Pennsylvania
Family of Black Pa. teen wrongly executed in 1931 seeks damages after 2022 exoneration
The family of the youngest person ever executed in the state of Pennsylvania — a Black 16-year-old sent to the electric chair in 1931 and exonerated by the governor in 2022 — is suing the county that prosecuted him.
Alexander McClay Williams was convicted of murder in the October 1930 icepick stabbing of a white woman in her cottage on the grounds of his reform school.
Vida Robare, 34, had been stabbed 47 times. Her ex-husband, who also worked at the school, reported finding the body, and a photograph of an adult’s bloody handprint, taken at the scene, was examined by two fingerprint experts. But that wasn’t mentioned at the trial, nor was the fact that she had been granted a divorce on the grounds of “extreme cruelty.”
The 5-foot-5, 125-pound Williams instead quickly became a suspect, even though his hands were smaller, there were no eyewitnesses and no evidence linked him to the crime. He was held for days of interrogation without his parents or a lawyer on hand, and ultimately signed three confessions, researchers found.
He was convicted by an all-white jury on January 7, 1931, and executed five months later, on June 8.
“They murdered him,” Susie Williams Carter, 94, of Chester, the last surviving sibling in the family of 13 children, said at a press conference Monday. “They need to pay for killing my brother.”
She was only about a year old at the time, and her parents, devastated, did not talk about it much. They had run a boarding house in Coatesville, but abandoned the business and left town as the scandal garnered national attention, she said.
“This tragedy haunted the family, haunted the parents, haunted Susie, haunted (trial lawyer) William Ridley and his family,” said Philadelphia lawyer Joseph Marrone, who filed the federal lawsuit on Friday against Delaware County and the estates of two detectives and a prosecutor who had pursued the case.
“There was nothing to connect him to the murder. He was a convenient Black boy at the hands of these detectives and this prosecutor,” Marrone said.
Gov. Tom Wolf apologized on behalf of Pennsylvania when he exonerated Williams, and called his execution “an egregious miscarriage of justice.” District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said the teen’s constitutional rights had been violated, and a Delaware County judge vacated the conviction.
Williams had been sent to the Glen Mills School for Boys for starting a fire that burned down a barn, Carter said. The 193-year-old school closed in 2019 after a Philadelphia Inquirer investigation into decades-long allegations of child abuse.
Author and educator Samuel Lemon had known about the case since he was a child because Williams was defended at trial by his great-grandfather, William H. Ridley. The only Black lawyer in Delaware County at the time, Ridley had been paid $10 for the trial, with no support for investigators or experts. He faced off against a team of 15.
Lemon researched the case, tracking down the 300-page trial transcript, and found problems with the evidence, including documents that show Williams’ age incorrectly listed as 18, not 16, along with the husband’s history of abuse.
“As I unpeeled the layers, it became quite evident to me that Alexander McClay Williams was innocent,” Lemon said. “This was kind of a legal lynching.”
Carter said the truth about her brother might never have been known if not for the work by Lemon and others.
“My mother kept saying, ‘Alex didn’t do that. There’s no way he could have done that.’ She was right. But it affected us all,” she said.
LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — Cherries, strawberries, peaches — normally all easy to find at local farms this time of the year — but some orchards are still feeling the impact of a freeze that killed many of those fruits.
What’s normally a busy season is a quiet one for the Honey Bear Orchard after an April freeze took all their fruit crops for this year.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | ‘It just froze them’: Honey Bear Orchards loses $200K, fruit crops in April freeze
“We usually start Father’s Day with sweet cherries … and that day, it has just grown into a big day for us,” owner Nelson Heagy said. “Sometimes, the cars are lined up the whole way in the lane, 3 to 400 cars come in that day. Tomorrow it’s going to be quiet.”
The night of April 20, temperatures in Lebanon County dropped below 24 degrees — a devastating blow to farms whose fruit trees were unable to survive the cold temperatures.
In less than 24 hours, Honey Bear Orchards lost dozens of acres of fruit, including cherries, apricots, apples and peaches.
At the time, the orchard estimated it lost around $200,000, but Heagy says that’s not the worst part.
“It’s more the emotional, because financially, yes, we’re geared up for that and it’s meeting the people.”
After Gov. Josh Shapiro called on the USDA to help out Pennsylvania counties impacted by this freeze, the agency announced several counties were eligible for disaster assistance in the form of emergency loans.
READ MORE | Six PA counties included in disaster designation for farmers affected by April freeze
Adams, Chester, Franklin, Fulton, Lancaster and York counties are included.
Absent from that list is Lebanon County, where Honey Bear Orchards is located.
We reached out to the USDA to ask why Lebanon County wasn’t included, but we haven’t heard back yet.
However, Heagy says it’s likely because there’s only two orchards in the county.
“A lot of people reached out and said, ‘What can we do?’” he said. “And it’s simply come back next year.”
They’re not the only farm that has to make do this season — Forge Hill Orchards in York County lost half of its crop in the April freeze.
Despite that, retail manager Abby Naylor says they’re lucky because they still have a little bit of everything.
“I think the best thing that people can do is just to buy local and help support the farmers that really lost a lot of their stuff.”
The Pennsylvania Beef Council recently launched the inaugural Pennsylvania Beef Trail with menu tastings at two highlighted trail stops in Berks County.
Held in May to celebrate Beef Month, the event brought together Pennsylvania Beef Council leadership, Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding, local restaurant partners, beef producers and community members to celebrate Pennsylvania beef, local food businesses and the culinary creativity found across the Commonwealth.
The Pennsylvania Beef Trail highlights restaurants across the state serving standout beef dishes nominated by consumers. Hosted on the Pennsylvania Beef Council website, the trail features an interactive map designed to help Pennsylvanians discover delicious beef dishes by region and plan their own beef-inspired dining experiences.
“The PA Beef Trail is a celebration of everything that makes Pennsylvania beef special: the farmers who raise it, the restaurants that prepare it and the consumers who love it,” Nichole Hockenberry, executive director of the Pennsylvania Beef Council, said in the release.
“Launching the trail during May, which is Beef Month, gave us the perfect opportunity to showcase the connection between agriculture, local businesses, and the meals that bring people together.”
The celebration featured two stops on the trail: Saucony Creek Brewing Company in Kutztown and Deitsch Eck Restaurant in Lenhartsville.
Attendees sampled a variety of featured beef dishes, including pit beef sliders, sausage sandwiches, smoked chuck roast tacos, and Golden Arches flatbread from Saucony Creek Brewing Company, as well as beef pot pie, shepherd’s pie, and The Luther from Deitsch Eck Restaurant.
The launch event also underscored the role of beef in Pennsylvania’s agricultural identity and local economy. By highlighting restaurants that serve creative, consumer-loved beef dishes, the trail encourages residents and visitors to support local businesses while recognizing the farmers and producers behind every plate.
“Pennsylvania beef has a story that stretches from pasture to plate,” Kylie Lusk, director of consumer affairs for the Pennsylvania Beef Council, said in the release. “The PA Beef Trail gives consumers a fun, interactive way to explore that story while discovering restaurants and dishes they may not have tried before. We’re excited to see people use the trail throughout the year to support local restaurants and celebrate beef across the Commonwealth.”
The inaugural PA Beef Trail features 73 stops across Pennsylvania, showcasing a wide variety of dishes, from burgers and brisket to short rib, oxtail ragu and other creative beef-forward menu items. Organized by region, the trail makes it easy for consumers to find nearby stops or plan a road trip around Pennsylvania’s beef destinations.
The Pennsylvania Beef Council encourages consumers to explore the trail, visit participating restaurants, and share their experiences on social media.
To view the interactive map and explore the full PA Beef Trail, visit www.pabeef.org/pa-beef-trail.
President Trump is visiting the Lehigh Valley next week.
Mr. Trump will speak at Mack Trucks in Macungie, Pennsylvania, Tuesday at 2 p.m. Macungie is roughly 10 miles from Allentown.
Mack Trucks is a 1.7 million square-foot facility in Macungie that assembles heavy-duty trucks for North American and export markets, according to its website.
“Mack Trucks are a symbol of America’s manufacturing strength,” Rep. Dan Meuser said in a Facebook post about Mr. Trump’s upcoming visit to Pennsylvania. “Their Lehigh Valley operations are a pillar of the local economy, employing Pennsylvania workers and driving the nation’s trucking industry.”
In the lead-up to the 2024 election, Mr. Trump visited Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state, multiple times. He’s also visitied during his second term.
In December 2025, Mr. Trump said in a speech in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, that he was “crushing” inflation and called affordability concerns a “Democratic hoax.”
One week later, Vice President JD Vance aimed to calm the affordability concerns at a Uline facility in Alburtis, about 13 miles southwest of Allentown.
Tickets are available for Mr. Trump’s visit to Macungie next week on a first-come, first-serve basis.
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