The Kobre brothers, Max, Sam and Henry, left their native Lithuania in the late 1800s as thousand of Jews fled for safety from ruthless Russian pogroms. Finding their way to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, they opened a saloon and adjacent restaurant. In 1906 the Kobres found themselves enmeshed in a nightmare in which one brother was accused of murdering another, a case that for weeks rocked Winston-Salem to its core. A whiskey jug conjures up the story.
Max was the eldest brother by 15 years, born in 1870. He was followed by Samuel “Sam” in 1885 and the youngest, Henry, in 1887. Their first American landing point was Baltimore but by the early 20th Century the Kobre boys had moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. There Max had opened a saloon, one of dozens such establishments in the city. Sam was tending bar there and Henry was managing an adjacent restaurant. The younger brothers were living together in a nearby rooming house. Max was married to Sadie, another immigrant from Lithuania, and living with his family.
Although Winston-Salem, in this era, boasted a plethora of saloons and restaurants selling liquor, the city appears to have kept them under close scrutiny and a short leash. It charged $1,000 annually ($25,000 in today’s dollar) for a saloon license and could rescind it for a variety of perceived offenses. In March 1905 Max was hauled into court for keeping his saloon open after 8 PM and fined $22.10. At the same time Henry was in the dock for a violation of the restaurant law, again for being open after 8 PM. He was slapped with a similar fine.
While the Kobre brothers seem to have taken those infractions in stride, a year later their world would be torn apart by a horrendous series of events that made national headlines and dominated Winston-Salem for weeks. On the evening of January 21, 1906, Sam Kobre returned to the room he shared with Henry. There he said he found his brother, wearing his night clothes, lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Assuming his brother was dead, Sam ran across the street to the Hotel Phoenix at 4th and Liberty Streets, shown below, where he phoned Max about the shooting. He then went to the police station to report the crime.
Two officers returned with Sam to the room where Henry was found apparently still clinging to life. They placed the victim on the bed and called for an ambulance to transport him to the Twin Cities Hospital, shown left. Shortly after arrival there, Henry was reported dead. Sam told police he believed the motive for the murder was robbery. Henry was known to keep substantial amounts of cash on hand, receipts from the restaurant, but his wallet was empty.
A coroner’s jury was convened on March 8, 1906. Considering the evidence from 9 a.m. until mid-afternoon, it called several witnesses to testify, including Sam.
Following its deliberations the panel returned this verdict: “Henry Kobre came to his death on the eighth of January by being unlawfully slain by someone unknown to the Jurors…The Jury examined several parties and their evidence was recorded. Nothing was revealed, however, to give the officers, at present, a clue to the guilty party or parties.”
Meanwhile rumors and speculation abounded in Winston-Salem. Much of the attention focussed on Sam himself. After finding Henry bloody, why had he first gone to the hotel to call his brother, Max, and only then to alert the authorities? Why had Sam not realized Henry was still alive and immediately called for medical help? Other rumors circulated through the city, some of them publicized by the local newspapers. The Winston-Salem Journal in particular reported a series of hearsay reports, quoting “thoroughly responsible persons” implicating the Kobre brother. Congratulating himself for uncovering details previously unknown, a Journal reporter published an item about a local “Jewess” who suspiciously had gone to a fortuneteller in town for advice on two friends who were in deep trouble. Sam and Max, of course were Jewish.
Another source, at first anonymous in letters to authorities, fingered a man named William Plean, a salesman at a local clothing store. Plean was single, an acquaintance of Sam Kobre, and living in the same boarding house as the informant. Discussion of the murder made Plean nervous, said the source, later identified as a man named Shouse. The stories triggered a 16-year-old woman named Sallie Stewart, a known local “soiled dove,” to come forward to confirm Kobre's and Plean’s involvement in the murder. She identified Sam as the shooter. Sallie also implicated a third man she called “Finger,” who she said had masterminded Henry’s killing.
That was all it took for local authorities, under strong pressure from the mayor, to arrest Sam and Plean for murder and later to identify “Finger” as a traveling salesman named J.E. Whitbeck. He too was arrested and jailed with the other two while awaiting trial. Virtually unsaid went a likely motive for Sallie to lie. Sam Kobre, apparently unaware of her reputation, in March 1905 had married Sallie. When Sam found out more about his bride the union was short-lived. Sallie obviously had since nursed a grudge. To keep the pressure on their star witness, the mayor had her arrested and imprisoned on charges of prostitution.
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| Courthouse |
The stage was set for the trial, May 31, 1906, at the Winston-Salem courthouse. The three men stood in peril of being hanged. Earlier the Journal had suggested that the evidence looked strong against the defendants and took a semi-victory lap, declaring: “If the Journal has aided in bringing to justice the murderers of Henry Kobre, it has done a distinct service of great value to this city.” The outcome would be disappointing to the newspaper. Witness after witness came forward to established that none of the accused men were present at the times and places of Sallie’s allegations. It became clear that Sam’s ex-wife had concocted the story, likely to get revenge for his having divorced her. Her motivation for implicating Plean and Whitbeck were less clear but she may also have harbored grudges against them.
After all the evidence had been submitted, Judge Peebles instructed the sheriff to usher the jury of 12 men out of the courtroom. He then addressed the prosecution lawyer, asking him to show him where any evidence existed against the three men other than Sallie Stewart’s story: “I would not let a yellow dog be hanged on the testimony of Sallie,” said the judge. “If a verdict should be returned against these men I should set it aside. The jurors apparently saw things the same way as Judge Peebles. It took them only five minutes of deliberation to reach an unanimous decision of acquittal. Sam Kobre and the other two men were released immediately. The judge also ordered the release of Sallie Stewart.
I can find no evidence that the murder of Henry Kobre was ever solved. Most likely it was a case of robbery as Sam Kobre had first theorized. Henry, known for keeping large amounts of cash on his person, likely had been killed for his money. Smarting from the acquittal, however, the mayor of Winston-Salem revoked Max’s saloon permit. Although the elder brother had kept a low profile during investigation, refusing to talk to the press, Max almost certainly had paid for Sam’s successful defense. In the process he apparently angered local authorities bent on convictions.
In the midst of the tumult caused by Henry’s death and Sam’s arrest Max also was dealing with a crisis at home. In September 1906, his wife, Sadie, sustained serious injuries after being thrown from her buggy and dragged for some distance. Her horse, usually reliable, had bolted and she was thrown out. Her clothing caught in the rigging and she was dragged a considerable distance on the pavement, resulting in serious cuts and bruises. The newspaper commented: “Mrs. Kobre, while suffering considerable pain, is doing as well as could be expected.” Her ultimate recovery is indicated by her living to age 83.
For the Kobres, the events effectively ended of their lives in Winston-Salem. Sam, now married a second time, moved to Danville, Virginia, not far from the North Carolina line. As the president of a shoe company, he and his wife, Ida, raised a family of three there. Sam died in 1933, age 48, and is buried in Danville’s Aetz Chayim Cemetery. Max moved to Baltimore where he headed a clothing manufacturing plant, assisted by his adult son, Ellis. When Max died in 1952 at age 82, he was buried in Baltimore County’s Shaarei Tfiloh Cemetery. Sadie joined him there 14 years later. Their headstones are shown below.
I can find no indication that the person or persons who murdered Henry Kobre was ever caught and convicted. Sallie Stewart, the young woman who had fingered Sam Kobre and the others, thereafter faded into the mists of history. Immigrants Sam and Max Kobre had discovered that while the wheels of justice in their adopted country may grind imperfectly, they grind extremely fine.
Note: This post relies principally on the newspaper stories that provided frequent, extensive reports about Henry Kobre’s murder and the search for the culprit(s). While every whiskey container may not have a major story behind it, the jug that opens this post most surely supplies one.
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