UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Historian: Lincoln gay claim a hoax

NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A prominent Abraham Lincoln historian in New York says an activist who claims the 16th president was gay admitted to him the story was fabricated.

Harold Holzer, who has written 35 books about Lincoln and the Civil War, said playwright and AIDS activist Larry Kramer admitted to him he fabricated his much-publicized claims that a diary and letters discovered in an old Lincoln home confirmed a homosexual relationship with his roommate, Joshua Speed, the New York Post reported Thursday.

"I had a private conversation with him (Kramer). He admitted to me that he made the whole thing up. He said he made it up to raise consciousness," Holzer, who was co-chairman of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission this year, told the Post.

"That he is reviving this hoax is a little bizarre," Holzer said. "For half his life, Lincoln shared his bed with other guys. It was the custom. People didn't have so many beds."

The Post said Kramer, who also has claimed President George Washington, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, and explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were gay, couldn't be reached for comment.

Police: Teens videotaped their own crime

ROUND LAKE PARK, Ill., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Police in Illinois said a pair of teenage burglary suspects used a stolen phone to take video of themselves wearing stolen clothing.

Investigators said the male suspects, a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old, burglarized a Round Lake Park home three times while the residents were on vacation between Dec. 18 and Tuesday, the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald reported Thursday.

Police Chief George Filenko said the pair took $1,000 worth of merchandise from the home, including a 17-inch flat-screen television, a Sony PlayStation 2, vodka and cereal. The teens also took a cellphone to take video of themselves wearing stolen T-shirts from the house.

Filenko said a tip led police to the suspects and they discovered the phone and the video, which police said was clear enough to identify the faces of the teens.

The suspects were charged as juveniles with residential burglary.

ATM too heavy for would-be robbers

CHICAGO, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Police in Chicago said two robbers abandoned their poorly-planned crime when they discovered their target, an ATM, was too heavy for them to steal.

Investigators said the pair of masked bandits tied up six employees at the Sims Metal Management Inc. recycling facility Wednesday morning and tried to carry off the cash machine, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.

However, the men left empty-handed in their Jeep Cherokee upon discovering the ATM was too heavy for them to lift, police said.

The employees managed to free themselves at about 6:45 a.m. and called 911.

Police said they are searching for the men and their vehicle, which bore temporary Illinois plates.

Police: Carjacking escape foiled by woman

ELLSWORTH, Maine, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Police in Maine said a man who escaped from a courtroom and tried to steal a car was foiled by the fighting skills of a 19-year-old woman.

The Hancock County Sheriff's Department said Thomas Sawyer, 42, of Brooklin, Maine, escaped from the Hancock County Court House, where he had been brought from the county jail Wednesday to face charges of violation of probation and violation of a protective order, the Bangor (Maine) Daily News reported Thursday.

Deputy Jeff McFarland said details of the escape were unavailable, but Sawyer jumped into the driver's seat of a parked car and ordered a woman sitting in the passenger seat to get out. However, he said the woman refused to leave and instead fought with the man while he tried to drive.

"He told her to get out of the car or he would kill her," McFarland said. "She didn't get out. She fought him off. She was punching him and kicking him. She beat him all the way up Bridge Hill."

McFarland said Sawyer exited the car and was caught by police moments later. Authorities said he will now face charges of escape and robbery.