Maltese Falcon Society Don Herron and private investigator Jayson Wechter. The society's first meeting was held at John's Grill, a restaurant where Dashiell Hammett ate and which he featured in "The Maltese Falcon". The speakers at that first meeting were David Fechheimer, a Hammett researcher and private investigator, and E. Hoffmann Price, a pulp fiction author. The society opened chapters in New York and Japan. By 1982, the society had 110 members in San Francisco, 55 in Japan, and 50 in New York. As its official toast, the society adopted the one used by Sam Spade in Chapter 2 of "The Maltese Falcon":
The Maltese Falcon (1931 film) upper hand, Spade tells Gutman that Wilmer will be the fall guy, which Cairo and Gutman discuss in a whispered conference. Goaded by Spade, Wilmer pulls his gun, Spade knocks him out—and Gutman and Cairo agree to Spade's proposal. After Spade calls Effie and asks her to pick up the suitcase with the falcon in the morning and bring it to them, Gutman explains to him how Wilmer killed Thursby and Jacoby. When the bag shows up, Wilmer escapes out the window while the conspirators are frantically opening it and examining the black bird. They soon determine that it is