1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi, I'm Eves, and Welcome to This Day 3 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: in History Class, a show that uncovers history one day 4 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: at a time. Today is April nineteen nineteen. The day 5 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: was April nineteenth, nineteen o seven. The power went out 6 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: at the Columbus, Ohio Penitentiary where Dr. Oliver Crook Hall 7 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: was being imprisoned. About twenty minutes after the blackout began, 8 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:42,599 Speaker 1: just after midnight, Hall was executed by electric chair. An 9 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: article in the day's issue of the Los Angeles Harold 10 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: said the following Hall manifested an apparent indifference to his 11 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: fate until the last all visitors were excluded from the 12 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: annex at the penitentiary. Today and Hall has seen no 13 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: one aside from the prison officials except Father Kelly, his 14 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: spiritual advisor. As a young adult, Oliver worked in a 15 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,199 Speaker 1: drug store in Ohio. He began using a drug called 16 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: cocaine toothache drops to treat his tooth pain, and he 17 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:16,559 Speaker 1: started mixing his own treatments based on recipes he got 18 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: from pamphlets for pharmacists. One of those treatments was a 19 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,959 Speaker 1: medicine that contained opium, an addictive narcotic derived from the 20 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 1: opium poppy. A doctor noticed how good he was at 21 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: mixing medicines and suggested he go to college to study medicine, 22 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: and he did just that when he started attending Cincinnati 23 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: Medical College in eighteen eighty eight, but his attendance wasn't great. 24 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: Finding money for his tuition was a struggle for his family, 25 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: and he was still using drugs. Ha had fallen in 26 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: love with Anna Margaret Eckley, so he moved in with 27 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:54,240 Speaker 1: her family, citing his need to save money for college. 28 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 1: But something seemed sketchy when Anna's father, William, died in 29 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:03,880 Speaker 1: February eight ninety one of pulmonary apoplexy. Since Williams seemed 30 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 1: healthy up until that point, William was not fond of Oliver, 31 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: so his death freed up William to marry Anna and 32 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 1: use William's life insurance payout to go back to school. 33 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,360 Speaker 1: It's not clear that he had anything to do with 34 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 1: William's death, but he definitely took advantage of William's passing. 35 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,359 Speaker 1: By he had graduated from medical college and open to 36 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,080 Speaker 1: practice in day In, Ohio. The next decade or so 37 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: of his life is full of a bunch of crimes 38 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: and suspicious events, Influenced by Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 39 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: He thought he could make a drug to create a 40 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: new race of beings where two could share a single body, 41 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: but he was experimenting on himself and ordering a ton 42 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: of cocaine and morphine. Anna said he assaulted her and 43 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: filed for divorce, but she ended up staying with him 44 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: when she found out she was pregnant. Ha had become 45 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: violent and he was soon declared insane. He spent time 46 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: in asylums and many of his patients at his practices 47 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: were hurt or died, including one in Wisconsin who died 48 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:15,239 Speaker 1: for morphine poisoning, which resulted in hawes arrest and subsequent acquittal. 49 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: He opened and closed several practices as his negligence was 50 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: exposed and his reputation suffered. He even admitted the killing 51 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: women while performing abortions. Anna had another child with Oliver. 52 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: He ran off and married other women while still married 53 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: to Anna, the whole time. Oliver was embroiled in his addiction. 54 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: On September twenty nine, o five, Anna filed for divorce 55 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: and haw attempted suicide. So his life was a turbulent one, 56 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: to say the least. Doctor Hall had never cared much 57 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: for his family, but when he got the news that 58 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: he was no longer in his parents will and that 59 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: his brother Jesse would get everything, he was enraged, saying 60 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: he would kill his whole family. In November of nineteen 61 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: o five, Oliver alerted a neighbor that his parents house 62 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: was on fire. During the chaos, he changed his story 63 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: about knowing his family was inside, from saying they weren't 64 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,679 Speaker 1: to saying they were. His mother, father, and brother died 65 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: in the blaze. After questioning by county coroner Dr. Walter Klein, 66 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: Haw was arrested on three charges of first degree murder. 67 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: While Hall was in jail, people began coming forward with 68 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: their suspicions that he killed people they knew. Klein's corner 69 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,920 Speaker 1: report said that the Haw family had overdosed on high 70 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 1: scene hydrobromide, a drug Oliver had been given previously in 71 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:50,359 Speaker 1: an asylum. Haw's case went to a grand jury, for 72 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 1: which twelve men were selected. More than fifty witnesses were 73 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: called for testimony. The prosecution pointed out how easy it 74 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: should have been to escape the small All house during 75 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: a fire, how Ha had bought a bunch of oil 76 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,480 Speaker 1: in hya scene before the fire happened, and how it 77 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,160 Speaker 1: did not look like the family had been sleeping when 78 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: the fire started like Oliver claimed. The defense said that 79 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 1: it would not have been so easy to escape the 80 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,600 Speaker 1: house and that all the evidence presented was only circumstantial. 81 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: After a ten day trial, doctor Hall was found guilty 82 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 1: of drugging his mom and setting her body on fire. 83 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:31,400 Speaker 1: He was granted a sanity inquest on April nineteen o six, 84 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:35,600 Speaker 1: but the jury ruled that he was saying ha was 85 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,279 Speaker 1: sentenced to death by electric chair, and on April nineteen 86 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: nineteen he was executed. It's not known how many people 87 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:48,160 Speaker 1: he murdered. I'm each Jeff Coote and hopefully you know 88 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 89 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:54,599 Speaker 1: If you'd like to learn more about Oliver Hall, listened 90 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: to the two part episode of Stuff You Missed in 91 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: History Class titled Oliver Haw Serial Killer. If you haven't 92 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 1: gotten your fill of history after listening to today's episode, 93 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: you can follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at 94 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: T d i h C Podcast. Thank you so much 95 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: for listening, and I hope to see you again tomorrow 96 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: for more tidbits of history.