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Part 95: Bonnie & Clyde
Two years ago, I found out about a plan Riley hatched. He wanted to get back together with Jan and leave town.
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Part 83: Houseguest & The Encyclopedia of Folk Music
My father said that part of his encyclopedia of folk music was burned in a fire, and that he'd have to start all over. Was it true?
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Part 23: "He Enjoyed Tricking People," She said.
Here's what I grapple with. Did my father believe his lies sometimes, or lie so often that he became confused about reality?
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Part 21: Live and In Person: Famous, Beautiful, and Talented.
Riley was young in the mid-1940s. New York offered him many fantastic opportunities to find work and meet new people.
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Part 20: WWll, Chicago, and Those Wacky Lectures
Dad was in his early 20s when the war broke out, healthy as a horse, tall, handsome, articulate. So why didn't he serve in that war?
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Part 17: Riley's Early 20s and His Journal: A Look Back
“They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by...
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Part 16: Women, a Nudist Lawyer, Colonel Tom Parker, and Hillbillies.
My Dad introduced me to Colonel Tom Parker, telling Parker that it was my 16th birthday."Oh? Sweet sixteen and never been kissed?"
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Part 10: Riley's Real Troubles Begin
Reading through the reports from The Eastern Carolina Industrial Training School for Boys, I noticed a dramatic change in tone after the...
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Part Nine: "Looking For Good Christian Men Who Have a Strong Interest in Boys..."
I was nervous and had trouble focusing when I entered the Wilson Library to study the place where my Dad was sent when he was a kid.
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Part 8: Things Boys Got In Trouble For in the Early 1900s
I found this list of habits and offenses that could categorize a kid as a delinquent back in the 1920s. The list was in a pamphlet at the...