Camden People - Mary McClyment

MARY McCLYMENT was born in New Jersey on September 19, 1910, the daughter of Walter and Myrtle McClyment. The family was living in Camden by 1919, and at the time of the 1920 Census was living at 610 Carman Street. Walter McClyment was working as a bolter in one of Camden's many shipyards.

At the time of the 1930 Census she was living with her mother Myrtle and younger brother James at 525 William Street in Camden NJ, and working as a waitress. Her parents had separated, Walter McClyment and it appears that Walter and Mary McClyment had parted family several year previously. Walter McClyment was then living in Burlington NJ, and working as a metal cutter in a metal works.

Mary had a bit of a wild streak. At 17, she eloped with Hershel A. Lake, of Williamstown NJ to Elkton MS, where the two wed, on July 5, 1926, Her marriage to the 36 year old Lake lasted all of seven hours. On October 7, 1930 she was at a party in the Blenheim section of Gloucester Township. she fatally shot Edward Nicholson. This earned her a sentence to the New Jersey state prison for women at Clinton NJ. She was the first person to be sentenced in the courtrooms of the then new City Hall, on January 6, 1931.

After two years in prison, Mary McClyment was paroled. She could not remain out of trouble, and on February 5, 1933 was arrested in Central PA with a friend from prison, Anna Roland (who if anything was wilder than Mary), her brother James, and two other people. This earned her a trip back to prison.

Mary McClyment spent her last years in Cape May NJ. She passed away on December 19, 2001. Her brother James, last a resident of Bellmawr NJ, died in February of 1993.

Camden Courier-Post - February 6, 1933

MARY McCLYMENT & 4 PALS CAUGHT IN RAID
Cops End Gay Party Lasting Five Days
In 'Borrowed' House
Camden Girl Served Two Years After Killing At Blenheim
ON PAROLE FROM N. J. REFORMATORY
Five Accused of Entering Closed Home
to Stage 'Marathon' Frolic

The lure of unbridled gayety and dangerous diversion has once more led Mary McC]yment to jail.

Mary, who is 23, promised to "be good" when she was paroled from the New Jersey State Reformatory for Women, where she served two years for manslaughter. The case attracted wide attention because the bullet which killed a man at Blenheim where she attended a party, never was found.

The black-eyed Camden girl was nabbed with four others on a charge of breaking and entering a palatial cottage at Powl's Valley, 15 miles north of Harrisburg, and suspicion of robbery.

Included in the party were her brother, James, 22, with whom she resided at 525 William street; Anna Rolland, 25, also known as Marion Parris, "blonde gun girl" in the "Little Club" murder here in 1930; her sister, Nellie Wessner, 22, both of Philadelphia, and William Eager, 32, former Maryland convict who left his wife and two children destitute in their home at Bellmawr.

Eager was said to have possessed a large sum of money when the group was arrested.

Crime Clippings Found

In searching effects of. the five Pennsylvania troopers said they discovered newspaper clippings relating the shooting of "Mickey" Duffy in Atlantic City, and the Olney bank robbery.

According to the Pennsylvania police the five were enjoying a gay party that extended from last Tuesday, when they broke into the cottage, until Saturday morning when the raid was made. At their hearing they said they were on the way to Minersville, Pa., to visit relatives of the Rolland and Wessner women, when the car in which they were riding ran out of fuel in the mountainous area. They decided to "put up" at the cottage, which is located on what is known as the Bordner estate.

The five were jailed in default of $500 bail each for arraignment today before Alderman Armstrong at Harrisburg. Fingerprints and other descriptive details of the group were sent New Jersey state police at Hammonton. Atlantic City authorities also were informed but it was not known whether they would attach any significance to discovery of newspaper clippings of Duffy's murder.

Killed at Party

Arrest of the McClyment girl marked her first appearance in public print since November 25 last, when she was granted a parole from the correctional institution at Clinton.

Then the calm, chastened girl promised "to be good," and "wanted to forget" the slaying of Edward Nicholson on October 7, 1930, at the Blenheim farmhouse of 65-year-old Joseph Van Dexter. That case proved a tragic climax of a gay drinking party.

Just before she was sentenced on January 6, 1931, by Judge Samuel M. Shay, Mary was revealed as a figure in a broken romance. Her marriage to Hershel A. Lake, of Williamstown, took place July 5, 1926, at Elkton MD. At that time Mary was 17 and her husband 36. They lived together only seven hours.

During her trial Mary never mentioned her husband. Nearly 1000 persons crowded about the courtroom and corridors curious to see the tear stained face of the girl as she heard her sentence meted out. It was the first case disposed of in the new city hall criminal court room.

She Promised Well

During her imprisonment Mary was described as "a model inmate." She took correspondence courses in commercial subjects sent from Rutger's University and for a time before her release was secretary of the Student Government Association at the state home. A part of her time there was spent in supervising a group of other inmates in gardening.

Upon her return to the home of her mother, Mrs. Myrtle McClyment, at the William street address, Mary avowed to "go straight," and expressed an eagerness to get a job.

The other women arrested with Mary gave their address as 2337 South Bancroft street, Philadelphia. Police say there is no record of the Wessner woman but disclosed that her sister twice escaped from the state home at Clinton. Each time she was recaptured in Philadelphia, the last occasion being when she was in the company of two Chinese.

As Marion Parrish she was a witness in the murder of Angelo A. Solury, 26, of Waterbury CT, a seaman attached to the USS Chester. It was revealed she was Solury's sweetheart for three months prior to his death, which occurred at a speakeasy on Mt. Vernon Street.

Albert Saunders, 24, of 949 Newton Avenue, subsequently was tried and acquitted of murder.

The Parrish woman, who admitted she was a "gun girl," was sentenced to three months in jail on a weapons charge and later given an indeterminate term in the reformatory for perjury. She told police she was twice threatened with death while in the city jail. The alleged perjured testimony was given before Supreme Court Justice Frank T. Lloyd at a habeas corpus hearing on August 8, 1930.

Mrs. Edwinna Eager, 25, wife of one of the men nabbed with Mary, yesterday expressed the hope that her husband be given "a stiff sentence" in jail. Pennsylvania police disclosed he served 18 months in the Maryland state prison on a charge

Camden Courier-Post - February 9, 1933

Girl Will Be Returned to Reformatory for Violating Parole

Harrisburg, Pa.. Feb. 8.-Detainers were lodged today against Mary McClyment, 23, of Camden, and Marion Parris, 25, of Philadelphia, by New Jersey authorities who charge they violated paroles.

The women were among five persons arrested last Saturday by Pennsylvania state troopers who raided a cottage at Powl's Valley, 15 miles from here. All were charged with breaking and entering. It is alleged they forced their way into the dwelling January 31 and staged wild parties that subsequently attracted attention of the troopers.

The McClyment girl was paroled last November 24 from the New Jersey State Reformatory for Women, at Clinton, N. J., and the Parris woman, known as the 'blonde gun girl," was released last December. They were chums in the institution.

Captured with the women were Mrs. Nellie Wessner, 22, sister of the Parris woman, of 2337 South Bancroft street, Philadelphia; James McClyment, 22, who resides with his sister at 525 William Street, Camden, and William Eager, 32, of Rose Avenue, Bellmawr, N. J. The latter, according to police, admitted serving 18 months in the Maryland state prison on a charge of bigamy. He was released in 1925, he said. Eager has a wife, Edwinna, 25, and two children at their Bellmawr home.

Officials of the New Jersey Home for Women ask return of the two women for breaking parole.

Camden Courier-Post - February 11, 1933

WIFE ACCUSES PAL OF MARY McCLYMENT
Man Nabbed in Bungalow Raid Charged With Deserting Family

A detainer charging; him with desertion of his wife and three children was lodged against William Eager, 32, of Rose avenue, Bellmawr, who was arrested several days ago with Mary McClyment, 23, of Camden, in Powl's Valley, Pa.

The complaint was made yesterday to Justice of the Peace J. Wallace by Mrs. Edwina Eager, also of the Bellmawr address. She was sent to Wallace's office by Chief of County Detectives Lawrence T. Doran.

A copy of the warrant was sent to the sheriff of Dauphin county by Doran with the request that he be turned over to the authorities here after disposition of breaking and entering charges on which he is now being held.

Eager is one of a party of five arrested in a cottage at Pawl's Valley, 15 miles from Harrisburg, when the police raided the bungalow.

Besides Eager and Miss McClyment, the others being held for grand jury action are: Marion Parris, 25, "blonde gun girl" in a speakeasy murder in Camden in 1930; Mrs. Nellie Wessner, 22, sister of the Parris woman, and James McClyment, 22, the paroled girl's brother..