Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?

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Sir Harry helped turn that tropical archipelago into an international resort and he would become the largest property owner on Nassau’s New Providence Island. Another question, is why would Harold Christie even want to sleep in Oakes’ house anyway? Christie knew of Oakes’ plan to leave The Bahamas, and his friend’s fury over being cut out of the RAF land sale.

This may sound too good to be true. It may sound like the plot to a best-selling pot-boiler. And it all serves to explain the continuing interest in the murder of Sir Harry Oakes, often referred to, hyperbolically (and hyperbole is in no short supply in the coverage of the murder), as "the crime of the century." (deMarigny 41) Another name bandied as a possible culprit was American mobster Meyer Lansky, promoter of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States, who is alleged to have viewed Oakes as an obstacle to his plans of opening a casino in Nassau.

Framed

Do grown men usually do that? Do they rush into each-other’s bedrooms at the first sign of daylight, to wake each other up, like school girls, after a sleepover?

De Marigny would return to Nassau in 1990, to pitch the memoir he had written. Reporters had called in 1989 when the TV movie “ Passion in Paradise,” based on James Leasor’s “Who Killed Harry Oakes?” came out. The count died a rich recluse in 1998.Fourteen years after the trial, Gardner’s fictional character would become a TV star, too. “ Perry Mason” would run from 1957 to 1966. When Oakes arrived, eligible Bahamian male voters voted in open ballots. One’s political preference was publicly known, leaving voters vulnerable to political victimization by the White Bay Street authorities. Harold Christie would tell police, and testify in court, that he, Oakes and other house guests dined, drank, and played tennis and parlor games until about 11 p.m. Christie said he remained in Oakes’ bedroom until the host had donned pajamas, then retired to his own room, where he read a magazine for a half hour, then went to sleep. He said he left Oakes in bed, reading a newspaper. Historians have alleged that the Duke of Windsor bungled the case, by enlisting the assistance of Miami policemen James Baker and Edward S. Melchen, rather than relying on Bahamian detectives, which was typical of the widespread racial discrimination in that era. Due to the massive influence of Governor Charles Dundas, the secret ballot was first introduced to New Providence in 1939, and only on a five-year trial basis, according to the late historian Michael Craton. As for the Out Islands, the open ballot would continue until 1949.