Project number: [JOWBR, USA-05364]
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FROST CEMETERY of NAVARRO AOUNTY, TX, USA

To Everything There is a Season (by Danny Gillespie)

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

On Tuesday night, August 13, 1935, Night Watchman, William Melton, made his rounds as usual making sure all was secure in Frost, Texas. All was calm and quiet. All the downtown merchants were resting comfortably in their beds preparing for another day in their shops. But, it only seemed quiet. Melton was unaware of the strangers in the Pierce-Arrow intent on doing some “after hours business” at the local bank and several other establishments. On the sidewalk near Citizen's State Bank, Melton was approached from behind and ordered, “Stick 'em up!”

Melton, the son of a former Texas Ranger, turned and replied, “I don't do that for anybody.” The stranger fired his .38 five times with the first two shots hitting both of Melton's hands; another shot penetrated his body under the left armpit and emerged near the right hip. Crumpled on the sidewalk, wounded and bleeding, Melton managed to pull his own gun, and using both injured hands got off one shot that brought the attacker down – straight through the heart.

The shooting happened near the town's telephone exchange and the operator took the shots as a fire alarm and sounded the siren. A crowd of citizens gathered within minutes to the scene of the gun battle. Melton was rushed to the Navarro Clinic in Corsicana in critical condition; the dead man was taken to the McCormick Funeral Parlor in Frost.

It was reported later that two men who had been parked at a filing station sped out of town in a Ford V-8 shortly after the shooting.

Hundreds of Frost and Navarro County citizens and officers from surrounding counties viewed the body in futile attempts to identify the man.

The dead man's fingerprints were taken and compared to local files, but none matched. The man had several business cards in his pocket with the name of a Sewing Machine Company and representatives of the company's description of the man in the morgue and Frost's description tallied. The man was tentatively identified as a resident of Dallas.

By Thursday, August 15th, the man had been positively identified as David Stone, formerly of New York, and late of Dallas, aged 31 years. A telegram was dispatched to a sister, Ann Stone, in Washington, but the woman could not be located immediately. Another telegram was sent to Stone's father in a Mid-western state.

Capt. Will Fritz of the Dallas Detective Department reported to Ed McCormick, Mayor of Frost, that a pistol that matched the description of the weapon found near Stone had been purchased at a filling station in Dallas early Tuesday night by a man said to be David Stone and answers the description of the man in the Frost morgue.

The detective also reported that David Stone had served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1923 – 1927. The morgue officials reported that the body had the marine insignia and the letters, U.S.M.C. tattooed on his upper back, between his shoulder blades.

David Stone was buried in the back of Frost Cemetery on Monday August 19 after relatives in the North declined having the body forwarded to them. Graveside services were conducted by Rev. Pittman of the Methodist Church of Frost. Stone was buried in a pauper's grave and the story soon quit being the topic of conversation and was only mentioned in passing for seven decades.

David Stone's grave remained unmarked and forgotten for 79 years. Early in 2014, the Frost Cemetery Association had a small stone carved for David Stone in conjunction with their on-going project to mark all the unmarked graves in the cemetery.

In August, 2014, Frost City Secretary, Danny Gillespie, received an email from a genealogist hired by a man in Dallas to research his family history. In the course of her work, Karen Franklin of Yonkers, New York, linked David Stone and Frost.

Gillespie immediately called Ms. Franklin. The family had known about a cousin that had been killed during a 'hold-up' in Texas, but did not know the details. Franklin traced the case to Frost, Texas. Frost had known the name of the man buried in the cemetery and had all the newspaper articles from the day. Both parties held information that would complete the story. It is not clear which party in the phone conversation was more excited about the news.

In the course of the initial conversation, Ms. Franklin asked Gillespie if the people of Frost knew that David Stone was Jewish at the time of his death. Gillespie replied it was doubtful that it was even considered.

Franklin proposed a Jewish Memorial Service in the Frost Cemetery; Gillespie, through sincere Southern Hospitality immediately proposed a Reception following the service at the Frost Heritage Center. The wheels started turning to complete the story. The service was to be a modified “Unveiling of the Stone”, a traditional Jewish burial custom, and hopefully provide closure for Stone's family, and the community of Frost.

Ms. Franklin was scheduled to be in Dallas December 4, 2014 to present the lecture “Tracking David Stone” to the Dallas Jewish Historical Society. December 5, 2014 was the date set for the service in Frost. The Frost Cemetery Association had had a stone made for David Stone, but it was before his birthdate was known and certainly the fact that he was Jewish. Gillespie asked the Cemetery Association's assistance in having another stone carved with his complete information and a Star of David engraved on it.

It was a windy, but warm December day that greeted Frost's guests: Dr. Jeffery Hoffman of Dallas, a cousin of David Stone, and the man who commissioned the family research; Karen Franklin, Director of the Family Research Project at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York, and former Co-Chair of the Board of Governors of JewishGen; Rabbi Stephen Franklin, Karen's husband and the Rabbi that would be officiating the service; and Debra Polsky, Executive Director of the Dallas Jewish Historical Society.

These honored guest were joined in the Cemetery by David Malone, Frost Cemetery Association President; Danny Gillespie, Frost City Secretary; Rev. Ann Hitt, of the Frost United Methodist Church and Robert and Velma Ballew of Frost, Velma being a former City Secretary and Mayor of the City.

David Malone, City Councilman, Cemetery Association President, Heritage Center Board Chairman and member of the Night Watchman Melton's family welcomed the guests to Frost under a tent in the front of the Cemetery where David Stone's marker had been temporarily placed.

Rabbi Franklin began the service the reading of Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, “To Every thing there is a Season”. The Rabbi explained the traditional Jewish ceremony and its importance. A brief Eulogy of David Stone was presented. Psalm 23 was read in Hebrew and the gathering recited the Psalm in English.

David Stone's memorial was then moved to the site of his unmarked grave and the service continued there. Dr. Jeff Hoffman joined Rabbi Franklin in traditional prayers being offered. David Malone presented Dr. Hoffman a U.S. flag on behalf of the City of Frost for Stone's service in the Marine Corps. At the close of the service, small stones were placed on the headstone as is Jewish tradition to show that someone was there and remembered.

Following a light lunch in the Frost Heritage Center, the group from Frost was treated to a condensed version of the presentation Karen Franklin gave the previous evening to the Dallas Jewish Historical Society.

This is David Stone's story; the story that Frost didn't know until now:

David Stone was born April 8, 1905 in Manchester, England, the oldest of 8 children, to Jewish parents. His mother, Rebecca, was born in Romania and his father, Woolf, in Austria. The family came to the United States in 1907.

David's father was a baker and his family moved to Michigan after 1920. The family story is that Woolf Stone was responsible for bringing bagels to Detroit.

It is known from family letters that Woolf Stone was a difficult and abusive man, and that the mother, Rebecca, not wanting additional children, tried to end her 9th pregnancy, and died of accidental poisoning some time in the 1920s.

Probably as a way to escape his abusive father, David Stone joined the Marine Corps, and served as a trumpeter in Parris Island, South Carolina, from 1923 to 1927. The other children were sent to live with relatives or lived in orphan asylums after the death of their mother.

The 1930 U.S. Census found David Stone living and working in Philadelphia. It is not known what happened to him between then and when he appeared in Frost with other members of the gang for the attempted robbery.

David Stone's sister, Ethel, had a daughter who was 11 months old when the attempted robbery occurred. The daughter, Barbra Schwartz, is currently living in Oklahoma and relayed to researcher Franklin, “David was my mother's favorite brother and she was "devastated" that she could not afford to bring his body to a proper burial at the time of his death. She was troubled by this for the rest of her life.”

There is only one known description of David Stone from a letter by his sister, Ann, written in 1993 to Barbara. "David, when I met him in Washington, seemed like a nice, gentle person."

To those quotes the City of Frost was able to add a quote from citizen Faye Meador Watts. Faye was born in Frost in 1926 and was 9 years old when the hundreds of people went through the Funeral Parlor in an attempt to identify the man. Faye recalled a just a few months ago, “I remember being taken in to McCormick's and standing in that long line. I remember what a nice looking man he was.”

Stone's niece in Oklahoma had not known where he was buried, nor the details of the attempted robbery in 1935. She only knew of her mother's anguish. Although health issues prevented her from attending the service, she found great closure in hearing about the memorial service, and thanked the people of Frost for their kindness in arranging the event.

The City of Frost thanks Dr. Jeff Hoffman of Dallas for commissioning his family research; we thank Karen Franklin for her professionalism and tenacity in researching the story; thank you to Karen and Rabbi Stephen Franklin for traveling from New York to join us in Frost, Texas. Gillespie stated, “The City of Frost is eternally indebted to you for bringing a part of our history to light again and finally know something about the 'other side of the coin'. Thank you.”

Project number: [JOWBR, USA-05364] ____________________________

Project number: [JOWBR, USA-05364]
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