In 1906, Herschel Grompet was renowned as the most talented paleontologist in America, capturing the public’s imagination with discoveries of some of the most impressive skeletons of the early 20th century’s “dinosaur rush.” Billionaire Texas oilman—and suspected organized crime boss—Calvin Crockett Merckson commissioned Grompet to curate an exhibit for the debut of his natural history museum in Houston, hoping to upstage the more well-known museums in Chicago and New York City. Grompet ran afoul of Merckson when it was discovered he had fabricated some of the specimens, including this impressive Tyrannosaur skull, from cement. Merckson thought it poetic justice that Grompet would sink to the bottom of Galveston Bay, feet encased in that very same cement.
