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| Nola Beam portrait sketch by Rebecca J. Becker |
Now You See Her... or, Murder, Money and Madness, Part One
by Rebecca J. Becker
In all the history of Crescent College, only two girls ran away. And they ran away together.
One of those girls lived happily ever after. The other? When she was 23, the other girl was a prime witness in two murder trials. In two separate states.
For that girl, it might have been better if she'd just kept running.
This is the story of Nola Beam and Sue Hill, two Crescent College students who met when they began school together in September, 1913.
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| Crescent College, Eureka Springs |
The two girls had a lot in common, and very little of it was good.
Be warned: you're about to meet one murderer. Another waits in the wings, where you'll meet him in Part Two.
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| Mourning Card |
Nola was only six years old her when mother, Jennie Maxwell Beam, died.
Nola Beam's father was a very prominent man, rarely out of the Arkansas news. Harden Napoleon Beam helped found Beebe, Arkansas, and he worked tirelessly to promote the town's commercial advantages.
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| West Main Street, Beebe Arkansas |
Nola Beam's father was a very prominent man, rarely out of the Arkansas news. Harden Napoleon Beam helped found Beebe, Arkansas, and he worked tirelessly to promote the town's commercial advantages.
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| Beebe, Arkansas (photo courtesy of the White County Historical Society) |
When he wasn't serving as mayor, he traveled around the country, touting the benefits of moving to Beebe.
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| Populist Party poster for William Jennings Bryan |
Surprisingly, H. N. Beam's political background had been as a prominent Populist Party member, a party famous for its rabidly anti-railroad monopoly and anti-bank platform.
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| "The Protectors of Our Industries" - 1883 Puck cartoon by Bernhard Gillam: Jay Gould and his fellow robber barons are kept afloat on the backs of the suffering laborers |
Beam must have had a radical change of heart: he now worked for Iron Mountain Railway (owned by the notorious robber baron and king of monopolies, Jay Gould), and he was on the Board of Directors of the Bank of Beebe!
When Nola was ten, her father married 25-year-old schoolteacher, Nellie Mills.
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| The Flower Girl by Cecily Elmslie Shand |
Only months later, Nola served as flower girl in another wedding: her eighteen-year-old sister, Laura, married another Iron Mountain Railroad employee.
The radiantly beautiful bride is the fourth daughter of ex-Mayor H. N. Beam, a most charming blonde and a typical Southern beauty, talented and amiable, numbering her friends by the score, who will miss her very greatly....- Arkansas Democrat [Little Rock, Arkansas] 2 May 1907, Saturday, Page 5.
Another sister, Ruth, served as her sister Laura's bridesmaid. With Laura's marriage, Ruth and Nola were the only children left in their father's house.
But within the year, the Arkansas Democrat carried the news:
Miss Ruth Beam, daughter of ex-Mayor H. N. Beam, is seriously ill at her father's residence on Front street.- Arkansas Democrat [Little Rock, Arkansas] 21 January 1908, Page 5
That same day, Ruth died.
Less than two months later, newspapers carried a heartbreaking sequel:
Mrs. Laura [Beam] Ginocchio... died at 2:30 o’clock yesterday morning, at the home of her father, H. N. Beam.... Her infant son, William Parker Napoleon Ginocchio, died at 2:35 o’clock yesterday afternoon, after living a trifle over 13 hours.
- Daily Arkansas Gazette [Little Rock, Arkansas] 14 March 1908, Saturday, Page 7
Almost exactly a year after Laura's death, another baby was born: Lettie Beam was the first child born to Nola's father and stepmother.
Nola, who'd been the youngest of seven children, finally got to be a big sister.
Any joy over Lettie was soon tempered by the first in a series of paralytic strokes H. N. Beam suffered.
In the beginning he recovered quite well and was soon back in the newspapers, proposing ordinances against fireworks in Beebe, and shipping carloads of potatoes from his farm outside town.
Between the demands of two babies and the exigencies of the sickroom, the young Nell Beam may simply have had no time or attention to spare for her 14-year-old stepdaughter.
Her father was too ill to look after Nola, and the girl was sent to Henderson College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas four months after her brother was born.
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| Nola Beam, first year preparatory student at Henderson College in Arkadelphia (Nola is second from the right, front row) |
As a boarding preparatory student, Nola was active in several extracurricular activities, including piano studies, and the school's literary society.
But two months before the end of the school year, Nola received word that her baby sister, Lettie, had died.
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| Little Lettie Precious Daughter of H. N. & Nellie Beam Born March 22, 1909 Died March 11, 1911 Aged 1 yr. 11 mo. 14 da. "From mother's arms to the arms of Jesus." |
That summer must have been unspeakably sad, but worse was to come.
Beebe, Sept. 7 - - H. N. Beam died at his home today at noon. His family were at his bedside when the end came, except his daughter, Mrs. E. H. Abington of Oklahoma City. He was stricken nearly two years ago with a slight attack of paralysis. Since that time he has been in gradual failing health. Three weeks ago it became apparent to his family and friends that his life’s work would soon close. He leaves surviving him his wife, one son and four daughters.
- Daily Arkansas Gazette [Little Rock, Arkansas] 08 September 1911, Page 7A month later, Nell announced that she was selling all of her husband's goods, valued at $6,000 (worth $159,161 today) in a bulk sale to be held in November.
The second was even more disruptive.
Nola's older sister Emma [Beam] Moore lived in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and Emma was now Nola's guardian. Nola left Beebe - - the town her father helped found - - and moved to Shawnee.
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| Benson Park in Shawnee, Oklahoma 1911 |
Her sister Emma had two small daughters of her own, and Emma's husband was a traveling salesman.
It may have been Nola's choice, it may have been easier on everyone, or it may have been that there was simply no room in the Moore household, but in September, 1913, Nola moved again to become a preparatory boarding student.
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| Crescent College, Eureka Springs |
This time her journey took her to Eureka Springs, where she was about to meet Sue Hill.
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| Sue Hill portrait sketch by Rebecca J. Becker |
The girls share eerily similar stories - - at least up until they met at Crescent College.
Like Nola, Sue lost her mother when she was very young. Sue's mother, Susan [Walner] Hill, died when Sue was five years old.
Her mother came from a prominent Chickasaw family in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, an important town in Chickasaw history. Susan was John T. Hill's second wife.
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| Susan Walner Hill (Sue Hill's mother) portrait sketch by Rebecca J. Becker |
Mr. Hill had a son by his first marriage, and he and his wife Susan had six children, all under 16 years of age when she died giving birth to the last child in 1901.
(Let us introduce you to two of Sue's brothers right now, since each will play a role in the story that follows. The first is 14-year-old William Riley Hill. The second is Sue's baby brother - - the only child younger than Sue herself - - Thomas Jefferson Hill.)
John T. Hill, like Nola's father, was an influential man. Much wealthier than Mr. Beam, Mr. Hill was active in both the oil and mercantile trades. And, like Nola's father, he didn't stay single long.
Pauls Valley Sentinel [Pauls Valley, Indian Territory] 16 November 1905
HILL-ROBINSON, NUPTIALS.
Jno. T. Hill and Mrs. Mattie Robinson, both prominent Pauls Valley people were very quietly married Sunday afternoon at 2:00 o’clock at the home of the bride by Rev. A. C. Pickens of this place. The affair was a very great surprise to many and no invited guests were there.
Like Nola Beam, Sue Hill had a baby sister soon after her father's remarriage. Ruth Hill, born in 1908, lived much longer than Nola's sibling - - although, as you'll see, her brothers and sisters wished she'd grow up much faster.
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| William Riley Hill portrait sketch by Rebecca J. Becker |
In 1910, Sue's brother, William Riley Hill - - now 21 years old - - married their stepsister, Lucile Robinson, aged 15.
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| Lucile Robinson Hill portrait sketch by Rebecca J. Becker |
Lucile gave birth to three children in the next two years. Only one survived beyond infancy.
In the midst of this maelstrom, Sue - - like Nola - - was sent to a boarding preparatory school. We know Sue's academy was in Dallas, Texas, but we haven't yet learned its name.
And again, in an unnerving echo of Nola's life, Sue was summoned home from classes by a death in the family.
Pauls Valley Democrat [Pauls Valley, Oklahoma] 23 January 1913
DEATH OF JNO. T. HILL
John T. Hill, one of the most prominent and well-to-do citizens of this city died suddenly from hemorrhage last Sunday morning.... Mr. Hill had been in bad health for some time and he had gone to California hoping it would improve his condition.
Deceased was 59 years old and was a native of Lincoln County Kentucky, but moved with his parents when quite young to Kansas. He came to Indian Territory in 1869 with the government corps on the first survey of the territory, and he has lived here since that time.
He was three times married.... His second marriage was to Miss Sue Walner, who was a one-eighth Chickasaw. Of this union six children are living....
His last marriage was to Mrs. Mattie Robinson who survives, and of the last union one child, a little girl, is living.
Mr. Hill was prominent in the business and social affairs of this county. His sudden and unexpected death was a shock to the family as well as a surprise to the community and his stricken wife and children have the sympathy of the entire community in their sad bereavement.
John
T. Hill had nine living children, many of whom were still minors. In
fact, Ruth Hill, Sue's little sister, was only five years old when their
father died.
He left an estate that today would be valued at nearly two million dollars. And he left a will providing for both his widow and his children - - but it had a catch.
All of his property - - including the third that widows automatically inherited - - was to be held in trust until his youngest child reached her majority.
The two-thirds of his estate not inherited by his widow was to be divided among the surviving children at that time.
In other words, no one was to get a cent until Ruth, now five years old, had grown up.
Almost immediately, members of the family sued in attempts to break this will. Some sued the state, some sued each other as alliances shifted and shifted again over time.
The estate was so considerable that the case ended up in the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Under the terms of the will, they'd all be rich - - some day.
And, of course, the more of them died, the richer the survivors would be.
Only days after the seventeen-year-old arrived home for her father's funeral, the papers were filled with the details of even further devastation and loss:
Eight months later, however, we know exactly where she was: at the front door of Crescent College, about to meet Nola Beam.
But first, one more disaster - - a double sorrow - - befell the girl. On 14 September, four days before orientation for new girls began, her eighteen-year-old stepsister (and sister-in-law) died.
Small wonder that when Nola Beam met Sue Hill at Crescent College, the two girls became inseparable. Who else could understand what they'd endured? Who else could possibly comprehend the nearly unendurable sorrow and loss they'd left behind them?
In the 1914 Crescent College yearbook, a page is devoted to "Crescent Crushes." The early-twentieth-century equivalent of Best Friends Forever, Nola and Sue are a nearly inevitable pair - - and sure enough, there they are:
And now it's easy to understand why - - once they'd met - - these two might join forces and run away.
The story wasn't kept quiet: it was featured in newspapers across the nation.
You might imagine that the pair might not have been welcomed back to Crescent, after this - - or that the girls, after Christmas holidays were over, might not return to Eureka Springs.
They both engaged in extracurricular activities...
But Nola appears far more often than her companion. Nola's in the Oklahoma Club, the Music Club, and affectionate fun is made at her expense in the Jokes pages. She's one of the small number of girls studying in the Commercial Department.
The reason for Sue Hill's much less frequent appearance?
She'd disappeared again.
Although she'd returned in January, Sue Hill wasn't at Crescent for Graduation Exercises on May 27.
By that time, she'd been married over a month.
And who did she wed?
Remember the second murderer we mentioned, at the beginning of this article?
You've met the first murderer already, although you may not know it yet. And so, this time we warn you: our story is about to follow a much darker, and much more disturbing path.
But if you care to follow the saga, we'll rejoin Sue Hill when we continue with "Now You See Her... or, Murder, Money, and Madness," Part Two.
He left an estate that today would be valued at nearly two million dollars. And he left a will providing for both his widow and his children - - but it had a catch.
All of his property - - including the third that widows automatically inherited - - was to be held in trust until his youngest child reached her majority.
The two-thirds of his estate not inherited by his widow was to be divided among the surviving children at that time.
In other words, no one was to get a cent until Ruth, now five years old, had grown up.
Almost immediately, members of the family sued in attempts to break this will. Some sued the state, some sued each other as alliances shifted and shifted again over time.
The estate was so considerable that the case ended up in the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Under the terms of the will, they'd all be rich - - some day.
And, of course, the more of them died, the richer the survivors would be.
Only days after the seventeen-year-old arrived home for her father's funeral, the papers were filled with the details of even further devastation and loss:
Pauls Valley Democrat [Pauls Valley, Oklahoma] 30 January 1913
UNTIMELY DEATH
The death of little Thomas Jefferson Hill last Sunday was both sad and untimely. Just one week almost to the hour his father Jno T. Hill... and was buried Friday. Thomas was at his brother Kutch’ [sic] in the country.
On account of the illness of Kutch’s baby Thomas started to town for the doctor. The horse he was riding stumbled over a hog [sic] in the road and fell, crushing the life out of him almost instantly.
The boy was only a little over 12 years old. The funeral services were conducted from the residence of Mrs. Hill’s in the city, Monday afternoon conducted by Rev. Wm. Denham assisted by Rev. B. F. King and the remains were laid to rest in the city cemetery by the side of his father.
We don't know if Sue ever returned to her school in Dallas.
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| Crescent College, Eureka Springs |
But first, one more disaster - - a double sorrow - - befell the girl. On 14 September, four days before orientation for new girls began, her eighteen-year-old stepsister (and sister-in-law) died.
Small wonder that when Nola Beam met Sue Hill at Crescent College, the two girls became inseparable. Who else could understand what they'd endured? Who else could possibly comprehend the nearly unendurable sorrow and loss they'd left behind them?
In the 1914 Crescent College yearbook, a page is devoted to "Crescent Crushes." The early-twentieth-century equivalent of Best Friends Forever, Nola and Sue are a nearly inevitable pair - - and sure enough, there they are:
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| Nola Beam and Sue Hill (second down from top, on left) from the 1914 Crescent College Yearbook |
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| Sue Hill and Nola Beam (close-up of above) |
And now it's easy to understand why - - once they'd met - - these two might join forces and run away.
The story wasn't kept quiet: it was featured in newspapers across the nation.
Daily Register-Gazette [Rockford, Illinois] 14 November 1913, Page 13.
TAKE RUNAWAY GIRLS
Insure Their Imprisonment By Taking Away Their Clothing.
(By Associated Press.)
Joplin, Mo., Nov. 14. - - A trip to Joplin, as a relief from the daily routine of college life was planned by Nola Beam of Shawnee, Okla., and Sue Hill of Ardmore, Okla., students at a girl’s seminary in Eureka Springs, Ark.
They slipped away and boarded a train for Joplin, but when they reached Monett, Mo., they were taken in charge by officials.
The girls were locked in a hotel room for the night and all their wearing apparel, save their night clothes, was taken from them by a maid, at the order of the police. When a representative of the Arkansas school arrived today the girls’ clothes were returned to them and they accompanied the faculty member back to Eureka Springs.
Understandably, the adventure was not featured in the 1914 Crescent College yearbook!
You might imagine that the pair might not have been welcomed back to Crescent, after this - - or that the girls, after Christmas holidays were over, might not return to Eureka Springs.
But January found them both back at Crescent College, and you'll find them on pages scattered throughout the yearbook.
Crescent, in Winter
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| Nola Beam, Class of 1916 (Sophomore Class) (Nola is on the far left, at the bottom of "1") 1914 Crescent College yearbook |
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| Sue Hill in Crescent College Glee Club from the 1914 yearbook |
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| Nola Hill, student in the Commercial Department Crescent College yearbook, 1914 |
She'd disappeared again.
Although she'd returned in January, Sue Hill wasn't at Crescent for Graduation Exercises on May 27.
By that time, she'd been married over a month.
And who did she wed?
Remember the second murderer we mentioned, at the beginning of this article?
But if you care to follow the saga, we'll rejoin Sue Hill when we continue with "Now You See Her... or, Murder, Money, and Madness," Part Two.
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| To Be Continued.... |
