Mr. and Mrs. Harry Krom

On August 22, 1912, Rochester, New York’s Democrat and Chronicle reported, “two pedestrians passed through this village shortly before noon on their way from their home in Albany to Los Angeles, California.” By that time Mr. and Mrs. Harry Krom had been traveling for three weeks with just a large express cart to carry their belongings. The article claimed the Krom’s walk was undertaken for the benefit of Mrs. Krom’s health and that she had already gained one pound.

Two days later, the Democrat and Chronicle published a follow up article on the couple who had been introduced to Rochester’s mayor, Hiram Edgerton. Mayor Edgerton signed letters for the Kroms, testifying to their “excellent reputation.” The article stated that the penniless couple had lost all their possessions in a fire in Albany and that Mrs. Krom had become so frail that her physician gave up on treating her. “They said she might die…now look at her – brown as a berry and sweet as a nut.” Mr. Krom said when discussing his wife’s health. He went on to say, “I don’t pretend to be a Weston or anything like that, but I think, and so does my wife, that we can make the walk without trouble.” The term Weston referring to Edward Payson Weston who had become famous for his own transatlantic walks in previous years. The couple expected to reach Texas by January 1913, selling souvenir postcards of themselves along the way to fund their trip.

The following May, the Springfield Republic in Massachusetts reported the couple had passed through while walking from Denver, Colorado to Portland, Maine. Two days later their story was used by a local fire agency, Judd and Parsons, to promote fire insurance: “You say they were foolish not to have protection and we agree; but we also tell you there are at least one thousand families in Springfield right now without insurance...” In July 1913 the couple resurfaced in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The Evening Farmer reported that they had completed their hike and with the signatures of multiple mayors in hand, hoped to set up residence in Bridgeport permanently. However, the couple didn’t stay long, by December newspapers across the country were reporting that Mrs. Krom had been injured while walking with Mr. Krom back to New York from Oregon. A car had struck Mrs. Krom, injuring her right foot. The couple was forced to take a streetcar the remainder of the journey. By the Spring of 1914, local newspapers reported that the Kroms were traveling again and had completed over 1,000 miles of their intended 5,000 mile hike, visiting “every city of importance in Maine and Massachusetts” along the way.

Reports on the Kroms fall silent until they reappear in newspapers three years later, this time in New York City. In 1917, The Sun reported “A shabbily dressed and pathetic couple straggled into Police Headquarters yesterday morning. They described themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Harry Krom, recently from Hartford, Connecticut from which point they walked to New York. A fire two weeks ago wiped out their little home and all of its contents and their two-year-old baby perished in the flames. There was no insurance.” The article stated that the couple begged and sold postcards on Broadway and in front of St. Paul’s Chapel. The Hartford Courant also ran a similar article but followed it with a rebuttal by Hartford’s Fire Chief John C. Moran. Chief Moran stated that there had been no such fire in recent days, nor were there any deaths of a two-year-old child. The Hartford Courant continued, “Chief Moran was firm in his belief that the whole affair was a ‘fake’ and that the couple probably never lived in this city. The name Harry Krom is in the city directory with the address No. 244 High Street. This is a large rooming house and it was said that no person by that name ever lived there.” Other publications across the country continued to run small articles announcing the couples plans to walk to Denver but the Kroms, again, seemed to disappear from the headlines.

A decade later, in August 1929 scandal erupted in Indiana where a local man claiming to be Charles Lindbergh’s flight instructor was accused of fraud by local police. The man had been traveling across the country and receiving large crowds who came out to see the army captain that accompanied Lindbergh around-the-world. According to the Palladium-Item: “At one place he declared that he once rescued Zane Grey, the novelist in the desert. He also claimed to have had charge of Amelia Earheart’s plane before its attempted transatlantic flight...His favorite story is one in which he tells of giving Lindbergh his flying lessons.” At a restaurant that week it was alleged that he shouted that he was an “aviator of fame” and said “I want chicken with all of the trimmings. I want service and I’ve got plenty of money to pay for it.” When the man was arrested by police it was revealed that he had $30, he was also carrying postcards and letters signed by multiple mayors from the northeast. The letters stated that he was Mr. Harry Krom and that he and his wife were traveling across country on foot for the benefit of Mrs. Krom’s health following the loss of their child and home to a fire. When asked about Mrs. Krom’s whereabouts, Harry stated that she was dead and that there had been no fire or child. The following day, The Richmond Item reported that Harry Krom had confessed to obtaining money under false pretense and that “he had been getting by everywhere he had visited under fraudulent representations.” Krom was sentenced to six months on a penal farm to which the Indiana Times stated “[he] begged for leniency stating that he had never before been arrested and had no bad habits.” The judge responded “you have one awfully bad habit; you are the most monumental liar I have ever met." Following the trial Harry Krom never made newspaper headlines again.

The Salem State University Archives and Special Collections holds two copies of postcards sold by Mr. and Mrs. Krom around 1914, one which states they lost their baby and home in a fire in Albany, another that omits the mention of Albany in favor of “the fire,” likely changed after Salem’s Great Fire of 1914, which made national headlines.

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Salem State University Archives & Special Collections preserves and provides access to materials that are rare, unique, or historical in several specific areas of research, most notably: the history of Salem State University and its predecessor institutions (Salem Normal School, Salem Teachers College, and Salem State College), the history of the City of Salem, and the personal papers of U.S. Congressional representatives from Essex County. We offer these articles on Salem Patch in order to provide greater access to our collections. Enjoy! (Follow us: Facebook | Instagram | Flickr)