Crime Capsule

Did the phrase “That’s what I was wondering…” solve a murder? In the morning hours of July 16, 1936, Helen Clevenger’s uncle discovered her bloodied body crumpled on the floor of her small room in Asheville’s grand Battery Park Hotel. She had been shot through the chest. Buncombe County Sheriff Laurence Brown, up for reelection, desperately searched for the teenager’s killer as the public clamored for answers. Though witnesses reported seeing a white man leave the scene, Brown’s focus turned instead to the hotel’s Black employees and on August 9 he arrested bell hop Martin Moore. 

After a frenzied four-day trial that captured the nation’s attention, Moore was convicted of Helen’s murder on August 22. Though Moore confessed to Sherriff Brown, doubt of his guilt lingers and many Southerners feared that justice had not, in fact, been served. Author Anne Chesky Smith weaves together varying accounts of the murder and investigation to expose a complex and disturbing chapter in Asheville’s history.

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Did the phrase “That’s what I was wondering…” solve a murder? In the morning hours of July 16, 1936, Helen Clevenger’s uncle discovered her bloodied body crumpled on the floor of her small room in Asheville’s grand Battery Park Hotel. She had been shot through the chest. Buncombe County Sheriff Laurence Brown, up for reelection, desperately searched for the teenager’s killer as the public clamored for answers. Though witnesses reported seeing a white man leave the scene, Brown’s focus turned instead to the hotel’s Black employees and on August 9 he arrested bell hop Martin Moore. 

After a frenzied four-day trial that captured the nation’s attention, Moore was convicted of Helen’s murder on August 22. Though Moore confessed to Sherriff Brown, doubt of his guilt lingers and many Southerners feared that justice had not, in fact, been served. Author Anne Chesky Smith weaves together varying accounts of the murder and investigation to expose a complex and disturbing chapter in Asheville’s history.

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At the turn of the twentieth century, people in Missouri experienced unexpected and horrible deaths due to arsenic. Two different women in two different areas of Missouri, and for two different reasons, used arsenic as a means to get what they wanted. Emma Heppermann, a black widow killer, craved money. Bertha Gifford, an angel of mercy, took sick people into her home and nursed them to death. Follow the trails of these women who murdered for decades before being tried and convicted. From Wentzville to Steelville, Emma left a trail of bodies. And Bertha is suspected of killing almost 10 percent of the population of the little town of Catawissa. Authors Victoria Cosner and Lorelei Shannon offer the gruesome history of Missouri’s murderous matrons.

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2022 MUSE Award Winner's- Crime Capsule & Who Killed...?

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Join author Denise Parkinson for an intimate look at a Depression-era tragedy. The once-thriving houseboat communities along Arkansas' White River are long gone, and few remember the sensational murder story that set local darling Helen Spence on a tragic path. In 1931, Spence shocked Arkansas when she avenged her father's murder in a DeWitt courtroom. The state soon discovered that no prison could hold her. For the first time, prison records are unveiled to provide an essential portrait. The legend of Helen Spence refuses to be forgotten--despite her unmarked grave.

Denise Parkinson is a freelance writer living in Hot Springs, Arkansas. A graduate of Hendrix College, Parkinson's writing appears in a range of publications, including the Arkansas Democrat, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Times, Little Rock Free Press, Memphis Flyer and Cooper-Young Lamplighter. Since 2008, she has been the lead writer for Hot Springs Life and Home magazine. Dale Woodiel was born and raised on the banks of the White River in Crockett's Bluff, Arkansas. He teaches humanities at the University of Hartford.

Daughter of the White River: Depression-Era Treachery and Vengeance in the Arkansas Delta

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Join author Denise Parkinson for an intimate look at a Depression-era tragedy. The once-thriving houseboat communities along Arkansas' White River are long gone, and few remember the sensational murder story that set local darling Helen Spence on a tragic path. In 1931, Spence shocked Arkansas when she avenged her father's murder in a DeWitt courtroom. The state soon discovered that no prison could hold her. For the first time, prison records are unveiled to provide an essential portrait. The legend of Helen Spence refuses to be forgotten--despite her unmarked grave.

Denise Parkinson is a freelance writer living in Hot Springs, Arkansas. A graduate of Hendrix College, Parkinson's writing appears in a range of publications, including the Arkansas Democrat, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Times, Little Rock Free Press, Memphis Flyer and Cooper-Young Lamplighter. Since 2008, she has been the lead writer for Hot Springs Life and Home magazine. Dale Woodiel was born and raised on the banks of the White River in Crockett's Bluff, Arkansas. He teaches humanities at the University of Hartford.

Daughter of the White River: Depression-Era Treachery and Vengeance in the Arkansas Delta

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In the summer of 1936, fourteen-year-old Maxwell Breeze was playing in the waters of the Erie Canal in Brockport when a dog jumped into the canal and climbed his back, and the boy drowned. The owner of the dog was served notice to appear at a hearing, at which time a trial was set to determine if the dog should be put down. The unusual case captivated the nation as newspapers from coast to coast covered the story, Paramount Pictures dispatched “The Eyes and Ears of the World” to film the events and a media circus descended on the quiet village. During the trial, more than thirty witnesses were called, including a national expert brought in to evaluate the canine defendant, which journalists referred to as “the most talked-of dog on earth.” Authors Bill Hullfish and Laurie Fortune Verbridge reveal the bizarre incident, trial and spectacle that came to Brockport.

Bill Hullfish, professor emeritus, SUNY College at Brockport, toured under a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Member of the Clarkson Historical Society, the American Canal Society and the Canal Society of New York, bill has written a number of books. His latest, The Erie Canal Sings, was published by The History Press. His articles have been published in American Canals, Bottoming Out, Divisions, American Recorder, The Instrumentalist, New Jersey Outdoors and Bicycling. Laurie Fortune Verbridge is retired from K.M. Davies Company, Williamson, New York. She has held positions as the secretary for the Office of Public Information, Cornell University; postmaster of Pultneyville, New York; and postal service positions including quality first facilitator, secretary human resources and rural letter carrier. She is a member of the Williamson-Pultneyville Historical Society and Save Our Sodus Bay, a past president/trustee of the Williamson Central School Board of Education and past president and state secretary of the Wayne County and State of New York Rural Letter Carriers. Laurie has written letters to the editor of the Williamson Sun and Record and the Times of Wayne County and formatted and wrote articles for “What’s Happening” for Williamson Central School Board.

The Brockport Murder Dog Trial: Bizarre Tragedy and Spectacle on the Erie Canal

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In the summer of 1936, fourteen-year-old Maxwell Breeze was playing in the waters of the Erie Canal in Brockport when a dog jumped into the canal and climbed his back, and the boy drowned. The owner of the dog was served notice to appear at a hearing, at which time a trial was set to determine if the dog should be put down. The unusual case captivated the nation as newspapers from coast to coast covered the story, Paramount Pictures dispatched “The Eyes and Ears of the World” to film the events and a media circus descended on the quiet village. During the trial, more than thirty witnesses were called, including a national expert brought in to evaluate the canine defendant, which journalists referred to as “the most talked-of dog on earth.” Authors Bill Hullfish and Laurie Fortune Verbridge reveal the bizarre incident, trial and spectacle that came to Brockport.

Bill Hullfish, professor emeritus, SUNY College at Brockport, toured under a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Member of the Clarkson Historical Society, the American Canal Society and the Canal Society of New York, bill has written a number of books. His latest, The Erie Canal Sings, was published by The History Press. His articles have been published in American Canals, Bottoming Out, Divisions, American Recorder, The Instrumentalist, New Jersey Outdoors and Bicycling. Laurie Fortune Verbridge is retired from K.M. Davies Company, Williamson, New York. She has held positions as the secretary for the Office of Public Information, Cornell University; postmaster of Pultneyville, New York; and postal service positions including quality first facilitator, secretary human resources and rural letter carrier. She is a member of the Williamson-Pultneyville Historical Society and Save Our Sodus Bay, a past president/trustee of the Williamson Central School Board of Education and past president and state secretary of the Wayne County and State of New York Rural Letter Carriers. Laurie has written letters to the editor of the Williamson Sun and Record and the Times of Wayne County and formatted and wrote articles for “What’s Happening” for Williamson Central School Board.

The Brockport Murder Dog Trial: Bizarre Tragedy and Spectacle on the Erie Canal

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In the summer of 1936, fourteen-year-old Maxwell Breeze was playing in the waters of the Erie Canal in Brockport when a dog jumped into the canal and climbed his back, and the boy drowned. The owner of the dog was served notice to appear at a hearing, at which time a trial was set to determine if the dog should be put down. The unusual case captivated the nation as newspapers from coast to coast covered the story, Paramount Pictures dispatched “The Eyes and Ears of the World” to film the events and a media circus descended on the quiet village. During the trial, more than thirty witnesses were called, including a national expert brought in to evaluate the canine defendant, which journalists referred to as “the most talked-of dog on earth.” Authors Bill Hullfish and Laurie Fortune Verbridge reveal the bizarre incident, trial and spectacle that came to Brockport.

Bill Hullfish, professor emeritus, SUNY College at Brockport, toured under a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Member of the Clarkson Historical Society, the American Canal Society and the Canal Society of New York, bill has written a number of books. His latest, The Erie Canal Sings, was published by The History Press. His articles have been published in American Canals, Bottoming Out, Divisions, American Recorder, The Instrumentalist, New Jersey Outdoors and Bicycling. Laurie Fortune Verbridge is retired from K.M. Davies Company, Williamson, New York. She has held positions as the secretary for the Office of Public Information, Cornell University; postmaster of Pultneyville, New York; and postal service positions including quality first facilitator, secretary human resources and rural letter carrier. She is a member of the Williamson-Pultneyville Historical Society and Save Our Sodus Bay, a past president/trustee of the Williamson Central School Board of Education and past president and state secretary of the Wayne County and State of New York Rural Letter Carriers. Laurie has written letters to the editor of the Williamson Sun and Record and the Times of Wayne County and formatted and wrote articles for “What’s Happening” for Williamson Central School Board.

The Brockport Murder Dog Trial: Bizarre Tragedy and Spectacle on the Erie Canal

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On November 23, 1887, white vigilantes gunned down unarmed black laborers and their families due to strikes on Louisiana sugar cane plantations. A future member of the U.S. House of Representatives was among the leaders of a mob that routed black men from houses and forced them to a stretch of railroad track, ordering them to run for their lives before gunning them down. According to a witness, the guns firing in the black neighborhoods sounded like a battle. Author and award-winning reporter John DeSantis uses correspondence, interviews and federal records to detail this harrowing true story.

John DeSantis is the senior staff writer at the Times of Houma, Louisiana. A product of New York City, his work has previously appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post and other publications. A journalist whose criminal justice background was attained at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, he has covered social justice and race relations extensively in New York, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, North Carolina and California. He is also a former city editor at the Thibodaux Daily Comet. His other books include For the Color of His Skin: The Murder of Yusuf Hawkins and the Trial of Bensonhurst and the New Untouchables: How America Sanctions Police Violence. A recipient of numerous awards from the Louisiana Press Association, the Associated Press Managing Editors Association and other news media organizations, DeSantis resides in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana.

The Thibodaux Massacre: Racial Violence and the 1887 Sugar Cane Labor Strike

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