Episode Ten: "The Patapsco Incident"

The lid finally blows off of the case when Karen discovers a related crime that was not mentioned anywhere in the case file. Dead men tell no tales. Dead women, too. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
I would say he's ruthless. It can become deadly given
certain circumstances. Thrown her off the path bridge. I mean,
that's just you don't do that because you're having an argument.
You know, you do that. The silence that was an
incredible all. How my world had to find that he's
got a family, he's got a girlfriend, he's got her.

(00:23):
There had to be a strong motivation. You pay me
up or else. Welcome back to Shattered Souls the car
barn Murders. I'm your host, Karen Smith. This is episode ten.
This podcast may contain graphic language and is not suitable
for children. Previously on the Carborn Murders, appending US District

(00:52):
Attorney's case against Carbarnes, suspect Walter Oliver seemingly disappeared without explanation,
and by January of night teen thirty six, Oliver's friend
and multiple felon Robert Janny, was back in the Maryland
State Penitentiary, this time serving eight years for armed robbery.
Robert Jenny's wife Lillian, had linked him with William Clark

(01:16):
and James Weir, who were named as suspects on the
Carborn case. Very early on in the investigation, but their
mutual alibi defense through the investigators off their trail. It
seemed like a whitewash, since the detectives put a lot
more shoe leather down, chasing several other potential suspects who
had more legitimate stories. A breakdown of the statements of

(01:39):
William Clark, James Weir, and Clark's girlfriend, Mary Branch showed
that none of them could have possibly alibied the others.
Clark made two trips to the chevy Chase Lake office
on Saturday, two days before the murders, using a story
about getting a change carrier back as an excuse. On

(02:00):
the day of the murders, William Clark failed to keep
an appointment with Mr Stevens, the Superintendent of Transportation for
Capital Transit, to get his job back, and instead he
went to the DC Police headquarters to offer himself up
for an interview. In December of nineteen thirty four, one
month prior to the murders of my uncle Emery Smith

(02:21):
and James Mitchell, William Clark, Mary Branch, and James Weir
took a road trip to see Francis Gregory, the man
who said he was asleep in the trainman's room during
the shooting of James Mitchell. They picked Gregory up at
the Jesse Theater and took him home so that Gregory
could give William Clark some cash to purchase his Capital

(02:41):
Transit Company uniform. William Clark wanted his job back so
badly that he missed a pre scheduled appointment with Mr
Stevens on January one. He went to the chevy Chase
Lake office two times on Saturday the nineteenth on the
pretense of getting a change carrier, and just a months
before the murders, he sold his uniform to Francis Gregory.

(03:04):
That seemed like an awful lot of flip flopping for
a man who was superficially adamant about going back to
work for Capital Transit. Robert Jenny, William Clark, and Walter
Oliver all jumped straight to the top of my suspect list.
My job transitioned from finding viable suspects to putting the

(03:24):
pieces together to link these three men and explain why
none of them were ever taken to trial for my
uncle's and James Mitchell's murders. Robert Jenny confessed to being
involved to his wife Lillian. He came home with wet
pants one morning around the time of the murders. He
panicked when Lilian told him that a man had been

(03:45):
arrested and ratted him out and told Lillian he got
a hundred dollars for his participation. After they had to
shoot their way out, Walter Oliver confessed to Horace Davis
and gave him information that only a participant would know.
Oliver's said they killed my uncle Emory because he recognized
one of them, that he was with a couple of fellows,

(04:06):
that he might as well have killed a hundred after
killing one, and that they went northbound on Connecticut Avenue
the direction of the Rock Creek Bridge. William Clark turned
himself in on the day of the murders, was held
for three days, gave an alibi that couldn't be substantiated
by anyone. No follow up was ever completed. He sold

(04:27):
his Capital Transit uniform to Francis Gregory, went to the
chevy Chase Lake office twice on Saturday, right before the
murders to get a change carrier, and missed an appointment
with Mr Stevens to get his job back. He also
failed to mention a meeting with a police officer on
Sunday night. There wasn't one word, not one about any

(04:47):
follow up investigation of these three men, the only suspects
inside of that case file with obvious multi level and
culpatory evidence against them. I was arting to believe that
this entire case was a cover up. As I was
looking into Clark, Jenny and Oliver and read through the

(05:09):
case file for the umteenth time, I found some handwritten
notes that caught my attention. On a random checklist page,
one of the detectives made a note to check into
the Hot Shops robbery that occurred about a week and
a half before the Carborn murders. The descriptions and m
o of that robbery seems like it might have been

(05:31):
committed by William Clark and one of the others. The
note said that a watch stolen from the victim of
this Hot Shops robbery was pawned to a man named
John Swales, a known affiliate of William Clark's. I did
some more research and found a couple of newspaper articles
about this Hot Shops robbery case. This armed robbery happened

(05:53):
to the cash collector of the Hot Shops restaurant chain
on January eight, nineteen thirty five, about two weeks before
the Carborn murders. The victim was on Fourth Street Northeast,
exiting his truck, and he was holding a metal strong
box that contained the day's cash register money, about a
hundred and eighty bucks. Two white men approached him from

(06:14):
both sides and demanded the strong box at gunpoint. The
suspects had obviously been watching the victim because he had
just disengaged the lock on that strong box before he
went into the restaurant. The men took that box and
fled across a vacant lot. That same victim had also
been held up seven months prior, when two men ran

(06:35):
his truck off the road and took the money box
and his truck keys. As I was reading about the
Hot Shops case, it brought another attempted robbery back into
my mind, the one at the Brightwood ticket office on
August four, the one where Mr Balderson hid inside of
a steel cabinet rather than open the money cage door

(06:56):
at gunpoint. The attempted robbery of the bright At office
fit the same m O that seemed to have been
used on James Mitchell at Chevy Chase Lake. The front
door to the ticket office was somehow unlocked, and Mitchell
was gunned down inside of the money cage. The suspect
description given by mister Balderson was pretty generic, a white

(07:19):
male thirty five ft nine, a hundred and sixty pounds
with dark hair. That description definitely fit Walter Oliver, he
was thirty five eleven a hundred and seventy five pounds
with brown hair. It vaguely described William Clark, who was
twenty five five eight to twenty with brown hair. Robert

(07:43):
Janney was thirty six five nine and the only waged
a hundred and thirty pounds with brown hair. All three
of them were out of prison at that point, so
it's a serious possibility that one or all of them
could have been the suspects on the bright Wood robbery attempt.
By October of nineteen thirty five, Robert Jenny was back

(08:04):
in prison, serving his eight years for armed robbery on
top of the three months he got for breaking his
wife Lillian's nose. He spent his time writing letters, and
the detectives began intercepting Jenny's correspondences. Robert Jenny wrote to
Lilian on February seventh, nineteen thirty six, and he told
her he was investigating the matter that she had spoken

(08:26):
to him about the story that detectives Volton and Rogers
had given Lilian to illicit information from him about the
Carborn case. He also said that he would write to
the place where Lilian worked if he didn't hear back
from her. By that Tuesday, Lilian read her husband's letter
and she panicked. She grabbed a scrap of paper and

(08:49):
scribbled a note directly to Detective Volton Saturday, February eighth,
nineteen thirty six. Dear Detective Bolton, I'm writing this in
a hurry. I got a letter from Janny today and
I would like to see you and ask for some
advice on this letter. If I don't answer this letter,
he'll write to the place where I work. If he does.
You know what that means. I would like to know

(09:11):
if I should answer it, very truly, Yours, Lillian Janny.
There's no historical documentation about where Lillian Janny worked in
ninety five, but it's obvious that if her employer or
someone who worked with her found a letter from Robert Jenny,
it would mean trouble. Another option is that Lillian wasn't

(09:34):
doing work that was legal or legitimate, and the possibility
that another man wouldn't take too kindly to letters from
Robert Jenny. That second scenario was born out in subsequent letters.
Jenny suspected that Lillian was either choosing to see another
man or someone was after her for unknown reasons. Robert

(09:56):
Jenny didn't mince words when it came to writing to Lillian.
In a letter from December nineteen thirty five, a month
before her meeting with Volton and Roger's, Robert Jenny wrote
Lilian a two page missive and it reads, in part,
dear kid, no, babe, I'm not mad with you. Why

(10:16):
should I be? The grape vine tells me a lot
of things. You tell me not to send my return
of address so that some one will not know I'm
writing to you. If you weren't ashamed of me, you
wouldn't give a damn who knew? Or are you afraid
some one will be jealous? You said some one was jealous?
But why should you care? I do think there are two,
not one trying to get you to go out with them,

(10:38):
or were trying. But that doesn't worry me, for I
know you and I know I'll have you when I'm free.
What you do now is your own business. When you
tell me the names of those who have been after you,
I will tell you where to find them. Why does
your mother hate me? So? What did she say when
you gave her my message? I told you I believe
nothing until you told me it was so face to faye.

(11:00):
So if you have anything to tell me, be woman
enough to do it yourself. Don't have others tell me
every time you write you're in a hurry. Diggs told
me there was no use for me to write to you.
That your mother said you were there with me and
that she wouldn't let you get any mail from me.
Anybody that touches my mail will regret it. There are
laws made for people who tamper with mail. Somebody has

(11:22):
been reading your mail or else you've been talking. When
you answer those five questions truthfully on oath, don't get mad.
I'll tell you a lot of things that I have
to keep to myself for the present. All my love
to you, darling. Tell me who the ones are that
are trying to get to you. It would be okay
if he was with you. Lovingly me, Robert Jenny didn't

(11:44):
trust Lilian to tell him what was going on, so
he reached out to some old friends for help. One
friend was a woman named no Leah Foreman. Her husband
was Gilbert Foreman. I discovered through my research that Gilbert
Rman had spent time in the Maryland Training School for
Boys in nineteen twenty with Walter Oliver and Horace Davis.

(12:07):
Gilbert Foreman worked at the horse track, which was a
likely end for Robert Jenny and Walter Oliver on the
illegal racing wire racket. William Clark also admitted to frequenting
the horse track during his interview. Robert Janny wrote to
Noli A Foreman to see if she would be willing
to find out what was happening with Lillian. Dear Nolia,

(12:28):
you don't know my wife. She's from West Baltimore. Lillian
Lucas mighty nice girl, Nollie wonderful disposition, congenial and happy
and was true as could be the whole time we
were together. But I'm afraid for her now, dreadfully so.
I saw her last week and hardly knew her. She's changed,
so it hurts me for I believe someone is forcing

(12:49):
her into God knows what if I could only get
someone to talk to her and give her a hand morally,
it might avert catastrophe. The fact that I'm so utterly
helpless to do anything myself nearly sets me crazy. Would
you want to have a little talk with lil for me?
She's a nice kid and perhaps don't realize things in
their true light. As ever, Bob, someone is forcing her

(13:14):
into God knows what was Lillian Janny being sex trafficked?
Robert and Lillian's daughter, Josephine, was placed in the Kelso
Home for Girls in February of nineteen thirty six. During
the time of these correspondences. The Kelso Home was an
orphanage for children whose parents didn't have a means of support.

(13:38):
I don't know what was going on with Lillian Janny,
but for her to give her daughter up to an orphanage,
it couldn't have been anything good. Janny's friend, Nulia Foreman,
wrote him back, and she politely declined to intervene. Robert
Jenny continued to write to Lillian after her with Volton

(14:00):
and Rogers to find out what exactly was going on. Clearly,
the information he sought from inside the prison wasn't forthcoming,
and Janny's back was against the wall. He made surreptitious
mention of detectives Voulton and Rogers in his follow up
letter without naming them. Word may have gotten to him
that the cops were now intercepting his mail, so he

(14:22):
started communicating in broader terms. Dear babes, I've done a
lot of thinking in these last few weeks. The whole
thing points to just two things. You professed to fear
someone who I don't know. Again, I wish to assure
you that nothing I've done will ever hurt you. Those
men were not there about me. I'm sure they may
be bluffing you for three reasons, First, thinking I've done

(14:46):
something else which is untrue, and that you'll tell them.
Make sure they are who they say they are, then
make them tell you all. Second, you yourself may have
done or said something that made them suspicious. You don't
confide in me, so I can't say about this. You
should know. Third, that someone is trying to scare you

(15:07):
into doing something I'll explain later. The other thing is
this someone may have told you that I was going
to cause you trouble because you stepped out with another
that's untrue. For I've told you to go out when
and where you please, and with who you please if
you want to, just as I would do if our
places were reversed. I don't expect you to sit down
and look at four walls. Although there are laws to

(15:30):
bind a wife to her husband, I would never use
them to hold you, for I would not want a
woman I had to hold in that way. If a
woman don't care for me enough to stick to me
of her own accord, I'm better off without her. So
don't worry about me being low enough to resort to
anything of this kind, no matter what happens. For if
I can't keep you, I certainly won't hinder you in

(15:50):
any way. Now about that girl, If you know who
she's friendly with that wants us separated, you probably have
the solution to the whole thing. Some One must have
put her up to telling that lie with the idea
of causing us to split. Maybe you know why and who.
These lies have got to stop for your sake as
well as mine, and I want you to help me

(16:12):
to stop them. If you're willing to do so, let
me know, but first make sure that in so doing
it won't affect any one you don't want it to
as ever, Bob, those were some mighty cavalier words from
a guy who punched his wife in the face and
broke her nose, committed an armed robbery, and got himself
an eight year stint in the state prison. I honestly

(16:35):
have no idea who Robert Janny is talking about regarding
the woman who wanted them separated, but it's clear that
Janny was banging his head against the wall trying to
find out just what Lilian had told Volton and Roger's
and it seemed like she wasn't going to budge. Besides,
Janny wasn't getting out of prison any time soon. Lilian

(16:57):
Janny disappeared off they it are completely in nineteen thirty six.
I don't know if she went on the run or
if something worse happened to her. Sadly, it's just another
unanswered question, getting back to my investigation. On a running
checklist page inside of the case file, just a long

(17:20):
list of scribbled notes, there was a reference to a
murder at eighteen and Columbia Road, and it's said to
be sure to ask Mary Branch if she had ever
heard about William Clark killing a woman. There were no
details about this murder or a victim's name, nothing except
an abbreviated location, But after a long search through historical newspapers,

(17:44):
I found it. The victim's name was Lizzie Jaynes and
she was killed on April five, nineteen thirty one, during
an armed robbery. According to the Washington Post article, bandit
guns claimed their second victim less than three weeks when
Mrs Lizzie Janes died last night in Garfield Hospital, following

(18:05):
closely after James H. Lane street car motorman died from
a robber's bullet. Mrs Janes, fifty nine year old cash
year at the Garden Tea Shop restaurant, succumbed to a
bullet wound sustained Friday night from the automatic pistol in
the hands of two armed and masked bandits who held
up and robbed the restaurant. The article went on to

(18:27):
say that homicide detectives were without any tangible clues. Even
though several people were inside the restaurant and witnessed the
robbery and shooting, none of them were able to identify
the criminals because they had masks on the stolen car
with stolen tags that was used for that crime was
found abandoned near the National Zoo on Connecticut Avenue. That's

(18:49):
a little over a mile south of the Chevy Chase
Lake crime scene. Also, very curiously, the story said that
the shooting of Lizzie Jane's appeared to be accidental. One
of the suspects had taken the cash from the register,
and the other suspect asked a waitress if there was
any more money hidden in back. Suddenly a pistol was discharged,

(19:10):
but Lizzie Janes didn't flinch and she didn't even realize
she'd been shot. She waited for the police, gave them
her statement, and when she got home later that night,
her leg went numb and she found the gunshot in
her abdomen. She died in the hospital and the coroner
recovered a twenty five caliber bullet from her body. The

(19:32):
police surmised that these assailants were also the same ones
who robbed a hotel drug store the week prior to
robbing and killing Lizzie Janes, So there were three crimes
that were connected. The robbery and murder of Lizzie Janes
by two white men with a twenty five caliber gun.
The murder of street car motorman James Lane by two

(19:53):
white men with a thirty two caliber semi automatic, and
a hotel drug store robbery, all within a few weeks,
and the police thought that the same perpetrators were behind
every single one of them. A month and a half
after the murder of Lizzie Jaynes, a man named Thomas
Jordan's admitted to firing the shot that killed her, and

(20:13):
during his interview, he said that he had never met
his accomplices before that night. He didn't give any names
to the detectives because he said he didn't know them.
In a very strange twist, Thomas Jordan's said that he
was set to go on a date with a blond
woman that night and met her at Thomas Circle. She

(20:35):
was waiting there for him, but she was with another man.
Without questioning who this other man was, why he was
with her to go on this supposed one on one date,
or what was going on, Thomas Jordan told the police
that all three of them got into the car and
they drove to the Garden Tea Shop restaurant. He said

(20:56):
the blond woman waited in the car just up the road,
acting as a get way driver. Jordan's said that the
other man gave him a mask and a gun. Thomas
Jordan's held Lizzie Janes up, took a hundred and one
dollars from the register and said he got a case
of the jitters, and the gun went off. He didn't
see any reaction from Lizzie Jaynes and assumed the shot missed.

(21:19):
He and the other man ran up the street to
the car with the blond female driver and they all
stopped at six in Pennsylvania Avenue to split up the money.
Thomas Jordan got out of the car and the blonde
woman and this unknown male just went on their way.
What a crock of shit, but everyone bought it and

(21:39):
took Thomas Jordan at his word. Thomas Jordan claimed he
didn't know the other suspect, and he didn't know that
he'd shot Lizzie Jayes until he read it in the
newspaper the next day. He said that weight on him
until he just couldn't stand it anymore, and he turned
himself in and confessed. His accomplices were never caught or named,

(21:59):
just vaguely described. But it's really important for the Carbarn case.
A white man and a blond woman hold onto that thought. Seriously,
remember that detail. Going back to my uncle Emory's murder.
Why would one of the detectives make a note to
ask Mary Branch about the Lizzie Jane's murder case and

(22:23):
whether or not William Clark had ever mentioned it to her.
Did they suspect William Clark to be the second perpetrator
with Thomas Jordan's I'm going to give a tentative yes
to that question. Because of another set of newspaper articles
I found about a case related to the Carbarn murders
that aren't mentioned anywhere in the file. I was slack

(22:47):
jawed when I read the details. Never underestimate your sixth cents.
This next case would blow the lid off and finally
set my wheels spinning toward a solution to the Carbarn murders.
Are you ready for the first hill of this roller coaster?
We'll tighten your lap restraint and please keep your hands

(23:07):
inside the car at all times. Here we go. On Monday,
May nine thirty five, at two o'clock in the morning,
William Clark said that he had an appointment and had
to leave immediately. Against her better judgment, Mary Branch got
up and started to get dressed after Clark harangued her

(23:28):
to go with him out to a farm near Baltimore.
He told her he needed to visit a man about
a whiskey. Still, Clark never did his underhanded dealings during
normal hours, but this seemed especially ridiculous. Why did Mary
need to go with him all the way to Baltimore
right that minute? It was late. Mary was tired and
she just wanted to go to bed, but William Clark

(23:50):
goaded her. She acquiesced and got into the car. There
was no arguing with Clark once he made up his
mind to do something. The city lights dimmed as they
drove out the Old Frederick Road towards Baltimore. Mary's eyes
were heavy, and she asked Clark if he really wanted
to keep going it was so dark outside. He said

(24:10):
nothing and kept driving, so Mary slid down in her
seat to take a quick nap. Clark saw Mary close
her eyes. After a couple of miles, he turned off
the main drag onto a dirt side road and headed
toward Ilchester. He kept fidgeting and reaching under the seat,
and he took his eyes down to the floorboard. Mary

(24:32):
felt the card jerk as Clark righted the wheel. Clark
was hunched over, nearly in her lap as his right
hand patted the floor while his left barely held the
car study. What are you doing, she asked, I'm adjusting
the damned seat, he said, and sat back. Mary looked around.
This wasn't Frederick Road. She didn't recognize the area at all.

(24:55):
As she looked out the passenger window. Clark hit the
brakes and stopped the car. He tightened his grip around
a blackjack, the misplaced object he'd been searching for and
had tucked away just for this purpose. Without hesitation, he
took a full swing and hit Mary Branch in her
forehead with the lead weight wrapped in leather. The gaping

(25:18):
wounds sent blood spatter across the passenger window. Clark reared
back and swung the blackjack again and again. Mary didn't
have the time or forethought to raise her arm to
block the blows, and she nearly lost consciousness. Her body
slumped against the passenger door, and blood poured from her head,
staining her dress and the seat. Clark tossed the weapon

(25:40):
down and got out of the car. He walked around
to the passenger side. He took Mary's small limp frame
and heaved her over his shoulder. He carried her fifty
feet to the side of a bridge that stood above
the remnants of the old Patapsco River gristmill. Mary came
to and the world was upside down. For a split second,

(26:02):
she saw the metal railing and the flowing water below,
just enough time to comprehend what was happening, and through
thick clots of blood in her mouth, she pleaded for
him not to toss her over. Clark took another step
and slung her body over the thirty five ft drop
into the rocky river, a splash, then silence. William Clark

(26:24):
got in the car and drove back to Gerard Street.
Around that same time frame, Detective Frank Brass of the
d C Police made some notes of his own in
the case file. Apparently, Brass had spoken to Francis Gregory,
the one sleeping on the bench in the trainman's room.
Gregory told detective Brass that Mary Branch had been confiding

(26:48):
in him, and she said that William Clark would sit
around and plan hold ups. Mary also said that Clark
was seeing a blond woman who lived in the underd
block of Illinois Avenue. Francis Gregory and Mary Branch were
close friends, or close enough for her to feel comfortable

(27:09):
enough to consign some pretty deep secrets about her boyfriend.
William Clark sold his Capital Transit uniform to Francis Gregory,
and Gregory was the only person left alive at the
Chevy Chase Lake office after the murders. Francis Gregory was
now on my suspect list, but something about him didn't

(27:31):
sit right with me. I couldn't put my finger on it,
but for some reason, deep down, I didn't believe that
Francis Gregory was a bad guy. I coupled the information
provided by Francis Gregory via Mary Branch with the Lizzie
Jane's case the white man and blonde woman that Thomas

(27:53):
Jordans couldn't or rather wouldn't name. I started to look
at some of the other random notations that were apparently
never put together between the three different police departments working
on this case. These notes appeared to be in Detective
Volton's handwriting, and they said, oh, seven Illinois Avenue, Edith

(28:15):
Small or Duval Landsburg's beauty shop. After a little research,
I found out that Edith Small had blonde hair. Her
maiden name was Duval and she lived on Illinois Avenue.
Mary Branch said that William Clark was seeing a blonde
woman on Illinois Avenue. Volton's notes also said went to

(28:38):
Mayor's Furniture twenty eight dollars for furniture. Also see Warden Tellson,
Maryland House of Corrections what he heard when he talked
to Edith Small. There were no dates on these notes,
but it had to have been around the fall of
nineteen thirty five, when William Clark was in prison with
Robert Janney, so apparent lee. At some point William Clark

(29:02):
purchased furniture with this blonde woman, Edith Small, and she
went to the prison to see him. At two o'clock
in the morning. On n William Clark tossed Mary Branch
over a thirty five foot bridge into the Patapsco River
after beating her senseless with a blackjack. So it seemed

(29:22):
like Clark moved on to another woman, but was anything
really that simple. After William Clark left Mary Branch for
dead in the river and he got back to the
apartment on Gerard Street, a taxi driver got a call
from Benny Johnson William Clark's cousin, Benny Johnson, received information

(29:43):
from Catonsville, Maryland to pass on to Clark. Johnson told
the taxi driver to go to the apartment on Girard Street.
The driver knocked on the door and William Clark answered
and asked him what he wanted. The cabby gave William
Clark Benny john Sin's message. Mary Branch was in the hospital.

(30:05):
She wasn't dead. If you have information about the car
Barn murders, go to the Shattered Souls Facebook page and
leave me a message. Opening music by Sam Johnson at
Sam Johnson Live dot com. Shattered Souls The car Barn
Murders as produced by Karen Smith and Angel Hart Productions