Deadly Hero: The High Society Murder that Created Hysteria in the Heartland

by Morrow, Jason Lucky

  But Wilcox’s statement was never given much consideration. For average folks in town, it was easy to cast blame on the shortcomings of all the mothers and fathers of Tulsa’s privileged youth. After all, the names of kids from regular families weren’t being dragged through the newspaper mud—it was those high-society types. Hours after the news of Born’s death had spread throughout Tulsa, Mayor Truman Penney made a rare Sunday evening appearance at the police station.

  “The parents are to blame at bottom for this shocking revelation of what our children have been doing,” Mayor Penney dramatically declared to a World reporter. “While the parents give their time to making money (this left no doubt which parents he meant), the children go about ungoverned. I am greatly disturbed and saddened by what happened today and by what has happened in the last two weeks. It has got to the point where I don’t know what to do next.”

  But he did know what he was going to do next. In a meeting of city commissioners led by Oscar Hoop on Tuesday, December 11, city leaders swore to go after the one element which they believed was corrupting Tulsa’s youth the most: marble machines—the grandfather of the pinball machine.

  “Marble machines and loitering of young people around them have provided much of the background for events that tie into the death investigation,” the Tribune claimed in a front-page article. However, the precise correlation between marble machines and murder was never actually explained.

  “Reverberations of the Gorrell murder case were felt in the city commission meeting Tuesday [December 11] as Police Commissioner Hoop announced that marble machine distributors would either clean house or the police would do it for them,” the Tribune continued. Hoop’s proposal was to clear the machines from establishments located near the schools, and to establish the city’s complete control over them through licensure.

  But as Hoop later confessed in that same meeting, he didn’t want to just restrict the simple penny-operated games, he wanted to eliminate them.

  “I offer this more in hope than in confidence; I believe it will ultimately be necessary to remove the machines,” Hoop asserted. And in his mind, their removal from businesses located near schools didn’t necessarily mean removal from businesses located near schools. Instead, it meant anywhere young people congregate in their free time for fun and socializing.

  “Marble machines, which Hoop and Mayor Penney declare are taking the lunch money[17] of grade, junior high, and high school students, must be moved from any store, café, or drug store where students usually congregate, Hoop decreed,” the Tribune continued.

  The college-professor-slash-police-commissioner found an avid supporter in Mayor Penney.

  “I have received more complaints from the parents of children about these machines than any other one thing,” the mayor postulated. “It seems even that prizes are offered for high scores!”

  Following the mayor’s lead, “We can show that they are gambling machines,” Hoop declared. But he never really showed how they were gambling machines; he only stated that he could show it.

  The metaphorical torches and pitchforks came out during a meeting of the Parent Teacher Association held later that same day at the First United Methodist Church. The PTA was demanding the machines’ “complete removal in view of the recent tragedy in our city.”

  “It is not a case of marble machines and such being taken away only near the schools,” one PTA delegate declared to nodding heads of approval. “Children can get a long ways from home as you know and they will find them any place. That is why we must remove them all!”

  “In the face of the recent tragedy this particular bit of work comes within our realm of child welfare and if we don’t take a stand on this now, we arent’s (sic) good for anything,” one middle-aged mother shouted.

  “Not only is it the actual playing of the machines that is a corrupting influence,” another mother stated, “but it is the atmosphere. My children can go into the places near their school, where these machines are, and they stay around and watch outsiders play and gamble, and I feel that they should not be subjected to this temptation.”

  But this was just the beginning. Whether they knew it or not at the time, they were steeling themselves up for a city-wide moral crusade. As Christian soldiers fighting for the salvation of their children, they would soon find the devil’s influence in more than just arcade games.

  Chapter Ten

  PHIL KENNAMER LEANED FORWARD IN the matron’s rocking chair, gripped a wooden match in his right hand, set his thumbnail on the head, and slid it to the left with enough friction to light it with one strike. It was a maneuver he practiced often, and as he squinted through the tobacco and phosphorous smoke at the reporters in the room, he returned their grins and smiles with his trademark smirk. He was in a good mood the morning of Wednesday, December 12, and he appeared comfortable in the furnished room that had been his “cell” for the last two weeks.

  With Tulsa World and newswire reporters there, as well as some from several out-of-state large dailies, Kennamer was holding court and enjoying the moment.[18] By working his smooth charm and silver tongue, he was confident he could cod these twits into empathizing with his side of the story. After Born’s death on Sunday, the narrative throughout the city had decidedly turned against him. Rumors that his friend was murdered to keep quiet steered the case away from the direction Kennamer needed it to go.

  But there was another reason Kennamer wanted to get his story out: he hated the story his attorney was putting out. In an interview published Tuesday, the day before, Moss had laid the groundwork for an insanity defense. When Kennamer read that article, he was livid. An insanity defense discounted his heroics. It didn’t tell the story of how he’d outsmarted a dangerous criminal like John Gorrell Jr. and saved Virginia’s life. Why couldn’t they see that?

  Besides placing blame back on the victim, and reinforcing their claims of self-defense, Moss also said during his interview that Kennamer’s infatuation for Virginia Wilcox had become obsessive, and that he had mental health issues because he told people he was going to kill John Gorrell.

  “Possibly, he was suffering from heroics and this may have added to his desire to join Gorrell, expose him at the opportune moment and incidentally redeem himself in the eyes of Miss Wilcox,” Moss theorized. “If Kennamer had not been abnormal, he would not have told several friends that he intended on killing Gorrell, as well as discuss various fantastic and imaginary [scenarios] with him as the hero.”

  He also pointed to several of Kennamer’s youthful transgressions as incidents in his life that should lead one to question the boy’s sanity. In spite of this, the lawyer had no doubt in the boy’s claim of self-defense. After all, Gorrell was the one who brought the gun, and they were prepared to show it was his handwriting on the famed extortion note that no one had seen.

  In a three-hour interview with reporters, Kennamer gave his own version of events that conveniently weaved in and around the witness statements published in the newspapers. He had nearly two weeks to put together his account of what had happened, and by the time of the interview, he had a logical explanation for everything, as well as counterarguments that were impossible to prove or disprove.

  Kennamer prefaced his story by saying that he had first heard of the plot to kidnap Virginia in September and had then formed a one-man conspiracy to enter into the scheme and frustrate it from the inside. “His sole idea, he said, was to prevent harm to Miss Wilcox or embarrassment to any member of the Wilcox family,” the World reported. The same newspaper also pointed out that Kennamer “scoffed at many questions plied to him as well [as] at several of the police theories.”

  He then recounted how he met Born at 10:30 Thanksgiving night at the Quaker Drug Store.

  “Sidney told me to take his car but I said I’d rather have him drive me. I told him I was going to meet Gorrell. We drove to a point near St. John’s Hospital. We saw Gorrell’s car parked near 19th Street and Utica Avenue. Sid remarked that Gorrell was i
n the car. I got out of Born’s car and he left, but before he did, he warned me that it would be dangerous to reveal to Gorrell that the Wilcox plot was not going through.

  “I got into Gorrell’s car and we started driving toward the Forest Hills addition. We were driving about thirty or forty miles an hour. Gorrell asked me ‘how the shake was coming along.’ I told him ‘it wasn’t coming along at all.’

  “‘What’s the matter, didn’t you mail that letter?’” Kennamer quoted Gorrell as saying.

  “I told him it was not mailed and that I never intended to mail it. I told him I had the note right here in my pocket. Gorrell asked me what the idea was. I told him I was going to stop this thing. I told him the reason I got into it was to stop it.

  “‘You just think you are,’” Gorrell answered, according to Kennamer.

  “Did you ever hear of the double-cross?” I asked Gorrell. “I told him he was getting the double-cross now. Gorrell asked me how I was going to stop the plot. If in no other way I can turn this note over to the authorities, I told him.”

  At about the same moment, Kennamer said the car slowed down to ten to fifteen miles per hour as Gorrell reached down at his left side, jerked out a pistol, pointed it at Kennamer’s head and pulled the trigger. Twice.

  “It didn’t go off and I grabbed it,” he said. “We both had our hands on it. I struck at him and we struggled. I remember the gun was pointing at Gorrell’s head. He may have pulled the trigger again or I may have, but it went off. The second shot came almost instantly, just as the car hit the curb.

  “I was panicky. I guess I was almost hysterical. I put the gun back into the holster. I remembered when Gorrell jerked out the gun the holster flew off.[19] I placed the gun beside his body. I got out of the car and walked to the Owl Tavern. I guess it was about two miles away.

  “I stayed there a few minutes and then went to the Quaker Drug Store where I met Robert Thomas. I told him I just killed Gorrell and explained the reason was the extortion note.

  “That’s the way it happened. It was just his life or mine. I had to do it,” Kennamer said with a smarmy shrug of his shoulders.

  “Gorrell was stronger than you and shouldn’t have had much trouble in overpowering you in the fight,” a reporter asked Kennamer. “How did you manage to turn the gun on him?”

  “I don’t know,” Kennamer replied. “It happened so fast.”

  “When did this kidnapping plot, later changed to one of extortion, originate?” a reporter asked.

  “It was last September that I met two other Tulsa young men[20] who told me of the plot Gorrell was working on, and how they had refused to enter into such a scheme. I decided I would try and find out more about it. I was not going to allow any harm to come to the Wilcox family when, after all, I am very fond of Miss Wilcox and could not see her harmed in any way. I then conceived the idea of joining in the scheme,” Kennamer answered before he lit another cigarette.

  “I learned from one of these two Tulsans, who incidentally are not involved in any way, that the plot was to kidnap Miss Wilcox. An airplane was to be waiting near Tulsa and the girl was to be flown to Kansas City,” Kennamer said. She was then to be tucked away and guarded in a suburban hideaway until the ransom was paid.

  “After my investigation, I went to Kansas City about the middle of November and found Gorrell,” Kennamer began again as he moved from the rocking chair to the bed. “We talked a bit and then I remarked how I heard something was coming against the Wilcox family. When Gorrell discovered I was interested, he said he did not know that I would be interested in anything like this.”

  At this point, the nineteen-year-old began to crack a smile as he told of how he had outsmarted his adversary.

  “I replied I was in for anything that had easy money connected with it. We talked over the original plot and I told him it was way too complicated. I said it had too many people in it and that the better way was merely to write Homer Wilcox an extortion note.

  “I told him I’d discussed extortion news with Mr. Wilcox and that I knew he would pay off. Actually, I’ve seen Mr. Wilcox only twice in my life and have never discussed extortion or anything else with him,” Kennamer said with some animation.

  “All we had to do was write an extortion note and Wilcox would pay off. We agreed to this plot. I suggested that Gorrell write a letter but we decided to wait awhile. My idea was to get that letter as evidence of the plot.”

  Since Oliver had reported seeing rubber gloves, Kennamer had to explain the rubber gloves. He also had to explain the hunting knife. Why would a young man go to Kansas City and buy rubber gloves and a hunting knife as soon as he got there? His reason for purchasing them was to fool his co-conspirator into thinking he could write the letter without leaving evidence behind. Kennamer’s cleverness, he pointed out to reporters, was in knowing full well the handwriting could be matched to Gorrell.

  “I knew it wouldn’t make any difference whether there were fingerprints or not,” he confidently declared. “The science of handwriting detection is sufficient to incriminate him.”

  It was a good story, but he forgot about one small thing: that he had told Huff he planned on wearing the rubber gloves “when he stabbed his friend.”

  Kennamer then explained to the reporters that Gorrell had been too drunk to write the letter that night of November 20, and it was put off until the next day.

  “We went to bed and the first thing Gorrell said in the morning was a suggestion about writing the letter. I stood over him while he wrote the letter. It threatened harm to members of the Wilcox family if the amount demanded, $20,000, was not paid. I was to take the letter and mail it. It was addressed to H. F. Wilcox and marked ‘Personal’ and ‘Air Mail.’

  “Gorrell was so anxious to write the letter that when he woke up, I remarked that it wasn’t so important that he would have to get me out of bed.”

  Even if Gorrell did write the extortion note, Kennamer never explained why he didn’t turn it over to police when he returned from Kansas City. As for the knife, he told them, it was purchased in anticipation of the deer hunting season. But as for why it was in his bag, Kennamer would not talk about that, either.

  Although he had put responsibility for Gorrell’s death back on Gorrell, Kennamer had more explaining to do. Huff would be a star witness against him in the preliminary hearing next week, and he had to chip away at his account of their inebriated car ride to Tulsa.

  “Later that day, with the letter in my pocket, we contacted an aviator to obtain passage to Tulsa. We talked to Floyd Huff,” Kennamer said. “Due to the weather Huff refused to fly but offered to drive me to Tulsa. Later that day, I started to Tulsa with Huff. We had a few drinks and he made some remark about Gorrell and a deal he had been trying to make in the purchase of a plane.”

  According to Kennamer, Huff was angry with Gorrell for pretending to be financially capable of buying an airplane from him and suggested that Gorrell was “crazy.”

  “‘I’ll show you how crazy he really is,’” Kennamer said he told him.

  “Then I showed him the note,” he said. “But I made no threats against the life of Gorrell. When we reached Pittsburg, Kansas, we stopped at a hotel and got a room. I took my [bag] to the room. When I opened it, Huff saw the dagger now in possession of the sheriff’s office. I had a pair of rubber surgical gloves also. I told him that I often had a knife like that which I used when I went deer hunting.

  “I doubt if I get to go deer hunting this year, though,” Kennamer said as his voice trailed off in thought for a moment.

  Returning to his story, he said, “I bought the rubber gloves so that Gorrell could write the letter without leaving any fingerprints on the letter,” Kennamer repeated. “Then we continued to Tulsa and I told Huff that I was going to wait for Gorrell to come to Tulsa and then stop the extortion plot.”

  Kennamer’s account skirted Huff’s claim that Kennamer described to him a daring plan to get the dental student up in an airplane and �
�crack Gorrell over the head with a wrench and then bail out in a parachute.” It was a point Huff clearly recalled to investigators because if it had worked, he’d have lost his $8,000 airplane.

  When a reporter asked him about Huff’s claim, Kennamer denied it.

  “I didn’t tell Huff that I planned to stab Gorrell or of a plot to get him in an airplane, slug him in the head and then bail out of the plane with a parachute while Gorrell crashed.”

  But in giving his account of his time with Huff, Kennamer forgot one fine point. It was a point confirmed the next day by a Tribune report that the field manager of the Fairfax Airport in Kansas City recalled that Kennamer had questioned him closely as to whether the plane would carry parachutes or not.

  The death of his friend Sidney Born was a hot-button issue for Phil, and when he was asked about it by a reporter, Kennamer used his friend’s death to his advantage with new claims that could not be confirmed or denied by his dead friend.

  “There isn’t a person in Tulsa that will say that Sidney was the type who would take his own life,” Kennamer said as he lit another cigarette. “He was murdered and I KNOW IT! They bungled the job when they found Born dying in his car and destroyed any evidence that might have offered a clue to the murder.

  “Born could have testified at my trial and blown up the state’s evidence that I hid in Gorrell’s car and deliberately killed Gorrell. The second motive could have been someone feared Born knew too much about the case and his testimony might involve others on the information he had,” Kennamer explained.

  Kennamer then went on to name three young men who had motive to kill Born and that any one or all of them were responsible. He said he had given these names to Sheriff Charles Price and that Price knew the young men.

  “You can’t take that fellow’s story at its face value,” Price said when he was asked about it. “We haven’t got enough on any of those fellows to arrest them.”