TRP News Reference

[Peter Petto]

       Missing Portrait Found
        
           CHICAGO (AP) - The case of the purloined portrait ended as
        mysteriously as it began.
        
           An oil portrait of former University of Chicago president Hanna
        Gray that was stolen from its frame in the main dining hall April 28
        was found next to a South Side trash bin Wednesday by a student
        taking out the garbage.
        
           A note attached to the painting read: "Here is Hanna Gray, call
        the police and collect $500. Have a nice day." The note contained
        the telephone number of the university police.
        
           The painting was in good shape, except for some quotations and
        arcane symbols written on the back.
        
           University spokesman Jonathan Kleinbard said the student, 20-year-
        old Joshua Reisner, would receive the reward money.
        
           One quotation, from the Book of Revelations, read: "He will wipe
        away every tear from their eyes, there shall be an end to death and
        to mourning and crying and pain, for the former things have passed
        away."
        
           One symbol - a drawing of a hunting horn - led university
        officials to suspect the thief is a devotee of novelist Thomas
        Pynchon. Pynchon's cryptic "The Crying of Lot 49" repeatedly uses
        the symbol.
        
           The ransom notes periodically sent to the campus newspaper
        weren't much clearer, being written in what appeared to be a parody
        of academic style. They often were accompanied by photos of the
        portrait propped up in various locations around the city.
        
           "She's free at last, free for Independence Day," Kleinbard said.
        "Our kids are very smart, they have a great sense of humor, and the
        prank is over."
        
           
        
           
        
        Copyright 1996 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Peter Petto         |       ppetto at apk.net
Bay Village, Ohio   |   PGP public key available