Mamie Thurman

An old 2 part, mountain state story, about an unsolved murder.

All alone, tucked between two valleys in the mountain state, lays an unkempt sleepy town by the name of Logan. It’s once bustling roads, frequently traveled by well known celebrities such as President Kennedy himself, now only meet the faces of hopeless residents trapped in a crumbling economy. Abandoned buildings lay rotting away, along with their memories of housing some of the most glamourous idols. The citizens who walk the streets are just shells of their strong ancestors, who built up the long ago capital city one coal shovel at a time. While no evidence remains that this was once the Los Angeles of the east coast, there's one person who will forever be imprisoned in a town stricken with a bygone industry. Her name is Mamie Thurman. A woman who yearned for fame, but met an untimely end.

    The roaring 20’s was a fashionable time for the appalachian mountains, though social norm was changing more rapidly than ever before, Logan had no problem keeping up with the rest of the world. In fact, they were often times ahead of everyone else. Because of the constant building, and thriving economy, people were fighting to find homes in this area to get a taste of aristocratic life. Mamie was no exception. As a young flapper girl from the then farming town Louisville Kentucky, she dreamed of the glamourous world just beyond her fingertips. Finally in 1924 after years of saving, Mamie and her husband Jack Thurman managed to snag a small apartment on the outskirts of town. Though, living above a garage was not even close to what Mamie had imagined, she still was enthralled by rubbing elbows with the famous people in town.

It didn’t take long for the young couple to climb the social ladder. Jack landed a job as a city patrolmen with help from his landlord, and president of the city commission, Harry Robinson. Which opened doors to the higher ups in politics, that allowed him to become more involved with the people who controlled this marvelous city. Mamie was accepted into the Woman’s Club Community that enabled the couple to attend to many important parties, and galas. Together, it was said, that both of them were regularly involved with the church. Mamie was a faithful church worker at Nighburt Memorial, and most considered her a saintly woman. But, her picture perfect life would soon come crashing down.

Neighbors began to whisper, as rumors spread like wildfire. The people of Logan had figured out Mamie’s secret. The flapper girl with a pretty face, was now known as the sly w***e frequenting speak easies. She was often seen lingering around the Aracoma Hotel construction site, presumably chatting up the Mayor and his councilmen. Though it was never proven, some say the Mayor was one of her many lovers. This was her way of making it to the top. It seemed that everyone knew about her antics, except for Jack.

One evening, while attending a party being thrown by a well known Lawyer in Middleburg, the couple had an argument that turned violent. Mamie appeared to have been heavily intoxicated, and disheveled. She continuously screamed at Jack while slinging her large sharp beaded purse at him. Eventually, he shoved drunk Mamie, sending her head crashing into the corner of the fireplace. Though she was bleeding, she was reportedly fine, and went home with a friend that night. Her dried blood is still plastered on that fireplace to this day. Many guests reportedly said that the Mayor’s name was mentioned quiet a bit during their yelling match.

On June 22nd, 1932, two weeks after this incident Mamie’s body was found on 22 mountain. A young deaf mute boy, Garland Davis, stumbled upon her in a blackberry bush. Little did he know that the gruesome murder he discovered, would still make headlines 82 years later. Her face was swollen, bruised, powder burned, and disfigured to the point of being unrecognizable. Her throat was slit ear to ear, and two bullets were embedded deep into her skull. Investigators were called in from several surrounding states. Evidence suggest that someone had savagely beat her, then slit her throat. When realizing Mamie wasn’t bleeding out fast enough, they stuck the gun to the back of her head, and fired twice.

Of course, her husband was the first one to suspect, but due to his ties with the Mayor the cops weren’t able to question him. Almost a month later, Jack accused Harry Robinson of sleeping with his wife then killing her, and the Handy Man Clarence Stephenson who lived in the Attic next to Jack of disposing of her body with his truck. Robinson admitted that he and Mamie were having an affair, but he had no part in killing her. A list of men that had been seen around the Thurman house late at night was given to the cops by an unknown person soon after Harry’s arrest. Because, the list was made up of over 16 people, including the Mayor, Robinson was acquitted of all charges.

However, after finding traces of blood in Clarence Stephenson’s truck bed, Stephenson was charged for murder and sent to Moundsville prison. Yet, many claim that Clarence was an avid hunter, and that could have been animal blood. They believe he was used as a scape goat, especially since his race was African American. Many years later, after Stephenson died from bronchitis in prison, his former cell mate came forward about the story Clarence had told him. He claimed, “Clarence was an ol’ gentle fella’. He said he didn’t kill her, but he’d never tell me who did. He was paid to drop her body off. It was all about politics.”

Although the records say Mamie Thurman was buried in Logan Memorial Park Cemetery, the grave stone where she supposedly rests is blank, and the ground was never disturbed. Some speculate that her body was never put there so that, in the future, she couldn’t be dug up and used as evidence. On November 15th, 2010 the Aracoma Hotel burned completely to the ground. Construction crews spent weeks tearing down the charred building, but it wasn’t until they broke the concrete foundation that they found human remains.

Multiple tests were ran on the bones, and they were proved to not be Indian, like most historians said. After further examination, the coroner found injuries matching those of Mamie Thurman’s. A cracked nose, a broken jaw, and what appeared to be a deteriorated bullet hole. Taking an old hairbrush found in the pocketbook on Mamie’s body in 1932, the medical examiners planned on conducting a D.N.A test to prove who this really was. However, 1 day before the test was to be done, the remains went missing.

It’s likely we’ll never know who took a poor woman’s life. Considering the last person alive to have information died in 2014. Harry Dingess was a Sheriff in Logan at the time of the murder. He was one of the first officers to respond to the scene, and described it as the bloodiest thing he’d ever seen. Yet, Harry refused to even speak about that day until 1990, when many of his former superior government colleagues had passed away. He often admitted to knowing who actually was behind it, but when asked on his deathbed if he would finally reveal a name he would say, “No. I’m a good ol’ boy. I’ll take it to my grave.” And that he did.

It is said that Mamie’s tortured soul still wonders 22 mountain today, screaming, crying, and sometimes stopping traffic. For 82 years she has been known as a West Virginian legend. One that will forever be trapped in misery, surrounded by coal dust and the want for fame that caused her end.

Author's Note

Critique wherever needed.