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Bridgeport Public Library : Quiet Dell Discussion Panel

Quiet Dell: A Novel, by Jayne Ann Phillips, will be the center of attention at the Bridgeport Public Library on Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at 6:30pm. The disturbance infamous Harry Powers brought to the area and the nation bubbles back to the fore as a special discussion panel revisits the 1930s through the new Phillips novel. This program is for adults and admission is free.

More information about Powers and the discussion panel is attached courtesy of Phyllis Moore, lead panelist. If you have questions about this event, please contact Sarah Nora at 304-842-8248. Phyllis Wilson Moore on the Quiet Dell Discussion Panel November 19, 2013 at 6:30pm the Bridgeport Public Library will host a retrospective "look" at the ramifications of the most heinous of West Virginia crimes, the 1931 murders of two women and three children in the nearby village of Quiet Dell. Many West Virginia residents grew up hearing about Clarksburg's infamous serial killer Harry Powers, "The Bluebeard of Quiet Dell.” l He was the basis for many cautionary tales about the perils of innocent women. Powers, an immigrant from Holland to Iowa, then Wisconsin, ended up in West Virginia by finding a wife, Lulu Strothers, through a "love lorn" column. They married in the late 1920s and he moved in with her family in Broad Oaks. Being unemployed and married didn't interfere with Powers’ plans to make money. He established an elaborate system to secretly write to and woo rich widows and women looking for a mate. Using the guise of starting a business he used his innocent wife's money to construct a four cell "murder garage "on her family's property, a secluded farm at Quiet Dell. Torture and mayhem followed. Luckily, his West Virginia crime spree was short lived. Powers was apprehended with plans for more "brides" in letters yet unsent. His murderous career fascinated the nation. Reporters descended on Clarksburg and Quiet Dell. The crime scene briefly became a tourist site. Powers-mania, as it was first called, resulted in the creation of a musical, at least four songs, a play, several books of nonfiction, two films, and two novels. The best know works to date are the novel The Night of the Hunter, written by Washington Irving graduated (class of 1938) Davis A. Grubb, and the film of the same name starring a villainous Robert Mitchum. This may soon change. On October 15, 20013, the latest fiction, Quiet Dell: A Novel by Buckhannon's internationally known native, Jayne Anne Phillips, made its debut. Giving the popularity of Phillips' work and her well established reputation, the crime will soon be in the nation's attention, at least in literary circles. Phillip's and Grubb's novels and other works pertaining to the crime will be the focus of the evening's four person panel. Chaired by Harrison County resident and literary historian Phyllis Wilson Moore, panel members include Harrison County native Steve Goff, Gilmer County author June Langford Berkeley, and Harrison County native John J. Fazio, a retired rehabilitation counselor. Each panel member will offer a unique view: Goff portrayed Powers in a local Arts Center production and has published articles about the crime. Berkeley grew up hearing about the crime and snuck into the family parlor to listen repeatedly to the first ballad written about it, "The Crime at Quiet Dell". Fazio recalls his uncle's collection of photographs and materials about the crime and his own childhood “memories of quietly edging open a desk drawer to peek at them. The free historical program is suitable for an adult audience and will feature a display of works assembled by panel members as well as a handout on the extensive materials help by the Bridgeport Public Library.