Ep. #02, A Pleasure to Burn
Jack Pokorny
Podcast Copyright © 2021 by Keith Reeves, Jack Pokorny, and Margaret O’Neil. All Rights Reserved. Executive Producers: Keith Reeves and Maggie O’Neil. Producer: Jack Pokorny. Narrated and Written by Jack Pokorny. Original Music by Hee Won Park and Tommy Neil. Sandbox Atlas Blog Content Editors: Ben Meader and Emily Meader. Based on the meticulously researched book, The Case That Shocked the Country: The Unquiet Deaths of Vida Robare and Alexander McClay Williams by Samuel Michael Lemon, Ed.D. (2017). The podcast was generously supported by the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility and the Program on Urban Inequality and Incarceration, both at Swarthmore College; the Swarthmore Black Alumni Network (SBAN); Keller, Lisgar & Williams, LLP. The producers wish to especially acknowledge the invaluable contributions of: Mrs. Susie Carter (Alexander’s sole surviving sibling); Dr. Sam Lemon (the great-grandson of Alexander’s original attorney); Teresa Smithers (a descendant of Fred Robare, Vida Robare’s husband); Osceola Perdue (Alexander’s great-niece) and her family; Attorney Robert C. Keller; Chris Rhoads; Sean Kelley, Annie Anderson, and Sally Elk, all of Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site in Philadelphia.
[9 min read, 13 minute listen]
[0:22] Hello, I’m Jack Pokorny, and this is The Arc Towards Justice. Last episode you heard from Sam Lemon, the great-grandson of the case’s defense attorney, Mr. Ridley. The first time I met Sam, he told me how he learned about Alexander’s case as a child. Sam said that very early in his life his grandmother would tell him stories. I’ve heard from Sam that she was a remarkable person, but as I’ve gotten to know him, I get the impression that he would have been an exceptionally curious and inquisitive little kid.
Sam Lemon
Sam Lemon is the great-grandson of defense attorney William H. Ridley Jr. who represented Alexander McClay Williams in the trail for the murder of Vida Robare.
(Photo Provided by Sam Lemon)
I can see him asking her to tell him about all kinds of things: religion, politics, and stories from her own childhood. And in the process, a sense of deep, intergenerational consciousness might have formed in Sam—something that is quite apparent today. For example, this is him talking about generations of grandmothers, and their personal experiences with religion:
A great-grandmother who passed away the year before I was born was from the Danish West Indies, which is now called the U.S. Virgin Islands. She was from St. Croix. Her family had been on St. Croix for decades as former slaves. My great-grandmother was a devout Lutheran but she was also just as devout in the island religion. Oftentimes it’s said that in Haiti: 99 percent of the people are Catholic but 100 percent believe in Voodoo. So my great-grandmother came to the U.S. in 1887, passed through Ellis Island, and she had been the daughter of a very prominent and member of an old wealthy New York family. - Sam Lemon
Map provided by the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library Digital Collections
She, as an illegitimate child, had been treated quite well, had been quite well cared for, lived a pretty privileged life in the islands—even though her father didn't have much contact with her because of his status and he was already married and had a child. But when she came here, to this country, she brought these island beliefs along with her belief in Lutheranism. And that impacted my family to this day, I would say, in many regards. So even though she was this good, God-fearing, Christian woman she also believed in spirituality. She was a clairvoyant. She had a favorite spirit apparently whose name was Charlie, and Charlie apparently looked over her—looked after her a bit. And she had a chair in the living room that solely belonged to Charlie that none of her grandchildren were allowed to sit in. Oftentimes she would leave a plate of food out for Charlie. And my great-grandmother had other habits like sometimes she would sprinkle red brick dust in front of the door and the windows to keep out the evil spirits. [See footnote ^A] She also gave us an amazing gift, and that was to look at death as simply part of life—not something horrific and something apart and something terrible—but as a part of life. She took away that fear of death for us. - Sam Lemon
[3:39] The story of this case lives in the evidence collected by Sam, but also in his memories. It’s one thing to have the facts of the case, but deciphering the story is a lot harder. Without Sam’s story, without his memories, understanding the case would be next to impossible. During an interview, I asked him about the connection he feels to this story. I get the impression that Alexander and Vida symbolize something very important to him. Something that people new to the story might not see. Talking about Vida, he says:
Reading about how well she was respected, in the community, that she had exemplary job record—people thought very highly of her. She was creative. She wrote poetry. She wrote the lyrics to a song. She was described as being athletic and pretty and I just hadn't seen that coming. Falling in love with her. But I'm grateful that I did because it cast her in a completely different light to me—not just as a statistic or the name of someone who was murdered 87 years ago—but someone who was a real, live, warm, loving, decent, beautiful human being. And that helped propel me, in many ways, to try to work even harder to find out the mystery of who was really responsible for her death. - Sam Lemon
(Image complied from Copyright Record from the Library of Congress)
What does it feel like to be in love with somebody that you know you know you'll never meet, but you've thought a lot about? - Jack PokornyThat's an excellent question. It gives me a sense of longing, a sense of nostalgia, a sense of wishing that I had known her—that she is exactly the kind of woman I would have loved to have met and fallen in love with, and maybe had a family with. Someone who was a good, kind, decent human being—the kind of person that helps to make the world a better place even if it's just our little corner of the world. So it made me resolute in my dedication to her as well as to Alexander McClay Williams. - Sam LemonDo you mind if I ask if you're married right now? - Jack PokornyNo, I'm divorced—twenty years. - Sam Lemon
[6:15] It is a testament to Sam that even though he came into this case on Alexander’s side, he has found a deep love for Vida. As a matron of Cottage 5, Vida Robare would’ve been a mother to many of the kids she oversaw, including, of course, her own son Dale, who was 10 years old at the time. [See footnote ^B] As far as I can tell, boys were not allowed to visit home. What caught Sam’s attention about this little 13-year-old, already sentenced by the judicial system to a reformatory institution? To better understand that, we need to learn more about why Alexander was placed at Glen Mills in the first place.
Alexander’s record begins, as far as I can tell, with a barn burning down in Markham, an area in Concord Township which just so happens to be right next to Glen Mills. Sam had mentioned this story, and how the fire had cost the owner a lot of money. My friend Ben, who's been doing research into the history of Chester Township in Delaware County for an Economics Professor, told me about a database of local newspapers dating into the beginning of the 1900s. One article published by The Chester Times in 1926 was titled, “Barn Destroyed at Markham - Loss of $25,000 Sustained on Samuel N. Hill Jr., Property.” The article begins:
Property valued at $100,000 including a flour and feed mill, the railroad station and a mansion, was threatened with destruction early last evening when flames destroyed a barn on the farm of Samuel N. Hill, Jr., on the Baltimore Pike in Markham. The loss is estimated at $25,000 dollars, partly covered by insurance.
In another report The Chester Times published on a Thursday, July 22, 1926, titled, “Boy Confesses Burning Barn - Admission Made After Arrest of Five for Theft at Post Office,” the reporter writes:
Alexander Williams, Negro, aged fourteen, and four companions, of Markham, Concord township, were arrested yesterday by Detective Brandenberg, of the Pennsylvania Railroad police, for breaking and entering Markham Station where they are alleged to have gotten thirty-five cents and robbed the post office of approximately $1 in stamps. [See footnote ^C] The five boys, whose ages run from 11 to 14, were interrogated with reference to robbing the station and post office by Brandenberg and during the grilling, the detective said that one of the youths accused Williams of burning the barn of S. M. Hill Jr. at Markham on Sunday night, April 4 of this year. At first it was believed that the blaze was started by sparks from a passing locomotive. According to County Detective Oliver N. Smith, who held a conference with Brandenberg following the arrest of the youngsters, the Williams’ boy broke down and made a statement that he set fire to some fodder near the barn. The flames soon ignited the barn building and it was destroyed, he said. The youngster said that he wanted to see the fire engines run and the fireman play with the hose on the building.
The article says further:
[...] Another colored youth, but who had nothing to do with the burning of the barn, told the detective that Williams told him that he set the barn on fire. This other boy also informed the detectives of setting fire to the dry grass around Markham station on June 20. This fire ignited the station platform but was extinguished before any great damage had been done. The five boys are now in the House of Detention in this city. They will be given a hearing tomorrow night before Justice of the Peace Alvin Harvey, at Chadd’s Ford.
[9:44] Alexander would eventually be charged with arson for setting two different fires, both of which he was connected to as a result of being arrested following the post office robbery. I think it’s worth bearing in mind that Alexander didn’t confess to anything until the boy told the police that Alexander was responsible for the fires, and after he’d been questioned by the officers. Another detail that occurs to me is that Chester Times reported Alexander was 14 at the time of arrest, making him two years older than Sam had initially told me. If correct, that would mean he was actually 18 when he was put to death.
Sam provided me with Alexander’s death certificate, which states his date of birth as July 23, 1914. That means he was arrested two days before his 13th birthday. He was 12 on the day of the crime, and the day he was arrested, and even the day The Chester’s Time article was published—a day before his birthday. Why the staple newspaper of the area would misprint something so simple as a kid’s age, really troubles me.
(Death Certificate provided by Keith Reeves)
Sam spoke with two Delaware county court psychologists, Agnes Habony and Lewis H. Meltzer, to evaluate what they could of Alexander’s personality from the records. In their “Psychological Autopsy” they say, quote: “He was accused of fire setting behaviors which research suggests to be highly correlated with childhood abuse and possible neglect.”
[...] we talking about his father? - Jack PokornyYes. Alexander's father, a mushroom worker. [See footnote ^D] He worked in one of the mushroom farms in Delaware County and they were living in a house that they were renting from the farmer. He was, I think, kind of a big, burly guy. And according to the school records he had been arrested once or twice, I think, in the past for unruly behavior related to drinking. And then his mother—the school record said was a teetotaler. And I don't think she worked outside the home. They had 13 kids all together so I'm sure that kept her pretty busy. - Sam Lemon
[11:58] When Alexander is eventually brought before a court, he is sentenced to Glen Mills Reformatory School by Judge Fronefield for committing arson. Somehow the post office robbery was dropped from the charges. Once at the school, Alexander was placed under the supervision of Vida and Fred Robare as an inmate of Cottage 5. He would remain there until he was removed by the very same County Detective, Oliver N. Smith, after confessing to the murder of Vida Robare.
Next time, I’ll get into the trial, including the witness testimony from Fred Robare. Stay with us.
Footnotes:
A. On the Use of Brick Dust: The use of brick dust in rituals has a long precedence, and red ochre clay has likewise been long-studied by anthropologists. Brick dust is said to represent strength; perhaps symbolizing a “blood” or “soul” of a house. Sprinkling the dust on open thresholds is a common ritual made for protection against the entry of unwanted entities.
B. The Children of Vida and Fred Robare: Dale was not the first child that Fred and Vida had, though he was the only child who survived infancy. Their first child, Freda, was born and died on the same day in 1916. Another, Russel, was born in 1918 and passed the following year. Dale was born in November 1920 and lived until the age of 53. He passed away in San Mateo County, California in 1974.
C. Price Comparison, 1920s vs. 2020s: How much would these expenses be in 2021? The damage caused by the fire that was listed at $25,000 dollars would be approximately $400,000 today. The 35¢ stolen from Markham Station would be approximately $5.00 and the $1.00 in Stamps would be worth around $15.00.
D. On Mushroom Farming: According to the 1930 census, we know that Alexander Williams’s father John was working as a helper on a mushroom farm. Though it may sound like an unusual trade, they were living in close proximity to Kennett Square, which is still known as “the Mushroom Capital of the World” today. By 1930 Chester county had around 350 mushroom growers. Kenneth Square continues to hold a mushroom festival every year.