[CPProt.net] Map dealer E. Forbes Smiley III charts defense

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Map dealer charts defense
By JEANNE MORRIS 

E. Forbes Smiley III, a noted antique map dealer from Martha's Vineyard, has
deep New Hampshire ties - and deeper trouble, since his arrest over the
summer for allegedly slicing maps from a rare book at Yale University. 

But Smiley's troubles aren't shaking the faith of his old friends from his
days at Manchester's Derryfield School and Hampshire College in Amherst,
Mass. 

Smiley, who grew up in Bedford, became a hot topic of conversation among
wealthy map collectors throughout the world - and the subject of an
international search by the FBI's art crime squad seeking other maps Smiley
might have lifted from libraries. 

In New Hampshire, Dartmouth College conducted a search following an alert by
the FBI but has yet to find any missing maps. Boston Public Library and
several libraries have reported maps missing from books Smiley viewed. 

Meanwhile, two of Smiley's old friends from the Derryfield School in
Manchester and several others from Hampshire College are coming to his aid,
despite the evidence against Smiley - he was observed and caught on video
tape removing a map valued at an estimated $150,000 from a book at a Yale
University library. When searched, authorities recovered an estimated
$700,000 worth of maps from his jacket and briefcase. The first-degree
larceny charge comes at a time when Smiley has been paying off tax liens on
his homes in Maine and Massachusetts. 

Loyal friends 
Scott Slater, a writer living in Cambridge, Mass., Smiley's friend from
Hampshire College, said, "He's helped a lot of people in his life, and we
would like to try help him regardless of what he might be guilty of." 

Smiley, 49, is free on $175,000 bail. He and his lawyer are not commenting.
Slater said, "Forbes is not allowed to comment on the case, even to me." But
Smiley has said all the proceedings have been very civil. 

Indeed, Smiley's genteel persona, affable nature and generosity are listed
by his friends as some of the remarkable qualities that helped make him an
accomplished dealer in the exclusive world of antique map trading where rich
clients pay $180,000 and much more for a single map. This month's New Yorker
magazine includes a lengthy profile on Smiley's career and arrest. 

Dartmouth College special collections librarian Jay Satterfield said it's
hard to know when someone removes a page from a book. Rare and valuable maps
can be found among the stacks of ordinary books in the library's general
collection. Stacks are open to anyone wanting to browse without signing out.


Plus, many antique books have had pages taken from them, Satterfield said.
"It's rare to have an atlas complete," he said. 

Security lacking 
Libraries carefully catalogue each missing page when they acquire it, but
there's no inventory performed after someone returns it, he said. 

As a result, Satterfield said, "To say a book is missing a map and the last
one who used it took it is bad logic. Determining when it went missing is a
very difficult thing." 

Slater said Smiley would sometimes talk about faulty library cataloging, and
"finding maps in the weirdest places." 

"I think libraries don't know what they have; things they think are stolen
could be elsewhere," he said. 

Yet, should the court find Smiley guilty, his friends are planning a
letter-writing campaign to ask for leniency, Slater said. 

New York City actress and playwright Hilary Chaplain, who has remained
Smiley's loyal friend since the days at the Derryfield School, said, "We
adore Forbes. You couldn't find a nicer guy, a more well-meaning, generous,
kind, smart, wonderful man." 

Derryfield School classmate, Paul Statt, who works at Amherst College as the
media director, said a trust has been formed, and he is soliciting donations
for Smiley's legal bills. 

Chaplain recalled Smiley's wonderful sense of humor at Derryfield. Smiley,
Statt and two other friends created a literary club where "they'd like to
sit around and smoke cigars and be smart, which they were," she said. 

The other side 
But Smiley has also collected his share of detractors, including some
outspoken rival map dealers and some residents in Sebec, Maine, where
Smiley's passion for preserving the town's historical character spilled over
into a court battle questioning the town's decisions about land use. That
legal tangle led a few locals, in recent news stories, to call Smiley an
arrogant, big-money out-of-towner looking to force his own personal values
on the town. 

Others in the town, however, have been outspoken supporters, saying Smiley
has helped the small lakeside town by restoring old buildings, donating land
for a park and starting up a local business. 

Few detractors have been more vocal than former Wakefield, N.H., residents
Bill and Charlene Moriarty. They ran up against Smiley after purchasing an
antique house near the center of Sebec for a marina business. Taped to their
storefront window is a mug shot of Smiley and newspaper clippings detailing
his arrest. For two years, Smiley challenged the Moriartys' plans for a
marina in court. The court eventually dismissed the case that generated a
considerable amount of controversy about Smiley in the town. 

Friends say Smiley's opposition to the marina was born in part from his
desire to protect Sebec from suburban sprawl that had in his mind spoiled
Bedford's rural charm. 

Times change 
Statt, the Amherst College media relations director, grew up in New Boston
while attending Derryfield School. "What a different world Bedford and New
Boston were when we were growing up," he said. 

Slater draws a parallel between Smiley's anti-marina campaign and his
feelings for his old home town. "I know he was always saddened by what
happened to Bedford," Slater said. 

Smiley's father, the late Edward F. Smiley, an engineer with a doctorate in
physics, bought a spacious antique Greek Revival house with swimming pool,
when they moved from Washington about 47 years ago. Forbes and his three
sisters, Marilyn, Marion and Susan, lived in that house while his father
worked at Sanders Associates for 35 years. After his father retired in 1989,
Smiley's parents downsized to a smaller Cape-style house on Liberty Hill
Road. Smiley's twin sister, Susan Burns, and his mother, Adele, still reside
in the town. 

Slater said Smiley wasn't the only one who thought a marina would detract
from Sebec's town center. Others also opposed a marina being situated next
to the town's park, which was created from waterfront land donated to the
town by Smiley. 

"No one wanted this trashy, junky, unsuccessful business next to the
beautiful park land on the lake," Slater said. "To say he was a
high-fallutin' out-of-towner and that Forbes was looking down his nose is
just ridiculous." 

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