Roadhouse Characters

Clarence Storms

 

 

 

 

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Clarence Storms

Introduction to Clarence Storms

The most difficult puzzle to resolve in telling the story of the Plank Road roadhouses was determining if there were two persons named Clarence Storms. Was the Clarence Storms that ran the café at 1200 Wolf St., for a while in 1923, the same Clarence Storms who was shot and killed at the White Rock Inn on the evening of June 14, 1933?

Clarence and his partner, and killer, Harold Stearn, had just leased and renamed the place the White Rock Inn and were in their first week of business together.

 

In an accompanying document, The Possible Duality of Clarence Storms [McGraw, 2014-10-15], it was determined that there was only one Clarence Storms.

 

The Clarence Storms’ Time Line

Clarence Storms was 11 years old and living with his family in Syracuse in 1900. He had some early run ins with the law and later ran a grocery store, a restaurant and also Pard Orton’s place for a little while in 1923.

 

In 1920 Clarence F. and Helen Storms (his wife) were living at 303 Tully St., in Syracuse’s 12th ward. Clarence listed his occupation as a machinist at a gear factory. Clarence was 30 and Helen was 33. Strangely though, the September 27, 1921 paper reported that Clarence Storms, 250 Holland St. and Helen Baxter of 706(?) South West St. obtained a marriage license. Helen (Ella) Baxter had previously married William Jones, in Auburn, NY, in 1902 or before.

 

Harold M. Stearn’s wife was Bessie Ball, she was married once before, about 1911, to Elmer Ball. They had separated in about 1914 and never divorced. She married Harold M. Stearn, who was at that time going by the name Harold M. McBride, on August 13, 1921, in Bay City, Michigan. Helen and Bessie Baxter were sisters originally from Auburn, NY.

 

Storms ran into some trouble in Syracuse and skipped town for a while and then returned and was arrested for bail jumping. He had some liquor law violation problems in 1929, with a restaurant he was running on South West St and went to Auburn, NY for a while. He left Auburn in about 1930 and might have gone to Chicago to work for his brother-in-law, Harold Stearn, for a time.

 

Returning to Syracuse

By early 1933, Clarence and his wife Ellen had returned to Syracuse and were running the Union Labor Club on South West St. The Stern couple came to Syracuse from Chicago and moved in with Storms. Both families moved to the larger flat at James Corcoran’s house at 334 Seymour St. Storms and Stearn went into business together and leased the Maples and renamed it The White Rock Inn. The partnership had problems and this led to Stearn shooting and killing Storms on the evening of June 14, 1933. 

 

From Mrs. Storms’ testimony: “...her husband’s business career – largely a matter of ‘keeping restaurants,’ as such establishments were known under prohibition – up to May of last year. Then she pictured him as proprietor of the Union Labor Club in S. West st., where he tended bar and waited on customers and she did the cooking.”

 

“One night when they closed the place and walked downstairs to the sidewalk, she said, they met her sister and Stearn, here for what was intended to be a visit. They had been living in Chicago, where Stearn was a contractor, but had been compelled by economic conditions to give up their home there. The four, two sisters and their husbands, went to the Storms’ home at 320 S. West st., where they lived in crowded quarters until a larger flat could be rented at 334 Seymour st. and the two families installed. Stearn, she said, went into partnership with Storms and rated as co-proprietor of the Union Labor Club.”

 

Both families moved to the larger flat at James Corcoran’s house at 334 Seymour St. Storms and Stearn went into business together and leased the Maples and renamed it The White Rock Inn. It is uncertain if Corcoran played any role in that decision. The partnership had problems and on the night of the shooting Corcoran had been at the White Rock Inn and his language and comments about Stearn’s wife all these seemed to push Stearn over the edge. [James Corcoran was a real character and his story is told elsewhere on this site.]

 

 

 

The Jury in the Stearn's Murder Trial

 

The Shooting and The Trial

Clarence Storms was shot and killed by his brother-in-law and business partner, Harold M. Stearn, the evening of June 14, 1933. The shooting took place at the White Rock Inn, formerly The Maples, on old Liverpool Road. They had just leased the establishment the week before. [1933-06-15a], [1933-06-15b], [1933-06-15c].

 

The Grand Jury indicted Stearn on 1st Degree murder, he pled not guilty and a trial followed. He was found guilty and sentenced to death in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison. An appeal was filed but the verdict and sentence were upheld. Stearn was resigned to his fate and but his wife made a personal appeal to the governor and Stearn’s sentence was commuted to life in prison.

 

NOTES:

[McGraw, 2014-10-15] - The Possible Duality of Clarence Storms, Michael F. McGraw, October 15, 2014.

[1933-06-15a] – Clarence Storms Killed by Inn Partner – Part 1, The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, June 15, 1933.

[1933-06-15b] – Clarence Storms Killed by Inn Partner – Part 2, The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, June 15, 1933.

[1933-06-15c] – “Wives Tell of Slayer Offering Gun To Victim For Duel,” The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, June 15, 1933.

More Trial References 

[1933-06-16] – “Stearn Pleads Not Guilty When Arraigned In Murder Of Beer Garden Partner,” Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Friday, June 16, 1933.

[1933-06-17] – “Grand Jury To Get Slaying On Tuesday,” The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Saturday, June 17, 1933.

[1933-06-19] – “19 Will Tell Of Storms’ Shooting,” The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Monday, June 19, 1933.

[1933-06-21] – “Storms Widow Before Jury,” The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Wednesday, June 21, 1933.

[1933-06-24] – “Indict Stearns For Murder 1st Degree,” The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Saturday, June 24, 1933.

[1933-06-26] – “‘Not Guilty’ Is Plea Of Stearn,” The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Monday, June 26, 1933.

[1933-11-19] – “Stearn Ready to Fight Murder Charge,” The Syracuse American, Syracuse, NY, Sunday, November 19, 1933.

[1934-04-23] – “Stearn Confident Jury Will Free Him Of Murder,” The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Monday, April 23, 1934.

[1934-05-12] - "Witnesses Say Stearn Sane," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Saturday, May 12, 1934.

[1934-05-15] - "Defense Ends In Stearn Case," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Tuesday, May 15, 1934.

[1934-05-16a] - "Jury Likely To Find Verdict Tonight," Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, Wednesday, May 16, 1934.

[1934-05-16b] - "Jury Likely To Find Verdict Tonight," - Part 2, Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, Wednesday, May 16, 1934.

[1934-05-17a] - "Stearn Rages as Jail Death Watch Starts," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, May 17, 1934.

[1934-05-17b] - "Stearn Rages as Jail Death Watch Starts,"-Part 2, The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, May 17, 1934.

[1934-05-22a] - "Stearn Hears Death Sentence Stoically," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY ,Tuesday, May 22, 1934.

[1934-05-22b] - "Stearn Hears Death Sentence Stoically," - Part 2, The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY ,Tuesday, May 22, 1934.

[1935-01-10] - "Stearn Scorns To Ask For Life," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, January 10, 1935.

[1935-02-20] - "Hopes For Stearn Are Fading," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Wednesday, February 20, 1935.

[1935-02-21] - "Saved From Execution By Wife," The Syracuse Journal, Syracuse, NY, Thursday, February 21, 1935.