Helen Clevenger Explained

Helen J. Clevenger
Birth Date:4 November 1917
Birth Place:Washington, D.C.
Death Place:Asheville, North Carolina
Death Cause:Gun shot
Nationality:American

Helen Clevenger (November 4, 1917 – July 16, 1936) was member of the Bahá'í Faith and an American college student murdered in Asheville, North Carolina, on July 16, 1936.

Early life and education

Helen Irene Clevenger was born November 4, 1917, in Washington, DC, to Joseph F. Clevenger and Mary, née Desbach/Dresbach.[1] Both parents were born in Ohio and married in 1902 in Columbus, while they were employed as teachers.[2] Using materials from Ohio Joseph created a study of Phyllachora fungi he published in 1905 as well as a brief article on using hydrochloric acid to prepare slides.[3] Infants of the Clevengers had died in 1910 and 1915 while they were living in Chicago and then back in Ohio.[4] In between Joseph was a teacher in a college while they lived in Chicago.[5] By 1918 Joseph was visible working from DC with the Pharmacognosy Laboratory of the Department of Chemistry, in the Department of Agriculture, often publishing with Clare Olin Ewing until she left the department in 1919.[6] Joseph registered for WWI draft September 12, 1918, in DC.[7] The Clevengers were living on 5th St NW and he was employed in the Bureau of Chemistry in the Department of Agriculture. In 1920 the Clevenger family was still there along with three other roomers in 1920.[8] Joseph continued working with the Pharmacognosy Laboratory in DC through 1925.[9] In 1927 Joseph finished a map of the travels of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, founders of the Bahá'í Faith, published in volume 2 of The Bahá'í World as approved of by Shoghi Effendi,[10] then head of the religion.

In 1930 the Clevengers owned a home worth $5500 in 1930 dollars, (over $88000 in 2021 dollars[11]) on Howton Ave in the unincorporated town of Great Kills, Staten Island, and he was employed as a scientist with the federal government.[12] By January 1932 Joseph was visible as a pharmacognosist at the New York Station of the Federal Food and Drug Administration in which he continued service into at least 1935.[13]

Clevenger had been raised a member of the Bahá'í Faith, the religion of the family,[14] and graduated from Tottenville High School in 1934.[15] She was a member of the school honors association Arista, editor in chief of the high school Digest and Valedictorian.[16] She was one of 76 students receiving a certificate for participating in high school math competition for New York,[17] and July 1 was announced as one of 39 students awarded scholarships at New York University for the 1936-7 school year.[18] She continued her education at New York University, planning to follow her father as a chemist.[15] The family lived on Howton Ave, on Staten Island.[1]

Death and aftermath

Helen's father said "… for fear I was binding my daughter too much to my life and my ideas, I arranged for her to visit her relatives in North Carolina and travel some with her uncle Billy."[19] She was then in Asheville, North Carolina, traveling with her uncle, William Leander Clevenger,[20] 1881-1951, a professor at North Carolina State College.[21] While in Asheville, Clevenger was murdered. Clevenger's "upturned face was a bloody pulp". Clevenger's death certificate noted she died of a gunshot wound by a .32 caliber bullet through an autopsy while at the Battery Park Hotel with the name Helen I. Clevenger of Great Kills, Staten Island, NY, and died July 16, 1936, around 1am.[1] She was found wearing a Bahá'í ring with the ringstone symbol.[14] Inquiries with the Bahá'ís based on the coverage were noted in New York.[22]

By July 23 press coverage was already significant with reporters phoning or telegraphing stories in across the nation.[23] London papers called about the story and it was reported European papers had the news in their newspapers too.[24] The local police interviewed many witnesses and possible suspects in the killing before finally arresting a relatively-new,[25] 22-year-old negro hotel night janitor,[25] Martin Moore.[26] Moore claimed that he was beaten by detectives into giving a written confession when he was really innocent.[27] [28] Moore was executed in the gas chamber in Raleigh, North Carolina, on December 11, 1936.[29] [30] [31] [32]

The sheriff informed newspaper reporters on Sunday August 9 and some had paid for access to the story.[33] The photographer for the newspaper coverage of the confession and re-enactment was the only job he ever did as a photographer.[34] A multi-page review of the case was published in 1942.[35] Her mother died in 1943 after years of medical complications[36] and her father in 1945,[37] retired from the government job about a year.[38]

Dr. Gael Graham, Western Carolina University faculty and peer-review editor of The Journal of the North Carolina Association of Historians, observed that "…the irony of the case ["the search for her killer, and the rapid identification, trial, and execution of the African American accused"] lay in Clevenger membership in the Bahai’i(sic) Faith.… American Bahais (sic) were strikingly at odds with most other mainstream religions in their resolute affirmation of human equality. The [initiatives of the community versus the context of society] of the former Confederate south is astonishing. [The death of] Moore contravened the principles by which Helen Clevenger had lived her life."[39]

Dramatizations

Dramatizations were written up in true crime magazines starting in October 1936 including True Detective[40] A version was written and approved of by the sheriff in a radio drama aired in April and July 1937.[41] A 2014 play was written on the incident.[42]

Modern interest

Literature present ghost stories mentions Clevenger haunts where she was killed, the Battery Park Hotel, now Battery Park Apartments since 1996[43] and up to 2015.[44]

The Asheville "Tourism Center and Free Museum" run by Joshua P. Warren in 2010 had an exhibit on Clevenger as an unsolved murder.[45] Anne Chesky Smith of the University of Georgia has presented in academic circles on the murder, trial, and Moore's execution, in 2016.[46]

The Citizen-Times newspaper of Asheville has referred to the case a few times: 2015[47] and 2019.[48] So did the New York Daily Times in 2017.[49] There is also speculation it was a case of mistaken identity in 2017,[50] and referred to in another short-fiction contest story.[51] The Southern Mysteries podcast carried the case in 2019,[52] as did history focused review with a point of view on the case,[53] with a third in 2020.[54] In 2021 Anne Chesky Smith published a scholarly history of the case: what is objectively known of the murder, the trial, a likely suspect, and what happened to Martin Moore and his body afterwards.[55] In 2023, a scholarly article published in a peer-reviewed journal summarized Clevenger's life growing up, her and her family's participation in the Bahá'í communities of Washington DC and New York city, and the religious norms they lived by.[56]

Further reading

Book: Smith , Anne Chesky . Murder at Asheville's Battery Park Hotel: the search for Helen Clevenger's killer . History Press US . 2021 . 9781467145602 . 1252763042 .

Kolins. Steven. The Life, Faith, and Death of Helen Clevenger (1917-1936). The Journal of the North Carolina Association of Historians. 31. 43–68. North Carolina Association of Historians. Sep 2023 . Gael . Graham. 1078-4330. 52634307 .

Sella. Andrea. Clevenger’s separator. Chemistry World. The Royal Society of Chemistry (Great Britain). May 30, 2024. 1749-5318. 54356261 .

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Helen I. Clevenger Death • North Carolina Deaths, 1931-1994 . FamilySearch.org . Jul 19, 1936 . Jun 12, 2021.
  2. Web site: Joseph Franklin Clevenger Marriage • Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016 . FamilySearch.org . 1 Jul 1902 . Jun 12, 2021.
  5. Web site: Joseph F Clevenger • United States Census . FamilySearch.org . Apr 26, 1910 . Jun 12, 2021.
  7. Web site: Joseph Franklin Clevenger Military • United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 . FamilySearch.org . Sep 12, 1918 . Jun 12, 2021.
  8. Web site: Helen Irene Clevenger • United States Census . FamilySearch.org . Jan 7, 1920 . Jun 12, 2021.
    • Book: Clevenger , Joseph F. . Baha'i World. Map showing travels…, (by J. F. Clevenger,) . Bahá'í Publishing Committee . Biennial International Record . 2 . 1928 . New York, NY . 192 . https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:BW_Volume2.pdf&page=209 . 59428606.
    • News: New Bahá'í publications . Baha'i News . 5 . Jan 1928 . 21 . Jun 12, 2021.
  11. Web site: US Inflation Calculator . usinflationcalculator.com . 2021 . Jun 12, 2021.
  12. Web site: Helen Clevenger • United States Census . FamilySearch.org . Apr 8, 1930 . Jun 12, 2021.
  14. News: Chemist drafts Clevenger clue report to cops . The Record . Hackensack, New Jersey . 3 . 31 Jul 1936 . Jun 12, 2021.
  15. News: Suspect Is Hunted in Co-ed's Murder . The New York Times . 1936-07-18 . 1, 6.
  16. News: Grief fills home . The Bradenton Herald . Bradenton, Florida . 1, 10 . 17 Jul 1936 . Jun 12, 2021.
  17. News: DeWitt Clinton wins 'math' price: 76 High School Students Get Certificates in the Pi Mu Epsilon Tourney . New York Times . New York, N.Y. . N2 . 13 May 1934 . Jun 12, 2021.
  18. News: N.Y.U. students get $5,200 scholarships: Awards to 39 Undergraduates at Washington Square College Announced by Dean Loomis . New York Times . New York, N.Y. . 23 . 1 July 1936 . Jun 12, 2021.
  19. News: Father had dream his daughter faced peril . The Citizen-Times . Asheville, North Carolina . 1, 8 . 23 Jul 1936 .
  20. Web site: Clevenger, W. L. (William Leander), 1881-1951 . NC State University Libraries' Rare and Unique Digital Collections . 9 August 2022.
  21. News: Acuff . Lloyd . CO-ED'S UNCLE HELD FOR QUESTIONING; WOLLNER IS FREED; Prof. Clevenger Is Detained on Return to Asheville From Her Funeral in Ohio. . 9 August 2022 . . 25 July 1936.
  22. News: The publication in… . Baha'i News . 103 . 1 . Oct 1936 . Jun 12, 2021.
  23. News: Much sent on murder by press . . . 8 . 23 Jul 1936 . Jun 15, 2021.
  24. News: London paper 'phones Brown about arrest . The Citizen-Times . Asheville, North Carolina . 6 . 11 Aug 1936 . Jun 17, 2021.
  25. Web site: Joynes . Dorothy . Booker T. Sherrill . Voices of Asheville Oral History Collection . . 9 August 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20020717014324/http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/oralhistory/VOA/S_Z/Sherrill_B.html . 17 July 2002.
  26. News: Clevenger slayer gets quick hearing; Negro Is Arraigned Secretly in Asheville on Two Charges Carrying Death Penalty . . 1936-08-11 . 15 .
  27. Web site: Sep 24 1936, Page 3 . . September 24, 1936 . . 9 August 2022.
  28. News: Co-Ed's Slayer Gets Review . Full text is unavailable for this digitized archive article. Subscribers may view the full text of this article in its original form through TimesMachine. . . 1936-09-24 . 9 .
  29. News: Slayer of Co-ED dies in lethal gas room; Moore Is Executed at Raleigh for Killing Helen Clevenger of Staten Island . 9 . 1936-12-12 . 2010-05-04 . The New York Times.
  30. News: Today in Asheville history: Moore executed for Clevenger murder . 9 August 2022 . Asheville Citizen Times.
  31. News: Smith . Anne Chesky . WNC History: Story behind the accused murderer in 1936 Battery Park Hotel homicide . 9 August 2022 . The Asheville Citizen Times.
  32. Web site: Calder . Thomas . New book explores 1936 slaying at the Battery Park Hotel . . 9 August 2022 . August 19, 2021.
  33. News: James M. Rogers . Bringing in your news . . . 13, 14 . 3 Oct 1937 . Jun 13, 2021.
  34. News: J. P. Brady . Sold only roll he has ever exposed - Martin shot Clevenger case pictures . . . 29 . 20 Apr 1958 . Jun 13, 2021.
  35. News: Peter Levins . When Justice Triumphed . . . 382, 383, 384 . 3 May 1942 . Jun 13, 2021.
  37. News: In Memoriam . Baha'i News . 177 . 6 . Nov 1945 . Jun 14, 2021.
  38. News: Joseph Clevenger dies unexpectedly at Washington, DC . The Piqua Daily Call . Piqua, Ohio . 8 . 12 Jul 1945 . Jun 19, 2021.
  39. Graham. Gael. Editor's Note. The Journal of the North Carolina Association of Historians. 31. xi-xii. North Carolina Association of Historians. Sep 2023 . Gael . Graham. 1078-4330. 52634307. In the third article, we return to early 20th-century North Carolina. The article “The Life, Faith and Death of Helen Clevenger, 1917-1936" by Steven Kolins, focuses on the murder of a young woman four months shy of her nineteenth birthday on her first (and last) visit to North Carolina. Newspapers across the country and even in England sensationalized Helen Clevenger’s death in Asheville in 1936, the search for her killer, and the rapid identification, trial, and execution of the African American accused, Martin Moore—only 22 years old himself. While Kolins notes that this can be framed as yet another example of the Jim Crow “justice” that characterized the South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the irony of the case lay in Clevenger membership in the Bahai’i(sic) Faith.
    In 1936, few Americans knew much about the Bahai’i(sic) Faith and the few newspapers that commented on this aspect of Clevenger’s life often reported inaccurately. Kolins provides a history of the religion in the US, touching briefly on its origins in Persia. American Bahais (sic) were strikingly at odds with most other mainstream religions in their resolute affirmation of human equality. The faith established roots early among African Americans in Washington, D.C. and spread to both blacks and whites in other cities as well. In 1921, the religion’s head, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, asked the various congregations - all of them integrated - to begin holding “Race Amity” meetings, where members could openly discuss race and racism. That this occurred in the context of President Woodrow Wilson resegregating the capital city and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan outside of the former Confederate south is astonishing. Kolins documents the Clevenger family’s active membership in the group, and young Helen's likely attendance at its youth events. By so doing, he highlights the fact that state-sanctioned revenge against Moore contravened the principles by which Helen Clevenger had lived her life..
    • Rapist Murder of Co-Ed Clevenger . Official Detective Stories . 15 Oct 1936 . Jun 12, 2021.
    • (cover) . True Detective Mysteries . November 1936 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210612163027/https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/true-detective-mysteries-november-1821951884 . 12 June 2021 . Jun 12, 2021.
  42. Book: Huffman , Felicia A. . Battery Park . 2014 . CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform . 9781494914196.
  43. Book: Ken . Delas M. . House . Traylor . Asheville Ghosts and Legends . The History Press . 2006 . 1-59629-156-7 . 80–83 . The Spirits of the Battery Park Hotel . https://books.google.com/books?id=WZHiEzbSTK4C&pg=PA80 .
  45. News: Sandford . Jason . Macabre museum . The Citizen-Times . Asheville, N.C. . T5 . 31 Dec 2010 .
  47. News: Today in Asheville history: Moore executed for Clevenger murder . The Citizen-Times . Asheville, NC . Dec 11, 2015 . Jun 17, 2021.
  48. News: Mackensy Lunsford . Spooky tales of real Asheville murder, hauntings and bloody battles . The Citizen-Times . Asheville, NC . Oct 24, 2019 . Jun 17, 2021.
  49. News: David Krajicek . NYU student's killer rushed to execution in just 5 months in 1936 . Daily News . New York . Jul 30, 2017 . Jun 17, 2021.
  50. Web site: Murder at the Battery Park . Amy C. Manikowski . Asheville Historic Inns, Western North Carolina Historical Association . September 2, 2017 . Jun 12, 2021.
  51. News: Alli Marshall . Read this year's Indie 500 flash fiction contest winners . Mountain Xpress . Asheville, NC . August 30, 2017 . Jun 17, 2021.
  52. Murder At The Battery Park Hotel . Southern Mysteries . Shannon Ballard . August 19, 2019 . 51.
  53. Web site: A good room cost $1.50 a night and a corner room $3 . Dave Tabler . Appalachianhistory.net . August 1, 2019 . Jun 17, 2021.
  54. Web site: The Murder of Helen Clevenger . F.A. Huffman . https://web.archive.org/web/20210124022016/https://macabreatmidnight.com/2020/07/25/the-murder-of-helen-clevenger/ . January 24, 2021 . Macabreatmidnight.com . Jul 25, 2020 . Jun 17, 2021.
  55. Book: Smith , Anne Chesky . Murder at Asheville's Battery Park Hotel: the search for Helen Clevenger's killer . History Press US . 2021 . 9781467145602 . 1252763042 .
  56. Kolins. Steven. The Life, Faith, and Death of Helen Clevenger (1917-1936). The Journal of the North Carolina Association of Historians. 31. 43–68. North Carolina Association of Historians. Sep 2023 . Gael . Graham. 1078-4330. 52634307 .

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