The Butler Did It!

 

This brings us to the US in 1933. The same concerns that terrified Italy’s wealthy and powerful in 1917 now plagued the financial and industrial titans in the US. Extremely wealthy Americans were concerned about unions gaining more power, the risk of the monetary system leaving the gold standard, and having to pay for expensive social programs—but most importantly, they feared the rise of whom they considered to be a Socialist President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A small group of industrialists began to hatch a plan to do what the Italians had done, and take the government by force. They had ample funding and a general plan that had been proven effective by the Italians. All they needed was a leader who was trusted and respected by the many disgruntled US World War I veterans. They needed retired Major General Smedley Darlington Butler. 

Born in 1881 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia, Smedley Butler was the eldest of three sons. His father was a lawyer, judge, and politician, ultimately serving in the House of Representatives for 31 years. In high school, Smedley became captain of the baseball team and quarterback of the football team. Just shy of age 17, he quit high school and joined the marines so he could fight in the Spanish American War.

Butler lied about his age to receive a direct commission as a Marine second lieutenant. In his autobiography Butler claims that at the time he “didn’t weigh 140 pounds soaking wet.” I believe this quote is referenced in the puzzle. One British stone equals 14 pounds, so “Beneath the tenth stone” would translate into under 140 pounds. 

He quickly rose through the ranks, achieving the level of captain shortly before turning 19. He exhibited bravery time and time again, receiving the Medal of Honor twice. Butler became the youngest Marine Corps major general at the age of 48. There are seven steps from the rank of second lieutenant up to major general. (“Seven steps up you can hop.”) 

Butler was invited, in 1924, by Mayor W. Freeland Kendrick to become Philadelphia's Director of Public Safety. He accepted the job and worked tirelessly to improve public safety and reduce corruption. I believe this is why the Liberty Bell is referenced in the image. 

When Butter entered the marines, his political views were solidly conservative. However, after years of experiencing the economic factors that influenced the actions of the US armed forces, his politics shifted dramatically “From right to left.” 

By the end of his career, Butler was the most decorated soldier in the history of the Marine Corps. After leaving the service, Butler became an activist for veterans’ rights. He was a big supporter of the “Bonus Army,” a large group of veterans and veteran supporters who lobbied Congress for early payments of bonds issued to veterans prior to the war. He ran for the US Senate in Pennsylvania but lost badly in the Republican primary. His fame and good standing with veteran’s groups combined with his superior leadership qualities made him the obvious tip of the spear in a plot similar to the successful Italian fascist coup. 

In 1933, Butler was approached by Gerald C. MacGuire and Bob Doyle. MacGuire and Doyle were members of the American Legion, a pro-veterans organization. During their first meeting with Butler, MacGuire and Doyle asked the General to speak at a Legion convention in Chicago, claiming they wanted to point out the various problems with the Legion’s leadership. Butler was at first open to this idea, as the men made good points. However, during their second meeting, MacGuire showed Butler bank statements amounting to $100,000, which he wanted Butler to use to promote the convention. Butler knew that this large sum of money couldn’t possibly have come from the financially strapped veterans. Furthermore, the speech MacGuire wanted Butler to deliver had little to do with veterans. It was critical of President Roosevelt and in particular denounced the recent move away from the gold standard. This move was seen as risky by the financial and banking industries. 

The retired general became suspicious and asked to meet with MacGuire’s superiors. He soon found himself speaking with Robert Sterling Clark, an heir to the Singer Sewing fortune. Clark told Butler that his real interest was in preserving the gold standard, and that he was willing to spend large sums of money to that end. 

Butler flatly refused to speak at the convention, and in the following months heard from MacGuire only sparingly, receiving occasional postcards from him as he traveled through Europe, including Italy, Germany, and France. 

 Upon returning to the States, MacGuire met with Butler again admitting that the money he had gathered came mostly from wealthy industrialists. He expressed to Butler that he felt the only way to prevent FDR’s socialist policies from destroying the country was to create a military state run by former servicemen, with Roosevelt serving as only a figurehead and Butler as the actual leader. MacGuire told Butler that he would be the ideal leader of these veterans, and suggested that they could provide whatever funds were needed and an army of 500,000 men for a march on the White House to subdue Roosevelt. 

As reported in the New York Post, Butler said his response to the offer was, “Of course I told the leaders of this fascist movement that I didn’t want any part of fascism or any other ism, and that I wouldn’t consider any other such proposition. The whole affair smacked of treason to me.”

Butler knew he would need a second person of good reputation to corroborate his story if he was going to report the planned coup. Butler obtained the cooperation of Philadelphia Record writer Paul Comly French to serve as a witness to the next meeting. MacGuire took French into his confidence and told him that he believed a fascist state was the only way to save America, and that in pursuit of that end Butler “could organize one million men overnight,” and that was why they had approached him. 

In November 1934, Butler and French appeared before the Special Committee on Un-American Activities, and described the plot to them in great detail. The plot was so shocking and included so many well known and respected names, that the committee was skeptical, writing in their initial report that they saw no reason to subpoena men like John W. Davis, a former presidential hopeful, or Thomas W. Lamont, a partner with J.P. Morgan & Company. Others implicated in the plot included the DuPont family, Grayson M. P. Murphy, and Prescott Bush, the grandfather of future President George W. Bush. 

After consistent testimony from French, and erratic accounts from MacGuire, the committee decided to further investigate the plot. The committee's final report found that all of Butler’s claims could be corroborated as factual. However, they also pointed out that the plot was in its early stages and was unlikely to have been enacted. In the end, the committee’s final report was not made public. No one was ever indicted and news coverage soon faded. 

Butler continued to advocate for veterans. In 1935 he published a short book, War is a Racket, a condemnation of the profit motives behind US warfare. Here’s a excerpt from his book:

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

From 1935 to 1937 Butler was a spokesman for the American League Against War and Fascism. MacGuire, on the other hand, did not fare as well. On March 25, 1935, he died at the age of 36 from complications related to pneumonia. 

It’s hard to say for sure if the coup would have gone forward if Butler hadn’t taken it upon himself to report it. But it is certainly safe to say that once reported, the plot was foiled. We may never know exactly how much we owe Major General Smedley Darlington Butler. Regardless, he was, without a doubt, a great American hero. 

You may at this point cry foul because the coup attempt I’ve sighted has absolutely nothing to do with Cleveland. You’d be right about that. To the best of my knowledge, it does not. But who’s to say that it must. That’s what makes these puzzles so challenging. There are no rules. The secret of The Secret could be anything, as long as it’s a secret and in keeping with Byron’s character. 

At this point in my research I was convinced I’d figured out the secret of The Secret for Cleveland. All of the outstanding questions had been answered—the number 1881, the Liberty Bell, the keystone, the WWI helmet, and couplet—all except the word birch. How could this word possibly relate to the Business Plot? If you want to play along, stop reading now, do your own research, and see if you can figure it out. It took me a while.

A Rectangular Plot

 

The fallacy is to believe that under a dictatorial government you can be free inside.

—George Orwell

This fascist coup attempt was so effectively hushed up that it doesn’t even have a proper catchy name. I’d certainly never heard of it. Most call it the Business Plot, a name that has the pizzazz of a lump of coal. To understand this plot we have to go back to its progenitor, the rise of Benito Mussolini. 

Shockingly, Mussolini started his political career as a socialist, a left wing extremist. Back in 1912, while in his early 30’s, Mussolini was the editor for Avanti! (meaning forward), the daily newspaper of Italy’s Socialist Party. He was soon expelled, though, for his support of Italy entering World War I. 

In 1914, Mussolini founded a new journal, Il Popolo d'Italia (meaning The People of Italy) which was a far right, pro-war newspaper. With the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 and Socialists gaining power in Italy after WWI, some wealthy and middle-income Italians began to panic as the political landscape shifted from conservative to liberal, “from right to left.” Mussolini began to promote conservatives taking control of the government by force, and people began to listen. 

In 1919, Mussolini created the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, meaning Fascist Italian Combat Squads. This group engaged in violence against Socialists and other political opponents. In 1921, he founded the Fascist Party, turning his paramilitary movement into a formal political party. Mussolini named the new party after the Italian word for bundle (fascio) in reference to bundles of rods used in Ancient Rome that were a symbol of power and the right to beat or sometimes kill people as punishment. These bundles of rods were called fasces. If the fasces had a small ax embedded in it, then the magistrate that possessed it had the right of corporal punishment, the right to kill. The party emphasized national unity and the use of violence to crush dissension.

Supported by wealthy landowners, Mussolini’s paramilitary group, the Blackshirts, attacked members of the Socialist Party and labor unions. Fascist squads burned Communist and Socialist offices as they took over cities. They seized power city by city through violence and intimidation. In late 1921, Mussolini was elected to the lower chamber of Italy's parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, which gave him a measure of credibility. 

On October 28, 1922, tens of thousands of armed Fascists composed primarily of disgruntled WWI veterans marched on Rome demanding Mussolini be named prime minister. The current Prime Minister, Luigi Facta, wished to declare martial law and fight the insurgents, but Italy’s King, Victor Emmanuel III, fearing bloodshed pressured Facta to resign by threatening to abdicate his throne. 

On October 30, 1922, Facta resigned and the King appointed Mussolini as Prime Minister, thereby transferring political power to the Fascists. This allowed Mussolini to declare himself both prime minister and interior minister giving him control over the police. He now had legitimate power to exact punishment and to carry out violence on whomever opposed him. Metaphorically, it gave him Italy’s fasces. He still used his Fascist squads to beat, harass, and kill his enemies. But after becoming prime minister, he also began to direct the police to do his dirty work. 

In June 1924, assassins with ties to Mussolini killed socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti, prompting a boycott of the Parliament by opposition leaders. On January 3, 1925, Mussolini in a carefully worded speech to Parliament took responsibility for the assassination, which marked the start of his dictatorship. 

“I declare before this Chamber, before the world and before God that I personally assume the whole political, moral and historical responsibility for what has occurred,” he said. “I declare that if the Fascists are an association of malefactors, then I am the head of that association of malefactors.” 

“Only force,” he said, “can decide between Fascism and the Opposition.” Mussolini made it clear that he intended to use violence to crush the opposition. The crowd stood, applauded, and shouted “Vivo Mussolini! Vivo Fascismo!” When his animated, fiery speech concluded, his supporters lifted him on their shoulders and carried him triumphantly out of the chamber.

Mussolini dubbed himself “Il Duce” (the Leader) and ruled as a dictator from that point on. He expelled all opposition members from Parliament and had Communist members arrested. He abolished local elections and reinstated the death penalty for political crimes. As part of his attack on the free press, Mussolini required movie houses to show government propaganda newsreels. 

Mussolini’s vision for fascism is best described in “The Doctrine of Fascism,” coauthored by Mussolini and published in 1932. The doctrine states that fascism is “all embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value."

A Spell in Couplet

 

There’s a Sherlock Holmes story, “The Man with the Twisted Lip,” where after reviewing all the clues in the case Sherlock sat on a pillow all night long smoking, and in the morning, he knew the answer to the mystery. This was the only explanation given as to how he solved it, which I found very unsatisfying. That being said, some solutions are like that, you just figure it out and you don’t know exactly how or why. 

This is actually a great talent of human beings, the ability to subconsciously pick up on subtleties, and from them form feelings, a conclusion on an emotional level. We’ve all had the experience where we say privately to our friends something like, “I just don’t trust that guy.” And we’re usually right!

Fuzzy logic is an approach to computing based on degrees of truth rather than the usual true or false. We know this concept as a hunch, intuition, or having a feeling. When we say “trust your feelings” or “go with your gut” we are embracing fuzzy logic. Fortune tellers and folks who can accurately guess your age are masters at this skill. It was a hunch, a feeling about a particular word, that allowed me to solve the secret of The Secret for Cleveland.

My big break was from a single word, the word couplet.  I didn’t logically know anything. I just had a feeling about it. I just saw something in the word. Do you see it too? This is my favorite part of the whole Cleveland puzzle. It’s a masterfully hidden clue! Absolutely brilliant!

The suffix “let” refers to a diminutive form of something. For example, a small book is a booklet. Likewise, a small coup would be a couplet! It’s fascinating how the spelling of the word couplet permits a completely different interpretation. What is a small coup? Maybe a failed or partial coup? Hmmm. 

This could allude to the 1881 Assacination of President James Garfield, which would explain the forced use of 81 vs 82. I thought briefly that this might be the secret of The Secret for Cleveland, but he was killed by a lone crazy gunman from a different faction of his own party, which is not really a coup, not particularly interesting, and certainly not a secret. So I tossed the idea. 

The word coup fits with another word near the beginning of the poem, “plot.”  A coup most certainly is a plot. But what is a “rectangular plot”? I usually think of the definition of rectangular as something that looks like a rectangle. However, I learned that this is not necessarily the case. One of the handful of definitions for the word rectangular is simply something that has right angles. Could we be looking for a politically right angled or fascist plot?

If you google “US coup,” you’ll get loads of information on all the numerous coups in which the US participated, mostly in South and Central America. You’ll find a bit about January 6, 2020. And you might find something about the only successful coup within the US, the Wilmington, North Carolina, insurrection of 1898, which was at the city level. The latter is definitely worth reading about, but doesn’t seem to fit with our other clues. After that, you’ll become mired in repetition. 

However, if you google “US coup” and our unused clues—WWI (the helmet), Pennsylvania (the keystone state), Philadelphia (the Liberty Bell), and fascism—you will find, as I did, our punchline. 

The Tax Accountant’s Gambit

 

As noted earlier, the three Ancient Greek names were meant to lead us to the wall in the Greek Cultural Garden, but why choose these three out of all the others present on the wall? Do they all have something in common?

Socrates, besides dying in the name of free speech, was one of the individuals on which we base the field of philosophy. The Socratic method of analyzing an idea via repeated questioning is named after him. 

Pindar was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. He was, by most accounts, the greatest poet of his time, a pioneer in many respects.

Apelles was an ancient Greek painter whose groundbreaking techniques were described by the elder Pliny in his Natural History. In ancient times, the term Apelles came to mean a great painter. He set a new standard in his field. 

All three of these men could be considered pillars in their respective disciplines. Pillars, columns, same, same. I take this to mean that we are to start our search for the secret of The Secret with these three names. Let’s see where that leads. 

Free speech, couplet, birch

As mentioned earlier, each item relates to the corresponding Ancient Greek person. The first words, “Free speech,” relates to Socrates who died in its name.  This tells us how to play Byron’s little game, the first challenge being pretty easy. The next two words are expected to follow the same pattern and be a bit more difficult. Couplet (a type of rhyming scheme) relates to Pindar and poetry, and birch (paint brushes are commonly made of birch) relates to Apelles and painting. Mystery solved, time to move on, right? 

My managerial accounting professor in college had worked for many years as a tax accountant. He said that when he prepared someone’s taxes, he always included a small mistake, nothing too complex or too simple, just enough difficulty to let an auditor feel challenged and good about their work, just the right amount of difficulty to produce a feeling of accomplishment, enough that they would look no further. He didn’t want them digging deeper where they might find real problems. 

With these little word associations, Byron has used this same trick on us. He’s toying with us here; he's giving us a challenge—free speech, couplet, and birch—and we feel pleased with ourselves that we figured it out, and need look no further. But I ask you, what does the solution to these little riddles tell us? Nothing. They offer no insights. They bring us no closer to the casque or the secret of The Secret. They are superfluous, pointless. These three little challenges are just the right level of difficulty to throw us off—not too hard, not too easy. They are a ruse, designed to placate us, to distract from their true purpose—describing the secret of The Secret for Cleveland.

Beneath Two Countries

 

When considering the first line of the poem in the context of the secret of The Secret, “Beneath two countries,” could refer to American democracy, which is based on Greek and Roman democracies. This also fits with the Liberty Bell. 

I liken democracy to a political thermostat. We tend to think of a thermostat as keeping our house at a particular temperature, say, 72 degrees Fahrenheit. But that’s not the case at all. Heaters and air conditioners don’t like to be cycled on and off every minute or so. This would damage the mechanism. They have to run for at least five to ten minutes, giving us what amounts to a temperature range of something like 71 to 73 degrees in this example. Even though it doesn’t perform exactly as we would like it to, a thermostat is far better than not having one at all, in other words, having just an on/off switch. It would be incredibly inconvenient having to turn the system on and off throughout the day and night. The temperature extremes would quickly get out of hand during times that we were unable or unwilling to attend to it. 

Democracy as it relates to politics is much the same. Democracy helps to keep governments from getting out of hand, becoming too extreme, or just generally out of whack. If some economic policy fails or if a leader becomes unfit, the electorate changes political direction and keeps the country on track. It doesn’t work exactly as we would like, but it’s much better than nothing!

Athenian democracy, the first democracy in the world, was surprisingly hands-on. Not only was every non-slave male citizen able to vote, they were able to vote on each and every law. This made free speech in the general population essential. The most interesting detail I came across in reading about Athenian democracy was an opinion expressed by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus who noted that while living under tyranny the Athenians had been an unremarkable people. They only became a great society, the most powerful and influential Greek city-state, when they were granted free speech. 

Again, though Athenian democracy and how it relates to American democracy is very interesting and important, it’s not a secret. Next I decided to follow the obvious direction given at the end of the poem. 

Seek the columns

For the search.

The Liberty Bell

 

I see no other reasonable interpretation of the L and bell combination in the middle bottom of Image 4 than an allusion to the Liberty Bell. It even bears the distinctive shape of the famous bell. So the question becomes, what could it possibly have to do with this puzzle? It’s a clear reference and not hidden in any way. It must be significant, though it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the location of the casque. I quickly learned, while researching its history, that I didn’t know squat about the bell. 

On July 8, 1776, the Liberty Bell is said to have been rung in the tower of Independence Hall to summon the citizens of Philadelphia to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Colonel John Nixon. Some historians question if the bell was actually rung on this date, as the bell and tower were in disrepair at the time. We likely will never know for sure. The inscription on the bell is a Biblical reference (Leviticus 25:10) and reads:

PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF

The bell was originally ordered by the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751 to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of William Penn’s 1701 Charter of Privileges (Pennsylvania’s original Constitution).  The Charter describes rights and freedoms of all people. Penn’s ideas on religious freedom, Native American rights, and the inclusion of citizens in enacting laws were unprecedented at the time. The bell cracked when first tested and had to be melted down and recast twice before it could be used. 

The popularity of the bell can be traced back to an 1847 fictional story written by George Lippard for The Saturday Currier, titled “Ring, Grandfather! Ring!,” in which an elderly man waits in the State House steeple for a decision from Congress, hoping to ring in American independence.

Just as the old man begins to doubt that Congress will follow through, his grandson, who had been eavesdropping at the doors of the State House, yells, “Ring, Grandfather! Ring!”

Surprisingly, the name “Liberty Bell” wasn’t coined until the 1830’s when the anti-slavery movement adopted it as a symbol of freedom. It is interesting how our perception of a thing changes over time, sometimes far exceeding its original purpose, sometimes becoming part of history over and over again.

As captivating and surprising as the history of the Liberty Bell was to me, it is not, generally speaking, a secret. This clue must, therefore, play into the secret of The Secret, but not be the secret itself. Maybe its purpose is simply to bring to mind the city of Philadelphia or its vicinity. 

Location, Location, Location

 

It then occurred to me that the 42 and 81 suggest a location (latitude and longitude). Therefore, maybe the 14 and 18 do as well. I found a wedding picture in front of the wall, which allowed me to estimate the height and width of the wall, based on the estimated height and width of the people in the image. Starting in the upper north corner of the wall measuring south around 18 feet and down 11ish feet took me to ground level above where the casque was buried. Zinn commented in an Expedition Unknown episode while digging in St. Augustine that the casque in Cleveland was buried 2.5 feet underground. That plus 11 feet gets us close to 14 feet. 

If you’re wondering why I assumed the units were in feet, note that the numbers 1442 and 1881 are each near the feet of the centaur. This, I believe, is why there’s a centaur in the image, so there can be two feet near each number and still have a World War I helmet on someone’s head. 

With some scrounging around I was able to find the plans for the Grecian Garden stone wall, which I learned is exactly 11’ 6” high and 30’ 3” wide. Using a ruler on my computer screen and a little math I was able to confirm with high confidence that 18 feet south along the wall and 14 feet down from the top brings us to the exact underground location of the casque! This gives us an even more accurate location of the casque than counting stones! If I seem excited as I’m writing this, that’s because I am. I just now figured this out!

Please note that this explains the 14 and 18 portions of the numbers, but it does not explain why Byron chose to go with 81 as opposed to 82, which, as mentioned earlier, would, with some manipulation, make a nice latitude/longitude box around the city of Cleveland. That detail has really bothered me—like fingernails on a chalkboard!

We’ve answered the biggest question about how we’re supposed to know to count stones from the front of the wall, and we’ve found a second way to get to the exact dig site. I see no reason to beat this dead horse (or centaur) any further.  I’d say the most important thing we learned is that this puzzle is all about having the right perspective, which is a nice segway to the secret of The Secret. 

I have struggled mightily trying to decide how to best present the clues that led me to the secret of The Secret for Cleveland and have decided to opt for the random order in which they came. This will be less organized but more entertaining, I hope. Sometimes puzzle solving is a bit like hearing the punchline before the joke is fully set up. Such is the nature of mysteries. Let’s examine our unanswered questions in detail. 

Welcome to Level 4.