Past Detective Has Historian Future
Mike Worden brings family history with him to his new appointment as Deerpark town historian, including history that compelled him to write a book now close to completion. After over 22 years as a detective and in other positions with the Port Jervis Police Department, he recently retired with writing projects in motion, as well as several books on historical crimes and paranormal investigation already published.
An incident involving his “great grand-aunt,” Mary Jane, launched his current project, a book aiming to solve mysteries surrounding the Port Jervis lynching of Robert Lewis in 1892. A flawed trial had blamed “persons unknown.”
“I grew up hearing about it because of the family connection,” said Worden.
His great grandmother’s half-sister, Mary Jane Clark, had worked at a harness factory on Prospect St. and was having lunch by the river on the day of the lynching, he said. She heard the alleged rape victim, Lena McMahon, screaming by the river and went to help her.
“So many questions were left unanswered. What happened by the river? Was it a rape? By whom? Was Lewis the rapist? What happened to Lewis? How was he taken from police custody? What happened to Lena? Did PJ Foley instigate the rape?
Worden has met with Philip Dray, a Pulitzer nominated author, who is also completing a book on the lynching. Worden sees his angle as quite different.
“He’s focusing on the lynching in a national context. I’m writing from a criminal investigation point of view, ” said Worden. “The biggest, scariest lesson from the lynching of Robert Lewis is that he was a local resident people knew, not a stranger. It was a small close-knit community, so this was very shocking.”
Reading 1890’s newspapers, Worden noticed how, in the north, decrying the lynching, the press “felt sophisticated compared to the South,” where sex between a black man and a white man was condemned as deserving of lynching. But Worden’s investigation pointed to the involvement of some educated people—although some also tried to save Lewis. Noticeable among those was William Crane, the attorney brother of Stephen Crane.
Later stories showed the fear that lingered in the Black community after the lynching, Worden said. However, as he seeks the last precise details for his book, he is delayed by closed and understaffed archives, hampered by the pandemic.
“This is a sensitive topic that needs to be told accurately,” he said.