. Nearly all of the major search engines have completed their indexing of PublicAppeal.org and the number of visitors is increasing every week. I fear that you underestimate the extent and the effect of this publicity. I am all over the Internet. The ball is now rolling, and there may come a time when it cannot be stopped. I do not mean this as a threat; I mean it as a warning. Like you, I prefer to keep this matter private, but, so long as you oppose me, I know that publicity will help to bring you around, and my efforts to obtain that publicity are becoming increasingly successful.

I repeat that I will not change my demands.

I have mailed Ms. Whitlock the photograph she has requested. It should arrive in her office tomorrow. This is the same photograph which I showed Mr. Gagne when we met in 1997.

Sincerely,

James Chester