Another Mural Returned After Anonymous Call

Harvard's own version of high intrigue in the art world got more complicated Thursday night, as a series of anonymous phone calls resulted in the recovery of the third of five murals that were stolen during the College's 350th anniversary ball.

The painting was recovered Thursday night at 11:30 p.m. in the Strauss D-entryway. Wednesday night two other paintings in the set had been left in Thayer South for the artists to pick up.

Prompted by a Thursday article in The Harvard Crimson about the return of the two other missing paintings, a male freshman who refused to identify himself called the reporter at 8:45 p.m. that evening and said he had another of the missing murals.

The reporter, Joseph C. Tedeschi '90, said that the caller asked him for the phone numbers of the artists because he was anxious to return the stolen painting.

More than two hours later, Mary Rhinelander '83, one of two artists whose work was stolen, received a similar anonymous phone call from a man who said he had read the article and realized that he should give back the artwork.

"The caller was very nice about the whole thing," she said in an interview last night. "He said that he really enjoyed the painting and thought it was good artwork."

The caller told Rhinelander that the painting would be in Strauss Hall, so she contacted the other artist Ethan Johnson '84, who sent two friends to Strauss D-entry late Thursday night to pick up the mural.

"The callers were all perfectly nice about it. They just didn't realize that the paintings were a big deal," Johnson said.

The Plot Thickens

But that wasn't all that happened Thursday around midnight. At 12:30 a.m. Friday, Rhinelander said she received another mysterious phone call from a man who also claimed to possess a fourth of the pilfered paintings. Rhinelander said she referred the man to Johnson, because he painted that particular mural.

But Johnson said the second anonymous caller has not contacted him, so his painting has yet to be recovered.

"I'm just glad the first group of people came forward. It seems to have inspired everyone else," said Rhinelander. She painted another of the missing murals which has been valued at $900.

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, co-chairman of the committee that planned the 350th ball, agreed with the artist.