Her ghost may still be on the prowl
TO THIS DAY, there are those who say they see Mamie Thurman, a shadowy figure in a bloodstained blue polka dot dress on the back roads of Appalachia.
Thurman died on June 21, 1932. A teenager picking wild blueberries the next morning found her mutilated corpse in a ditch on Trace Mountain, outside her hometown of Logan, W.Va.
She had two bullets in her head; her neck was broken, her throat slashed ear-to-ear, and her face battered. She was 32.
Clarence Stephenson, 29, a black man, went to jail for her murder, but doubts still linger over his guilt.
There were a lot of people in Logan who might have wanted to see Mamie dead, starting with the wives of some of the dozen or so men rumored to be her lovers.
One possible suspect was her husband, Jack, 48. He was a Logan police officer who worked the night shift, apparently unaware that his wife was kicking up her heels in town. But he was ruled out quickly because he was seen working at the time of the slaying.
Then there was talk of the Ku Klux Klan, who might have wanted to make an example of the wanton young woman who, rumor had it, had bestowed her favors on a black man. Or maybe it was bootleggers or even cocaine dealers.
What is known about Mamie Thurman is that she and Jack moved from Kentucky to Logan, population 2,500, in 1924. She was a flashy woman who favored form-hugging dresses, bright red lipstick and lots of makeup.
Decades later, Logan men rhapsodized about her beauty to author F. Keith Davis for his book “The Secret Life and Brutal Death of Mamie Thurman.” In 2002, D. W. (Bit) Hinchman, 92, told Davis, “That Mamie sure was a high-stepper!”
By day, she appeared to be a quiet, church-going matron, a sharp contrast to the sex-crazed flapper who was an afterdark regular at a Logan speakeasy and house of prostitution dubbed the “Amour Club.”
In the two years before her death, she had become an item with one prominent citizen — Harry Robertson, a bank executive and president of the Logan city commission.
Robertson, 40, and his wife, Louise, rented an apartment on their property to the Thurmans and the couples became friends. The wives spent a great deal of time together.
Around 1930, things got serious between Harry and Mamie. They began sneaking around, aided by Stephenson.
He lived in the attic of Robertson’s home and did gardening and odd jobs around the house. Caring for his employer’s hounds and driving the dogs to fox hunts were his primary responsibilities.
As the affair between Harry and Mamie heated up, Stephenson got a new job — transporting Mamie to secluded rendezvous spots in the same Model A Ford that he used to carry the hounds to the hunt.
The ruse worked for about two years, with neither spouse suspecting a thing. About a month before the murder, Robertson’s wife figured out what was going on.
The Robertson home was the first place police looked when Mamie’s body was found on the mountain. Robbery had been quickly ruled out as a motive, because her purse was by her side with about $10 in cash untouched. Her diamond engagement ring and a wedding band were still on her finger.
Bloodstains in Robertson’s Model A and on rags in the basement of his home led to the arrest of both Harry and his handyman.
At preliminary hearings, Robertson offered shocking testimony, describing his sexual escapades with Mamie, as well as a list she had given him with the names of 16 men with whom she had been intimate. The names on the list were never revealed. There was also speculation that Stephenson had been one of her lovers.
In September, a grand jury returned an indictment against Stephenson but failed to return one against his boss. The case was circumstantial, built mostly on the blood evidence and witnesses who said they saw Stephenson driving near the place where the body was found.
Witnesses said they were certain it was Stephenson, who had a distinctive appearance. He was shorter than 5 feet tall — some said he was a dwarf — and he had facial deformities, the result of a car accident.
The accident also left him prone to nosebleeds, which was his explanation for the human blood found in Robertson’s car and on rags in the basement.
The jury found Stephenson guilty in less than an hour. But, because he was well-liked in the community, the verdict came with a recommendation of mercy, which still meant a life sentence.
“I have no knowledge of the crime I am accused of,” Stephenson said. “I tried to tell the truth. I hope the law won’t stop until they find the guilty party.”
The NAACP and local churches raised funds for an appeal, but the conviction was upheld. Still, his life sentence turned out to be a short one. He died of stomach cancer in 1942. So many questions remained about the case that more than eight decades later people are still troubled by it. Most believe that Stephenson was railroaded, allowing the real killer to go free.
And there continue to be ghost sightings, glimpses of the woman in blue, hitchhiking, lurking in abandoned cabins, or meandering along the roads near the place where Mamie’s body was found.