1 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:05,760 Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:19,599 Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Deborah couldn't 3 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: be seen. Being found out would be worse than being shot, 4 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: a calculation made in real time. As her blood began 5 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: to spell, her comrades rushed to her, but as more 6 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,120 Speaker 1: blood and more bodies began to fall around them, she 7 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: managed to slip away. Deborah secluded herself out of sight. 8 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: Grabbing her knife, she parted the gash in her thigh 9 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: and dug out a musket ball. The second one was 10 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,480 Speaker 1: too deep for her searching fingers, and it would stay 11 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: there for the rest of her life, long past the 12 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: end of the Revolutionary War. They say clothes can make 13 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: the woman, and sometimes they can make a woman into 14 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: someone else. For Deborah Sampson, this meant she could become 15 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: anyone she wanted, and in seventeen eighty two, what she 16 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: wanted was to become a soldier, so she became Timothy Payer. 17 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: Her stint as Timothy Payer, though would be short lived. 18 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: Deborah was outed shortly after enlisting in Middleborough, Massachusetts, and 19 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: she was promptly discharged, But she then made a second 20 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: go of it, joining rank with the Light Infantry Company 21 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: of the fourth Massachusetts Regiment under the name Robert Shirtliff, 22 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: and there she fell in step with the rest of 23 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,119 Speaker 1: the troops. She fit right in. She looked the part, 24 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: and she knew how to play as a team. Deborah 25 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: was from a large family, and when her father ran off, 26 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: their situation turned dire, so she went to work. Deborah 27 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: was eventually hired out as an indentured servant to a 28 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: wealthy household, where she bullied the boys into sharing their 29 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: school work with her. She later became a teacher and 30 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: brought in more income through like carpentry and basket weaving. 31 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: As the War for Independence raged in the distance, Deborah 32 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: felt her spirit stir. She wanted to help, but there 33 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: weren't many ways to contribute to the effort. As a 34 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 1: woman that appealed to her, so she decided to go undercover. 35 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:23,799 Speaker 1: And it was there on a battlefield in Terrytown, New York, 36 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: that Deborah, disguised as Robert, busied herself stitching up her wound, 37 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: and once she was back on her feet, she studied herself, 38 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: pulled her shoulders back, and headed to camp. The next year, 39 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: Debora was reassigned to a unit in Philadelphia. A while there. 40 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: It was, of all things, a fever that led to 41 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: her secret being discovered, but the doctor who treated her 42 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,239 Speaker 1: didden out her. Instead, he sent her to his own 43 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 1: home to be nursed by his wife and daughter, and 44 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:57,400 Speaker 1: kept her truth quiet. The war was over by September 45 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:00,799 Speaker 1: of that year. The good doctor asked her to deliver 46 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: a letter to her general, and her fears would come 47 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: to pass. She correctly assumed that this letter would reveal 48 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: the truth about Robert Shirtliffe and Deborah Sampson. She waited 49 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: for her punishment, but it never came. Instead, she received 50 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: an honorable discharge, some words of advice, and enough money 51 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 1: to get home. In eighteen o nine, she even began 52 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: receiving the government pension that she was owed for her service. 53 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: She lived out the rest of her life knowing that 54 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: she could fully wholly take pride in who she had become, 55 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: and that second musket ball it would remain entombed in 56 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: her flesh, a reminder of who she had once been. 57 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:56,280 Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to American Shadows. Zola Bennett's pulse 58 00:03:56,360 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: quickened as she stood before the red brick house. Eyes roving, 59 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: she scanned its face, her gaze settling on the front door. 60 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: She went up the front steps and wrapped her knuckles 61 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: firmly on the door frame, hoping that Amy would answer quickly. 62 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: The specter of an old woman appeared from slight and unassuming, 63 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: with her hair piled atop her head. She smiled and 64 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: swung the door open wide. New faces to the Archer 65 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,479 Speaker 1: Home were a frequent occurrence. As the proprietor of the 66 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: rest home, Amy Archer Gilligan, made it her work to 67 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: take in the old, the destitute, the infirm for a price. 68 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: Of course, it was expensive to keep food on the 69 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 1: table and the lights on, but she was providing a 70 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: necessary public service to the small community of Windsor, Connecticut. 71 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: Growing old is not for the faint of heart. It 72 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: was even less so back in the early nineteen hundreds, 73 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:55,360 Speaker 1: when multi generational families were becoming less common as more 74 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:57,719 Speaker 1: young folks were being lured off to the big city. 75 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: Many communities were con hunting the strain of how to 76 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:07,200 Speaker 1: care for their growing elderly populations. Almshouses were an abysmal option, 77 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,719 Speaker 1: and religious organizations could only help so much. There was 78 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: a very real social void and one that Amy made 79 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: it her mission to fill. Zola explained to Amy that 80 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: she was newly without as a wealthy woman who had 81 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 1: been married and kept for most of her life, she 82 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 1: had no real practical skills, and she was lonely. She 83 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: wondered if the stately Archer home would have room for 84 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: another boarder. Amy naturally was beyond pleased. She ran a 85 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,239 Speaker 1: brisk and profitable outfit and had taken in a number 86 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: of wealthy clients in the past. She loved that her 87 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: reputation preceded her and brought her good business. She had 88 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: been at this line of work for about ten years. 89 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,039 Speaker 1: She and her husband James, had rented a place in 90 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:56,160 Speaker 1: nearby Newington early in their marriage. Their landlord had been 91 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: an elderly man who needed assistance, and in exchange for 92 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: room and board, the young couple learned the art of caregiving. 93 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 1: When he eventually passed away, Amy and James rented the 94 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: home from his heirs and opened up sister Amy's nursing 95 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 1: home for the elderly. There was no regulation on how 96 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: these homes worked or what kind of care was provided, 97 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: but Amy's reputation was sterling. They stayed there for a 98 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: few years, until the Airs sold the home. Amy and 99 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 1: James then relocated to the red brick house on Prospect Street, 100 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: replete with a wrap around porch and a lush green lawn, 101 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: and there they once again opened their doors to their inmates, 102 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: as Amy called them. The couple drummed up business through postcards, flyers, 103 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 1: and newspaper ads. They recruited by word of mouth, and 104 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:49,839 Speaker 1: when people came knocking, they laid out their fees. Residents 105 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:53,160 Speaker 1: had to prove their financial assets, then fork over between 106 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: seven and twenty five dollars a week for care or 107 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:58,680 Speaker 1: a thousand dollars flat for the rest of their god 108 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:03,040 Speaker 1: given time on earth. The latter was often seen as 109 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,240 Speaker 1: a bargain for many who came by were pretty healthy. 110 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: They just wanted the company that communal living could provide, 111 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: and because of this, the room slowly swelled with life. 112 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: Boarders took up residence, and the Archer home and family 113 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: were busy. But these early happy days weren't to last. 114 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 1: On February second of nineteen ten, James died suddenly an 115 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: undiagnosed kidney ailment. Corners would later say, Amy, just thirty 116 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 1: six years old and with a young teenage daughter, was 117 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: a breath away from becoming destitute, but in a stroke 118 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: of luck, James Archer had a life insurance policy taken 119 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: out by his wife in previous weeks, which allowed the 120 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: two remaining Archers to keep their house and maintain their business. 121 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: After that, Amy played the part of the pious widow. 122 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: She dressed in black, her Bible always nearby. She made 123 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: generous donations to the Catholic Church, and she kept serving 124 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: the most lonely people in Windsor. As Amy beckons Zola 125 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: in The Young Undercover Detective, felt her skin prickle. She 126 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:15,880 Speaker 1: had heard rumors about this place and had been assigned 127 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: to get to the bottom of them. She couldn't blow 128 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: her cover. She was afraid that if Amy found out 129 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: who she really was and something bad could happen. The 130 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 1: house you see was the last stop for many, but 131 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: for reasons most never saw coming. Life at the Archer 132 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 1: home followed a steady rhythm, and the day would dawn 133 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: with breakfast and chores and the parent Calvinist work ethic 134 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: that was enforced. Despite the price Borders ostensibly paid for rest, 135 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: and though many came to the home to stave off loneliness, 136 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: sometimes having twenty housemaids made them year for the quiet 137 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: solace of days past. Each room was spartanly decorated with 138 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: a cot, a table, and a bureau. The inmates shared 139 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:12,960 Speaker 1: a community bathroom, which, as anyone who's ever lived with 140 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:16,079 Speaker 1: more than themselves knows, is a surefire way to accelerate 141 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: tension in any relationship. And if anyone was ill on 142 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: any given day, one Dr Howard frost King would come calling. 143 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:28,760 Speaker 1: He was also the medical examiner for the town. He 144 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 1: often saw residents twice, once when they were ill and 145 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:38,120 Speaker 1: once when they died. Amy kept everything moving. Just three 146 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 1: years after James passed, she remarried a fellow by the 147 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: name of Michael Gilligan, a hearty man with three sons, 148 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:48,560 Speaker 1: two daughters, and a healthy bank account. Romantics might hope 149 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: that Amy did this for love, but the rest of 150 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: us can imagine that she did this for security. Maybe 151 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: their children were happy for them, and their friends too, 152 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: but their neighbors were becoming a bit more wary of 153 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 1: the Archer home. Something it seemed just wasn't quite right. 154 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:10,240 Speaker 1: It's possible they were being paranoid. Isn't it expected that 155 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: if people intend to live out their lives in a place, 156 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:16,839 Speaker 1: they'll do just that, but the neighbors couldn't help but 157 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:21,439 Speaker 1: take note of how staggering the body count was. They 158 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 1: came one after the other in the dead of night. 159 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,080 Speaker 1: I'm a cob parade of stiff skin and bones that 160 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,400 Speaker 1: no one was supposed to see, but from which the 161 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: neighbors couldn't look away. Amy, for her part, knew this 162 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:37,400 Speaker 1: was all part of doing business. Well. Some people didn't 163 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:39,760 Speaker 1: like getting their hands dirty dealing with the dying and 164 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:43,520 Speaker 1: the dead, but she didn't mind. It was the living 165 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:46,600 Speaker 1: that sometimes gave her trouble, with families inmates trying to 166 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 1: insert themselves into her work. But this was her domain 167 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:54,560 Speaker 1: and she knew best. It wasn't a glamorous job, but 168 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:56,719 Speaker 1: it was one that she was willing to do so 169 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:01,959 Speaker 1: long as she was compensated for her efforts. Franklin Andrews, 170 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,320 Speaker 1: a new resident, knew he would be one of those 171 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:08,800 Speaker 1: bodies eventually. He had managed to eke out a comfortable living, 172 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:12,560 Speaker 1: but he was coming into his twilight years alone. He 173 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: had two sisters who loved him mightily but struggled to 174 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:18,720 Speaker 1: care for themselves. So with his little bit of money 175 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 1: from the sale of his family farm, he found his 176 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:25,120 Speaker 1: way to the Archer Home. Amy welcomed him with open arms. 177 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: For a thousand dollars, she would give him the care 178 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:32,080 Speaker 1: his sisters couldn't provide, and he was a fairly hale fellow, 179 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,960 Speaker 1: maintaining his good health with morning walks and household projects. 180 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: But in time his health began to falter. His sisters 181 00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:43,840 Speaker 1: weren't privy to this. They didn't know that he was 182 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:47,200 Speaker 1: slipping from life, so they were helpless in pulling him back. 183 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: When Franklin's sister, Nellie phoned to see if she could 184 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:53,720 Speaker 1: come by for a visit, Amy informed her that her 185 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:57,880 Speaker 1: brother was gravely ill. Just hours later he would be dead, 186 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,040 Speaker 1: spirited out of this world and out the back door 187 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:05,720 Speaker 1: of the house on Prospect Street. Nellie was shocked. She 188 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,079 Speaker 1: paid a visit to the country coroner and demanded to 189 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:11,960 Speaker 1: see Franklin's body, and when they presented her baby brother 190 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 1: to her, she was shocked again to see that he 191 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:18,079 Speaker 1: looked great, certainly not as ill as Amy had led 192 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:22,199 Speaker 1: her to believe. If this wasn't enough to rouse suspicion, 193 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:24,760 Speaker 1: there would be one more death that would turn heads 194 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:28,920 Speaker 1: Amy's very own husband, Michael, at his end on February 195 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 1: twenty first of nineteen fourteen. Doctor King examined him and 196 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,320 Speaker 1: insisted it was heart disease. Even though he had seemed 197 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:41,120 Speaker 1: so robust, his friends were left very suspicious, and none 198 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:45,440 Speaker 1: more so than Karl Gosly. Gosly, you see, was a 199 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 1: local journalist. He knew a thing or two about obituaries 200 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:52,720 Speaker 1: and probably paid more attention to them than most. The 201 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:56,840 Speaker 1: cadence at which they came from the Archer home alarmed him. 202 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:00,120 Speaker 1: He went digging and came up with not just more obituaries, 203 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:05,120 Speaker 1: but death certificates, dozens of them. The pattern was glaring. 204 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,320 Speaker 1: The dead were shouting at him from beyond the veil 205 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:12,800 Speaker 1: and the print, and they gave him an idea. He 206 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:15,480 Speaker 1: grabbed his notebook and headed out to the local drug store, 207 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,080 Speaker 1: and there he discovered Amy had told the staff about 208 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:22,200 Speaker 1: her serious rat problem and had been in the habit 209 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:30,320 Speaker 1: of purchasing huge amounts of poison from them. Zola Bennett 210 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,160 Speaker 1: knew that she had to time her undercover stay just right. 211 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: Too short and her mission would be undercut too long, 212 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 1: and she might not make it out alive. She had 213 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: been assigned to the case by Hugh Allcorn, the States 214 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: Attorney for Hartford County. Nelly had come to him with 215 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: her suspicions, but Carl Gosly's ghastly discovery at the drug 216 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 1: store was enough impetus to get the investigation under way. 217 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:58,640 Speaker 1: The Connecticut State Police were in a race against the clock, 218 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: which was really a race against Amy. The hours the 219 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,559 Speaker 1: residents had left on this earth were quickly ticking down. 220 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixteen, all Corn ordered the bodies of former 221 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:14,320 Speaker 1: Archer Home residents to be exhumed. As so not to 222 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,000 Speaker 1: stir the interest of the press, the work was done 223 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:20,440 Speaker 1: under the cover of night, so the dead were brought 224 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:22,600 Speaker 1: back to the surface of the earth a glow and 225 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:26,240 Speaker 1: a wash of gas light lanterns. Their organs were removed 226 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:30,680 Speaker 1: and jarred and taken away for examination. And when they 227 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: were analyzed by someone other than Dr King, something interesting happened. 228 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: The organs were found to be harboring startling amounts of arsenic. 229 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:44,280 Speaker 1: It became clear that at least twenty residents had been murdered. 230 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 1: End The paper trail the dead left behind was likewise damning. 231 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: Bank statements, wills, and letters revealed large transfers from residents 232 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: to Amy, and by the time the spring of nineteen 233 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:01,440 Speaker 1: sixteen rolled around. All the ince was collected and the 234 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:06,160 Speaker 1: numbers were tallied. The final score, if we could call it, that, 235 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: was shocking. The police arrested Amy on charges of killing 236 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,720 Speaker 1: at least sixty people, with forty eight of those deaths 237 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: from the last five years alone. Amy was indignant she 238 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 1: was doing the lord's work and having a trying time 239 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 1: of it too. According to her, it was the peculiarities 240 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 1: of old people that could account for all of this, 241 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:31,560 Speaker 1: with no wrongdoing on her side. The police and the 242 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 1: public didn't buy it. The crowd had to admit, though, 243 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: that Amy cut a striking figure in her morning blacks 244 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: as she appeared for her trial in June of that year. 245 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: Alcorn was out to see her hang and stabbed the deck. 246 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: With best medical experts around, it took the jury less 247 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:53,040 Speaker 1: than fifteen minutes to sentence her to death. As the 248 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 1: gavel came down. It's hard not to wonder what it 249 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:58,640 Speaker 1: felt like for her to finally beyond the raw end 250 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:10,040 Speaker 1: of the deal. M Amy didn't have to live with 251 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:13,760 Speaker 1: that psychic terror for long. She went on to appeal 252 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 1: the sentence and received a new trial three years later. 253 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:20,840 Speaker 1: She admitted to guilt on one account of second degree murder, 254 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: for which she was ferried away to the Weathersfield State 255 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:28,120 Speaker 1: Prison to begin her life sentence. Q Allcorn meanwhile went 256 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,880 Speaker 1: on to have quite a career after Amy Archer Gilligan. 257 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: He prosecuted over fifteen thousand criminals and was stuck with 258 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 1: a nickname the Hanging Prosecutor. The trial had been a 259 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:43,840 Speaker 1: sensation and the fallout was uncomfortable for the tiny town 260 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: of Windsor, but largely the story disappeared from the public's view, 261 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: that is, with one exception. Years later, on January tenth, 262 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: of a curtain went up on Broadway, playwright Joseph kessl 263 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:03,120 Speaker 1: Ring was running his new dark comedy. It had gotten 264 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:07,840 Speaker 1: rave reviews and sold out every show. The story followed 265 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: two elderly sisters who took in older gentleman borders, and 266 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:14,679 Speaker 1: if these ladies felt that a border was getting lonely 267 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:18,439 Speaker 1: or annoying, they gently dispatched him with a glass of 268 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 1: arsenic laced elderberry wine between London and New York. The 269 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:25,879 Speaker 1: play would run for almost three thousand shows and was 270 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 1: soon made into a film by Frank Capra. But on 271 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:33,399 Speaker 1: that opening night, there was someone very special in the audience. 272 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:37,800 Speaker 1: One Hugh all Corn. He had helped kessel Ring with 273 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 1: his research, which would forever cement the memory of Amy 274 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,960 Speaker 1: Archer Gilligan in the public's imagination with the play Arsenic 275 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 1: and Old Lace. Amy meanwhile left us with one last twist. 276 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:56,159 Speaker 1: She was eventually declared temporarily insane and institutionalized in an 277 00:17:56,200 --> 00:18:00,919 Speaker 1: asylum in nearby Middletown. Her short tenure ended up lasting 278 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,680 Speaker 1: thirty eight years. And then it said that she was 279 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:07,120 Speaker 1: a model patient, sitting with her Bible or winnowing her 280 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:10,280 Speaker 1: hours away at the piano, playing funeral music to her 281 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:14,920 Speaker 1: heart's content. She also had chores to complete, like every 282 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 1: other inmate there. Her job cooking and serving food to 283 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:29,359 Speaker 1: the staff and inmates of the entire establishment. There's more 284 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,440 Speaker 1: to this story. Stick around after this brief sponsor break 285 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: to hear all about it. Elizabeth looked down at her 286 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:45,280 Speaker 1: sad plate. They're baked into her bread was the husk 287 00:18:45,440 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: of a long dead spider. Of the things she had 288 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:51,879 Speaker 1: witnessed over the past week, this was the thing that 289 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:57,000 Speaker 1: turned her stomach. She considered it. Hungry eyes and silent 290 00:18:57,040 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 1: mouths watched her while nurses snicker in the corner. She 291 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,359 Speaker 1: slipped the bread to another woman, a small act of 292 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:07,480 Speaker 1: mercy in a place so cold. It was all she 293 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 1: could do in that moment. It would be imperative to 294 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:16,159 Speaker 1: stay the course and collect these moments. Elizabeth hoped she 295 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:19,320 Speaker 1: could keep observing and documenting what was happening around her 296 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:22,679 Speaker 1: and expose Blackwell Asylum in the newspapers for what it 297 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:27,639 Speaker 1: really was. Elizabeth had always been precocious, and she had 298 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:30,679 Speaker 1: always been a writer, but she was also a woman. 299 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,680 Speaker 1: Because of this, she had been relegated to the society pages, 300 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 1: writing about debutante balls, weddings, and other goings on about town. 301 00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:44,240 Speaker 1: These things were not what she considered real journalism, but 302 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,080 Speaker 1: she held firm to the dreams of big bylines and 303 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,879 Speaker 1: bigger stories, leads with gravitas that would be hers and 304 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:55,280 Speaker 1: hers alone. For the chasing this, she decided these luncheons 305 00:19:55,280 --> 00:20:00,200 Speaker 1: and galas would not do so. With a resolve as 306 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,760 Speaker 1: steely as the New York City sky, Elizabeth had blustered 307 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:08,120 Speaker 1: her way into newspaper editor Joseph Pulitzer's office. She promised 308 00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:10,560 Speaker 1: she would deliver him a major story if only given 309 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: a shot. He was impressed, he was also skeptical, so 310 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:18,359 Speaker 1: Joseph decided to put her medal to the test and 311 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:20,160 Speaker 1: see if she could bluster her all the way into 312 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: the asylum. Getting out, Elizabeth thought to herself, would be 313 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:28,880 Speaker 1: a bridge to cross when she got there. Elizabeth prepared 314 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: herself the first step in her method acting project would 315 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,719 Speaker 1: be to look the part, So she became a boarder 316 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,879 Speaker 1: at the Perhaps on the Nose temporary home for females 317 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: and began practicing her thousand yards stare. She would keep 318 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,640 Speaker 1: herself up all night, eyes wide. She began to talk 319 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:49,439 Speaker 1: about her missing luggage and her trip from Cuba, and 320 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:54,560 Speaker 1: started accusing other borders of being crazy. No one appreciates 321 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:59,520 Speaker 1: disruptive roommates, and the police were eventually called. Elizabeth would 322 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: later write that she was worried about convincing people she 323 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:06,080 Speaker 1: was crazy enough, As she would soon find out, it 324 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:10,919 Speaker 1: really didn't take much. It was assumed that everyone who 325 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,040 Speaker 1: was taken to Blackwell deserved to be there, quite the 326 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:16,960 Speaker 1: opposite of the idea of being innocent until proven guilty. 327 00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:21,679 Speaker 1: Right away, Elizabeth was treated as a lost cause, just 328 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:25,960 Speaker 1: another troublesome woman who needed to be handled. She soon 329 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:29,119 Speaker 1: was getting an up close look at the inhumanity only 330 00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 1: whispered about on the outside. The life the inmates led 331 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:38,119 Speaker 1: was no life at all. They were subject to beatings, chokings, 332 00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:43,120 Speaker 1: and near drownings, all often delivered wholly unprovoked. They were 333 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:45,840 Speaker 1: forced to labor and to sit on hard wooden benches 334 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: for fourteen hours a day. They were drugged with morphine 335 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: and chloroform, with a frequency so high that many of 336 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:54,920 Speaker 1: those held there really did seem to lose their minds. 337 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,639 Speaker 1: In the late eighteen hundreds, it was easy to commit 338 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:03,800 Speaker 1: someone or becomemitted yourself to an asylum. Elizabeth met women 339 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: who had been sick but couldn't afford medical care, and 340 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:10,880 Speaker 1: others who were considered burdensome by their families and sent away. 341 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:13,480 Speaker 1: Others still were immigrants who had been picked up by 342 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:17,640 Speaker 1: law enforcement for one reason or another. These were women 343 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:22,720 Speaker 1: society wished to forget, wished to disappear behind lock and key, 344 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:27,240 Speaker 1: to be kept quiet and out of sight. After ten days, 345 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:32,400 Speaker 1: Joseph Pulitzer sprung Elizabeth the women she had met there, well, 346 00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:36,960 Speaker 1: they'd hardly be so lucky. Two days later, she published 347 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:41,200 Speaker 1: her first report under the pen name Nellie Bligh. When 348 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 1: the public realized the horrible extent of this truth, they 349 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:49,200 Speaker 1: were aghast. The article was explosive, sending shock waves throughout 350 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:53,360 Speaker 1: the country. The city was deeply embarrassed. By the time 351 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: officials went to investigate the asylum, it was clear the 352 00:22:56,359 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 1: staff had been hard at work cleaning up the building 353 00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:02,120 Speaker 1: was freshly paid, unted. There is better food and more 354 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:06,919 Speaker 1: adequate sleeping quarters, and everyone Elizabeth had spoken to and 355 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: named in the article it seems had disappeared. American Shadows 356 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was written by 357 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: Robin Minater, researched by Ali Steed, and produced by Miranda 358 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:32,400 Speaker 1: Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, 359 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,400 Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show, visit 360 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:39,280 Speaker 1: grimmin mild dot com. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, 361 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,840 Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 362 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.