Talk:Alexander McClay Williams

Dearth of sources to flesh out the article

I just wanted to state that I can hardly find any newspaper coverage of Alexander McClay Williams, Vida Robare, or any elements of the case between October 10, 1930, and January 7, 1931. Coverage of the case seems to cease on October 10 (the date when newspapers reported that Williams changed his confession) and only resume on January 7 (presumably the day after the jury wrongfully convicted Williams of murder).

I can also hardly find any newspaper coverage of any elements of the case between early January 1931 (his conviction) and April 1931 (when the governor scheduled Williams' execution for May 11). There are a few sources scattered afterwards on Williams' applications for commutation and unsuccessful arguments that he was mentally unfit for execution, and then quite a few sources that discuss pleas in his and other Pennsylvania death penalty cases, but the coverage largely stops until June 8, 1931 (the date of his execution).

For what it's worth, my main source for articles is Newspapers.com. I do not have access to other newspaper archives.

I imagine that there could be other sources about the lead-up to the trial, Williams' whereabouts between his relocation and his guilty verdict, and what few motions he filed to delay or call off his execution, as well as info on his final days leading up to June 8. If anyone has access to any sources detailing developments that the article does not cover, I would be so appreciative to have access to them so I can add more details to the article, because the article feels bereft of details in some pretty important areas. Afddiary (talk) 22:44, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

There was little, if any, newspaper coverage on this case between October 10, 1930 and January 7, 1931, or after that until June 8, 1931. I have not found Newspapers.com to be a helpful source. I had better luck with NewspaperArchive.com. The Chester Times, now renamed the Delaware County Daily Times, was the source of the majority, but not all, of newspaper articles I found. There is an article dated October 14, 1930 which reports on the Inquest held by Deputy Coroner George H. Rigby in Media, PA. Although Williams made his first coerced confession without a parent or attorney present, on October 7, 1930, and two more over the next few days, Williams H. Ridley, Esq., was not appointed by the court to represent Williams until October 24, 1930. Your text on this case still includes some errors. For example, Ridley was my great-grandfather, not my grandfather. He was paid to represent Williams, but the $10 he was also paid was for expenses. By contrast, the prosecution had unlimited resources and a total of 15 people on the prosecutorial team, including county detectives, coroners, fingerprint experts, attorneys, and Glen Mills School administrators, including a former District Attorney of Philadelphia.

If you read my 2015 book -- The Case That Shocked the Country: The unquiet deaths of Vida Robare, and Alexander McClay Williams -- the youngest person in Pennsylvania to die in the electric chair -- for a crime he did not commit, available on Amazon, which was the result of my over 30 years of exhaustive primary research, you will find that there was hearing on February 20, 1931, at which the Motion for a new trial was discharged (i.e. dismissed) and the defendant was ordered to appear on February 27, 1931 for sentencing.

At the February 27, 1931 sentencing, Presiding Judge W. Roger Fronefield, who had sentenced Williams to an indeterminate stay Glen Mills School in 1926, sentenced Williams to die in the electric chair.

Another brief article in the Chester Times, dated June 4, 1931, entitled, "Make Last Hour Attempt To Save Matron's Slayer," recounts Alexander McClay Williams' mother who swore out a warrant for the arrest of Earl Kratzer, a former Glen Mills School inmate, who she implicated in the murder of Vida Robare.

Another articles appear in the Chester Times, dated June 6, 1931 which reports on a hearing held by Magistrate Walter S. Swartley, in Glenolden, PA, who ruled on the allegation against Earl Kratzer. Williams stated at the hearing the Kratzer was not involved.

Court records, which are not publicly published, and only available to review in person at the Office of Judicial Support at the Delaware County Courthouse and Government Center in Media, PA. Only the Office of Judicial Support may make copies of court records upon request, for a fee. The court records are from: "Court Records 1930 - 1931 Misc. Quarter Session Delaware County, Docket L January 9, 1931. This docket includes the 300 page trial transcript of January 6 and January 7, 1931, and accompanying documents Dr. Sam Lemon (talk) 15:10, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Reverted Edits by Dr. Samuel Lemon

A few days ago, Dr. Sam Lemon, who is mentioned heavily in the article, made a ton of edits. The edits were not properly sourced, so I (very reluctantly) undid them, but they look extremely valuable and appear to correct a lot of the misconceptions and factual missteps that exist in this article due to the overall shoddy coverage of Alexander McClay Williams's case that I mentioned 10 months ago. A lot of that coverage is racist and/or based on 1930/1931 presumptions of Williams's guilt, despite the fact that all evidence available in 2022/2023 pretty much proves he was innocent and wrongfully executed. That shoddy coverage has clearly led to a lot of misunderstandings about this case, even after the injustice was reversed in June 2022 – and given the 30+ years of research Dr. Lemon has done on this case, he would have more knowledge on Alexander McClay Williams's case and life than anyone. But Wikipedia's limitations result in his edits being unacceptable, while the (ostensibly) factually inconsistent, incorrect, and often racist newspapers have to remain as sources.

I HATED to have to delete his edits. I just wanted to get this on the record, I guess so that if, on the off-chance, he ever reads this, he feels compelled to create his own account and work with experienced editors to reintegrate his valuable information so it can properly – and permanently – be included on Wikipedia. Maybe he could write an official source on this case that could be cited here to correct the incorrect information here. Again, I deeply appreciate the edits, and I'd love to see them properly included here someday!! Afddiary (talk) 21:40, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

Yes, I was disappointed to read your article on this historic case, because there were several errors and a great deal of factual information that had been left out. It's fine to include original sources, but due to their inaccuracies and racist slant, they must be publicly challenged based on accurate research and evidence. You cannot simply let them appear to be the authoritative sources regarding this historic case.

For example, Alexander was persistently referred to as an 18 year old, ostensibly to make his execution more palatable, even though this was factually incorrect. His death certificate was altered by someone who added a loop to the top of the "6" in the 16 years of age box. But they forgot to also alter his birth year from 1914 to 1912 to make his age and birth year agree.

As I believe I also noted in my revision, which was deleted, Vida Robare's death certificate was similarly altered to include Alexander as her murderer, even though her death certificate was filed by the coroner three days before his first confession. All one needs to do is view these forms to see that they were altered. Apparently, that was enough evidence for current Delaware County D.A. Jack Stollsteimer to accept as prosecutorial misconduct in 1930.

Everything I stated can be easily documented, and as I noted above, the court documents and references are not published, and can only be viewed in person at the Office of Judicial Support at the Delaware County Courthouse and Government Center in Media, PA.

One of the most important articles that should be referenced in Alexander McClay Williams' page should be "Keeping a Justice Fight Alive," (June 14, 2015) by Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Mari Schaefer (p.2). Because it was Ms. Schaefer who successfully filed a Freedom of Information Act request that forced Delaware County to produce the original trial transcript and accompanying documents. Prior to that, for years, I had been told by county officials that those documents no longer existed. Schaefer's article was also linked to a posting on the Death Penalty Information website, for readers who wanted more information on the case.

There have also been numerous articles in the Philadelphia Inquirer and Delaware County Daily Times covering this case over the past eight years. KYW 3 and Fox 29 also did TV interviews of me and Williams family Robert Keller. Mr. Keller and I were also interviewed on public radio twice. After Williams' wrongful conviction was overturned in June 2022, there were additional articles published in the newspaper -- in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Delaware County Daily Times, and most notably, The Washington Post. Both TV stations also covered the June 2022 hearing.

After the Philadelphia Inquirer article was published in June 2022, it was picked up by the UPI and was posted on news websites in France, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Egypt, and the UAE. Governor Tom Wolf's formal proclamation in October 2022, publicly recognizing and apologizing to the Williams family for Alexander's wrongful conviction and execution, was also published in local newspapers.

Give the exorbitant amount of media coverage this case has been given over the past eight years, I'm puzzled as to why your article was so incomplete. If you had no direct experience or connections with this historic case, it seems to me that you should have done due diligence and contacted any of the news reporters who covered this case in detail, or me. I'm not that hard to find. Dr. Sam Lemon (talk) 15:39, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Regarding why the article is so incomplete - Wikipedia articles are always a "work in progress." What is published here is never (and should never be) final.

I would also never say this is my article. I published it in 2022 because I had no idea who Alexander McClay Williams was prior to the Death Penalty Information Center reporting on his exoneration in June 2022, and, being a death penalty abolitionist myself, and being a very young black woman (in my early 20s) as well, I had no knowledge of him (as I'm sure thousands of people did not before information on the case became widely available in 2022). However, I think stories like his are valuable for people to understand what the death penalty has always represented in America's past and present. I wanted to tell this story quickly, so I admittedly rushed to cobble something together that would be acceptable to publish, and I resorted to easy sources that Wikipedia deems acceptable, like Newspapers.com articles - and that was fully my error, as I didn't take enough time to consider how awful their coverage was, although I do think those articles have some limited value in the way they show how Williams was widely presumed guilty before he even went to trial, the role newspapers and the press have long played in advancing injustices like these, and how racism played a role in his railroading.

But this is not my article; this is a public article that anyone can edit as long as they properly format and source their information. I really do implore you to create a formal account, so you can more easily add useful sources to correct the misinformation that is undoubtedly still present in the article; I would be more than happy to help you in formatting, structuring, and properly including that information, because I think it is very valuable. I actually appreciate you offering your edits, and I want to see them included here.

Also, on an off-note - if you have access to more images to represent this case [like pictures of Williams, Vida Robare, Williams's attorney, Williams's gravesite, or anything else directly relevant to Alexander McClay Williams's case and life], and if you have full ownership and permission to share those pictures wherever you want, Wikipedia loves having images; I believe this article may greatly benefit from that :) Afddiary (talk) 14:41, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

Hello. I did create a formal account before I submitted my edits. Not sure why you're unaware of that. Yes, I do have several images, both historic and contemporary that I could submit to this article. A critical issue of which you seem unaware, is that not everything about this case was published publicly, particularly, a number of the court documents and proceedings.

You were also unaware that during the course of my research, that I made contact with a relative of the Robares, Teresa Smithers of Michigan, who contributed invaluable information to me. Who, like me, firmly believed that her relative, Fred Robare, was responsible for his wife Vida's murder, and not Alexander McClay Williams who was falsely blamed.

There is no public transcript of the June 13, 2022 hearing in which (then) President Judge Kevin F. Kelly delivered his ruling on the joint motion by the Delaware County D.A. Jack Stollsteimer, and Williams family attorney Robert C. Keller, Esq. One had to be present in the court room that day, as I was, because I was the main witness to give testimony regarding the evidence I uncovered from my 30 years of research, which was accepted into evidence by the court.

However, you could have read the posting on the Delaware County District Attorney's Office website. District Attorney Stollsteimer Announces that the Prosecution of Alexander McClay Williams, a 16-Year-Old Executed in 1931, Has Been Nol Prossed - Delaware County District Attorneys Office (delcoda.com)

As I may have mentioned in my comments that were deleted, Judge Kelly based his unusual decision on the case of George Stinney, Jr. (1929 - 1944) who at age 14, was the youngest person executed in the 20th century, in Alcolu, South Carolina. His case was prominently covered by the press in the U.S. and England. I also consulted with one of attorneys in South Carolina who filed the amicus brief in court, to overturn Stinney's conviction. I included the Stinney case in my book because of the clear parallels between his case and that of Alexander McClay Williams, who was just two years old when he was wrong executed.

Judge Kelly stated in court on June 13, 2022, that he "scoured 300 years of Pennsylvania law, and could find no case or statute that applied to the Williams case." Prior to the hearing, he consulted with the trial judge -- Circuit Court Judge Carmen Mullen -- who overturned Stinney's conviction on December 17, 2014, on the legal principle of Coram Nobis ("quae coram nobis resident") meaning, "which remains in our presence." Or, essentially, "it's obvious." Coram Nobis is an ancient writ that dates back to medieval England, as does the writ of habeas corpus, and the concept of the "King's Bench," which is another rarely used legal procedure in the U.S.

In vacating (overturning) Alexander McClay Williams 1931 conviction, Judge Kelly used this ancient legal remedy which does not exist on the books in Pennsylvania. The only legal remedy for wrongful convictions in this state is the Post Conviction Relief Act, which only applies to living defendants who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned. It does not apply to those wrongly executed.

But Judge Kelly chose coram nobis because it addressed and remedied egregious violations of Williams' Constitutional rights, as he was then "abandoned" by the legal system, to his fate, as Judge Kelly noted. These statements by Judge Kelly are not conveniently published anywhere on the Internet for you to find. They required one to be present in court that day to hear them first-hand. This is considered classic primary research.

You also won't find published anywhere, the e-mail exchange between me and the PA Board of Pardons and Parole, during the Summer of 2022, which resulted in Gov. Tom Wolf's formal proclamation, nor will you find a convenient written transcript of that proclamation. But you could read the October 19, 2022 article by Delaware County Daily Times reporter, Alex Rose, who has written several articles about the Williams case, regarding Gov. Wolf's proclamation. Gov. Tom Wolf has officially exonerated a 16-year-old boy executed 91 years ago for a murder he did not commit. (delcotimes.com)

You could also read Vinny Vella's Oct. 17, 2022 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the event. Gov. Wolf exonerated a Delco teen who was executed decades ago for a murder he didn’t commit (inquirer.com)

I also suggest you read James Bikales June 18, 2022 article in The Washington Post that is among the best ever written on the case. A judge exonerated Alexander McClay Williams, a Black teen executed for murder 91 years ago - The Washington Post The headline of the article is: "After 91 years, Black teen is exonerated by defense lawyer's great-grandson."

In your haste to "cobble" together an article about this historic case, you not only omitted a great deal of critical facts, while including errors, you also cast my corrections and additions as not meeting the "standards" of Wikipedia. This is ironic, given your significant lack of knowledge of this landmark case, and that no other newspaper, television, or radio interviewer doubted the veracity of my extensively researched information, or first-person accounts. I do believe The Washington Post, and others, have editorial and journalistic standards. And my multiple presentations to the public and the Delaware County Bar Association have also never been doubted, given the depth of my authoritative research.

You were also unaware that during the course of my research, that I made contact with a relative of the Robares, Teresa Smithers of Michigan, who contributed invaluable information to me. Who, like me, firmly believed that her relative, Fred Robare, was responsible for his wife Vida's murder. This support was critical to the District Attorney in deciding to reopen a 1930 case.

Again, there are some things that are not conveniently written down for the general public. The origin story of how I was informed of this historic case when I was a child, by my grandmother, the daughter of the original defense counsel William H. Ridley, Esq., is equally critical to this story, and emphasizes the importance of oral history, particularly within families of color.

For a story told to a child, who would later spend 30 years of his life solving one of most egregious violations of Constitutional rights resulting in the execution of an innocent boy, is worthy of being included in your article, as others have done. In fact, most of those who have interviewed me wanted to know how and why I became interested in the case of Alexander McClay Williams.

If you're not going to publish a comprehensive, detailed, accurate, authoritative article about the tragedy of Alexander McClay Williams and Vida Robare, then publish no article at all, because it's a disservice to all of us who were directly involved. If you do wish to do that, or would like additional references or photographs, feel free to contact me directly via e-mail. Dr. Sam Lemon (talk) 16:17, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

@Dr. Sam Lemon: Hi there Dr. Lemon! Your work is very much appreciated. However, sadly, Wikipedia cannot use anything that is not available to the public or previously posted in secondary reliable sources. This is because Wikipedia has a strict policy against original research.
We want to handle this article with the care it deserves, but the way we go about doing that is not typical to the standard editorial process. What I recommend is publishing your full findings/perspective in another book, news article, or scholarly work first (if you have already done so), so we can cite that. If that is not available to you, then I recommend Medium as a simple alternative. Normally, we would not be able to cite self-published material, but Wikipedia makes an exception for established subject-matter experts like yourself. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 17:03, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

First, my mistake, as I assumed since your username was still red that you had not created an account. I see now that you have; your userpage is just currently blank.

Second, I don't really understand the tone you're using to discuss this case with me. I personally find it disrespectful. We're all only human, and we're all trying our best to make this as high-quality of an article as we can.

Third, I mentioned in another edit that I plan to purchase your book so I can use it as a source in this article. I'm a busy and fairly broke college student who mostly relies on free resources to construct articles, so I'll see when I can get around to that. Your book would be a fine source to use in this article. However, when you edited the article a few days ago, you included absolutely no in-line citations. (If you look at the article as is, every line ends with a number in brackets; those are the in-line citations to which I refer.) In-line citations are required; large blocks of information with zero citations would need to be removed from Wikipedia. If the information you're including is true, then it should be re-added with proper in-line citations linking back to your book and the various articles that cover this case, but that information could not stand on its own without in-line citations.

Wikipedia also cannot use information that is not available to the public. If one can read your book to find some of that information you included your previous edit, it would be fine to include - but I stress that you (or another editor) would need to add in-line citations to that information, referring to your book or another source.

Fourth, I wholeheartedly agree with MJL that your work is definitely appreciated, and it is extremely valuable to hear from a subject matter expert. However, I will reiterate that articles on Wikipedia are never "finished" and are always open to properly-sourced edits with in-line citations. Wikipedia is a collaborative site where all articles are always open to improvement. It is always perfectly fine to publish an unfinished article (even one with errors, as this article is), as those errors can always be removed and/or corrected in a later edit. Afddiary (talk) 20:38, 20 June 2023 (UTC)