A Nesquehoning Nightmare: The Joan Stevens Tragedy

Joan Stevens

 

(Note: The audio version of this article is available here)

Located in Carbon County, the borough of Nesquehoning sits just west of the scenic Lehigh Gorge and the tourist haven of Jim Thorpe. Like other coal mining communities in the region, Nesquehoning was laid out as a company town; the land upon which the homes were built was owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, who sold lots as early as 1824. However, unlike many other company towns, Nesquehoning, by all accounts, was described as a peaceful, idyllic place to live. The coal company kept rents low, and the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company even provided garbage collection and snow removal to those who lived in their town, whether they worked in the mines or not.

Of course, the history of every coal town has a dark chapter or two. There are mine accidents, ethnic disputes between immigrant workers, strikes, and the occasional murder. One of the darkest chapters in the history of Nesquehoning occurred in 1939, with the killing of a 14-year-old girl named Joan Stevens. But what made this tragedy so sensational was the fact that Joan Stevens was gunned down not by thugs or bandits, but by a Pennsylvania state trooper in the back seat of a patrol car.

A Hot Tip

On the Sunday afternoon of June 4, 1939, a curious call was made to the state police barracks in Tamaqua. The caller, evidently a young female, claimed that she knew all about a bank robbery that was about to take place in the coal region. She didn't provide her name, or any other details, but she said that she would meet the police in town and speak with them. The report was turned over to the Lehighton state police substation, and two troopers interviewed the girl at the appointed place that evening. 

According to the girl, the robbery was being planned by four men and one girl. She wasn't willing to provide any more information, but told the troopers that if they came back the following night, she would have additional information. And so, on Monday evening, Corporal Ben Franklin and Trooper Edward Switaj were dispatched from the Lehighton substation, and arrived in Nesquehoning at around 9:30. On the corner of Catawissa Street, the main thoroughfare of town, and School Street, they saw a teenage girl matching the description of their informant. Switaj stopped the car, and the teenage girl got into the back seat. Moments later, she would be dead.

Cpl. Ben Franklin

 

According to Franklin and Switaj, after getting into the car, the girl suddenly pulled a gun out of her purse. Thirty-three-year-old Franklin, a veteran trooper, quickly drew his gun and fired in self-defense-- or, at least that was his version of the story.

Immediately after the shooting, the troopers rushed the girl to the office of Dr. McDonald, who pronounced her dead on arrival. The body of the girl, identified as 14-year-old Joan Stevens, of 216 West High Street, was taken to the Kordilla Funeral Home. Although a large crowd had gathered on the streets of Nesquehoning after the shooting, the parents of the slain girl, along with her three sisters, weren't notified until the following day.

Early on Tuesday morning, not long after Mr. and Mrs. John Stevens learned about their daughter's death, District Attorney Albert Heimbach released a statement to the press:

I have been informed that the girl was riding in an automobile with Franklin and Edward Swatji [sic], another state policeman. She was giving them information relating to a recent crime. The policemen say the girl suddenly pulled out a pistol and was about to fire when Franklin shot her. The policemen both said that the shot that caused her death was fired in self-defense.

The initial examination of the body, however, clearly refuted key parts of this statement. As it turned out, Joan Stevens had been shot not once, but eight times. Six bullets were fired into her heart, with the seventh entering her skull and the eighth hitting her arm. Two additional bullets passed through the car window, striking a hotel and a nearby residence. 

Later that morning, Colonel C.M. Wilhelm, deputy commissioner of the State Motor Police, announced there would be a thorough investigation of the shooting by the district commander, Major William A. Clark of the Wyoming barracks. By this time, Commissioner Lynn G. Adams was already en route to Carbon County, while Corporal Ben Franklin was held under $5,000 bail on a general homicide charge. He posted bail and was released into the custody of Major Clark.

 

Holes in the Story

Interestingly, when Major Clark spoke to reporters on Wednesday morning, there were now a few key differences in the story. According to Clark, the troopers had picked up the girl, who immediately pulled an automatic pistol from her purse and shouted, "I'll blow your heads off!" Major Clark also stated that Corporal Franklin had only fired four shots, and that Franklin would remain on active duty until his case was called before the court. As for the girl's behavior, Major Clark couldn't offer any explanation.

Meanwhile, the press clamored to learn whatever they could about the teenage victim, who was a seventh grader at the Nesquehoning Public School. Joan, it was learned, had a habit of disappearing from home for days on end, though her family said they had no reason to be concerned for Joan's safety. In April, Joan had run away with two older friends; she was eventually located at the New York World's Fair and brought home.

Yet most of the people who knew Joan Stevens took offense to the implication that the girl was a wayward teenager or juvenile delinquent. She wasn't a bad student, and her teacher, Miss Zaengle, said that she had never shown any signs of abnormal behavior. According to her family, she went to bed each night with two dolls. Everyone who knew Joan Stevens found it impossible to believe that she would pull a gun on the police and threaten to blow their brains out. For that matter, they weren't even sure how the 14-year-old girl had obtained an automatic pistol in the first place. Yet, the state police maintained that Corporal Franklin had shot the tiny, frail 94-pound girl out of concern for his own safety.

 
Franklin Describes Shooting

At 11:00 on Wednesday morning, June 7, the inquest got under way at the county courthouse in Jim Thorpe (then known as Mauch Chunk). Deputy Coroner William Hatrick heard from several witnesses who testified to Joan's good reputation, as well as the two troopers involved in the shooting. The inquest provided explosive new details which, for some reason, the State Police had not divulged to the press.

According to Corporal Ben Franklin, after entering the car, Joan Stevens said, "Don't stop here. Keep going, I don't want to be seen." The troopers drove to the railroad crossing between Nesquehoning and Hauto, pulled into a clearing and dimmed their lights. Joan then handed them a map of the planned holdup,which involved four men and a girl from Harrisburg. Joan said that she not only knew all the participants, but had gone to Philadelphia with them to "pull a job."

"I put a flashlight on her, to get a look at her," testified Corporal Franklin, "and then questioned her as to her age, parents, et cetera." The girl told the troopers that her parents lived in Wilkes-Barre, that she had spent three years in Texas, and that her mother didn't like her. Then, on the pretense that he wanted to get some cigarettes, Franklin instructed his partner to drive down the main street to Taney's Garage. In reality, Franklin had another contact stationed there, and he wanted to see if this young man, William Bencarowsky, could positively identify the girl in the back seat.

In town, Franklin got out of the car and spoke with Bencarowsky, who identified the girl as Joan Stevens. When Franklin returned to the vehicle, Joan said that she'd feel more comfortable speaking to just one trooper. Franklin then turned to the girl and said that he knew her name.

"You don't know my name," the girl insisted. "I am Joan Marie and I live on Walnut Street in Allentown." And then she reached into her purse and pulled out a tube of lipstick.

"Is that more evidence?" asked Franklin.

"Didn't you ever a lipstick before?" replied Joan. And then, according to Corporal Franklin, she pulled out an automatic pistol and pointed it at him.

"You're going to drive me to Lansford or I'll blow your brains out!" she cried.

"Relax, we'll drive you anywhere you want," replied Private Switaj from the driver's seat. According to Franklin, he then pulled his automatic and fired a shot.

"Don't shoot again or I'll blow your brains out!" the girl allegedly threatened.

"Then I shot again," testified Franklin. "I don't know how many... several times. I met Kordilla (undertaker Michael Kordilla) on the street and he called Dr. J.J. McDonald, who came to the scene."

Private Edward Switaj testified next, and he repeated nearly verbatim the same story as told by his partner. Dr. Robert Mitchell, who performed an examination of the body, took the stand next. He said there were multiple bullet wounds-- one in the head and several in the chest. Joan had bled profusely from her nose and mouth, but he found no evidence of a scuffle or an altercation. The six-man jury rendered its verdict, declaring that Joan Stevens came to her death by gunshot wounds inflicted by Corporal Ben Franklin of the Pennsylvania Motor Police.

 

Indignation Runs High

It wasn't until after the inquest when the district attorney revealed that the weapon which the 14-year-old girl had brandished was nothing more than a toy cap pistol. When this information was made public, it created a tidal wave of outrageous rumors, most of which painted the state troopers in a most appalling light; one popular rumor was that the troopers had sexually assaulted the teenager before shooting her, and that the corporal had been "carrying on" with Joan Stevens prior to their ill-fated meeting on June 5. 

Naturally, Joan's parents were besides themselves with anger. "My poor child got all the bullets," sobbed Mary "Mayme" Stevens at her home following the inquest. "Why did they kill a child cold-blooded for nothing at all?" 

"It was brutal," declared Joan's father, a tall, quiet man who had spent fourteen years working in the coal mines. "I don't know why they did it. My wife was up all night not knowing where Joan was and I went to work the next day, not knowing. But I had a feeling that the morgue had our Joan. But why weren't we notified? Why weren't we told?"

The answer is simple: The State Police needed time to get their story straight. While it's true that police officers have to make split-second life-or-death decisions, the slaying of Joan Stevens clearly illustrates numerous failures by law enforcement. Joan had been visited by the state police two nights in a row, claiming to have proof of a serious, and potentially violent, felony. If law enforcement had placed any credence in her story, surely they would've asked her for permission to search her purse for weapons. The fact that they did not suggests that they took her tale with a grain of salt. After all, Corporal Franklin testified that he had his suspicions that the girl was lying; he had even told her that he knew her real identity.

The toy pistol that cost Joan Stevens her life

 

On the other hand, the photograph of Joan's toy pistol reveals a striking similarity to a .25-caliber Colt Automatic Junior Vest Pocket pistol-- a small firearm which Colt had marketed to women as early as 1908. While its diminutive size might make it appear non-threatening to most people, it is a weapon law enforcement would undoubtedly recognize as something deceptively deadly, especially when fired in the close quarters of an automobile. In the darkness, Joan's toy could have easily been mistaken for the genuine article. 

A real .25 Colt pistol

 

 1912 advertisement for the .25 Caliber Colt Pistol

Despite the deadly consequence of his split-second decision, Cpl. Ben Franklin was permitted to return to duty immediately after the inquest. Meanwhile, commissioner Lynn G. Adams announced that he would turn over all the evidence he had to the Carbon County district attorney, Albert H. Heimbach. "Justice will be done," vowed Major Adams. "We're not going to shield anybody who should not be shielded, and we're not going to do anything to put a man in a difficult spot if he should not be there. Certainly, the men had to decide what to do and decide very quickly."

 

 

Body Laid to Rest, But Not the Rumors

On Friday, June 9, funeral services were held in Nesquehoning. Hundreds of friends, neighbors and classmates paid their final respects at Sacred Heart Church as they filed past the coffin before it was lowered into a grave at the church cemetery. That same day it was reported that, prior to the funeral, John Stevens had refused a request from the district attorney to have a second examination performed on his daughter's body "to clear up prevailing rumors as to whether the girl had been criminally assaulted."

"I don't see any reason for such a medical examination of the body," said Mr. Stevens. Major Adams also weighed in on the sensational rumors about a possible illicit relationship between Joan and Corporal Franklin. 

"So far in our investigation there is no evidence of prior acquaintance between Corporal Franklin and the dead girl," said Major Adams in a statement to reporters.

The Stevens family also refused several offers from neighbors to help raise a fund to obtain legal representation during the district attorney's investigation of the killing. "I have too many things on my mind now," said the slain girl's father. "I wish it were all over."

 

Special Investigator Appointed

While the funeral of Joan Stevens was taking place, District Attorney Heimbach appointed Nesquehoning resident George T. Morgan, a former sheriff, as a special investigator. The appointment of Morgan, who had previously served as county detective, not only provided an extra hand to County Detective Alex P. Allen in the death investigation, but also helped calm the outraged local residents, as District Attorney Heimbach had gone on record insinuating there was something fishy about the whole case. 

"We all have our ideas that there is something more back of this affair," said Heimbach, "but so far we have been unable to get any information except that offered by the State Police." Sure enough, just days after appointing Morgan, the district attorney issued a shocking announcement-- that the body of the victim would be exhumed over the objections of the Stevens family, if need be. After a visit from County Detective Allen and Special Detective Morgan, Joan's parents gave their consent.

"The public feeling is that an autopsy will clear up certain consistent rumors," said Heimbach in a statement issued on June 12. Surprisingly, the State Police Commissioner, Major Lynn G. Adams, fully supported this decision. Meanwhile, citizens of Nesquehoning raised a "justice fund" to hire Summit Hill attorney James C. McCready to represent the Stevens family. 

"We drew up an agreement which they are taking to the family for signing," said McCready. "They are returning it to me in the morning. I am arranging for a pathologist to be present at the autopsy today in the interests of the family, and will contact Dr. John J. Wenner at Allentown to be present on the family's behalf."

Attorney James McCready with Joan's parents

Girl's Body Exhumed

On Tuesday, June 13, the body was exhumed and an autopsy performed by Drs. Robert E. Mitchell and Michael S. Mermon, with the district attorney having given an order for "a complete examination of all body organs". He also demanded the evidence which the state police had in their possession-- Joan's purse, containing the girl's lipstick, a pair of gloves, several photographs and a pair of dice. The district attorney also demanded that Corporal Ben Franklin be removed from active duty while the investigation was ongoing.

The autopsy, which was performed in the funeral home of Joseph Gallagher, failed to find any evidence of sexual assault. It did confirm, however, that Joan Stevens had been shot eight times-- twice the number of shots given by Maj. William A. Clark in the state police's "official" statement. The victim's uterus, spleen, heart and stomach were removed and sent to Philadelphia for further analysis. When questioned by reporters about whether Franklin had been removed from active duty at the request of District Attorney Heimbach, state police commissioner Lynn G. Adams said it was "none of Heimbach's business."

Joan Stevens at her confirmation

 

More Damning Details Emerge

The results of the autopsy suggested that Joan Stevens met her death in a shower of bullets; while eight bullets had been found inside her body, two additional shots had penetrated the car's windows and had lodged in nearby buildings. This means that at least ten shots had been fired at the 94-pound teenager. The Philadelphia Inquirer blasted not only the Pennsylvania State Police for the trooper's reckless handling of his firearm, but also the district attorney for allowing the girl to be buried the first time before a proper autopsy could be performed. There were too many unanswered questions, declared the Inquirer. 

Other papers questioned why the state police had taken so long to notify Joan's parents, or why a priest had not been called to administer Extreme Unction-- the last rites of the Catholic Church, of which the girl's family were devout members. In fact, some of the nation's top journalists reported on the case and questioned the many inconsistencies, including J. Taylor Buckley of the Philadelphia Inquirer, David Wittel of the Philadelphia Record, Maurice Ritter of the Philadelphia Bulletin and George Carroll of the New York Journal. Even a reporter from the London Times found his way to the tiny mining town nestled in Panther Valley.

Still unconvinced that the police were telling the full story, attorney James McCready demanded a physical examination of Corporal Franklin in order to determine whether there had been a struggle before the shooting (this demand was ignored, with Major Adams claiming that Franklin was away visiting family "upstate" and couldn't be reached). "We expect to be able to say that Franklin contradicted himself at the inquest," explained McCready, pointing out that the trooper had given two different versions of where he and his partner had picked up Joan Stevens and what transpired before the first shot was fired. Franklin had even testified at the inquest, under oath, that Joan had pulled out an automatic pistol, even though he had to have known by then that the weapon was a mere children's toy.

Adding fuel to the fire were comments made by Harry Becker, a borough constable and decorated war veteran who had been in the vicinity of the shooting. Becker stated that the gunfire came in three separate bursts, with pauses in between. But perhaps most damning to the official narrative was the story of William Bencarowsky-- the man asked by Franklin to identity the girl sitting in his back seat. According to Bencarowsky, he had told Franklin that the girl was harmless. "I know the girl," he told the trooper. "She's practically a neighbor. She never did anything bad." He then advised Franklin to drive the girl home to her parents.

James C. McCready

 

Shocking Disclosures

Just when it appeared that the case couldn't get any more sensational, the state police managed to track down two key persons of interest after they were pulled off a bus in Stroudsburg. Twenty-two-year-old Joe Vrabel, of Lansford, and 21-year-old Lucy Pavlishin of Nequehoning were the two friends Joan Stevens had gone to the World's Fair with weeks before the shooting. Under intense grilling, with attorney James McCready present as a witness, the pair told how they had come to befriend Joan Stevens.

According to Vrabel, he had taken the 14-year-old girl to New York with the intention of selling her into a white slavery ring, and he was to be paid $200 for the girl's delivery. Joan's mother had reported her daughter's disappearance to the Tamaqua state police substation, and the state police sent a teletype to detectives in New York. Vrabel and Pavlishin somehow got wind of the teletype and lost their nerve to go through with the plan. Joan returned home three days later and told her mother that she had been forced to steal two guns from a neighbor named Pat Sheridan at Vrabel's request; unless she stole the guns, Vrabel wouldn't take her to New York.

"These two people may have passed along to Joan the information that a bank holdup was to be staged somewhere in the Carbon County-Panther Valley area," stated McCready. "She wanted to give this information to her cousin, James Shelhimer, and she wanted to see the police about it. She never got the opportunity to see her cousin... This is the information she had when she called the police, apparently." In light of these shocking revelations, McCready stated that he was now willing to give Corporal Franklin the benefit of the doubt. 

Joseph Vrabel and Lucy Pavlishin

 

Laugh, Clown, Laugh!

On June 16, Joe Vrabel was charged with the Mann Act (transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes), and Lucy Pavlishin, who claimed to be his wife, was charged with aiding and abetting. Although Vrabel had an extensive criminal record dating back to 1932, he insisted that he was innocent and accused the Stevens family of spreading lies about him. Lucy Pavlishin went so far as to accuse Mrs. Stevens of framing her. 

At a heated hearing before Magistrate John K. Morgan in Nesquehoning, Vrabel and Pavlishin traded jabs with the grieving mother, who, at one point, pointed at Lucy Pavlishin and screamed, "She's a dirty rat! I'll go over and slap her mouth! I wish I could get at her for just one minute." Lucy began to laugh.

"Laugh, clown! Laugh!" cried Mrs. Stevens as tears streamed down her face. "What are you laughing at?" she demanded.

"You," replied Lucy. After this exchange, John Stevens tried to console his hysterical wife.

"John, our child is dead and these two are the cause of it," she replied. "I'm a mother and I've lost my child and I have vengeance in my heart. I can't help it." After the hearing, Vrabel and Pavlishin were committed to the Carbon County Jail, while attorney James McCready requested an FBI investigation into the white slavery angle.

More Twists and Turns

The Joan Stevens drama continued to occupy newspaper headlines the following week. On Monday, June 19, James McCready conferred with agents from the FBI's Scranton office. That same day, Vrabel and Pavlishin posted bail and were released from jail. On Tuesday, Dr. C.J. Brucher, assistant director of the clinical laboratory of Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, published his report of the analysis of Joan's internal organs, finding no evidence of drugs or poisons, and no evidence that the girl had been sexually assaulted.

On Wednesday, Major William J. Clark, commander of Squadron 3 of the Pennsylvania Motor Police, issued a statement criticizing reporters who had painted his troopers in an unsavory light. "While it has been my policy during thirty-four years as a police official to avoid publicity, I think in this case I am forced to speak for two reasons," said Clark. 

"First, because of stories running serially which contained a great dead of misinformation constructed to discredit all local officials charged with investigating the case. In other words, not an impartial reporting of the case. And second, it seems strange to me that only one of the reporters who have been writing in this vein has made an effort to contact me for information... at which time the information requested was not available."

Major Clark next laid out, with some major embellishments, what had transpired during the incident which cost the seventh-grader her life. As the troopers were driving up School Street, Joan "suddenly pulled an automatic pistol from her purse" and pointed it at Franklin. "You sons of bitches are driving me to Lansford or I'll blow your goddamn heads off!" claimed Major Adams. Clark also refuted the girl's weight, size and age, claiming the victim was actually 15 years old and much taller and heavier than what papers had reported-- and therefore more "threatening" to Corporal Franklin. Clark continued:

"While it is true we have intended to protect the character of Joan as much as possible, I am now forced to reluctantly disclose our findings at this stage of the investigation in the interest of truth and justice... I am forced to admit that the character of the slain girl was such that, had her home background been known at the time she met her death, the officers would've been justified in believing her story. Her mother's statement to investigating officers... testified to the fact that Joan had stolen money from her purse and took guns from a neighbor and ran away to New York City."

Major Clark finished his rambling, contradictory, undignified word salad statement with a vocal defense of the "excellent record" of the state police. Ironically, it was the same Major Clark, who, just 6 months earlier, botched the investigation into the baffling murder of 19-year-old Kingston business school graduate, Margaret Martin-- whose dismembered body was found under a bridge in rural Wyoming County. Neither Major Clark nor his troopers were able to crack that case, which still remains unsolved. 

Of course, Clark's statement seem to suggest that, at the time of the shooting, Troopers Franklin and Switaj did not believe her story, because the bad "character of of the slain girl" was, as Major Clark said, unknown at the time. So why, then, were eight bullets fired into her body? And how did Joan's gun turn from an automatic pistol, to a toy, back to a real gun? Even though District Attorney Heimbach had the toy gun in his possession, Clark's "official statement" of the findings of the internal investigation made no mention that crucial detail.

With a prepared statement so patently insensitive and hare-brained-- with the obvious intention of denigrating the Stevens family while leaving out key elements of the case-- perhaps Major Clark had been wise to avoid publicity for 34 years!

Cpl. Franklin

 

Reno Intervenes

Clark's statement, naturally, did little to improve matters, and Mrs. Stevens immediately went to the press with a statement of her own-- and she had the receipts to prove her case. She provided records from the school nurse, showing that Joan was 5'4" and weighed 94 pounds at the time of her most recent physical. In other words, Major Clark had intentionally exaggerated Joan's weight by 16 pounds and her height by three inches. 

Mrs. Stevens also condemned Clark for not mentioning that Joan's "automatic pistol" was actually a toy. Not surprisingly, the pendulum of public sentiment swung back to the Stevens family, and reporters went on asking, "If there was nothing fishy about the case, why were the state police so hellbent on lying about it?"

Meanwhile, "Joan Stevens Justice Week" got under way in Nesquehoning on June 28, with volunteers going door-to-door soliciting donations in order to retain McCready as counsel for the victim's family. A few days later, a petition signed by scores of Carbon County residents was presented to the governor, requesting a probe into the law enforcement officials who were investigating the case. On July 18, Mary Stevens and her oldest daughter, Rita, traveled to Harrisburg to meet with Governor Arthur James in person, determined to clear Joan's reputation, which had been dragged through the mud by Major Clark.

Mrs. Stevens and daughter Rita visit the governor

 

"I can't get justice in Carbon County, so I've come here to get it," said Mrs. Stevens. "If I don't get justice here, I'll go to Washington to get satisfaction! I'll see Mrs. Roosevelt."

The governor referred the matter to the state attorney general, Claude T. Reno, instructing him to examine "every detail" of the teenage girl's death. Attorney General Reno met with Mrs. Stevens the following day, and was visited by attorney James McCready on July 27. After the two men reviewed the facts of the shooting, Reno appointed his deputy attorney general, Harrington F. Adams, to aid the prosecution.

 
Corporal Franklin Begs For Change of Venue 

On October 6, attorneys for Corporal Ben Franklin met in the Arbitration Room of the courthouse in Jim Thorpe to discuss the trooper's defense. Led by Ben Branch, the defense team included James J. Gallagher and Albert Prutzman. In another room met the prosecution team, consisting of District Attorney Heimbach, James McCready and George A. Shutack. When the deputy attorney general, Harrington Adams, failed to attend, the meeting was adjourned, thus giving the defense an early leg up.

Things began to look even more bleak later that morning when the highly-anticipated case against Joe Vrabel and Lucy Pavlishin was thrown out upon the recommendation of District Attorney Heimbach, who claimed that none of the evidence against the defendants was reliable. While some saw this nolle prosequi motion as a failure on Heimbach's part, others wondered if it might not be part of a larger strategy to prevent Vrabel and Pavlishin from providing testimony further damaging the reputation of Joan Stevens.

Later that month, after a Carbon County grand jury indicted Corporal Franklin, the defense asked for a change of venue hearing before Judge William G. Thomas. Franklin took the stand to plead his case. "Newspapers have published argumentative articles and big headlines pointing toward my guilt," said Franklin. "All these articles have created sympathy for the family and the girl and hostility toward me." Ben Branch called 34 witnesses in support of his plea, 27 of whom were owners of newsstands.

"We have no complaint about the local papers," argued Branch, clarifying that his beef was with the "metropolitan" publications. It was a bizarre thing to say, considering that Branch was attempting to have his client's January trial moved out of Carbon County, where, by Branch's own admission, the news coverage had been more favorable. Judge Thomas reviewed the newspaper articles and said that he could find no evidence of hostility toward Franklin, but would wait to render his decision pending the outcome of the November elections.

The elections brought a major change to the complexion of the forthcoming murder trial, as the Stevens family counsel, James C. McCready, won the race for Carbon County judge. Clearly his support of the Stevens family had something to do with this, leading the defense to point to the election results as irrefutable proof that Corporal Franklin couldn't get a fair trial. But the Stevens' weren't quite ready to celebrate, as it seemed that their legal team was falling apart piece by piece: District Attorney Heimbach had shown no interest in prosecuting the couple who had planned to sell Joan into white slavery, and his co-counsel, George Stutack, was the man who had run against him during the elections. Meanwhile, the deputy attorney general was a no-show and their biggest champion would be sworn in as a judge before the case against Franklin went to trial.

On Monday, December 12, Judge Thomas rendered his decision. Corporal Benjamin Franklin would be tried in Carbon County on one charge each of murder and voluntary manslaughter and an additional charge of involuntary manslaughter. McCready, who would've been presiding judge at the trial, immediately stated that he would recuse himself, and asked the State Supreme Court to appoint a new trial judge.

 
The Trial of Corporal Franklin

The proceedings against Corporal Ben Franklin got under way in January of 1940 with visiting judge Samuel S. Shull of Monroe County presiding. After Franklin entered his plea of not guilty on January 8, jury selection began, with Mr. and Mrs. Stevens seated in the front row. During a recess in the proceedings, Albert Heimbach said that he would only seek a second-degree murder conviction.

Testimony commenced on Wednesday with the sole witness to the shooting, Edward Switaj, taking the stand in front of a courtroom packed with 450 spectators and reporters. Hundreds more, unable to get inside, waited in the corridors. According to Private Switaj, who was on the stand for three hours, his partner fired just "one or two shots" at the girl in the back seat. Although Switaj had reached for his gun, Franklin ordered him not to shoot. 

"I brought the car to a jerky stop after the first shot or two," said Swatji. "I was trying to get my gun out, stop the car and get out of the car all at the same time." By time he was able to bring the car to a complete stop, all the shots had been fired. Dr. Robert Mitchell took the stand and confirmed that he had found eight bullet wounds in Joan's chest, arms and forehead.

"I was very much affected," stated the doctor, "because I had brought that girl into the world." A total of eight witnesses were called on Wednesday, including Mrs. Mary McGarry, who testified that one of the bullets had entered her second-story window and struck her wall. Another witness, Private Raymond Walsh of the Lehighton detail, testified that Corporal Franklin had borrowed his firearm before heading to Nesquehoning.

"I loaded the gun, and cleaned it, too," stated Walsh, adding that he had put ten bullets into the gun after borrowing it from yet another trooper, Frank B. Burtner. Private Burtner took the stand and said that his gun was returned later that night, with only two shells remaining. Now, this raises a question, which, to this day, has never been explained: If eight bullets were found inside the girl's body and two more struck nearby buildings, how could two remain inside the gun when it was returned to Private Burtner? Did Franklin take the time to reload? Did one of the bullets that struck her arm leave the car and exit through a window? Or were the facts simply misstated in multiple newspaper accounts?

Also testifying that day was the "contact man", William Bencarowsky, who explained to the court that he told Franklin the girl was harmless-- a statement which had been contradicted previously by the state police. 

During the Friday morning session, District Attorney Heimbach announced in his opening statement that he and the defense had agreed that the gun used by Franklin was of the type which required an individual pull of the trigger for every shot fired. His first witness of the day was Allentown General Hospital pathologist Dr. John J. Wenner, whose graphic description of Joan's injuries caused Mrs. Stevens to sob inconsolably, at one point fainting in her chair. Her husband, John, managed to catch her as she fell.

The defense presented its case on Friday afternoon, with attorney Ben Branch making an opening statement arguing that that his husky, six-foot-tall client believed "he was in grave danger of his life" and that Franklin "had no idea how many shots were fired." Corporal Franklin took the stand in his own defense and testified for nearly five hours. 

Didn't Know How Gun Worked

"That gun looked real to me," he explained, when asked about Joan's toy pistol. "I thought I was about ready to be killed." As for the weapon he had borrowed from Private Walsh, Franklin admitted that he didn't know how to use it. "I asked Walsh how it worked," the eight-year state police veteran testified. "I didn't know anything about it. Walsh said cock the gun and squeeze the trigger and it will go off. I didn't know what was in the gun. I stuck it in my rear hip pocket."

Franklin then described the moments before he fired at the girl, after she allegedly threatened to blow his brains out. "I grabbed my gun from my right pocket," he said. "I thought of grabbing her gun. I measured the distance from the front seat to the rear seat. I saw that I would have to throw myself bodily over the seat. I pulled my gun over my head, got down on my knees and fired once or twice."

Franklin continued: "The girl said, 'If you shoot again I will blow your damn brains out', at which time I lowered my gun and it went off several times." If the prosecution had the foresight to call a psychiatrist as an expert witness, it would be interesting to hear his explanation as to why Franklin had used that particular wording-- "it" went off several times, as if the gun had a mind and a will of its own, as if Franklin had no control over the gun's trigger. It's sort of like an axe murderer saying, "I picked up the hatchet and it kept hitting the victim in the head."

Under cross-examination, Franklin also admitted that, after he had been placed under arrest by Private Garman, he was given permission to drive the death car back to Lehighton-- with the evidence still in the back seat.

On Saturday, January 13, the sixth day of the trial, the jury was transported to Marzen's Garage on Lehigh Avenue to view the death car, which had been brought from the Lehighton barracks. It was reported that the troopers had borrowed the white two-door Chevrolet from its owner, Lehighton chief of police James Yenser, on the night of the shooting. Judge Shull permitted the jurors to take turns sitting in the front seat.

After the examination of the car, closing arguments were made. George Shutack issued the closing summation for the prosecution, drawing attention to the testimony of the contact man, William Bencarowsky. "When Franklin came back to the car, all thoughts of her being a dangerous person, of being an associate of racketeers, had vanished into thin air," stated Shutack. He also emphasized that Franklin had been allowed to take custody of the evidence after he had been placed under arrest, and how witnesses described hearing the gunfire in multiple salvos, with pauses in between. "There was no wild shooting," said Shutack with a rising voice. "There was aim taken. The fact that she had a toy pistol doesn't relieve him. His self-defense admits that he shot Joan Stevens. He merely can't say, 'I was scared'. He took a human life. Whether or not she was a child, or not so good a girl, makes no difference. She was a human being."

In the defense's closing summation, Ben Branch stated, "This whole thing arose by the determination of the victim to contact state police officers. Franklin admits he fired the shots that caused the girl's death, and the only thing for you jurors is the question of whether or not he acted properly as the facts and circumstances appeared to Franklin at the moment this occurred. Unless you make yourself Franklin on the night of June 5 and give yourself his eyes, his skull, his brain, his ears, you cannot determine the case."

Verdict and Aftermath

After being given final instructions by Judge Shull, the jury of nine men and three women retired to deliberate. At 4:45 on the Sunday afternoon of January 14, 1940, the jury foreman, Brinley Richards, passed the verdict to court clerk Morris Nothstein, who handed it to Judge Shull. Corporal Benjamin Franklin was found not guilty. The jury had voted unanimously for acquittal on the very first ballot.
Mrs. Stevens, who wasn't at the courthouse when the verdict was read, spoke with reporters at her home. "I'm glad it's all over," she said. "I lost heavily. The commonwealth can now go out and kill other children."

In March, the indictment of involuntary manslaughter still hanging over Franklin's head was dismissed by Judge Shull after District Attorney Heimbach presented the court with a petition calling for the charges to be dropped. In his petition, Heimbach stated that he did not believe he would be able to successfully prosecute the state trooper.

 

The Stevens family attempted to sue Franklin in civil court for funeral expenses, but to no avail-- the lawsuit was dismissed. Adding insult to injury, in April, Joe Vrabel and his wife, the former Lucy Pavlishin-- the woman who had so callously laughed at Mrs. Stevens as she wept in front of the magistrate-- brought a lawsuit against the Stevens family, seeking $7,500 because of the damage that had been done to their reputation (which, to be fair, wasn't all that impressive prior to Joan's death). Fortunately, this lawsuit was also dismissed.

There is a strange footnote of irony in the case of Joan Stevens. In October of 1940, Private Edward Switaj made headlines for a daring deed. Stanley Novak, a paroled prisoner who served hard time in notorious institutions such as Eastern Penitentiary, San Quentin and Joliet, stole a car in New Jersey. When he was pulled over by Switaj, Novak pulled a gun-- a real one, not a toy-- on the trooper. Switaj pounced upon the dangerous, hardened career criminal and wrestled away his weapon, without a single shot being fired.

 

Edward Switaj, a native of Kulpmont, Northumberland County, remained in law enforcement until his untimely death in 1968 from a heart attack. At the time of his passing (just a few months after the above photo was taken), Switaj was 52 years of age and had risen to the rank of captain in the Pennsylvania State Police. He eventually became the commanding officer of Troop N in Hazleton. (Note: Switaj is buried at All Saints Cemetery in Elysburg, where, oddly enough, I used to work as a gravedigger. I've actually weedwacked his grave!)

As for Corporal Ben Franklin, it was reported after the trial that he was not only reinstated, but awarded $1,500 in back pay. However, a brief paragraph in one Carbon County newspaper from April of 1941 stated that he was discharged from duty due to the bad publicity from the Stevens case. It appears that he never again wore a badge, at least not in any meaningful capacity. The details of his later life are unknown, but it's probably safe to say that the actions he took on the night of June 5, 1939-- whether justified or not-- haunted him for the rest of his days.
 

 

Sources:

Hazleton Plain Speaker, June 6, 1939.
Mauch Chunk Times, June 6, 1939.
Mauch Chunk Times, June 7, 1939.
Allentown Morning Call, June 7, 1939.
Allentown Morning Call, June 8, 1939.
Scranton Times-Tribune, June 9, 1939.
Allentown Morning Call, June 9, 1939.
Allentown Morning Call, June 10, 1939.
Allentown Morning Call, June 11, 1939.
Scranton Times-Tribune, June 12, 1939.
Allentown Morning Call, June 13, 1939.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 15, 1939.
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Hazleton Plain Speaker, June 19, 1939.
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