Pearl Turner (Disappearance of)

On Friday, October 19, 1923, three-year-old Pearl Turner went missing from her home near White Oak Mountain in Scott County. Pearl was the daughter of Lefa and Linn Turner, sharecroppers living in the Tate community in northeastern Scott County. The Turners had five other children: Rosie, Ruby, Flossie, Wallace, and Arthur.

On the day of Pearl’s disappearance, the family members, including some of the children, were doing their daily chores. Linn was chopping wood and decided it would be prudent to have more ricks for the winter. He hitched his wagon to the family plow horse and called for Rosie and Ruby to help him. The three started out for the forest, but Rosie turned to see Pearl running behind the wagon. Linn stopped and instructed Rosie to take her sister back to the house. Rosie and Pearl had a special bond, since it was usually Rosie who babysat Pearl when the others were working or doing chores. Rosie coaxed Pearl back home with some wild blackberries growing along the road and left her at the gate going into their yard. When Rosie got back to the wagon, she looked back to see Pearl sitting on the gate watching them ride off. This was the last time Pearl was ever seen by a member of the Turner family.

It was around mid-day before Lefa realized Pearl was missing. The family looked for her around the house and nearby woods and quickly realized the seriousness of the situation. Linn Turner ran to the home of his landlord, L. P. Wilson, about a quarter mile down the road. Wilson sent his two boys to gather more men and form a search party. Around thirty men showed up to help look for Pearl the first night of her disappearance. They sent John Idle, a local landowner who had a Model T, into Waldron (Scott County) to inform the sheriff and gather more men to help search.

Sheriff Charles Allen organized a massive search party on Saturday, and by Sunday almost 1,000 people had reportedly arrived at the Turners’ home to help search for Pearl. After searching all day Sunday without any sign of Pearl, everyone was discouraged and suspicious that something else may have happened to the girl. It occurred to Sheriff Allen that Pearl may have been kidnapped from her home and he alerted neighboring police agencies in Fort Smith (Sebastian County) and Van Buren (Crawford County) about the situation.

On October 23, the number of searchers reportedly grew to more than 1,500. People from as far away as Fort Smith and Van Buren had arrived to help search, but by Wednesday morning there was still no sign of Pearl. The story was publicized by media sources nationwide, with local newspapers and radio stations reporting on it daily. Likewise, newspapers in New York, Ohio, Missouri, Oklahoma, Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and California were carrying the story. It was truly a nationwide media sensation. Over the next three weeks, homes were searched, suspects were questioned, and numerous false reports were investigated.

In early November, local hermit Chalmers Ferguson accused Preacher G. B. Corey and his family of having kidnapped Pearl, but no sign of Pearl was found at Corey’s home. Soon after, Ferguson also accused Tate Constable Jack Smith of having seen Pearl at the Corey home and also leveled accusations at Pearl’s father, Linn Turner, of being involved in her disappearance.

On November 5, the sheriff had planned to take all of the accused into Waldron before a judge; however, heavy rain prevented them from traveling, and an impromptu hearing was held at Justice of the Peace J. P. Tucker’s home in Tate. Chalmers Ferguson was expected to present himself but never arrived. The sheriff and several men decided that Ferguson was essential to the hearing. They traveled to his cottage near the top of the western slope of Mount Magazine, but he was not there.

On November 8, Lefa Turner traveled to Fort Smith to visit local clairvoyant Mrs. Bailey at the urging of several citizens from Booneville (Logan County). She was accompanied by Mrs. Max Hampton and her husband, who owned the newspaper in Booneville. The trio stayed the night and went to see Bailey early the next morning. Bailey offered words of hope to Lefa and assured her that Pearl would be returned to her.

On November 10, Sheriff Allen received a letter from the chief of police in Picher, Oklahoma, stating that Pearl had been located in a boarding house there. This was the most significant claim that Pearl was alive during the entire investigation.

The boarding house was owned by Mrs. B. D. Wells. Two weeks prior, a man named Bill Holman had arrived with his daughter and paid for two weeks’ room and board. However, after the first week, Holman was arrested in Miami, Oklahoma, for possessing a forged check. He advised Wells to look after his daughter until he could be released. During a conversation between Wells and Holman’s daughter, she stated that her name was Elizabeth Holman but that it used to be Pearl Turner. Wells, knowing of Pearl Turner’s disappearance, notified the authorities immediately.

Sheriff Allen traveled to Fort Smith the next day with deputy Glen Epsy and went to the Southwest American newspaper office where staff reporter Hal Munsey was waiting for him. Munsey had been crucial to the investigation up to this point, finding leads and other information for the sheriff. The three left Fort Smith for Picher immediately. They arrived at the boarding house and questioned the little girl claiming to be Pearl. She had a very similar appearance to Pearl and even had scars around her right ear that Pearl would also have had. The girl repeated the same story she had told Wells to Sheriff Allen. She also indicated that she was led away from her home by a man and woman promising candy, shoes, and stockings. Hal Munsey took several photographs of the girl to show the Turners.

After leaving the boarding house, they went to the Ottawa County jail to interview Bill Holman, who was adamant that the child was his and that his wife had been dead for three years. The three men left for Fort Smith the next day and waited for Lefa Turner. Around 10:30 a.m., Lefa walked into the newspaper office and was handed Muney’s photographs. She looked at them for several minutes but declared that the child was not Pearl Turner. The next day, Munsey ran the updated story in the Southwest Times with a photograph he had taken of the child in Picher.

It was not long before the photograph was identified by Mrs. Mattie Killins of Fort Smith. Killins was the older sister of Bill Holman’s deceased wife Nina Holman and biological aunt to Elizabeth Holman. She called the newspaper and was visited by Munsey. She showed other photos to Munsey and told him she would take Elizabeth in and raise her if they would let her. Likewise, the photo was also identified by Dora Crabtree of Fort Smith, who was familiar with Bill and Elizabeth and had apparently cared for Elizabeth for about five months after the death of Elizabeth’s mother Nina.

On November 13, Chalmers Ferguson reappeared in the Southwest Times office. He had seen the picture in the paper as well and was sure it was Pearl Turner. Ferguson told Munsey that he was going to Picher to identify the child. His train arrived the next day, and he made his way to the boarding house. He sat with the child and sang songs, which she reportedly recognized and sang with him. Ferguson was sure it was Pearl and left to notify the Turners.

Before he returned home, Ferguson visited the Ottawa County Jail to meet A. L. Commons, the Ottawa County attorney. Ferguson and Commons sat down with Bill Holman, while Ferguson described what had happened at the house. Holman maintained that the child was his and that he could prove it. Ferguson then gave Commons a license plate number off a vehicle that was supposedly used to abduct Pearl. Holman admitted that he had come part of the way to Picher in a vehicle but refused to say where it was. Ferguson also claimed that Holman’s real name was Hawkins and that he was a distant relative of the Turners. This claim was apparently substantiated by another police officer John Stout, who claimed he knew Holman in 1916 when the two were working in a mine together and that he went by Hawkins then. Ferguson left but returned to Picher to stay until the matter was officially resolved. He sent a telegram to Booneville informing the citizens about the events. Several people then raised funds for Lefa to travel to Picher and see the girl in person.

On November 16, Lefa with her daughter Rosie and infant son Arthur arrived in Miami, Oklahoma, with Sheriff Allen. When they arrived at Mrs. Wells’s boarding house, about 100 people were waiting on her lawn. Lefa entered the home while Rosie waited on the porch with Arthur. The child got up from her seat and Lefa knew immediately that it was not Pearl. Rosie entered moments later and confirmed the same. They did not recognize the girl, and the girl did not recognize them.

One last search around White Oak Mountain was performed with about 200 men. Nothing was found. By the end of November, the matter was officially closed; however, Lefa continued to search and pray for the return of her daughter. In January 1924, she traveled to Poplar Bluff, Missouri, for another false claim. Afterward, she traveled to Takee, Missouri, to visit a well-known fortune teller named Josie Forbes.

The Turners eventually left Scott County, like so many other sharecroppers, and settled in the San Joaquin Valley in California. Linn Turner died on December 15, 1970, and Lefa on January 30, 1973. The disappearance of Pearl Turner remains an unsolved mystery.

For additional information:
“1000 Men Expected to Join in Hunt for Three Year Old Babe of Mountain Resident.” Times Record (Fort Smith, Arkansas), November 2, 1923, p. 1.

“Child Identified as Pearl Turner in Woman’s Care.” Joplin Globe, November 11, 1923, p. 1.

O’ Nale, John P. A Trio of Tragedy. Waldron, AR: Scott County Historical and Genealogical Society, 1999.

“Turners Would Revive Search for Lost Tot. Southwest American (Fort Smith, Arkansas), November 5, 1924, p. 3.

Yates, Bill. Pearl: Lost Girl of White Oak Mountain. N.p.: Morris Publishing, 2020.

Ty Richardson
Scott County Museum of History