Recently I wrote about one of my favorite numismatic heroes, Charles McCormick Reeve. Thisweek I take up one of my favorite numismatic villains, Dale Birdsell. I will relate two versions ofhis story that are as different as black and white.

Dale Estin Birdsell was born on June 4, 1920, in Hillsboro, Oregon. His father was Curtis JohnBirdsell (1876-1942). In the 1930 Census, he was listed as a real estate agent. In 1940 as thecounty assessor. Dale's mother was Elizabeth Manning Simon (1893- ).

Birdsell was discharged from the Army in 1941 for swindling. He enlisted in the Army again onJuly 24, 1943 and served overseas during World War II. His registration papers indicate he hadtwo years of college and was employed as an office clerk. He was listed as single withdependents. He was examined by an Army psychiatrist in 1944 who found him to bepsychopathic and he was discharged.

In the 1950 Census, he was in Providence, Rhode Island, (Home of Brown University) listed as ahistory teacher living with his wife, Myrtle Birdsell, a college librarian.

In August of 1956 he was selected as a judge to pick the winner for the Miss Mississippi contest.He was described as director of the American Models Association in New Orleans.

A month later he was charged with extortion. Birdsell, working with the College Queen contest, took nude pictures and threatened to expose and disgrace one of the women. At the time he waseditor and publisher of Southern Digest, a pro-segregation paper in Baton Rouge. A search of hishouse turned up a hypodermic needle and syringe. Possession resulted in a seven year prisonsentence at Angola State Penitentiary. In June of 1957 he was granted a new trial because offaults with the first trial. The Mississippi Supreme Court declared the conviction unconstitutionaland he was released.

Just a few months later in 1958, Birdsell, 37, met a 16-year-old girl in the Ritz Hotel lobby inWashington. She had run away from home in Maryland. He said she could be a model andoffered to manage her career. They got on a bus intending to go to New Orleans. They got as faras Memphis where the girl became disillusioned with Birdsell. She left him and notified police.He and the girl were registered at the King Cotton hotel as husband and wife. Birdsell was triedand convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, fined $1000 and sentenced to 11months and 29 days in the Selby County (Tennessee) workhouse.

In 1960, he was described as an Arkansas Ku Klux Klan organizer. On trial again, he could notafford an attorney and represented himself. He gave a long speech in his defense saying that hehad an irresistible impulse due to a mental and emotional breakdown. He said that he had twounsuccessful marriages, a psychiatric discharge from the army and suffered a skull fracture in anautomobile accident, He was convicted of five counts of passing bad checks and again received atwo-year prison sentence. He was released on probation in May of 1962.

In 1964, Birdsall was convicted on charges related to transporting three Thunderbirds for sale inMexico. An attempt was made to determine his sanity. He testified to doctors that he was actingunder orders from his commanding general, Nathan Bedford Forrest, provisional ArmyConfederate States of America and Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He said that stealingcars was not illegal as he was foraging to support the cause. The doctor concluded that Birdsallcould no longer tell right from wrong and should be committed to a federal mental institution. Hewas admitted to Springfield, Missouri Medical Center for Federal Prisoners. The conviction wassustained.

In 1969 he was charged with forgery, declared incompetent to stand trial and was sent to AustinState Hospital where he escaped.

In Houston in 1970, he admitted that he cashed 200 bad checks worth $10,000. He claimed thathe was raising money to finance a rightwing revolution. He intended to pay everyone back afterthe revolution.

The numismatic community is fortunate that Birdsell was out of prison long enough to make hiscontribution to numismatic literature. Birdsell compiled Ku Klux Klan Tokens that was publishedin 1977. It was twenty pages with illustrations describing eighty pieces. A second editionpublished in 1981 was expanded to forty pages.

In 1984 he was again arrested in Victoria, Texas, and accused of passing bad cashier's checksworth $17,367.91. He was implicated in a larger nation-wide check forging scheme.

Dale died on April 8, 1998, in Fairfax, Virginia. His service entitled him to burial at QuanticoNational Cemetery in Virginia. Dale Birdsell and Myrtle Birdsell are buried in the same plot. TheFindagrave listing has no family relationships mentioned for either of them.

The second story was published by Reed College in Portland, Oregon, after his death.

There is just enough overlap to confirm the two stories are about the same person.

Throughout my research, I was plagued with conflicts finding records for Dale Estin Birdsell,born in Oregon on June 4, 1920, and Dale Estine Birdsell born in Texas on November 5, 1921.

Dale E. Birdsell joined the American Numismatic Association in 1981 as member R-113805. Hegave his address as a P. O. Box in Grand Bay, Alabama. The KKK book was published in GrandBay, Alabama. There is a public record giving the birthdate of Birdsell in Grand Bay asNovember 5. 1921, the birthdate for the Texas Birdsell.

The Oregon Birdsell had a history of using an alias and of obtaining identification cards for realpeople that were not him. I wonder if Oregon Birdsell was using Texas Birdsell's identificationwhen he joined the ANA. Was this a records error or intentional deception?

Inconsistencies in the stories remain that I can't resolve.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
KU KLUX KLAN TOKEN BOOK, 2ND EDITION(https://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n26a31.html)
CHARLES MCCORMICK REEVE(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n18a21.html)
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 30, 2023 : KKK Token Book Printing Confirmed(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n18a16.html)