MUSEUM CORNER September 2021
In 1904, Martha Johnson’s Boarding House was a place where townspeople and teachers could eat. Inset undated: Capt. John D. Alexander was a lawyer in practice with Moses F. Dunn. He was lame in his right hip from an 1864 wound received at the Civil War Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. He was the last person to see Miss Schafer before her murder later that evening.
It was a dark, raw and rainy winter night
By Becky Buher
On the fateful night of Jan. 21, 1904, lawyer Capt. John D. Alexander walked next door to have his supper. It was convenient for him to have his meals at Mrs. Martha Johnson’s house because it was just across the alley from the Winstandley house where he lodged.
Martha Johnson’s boarding house was located in a cottage that Fred Norton owned. The Norton’s had moved this cottage from the northwest corner of 15th and L Streets to the side yard near the alley and had built their own house on the corner.
It was common for local families who might have some extra room in their house, to rent rooms in their private homes to lodgers. Capt. Alexander’s wife, Mary, had died of diphtheria in 1900 so he had given up his house, and as a widower, he chose to live at the Winstandley house at 1407 L Street, about a block from his former 1321 M Street home.
Capt. Alexander was still living with the Winstandley’s in 1910 when the census recorded William and Alice Winstandley as homeowners, Jane Earl as a cook, and two more lodgers, 37 year-old Charles Haynes and 28 year-old George Haynes.
But on that night in 1904, Capt. Alexander and some 18 to 20 teachers and townspeople were eating at Martha Johnson’s house. The principal of Bedford High School, Miss Arda Knox, was at supper that night. When she arrived, Latin teacher, Miss Sarah Schafer was already there. Another teacher, Miss Lillian Stout was there. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur McCain, who lived on L Street and boarded at Mrs. Johnson’s, were there, too, as was a Mrs. Beasley. Conversation that Thursday night was lively.
Miss Schafer left about 6:15 p.m., and upon reaching the gate, she returned to deliver to Miss Knox a message from Mrs. Duncan, who was Dr. James B. Duncan’s wife. They lived next door in the house on the corner of 14th and L streets.
Mr. McCain later said that Capt. Alexander had eaten with Miss Schafer, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Beasley.
When Miss Schafer left the boarding house again after delivering the note, she was apparently in a happy mood.
In just minutes, she would be dead.
In the newspaper the next day, “The Daily Mail” reported, “Capt. J. D. Alexander says: ‘It was about 6:30, as near as I can remember, that I left for my room at Mr. Winstandley’s, the next house north of the boarding house. I was walking slowly, being lame, and talking in a low tone to myself, as I have a habit of doing when alone, when Miss Schafer overtook me going northward.’ I said, ‘Miss Schafer, did you hear me talking to myself?’ She laughed and replied, ‘No, I was singing and did not hear you.’ Then I went into Mr. Winstandley’s gate and she went on.”
Capt. Alexander was the last person to see her—except, of course, the person who killed her.
Electric streetlights were available only in select areas of Bedford. Transportation was actual horse power. Reliable fingerprinting technology was not yet available in the city. Miss Schafer’s murder officially remains unsolved.
The museum has published a new book entitled, “Who Murdered Sarah Schafer.” Years after the murder, Prosecutor Robert G. Miller created a scrapbook from his 1904 records on the investigation and suspect James McDonald’s trial. The 1904 pictures and records found in his scrapbook have never before been made public and can be seen and read for the first time. Readers can follow the news coverage of the murder and learn what investigators were thinking. Thanks to the Hon. Judge Nathan G. Nikirk, the Hon. Judge Andrea K. McCord and the office of the Lawrence County Circuit Court for providing scrapbook access and reproduction rights.
“Who Murdered Sarah Schafer” also includes Deputy Prosecutor, Eli B. Stephenson’s booklet in which he vaguely suggests who the murderer may have been. Readers will have to “read between the lines” to discover his thoughts. His daughter, Lola Stephenson Louden, said in 1968 that prod as they would, not even a member of the Stephenson family was ever able to get from her father, the name of the man whom he felt killed Miss Schafer.
“Who Murdered Sarah Schafer” is a comprehensive book, and it includes evidence, suspects, confessions, memories, rumors and theories. It is available at the museum gift shop.