Velvalee Dickinson - Case

Case

In February 1942, a letter was brought to the attention of the FBI, intercepted by wartime censors. The letter, supposedly from a woman in Portland, Oregon to a correspondent in Buenos Aires, discussed a "wonderful doll hospital" and noted that the writer had sent the correspondent "three Old English dolls" for repairs. The letter also mentioned references to "fish nets" and "balloons". FBI cryptographers examined the letter, concluding that the "dolls" in question were likely three warships and the "doll hospital" was a West Coast-based shipyard where repairs were made, while the "fishing nets" and "balloons" passed information about coastal defenses and other critical information on the West Coast.

Based on the above letter, the FBI initiated an espionage investigation. During that time, four more letters to the same Buenos Aires address, a Señora Inés López de Molinali at 2563 O'Higgins Street, were sent. However, the letters were returned to sender, due to "address unknown"; these letters were in turn handed over to the FBI. The people whose names had appeared on the envelope as senders stated that while the letters contained information that was correct to their personal lives and hobbies, and that the signatures on stated letters resembled theirs, all four vehemently denied that they had sent any of the letters to the Argentine address.

One of the letters, supposedly sent by a Mary Wallace of Springfield, Ohio, did indicate her home address - 1808 E High Street - but had been postmarked in New York, a place she had never been. The letter, primarily discussing dolls, contained references to a "Mr. Shaw, who had been ill but would be back to work soon." The letter corresponded to information that the destroyer USS Shaw, which had been damaged in the Pearl Harbor attack, completed repairs on the West Coast and was soon to rejoin the Pacific Fleet.

Another letter, given to the FBI in August of that year, was said to be written by a woman in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was postmarked from Oakland, California. That letter, written in February, referenced seven small dolls which the writer stated would be altered to look as though they were "sevel real Chinese dolls", designed to mimic a family of parents, grandparents and three children. The FBI determined that the letter was written shortly after a convoy of ships had arrived at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo. The letter contained certain details about the ships, that if made public, would have been detrimental to the war effort.

The same woman also gave the FBI a letter returned to her by the Post Office earlier that month. The second letter, from May, and postmarked from Portland, Oregon, discussed the acquisition of a "Siamese Temple Dancer" doll. A portion of the letter read:

"...t had been damaged, that is tore in the middle. But it is now repaired and I like it very much. I could not get a mate for this Siam dancer, so I am redressing just a small plain ordinary doll into a second Siam doll ..."

Cryptographers determined this to translate as, "I just secured information on an aircraft carrier warship, it had been damaged, that is torpedoed in the middle. But it is now repaired ... hey could not get a mate for this so a plain ordinary warship is being converted into a second aircraft carrier ..." The information matched damage done to the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, which had seen repairs in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard before being transferred to the Naval Base at San Diego, California.

A third letter, handed to the FBI by a woman in Spokane, Washington and bearing a postmark from Seattle made reference to a "German bisque doll, dressed in a hula grass skirt", sent to Seattle for repairs that would be completed sometime around the first week of February. Naval authorities confirmed to the FBI that a ship damaged at Pearl Harbor was in Puget Sound for repairs and would be completed around the time stated in the letter.

A forensics examination of all letters concerned confirmed that the signatures were forgeries, based on copies of the original signatures. The examination also indicated that while different typewriters were used to compose the letters, the typing characteristics indicated that the letters were composed by a single individual. The conclusion reached by the examiners was that the letters contained codetext conveying information on the US Navy's ships and their location, condition, repair and status, with emphasis on ships damaged at Pearl Harbor.