A tour of the old Miller County jail, in the company of Johnson, then in his nineties, with County Judge Roy John McNatt, clarified the layout of the jail, by then no longer in use for its original purpose.
CHAPTER 16
INCRIMINATING REVELATIONS
Swinney’s statements to FBI agent Calhoun came from ASP files. Swinney’s note to Peggy is in the ASP files pertaining to Swinney and the Starks case. Copies of Peggy Swinney’s statements are in Johnson’s papers. Details of the movies showing at the Nashville theaters were found in ads in the Nashville News, courtesy of Cecil Harris. The plot and critic’s comment on Jesse James are in the online Wikipedia entry about the movie. The author viewed the film on Turner Classic Movies.
Copies of her statements are in the Johnson papers. The trip to Dallas with Peggy is documented in the ASP files, with report by Dallas detective Will Fritz. Bill Presley related the scene in Spring Lake Park where Peggy Swinney confirmed that Martin’s datebook had been taken from his pocket and thrown into the brush, a fact not reported in the newspapers and not known to anyone else, a critical bit of evidence assigning definite credibility to her on that specific matter. Bessie Brown’s statement about Swinney returning to the room after the Griffin-Moore murders and laughing is from Georgia Daily’s interview with her.
CHAPTER 17
THE PRIMARY SUSPECT
The 1920 census contained the data about Swinney’s family and himself as a child. The Swinney parents’ divorce records are in the Miller County Circuit Clerk’s office. Myrtle Swinney’s marriage records are in the Miller County Clerk’s office and divorce from Travis in Miller County Circuit Clerk’s records. Additional material came from Clarence Swinney and Joyce Swinney Ward.
Because he was a juvenile, at twelve years of age, there is no regular record of young Youell Swinney’s 1929 brush with the law. However, it was reconstructed by comparing his name on the Bowie County District Court’s docket, which does list him by name, and the front-page news story in the Texarkana Evening News, September 25, 1929. There can be little doubt but that this is the same boy, for both match in age and all other aspects.
His FBI rap sheet documents the subsequent arrests and dispositions. Swinney’s 1941 Arkansas conviction: Miller County Circuit Court, Case # 5463, State of Arkansas vs. Youell Swinney, page 174, Criminal Court record, Volume N. The Texas prison system roll of inmates, in the Texas State Archives, contains detailed data about each prisoner as he’s processed in, including such matters as Swinney’s tattoos and scars. Data about the other inmates from Bowie County at that time also came from the prison rolls. Tackett’s reports to his supervisors, in the ASP files, provided details of the once-damp shoes and other information. Swinney’s statement to the Arkansas State Police is in ASP files. The Texarkana City Directory of that year contains addresses and residents of the Rose Hill community where Youell and Peggy lived briefly.
CHAPTER 18
TIGHTENING THE NOOSE
The several witness statements are in Arkansas State Police files, in regard to the Starks case. Tillman Johnson and Max Tackett each independently related how they collected samples from the welding shop to compare with slag found in the shirt pockets. A copy of J. Edgar Hoover’s message is in Johnson papers. Johnson described his search with the laundry mark and his visit with the brothel madam. Tackett’s log of Swinney’s day-to-day activities is in Tillman Johnson Papers. Sandie Olson, director of the Waynoka Historical Society, supplied the Waynoka, Okla., background.
Tackett’s reports also are in the state police files. Tackett’s attempt to find out what happened to a painter picked up by Swinney is in Tackett to Scroggins, Sept. 27, 1946, ASP files. Other reports from ASP files include O. D. Morris to W. B. Jones, Oct. 1, 1946; W. L. MacGregory to W. B. Jones, Oct. 5, 1946; Albert O. Calloway, Oct. 4, 1946; MacGregory to Jones, Oct. 5, 1946, W. B. Jones to Sgt. O. D. Morris, Oct. 11, 1946; Morris to Scroggins, Oct. 13, 1946.
Regarding tracing of the pistols Swinney had disposed of and the Waynoka scene: Arkansas State Police files—Morris to Homer Garrison, Nov. 25, 1946; Morris to Scroggins, Nov. 26, 1946; Carl Miller report, Oct. 27, 1946; Tillman Johnson report, in Miller report, Oct. 27, 1946. Tackett notes in Tillman Johnson papers.
CHAPTER 19
MOUNTING PRESSURES
Memo drawing down Ranger force in Texarkana: Gonzaullas to Rangers, Aug. 15, 1946 (Johnson papers). Subsequent letters: Presley to Gonzaullas, Oct. 10, 1946, and Gonzaullas to Garrison, Oct. 12, 1946. Material in this section regarding the Reverend Stanley Swinney and family is based on Swinney family correspondence in Clarence Swinney papers, with each item of information coming from a letter, most of which the Rev. Mr. Swinney wrote. One of Youell’s sisters, Mildred Whetstone to her mother, Myrtle Chaffin, Sept. 15, 1946. “If something is not done.” Stanley C. Swinney, Sr., (SCS) to Cleo Swinney (CS), Sept. 20, 1946. “Perhaps we may.” Claude E. Love to SCS, Sept. 22, 1946. “something must be done . . .” SCS to CS, Sept. 23, 1946. re Supreme Court on appeal, SCS to Maxine Whetstone, Sept. 26, 1946; ibid., Sept. 27, 1946. re reward money, SCS to CS, Oct. 4, 1946; re the minister’s case involving missing funds, SCS to Maxine Whetstone, Oct. 4, 1946. Substitute suspect, SCS to CS, Oct. 5, 11, 19, 1946.
Discovery of saxophone: Texarkana Gazette, Oct. 25, 1946: Gonzaullas to McLaughlin, Oct. 26, 1946; Glen McLaughlin to W. H. Presley, Oct. 29, 1946. re insanity plea, McVey to CS, Nov. 4, 1946. SCS affidavit, same date. SCS’s “substitute Phantom” and insanity plea are in SCS to CS, Nov. 4, 1946. McVey’s tirade, McVey to Goldman and McDonald, Nov. 9, 1946. His letter to John Frederick, Nov. 9, 1946. Judge’s order is in Book O, p. 120, Docket 5968, Miller County Circuit Court. Swinney’s records at the Arkansas State Hospital are also in Swinney’s files from Texas State Archives. Tackett and Johnson told of their own memories of the trip to Little Rock and impressions at the time.
McLaughlin, re “strawberry blonde,” Mike Cox, Texas Ranger Tales, 261. Presley’s letter to Gonzaullas, Nov. 19, 1946 (Johnson Papers). Copies of Peggy Swinney’s statements at Austin are in Johnson Papers, as well as in other hands. McLaughlin’s assessment of Peggy’s polygraph questioning is in Cox, 261-262. The author applied Mark McClish’s techniques, as detailed in his book, I Know You Are Lying!, to analyze the statement. McClish supplemented the analysis with his own comments, e-mailed to the author. Cleo visits Youell Swinney in jail, McVey remarks, McVey to CS, Nov. 25, 1946. McVey’s theory of crimes and instructions, McVey to CS, Dec. 3, 1946; McVey on his substitute villain and analysis, McVey to Love, Dec. 3. McVey’s contact with Gov. Laney and his bill, McVey to CS, Dec. 2, 1946.
CHAPTER 20
A QUIET “SOLUTION”
Bill Presley told the author about taking condemned prisoners to Huntsville. Sources for material on the Swinney family reactions and strategy in Youell’s case came from the Clarence Swinney papers, consisting, as in a previous chapter, of correspondence among the various members, as well as the attorney McVey. The extradition request by Texas Gov. Coke Stevenson to move Swinney from Arkansas to Texas is in: Record of requisitions and extraditions, 1939-1965, Texas Secretary of State fugitive records, Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Extradition, call to Gov. Laney, Frederick’s reactions and conversation with Maxwell Welch reported in McVey to CS, Dec. 10, 1946. Youell Swinney’s postcard of Dec. 9 is in Clarence Swinney papers. Details of the Titus County jail and the sheriff came from Robert Russell. “Phantom Lead . . . Dud,” Gazette, Dec. 11, 1946; two suspicious characters, McVey to CCS, Dec. 12, 1946; SCS to CS. undated (circa Dec. 12). McVey suspicious, etc., McVey to CS, Dec. 18, 1946. Tackett and Johnson escape death, Texarkana Gazette, Dec. 23, 1946. SCS and Seconal, SCS to SC, Nov. 17, 1946; Nella Swinney to CS, Nov. 24, 29, 1946; Rev. Swinney’s loss of pastorate, SCS to CS, Jan. 11, 1947. Rev. Swinney advice to Youell Swinney, enclosing letter from Elmer Lincoln, Jan. 13, 1947; Rev. Swinney belief in light sentence, asks for Seconal. SCS to CS, Jan. 17, 18
, 1947; Rev. Swinney advice to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, SCS to CS, Jan. 22, 1947. Buzz Hallett related what he saw and heard in the courtroom during his testimony years later at Swinney’s evidentiary hearing on a writ of habeas corpus. Hallett’s address is in the Texarkana City Directory of that time. The judge’s charge to the jury is a part of the evidentiary hearing documents. “This thing is not over,” McVey to CS, Feb. 17, 1947. “They have done exactly,” SCS to CS, Feb. 26, 1947.
CHAPTER 21
BEHIND WALLS AGAIN
The Texas prison roll, a part of the Texas State Archives, contains the inmate’s information as noted. Inmate photos are in Texas Department of Corrections files. The elder Swinney remained, CSC to CS, May 6, 1947. “I am wondering,” McVey to CS, Dec. 17, 1947. In midsummer 1948, SCS to CS, July 31, 1948. “Would you get me . . .” SCS to CS, Aug. 13, 1948. Elmer L. Lincoln to Youell Lee Swinney, #108586, March 10, 1948 (Clarence Swinney papers). Donaldson suicide, death certificate; Ted Asimos, Jerry Atkins interviews. Peggy Swinney’s divorce, remarriage: divorce records, Bowie County District Clerk’s office; marriage license, Miller County Clerk’s office. Bench warrant, Bowie County District Court docket, which provides no details; other documents providing more details could not be produced; Henslee testified to the trip to Huntsville during Swinney’s evidentiary hearing. Inez Martin to Garrison, March 14, 1949; Garrison to Martin, March 18, 1949, Johnson papers. The correspondence of Swinney’s sister with Patman is in the Youell Swinney folder, Wright Patman Papers, LBJ Library, Austin, Texas: Maxine Childs to Wright Patman, Jan. 12, 1959; Patman to Childs, Jan. 16, 1959; Patman to Jack Ross, chairman, Board of Pardons and Paroles, Jan. 16, 1959; Childs to Patman, Jan. 19, 1959; Ross to Patman, Jan. 22, 1959; Patman to Childs, Jan. 27, 1959.
The author reviewed Swinney’s records at Texas Department of Corrections in 1971 and obtained extant records permitted under Freedom of Information requests subsequently. Items not released in the FOI request but seen in 1971 included a letter to the warden of his fear of becoming an “oral queer,” his short story, and records related to the sexual act, from which notes were taken. Documents related to Swinney’s application for writ are in the complete file of the evidentiary hearing, Texas State Archives. Visitor to Bill Presley in 1971, told by him to author.
CHAPTER 22
BACK IN COURT
The documents and transcripts of the evidentiary hearing and related motions and papers provide the details of this chapter, supplemented by interviews with Jack Carter, A. M. Adams, Tillman Johnson, and others.
CHAPTER 23
ON THE WITNESS STAND
The transcript of the evidentiary hearing provided the chapter’s material.
CHAPTER 24
“BEYOND BELIEF AND INCREDIBLE”
The proceedings in this chapter come from the transcript of the hearing and related documents, Texas State Archives. The five members of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals at the time included Carl E. F. Dally, Leon Burr Douglas, Wendell Albert Odom, John Frank “Jack” Onion, Jr., and Truman Ernest Roberts. The court later was expanded to nine. Jack Carter told of the call from Lynn Cooksey and his meeting Bessie Booker Brown.
CHAPTER 25
LIFE AFTER “LIFE”
Judge Jack Carter recalled Swinney’s visit to his home. Swinney’s record after release from prison in 1973 has been documented from FBI files obtained through a Freedom of Information request. The files contained Swinney’s rap sheet, or record of criminal arrests, and statements from witnesses and federal agents related to his various activities. Robert Kerr’s review of the movie appeared in the magazine Arkansas Times, November 1986. He also published an excellent report on the case after forty years, along with a review of the movie, in the Texarkana Gazette, March 23, 1986. An online search yielded the foreign title versions. Other background came from Clarence Swinney and the short stories are in the Clarence Swinney collection.
CHAPTER 26
CRACKING A COLD CASE
Interviews with Glenn Owen presented his argument for closing the case by exception. Facts regarding closing cases by exception were found online. Among others, the FBI website details conditions for the process. Go to http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/frequently-asked questions/nibrs_faqs_inspec and then scroll to Exceptional Clearances, which lists the conditions to be met. Other searches offer information on how such a clearance is accomplished in various locales, as well as discussion about whether specific clearances were proper or abused. See, for example, the Goldwater Institute in Arizona and its brief, “Justice Denied: The Improper Clearance of Unsolved Crimes by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.” Similar searches may yield information about the process in Portland, Oregon, and Miami, Fla., the latter of which may be read in the article by Wanda J. DeMargo and Jay Weaver, “How reform turned into curse for sheriff,” The Miami Herald, posted March 13, 2005. For a breakdown of Clay County, Florida, 2005 crimes solved by arrest and by exception, see www.claysheriff.com/documents/AnnualUCR2005_ool.pdf.
Louis Graves told of his conversation with Jones Floyd in an interview with the author in Nashville, Ark. Mark Bledsoe recounted his experience to the Texarkana Gazette in 1996.
EPILOGUE
Tillman Johnson reported his dreams during several conversations. The transcript of Gonzaullas’s final interview, conducted by Bob Mitchell and Alva Steen on January 26, 1977, at his home in Dallas, is a part of the E-Book Project of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, Waco, Texas. It was at this interview that he made the statement on the epigraph of this book, regarding the panic that he found in Texarkana. Andrea Anderson, Richard Griffin’s niece, made her remark at a Griffin family reunion in 2010 which the author attended as a guest and spoke about the case. Helen Morrison’s idea of a dignified memorial for serial-killer victims is in her book, My Life Among the Serial Killers, 213.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
MANUSCRIPTS, RECORDS
James M. Hollis, “The Texarkana Phantom Murders.” Unpublished manuscript.
Jerry Atkins, Unpublished memoir of the spring of 1946 and aftermath.
Records in Bowie County, Cass County, and Cameron County, Texas, and Texas State Archives; Miller County and Union County, Arkansas.
Records in Texas State Library archives, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Texas Department of Corrections, and Arkansas State Police files.
FBI records for Youell Lee Swinney and Phantom case.
U.S. Census records for 1920, 1930, 1940.
Social Security Death Index (online).
City Directory, Texarkana, 1940s, 1950s.
Texarkana Telephone Directory, 1946.
Tillman Johnson Papers.
BOOKS, ARTICLES
Bowman, Bob and Doris. More Historic Murders of East Texas. Lufkin, Texas: Best of East Texas Publishers, 1994.
Clemmer, Donald. The Prison Community. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1958.
Cox, Mike. Texas Ranger Tales: Stories That Need Telling. Republic of Texas Press, 1996.
Douglas, John, and Mark Olshaker. Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit. New York: Pocket Star Books, 1996.
Douglas, John, and Mark Olshaker. The Anatomy of Motive: The FBI’s Legendary Mindhunter Explores the Key to Understanding and Catching Violent Criminals. New York: Scribner, 1999.
Fox, James Alan, and Jack Levin. Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2005.
Frazier, Shervert H. “Violence and Social Impact,” in Joseph C. Schoolar and Charles M. Gaitz, eds. Research and the Psychiatric Patient. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1975, pp. 183-194.
Greer, Leslie B. Pages of Time. Texarkana, Ark.
Keirsey, Tex. “Riding With the Rangers on a Phantom’s Trail.” Amarillo Globe-Times, Feb. 7, 1956.
Kerr, Robert. “Unmasking the Phantom at 40.” Texarkana Gazette, March 23, 1986.
Kerr, Robert. “Texarkana’s Phantom Killer.” Arkansas Times, No
vember 1986, 24, 26.
Leet, William D. Texarkana, A Pictorial History. Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Va.: Donning Company, 1982.
Levin, Jack. Serial Killers and Sadistic Murderers: Up Close and Personal. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2008.
Malsch, Brownson. Lone Wolf: Captain M. T. Gonzaullas. The Only Texas Ranger Captain of Spanish Descent. Austin, Texas: Shoal Creek Publishers, 1980.
McClish, Mark. I Know You Are Lying: Detecting Deception Through Statement Analysis. Winterville, N.C.: Police Employment, 2000.
Minor, Les, Ruth Evans, and Ethel Channon, ed. and compiled for Texarkana Gazette. Texarkana II: The Two County Collection. Marceline, Mo.: D-Books Publishing Co., 1994.
Minor, Les, and Ethel Channon, eds. Images of Texarkana: A Visual History. Marceline, Mo.: Heritage House Publishing Co., 1991.
Morrison, Helen, and Harold Goldberg. My Life Among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World’s Most Notorious Murderers. New York: William Morrow, 2004.
Morton, Robert J., and Mark A. Hilts, eds. Serial Murders—Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators. Symposium, Aug. 29-Sept. 2, 2005, San Antonio. FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime.
Newton, Michael. The Texarkana Moonlight Murders: The Unsolved Case of the 1946 Phantom Killer. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2013.
Presley, James. “The Phantom Murders,” 8-part series. Texarkana Gazette, May 1971.
Rasmussen, William T. Corroborating Evidence II: The Cleveland Torso Murders, The Black Dahlia Murder, The Phantom Killer of Texarkana, The Zodiac Killer. Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 2005.
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