Joseph F. Crater
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Joseph Force Crater (1889 – ?) was a judge in New York City who disappeared on August 6, 1930. He was last seen leaving a restaurant and entering a taxi. He had stated earlier that he was planning to attend a Broadway show.
Judge Crater was an Associate Justice of the New York Supreme Court, appointed in 1930. He had been educated at Lafayette College (Class of 1910) and Columbia University.
Later investigations revealed that Crater had disposed of a number of documents, removed items from his office, and cashed substantial checks before he vanished. He had also returned suddenly from a vacation, leaving his wife behind in Maine. Theories about his disappearance have suggested that he was murdered, that he ran off with another woman, or that he had been involved in some corrupt practices that were about to be revealed.
None of the investigations succeeded in discovering the judge's fate or possible whereabouts, and Crater was officially declared dead in 1939.
Though no longer in wide use, the term "To pull a Crater" suggests vanishing to avoid facing responsibility.