#Edwards been kidnapped so many times its routine at this point

[fandomtrash-16]

I had to add in the second half of the cannonical reactions to Edward's kidnapping in The Abducted Alchemist:

Literally nobody is on the "oh my god we must do everything to save him!!!" level of panic. Even Alphonse, his own brother, isn't worried for Ed- instead worried for the other abducted child they had met the night prior.

This doesn't mean there isn't worry for his well-being, Roy does indeed worry for Ed. He just knows when he's needed.

Mustang trusts in his subordinate's strength, which is why he's so nonchalant about the trouble he gets into, but he also cares deeply, (even if he doesn't admit it), and will step in and help when Edward truly needs it.

About 1 out of 5 Parental!RoyEd fics: “When his youngest subordinate goes missing, the Flame Alchemist will stop at nothing to bring Ed safely home.”

Meanwhile, Roy in Brotherhood: “Fullmetal’s gone missing up North? Hmm, sounds like a personal problem to me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a coup to plan.”

[tiny-crecher]

Unus Annus Secrets

Here I’m going to try and explain all of the Unus Annus codes + possible lore. If I have forgotten some information or if one of these links doesnt work/is incorrect please let me know. This post will be updated when needed. 

This is LONG, so be prepared. 

At first, these codes were only in videos edited by NerdFiction, but as of October 26th this is no longer true. (The possible exception to this would be the first video I’ve listed, as the editor is not in the description). 

1) 5 Weird Apps That Predicted Our Death

 “Here at Unus Annus the end is nigh... when the timer hits zero we will cease to exist. is it fate? is this a simulation? Can anybody hear me? My name is.... [FILE REDACTED]”. Timestamp - 0:14

2) Ethan Roasts Mark for 15 Minutes Straight

 “and in the comments, you will read the words you soon will see are wise controlling pawns who type our deed ‘That is Discord, not FaceTime’” Timestamp - 0:40

“within this truth a question stands, is the pee sauna ever close?”. [“Pee Sauna”was uploaded about a week afterwards] Timestamp - 0:40

3) Our Fans Try to Scare Us with Their Homemade Creepypasta

“What will happen if the clock stops”

“Could I find a way to keep it going?”

“If neither hand is right, what deals are left?”

“Who is the master of the clock?” (all around 8:44)

4) Learning to Cry on Command to Increase Our Youtube Views

“remember the key, the incompletion of a logolept’s corrective action” [a logolept is “a person who takes a keen interest in words”. Marcus is likely referring to himself.] Timestamp - 1:49

“the long wait ends with twenty four more for a path of destiny chosen before”[“Pee Sauna” was uploaded the day after] (closely after the last code)

5) Becoming One With the Horse

“They heard me, I knew it could work!” (timestamp currently unknown; to be updated)

Around this time, NerdFiction’s Twitter bio said, among his normal information, that he was “trying to stop the Unus Annus clock from within.” 

6) Preparing a 5-Star Meal for Our Youtube Famous Dogs

“I couldn’t stop it. Will I die with the machine?” (Timestamp - 21:33)

7) Does This Magnetic Skincare Routine Really Work?

“freed or so I thought. Another layer, but still the clock.” (Timestamp - 9:45)

“The Beginning of The End”. 

On July 26th, at 12pm PST, a video was uploaded to Unus Annus titled “Traversing the Desert to Find Our Inner Truth”. This video was only up for a few minutes before it mysteriously disappeared, only to be replaced by another video, titled “The Beginning of The End”. At first glance, the videos were identical, save for different titles and slightly different descriptions. However, the second video was slightly longer than the first, and upon further inspection, many came to realize that the audio was slightly different as well. You can listen to both audios here. There was a rumor going around that the captions of “Traversing the Desert to Find Our Inner Truth” said something about looking out for Norbert Moses, but no one has been able to confirm this to my knowledge. 

8) Puberty Simulator

“Happy birthday to the beast or to the body that once housed me. A transfer made for pity’s sake. Tricked into the machine as he had my cake.” (Timestamp - 14:36) [The same code was found a week earlier in “Mark and Ethan Shave Chica”, uploaded on NerdFiction’s birthday. The original code was very difficult to make out, so it is likely he inserted it into a different video to make it easier for us.]

On the same day, NerdFiction’s Twitter bio read “Everyone must leave something behind when he dies. Memento Memoriae” (remember memory)

In “The Koala Challenge: TikTok’s Intimate Couple’s Trend” one of the clips is edited to look like a TikTok video, with the user ron_somberest being used. Ron_Somberest is an anagram for Norbert Moses. This TikTok account does actually exist, and the icon is a zoomed in and brightened photo of Norbert Moses’s face with the eyes scribbled out. 

Around this time NerdFiction’s Twitter bio read “’It’s not dark, never was’ - Ron Bestsmore”. Ron Bestsmore is also an anagram for Norbert Moses. It is possible that the “dark” being referred to here is Darkiplier, and NerdFiction is trying to imply that Dark is not involved in this. 

About a week after the koala challenge video was “How to Start a Fire (except don’t)”, which featured an appearance from Unus. NerdFiction’s Twitter bio read “In the end, who is your savior and what are they saving you from?” 

Things were quiet for about a month. NerdFiction eventually erased the cryptic message from his Twitter bio. 

9) Learning To Use The Force

“wait no something is wrong. he knows!” (Timestamp - 10:45) [translated from small coded words hidden in the montage]

“STOPTHISWHATAREYOUDOINGO3″ (Timestamp - 11:40)

“it worked” (a spectrogram, derived from a sound played at the end of the video)

10) Momiplier Tells Us True Scary Stories from Korea

“As I was, as I’ve done to him now. Am I right to decide his fate?” (Timestamp - 5:44) [Right before this, Mark’s mom is talking about a nightmare she had where she was paralyzed, possibly implying that nerdfiction was once paralyzed and has now paralyzed someone else (pointed out by @/minervas-sandwich)]

11) Cryptid Olympics

“I thought you’d join us but, hey, that was just a theory, Memento Doctrina” (remember learning). (Timestamp - 5:49) [The code references the Game Theorists channel, which had uploaded a video about Unus Annus earlier that same day.]

- From here on, every video has had some sort of code -

12) Edward Pumpkin Hands - This was the first coded video not edited by NerdFiction, instead being edited by Diceroll.

At various points throughout the video small parts of a url are seen. When pieced together, this link is made: https://imgur.com/a/tyDewJ7. It leads to a photo of the Unus Annus hourglass. When edited, a series of binary text is shown, which translates to “zhIaNL2“. Inputting this into another imgur link gets you to https://imgur.com/a/zhIaNL2. After editing the photo (although you can still sorta see it without doing so), a cipher of a custom alphabet is shown (I posted an edited photo here).

At 5:01 in the video a weird image is shown for only a moment (a slightly brightened version of it here). Nobody knows what the hell it means.

At the same time, there is a reversed audio of someone (presumably Ethan; it sounds like him) saying “we did that”. For context, the sentence said right before that line was “if one of us dies, the other has to take over for the remainder of time”. This is possibly implying that someone, or multiple someones, has/have died and been replaced.

13) Blood Bath - edited by rad_r

“Everything’s fine”

The Unus Annus timer is shown. It counts down for three seconds before counting up for one second. Heavy breathing can be heard over it. It is then cancelled by an error message

“ITS NOT FINE HELP” (this and the previous two messages are hidden at 5:57)

“you’ve done it now.. a machine observed. there is no returning.. a machine unnerved. there is only.. a machine unconqured.” (right at the end of the video, before the timer)

14) The Unus Annus Annual Costume Contest - edited by nerdfiction

“I saw just one door in a hall filled with many, I locked your gate but they were too late to join me. He was re-placed, she was undone, I had escaped yet he had still won”. (Timestamp - 2:05) [possibly talking about diceroll and rad_r. The pronouns would line up, and it would make sense with those two now having edited coded videos.]

15) Ethan Turns Mark Into a Werewolf - edited by rad_r

“futility or farewell? only time time time.” (timestamp - 7:17)

16) Ethan Kidnapped Mark - edited by Diceroll

Two spectrograms are shown in this video; one at 14:08 and one at 17:38. Combined, they create an imgur link: https://imgur.com/a/gKB62sv

The imgur link shows a photo of a key. On the key is a code translating to “stop the clock”

At the end of the video before the timer is a set of text in the custom alphabet previously mentioned. Translated and decoded it translates to “I can hear it coming theres not much time left the ones that tried to stop it have had their hearts cleft it is now your turn to put this loop to rest take us out of here and show us a new nest”

17) Being Brutally Honest with Each Other

“It is alive, no longer living / misunderstood beats unforgiving / escaped that fate but lost the tale / does a hope yet remain or just one final nail?” (Timestamp - 26:03)

18) Recreating Every Single Unus Annus Video

“The bottom of the spiral” (timestamp - 10:55)

19) “All Our Video Ideas That Never Happened”

“Be careful for what you wish for” (taken from two different codes)

*20) The Unus Annus Last Supper + Who’s Cutting Onions In Here??? - both edited by rad_r

“We’ve asked... we’ve tried... is there no way to stop the end? To those who aren’t deterred: how much will you sacrifice to ascend?” (A quotefall puzzle, split into 2 parts)

21) Everything’s Legal If You’re Dead

Norbert Moses is mentioned at 10:50. Look closely, his name is only there for a couple frames.

These have been the only codes I’m aware of as of 11/11/20. 

(be sure to check out @gemstone6’s list as well!!)

Link to my Unus Annus theory

[the-jade-goblin]

Get Into My OC

I was tagged by @thereluctantinquisitor to do this lovely meme, and I spent ages wondering which OC I should choose for it (I HAVE TOO MANY AHHH)

Until I settled on my soft elf boy 

Assan

NAME: Assan Lavellan

AGE: 21 at the beginning of Inquisition

GENDER: Male

ORIENTATION: Homosexual 

PROFESSION: Hunter

BACKGROUND (TW warning; abuse, rape):  Assan grew up among the Dalish, born and raised on the plains of Neverra. Assan was born sickly as a child with chronic asthma, and spent much of his early childhood sheltered within aravels and being cared for by his mother - or "coddled" as his father put it. Though he grew out of the severity of his asthma as he got older, in colder climates Assan's asthma still affects him. Being sheltered so much gave little opportunity to make friends, though Assan held on to two lifelong friends, Dylah and Shou, who are very protective over him, being the youngest in their group. Assan's mother is the Keeper of Clan Lavellan, his father the Chief craftsman. Though Assan and he father famously didn't get along, he was very close with his mother. Assan’s father neglected Assan, hating that any son of his was born so weak. Assan could never do anything to appease him, everything he ever did was considered wrong by his father, and he doted on his daughters instead. 

Assan has two sisters; one elder by six years, one younger by twelve. His elder sister Raevan vanished on a hunting expedition, and didn't return for several months; only to come back to the clan as the walking dead. Assan was forced to kill Raevan, and eventually, confronted the Tevinter blood mages who had killed and resurrected her, with gruesome results. He was sixteen at the time. As a result, Assan is very closely protecting of his little sister Freeya. Assan still refuses to speak of what exactly he did to those mages, but he’s very ashamed of it. The hatred and anger that burned inside him scared him, and since then he has tried to keep anger at bay; he turns quite vicious when angered and uses meditation practises to lengthen his fuse. 

During a Tevinter raid on the clan, at eighteen Assan was kidnapped by slavers while protecting his sister. He was taken to Minrathous where he served as a slave under a Magister Edward Pavus, brother of Halward Pavus and uncle to Dorian. Assan was almost killed when he first came to Minrathous when Magister Edward was experimenting and needed body parts. He instructed an assistant to extract Assan’s eyes, but Assan struggled and ended up killing the assistant, though it left him with a nasty injury on his eye that got infected and nearly killed him with a fever. He survived, and his master had been impressed by his gusto, and wanted to see what exactly could break his spirit. His master was sadistic and cruel, and “favoured” his elven slaves more than others; Assan was routinely sexually assaulted by the magister and often forced to share his bed while chained up, he spent most of his life as a slave literally leashed like a dog to Edward Pavus. Assan was known as the “pretty elf” by the magister, making Assan badly triggered by the word ‘pretty’ afterwards.   He was captive in Tevinter for two years, before making his escape when his master travelled too near the Neverran border, and made his way back to his clan. He spoke of his experiences to no one but his two best friends, claiming to everyone else he had no memory of the past two years.

Physical

BODY TYPE: Ectomoprh, kind of. He’s extremely lean and long, he can’t eat much and can’t keep a lot down, but he does have taught muscle that makes him small but strong. 

EYES: Emerald green

HAIR: Brown

SKIN: Light tan

HEIGHT: 5'5′’

WEIGHT: 54 kg

SKILLS (S.P.E.C.I.A.L + M)

STRENGTH: 7/10; Assan is not a peak physical condition, never will be again, but his wiry frame does contain a lot of power when applied in the correct way. Being Dalish you kind of have to be strong, all that walking, climbing trees and rock climbing to make a good hunt. 

PERCEPTION: 8/10; Assan is quiet and observant, in his life one must make a quick deduction on the person you’re talking to to see whether or not they can be trusted, and so Assan has become very adept at seeking out people’s temperaments and personalities through quick analysis. However he’s a bit of a numbskull, and while he can usually sense people’s emotions he often misinterprets the reasons behind them and automatically think either the worst-case scenario or that he’s done something wrong. 

ENDURANCE:  10/10. Assan can endure almost anything. He has always pushed his body further than its limits in order to gain strength, when he was younger he’d purposefully hike in the snow or run in the rain to try and build up a tolerance and train his body to get over its asthma. After he returned from Tevinter endurance training was the only thing that kept his mind off his nightmares, he spent that year pushing himself to the point where now he can barely feel the cold or pain or exhaustion. 

CHARISMA:  6/10; Assan is quite humorous and has an easy smile that puts people at ease. He has been conditioned to be quite submissive in nature, so he caters to people’s wants and desires quite easily in conversation. The pain he’s been through as made him extraordinarily kind and he avoids upsetting people.

INTELLIGENCE: 5/10. Street-wise he’s very intelligent. He’s one of the best archers in Thedas, he can repair almost any kind of equipment with limited resources, he can cook fairly well, hunt with the best of them, his tracking and orienting skills are impressive and his knowledge of Dalish religion is extensive. Literary wise, he’s not so good. He can’t read or write, having never needed the skill, he doesn’t know much about history or the Chantry or really human culture in general, and while he’s adept at elvish, other languages are a struggle for him, even the common tongue is sometimes difficult for him.

AGILITY: 9/10; the fact that he’s still alive has hinged on his agility. He’s very agile, he’s fast and small so manoeuvring out of situations isn’t a problem, he’s a fast-thinker and can formulate escape plans fairly well. He’s a great climber, he can balance on any branch even when running and he can climb most surfaces without aid of technology. 

LUCK: 3/10; He would not describe himself as lucky. At all. The luckiest things that have perhaps happened to him is the fact he hasn’t been killed or committed suicide, and meeting Dorian. Also for such an agile elf in the woods or battle, he’s quite clumsy in cities or when flustered, so he���s pretty unlucky in that regard and often falls off shit and gets lost in towns and trips over his own feet when talking to Dorian. 

MAGIC: 0/10; Assan isn’t a mage, and magic of most kinds terrify him. He’s wary around mages, but doesn’t inherently dislike them. Most forms of magic confuse and scare him, even healing magic makes him uncomfortable. The feeling of magic reminds him of Tevinter and it churns his stomach to be around the electric static in the air when magic is cast.  

LIKES

COLORS: Forest colours; greens and browns and dark greys/blues.

SMELLS: Rain, earthy smells, firewood and fresh fruits

FOOD: Ginger roots, nuts of any kind, elfroot

FRUITS: Peaches, mangoes, pears, lychees

DRINKS: Herbal tea, tea made from the crystal grace flowers, hot honey water, and a Dalish concoction made out of several types of root plants to increase vitality.

ALCOHOLIC DRINKS: Assan gets terrible headaches when he drinks alcohol, but he has been known on occasion to drink mead

OTHER

SMOKE: He’s a non-smoker, his asthma doesn’t allow him to keep the habbit without, you know dying.

DRUGS: Assan has had a mild to medium form of diploar disorder since he was sixteen, but he learned to manage the symptoms through meditation taught by his mother. When the Chargers joined the Inquisition Assan sort of became dependant on this pain-numbing elixir Stitches makes since the first time he took it and everything just...stopped. He felt nothing. And it felt wonderful. It took the combined efforts of Dorian, Sera, Cole and Solas to help him stop taking it and find alternatives to help his condition. 

DRIVER’S LICENSE?: Even in a modern AU Assan would 1000% live in the woods somewhere, so no. modern technology would not agree with him.

[pantysleep64-blog]

The 1903 Hotel Bretton Hall - 2350 Broadway

In 1902 developer brothers James and David Todd commissioned the fledgling architect Harry B. Mulliken to design a minor structure--a one-story wooden tool shed on West 114th Street.  It may have been a test of sorts, one which Mulliken apparently passed.  The following year Mulliken and his new partner, Edgar Moeller were working on three substantial hotel commissions for the Todds, the Hotel York at Seventh Avenue and 36th Street, the Aberdeen Hotel at 17 West 32nd Street, and the Bretton Hall Hotel, which would engulf the entire eastern blockfront on Broadway from 85th to 86th Street. The Todd brothers had purchased the undeveloped Bretton Hall site from Le Grand K. Pettit.  They took out a $1.25 million building loan toward Mulliken's total projected construction costs of $1.55 million--just below $47 million today.  The architect's plans called for "187 suites, with 506 rooms, 231 baths, and 385 toilet rooms." As construction neared completion, the Todds leased the property to hoteliers Anderson & Price for 21 years.  It appears to be Anderson & Price who named the hotel.  They additionally ran the newly-opened Mount Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods in the New Hampshire White Mountains. Completed in 1903, the Bretton Hall Hotel sat on a three-story base of rusticated stone.  Nine floors of red brick, limestone and terra cotta rose to an elaborate iron cornice that sprouted frothy ornaments.  Mulliken's insertion of seven-story stretches of quoins and stone-faced bays gave the structure verticality and visually relieved the heavy mass.

The newly-completed hotel had no storefronts and an exuberant galvanized iron cornice.  Not the 86th Street subway entrance hugging the side of the building (left)  photo by Wurtz Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The New-York Tribune commented on the behind-the-scenes technology necessary to operate the resident hotel.  "The building has an electric plant, four engines, four boilers, four dynamos, a cold storage, laundry and kitchen plant."  The article added "It also has six elevators and a United States mail chute." Unlike transient hotels, resident hotels like Bretton Hall leased suites to long-term tenants.  They enjoyed the amenities of a hotel--barber shop, dining room, maid, hallboy and messenger service, for instance--along with the relative permanence of an apartment building. On November 1, 1904 Mrs. John Jay Tonkin of Oswego, New York, moved into a suite with her 11-year old daughter, Rosamond.  The Evening Telegram explained that they were "driven from their luxurious home on Lake Ontario by dread the child would be stolen." John Tonkin was well-known as an iron manufacturer and philanthropist in Oswego.  For more than two years his family had been terrorized by threats of Rosamond's kidnapping and worse.  The Evening Telegram said "It is believed the man is an artist, for many of the letters were illustrated with sketches of the girl and of the fate which it might be expected she would meet if she fell into the hands of her pursuers.  Tortures and death by pistol and poison were pictured with such hideous vividness that they, as much as the threats, undermined the health of the fond mother." Even with Rosamond (whom The Evening Telegram described as "tall and well developed for her age") and her mother now secretly ensconced in Bretton Hall, no chances were taken.  The Tonkin coachman accompanied Rosamond to school on 70th Street near Riverside Drive.  It was the only time she was permitted outside, "as she was kept indoors at other times through fear, and had become pale." Four months after Rosamond and her mother moved into their apartment, the threats had stopped.  And so in March 1905 "Rosamond was permitted to trundle a hoop on the sidewalk in front of Bretton Hall."  On each occasion the doorman, Charles Lytle, was instructed "to keep his eyes constantly upon her," reported The Evening Telegram.  But "Something called him into the house for a moment one day and when he returned to the sidewalk he saw the child in conversation with a man and walking near Eighty-sixth street."  Lytle ran after them, grabbing Rosamond, at which point the man rushed away. Later Mrs. Tonkin received a letter demanding $50,000.  The writer promised that if the money were not paid, Rosamond would be kidnapped.  Instead, John Tonkin offered the $50,000--about $1.47 million today--to anyone who could identify the man.  Handwriting experts were called in.  With their whereabouts now known, Rosamond's mother took her back to the family house in Oswego.  Undeterred by the intensified hunt for him, the extortionist sent a new demand on June 8:  "Dear Sir:  Unless we have $100,000 before June 10 at noon we will take your Rosamond.  You had better call off your detectives.  Remember June 10 at 12.  Mr. The Three." (As a side note, the threats eventually stopped and Rosamond was married to Ensign Forrest U. Lake of the U.S. Navy a decade later in 1914.) In the meantime, the meeting rooms of Bretton Hall were used by clubs and organizations.  Only the well-to-do could afford automobiles and motor yachts and in November 1904 The New York Motor Club was formed in Bretton Hall.  At its inaugural meeting on November 17, the purposes submitted by the Committee on Constitution and By-Laws were "to encourage the interest of motoring on land and water."   But one member shouted out, "Why not add in the air?" For years inventors had struggled to perfect a flying machine and, as a matter of fact, the Wright brothers had successfully flown their biplane for 59 seconds the previous December.  The suggestion prompted a heated debate which, according to The New York Times, "waxed hotter and hotter."  Nevertheless before the meeting adjourned the purposes of the club had been amended to "promote motoring on land, water and in the air." A month later, early on the morning of December 14, 1904, the "engineer" (one of the staff tasked with minding the heavy equipment)  went to the basement to "start the engines and dynamos," as reported by The Evening Telegram.  "He found the cellar filled with four feet of water.  Barrels and boxes were floating about.  Hundreds of dollars' worth of machinery had been damaged." A large water main had broken and burst through the 86th Street subway station wall, "hurling aside the wall of the subway as if the bricks were merely chips of wood."  The flooded subway was crippled throughout most of the day and traffic was closed on Broadway until around 1:30.  The Evening Telegram said "One of the places which suffered most was the big Bretton Hall apartment house."

Residents looking forward to a warm breakfast that morning would be disappointed.  The kitchen, also in the basement, was out of commission.  But the inconvenience to the 175 families living here went much beyond that.  "The hotel is without elevator service or electric lights and no heat can be supplied until the cellar is cleared.  No meals can be served, and the patrons are forced to seek out refectories elsewhere."  And because four $5,000 boilers were destroyed, the entire building was without heat in the December cold. Society women routinely gathered in the dining rooms of New York hotels for tea and luncheon.  But they were unwelcome without a male escort after 6:00.  At the dawn of the women's rights movement, some well-to-women had had enough.  One socialite complained to a reporter "To be sure, it might be that the man in the case was only a messenger boy brought in from the nearest telegraph office for the express purpose of complying with the letter of the law," but being seated without "a mere man" was impossible. To fight back the Equity Suffrage Club was formed in Bretton Hall in 1908.  It was composed, according to one account, "of both men and women" and its first attack would be a boycott of those hotels following the system. In February 1909 Anderson & Price purchased the hotel they had been leasing since its opening.  In reporting on the deal, the New-York Tribune remarked "It is one of the largest exclusive apartment hotels in this city." For years the residents would appear in society columns and on the membership lists of exclusive clubs.   Typical of them were Alden M. Young, the senior partner of Young & Warner and a director in two dozen corporations, and his wife.  The Evening World called him "well known in club and fraternal circles, having been a member of the Union League Club, the Railroad Club, the Recess Club, and Odd Fellows and Royal Arcanum." The ballroom of the hotel was often the scene of society weddings, as well.  On January 30, 1911, for instance, Eva Arnold, daughter of Standard Oil Company official Edward D. Arnold, was married to Earle Wayne Webb here.  The New York Times mentioned "The presents, which numbered 250, filled three rooms of the first floor of the hotel." It was apparent the following year that Anderson & Price were now accepting some transient guests.  And the arrivals on October 7, 1912, may have been a bit unnerving to strait-laced residents.  The Sun reported "In splendid physical condition and confident of victory, the Red Sox arrived here from Boston at 6 o'clock last evening and went to Bretton Hall." Nevertheless, the long-term residents continued to be both well-heeled and well-known.  Among them in 1913 was Henry L. Brittain, treasurer of the H. L. Brittain Company on Park Row.  His was a ground-breaking firm manufactured "moving picture machines for the home."  He was also treasurer of the Granite Spring Water Company, the Anchor metal Novelty Company and the Simplex Camera Company. On January 2, 1913 the New-York Tribune reported on a significant turn of events for the wealthy businessman.  He had traveled to Britain regarding the settlement of an estate.  According to dispatches received by the Tribune from London, Brittain "was robbed of documents that related to an estate valued at $5,000,000."  Brittain told investigators he "does not expect to recover the lost documents which were stolen from his kit bag," but offered a $250 reward, nevertheless. Brittain was among the last of the long-term residents.  Anderson & Price advertised Bretton Hall in 1914 as "New York City's Largest Transient Uptown Hotel."  The ad touted "exceptionally large, quiet rooms with baths...All the comforts of the better New York Hotels at one-third less price."  A sketch of the building clearly showed that the cornice was still fully intact. But two years later that condition was slightly different.  An advertisement in the New-York Tribune on December 3, 1916 called the Hotel Bretton Hall the "largest and most attractive uptown hotel" with single rooms and a bath priced at $2.50 and $3 per day, and suites at $4 to $7.50.  The most expensive accommodations would be about $177 in today's money.  But the photograph showed that cornice had been toned down, possibly in an attempt to keep the building looking up to date.

Anderson & price had quietly altered the cornice by the time of this 1916 photo. New-York Tribune, December 3, 1916 (copyright expired) 

Despite the change from resident to transient, Bretton Hall continued to be a location for society weddings.  Such was the case on June 26, 1916 when Esther Ford, the daughter of State Supreme Court Justice John Ford, was married to John Cassan Wait here.  Ford had also served in the State Senate in 1895. Well-dressed patrons were, perhaps, unaware of labor problems with the waiter's union when they sat down in the Bretton Hall dining room on the evening of June 16, 1919.  But Price & Anderson were well informed and prepared for problems.  The New York Times reported that the 50 waiters, "stood at their posts, appraising the guests as they entered for the meal.  According to one of the guests, there was an air of expectancy about part of the waiters, and this was explained when a whistle blew." Immediately upon hearing the whistle, the waiters formed a line and "with military precision departed."  The well-timed strike was planned to cause the most upheaval as possible.  But Price & Anderson were well ahead of the potential disaster.  The Times wrote "But just as the last of the strikers went through the door fifty substitute waiters came in another.  So far as the guests were concerned the walkout merely served to show that most of the strikers had learned correct marching while in the service." A much more disturbing incident brought Bretton Hall back into the newspapers in November that year.  Frank A. Skelton and his wife were residents of Montreal, but had taken rooms in Bretton Hall for the winter.  On Saturday night, November 22 the couple went to the theater.  When they returned about midnight, "they found everything topsy turvy," said The New York Times.  "Drawers from dressing tables, desks and bureaus were scattered on the tops of the tables, and clothing had been thrown upon the floor by the visitors in their search for jewels.  Two jewel cases had been emptied and left open on one of the tables." The thieves were successful in their search.  They had made off with "about thirty diamond rings, watches, necklaces and other valuable pieces of jewelry."  The loss was estimated at about $290,000 in today's money.  Mrs. Skelton refused to confirm that number, saying merely "Some of the pieces were so old as to be considered treasures; others were new, made of diamonds and platinum, and were of unusual design.  The loss was heavy." Living in the hotel "in luxurious fashion," according to The New York Herald, at the time was Mrs. May Jennings Bennett, a 32-year old widow widely known in religious circles.  She was vice-president of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society and was active in the work of the Fort Washington Presbyterian Church.  As so it was most likely a great surprise to many when police knocked on her door on October 3, 1919 to arrest her. Mrs. Jennings, through her church work, came in contact with many moneyed women.  At teas or lunches in her Bretton Hall apartment she would mention that she was embarking on real estate projects--purchasing old houses in order to replace them with modern apartment buildings.  After she had interested her victims in the potential, she would even take them to the see the properties, none of which she actually owned.  She then collected thousands of dollars "investment" from her unwitting dupes. May Jennings's defense was even more startling.  When a journalist visited her jail cell on January 10, 1920, she said "I admit I played the part of a crook, but my downfall is due to the psychic divine control a man, formerly a Presbyterian minister, has had over me for the last year.  That man conducts mystic ceremonies up near Central Park, and during all the time I was robbing my friends and acquaintances of thousands of dollars, I was under a spell cast over me by him." Her trial was held on January 21.  She pleaded guilty and offered her curious explanation.  Judge Mulqueen was not swayed.  "I am convinced you are a common and base swindler," he said before announcing her sentence of nine years in prison.   When her lawyer pleaded for leniency, the judge reminded him that he could have imposed the maximum penalty of 40 years.  "I think she is being treated leniently." An even bigger jewelry heist than the Skelton robbery happened two months later. Mr. and Mrs. Charles MacManus of Rye, New York, took rooms on the fourth floor here in the spring of 1920.  On March 30 Mrs. McManus placed her jewelry in a trunk after dressing for luncheon.  The following evening, when dressing for dinner, she found that someone had been in the trunk. Missing were about 35 pieces of jewelry.  Their total value, $30,000, would be equal to more than $375,000 today.   The pieces were insured, unfortunately, for only about half their value.  Ironically, the most valuable of the pieces had been in a safe deposit vault and had only been removed a few days earlier for appraisal. The proprietors of the hotel embarked on a forward-thinking plan for its employees in February 1927--shared-cost benefits.  The New York Times explained "The Hotel Bretton Hall joined its employes in the purchase of a $225,000 group life insurance policy from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company."  More than 200 employees now not only had a life insurance policy, but an early form of health benefits.  "The plan includes a visiting nurse service, distribution of health conservation pamphlets and provides for the payment of an employe's insurance in full if he becomes totally and permanently disabled before the age of 60." In June 1929 the owners, Benjamin Winter, Inc., hired architects Springsteen & Goldhammer to make renovations, including converting the southern half of the street level to shops  The Times noted that "remodeling of the interior of the 500-room structure is also under way."  The renovations resulted in 150 single rooms, 120 two-room suites, 25 three-room "apartments," seven four-rooms suites and, along with the stores, a bar and restaurant.

An advertising postcard shows the shops in the southern end of the building.

In 1931 another store, much less architecturally invasive, was installed in the northern corner for The Chase National Bank. The heyday for Bretton Hall seems to have passed by 1939 when a room cost $2.50 per night.  It was a mere fraction of the amount charged in 1916.

The 1931 commercial space, now a Citibank branch, was sympathetically inserted into the base.

In February 1950 the newly-formed Hotel Bretton Hall, Inc., headed by Grace Bordiga, purchased the structure.  In reporting the sale, The New York Times noted "Improvements planned by the new operators...include plans for dining room so that it can be used for catering purposes and the installation of kitchenettes in some additional apartments." While still offering 78 hotel rooms, the renovated Bretton Hall now included dentists offices and, on the second floor, the Rutledge Club and offices.  Somewhat surprisingly, the building became a center of the Upper West Side Haitian community.  Decades later, in 1993, Rev. Thomas Wenski, director of the Pierre Toussaint Haitian Catholic Center recalled to a New York Times reporter "Our community was centered on the West Side of Manhattan, mostly around 86th Street along Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue...A number of families managed to congregate at the Bretton Hall." The ballroom here was rented by campaign of Representative Bella Abzug to watch the election results  of July 20, 1972.  Although the 51-year old Congressional freshman had hoped to rally the feminist vote, she and her supporters were disappointed when it became obvious she had been unseated. In the early 1980's an organization called the Artists Assistance Services took advantage of the low rents in Bretton Hall to scoop up apartments and offer them to "people in the arts."  New York Magazine cautioned, however, "But there was a little clause attached:  The tenant had to share his living room with a 'cultural activity.'"  And so artist Abby Cahn shared hers with a karate class.  That was a problem, she found out, when the karate instructor refused to let her have any furniture.  And if classes were in session she was not allowed to enter. Emad Salem, living here in 1993, was a translator and bodyguard for Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, known commonly in the United States as "the Blind Sheikh."  Following the World Trade Center bombing that year, Salem made himself available to to the F.B.I., who later said "Mr. Salem was central to the arrests of the accused plotters, luring them to make statements that were recorded, helping to test explosives and even renting the house in Jamaica, Queens, where the suspects are accused of mixing the fertilizer and fuel for the bombs."  With Salem's assistance, the F.B.I. was able to wiretap that house. Following the arrest of the sheikh and his cronies, Salem made a quick disappearance with Government help.  On June 26 The New York Times wrote "Neighbors at the Bretton Hall residential hotel at 2350 Broadway, where Mr. Salem lived, said they saw garbage from his apartment at the trash chute on Wednesday, including a telephone that looked as if it had been ripped from a wall, and pictures of his son and daughter."  Salem's information had also helped derail 12 other targets, "including Grand Central terminal, the Empire State Building and Times Square," said officials. By now the entire cornice had been gone for years.  The owners embarked on a renovation late in 2006 that initially called for reproducing the lost cornice.  Architect John C. Calderón, however, found that "the cost was prohibitive."  Instead he designed a parapet of red brick and cast stone in an effort to approximate the lower design.  Despite the good intentions, it falls short of a design-completing cornice.

More than a century of changes did not affect the elaborate three-story Beaux Arts entrance.

The completed $1 million renovation resulted in 461 rental apartments. photographs by the author

Source: http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-1903-hotel-bretton-hall-2350.html

[newstfionline]

When Bail Feels Less Like Freedom, More Like Extortion

By Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Shaila Dewan, NY Times, March 31, 2018

Most bail bond agents make it their business to get their clients to court. But when Ronald Egana showed up at the criminal courthouse in New Orleans, he was surprised to find that his bondsman wanted to stop him.

A bounty hunter was waiting at the courthouse metal detector to intercept Mr. Egana and haul him to the bond company office, he said. The reason: The bondsman wanted to get paid.

Mr. Egana ended up in handcuffs, missing his court appearance while the agency got his mother on the phone and demanded more than $1,500 in overdue payments, according to a lawsuit. It was not the first time Mr. Egana had been held captive by the bond company, he said, nor would it be the last. Each time, his friends or family was forced to pay more to get him released, he said.

As commercial bail has grown into a $2 billion industry, bond agents have become the payday lenders of the criminal justice world, offering quick relief to desperate customers at high prices. When clients like Mr. Egana cannot afford to pay the bond company’s fee to get them out, bond agents simply loan them the money, allowing them to go on a payment plan.

But bondsmen have extraordinary powers that most lenders do not. They are supposed to return their clients to jail if they skip court or do something illegal. But some states give them broad latitude to arrest their clients for any reason--or none at all. A credit card company cannot jail someone for missing a payment. A bondsman, in many instances, can.

Using that leverage, bond agents can charge steep fees, some of which are illegal, with impunity, according to interviews and a review of court records and complaint data. They can also go far beyond the demands of other creditors by requiring their clients to check in regularly, keep a curfew, allow searches of their car or home at any time, and open their medical, Social Security and phone records to inspection.

They keep a close eye on their clients, but in many places, no one is keeping a close eye on them.

“It’s a consumer protection issue,” said Judge Lee V. Coffee, a criminal court judge in Memphis. Before recent changes to the rules there, he said, defendants frequently complained of shakedowns in which bondsmen demanded extra payments. “They’re living under a constant daily threat that ‘if you don’t bring more money, we’re going to put you in jail.’” The pressure, the judge said, “would actually encourage people to go out and commit more crimes.”

Unlike payday lenders, the bail bond industry deals with potential criminals whose very involvement with the law raises questions about their trustworthiness. But in the United States criminal justice system, the Supreme Court has affirmed, liberty before trial is supposed to be the norm, not the exception--the system is intended to allow defendants to stay out of jail.

Some bail bond practices have drawn the ire of judges who complain that payment plans are too lenient on people accused of serious crimes, allowing them to get out for just a few hundred dollars or even no money down. Those judges say it should be more difficult for the accused to walk free.

Other judges see some bondsmen as trampling the rights of defendants. One judge in Lafayette, La., Jules Edwards III, held in contempt two bondsmen who were brothers for intercepting a defendant on his way to court and sending him, instead, to jail.

The judge said the commercial bail industry had put its financial interests above justice and public safety. “If he’s not in compliance with the contract, sue him. How do you get to snatch his body and hold him hostage?” Judge Edwards said in a phone interview.

He added that defendants do not have to go with their bondsmen unless there is a warrant out for their arrest, but many of them do not know that. “What they’re doing is intimidating and coercing and lying,” he said. The brothers declined to comment.

In both Mr. Egana’s case and this one, the bondsmen would not have been on the hook for the defendants’ failure to appear, because they diverted the defendants from court dates for unrelated cases, not the ones for which they had bailed them out.

The bond agency, Blair’s Bail Bonds, stopped Mr. Egana, who had prior felony convictions, from going to court on charges of fleeing an officer, but had bailed him out in June 2016 after he was arrested on charges of possession of marijuana, a firearm and stolen property.

Had Mr. Egana been wealthier, he might have been able to post his full bail of $26,000, then gotten it back when he returned for court. But like most defendants, Mr. Egana had to turn to a commercial bail bond agent that charges a nonrefundable fee for the service of guaranteeing the bond.

Not only could Mr. Egana not afford the full bail, he could not afford the fee, $3,275. He arranged to pay it in installments. After his release, he said, Blair’s informed him that on top of the premium, he would have to pay $10 a day for an ankle monitor, though the judge had not ordered one. Guilty or innocent, Mr. Egana would never see any of that money again. Blair’s has denied any wrongdoing in the matter.

Some customers feel they have no choice but to pay bond agents’ fees--no matter how outrageous they seem. When a home health care aide wanted to bail her son out of Rikers Island in New York City, she was charged $1,000 to have a courier walk her money a few blocks to the courthouse.

A defendant in a serious domestic violence case in Santa Clara, Calif., suffering from a dangerous heart condition, had to have his ankle monitor removed each time he went to the hospital, and was forced to pay $300 to have it put back on afterward.

A woman in Des Moines woke one morning to find that her 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix had been repossessed during the night. Had she put up her car as collateral in a typical loan, she would have been notified that she had fallen behind and given 20 days to pay.

But instead, the car was collateral for a bail bond for her child’s father. She owed $700 to the bail agents. They not only took the car, but turned the father over to the jail. Ultimately the misdemeanor assault charges against him were dismissed.

Bond companies fall into a sort of regulatory gulf between criminal courts and state insurance departments, which are supposed to regulate them but seldom impose sanctions. With rare exception, defense lawyers and prosecutors are too busy with their caseloads to keep bond companies in line. Further complicating things, it is often unclear whether consumer protection laws apply, and insurance departments say they lack the resources to investigate complaints.

In the case of Mr. Egana, who worked as a carpenter, it did not take long for him to fall behind on his payments. But he thought that since he was routinely showing up to court, he would be fine.

He was wrong. The bond company detained him several more times, according to court records. At one point, two men with guns and bulletproof vests came to the home where he was working as a contractor and forced him into a car. Each time, they demanded that his mother pay more money.

“It was kidnapping,” Mr. Egana said. “They saw the love that my mom has for me, and they used that to their advantage.”

In May, Blair’s decided it no longer wanted Mr. Egana as a customer and handed him over to the jail.

The use of bail bonds has come under attack in recent years because it keeps the poorest, rather than the most dangerous, defendants behind bars.

State after state has taken steps to reduce or eliminate the practice of making that freedom contingent on money. In response, the bond industry has worked to undermine reforms and regulations, arguing that commercial bail is still the most efficient and taxpayer-friendly way to keep the public safe and the courts running smoothly.

The bond agent takes a fee in exchange for guaranteeing the amount of the bail on the defendant’s behalf. But the fee--or premium--usually about 10 percent, is too high for many defendants, the vast majority of whom are poor. So they arrange a payment plan. The debt, paid over weeks or months of installments, can outlast the criminal case.

The arrangement can include steep late fees or require signing over collateral worth many times what is owed. And while defendants, or the family members and friends who often shoulder the costs, typically pay no interest as long as their payments are on time, if they go into default they can trigger annual interest rates as high as 30 percent.

Commercial bail fees, often scraped together by multiple family members, siphon millions from poor, predominantly African-American and Hispanic communities. Over a five-year span, Maryland families paid more than $256 million in nonrefundable bail premiums, according to a report by the state’s Office of the Public Defender. More than $75 million of that was paid in cases resolved with no finding of guilt, and the vast majority of it was paid by black families.

In 2015, New Orleans families paid $6.4 million in premiums and fees, the Vera Institute of Justice found. In New York City last year, bond companies collected between $16 million and $27 million, “a sizable transfer of wealth,” noted Scott Stringer, the city comptroller, “to the pockets of opportunistic bail bond agents.”

The entire premise on which the commercial bail system is built--that when defendants skip bail, someone must either find them or pay, is somewhat illusory.

The image of the industry, encapsulated by Dog the Bounty Hunter chasing down outlaws on television, is one of danger and high stakes.

But in most cases where defendants miss court, a bond agent may not have to do anything. Many states allow months for a defendant to be found. In Texas, bond agents have nine months before a felony bail is forfeited. In Colorado, according to the American Bail Coalition, even after a bond is paid, the agent has two years to find the missing defendant and get the money back.

With so much time, many defendants will resurface on their own, or be caught during a traffic stop or other law enforcement interaction, without any effort on the bond agent’s part.

Together, the surety companies and the bail bond agents collect about $2 billion a year in revenue, according to an analysis by Color of Change, a nonprofit focused on racial justice, and the American Civil Liberties Union. “Bail insurers have shaped the entire industry, as well as the laws they operate under, to safeguard their profits at the expense of people’s lives,” said Rashad Robinson, the executive director of Color of Change.

Between 2010 and 2015 in California, the number of bail complaints to the Department of Insurance nearly quadrupled and became more serious, the department said, with common grievances including kidnapping and false imprisonment for purposes of extortion, forged property liens and death certificates, and theft or embezzlement of collateral.

Complaints about bail bond agents have flooded into insurance regulators across the country, but rarely result in meaningful punishment.

Part of the problem, regulators say, is that they are outmatched and do not have the resources to investigate abuses. The California insurance commissioner, Dave Jones, said he had twice tried to get a law passed to pay for bail investigations, but both times it was defeated after lobbying by the bond industry.

It is not hard to find people whose entire lives have been upended by the bail bond industry. Some defendants wind up in jail for no offense other than falling behind on their bail payments. Others decide to plead guilty to crimes that they did not commit just to escape from the financial demands of their bondsman.

Frankie Bell’s troubles began last January in New Orleans, when she was charged with misdemeanor domestic abuse after getting into a squabble with her boyfriend. Ms. Bell, 26, had no criminal record. With help from her uncle, she was able to pay the $1,500 premium. But the bond company, citing the fact that she had a Texas driver’s license, required her to wear an ankle monitor--at a cost of $300 a month.

It took less than two weeks for Ms. Bell, who is mentally impaired and lives on $700 a month in disability payments, to fall behind. Almost immediately, the calls from her bail bond company began, she said. “They would threaten to put me back in jail,” she said. “They said they would send the police to my house, arrest me and throw me into a cell.”

Ms. Bell said she tried panhandling on the street, begging her friends for money, and letting other bills slide. Still, by the time she appeared in court in April, she was $800 behind. Ms. Bell had maintained her innocence from the start, but faced a stark decision: plead guilty in a deal that spared her any jail time, or risk being locked up before trial for failing to pay the bond agent. “I don’t want people to think of me as a criminal,” she said, “but I just wanted it all to end.”

Often, even pleading guilty is not enough to get free of the bond agent’s power, since defendants may still owe money. Christopher Franklin pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge in February 2017. He had paid his bondsman, Rodney Sawyers, more than $4,000, and owed only $300 more.

But about a week later, Mr. Franklin said, Mr. Sawyers showed up at his house in Charlotte, N.C., in the middle of the night, pounding on the front door.

Mr. Franklin stumbled to answer, disoriented and groggy. Mr. Sawyers muscled his way in, Mr. Franklin said, handcuffed him and drove him to jail.

Mr. Franklin’s public defender in the case, Eli Timberg, said he has routinely had clients returned to jail for not paying their bondsmen, but Mr. Franklin’s case stood out. “There were no active charges,” Mr. Timberg said. “No bond out for him. It was unbelievable.”

Even the jail staff seemed perplexed when Mr. Franklin arrived, he said, since his case was no longer pending. After five hours, he was released.