Project M.A.R.V., Missing Artist Russell Vapors, Episode 7

You are an NYPD detective investigating the disappearance of artist Russell Vapors. You've just reviewed the 2nd recovered sketchbook which contains many solid clues about the disappearance of Vapors, but the captain wants to know more.

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Captain's office at the Police Station, NYC, May 9, 2011:

police captain asks about hidden drawings, trojan horse, Museum of art, how it all fits in this mystery

The detective starts to explain about the newspaper article about Heinrich Schliemann

"Heinrich Schliemann," you begin, "was a complicated individual, but let me try to strip down the story as it relates to this case. Schliemann was born in Germany in 1822, and by the time he was 24, he was already a successful businessman. When he was 42, he decided to take time off from work to travel the world, which he did for 2 years, going to Italy, France, Egypt, India, China, Hong Kong, Japan, the USA, and Mexico, among other places."

"At the conclusion of these travels, Schliemann decided to enroll as a student at the Sorbonne in Paris. He was learning the Greek language and was immersed in Homer's Illiad and The Odyssey, and in 1868, decided to travel to Greece to seek proof of Homer's stories. You see, at this time in history, scholars doubted that Troy ever existed, they just considered it part of Homer's epic stories, and that it was just fiction. But Schliemann had the idea that he was going to find Troy, and prove its existence."

You continue, "He encountered a man in Turkey named Frank Calvert, who also had a hunch that Troy might have been an actual city, and Calvert had already purchased land and was digging to find Troy. He advised Schliemann on how to get permission from the Turkish government to start his own dig, which Schliemann did. When permission was granted, it came with specific terms: if any artifacts were found, then half of the bounty must go to a museum in Constantinople. Schliemann hired a team and spent a full season from 1871-72 digging on a hill in an area called Hisarlik, finding very little, but as he went deeper, he found that there were multiple layers to a city under the hill, as if one city had been built on top of the previous one over many, many years."

"Here's where it gets interesting," you continue. "In May of 1873, near the end of his second year of digging, Schliemann found a stash of gold within an excavated wall, and you know what he did? He promptly told his workers to take the day off, and then started hauling out the treasure himself! He later described the scene as being him and his wife carrying helmets, swords, vases and jewelry off the site, tucked into her shawl, back to their living quarters. But later it was proved that his wife wasn't even in Turkey that day - she was back in Greece for her father's funeral. Why did he lie about this?"

You continue: "But that wasn't his only act of deceipt; he couldn't stand the idea of the Turkish government taking half of this treasure, so he had two trusted workers pack and crate it all up and ship it to Athens. But he was so vain, he wanted the world to know he had found priceless treasure, so he published an article about his find! He even had his wife pose for a picture wearing some of the jewelry, proclaiming that it was the same jewelry worn by Helen of Troy! But there was no proof that his find was from the same era in which Homer's stories took place; he simply wanted to believe this, so he proclaimed it to be so!"

"But of course this proclamation of finding treasure only brought the Turkish government to Schliemann's home in Greece to stake their claim to half of it," you explain. "So what did Schliemann do this time? He packed it up and hid it again, except this time, rumor has it, he divided the treasure into separate packages, and asked his Greek in-laws to hide the treasure in caves and barns, among other places! Not able to find any treasure, the Turkish government took Schliemann to court, where the judge settled that Schliemann had to pay a fine and surrender some artifacts, which he did by providing minor pieces that had little interest to him. So in the end, he's off the hook, has hidden treasure dispersed in multiple hiding places, and no one really knows what he's got."

Heinrich Schliemann's dig site at Hisarlik

The dig site at Hisarlik.

Priam's Treasure as found by Heinrich Schliemann

Police chief questioning the detective about Russell Vapors

You reply, "No, the treasure was reassembled, and it was displayed in museum exhibitions and was eventually donated to Germany and became part of the Museum of Berlin. But considering how sly and tricky Schliemann was, who knows if he fully reassembled the collection, or if he kept parts for himself? If he went to that much trouble to keep the treasure from the Turks, why would he turn around and donate all of it to the Germans? It would seem likely that he might have retained a private stash for himself."

"But this is all so unbelievable, that some unknown artist in New York would know secrets from the late 1890's," the captain replied.

You continue, saying "But that wasn't the end, captain. At the end of World War II, the Germans knew they were about to lose the war, and officials at the Museum of Berlin packed up the treasure and hid it in a large concrete anti-aircraft battery tower on the grounds of the Berlin Zoo. The Russians came in, and they had special squads whose role was to strip Berlin of its artworks, so they simply grabbed these stored crates and took them back to Russia in 1945, where they vanished from sight. While the treasure resurfaced in the early 1990's, with Russia admitting that they had it in storage at the Pushkin Museum and the Hermitage, there's still 45 years where it was generally unaccounted for ... who knows what happened with the treasure during that time? Considering how many times the treasure was hidden, moved, split up, moved, and hidden again, it's an impossible trail to follow and various pieces may have found their way into individual hands."

"Okay," says the captain. "But why is Vapors going to Paris and Rome?"

"There's one more piece to the Schliemann puzzle that ties into what Vapors might be doing," you reply. "Schliemann, over the years, developed horrible earaches, and in the fall of 1890, he was in so much pain that he decided to have surgery in Germany. The surgery was a success, but he left the hospital early, against the doctor's orders, with a plan to return to Athens. But look at the map of Europe, circa 1890. The obvious path for Schliemann to go from Germany to Greece would be the direct yellow line. But what did he do? He left Germany on December 12, traveled to Paris, then to Italy, and had intentions to continue to Athens. But he died in Naples, Italy, on Christmas Day, 1890, and never made it home. Why did he take this detour? My hunch is that Schliemann knew his time was running out and he wanted to secure his various "stashes" of the remaining treasure. And where is Vapors going? To Paris, Rome, and then Athens ... he's following Schliemann's last voyage, so I think he must know something about Schliemann's reason for going that roundabout way."

Map of Europe in 1890 detailing Heinrich Schliemann's last journey before his death

Map of Europe with 1890 borders

"Detective, you've done some fantastic work here," the captain said. "But one last question: why did this newspaper article about Schliemann and the upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Art here in New York spur Vapors into action? His drawings show that he was pursuing the story of Schliemann for a while, but what is it about the upcoming museum show that set him off?"

"My guess," you reply, is that he knew a major museum exhibition would bring attention to Schliemann's story, and might awaken curiosity among other treasure-seekers. He decided to pursue his own leads on the treasure before too many others came to the same conclusion."

"Detective," the captain says, "this has become an international missing persons case ... I need to determine the proper protocol before letting you continue with your investigation."

"That's fine," you reply. "I have something that's still bothering me that I need to look into before I go anywhere. Remember that sketch where the abstracted person has the number 3 on his shoulders? And it says 'me, her, them' on it? There's a woman involved here somehow, and I need to figure out who it is. Vapors didn't have any known girlfriends, and the only woman so far who even shows up on my radar is his neighbor, the jazz woman, whose apartment window faced the window where Vapors hid his drawings. Now that we know more details about the case, I think I need to ask her some more questions."

"Okay," said the captain. "Go talk to her and then let's plan your next step."

detail of missing person Russell Vapors sketch

Below are your reference materials. You've got your case files at left, and can refer back to Sketchbook #1 or #2, if you feel the need to revisit any of the details of the case so far.

missing persons file for artist Russell Vapors

Episode 8, coming soon ...