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reliance on Jennie’s charity. Twice before, first in Selma, then in Bowling Green, she had attended business schools in hopes of preparing herself for a career, and both times she had dropped out. Now she tried once again. The Elizabeth Arden School of Beauty in New York had offered her a scholarship, and in a moment of uncharacteristic generosity, Arch, who had recently come into some money—compensation for injuries he had suffered after falling into a ditch in St. Louis—promised to send her forty dollars a week for expenses. “The only reason I consented was because my brother Sam was living in New York,” he later explained, “and I figured he’d more or less keep an eye on her. The course was only supposed to take three months, at which time she was supposed to come back to Monroeville.” With that understanding, Lillie Mae left for New York on January 15, 1931. Sam, the third of the three Persons brothers, had no use at all for Arch, and not much more for Lillie Mae. “Seems to me she is always studying something or taking some kind of course, but not actually going to work,” he wrote John. He nonetheless played the good brother and met her when she arrived the next morning.
    It is certain, in the light of what followed, that Lillie Mae had not been candid with Arch and, one way or another, hoped to stay on past her allotted three months. New York had always been her eventual destination, and once there, she was in no hurry to rush back to Monroeville. And she did in fact remain. Indeed, she had little choice. As he had on their honeymoon, Arch ran out of money, this time leaving her stranded far from home. In difficulty with the law in Alabama, he began sending her bad checks or persuaded his mother to wire the forty-dollar allowance. It was at that point that John, who saw himself as his mother’s defender, stepped in. He explained the situation to Lillie Mae—“Arch is headed for immediate serious trouble”—and pointedly suggested that she look for support from some other source than the Persons family. “I can well understand why you are so desirous of finishing your course there—now more than ever,” he wrote her. “But apparently Arch can’t be depended upon for the regular expenses, and Mother hasn’t the money for any more telegrams, even if it were right for her to send it.” A few days later, on March 16, John telegraphed the sequel: Arch was in jail in Birmingham, charged with writing bad checks and extortion.
    Lillie Mae had guessed that something was wrong when his checks began to bounce, and in early March, even before she had received John’s warning letter, she had taken a job in a restaurant on lower Broadway. Still, she was shaken when John wired her that Arch was actually behind bars, and on a tiny dime-store notepad, the only stationery at hand, she breathlessly replied: “Please excuse this paper, etc. Your wire just received and I’m too nervous & upset to write. Your letter more or less prepared me for your wire—there’s just nothing to say. Why—Why—Why? Do you know anything? I just can’t write you I’m so nervous. As soon as [he] started letting checks come back on me I knew something was wrong. I haven’t heard from him in 2 wks. I only make enough to
exist
on but I believe I will try it for awhile as there is nothing I could do if I came back as I have no money. What would you advise? Please write me fully.”
    The panic was soon over. Arch was still in trouble, but for the moment he was out on bail. As she had done so many times before, his mother had come to his rescue, pledging a month’s salary to pay his hundred-and-fifty-dollar bond. “When he gets in trouble, she would mortgage her life, if necessary, to get him out,” explained the exasperated John to Lillie Mae. “This has been done, as you well know, for many, many years. It isn’t fair, and it is most inconsiderate of Arch to force these situations on her, but inasmuch as she always gets