CAMDEN — By Ken Bridges
S.A. Historical Foundation
Her life was one of remarkable accomplishment in a time when women had few opportunities. However, the disappearance of Maud Robinson Crawford of Camden in 1957 overshadowed her accomplishments in life and has left many questions unanswered in the decades since.
Maud Robinson was born in East Texas in 1891. After her mother’s death in 1900, she came to live with her grandmother in Warren.
In 1911, she was valedictorian of her high school class and briefly attended the University of Arkansas.
In 1916, she began working as a stenographer for Camden attorney John Gaughan. Impressed with her skills, the firm encouraged her study of the law. As the South Arkansas Oil Boom expanded in the 1920s, the firm needed experts in legal titles and mineral rights.
In 1927, she passed the bar exam with the top grade, making her one of the first women in Arkansas to become an attorney.
The law firm gained additional prestige in Camden in 1939 when former congressman John L. McClellan became a partner. McClellan was elected to the U. S. Senate in 1942.
She married Clyde Crawford in 1925. By all accounts, the two had a happy life together, and she remained very active in local affairs.
In 1940, Maud Crawford became the first woman elected to the Camden City Council. She was widely respected on the council during her eight years of service and also led many civic organizations.
Wanting to encourage more women to become involved in public service, she founded Arkansas Girls’ State in 1942. The organization was a counterpart to Boys’ State and sent high school-age girls to Little Rock each year to learn more about the operations of state government. More than 55,000 young Arkansas women have since participated. Crawford served with the organization for the next 15 years.
On March 2, 1957, Maud Crawford disappeared without a trace. Her husband returned that night to find the home undisturbed but his wife missing. His own frantic search to neighbors and local cafés turned up nothing. Local police stepped into the investigation and also found nothing. A reward of $1,000 was offered by the Camden Police Department for any information on her whereabouts. No one came forward.
A rumor widely circulated at the time alleged that her disappearance was payback by the Mafia in retaliation for the widely publicized attacks and hearings on organized crime led by her former law partner, Sen. McClellan.
No evidence ever surfaced to support this theory.
Her husband died in 1969, never certain of what happened to his beloved wife. Later that year, having no trace of her since her 1957 disappearance and despite not having found a body, authorities declared her legally dead.
In 1986, Arkansas Gazette reporter and Camden native Beth Brickell ran a series of articles on the case, hoping to shed some light on the mystery. Brickell alleged that a prominent Camden businessman, Henry M. Berg, arranged for Crawford’s disappearance over a dispute of the will of his aunt, Rose Berg, who intended to leave her oil and timber fortune to three nieces instead. Crawford, who drew up the original will, was Rose Berg’s attorney and court-appointed guardian. Henry M. Berg died in 1975 and any witnesses to any of his activities in 1957 have also died. However, no one was ever charged or convicted, and the case is still considered open. Brickell has since published her findings into a book, The Disappearance of Maud Crawford.
To this day, no one is certain what happened to Maud Crawford. The tragic disappearance of a respected and beloved figure still haunts Camden.
Bridges, a History Professor at South Arkansas Community College in El Dorado, can be reached at [email protected]. The South Arkansas Historical Foundation is dedicated to educating the public about the state’s rich history. The SAHF can be contacted at PO Box 144, El Dorado, AR, 71730, at(870) 862-9890 or at http://soarkhistory.com