A Strange Story of Greed and Lies from Breathitt’s Past

By Stephen D. Bowling

It was an outlandish and unbelievable plot to inherit $40,000.  The scheme, cooked up by two would-be scammers, was foiled in the one place in the country they believed was safe from law enforcement.  Had the plan succeeded, generations of information and records could have been lost when the Breathitt County Courthouse exploded.

Samuel N. “Gus” Sword and his fiancé, the widow Anna Nelson, walked into the Breathitt County Court Clerk’s Office and requested a marriage license on December 29, 1927.  Deputy County Court Clerk Madeline Goff recorded their information on page 28 of Breathitt County Marriage Book 45.  The biological profiles they provided indicated that Sword was born in Sweden and lived in New York.  He was 40 years old, and his bride, Charalett Anna Nelson, told Goff she was also forty.  The couple said they were traveling through the area and decided to get married.  County Clerk Edward Burnett “E. B.” Cardwell approved the information and issued the license for the marriage.   

The couple asked for a place to get married, and the Clerk gave them directions to the home of Harlan Fugate at Quicksand.  Sword and Nelson left the Courthouse and drove to Quicksand.  Less than an hour after the marriage certificate was issued, Sword and Nelson were married by Justice of the Peace Harlan Fugate in a quick civil ceremony.  After that afternoon, the couple returned to the Courthouse and filed the completed certificate in the Clerk’s office.  The couple told office staffers they were heading to Chicago for their honeymoon.

The only problem with the marriage was that the man was not Sam Sword.  In fact, Samuel N. Sword was not in Jackson at all on December 29 because he was in a Chicago cemetery- six feet below the ground. The real Sam Sword died in Chicago on December 4, 1927.

In the days and weeks that followed, the strange story of Anna Nelson came to light, and the couple’s daring plan quickly unraveled. 

Samuel N. Sword was born in Sweden in 1859.  He immigrated to the United States and founded a contracting company in Chicago.  His company had great success winning numerous contracts to construct private and public structures in the city.  Sword quickly amassed a fortune but never married, choosing instead to live the life of a bachelor at 9206 Commercial Avenue.  He had many friends in the community and frequently visited with several of the widows and young women of the neighborhood. He enjoyed himself and the good times that his wealth afforded him. He was, in essence, a Chicago playboy. The fun ended on December 4, 1927, when he died of an unknown cause. Sam Sword was buried the following day.  The newspapers later noted that his estate was valued at the time of his death at $40,000 to $50,000 (about $901,804 adjusted for 2024 inflation).

In the days following his death and burial, three separate claims emerged, trying to claim his estate among Sword’s friends and acquaintances.  An attorney that Sword frequently used for business purposes presented a will to the local Probate Court.  The document was apparently signed by the deceased and witnessed left his entire estate to his sisters and brothers, who were still in Sweden.  Within the day, a second Cecilia Pfandler, a “comely widow” at 9235 Commercial Avenue, presented a last will dated later than the attorney’s claim, leaving the estate to her. 

Later the same day, a 55-year-old woman named Anna Nelson Sword presented her claim in the form of a third will purported to be that of Sam N. Sword.  The sorrow-filled widow claimed that her document was the last document her “husband” produced and was his true last will and testament.  In Probate Court, “Mrs. Sword” stated that she had been secretly married to Mrs. Sword and was the “legal and rightful” heir to the estate.

During a Tuesday, February 14 hearing, a yelling match broke out between the two claimant widows, and Judge Henry Horner stopped the proceedings. Judge Horner called a brief recess and asked the attorneys representing the women into his chambers for a conference.  Attorney W. T. Dickerman, representing Mrs. Pfandler, and James Poynton, on behalf of Anna Nelson Sword, each attempted to convince the judge that their claim was valid and should be recognized.  Judge Horner ordered Ann Nelson Sword to produce in Court a certified copy of her marriage certificate to prove her marriage to Sword.

When “Mrs. Sword” first appeared in Probate Court, her criminal plan to prove her marriage was already underway.  She and the unknown “Mr. Sword” had already made their trip to Jackson and had been legally married on December 29.  She presented the certificate in Court on February 14, but there was an issue.  Her copy of the marriage certificate was not certified, and another trip to Jackson was needed to obtain a certified copy.  And then there was the seemingly unsurmountable issue of the marriage date that had to be resolved. She was certain that the Court would verify the information the the authorities in Breathitt County.

Anna Nelson Sword devised a plan and sent a man identified as Leroy Nelson to Jackson to make it happen.  Nelson arrived on the L&N train on the afternoon of February 16, two days after Mrs. Sword was ordered to produce a marriage certificate.  According to later information, the two planned to get a certified copy of the certificate from the Clerk’s Office.  The plan included altering the document by changing the date from December 29, 1927, to December 29, 1926, to predate the actual death of the real Sam Sword.  After the certificate was obtained, Leroy Nelson would blow up the vault of the Breathitt County Courthouse to destroy the original certificate and the post-mortem date.  Nelson came to Jackson prepared.

He went immediately to the Clerk’s Office and got a certified copy of the marriage record.  He walked down the street and rented a room on Broadway.  After a few minutes at a local watering hole, being short on cash, he walked back across the South Jackson Bridge to the depot. 

He sent off a short but informative telegraph to Mrs. Ann Sword requesting an additional $10 be sent directly to him.  He told her that County Clerk E. B. Cardwell had agreed to “backdate the certificate to 1926” in exchange for a bribe of $10.  In fact, no such arrangement had been made, and Nelson needed the additional cash for his own personal use.  Noticing the telegraph was being used to commit a crime, the telegraph operator at the Jackson Depot alerted Jackson Police Chief Charles L. Hatton of the possible crime. 

Authorities found Leroy Nelson, age 23, in his room and arrested him on a charge of slander asserted by Clerk Cardwell, who denied any agreement to alter the date.  Authorities searched Nelson’s “traveling bag” and found evidence of the conspiracy.  Chief Hatton located a length of fuse, several sticks of dynamite, a bottle of nitroglycerin, and a bottle of ink remover.  He was taken before the Judge of the Jackson Police Court and ordered held without bond pending further investigation.  Hatton placed him in the Breathitt County Jail for safekeeping.  Hatton wired the officials in Chicago seeking more information on the man now in custody.  

News reached Anna Maria Nelson Sword that her accomplice and “son,” Leroy Nelson, had been arrested and was sitting in the Breathitt County Jail.  He was charged with slander in the Jackson Police Court, and officials added the more serious confederating charge in the county courts.  Ana Nelson left Chicago late on the afternoon of February 19, headed for Jackson to “get Leroy out of jail.” She told another railroad employee she had to “get her husband.”  Exactly how they were related is still unknown.  Leroy Nelson was Anna Nelson’s stepson or, as later reported, her foster son.  One report said he was her biological son with her deceased husband, Carl G. Nelson.  Regardless of the relationship, her plans went awry when she arrived at Jackson.  Instead of freeing her son from his confinement, she joined him there.     

When Mrs. Sword reached Jackson by train at 4:30 on February 20, Police Chief Hatton and several local officials were waiting for her at the station.  She was arrested and charged with “confederating to obtain a false marriage certificate.” Authorities lodged the couple in the Breathitt County Jail in “widely separated cells,” and they were “not permitted to converse with anyone.” Chief Hatton, Chicago Police officials, and representatives of the Probate Court exchanged numerous messages and calls about the case and determined it was a criminal attempt to commit fraud.

Leroy Nelson and “Mrs. Sword” appeared in Breathitt County Court in the late morning of February 20.  Both waived a preliminary hearing, and the County Court bound their cases to the Circuit Court.  Bail was set at $1,000 cash for each.  Neither was able to furnish the bail money at that time, and they were returned to the Breathitt County Jail to await the decision of the Grand Jury. The next day, Mrs. Nelson produced verified proof that she had an estate worth more than $100,000 in Chicago.  She was released on bond and hired a personal security guard to protect her as she stayed at a local hotel.

The Grand Jury heard the evidence presented by the investigation officials and returned a “true bill” on all charges on February 22.  The same day the Breathitt County Grand Jury indicted both Nelsons, Leroy “Lee” Nelson was found guilty of “spreading a false rumor” in the Jackson Police Court.  He admitted the false charges against County Clerk E. B. Cardwell and was fined $50 for his actions.

On the afternoon the indictments were returned, Breathitt County Clerk Edward B. Cardwell opened his mail and found a note from Anna Nelson Sword thanking him for his cooperation regarding a certified and “corrected” marriage certificate.  She had enclosed a crisp $10 bill to remind him of the arrangement as she had understood it from Leroy.  Instead of sending the money to Leroy, she mistakenly sent it directly to Cardwell, inadvertently helping to prove the case of slander in the false bribery scheme.

On March 3, the Commonwealth’s Attorney Grover Cleveland “Cleve” Allen announced his list of witnesses, including Charles Hatton, Archie Cope, E. B. Cardwell, and Madeline Duff.  Several legal delays later, the trial was set for March 23, 1928.  The prosecution also subpoenaed Frank Folsom, a Chicago Police Investigator, to appear and provide information about the alleged fraud to gain Sword’s estate.     

On the morning of March 23, 1928, Circuit Judge Chester Adair Bach gaveled the session or order.  Lee Nelson appeared first, and Attorney Cleve Allen announced that he was dropping the felon charge in exchange for a guilty plea on a lesser charge.  Nelson stood, with his attorney G. B. Stamper, to address the Court and admitted that he was guilty of the charge of confederating to impersonate Samuel N. Sword.  Judge Bach did not render a judgment but continued the case and sent Nelson back to the Breathitt County Jail.

On March 30, 1928, Judge Bach called the case of Anna Nelson and Leroy Nelson for trial.  Both Nelsons and their attorneys appeared, and the Commonwealth announced a plea agreement for both defendants. Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen informed the judge that both sides had agreed to drop the felony charge in exchange for the payment of restitution of $250.00 each.  The evidence was presented, and Judge Bach accepted the agreement. 

Bach told both defendants that “if not paid or reprieved,” they would be “confined in the Breathitt County Jail, one day for each $2.00 thereof, and that they be put at hard labor upon the public roads of Breathitt County” until the debt was paid.  Anna Nelson and her attorney paid both the fines and the court costs for their efforts in falsifying a marriage certificate in Breathitt County.

Anna Nelson reportedly told a court official that they had read about the violence and the bad reputation of “Bloody Breathitt” in the Chicago newspapers.  She told a court clerk, “We never expected to be discovered in a town where law did not exist.”

The Nelsons returned to Chicago the next day, and Anna Nelson appeared in Probate Court on May 9 for a deposition at the summons of Mrs. Pfandler’s attorney in light of the new information. Nelson told Richard V. Carpenter, an assistant to Judge Henry Honer, that she lied on several points of her claim for the Sword estate, including the marriage.  He admitted to Carpenter that she “was never married to him” and that her claim was entirely false, although they had spent some time together and “she deserved some of his money.”

In the end, Anna Nelson, a widow who “spent some time” with the real Sam H. Sword, lost money in her effort to grow her wealth.  One Chicago newspaper identified her as “just one of his many widow sweethearts.” In the end, she got nothing. The estate eventually went to Sam H. Sword’s siblings in Sweden through the United States Consul in Stockholm.

Nothing else was heard from the case for many years. The Nelsons seemed to go on about their lives until they resurfaced in 1934. William Leroy Nelson married Ruth (Proctor) Buckley in November 1931, and the couple lived on West 61st Street.  The new Mrs. Nelson worked as a nurse, and they were happy for a time, but his poor choices and his reported abusiveness turned the relationship sour.  She left him and returned to her father’s home on November 10, 1933.  Her father, Edwin Proctor, discovered an account of the strange story of the falsified Kentucky marriage certificate in a Swedish language newspaper in Chicago and alerted his daughter.

Ruth Proctor Nelson notified the authorities who investigated the incident and arrested Leroy Nelson and Charlotte Anna Nelson on March 28, 1934.  Charged with bigamy because the Kentucky marriage was never nullified, Nelson stayed in a Chicago jail until his court date.  He told newspaper reporters that his marriage to his foster mother was legal in Kentucky, although it was under a fake name.  Anna Nelson denied the allegation and said that the marriage was illegal and not valid.  She insisted that she and her former ward were not married.  After a Chicago trial, the “mother” and son were acquitted of bigamy by a jury on June 20, 1934.

Following the bigamy trial, Ruth Proctor Nelson immediately filed for divorce.  After some back and forth, Chicago Circuit Judge Philip J. Finnegan ruled that Nelson had legally married Anna Nelson in Breathitt County, Kentucky, in 1927, although it was under another name and that she was his foster mother. Judge Finnegan determined that a “state of bigamy” existed and granted the divorce on December 17, 1936. Ruth Proctor Nelson announced that she would remarry her first husband in December 1936.

What happened to Leroy Nelson and Charlotte Anna Nelson?  They appear to have stayed out of court after their 1934 and 1936 issues.  A search of Chicago records revealed several possibilities but no concrete information about their fate. It seems they simply disappeared.  Locally, little is known of this bizarre case that nearly had a tremendous impact on the history of Breathitt County.  Sadly, The Jackson Times, the local news reports of the events, and many important facts of the case have been lost. 

Had Leroy Nelson’s scheme succeeded, the vault of the Breathitt County Clerk’s Office would have been destroyed, and all the marriage records, deeds, wills, estate settlements, and other valuable documents for historians would have been lost.  Our heritage and history were saved by a bumbling criminal with a big mouth and a nosy telegraph clerk who together unraveled a criminal plot to steal thousands of dollars and, in the process, destroy the history of an entire community with one strike of a match.

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© 2024 Stephen D. Bowling