As apartment house popularity rose, rowhouse owners soon began taking in boarders, like Frank Oakley - who committed suicide in his room at 308 West 71st Street in 1916. Oakley was known as Slivers the Clown, and toured with the Barnum & Bailey circus. He had fallen for Viola Stoll, a young vaudeville actress, and remained so even after she stole the jewelry of his late wife. When he tried to have her paroled from prison by proposing marriage, she rejected him. |
- Re: [BP] a cautionary tale Met History
- Re: [BP] a cautionary tale Pamela S. Follett