In the spring of 1937, a wave of fear swept across the American heartland, sown by a young couple whose crime spree would earn them national notoriety. Their path of violence tragically intersected with the life of Jack Griffith, a 35-year-old male tavern owner in Fort Worth, Texas. On April 28, 1937, Griffith’s life was cut short in an act of bravery, a final stand to protect his livelihood and the safety of his patrons from a man who would come to be known as "The Crime Tourist."
The man who shot him was Lester Warfel Brockelhurst, a 23-year-old from Illinois who, on the surface, seemed an unlikely killer. Once a Sunday school teacher and president of his Mormon church's youth association, Brockelhurst had a darker side that had previously led to a prison sentence for armed robbery. After his parole in 1937, he teamed up with his 18-year-old girlfriend, Bernice Felton.
Together, they embarked on a six-week crime spree that spanned multiple states, a violent journey funded by a string of robberies. The press would later dub Brockelhurst "The Touring Slayer" for the trail of terror he left across the country.
Their spree began in Illinois with the murder of a tailor named John Albin Theander, whose car they stole. From there, they drifted west, eventually arriving in Fort Worth on that fateful April day. Inside Jack Griffith's tavern, their robbery attempt met with unexpected resistance. Griffith, in a courageous effort to defend his property and a patron, stood up to the armed couple. In response, Brockelhurst shot and killed him without hesitation before he and Felton fled the state.
The couple's violent tour continued, marked by an estimated 40 robberies and another murder. In Arkansas, they killed Victor A. Gates, a wealthy landowner who had given them a ride. Their run from the law finally ended on May 13, 1937, in Dutchess County, New York. A state trooper pulled them over for a missing license plate on the car they had stolen from Gates. During the stop, Brockelhurst quickly confessed to the string of robberies and the three murders, including that of Jack Griffith.
With officials from multiple states seeking to prosecute, Arkansas was ultimately chosen to host the trial for the murder of Victor Gates. The proceedings were dramatic; Bernice Felton turned state's witness against her former lover. Brockelhurst was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Upon hearing the verdict, both he and his father, who was present in the courtroom, collapsed. Felton's trial for the same murder followed, but after only 80 minutes of deliberation, a jury acquitted her, a decision that sparked public outrage.
Though she escaped the murder conviction, Felton was later found guilty on federal charges for transporting a stolen vehicle across state lines and was sentenced to five years in prison. For Lester Brockelhurst, the end came on March 18, 1938. At the Tucker Unit in Arkansas, the 24-year-old was executed in the electric chair. Before his death, he gave a statement blaming his affair with Felton for his downfall, his last words reportedly being, "The only thing that brought me down to this was a slight love affair with a girl. I don't want her to get the chair, but she is just as guilty as I."
The charges against Brockelhurst for the murder of Jack Griffith in Texas were dropped following his execution in Arkansas. The story of "The Crime Tourist" and his young companion captivated and horrified the nation, a stark tale from the Great Depression era of love twisted into a deadly partnership. For the family and community of Jack Griffith, however, it was a story of a brave man who lost his life defending what was his, a tragic and permanent casualty of a killer's fleeting, violent passage through their town.
