Since Mamie Thurman’s Day, Has Logan Changed?

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Logan Banner, Thursday, September 5, 1985

EDITOR’S NOTE: Today The Banner concludes Its long series about the 1932 murder case of Mamie Thurman. With today’s closing article, reporter Dwight Williamson recounts some of his personal
experiences and’ observances during the three weeks he has been researching the case.

BY DWIGHT WILLIAMSON

If there is one thing that’s for certain the Mamie Thurman story has produced, at least in this writer’s eyes, it is that Logan County has deserved the names bestowed upon it for many, many years.

We may not like it, but it’s the truth. We have a ruthless, corrupt past, marked with ignorance, abuse and intolerance, brought upon us by an extreme minority of self-serving persons not really indicative of true mountaineer spirit.

That same dubious reputation belies the gentle nature and sweet compassion of many of our neighbors who still fly the flag and are proud to be West Virginians and Americans. There’s nothing a true Logan Countian wouldn’t do for a neighbor in need. It’s something one doesn’t find in other parts of our “more sophisticated-me generation society.”

We’ve proven hat by the number of our young men who have died in battle preserving the freedom of everyone…in numbers unmatched by any other state in the Union.

But, the Mamie Thurman Story should also be telling us that things have changed a great deal more than we sometimes realize…no I’m not saying it has gotten perfect; far from it. But, things have changed for the better. At least when a politician stabs someone in the back these days, it usually is not with a knife.

No one needed to tell you that Logan was a ruthless, politically controlled town and county in those days. In some respects that is still true. As land was being gobbled up by certain people and out-of-town interests and coal companies started springing up in nearly every hollow, farming and timbering people of Logan County began to change.

At one point, there were not enough men and boys in the county to work in the various mines. And, as railroads were being constructed to most of the coal mine sites the need for workers grew. Advertisements were placed in foreign countries for work in coal fields. In addition, Blacks were brought in from the south, mostly from Alabama, to work.

In a sense we were still importing ‘‘slaves” for cheap labor.

Coal camps were built by individual companies to house these people, many of whom could not speak English. Italians, said to be the best workers of all, Hungarians, Polish and others all were being blended together, along with native Logan Countians, the second and third generations of which form our county’s society today.

Island Creek Coal Company, which later operated more mines in Logan than any other company, actually created a model community out of Holden, which before had been only wilderness. Nice homes, a theater, stores, doctor’s offices, community church…all were the result of coal companies. Contrary to popular belief, miners and their families were content with these arrangements.

Other such communities on Buffalo Creek, Omar and other areas sprang up and prospered as the result of coal company investment. Later, this would change and some greedy companies took advantage of the workers.

The days of Sheriff Don Chafin and the resulting mine wars that followed as Chafin and his hundreds of deputies fought to keep the union out of Logan were probably the worst. Logan was then, and later continued to be a vicious and corrupt town.

In 1932, Tennis Hatfield, who had served as sheriff from 1924-28, was again seeking the sheriff’s job which was in ‘32 held by his brother, Joe Hatfield. In one of Tennis’ political ads in The Banner he painted a gloomy picture of the Chafin days, of which many of us have only heard rumors about.

Hatfield listed five reasons why Logan Countians should vote for Hatfield. The first reason listed said that during his previous administration Tennis had stopped the murders of blacks and poor white people during Chafin’s administration. It said no more people were being thrown into the Appalachian Power Company incinerator which has since been torn down.

In every community, moonshine stills were existent. Numerous deaths of both federal agents, police officers and “shiners” resulted because of Prohibition. Prostitution and venereal disease were on the rise. Nearly every election, there were killings and a great many injuries as the struggle for political power and the money it brought continued. All of this is evident chiefly because of stories in The Banner’s microfilm files.

In some ways, things have not changed. Political power is still the key to Logan. But, we are more civilized, more cultured in our abuses of power and our willingness to let politicians have their way, although other communities in our state often say otherwise. An example is that we don’t allow vote buying anymore, we allow politicians to “hire” our automobiles by the highest bidder.

In no way, can we be responsible for the actions of our ancestors, only the future can we help decide,

The story of Mamie Thurman, her life, gruesome death and the search for her body has been terribly intriguing, not only to this writer but to many, many other people. It is spell bounding because it is a true story about part of our county’s history which need not be hidden.

Few are left who can fully recall the actions of 1932, and in the coming years what is left of that generation will fade to the other revelations of more contemporate times.

But, the unfortunate story of Mamie Thurman, once almost completely swept under the rug, relegated to ghostly tales and rumor, will live to haunt all who call Logan home, until the end of our respective times

Yet Mamie Thurman’s death shall always remain a mystery.

It is unlikely that those who still are alive and really know the facts will ever come forward. Just as our readers have formed theories as to who and why Mamie Thurman was killed, so has this writer.

Clarence Stephenson, whose appeal to the Supreme Court was turned down in 1933, one year after he was sentenced to life in prison, died April 29, 1942 in Huttonsville at the age of 32. The 5-10, 166-pound black man reportedly died of stomachic carcinoma (stomach cancer) and was buried at Huttonsville prison farm.

I don’t believe Stephenson killed Mrs. Thurman.

I also don’t believe he ever had sexual relations with her.

I believe he was a loyal servant to the Robertsons and sacrificed himself for them.

He simply was the victim of a time in our country and county’s past when uncaged freedom was more a thought than practice.

There existed then those people, prominent citizens of private and supposedly honorable organizations, who had a death grip on society through political strength and money, and who would have fit in very well with the then rising ideologies of Adolph Hitler. Ideas whose cancerous core are death and destruction.

If one checks the background of these people, perhaps the story and cover-up of Mamie Thurman’s death will become apparent. Those summoned for jury duty, the attorneys, the doctors, Mr. and Mrs. Robertson, the Thurmans, even those involved with “the funeral (and others)….nearly all had one thing in common, and it was a family circle which even after 53 years remains unbroken.

The temptress, the Vixen of Stratton Street Mamie Thurman probably was not the woman she was painted to be during Stephenson’s trial. She was no Angel, but she deserved better.

At best she was certainly no worse than most of the people involved with the case. At worse, she was the depression era version of an 80s liberated woman.

Who did kill Mamie Thurman, and why so brutally? The key to her death could be her broken neck. Was she pushed down a flight of stairs? Was she at a party where she was slapped around by a drunk who knocked her head into a sink, breaking her neck?

Who was at the party that was only scarcely mentioned at the Stephenson trial? Why was Robertson so heavily involved in the case? Why was evidence naming others as lovers of Mrs. Thurman suppressed at the trial? Could it have provided a link to another suspect? Why didn’t Mrs. Robertson divorce her husband after he admitted to his liaison with Mamie Thurman?  Why did Mamie Thurman leave her job at Guyan Valley Bank? Who did Jack Thurman later marry? Where did he die, and under what circumstances? These are questions important to getting at the heart of the truth.

But, like so many other questions about famous deaths like those of Lincoln, the Kennedys and others who have garnered our attention and raised our suspicions of conspiracy, the answers may lie deep, like those locked in the compartment of the now discovered Titanic.

Questions whose answers will be locked away in the minds of some who know and others who can only speculate, until, perhaps like the Titanic, it can be discovered and raised to the surface. he

But, like those who want the Titanic to remain at the bottom, perhaps that is best for the Mamie Thurman case too. Logan County certainly has had its share of embarrassment and bad reputation. Its image has suffered.

But, to overcome that image we must first understand our past and be dedicated to not making the same mistakes. In a sense we must come to grips with our hidden secrets, bring them out in the open so they can be dealt with.

Maybe finding out the truth about Mamie Thurman or at least getting us to think about her, her murder, and the lifestyle of Logan Countians in the 30s will get us to thinking about our county and what we need to do to change it, not just its image, but really change it.

Mamie Thurman is only one chapter in the gloomy history of the place of my birth, and the people I dearly love. I’m not proud of it, but I’m not afraid of it either.

*Published with the author’s permission.

*Special thanks to Mark Edward Jones for providing a clipping of this article.

Read more about the murder Mamie Thurman.

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