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Cooper, Courtney Ryley, 1886-1940We have 2 books for this author.Early lifeCourtney Ryley Cooper was born on October 31, 1886, in Kansas City, Missouri. At the age of 16, he left home to join a traveling circus and eventually became a circus clown. Later, he worked as a newspaper reporter for the Kansas City Star, New York World, Chicago Tribune and Denver Post and began contributing stories to magazines. In 1914, he became the press agent for the Sells-Floto Circus and William "Buffalo Bill" Cody's Wild West Show. On August 1st, 1918, Cooper joined the U.S. Marine Corps. He rose to the rank of second lieutenant and was sent to France to conduct historical research on the marines. Later careerIn the 1920s and 1930's Cooper wrote screenplays, short stories, novels, magazine articles, and popular non-fiction books. Most of his non-fiction work focused on two subjects, the circus and crime. His books Here's to Crime (1937), Ten-Thousand Public Enemies (1935) and Designs in Scarlet (1939) championed the cause of the young Federal Bureau of Investigation and made the case that corrupt local governments and police forces permitted lawlessness to flourish in many parts of the United States. Cooper's work was much admired by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who allowed him access to FBI case files. Cooper is widely believed to have ghostwritten the book Persons in Hiding (1938) as well as a number of magazine articles for Hoover. Much of Cooper's correspondence with Hoover is archived at the University of Alaska Anchorage Library. Cooper wrote extensively on the danger of illicit drugs, particularly marijuana. He collaborated with Federal Bureau of Narcotics Director Harry Anslinger on the article "Marijuana, Assassin of Youth," which originally appeared in American Magazine in July, 1937. SuicideOn September 29, 1940, Courtney Ryley Cooper committed suicide by hanging himself in the closet of a hotel room in the Hotel Park Central in New York City. He left a note instructing that the cash in his clothing should be used to settle his hotel bill but giving no indication as to a motivation for his suicide. At the time of his death, he was employed as the chief publicist for the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus. References
This biographical information was gathered from the Courtney_Ryley_Cooper page, courtesy of the Wikipedia project. BooksThe Cross-CutThe White Desert |
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