Several months ago, I read a social media rant by a Fairfax
resident who was critical of the community because of a crime of which she was
a victim. I am always perplexed by people who believe that there are communities
that are completely wholesome, idyllic, and crime-free. Fairfax is a pretty safe
place with a lot of good things going for it, but has never, ever been
crime-free.
In previous posts I have covered some of our community’s
more high-profile crimes. (See The Service Station Murder, The Gambling Scene
Part 1 and Part 2, and The Police Shootout.) However, throughout its history,
crime in Fairfax has run the gamut. There was moonshining during Prohibition. There
have been robberies and burglaries at businesses like Yochum’s Grocery,
Atwood’s Pharmacy, and King Kwik. There were break-ins at Fairfax School and
even a couple in the 1970s at the police station. And there was a particularly
distressing kidnapping and murder of an innocent child that will be covered in
an article later this year. Domestic violence, assault, vandalism, murder; it has
all happened here.
Fairfax is a nice community, but it wasn’t even crime-free in
the “good old days” when these crimes, a few of the more newsworthy ones in our
history, occurred:
The Lillie Hammond Homicide
In April 1930, 19-year-old Lillie Hammond and her
28-year-old husband William Barker Hammond were renting a home on Eleanor
Street, where they lived with their nine-month-old son Stanley. They were
expecting a second child and soon relocated to a home on Southern Avenue near
Wooster Pike.
On August 8, 1930, the pregnant Lillie Hammond was killed
by a gunshot to the head, fired by her husband Barker.
Barker’s story was that after work that day, he went to
town for a shave and haircut. He arrived home at around 10:30 p.m. and Lillie
prepared a meal for him. They went to their bedroom and prepared to go to bed.
There was an old revolver on the dresser and he said to her, “I wonder if this
old gun would shoot.” He said the gun discharged as he was handling it and that
the shooting was accidental.
The Hammonds’ neighbors notified the Hamilton County
Sheriff’s Department, while Barker, inexplicably, went to his brother
Lawrence’s home in Newtown. When Barker returned to his own home, deputies took
him into custody.
August 9, 1930 Cincinnati Times-Star
Lillie’s funeral was on August 10, 1930 and Barker was
permitted to attend in the custody of two deputies. Enroute to the funeral
home, Hammond cried out denials that the shooting was intentional and said that
he had loved his wife. At the funeral home he cried, “What have I done?” and
slumped over the coffin.
The Hamilton County coroner and sheriff weren’t buying
Hammond’s story. They said that the evidence showed that the gun’s trigger had
been pulled twice, but had only fired once. There was also gunpowder in the
wound, indicating that the shot had been fired from close proximity. A Grand
Jury indicted him for second degree murder.
Barker Hammond went to trial in February 1931, still
insisting that the shooting was accidental. Prosecutors argued that the
Hammonds had quarreled and Barker shot Lillie in anger. The first trial ended
in a hung jury.
The case was retried in May 1931 and William Barker
Hammond was convicted of manslaughter. He was sentenced to 10 years in the Ohio
Penitentiary. Hammond’s defense attorney requested that the court either
suspend the sentence or place him on probation, since the shooting was an
accident. The judge denied the request. Barker Hammond served his sentence and
was paroled in September 1942.
The Frank Rogers Ax Attack
35-year-old Frank Rogers and his brother James operated a
wood yard and lived together with their families on Wooster Pike. On the night
of January 26, 1942, James and his wife were out for the evening with another
couple. Frank and his 24-year-old wife Pearl were in bed when there was a knock
on their door. Pearl answered the door to find two men and described the
ensuing scene as follows:
I
didn’t say a word to them, but went in the bedroom and told Frank someone
wanted to see him. The men came in and then said they were going to kill us.
One of them went into the kitchen and got the ax. He kept swinging at Frank and
finally hit him. They kept saying they were going to kill us both. I begged
them to stop.
Pearl was struck on the head with a flashlight and
rendered unconscious. The intruders began firing a .12-gauge shotgun and
.32-gauge pistol owned by James Rogers, shooting out all lights and several
windows. They had cut the telephone lines before they entered the house. They
then tried to set the house on fire by knocking over a lighted lamp. They stole
Mrs. James Rogers’ purse and left in James Rogers’ car. James Rogers and his
wife returned home about 10 minutes after the attack and called the Hamilton
County Sheriff’s Department.
A description of the stolen vehicle was broadcasted and Cincinnati
police located the car and assailants in the West End, even though the car’s license
plates had been changed. The attackers were apprehended and identified as
Willie Cain and Isaac Johnson. Cain was a cousin of the Rogers brothers and had
previously been incarcerated in Kentucky for manslaughter. Johnson had escaped
from a Kentucky jail by sawing through the bars while awaiting transfer to
prison on a robbery conviction. Both Cain and Johnson had worked for the Rogers
brothers.
James Rogers speculated that the attack was actually a
case of mistaken identity because his wife had received an anonymous phone call
weeks earlier threatening her and her husband.
Frank Rogers’ injuries were so severe that he required
several blood transfusions and his leg had to be amputated. He survived,
though, and lived over 30 years more.
Frank Rogers pictured in his hospital bed, January 27, 1942 Cincinnati Post
Cain and Johnson were each charged with two counts of
assault to kill, and one count of grand larceny. Cain pleaded guilty to all
charges. Johnson was found guilty of the assault charges and pleaded guilty to
grand larceny.
There is an interesting twist to this story. It seems
that Pearl wasn’t actually married to Frank Rogers, but at the time of the
attack she was married to two other men. Upon seeing her photo in a
newspaper identified as “Mrs. Pearl Rogers,” her second husband filed for
divorce. During these proceedings, Pearl admitted that she and her first
husband had never divorced and her second husband was granted a divorce.
I’m not sure if a journalist got some facts wrong or I
just watch too much true crime, but there seem to be a few problems with this
story. There some to be some missing pieces. And Pearl? I think authorities needed
to do a deeper dive on that girl.
The Raymond Applegate Murder
On the evening of Monday October 15, 1943, 23-year-old
Raymond Applegate was driving around his hometown of Milford, Ohio with his
17-year-old brother-in-law, Roy Miller. They passed two Milford girls, Merle
McFarland and Juanita Bernard, who were looking for a ride to the Cincinnati
bakery where they worked. Applegate had loaned money to a Fairfax man who
frequented Uncle Al’s Grill (where Mac’s Pizza Pub is currently located) and
offered the girls a ride with the intention of stopping at Uncle Al’s to pick
up his money.
While Applegate was inside Uncle Al’s, Merle McFarland
spotted her brother-in-law Roscoe Dalton across the street from the café and
exited the car to speak with him. When Applegate left the café, he approached McFarland
and Dalton saying, “Come on, Merle. You’ll be late for work.” Without saying a
word, Dalton drew a revolver and shot Applegate in the chest.
Applegate was transported to Bethesda Hospital in
critical condition. The bullet had just missed his heart and lodged in his
spinal cord. He was able to give a statement to police about what had
transpired. He said, “I never had a chance . . . I don’t know what it’s all
about.” He said he didn’t know the man who shot him and had never spoken to
him. Raymond Applegate died two days after being shot. He left behind his wife
Mary Catherine and two-year-old and seven-month-old daughters.
Roscoe Dalton’s story didn’t differ significantly from
Applegate’s. Dalton said “[Applegate] was coming toward me. I shot him when he
reached for his pocket.” Dalton said he was carrying a gun because “I expected
some trouble,” though he said he didn’t know Applegate. He said he thought
Applegate was armed. Dalton, a resident of Miami Township in Clermont County,
was married and the father of three small children.
November 18, 1943, Cincinnati Enquirer
Initially, Dalton planned to argue self-defense and
pleaded not guilty. However, he later withdrew his not guilty plea and pleaded
guilty to second degree murder. He was given a life sentence, but was paroled
at some point.
The William Storer Assault
On Saturday March 16, 1946, 11-year-old William Storer
reported that he went to a greenhouse located behind Fairfax School, seeking
summer work there. He was walking through the woods, returning to his home on
Germania, when he encountered four older boys. He recognized the boys, but didn’t
know where they lived or their names, other than that one was called “Whitey.”
William said, "They told me I had no business in the
woods. They tied my hands behind my back and tied my feet in burlap sacks. Then
they tied [me] head down to the tree and set fire to the sacks. Then they ran
away. I kicked and I hollered for help.” That’s right, an 11-year-old Fairfax child
was allegedly hung upside down and set on fire.
William said he was hanging from the tree for around 10
minutes when two Hyde Park girls came to his rescue. The girls were on a hiking
and picnic trip. The girls freed the boy and helped him to the house where he
lived with his grandparents. Neither William,
nor his grandparents, got the girls’ names.
Three days after the attack, the burns on William’s
ankles didn’t seem to be improving. His parents took him to a physician, who
insisted that the attack be reported to the authorities. On March 19, Hamilton
County Sheriff C. Taylor Handman said that his department was investigating the
“Gestapo” methods used in the “torturing by fire” of William Storer. The
following day, three boys aged 13 to 15 admitted to tying the boy to the tree.
They denied setting fire to him, though, saying that he must have set fire to
himself.
William Storer and his grandmother Carrie Beckler
March 19, 1946 Cincinnati Times Star
The boys and their parents were ordered to appear in Juvenile
Court on March 22, 1946. Of course, the story stops abruptly at this point due to
the confidential nature of Juvenile Court proceedings.
