The Death of David Kammerer

If you're like me, you .....
..... don't care for poetry.
..... possess only a somewhat cursory knowledge of the Beat Generation authors (Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg).
..... weren't interested in the movie "Kill Your Darlings" when it was released in 2013 because you thought it was basically about Allen Ginsberg.
..... have read and enjoyed one or more of Caleb Carr's best-selling novels in his "Alienist" series. Or maybe you've simply seen the recent TNT adaptation of book one?
..... didn't realize Caleb Carr's father Lucien Carr killed someone when he was 19-years-old. The victim was his friend and former scoutmaster.

The murder of David Kammerer on August 14, 1944 is not on par with the more obscure crimes I usually cover in this blog but since it came as news to me I figured there might be others who were unaware and would find it interesting.

Many versions of events surrounding the crime have been appeared in fictional works, posthumously published journals, biographies & autobiographies, magazine articles, etc and one could spend months reading everything there is on offer. Caleb Carr doesn't shy away from talking about sad chapter in his father's history but I somehow managed to miss reading any of those print interviews until recently.

Good luck though finding anything from Lucien Carr himself beyond his initial statements to police and the courts. Lucien Carr made a real effort afterwards to avoid talking about the crime, especially to reporters, and Carr implored his literary friends to ignore it as well. However, writers can't help but draw inspiration from their own lives. All of them eventually wrote about the crime, mostly in fictional works. There really never was a genuine tell-all true crime book from Burroughs, Kerouac or Ginsberg but Beat Generation devotees have been looking for clues in their fictional works for years.



I, as usual, will be relying on what the newspapers had to say at the time of the arrest and trial. However, at the end of this blog I'll make several recommendations for further reading. So, while this entry will not be chock-a-block with the kind of detail available elsewhere, I hope it'll be a decent enough summary so that you won't have to follow the links if you choose not to.

On August 16, 1944, 19-year-old Lucien Carr, accompanied by a lawyer, appeared at the office of  New York District Attorney Frank S. Hogan and admitted to killing his friend David Kammerer two days prior. They didn't believe him. Carr would have to lead police to the crime scene, show them 2 locations where he'd hidden evidence and wait for the body to be found floating down Hudson River. Carr calmly sat and read poetry while waiting for charges to be filed against him.

Carr, Kammerer & Kerouac

According to Carr, he and his long-time friend David Kammerer, aged 33, had been drinking heavily and ended up in Riverside Park around 3 AM where Kammerer made an unwelcome sexual advance. Carr defended himself with his Boy Scout knife. Carr stabbed Kammerer twice in the chest then he trussed Kammerer's body up with the victim's own belt, shoelaces and strips of cloth torn from the victim's shirt. Carr tried weighing the body down with some rocks and rolled him in to the Hudson River. Carr got undressed, entered the river and pushed the body under the water.

Carr almost immediately confessed his crime to good friend William S. Burroughs who advised him to go to the police. Burrough's reasoned that if represented as self-defense with a focus on Kammerer's sexuality that the penalty would be maybe 2 years.

Carr then sought the opinion of Jack Kerouac who helped Carr dispose of evidence (Kammerer's eye glasses and the murder weapon). The two spent the remainder of the day visiting the Museum of Art, had a few beers and saw the movie "The Four Feathers."

Ultimately, Carr confided in his mother Marion who called a lawyer and then Carr turned himself in.

Burroughs, Carr & Ginsberg

Both Burroughs and Kerouac would be arrested as accessories and held as material witnesses. Both would be bailed out. However, Kerouac was coerced into marrying his then girlfriend Edie Parker before her family would hand over the money. I suppose not much was made of these charges once Carr confessed in open court.

It didn't take long for newspapers to begin referring to the murder as an "honor killing."



On September 15, 1944, Carr pled guilty to first degree manslaughter. Three weeks later, on October 6, Carr was sentenced to a reformatory in Elmira, NY for an indefinite term. In handing down his verdict, Judge George L. Donnellan described this as "a difficult case." He cited Carr's high IQ and a desire to not have Carr "come in contact with hardened criminals" because "under the proper supervision, he may be restored to useful citizenship."

Burroughs was correct; Carr was released after serving 18 months. And the judge was right because although Carr did drink heavily for years and made some poor choices as result of alcohol, he quickly found employment with United Press and stayed there until he retired in 1993.

Lucien Carr, in 1986, photo by Allen Ginsberg

Details of the actual murder can only be known by Carr but this much we do know -

David Kammerer and Lucien Carr had a complicated friendship. Kerouac biographer Aaron Latham likens the dynamic to Leopold & Loeb. I see his point - Two men. One romantically and sexually attracted to the other but without a chance in hell of having those feelings reciprocated and in the end someone dies. But that's not really what's going on here. Leopold & Loeb, aged 19 and 18 respectively, abducted and murdered an innocent young boy to prove their superiority. Kammerer had been infatuated and obsessed with Carr, a boy 14 years his junior, since Carr joined his Boy Scout troop when he was 12-years-old.

Once, when Lucien's mother found a stash of letters written to her son by a desperate Kammerer, she tried to put some geographic distance between the two but wherever Carr went, Kammerer would follow. Kammerer seems like a stalker and hopeful pedophile.

By the time Carr was a young man and a Columbia University student he seemed adept at rebuffing Kammerer but still maintaining a friendship that he would benefit him. Kammerer picked up the tab and wrote Carr's college term papers. He was devoted to Carr. Carr's tight circle of friends at the time included Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsburg and also Kammerer who was not universally liked and often derided but most decidedly a member of the group.

There's testimony from many that support the belief that Kammerer's obsession showed no sign of easing up and that perhaps he feared Lucien might be slipping away from him. Kammerer already admitted to Burroughs that he would sometimes sneak into Carr's bedroom just to watch him sleep. Carr made known to Kammerer his plans to join the Merchant Marines and his intention to board the next available vessel. Perhaps Kammerer became increasingly unhinged and did try to force the issue?

Naturally, there are also associates and friends of Kammerer's, outside of the Beat Movement, who dispute this take on the relationship. I certainly don't know but I did have a little trouble with the way the film "Kill Your Darlings" chose to show Kammerer walking towards the knife.

Death Certificate for David Kammerer

For a pretty lengthy comment by Caleb Carr, Lucien's son, on both the crime and the film "Kill Your Darlings," visit -

http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/24/son-of-famous-beat-murderer-lucien-carr-disputes-kill-your-darlings-films-version-of-events/

There's a relatively brief and inexpensive (about $3) ebook overview of the crime available for purchase called "The Beat Killer: A Biography of Beat Writer Lucien Carr and The Riverside Park Murder" written by James Fritz. Buy it wherever you buy ebooks.

One of the better articles about the crime and it's impact can be found here - http://magazine.columbia.edu/features/winter-2012-13/last-beat?page=0,0

I suggest seeing "Kill Your Darlings" but don't rely on it solely for facts regarding the crime or the participants.