1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,960 Speaker 1: This story contains adult content and language, along with references 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: to sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised. 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 2: It's about class and privilege, morality, love and betrayal, power, 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 2: all these things and how they collide. The story about 5 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 2: ambition and the way that that could sometimes lead you 6 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 2: to triumph, but it can also sometimes lead you to 7 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:27,639 Speaker 2: dark places, and it can be deadly or your downfall 8 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 2: as well. 9 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: I'm Kate Winkler Dawson, a nonfiction author and journalism professor 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: in Austin, Texas. I'm also the host of the historical 11 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: true crime podcast tenfold More Wicked on Exactly Right. I've 12 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 1: traveled around the world interviewing people for the show. I've 13 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,160 Speaker 1: interviewed some people in person and some from my home 14 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: studio over zoom, and they are all excellent writers. They've 15 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: had so many great true crime stories, and now we 16 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: want to tell you those stories with details that have 17 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: never been published. Tenfold More Wicked presents Wicked Words is 18 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: about the choices that writers make, good and bad. It's 19 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: a deep dive into the stories behind the stories. Joe 20 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: Pompeo is a senior media correspondent for Vanity Fair and 21 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:16,960 Speaker 1: an author. He's written a book called Blood and Ink, 22 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,839 Speaker 1: an heiress, a tabloid war, and the unsolved double murder 23 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: that hooked a nation on true crime. Joe's tackled a 24 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,680 Speaker 1: very well known case, but he's added a depth to 25 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: it that I haven't read before. Let's dig into the 26 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: Whole Mills story. What are the themes that we have 27 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: to look forward to with the story. 28 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 2: It's a story about dark secrets and shaking the foundations 29 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 2: of a community, and I think for me personally that 30 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 2: resonates with me as a fan of Victorian literature. 31 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 3: And Twin Peaks and things like that. 32 00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 2: But really when a small, quiet community that can be 33 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 2: completely upended by these dark secrets that are kind of 34 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 2: lurking right beneath the surface. I also think as a 35 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 2: story about how the media and the public interacts with 36 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 2: scandal and crime, that's something that with the birth of 37 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,880 Speaker 2: the tabloid press in the nineteen twenties when this story 38 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 2: takes place, I think something that still resonates today with 39 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 2: tabloid media and our obsession with true crime today. 40 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 3: That was very much a huge part of this story. 41 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 1: So I love this time period. We're talking about nineteen 42 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:20,240 Speaker 1: twenty two New Jersey. This is prohibition and crime is 43 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:23,799 Speaker 1: up even though prohibition was meant to drive crime down. 44 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: What is New Jersey like in nineteen twenty two, Before 45 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: we really dig into the story, set the scene. 46 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 2: This takes place in Summerville, New Jersey, which is a 47 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 2: very rural, kind of a quaint small town surrounded by 48 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 2: farmland in central New Jersey, which is about twenty minutes 49 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 2: from New Brunswick, which is where all the characters and 50 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,120 Speaker 2: the victims in this story lived. 51 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: So we have two victims here, and before we get 52 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 1: into their relationship, let's pull them apart and talk about 53 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: them separately. So you have an episcopal minister, Edward Hall. 54 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:55,239 Speaker 3: That's right. 55 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 2: So Edward Hall came from a pretty middle working class background. 56 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 3: He was born in Brooklyn. 57 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 2: At a young age, he enrolled at the choir school 58 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:05,919 Speaker 2: at Grace Church in Manhattan, which is a very elite 59 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 2: institution for boys as young as eight, where they had 60 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,839 Speaker 2: this rigorous choir training. It was a way for them 61 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 2: to get on a path that maybe wasn't as accessible 62 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 2: to them in their ordinary sort of working class lives. 63 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 3: So it's kind of the background he came from. 64 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 2: And I guess, starting at a young age, involved in 65 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 2: some way in religion and the church, and he continues 66 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 2: on that path. He studies and he goes to college 67 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 2: in upstate New York. He studies theology, graduates in one 68 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,239 Speaker 2: of the largest, I believe, Episcopalian classes in the diocese 69 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 2: in New York, and he goes on a path to 70 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 2: become an Episcopalian minister. And he's kind of on this 71 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 2: upwardly mobile path. He gets to a place in basking Ridge, 72 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 2: New Jersey, a church called Saint Mark's, which is about 73 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 2: half hour from New Brunswick, and he's kind of the 74 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 2: assistant rector there. But then fortune strikes in New Brunswick, 75 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 2: New Jersey, at a church called Saint John's, which is 76 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 2: one of the other settings for my story. The rector 77 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 2: there leaves and the diocese chooses Edward Hall to take 78 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 2: his place. So he ends up in Saint John the 79 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 2: Evangelist in New Brunswick, which is a church where there's 80 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 2: some very it's not a wholly wealthy church. There's a mix, 81 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 2: but there's some very very wealthy, powerful families that are 82 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 2: very involved in the church. And he finds himself suddenly 83 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:19,599 Speaker 2: in there amidst and this is how he ultimately kind 84 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 2: of works his way into society, New Jersey society. He 85 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,479 Speaker 2: ends up marrying this very rich woman from the church 86 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 2: who comes from an illustrious family and has lots of 87 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 2: money and all that. So he ends up in a 88 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:33,720 Speaker 2: member of society. But it was a very much kind 89 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:36,760 Speaker 2: of this upwardly mobile path that he took that led 90 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 2: him there. One of the open questions about this story 91 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 2: is why did he marry Francis Hall. She was considerably 92 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 2: older than him at the time, by all accounts, she 93 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:47,720 Speaker 2: was probably thirty five. I believe when they married, he 94 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 2: was a very charismatic, popular kind of ladies man who. 95 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 3: Probably could have had his pick, and I think did have. 96 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 2: Other interests in the church, younger women who were a 97 00:04:57,440 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 2: little bit more closer to him, both in age, but 98 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:02,040 Speaker 2: both also in class. So I think there's a really 99 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:04,240 Speaker 2: big question of was he a gold digger? You know, 100 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 2: was this a very calculated move? And you know, as 101 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:09,239 Speaker 2: a reverend at the time, that was also an important 102 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 2: social position, so I think that he may have felt. 103 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 3: Like an outsider. 104 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:14,800 Speaker 2: He also in some way had a position of power 105 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,280 Speaker 2: in that familial dynamic. I think that he certainly benefited 106 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:21,840 Speaker 2: from marrying up and I think he very much took 107 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 2: to this new lifestyle that was suddenly available to him, 108 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 2: living in a mansion and having access to money and 109 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:28,040 Speaker 2: wealth and all of that. 110 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 1: Do we have a sense for what their dynamic was 111 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: in the marriage. 112 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:34,040 Speaker 2: Everyone in Francis Hall's orbit swore that this was a 113 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,760 Speaker 2: happy marriage. She swore almost to the very very end, 114 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 2: that he was faithful to her. They had this perfectly 115 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 2: happy life together. I don't think he was happy in 116 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 2: his marriage. It's very clear he was having an affair. 117 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 2: There was rumors he had a lot of friction with 118 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 2: his brother in laws that they didn't really like him. 119 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 2: There was no violence and anything like that, but I 120 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:55,840 Speaker 2: think that he was just for a while. Clearly he's 121 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 2: fooling around, and I think probably everyone knew it and 122 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:00,840 Speaker 2: didn't want to acknowledge it, and. 123 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 3: In fact projected the opposite to keep up appearances. 124 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:05,280 Speaker 1: Now, the woman that he was found dead with was 125 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:06,880 Speaker 1: a woman named Eleanor Mills. 126 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:10,239 Speaker 3: So Eleanor Mills, she you know, is the opposite of wealth. 127 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 2: She comes from a German family of I think she 128 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,360 Speaker 2: had twelve siblings, grew up in a small, crammed house. 129 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 2: She came from working class immigrant parents, and she did 130 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,279 Speaker 2: not finish high school. She ended up marrying at seventeen. 131 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,679 Speaker 2: Her child was born about seven months after the marriage. 132 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:28,719 Speaker 2: Clearly this was a shotgun marriage. She ended up with 133 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:30,840 Speaker 2: this again, a much older man that she had started 134 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:34,000 Speaker 2: seeing when she was about still a teenager, fifteen or 135 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:36,480 Speaker 2: sixteen or so, and seeing this guy that was well into. 136 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,040 Speaker 3: His twenties, she ends up getting pregnant. They marry. He 137 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:40,359 Speaker 3: worked in a shoe factory. 138 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 2: By the time that the story takes place, he's holding 139 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 2: down two kind of dead end jobs. He's a janitor 140 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:48,479 Speaker 2: at elementary school and he's also the sexton of this church, 141 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 2: and the rector, Edward Hall, actually got him this job 142 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:53,919 Speaker 2: as a sex and so he's cobbling together, you know, 143 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 2: he's supporting his family on essentially. I think he says 144 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 2: he never made more than about thirty eight dollars a 145 00:06:58,320 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 2: week to support his family of four. 146 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:01,520 Speaker 3: She had a second kid. 147 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:04,840 Speaker 2: So they live in this very small second floor apartment, 148 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:07,599 Speaker 2: four room apartment. But Eleanor the thing about her is 149 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:08,720 Speaker 2: she's kind of. 150 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 3: Caught between the Victorian world. 151 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 2: And the change that the nineteen twenties are ushering in, 152 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 2: and she really yearns for something more in life. She 153 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 2: has big dreams. She wished she had finished school. She 154 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 2: wants for her daughter to finish school and make something 155 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 2: of herself. And I think that's reflected also in this 156 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 2: love affair that she developed with this pastor. Eleanor was 157 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 2: also very talented singer. She was in the church choir. 158 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 2: That's presumably how this relationship first really sparked. 159 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 3: The revera would comes to choir practice. 160 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 2: We don't know exactly the genesis of their relationship, but 161 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 2: she became very very involved in the church, and even 162 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 2: more so when Edward Hall became its rector. But they 163 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 2: were two people who were talented singers married to considerably 164 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 2: older spouses, wanted something more out of life. We think 165 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 2: they were planning to a lope and run away. She 166 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 2: wanted to travel. She was very well read. I think 167 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 2: that she took the hand that life dealt her, but 168 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:00,680 Speaker 2: wanted something much more. And I think that this relationship 169 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 2: also kind of gave her access to something that she 170 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:04,679 Speaker 2: didn't get from her home life. 171 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:07,440 Speaker 1: Do you think that Eleanor's husband knew about the affair. 172 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 2: They did have friction in their marriage. It was not 173 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 2: a violent marriage, but it was not a happy marriage. 174 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 2: They argued a lot, especially over if money was a 175 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:19,240 Speaker 2: big friction, a big pressure point in their household. She 176 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 2: would save everything she could from her housekeeping budget to 177 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 2: try to buy things to liven up the apartment or 178 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 2: to make it better. She would take odd jobs. She 179 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 2: was so involved in the church. It was known she 180 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 2: spent so much time there, so much time with Reverend Hall. 181 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 2: The families themselves too, had a very interesting dynamic where 182 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:39,040 Speaker 2: the Mills family in some way benefited from their proximity 183 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 2: to the Halls. You know, when Eleanor needed an operation, 184 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 2: the Hall family loaned and the money to cover this operation. 185 00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 2: They would mingle as not as social equals, but as 186 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,400 Speaker 2: church colleagues, and they would sort of give presents to 187 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:50,960 Speaker 2: one another. 188 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,240 Speaker 3: And Jim to some extent, benefited from this arrangement. 189 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: To Jim's her husband. 190 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 2: Is that right, Jim Mills, Eleanor's husband. They were writing letters. 191 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,800 Speaker 2: I mean everyone in town, it seems, especially when the 192 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:04,600 Speaker 2: church knew about this. So it's really hard to believe 193 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 2: that either of their spouses were not aware something was 194 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:07,559 Speaker 2: going on. 195 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 1: So let's talk a little bit about that. I mean, 196 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:13,079 Speaker 1: this is nineteen twenties. This just seems like ripe for 197 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: moral outrage from the old biddy's in the church who 198 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:18,320 Speaker 1: don't approve of this. 199 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 2: I think the church there was it was really a 200 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 2: hotbed of gossip. But I think that because this was 201 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:27,360 Speaker 2: such a respectable family and also being the rector of 202 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 2: the church, I just don't think anyone in the congregation 203 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 2: was willing to say anything out loud. 204 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:34,560 Speaker 1: You really found that they were planning to Elope, that 205 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: this was going to be a marriage potentially between the 206 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:37,559 Speaker 1: two of them. 207 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:39,560 Speaker 2: That it was sort of speculation, but also at one 208 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 2: of Eleanor's sisters said that there was some belief that 209 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 2: they would have eloped, possibly to Germany. Edward Hall had 210 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 2: also squirreled away and his safety posit box after he 211 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,320 Speaker 2: was murdered was found to have about forty thousand dollars 212 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:53,319 Speaker 2: in it, and a ten thousand of that came from 213 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:55,200 Speaker 2: when his mother in law died and it was a bequest. 214 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:57,560 Speaker 1: You know what's interesting In the nineteen twenties, it would 215 00:09:57,559 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: have been common for, of course, the man of the 216 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 1: household to control the purse strings and to just allocate 217 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: his wife a monthly allowance and he would take control 218 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:07,280 Speaker 1: of the rest of the money and pay the bills, 219 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: since he would be the primary earner. I wonder what 220 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,719 Speaker 1: happens in a household where the wife is the one 221 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 1: who has all of the money through her family. I 222 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:18,720 Speaker 1: wonder what her access was like versus what his access 223 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:19,200 Speaker 1: was like. 224 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 2: One of the other characters that's important to note here 225 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 2: is Francis's younger brother, Willie. 226 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 3: She had two older brothers. 227 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 2: The younger of her two older brothers, Willie Stevens, this 228 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:31,080 Speaker 2: very eccentric character, very childlike in some ways, but also 229 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 2: very smart in some ways. 230 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 3: He read all sorts of brainy books. 231 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:38,119 Speaker 2: On metallurgy, and he had this kind of childlike identity, 232 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:41,280 Speaker 2: and he did not have access to his own money. 233 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 3: His money came through a very meager weekly allowance. 234 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 2: And it was said that Edward Hall is actually the 235 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:49,640 Speaker 2: one who kind of controlled his finances and that this 236 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:51,720 Speaker 2: was a point of friction. So Edward Hall did have 237 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,439 Speaker 2: some role, I think, in the financial planning of the family, 238 00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:57,280 Speaker 2: and this also may have led to some of the 239 00:10:57,320 --> 00:10:59,680 Speaker 2: friction between Francis's brothers and him. 240 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: Okay, let me try to summarize and then let's get 241 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: up to the murders. So the summary for me is 242 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 1: that Edward and Eleanor are having an affair. They're both 243 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 1: married to older people. They both seem unhappy. Edward and 244 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:13,640 Speaker 1: Francis don't have children. 245 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 3: Right, that's correct. 246 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:19,679 Speaker 1: But Eleanor and Jim have two children and they're in 247 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 1: unhappy marriages. They're having an affair, and it sounds like 248 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:27,800 Speaker 1: there's the potential that they might elope what brings us 249 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:30,079 Speaker 1: to their murders. 250 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:32,679 Speaker 2: So they were found dead in a field outside of 251 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:35,920 Speaker 2: New Brunswick on September sixteenth, nineteen twenty two. 252 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 3: We're now at one hundredth anniversary of this crime. 253 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:42,199 Speaker 2: In the days leading up to their murders, Eleanor and Edward, 254 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 2: as I said, they wrote love notes to each other. 255 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:46,760 Speaker 2: They left them in these kind of secret places in 256 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:49,440 Speaker 2: the church and hymnals. There was a certain book on 257 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 2: one of his bookshelves in his study where they were 258 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:53,360 Speaker 2: said to leave love notes back and forth to one another, 259 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 2: and all these gossips in the church. 260 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:56,559 Speaker 3: We think that they were aware of this. 261 00:11:56,679 --> 00:12:00,080 Speaker 2: It may have intercepted one of these love letters. This 262 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 2: is kind of the working theory because these letters actually 263 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,480 Speaker 2: were found, they were recovered, because when the bodies were discovered, 264 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 2: some of the love notes were actually scattered amongst the 265 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:11,599 Speaker 2: corpses which were positioned in this very fairly mutilated I 266 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:15,640 Speaker 2: mean Eleanor's had three bullets to her head, Edward had one. 267 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 2: Eleanor's throat was cut from ear to ear to the 268 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:20,800 Speaker 2: point where she was nearly decapitated, and her neck was 269 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 2: filled with maggots by the time that the bodies were found, 270 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:26,560 Speaker 2: but the clothing was completely neat. His arm was outstretched, 271 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 2: her head rested on it, her hand was placed atop 272 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:31,200 Speaker 2: his leg. One of his calling cards was placed near 273 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:33,480 Speaker 2: the bodies. These love letters, So it is this very bizarre, 274 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 2: kind of chilling tableau. Some of these other people in 275 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 2: the church, there was two characters which are minor characters 276 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:41,800 Speaker 2: in the book and probably too much to get into here, 277 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:45,120 Speaker 2: were aware of these letters passed one to Francis Hall, 278 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:48,560 Speaker 2: who becomes the main suspect eventually, and that was maybe 279 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 2: the catalyst that led to this. Then Francis and her 280 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 2: brothers were going to confront them at this trysting spot 281 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 2: on this lover's lane outside of town. We don't know 282 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 2: for sure what happened, but that is kind of the 283 00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 2: theory that the prosecution ultimately landed upon. 284 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:04,480 Speaker 1: At the time so Eleanor's body. That sounds like overkill. 285 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:06,880 Speaker 1: She seemed to be the main target and he was there. 286 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 1: So what are investigators saying When they arrived to the scene. 287 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:15,200 Speaker 2: It was a bumbling forensic situation. These two young people 288 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 2: stumbled upon these bodies. They summoned the authorities. The first 289 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:20,360 Speaker 2: ones that arrived were just these rank and file patrolmen. 290 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:23,559 Speaker 2: Word gets around, it's a small town. Throngs start arriving, 291 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:26,080 Speaker 2: crowds start descending on this murder scene. So the crime 292 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:29,560 Speaker 2: scene is completely corrupted almost immediately. They didn't take any photos. 293 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:32,960 Speaker 2: People were allowed to rifle with the bodies, the clothing, 294 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 2: the notes, so everything was pretty much contaminated by the 295 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 2: time a detective showed up and did some slightly more 296 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 2: sophisticated type of investigation. But again, this is not a 297 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:44,880 Speaker 2: big city police department. This is from a rural small 298 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:48,280 Speaker 2: town where there's also a jurisdictional discrepancy because, as I said, 299 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 2: the two towns that are central here a's New Brunswick, 300 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 2: New Jersey, which is in Middlesex County, and Summerville, New Jersey, 301 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 2: which is in Somerset County, and the bodies were pretty 302 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 2: much found on the border of the two. And you 303 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:00,360 Speaker 2: have some competition too between these police or so, so 304 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 2: it was kind of a mess. 305 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: If Eleanor's throat has been split, there's blood everywhere. Where's 306 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:06,440 Speaker 1: the blood? Which county is the blood in? 307 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:06,840 Speaker 3: Well? 308 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:08,840 Speaker 2: Here's the other thing is that there wasn't a ton 309 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 2: of blood and they believe her throat was split post mortem, 310 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:14,560 Speaker 2: that these bullet wounds would have killed her. They never 311 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:16,840 Speaker 2: ordered a full autopsy. They kind of did a cursory 312 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 2: like morg report. And I think there's also a sense of, 313 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 2: you know, the Stephens family, they kind of want to 314 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 2: shut this up, get it shut up as quickly as possible, 315 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 2: so they kind of rushed. 316 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 3: To bury Edward as quickly as possible. 317 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:29,880 Speaker 1: The Stevens are Francis Hall's family, the dead man's wife 318 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: now widow, right, that's. 319 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 2: Right, And it was all just a complete chaotic mess really. 320 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,400 Speaker 2: But you know, there was a soil analysis that ew 321 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 2: SQUIBB what is now ew squib did and this analysis 322 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 2: concluded that the amount of blood that they did find 323 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 2: at the crime scene, soaked into the ground was enough 324 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:48,120 Speaker 2: to substantiate that they would have been murdered in that 325 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:48,720 Speaker 2: same spot. 326 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about the bugs, because I write about 327 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:54,040 Speaker 1: bugs in American Sherlock. So bugs, I'm sure everybody here knows, 328 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,240 Speaker 1: comes to a body in a certain order. Blowflies usually 329 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 1: come first, and then there's beetles. So maggots put it 330 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: at what twenty four to forty eight hours? 331 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 2: So the one person who give the most competent initial 332 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 2: inspection was a veterinary surgeon who appeared on the scene, 333 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:10,480 Speaker 2: and he also knew Edward Hall, so he was able 334 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 2: to identify him. He said at the time he believed 335 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:14,160 Speaker 2: that the maggots would have put it at. 336 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:15,240 Speaker 3: Thirty six hours. 337 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 2: Okay, so the Thursday night when Edward and Eleanor both 338 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,520 Speaker 2: disappeared en route to their secret rendezvous, that would have 339 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:25,560 Speaker 2: been about thirty six hours later. We're at Saturday, around 340 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:29,400 Speaker 2: ten thirty or so when the bodies are discovered. We 341 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 2: believe that probably on Thursday night, that the previous Thursday night, 342 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:35,600 Speaker 2: maybe sometime between nine and ten thirty or so, is 343 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 2: when they were killed. 344 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:40,880 Speaker 1: Whoever murdered them, did they know where, did they follow 345 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:43,560 Speaker 1: them or did they know that this was an area 346 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: that Edward and Eleanora must have frequented before to have privacy. 347 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,080 Speaker 2: So in their love notes, they referred to their road. 348 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:52,400 Speaker 2: There was a bench that they were known to be 349 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:56,160 Speaker 2: seen sitting together often in this park close to where 350 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 2: the bodies were found and also where they were found. 351 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:00,920 Speaker 2: It was kind of an infamous lover lane at the time. 352 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:03,360 Speaker 2: It was a little trail off this road called Drusy's Lane, 353 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 2: which is kind of this dirt road, but it was 354 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:07,280 Speaker 2: known as a trysting spot. 355 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,640 Speaker 1: What happens with their list of suspects, They're looking at 356 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:12,640 Speaker 1: the family and the people who surround them first. 357 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 2: I assume their initial suspects are Jim Mills and Francis 358 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 2: Hall and her brothers, her family. They kind of pounce 359 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 2: on Jim first. Again because Francis is this wealthy new widow. 360 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: Well, he's a husband too, he's a. 361 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 3: Husband to would they kind of give her a day? 362 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:30,960 Speaker 2: They kind of they're deferential to her, and their initial 363 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 2: question is fairly deferential. 364 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:34,600 Speaker 3: But Jim, he had a pretty good alby. 365 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:38,480 Speaker 2: He was seen out back doing some woodwork on his 366 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 2: porch up till like nine o'clock. He bought a soda 367 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 2: close to eleven. His kids came home around ten fifteen. 368 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 2: They said they saw him. There's a window where he 369 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 2: could have made huffed out to this farm and back 370 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 2: and made it. 371 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 3: But also he was just such a dud. 372 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 2: It's kind of even hard to imagine him having the 373 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:55,920 Speaker 2: will or an even intellect to carry out a crime 374 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,480 Speaker 2: like this. It just doesn't fit him to me, as 375 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:00,520 Speaker 2: I've always felt that, it doesn't seem like Jim is 376 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 2: the has it in him to do this in some way, 377 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:04,240 Speaker 2: And again like he seems to have known about this 378 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 2: affair for quite a bit and was kind of just 379 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:09,679 Speaker 2: accepting it and maybe benefiting again from the proximity to 380 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:10,119 Speaker 2: this family. 381 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:10,439 Speaker 3: But they do. 382 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,360 Speaker 2: They look at Jim, but he never really becomes a suspect, 383 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 2: and they start looking at the family. There's all sorts 384 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:18,439 Speaker 2: of little bits and pieces that are leading them towards 385 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 2: Francis and her brothers. One is that they were seen 386 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:24,120 Speaker 2: entering their home late at night on the Thursday into 387 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:26,120 Speaker 2: Friday morning after the disappearance of the. 388 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:28,160 Speaker 1: Bodies, all of them, all three of them. 389 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 2: Just Francis and Willie who lived with her. The other brother, Henry, 390 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 2: lived down the shore. 391 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: And there's a cousin involved to another Henry, right, a cousin. 392 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 2: There's a cousin, there's another Henry. There's a lot of 393 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:37,920 Speaker 2: Henry's and Edwins. 394 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: Oh gosh, that's what drove me nuts about the nineteen hunders. 395 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 2: In eighteen hundreds, everyone has the same name. It's hard 396 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 2: to keep track. So Francis said, oh, she said, oh, 397 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:47,520 Speaker 2: Willie and I we left to go look for Edward 398 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 2: at the church. Turns out Jim had also gone to 399 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:52,119 Speaker 2: look for Eleanor at the church late at night, and 400 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 2: he was the sexton, so he had a key, and 401 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:56,440 Speaker 2: they just missed each other. It seems it's all sorts 402 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:58,159 Speaker 2: of little things that are leading them to Francis, but 403 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:00,960 Speaker 2: there's really no there's no smoking gun, and this kind of. 404 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:02,359 Speaker 3: Drags on for a few weeks. 405 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:04,800 Speaker 2: Immediately this was huge national news, which is one of 406 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:06,639 Speaker 2: the other friends of my book, the way that this 407 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,359 Speaker 2: became such a spectacle for the newspapers all over the country, 408 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:12,679 Speaker 2: especially in New York. But there's pressure from the governor, 409 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:15,320 Speaker 2: there's pressure from the local public. The newspapers are putting 410 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:17,399 Speaker 2: out these editorials. They need to find progress in the case. 411 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:21,720 Speaker 2: And only after this very strange witness emerges does the 412 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,639 Speaker 2: prosecution feel that it has something to go on that 413 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 2: they can link this murder to Francis and her brothers. 414 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: Okay, so tell me what happens next. 415 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:32,240 Speaker 2: Then this woman emerges sort of out of nowhere. Her 416 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 2: name is Jane Gibson. She's another really eccentric character, a 417 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 2: fascinating character in this case. She lives on a farm 418 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:43,119 Speaker 2: adjacent to the abandoned farm where the murders occurred. She 419 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:47,119 Speaker 2: raises hogs, She raises pigs on this farm. A very 420 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:50,920 Speaker 2: convoluted backstory. She claims to have run away from home 421 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:53,840 Speaker 2: and become a writer in the circus, and it's this 422 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:56,360 Speaker 2: kind of pioneer woman living in this shack and kind 423 00:18:56,359 --> 00:18:59,119 Speaker 2: of raising these pigs, but also you know, and mc 424 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,040 Speaker 2: corn an other things, and it's kind of also, this 425 00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:04,440 Speaker 2: keen business woman basically comes forward and tells the authorities 426 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:06,960 Speaker 2: that she saw the murders. And her story is that 427 00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:10,480 Speaker 2: on the night in question, she heard her dog barking, 428 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:13,000 Speaker 2: and she had had theft of some of her corn 429 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:15,600 Speaker 2: crop recently, and she said, oh, this dog's barking, that 430 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 2: must be the corn thief. 431 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:18,840 Speaker 3: I'm going to go out and chase this guy down. 432 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:21,919 Speaker 2: She goes out, she sees some like wagon kind of 433 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 2: like driving in the distance. She mounts her favorite mule 434 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 2: named Jenny, and she goes out following this wagon down 435 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,640 Speaker 2: Erusi's lane, kind of loses sight of it, and then 436 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:35,879 Speaker 2: kind of gets turned around and suddenly hears voices, and 437 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 2: one thing leads to another. She ends up witnessing this 438 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:41,159 Speaker 2: murder even though it was dark. She claims she can 439 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 2: identify she saw at one point a car that shined 440 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 2: light along the first part of her journey, shined light 441 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:49,359 Speaker 2: on two people's faces, who she later identifies as Princess 442 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 2: Hall and Henry Stevens. It's a very wild, kind of 443 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:55,159 Speaker 2: hard to believe tail, and they pursue it, and they 444 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 2: take it seriously. 445 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 3: The press coined her the pig Woman. She raised pigs. 446 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 2: She became a very famous you know, if the pig 447 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,000 Speaker 2: Woman became a very famous figure, and she clearly relished 448 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 2: the press to an extent. She was both hostile towards 449 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 2: the press, but then she would also accept money for 450 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,480 Speaker 2: them to take her photograph. And it looks like both 451 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:11,240 Speaker 2: an easy case and a hard case, because you know, 452 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:12,280 Speaker 2: for the motive is there. 453 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:14,520 Speaker 3: These people had means. 454 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 2: They could have pulled this off and covered it up right, 455 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:17,639 Speaker 2: but they also have nothing to go on. But kind 456 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 2: of this story of this maybe crazy woman, but that's 457 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:22,399 Speaker 2: pretty much what they go to the grand jury with. 458 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,679 Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about the two main players here. So 459 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:30,000 Speaker 1: Francis and Jim, what are their public reactions to the 460 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:32,919 Speaker 1: murders and to the story in general. 461 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:34,800 Speaker 3: They are completely shocked. 462 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:37,680 Speaker 2: We have complete faith in our spouses and they were friends. 463 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:40,200 Speaker 2: Jim especially comes out and he's like talking about how 464 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:42,520 Speaker 2: Edward Wall was his best friend and he was so 465 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:44,280 Speaker 2: kind to him and you could never heard a fly. 466 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,040 Speaker 3: And Francis and her family are very much saying all the. 467 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 2: Things you'd expect them to say about his faithfulness and 468 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 2: all that. They are putting up such a strong front 469 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 2: that they cannot imagine what their spouses were doing together 470 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:58,880 Speaker 2: alone on this dirt road. Francis's family is putting out 471 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 2: all sorts of theories, this is a robbery gone awry, 472 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,960 Speaker 2: Maybe it was a blackmail game, all sorts of red 473 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,199 Speaker 2: herrings that never really took hold. Everyone is kind of 474 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:10,760 Speaker 2: just playing dumb, really and acting in complete shock and 475 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:11,920 Speaker 2: horror that has happened. 476 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 1: So, going back to Jane, known in the press as 477 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,480 Speaker 1: the pig Woman, I'm assuming that she could identify both 478 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:33,159 Speaker 1: Francis and Henry because she knew him right. 479 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,359 Speaker 2: It's dicey. I mean, this is a small town. Frances 480 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:37,639 Speaker 2: is a prominent person. At some point she claims that 481 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:40,359 Speaker 2: she had seen her at a tag sale. Her statements 482 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,440 Speaker 2: and the way she initially identified them is vaguely within 483 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 2: line with how they looked. 484 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: Aside from Jane as an eyewitness and these love letters, 485 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,359 Speaker 1: there's no other forensic evidence. Does anyone in the church 486 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:52,080 Speaker 1: make a statement. 487 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:56,000 Speaker 2: I have the transcripts of the original depositions from this case, 488 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,920 Speaker 2: and numerous members of the church testified. I saw them 489 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,360 Speaker 2: talking arm in arm in New York, in Midtown near 490 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:03,160 Speaker 2: Times Square. 491 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:05,560 Speaker 3: There was this time down the shore we saw them 492 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:07,640 Speaker 3: splashing them. You know. There's all sorts of stories like that. 493 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:10,080 Speaker 2: The love letters republic because a number of them were 494 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:13,360 Speaker 2: found at the bodies. A second batch of love letters 495 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:17,159 Speaker 2: Charlotte found in a scarf hanging on a door in 496 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,879 Speaker 2: the apartment. Those eventually became public. They end up getting 497 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 2: sold to the newspapers. So at some point the love 498 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:24,840 Speaker 2: letters are all over America. But Jim says, you know, 499 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:27,480 Speaker 2: oh well, Eleanor she read lots of love stories and 500 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:29,680 Speaker 2: she would write these notes that were just a fiction. 501 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,000 Speaker 2: It was just a game to her. Jim and Francis 502 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:33,880 Speaker 2: just denied that they were valid. 503 00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:38,720 Speaker 1: So under arrest is this right? Francis, Henry, Henry and Willie, 504 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:39,960 Speaker 1: all four of them. 505 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 3: So no one is arrested. 506 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 2: In nineteen twenty two, when this was first playing out, 507 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:45,880 Speaker 2: they decide to go to the drand jury and seek 508 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:46,920 Speaker 2: John Doe indictments. 509 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:47,120 Speaker 1: OK. 510 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:50,560 Speaker 2: So the John Doe indictments, we believe they are for Francis. 511 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 2: We believe they are for Henry Carpenter, who's the cousin. 512 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:56,240 Speaker 3: And there's a third. 513 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:59,440 Speaker 2: One who we believe is one of the church spies 514 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,000 Speaker 2: who who might have stirred this up, and may or 515 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 2: may not have also been near the crime scene that 516 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,200 Speaker 2: night because this is the Lover's Lane. People cowarded there 517 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,840 Speaker 2: aside from Edward and Eleanor, and there were very strong 518 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:13,600 Speaker 2: whispers that another man from the church had been out 519 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:15,240 Speaker 2: there with a woman from the church in their car 520 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:15,840 Speaker 2: joy riding. 521 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:16,160 Speaker 1: Wow. 522 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,679 Speaker 2: But they're not officially identified, but it basically it was Francis, 523 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,960 Speaker 2: Henry Carpenter, and this man named Ralph Corestein who were 524 00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:24,760 Speaker 2: the three John Doe indictments. 525 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 3: When they took this to a grand jury in nineteen 526 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:27,159 Speaker 3: twenty two. 527 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,720 Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever heard of a John Doe indictment. 528 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:32,119 Speaker 2: I think it might speak to like the weakness of 529 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:34,800 Speaker 2: their case. Yeah, Francis and she went when on the 530 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:36,359 Speaker 2: last day of the grand jury, she went. 531 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 3: She knew it was her. 532 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 2: Everyone knew this is who they're putting on, who they 533 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:40,880 Speaker 2: want to bring to court. 534 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,919 Speaker 1: So they took it to a grand jury in nineteen 535 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:46,160 Speaker 1: twenty two. And I'm assuming Jane Gibson is their main witness, 536 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,199 Speaker 1: So this doesn't seem like a very reliable witness just 537 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:49,880 Speaker 1: in general. 538 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:52,000 Speaker 3: And she's just not credible. Yeah, she was not a 539 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 3: credible witness. 540 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:53,720 Speaker 1: She's courting the press. 541 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:55,440 Speaker 2: She seems to be courting the press, and I think 542 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:58,520 Speaker 2: it was falling apart because the prosecutor he was either 543 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,479 Speaker 2: giving up or he was lowing the case. He grills 544 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,360 Speaker 2: her almost like he's working for the defense. So there's 545 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,879 Speaker 2: a question of was the prosecution were they getting paid 546 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 2: off to make this thing go away? Did he just 547 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:11,760 Speaker 2: realize by the end that he didn't have a case. 548 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,879 Speaker 2: It was a pretty pathetic showing for the prosecution, and 549 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:16,800 Speaker 2: even some of the things that the press at the 550 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:19,960 Speaker 2: time expected might have strengthened their case. They did call 551 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,400 Speaker 2: some of these gossipy church people who are the types 552 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:24,560 Speaker 2: of people that we believe were intercepting the letters. The 553 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:27,280 Speaker 2: woman named Minnie Clark, who is kind of a rival 554 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,960 Speaker 2: of Eleanor Mills in the church, who's also very kind 555 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,199 Speaker 2: of fond of Edward Hall, and had seen Francis the 556 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:36,200 Speaker 2: afternoon before they disappeared. 557 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:37,360 Speaker 3: Could she had passed her with a note? 558 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:39,320 Speaker 2: Then they didn't get into any of these kind of 559 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 2: like supplemental theories that could have bolstered their case. They 560 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,400 Speaker 2: kind of just like barely questioned these people and really 561 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:47,439 Speaker 2: hung it all on Jane Gibson, the pig woman, and 562 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 2: it just did not go well for the prosecution. 563 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 1: No indictments, Yeah, no indictments. Okay. So Francis Hall and 564 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:56,520 Speaker 1: her brothers and her cousin breathe a sigh of relief, 565 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,320 Speaker 1: I'm assuming, and life moves on for them. 566 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:00,119 Speaker 3: Life moves on for a few years. 567 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:01,960 Speaker 2: And this is where like the subplot of this story 568 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,080 Speaker 2: comes into play. So in the nineteen twenties, all sorts 569 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:10,040 Speaker 2: of innovations happening and excesses and frivolities. One of them 570 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:12,720 Speaker 2: is the tabloid newspaper and the tabloids. You know, there 571 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 2: was only one of them in nineteen twenty two. The 572 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,320 Speaker 2: Daily News, which had came into existence in nineteen nineteen, 573 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:21,439 Speaker 2: was modeled on this successful London tabloid, the Daily Mirror, 574 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:23,359 Speaker 2: which had been around for a while doing really well. 575 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 2: And the Daily News becomes this instant success in America 576 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:28,840 Speaker 2: on the way quickly becomes the best selling newspaper in 577 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:31,119 Speaker 2: the country, and other publishers who had kind of like 578 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:34,960 Speaker 2: thought this tabloid thing is going to pass, eventually realized that, okay, 579 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 2: we need to get on board here. So after the murders, 580 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,040 Speaker 2: the Daily News is chugging along. All sorts of other 581 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 2: murders are happening that are just like made for the 582 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:44,960 Speaker 2: tabloid press, and all sorts of other I mean, this 583 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:46,720 Speaker 2: was the era of the Fatty Arbuckle, which you know 584 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:49,400 Speaker 2: well from your book. All sorts of like these jazz 585 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,000 Speaker 2: AD's mega crimes were just like left and right coming 586 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,560 Speaker 2: and the Daily News was like going to town with it. Eventually, 587 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:58,359 Speaker 2: William Randolph Hurst Yellow Journalism recognizes that he needs to 588 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 2: start a tabloid too, starts to Tabloid nineteen twenty four 589 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:02,639 Speaker 2: to compete with the Daily News. 590 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:04,520 Speaker 3: Hirst launches The Daily Mirror. 591 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:06,800 Speaker 2: A third tabloid a few months later in nine twenty 592 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:09,400 Speaker 2: four named the New York Evening Graphic comes on the scene, 593 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,720 Speaker 2: and early on all these newspapers are sort of like 594 00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:15,400 Speaker 2: in their mind, they're thinking they'd love to crack open, 595 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,720 Speaker 2: reignite the Hall Mills case and solve the murders because 596 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:19,840 Speaker 2: that would be huge for them and huge for their circulation. 597 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 2: The Daily News actually tried in nineteen twenty three to 598 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:26,680 Speaker 2: solve this case. So now two tabloids are at war. 599 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 2: So this is really like the first tabloid war in 600 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,600 Speaker 2: American history. And Phil Paine's weapon in this tabloid wars. 601 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:34,959 Speaker 1: And Phil Pain is the editor of Herst Daily Mirror. 602 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,199 Speaker 2: He comes back again to the Hall Mills case and 603 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:40,960 Speaker 2: sets up this investigation and sends his people down to 604 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:43,080 Speaker 2: New Brunswick and they start digging around, and this is 605 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:45,440 Speaker 2: taking us down into nineteen twenty six, and this gives 606 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:46,320 Speaker 2: the case a second wind. 607 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:48,000 Speaker 1: So what happens. 608 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:50,120 Speaker 2: Phil Pain with the Daily Mirror sets up this very 609 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 2: elaborate investigation and they go down they're finding all these 610 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:57,240 Speaker 2: circumstantial bits of evidence that were kind of glossed over 611 00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:58,760 Speaker 2: and a lot of so much of it is not 612 00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:01,520 Speaker 2: hard evidence. But they find out things like there was 613 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:03,720 Speaker 2: a cook that lived in the Hall household at the 614 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 2: time of the murders and she was this close confident 615 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:07,119 Speaker 2: of the family but was never interviewed. 616 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:07,639 Speaker 3: What's with that? 617 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 2: And they find things like the chauffeur he said he 618 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 2: was I'd only been working there for three weeks, but 619 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,240 Speaker 2: we found this postman who said that he'd been getting 620 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:16,120 Speaker 2: mail there for a year. 621 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:16,720 Speaker 3: Isn't that weird? 622 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,320 Speaker 2: All these kind of like circumstantial bits of evidence that 623 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:21,160 Speaker 2: seemed to be showing that. 624 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 3: Something was up with the Hall family, but really, what 625 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 3: does it is? They find a. 626 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:29,359 Speaker 2: Guy who had married one of the two former maids 627 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 2: from the Hall household at the time of the murders. 628 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:32,480 Speaker 3: Her name was Louis Geist. 629 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,360 Speaker 2: This witness comes out of nowhere, and it turns out 630 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:38,000 Speaker 2: he was kind of like this armchair detective who's also 631 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,959 Speaker 2: himself trying to like solve this cold case. And he 632 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,479 Speaker 2: meets Louis Geiss and romances her and they get married 633 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:47,320 Speaker 2: and she doesn't know that he's like this guy that's 634 00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:49,679 Speaker 2: really just trying to, like what heck, get information out 635 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:51,920 Speaker 2: of her and solve this murder. Their marriage somehow goes 636 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:54,880 Speaker 2: awry at some point, but they find this guy and 637 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 2: he ends up writing a deposition that accuses Louise Geiss, 638 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:03,080 Speaker 2: the chauffeur Peter Tima, Francis, and her brother Willie of 639 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:06,440 Speaker 2: all going to the side of the murders. Louise Guys 640 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 2: basically says she accompanied them to Jerusy's lane the side 641 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:12,280 Speaker 2: of the murders on the murder night, doesn't say she 642 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:14,919 Speaker 2: saw the murders, but allegedly had told her husband that 643 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,560 Speaker 2: she was paid five thousand dollars. We're in the sinulator 644 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:19,440 Speaker 2: that she was paid five thousand dollars to kind of 645 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 2: keep quiet about it. So it's a pretty like dodgy character. 646 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:26,919 Speaker 2: But he basically wants to know the marriage, and he 647 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,919 Speaker 2: clearly is bitter towards Louis Geist. But he comes up 648 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:31,679 Speaker 2: with this story and says she knew all about it. 649 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:34,480 Speaker 2: They all got paid off. That is the revelation that 650 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,440 Speaker 2: Jelly Mirror really uses to reignite this whole thing. 651 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:40,480 Speaker 1: Now we're back on Francis Hall. 652 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:42,240 Speaker 3: We're back on Francis big time. 653 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:46,440 Speaker 1: So this guy's story is that Francis took her brother Willie, 654 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:49,840 Speaker 1: along with her housekeeper and her chauffeur to a double 655 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,360 Speaker 1: murder in the middle of nowhere. That's the idea. 656 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:54,720 Speaker 3: That's the idea. The chauffeur, I guess makes sense because 657 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:55,680 Speaker 3: someone had to drive them. 658 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:57,600 Speaker 1: I mean, you would think you could drive yourself for 659 00:28:57,680 --> 00:28:58,640 Speaker 1: this one occasion. 660 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 2: Don't you think they went to confront them at the farm, 661 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:04,120 Speaker 2: and you know the theory At this point, The Daily 662 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 2: Mirror in July of nineteen twenty six does a front 663 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:10,560 Speaker 2: page story, huge coverage throughout the newspaper. They blow this 664 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 2: up and immediately I don't want to say in cacahoots, 665 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:15,600 Speaker 2: but they're working very closely with the prosecution. Phil Payine, 666 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:19,360 Speaker 2: he's another fascinating character. He's brash, everything you could imagine 667 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:22,560 Speaker 2: like a tabloid editor to be. He had very close 668 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 2: proximity to like the Hudson County political machine, which the 669 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:28,280 Speaker 2: governor was a part of. So he had connections and 670 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 2: access to these people and kind of worked those connections 671 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:33,840 Speaker 2: to his advantage. So like, he brings this dossi to 672 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:37,000 Speaker 2: them before publishing and says, I found all this evidence 673 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:38,520 Speaker 2: that I think is worth. 674 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 3: A second look. 675 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,960 Speaker 2: He basically compels the State of New Jersey to take 676 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,080 Speaker 2: a close, serious look at this thing. There is one 677 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 2: other piece of evidence that the Daily Mirror has in 678 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 2: his possession but is not revealed until a little bit later, 679 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,560 Speaker 2: and there was a calling card of Reverend Halls found 680 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,400 Speaker 2: it at the body. They have tracked down what is 681 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:55,440 Speaker 2: purported to be this card which has a set of 682 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:59,320 Speaker 2: fingerprints on it, and these fingerprints they say match those 683 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:01,960 Speaker 2: of Willie steven So that's kind of the other bombshell 684 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 2: evidence that they have that eventually comes out that I 685 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:05,800 Speaker 2: think compelled. 686 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:07,360 Speaker 3: The state to take closer look at this. 687 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 2: And again, as you know, fingerprint evidence is shaky, very questionable. 688 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:12,880 Speaker 2: There was one point with the Jailing Mirror put on 689 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 2: their front page. They blew up the calling card with 690 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:17,600 Speaker 2: the fingerprints, and on the front page of the paper 691 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:20,480 Speaker 2: they like had this little graphic pointing to the five 692 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:24,880 Speaker 2: ridge characteristics that the fingerprint of Willie stevens okay. So 693 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 2: it wasn't completely flimsy, and it was this like tabloid 694 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,160 Speaker 2: crusade that was in the interest of circulation. 695 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,080 Speaker 1: Well, for any of the fingerprint analysts out there, we 696 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:36,800 Speaker 1: are not saying that fingerprint analysis is worthless. It's the 697 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 1: quality of the specimen that you get. And it could 698 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,640 Speaker 1: be that a fingerprint on a calling card could be 699 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:43,520 Speaker 1: a good specimen for somebody to compare. 700 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,400 Speaker 2: Absolutely, is also a question of the provenance of the card. Yeah, 701 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 2: could Willie Stevens have handled his brother in law's card 702 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:51,720 Speaker 2: at some time? Could have been corrupted over these four 703 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 2: years they fake the card And those are some of 704 00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:56,120 Speaker 2: the questions that the defense really hammered on. 705 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 1: Is there a new prosecution team? This is four years 706 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: after the original cases opened. 707 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:03,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a new prosecution team. And the local authorities 708 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:06,560 Speaker 2: are pretty much iced out of this from the beginning. Okay, again, 709 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 2: because phil Payin had these connections to the governor and 710 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:11,760 Speaker 2: to the Hudson County political machine, which kind of like 711 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:13,080 Speaker 2: ran things at the time. 712 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,800 Speaker 1: Okay, where are the spouses at this point? Francis and 713 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:18,680 Speaker 1: Jim Francis. 714 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:19,040 Speaker 3: Did what you would expect. 715 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 2: She went immediately after the grand jury, went to Italy, 716 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,280 Speaker 2: went to the continent for a sabbatical with her best 717 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,440 Speaker 2: friend and was there for like a year. She came back, 718 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:29,720 Speaker 2: she kind of stayed very private, laid low. But Jim Mills, 719 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:32,040 Speaker 2: he just went about working as the janitor. 720 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,640 Speaker 1: Raising two kids. By himself though, So what comes of 721 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:40,120 Speaker 1: this shaky witness who has vengeance against his wife and 722 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 1: this maybe shaky evidence provided by a newspaper. What does 723 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:45,920 Speaker 1: the prosecuting team do? 724 00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:47,040 Speaker 3: They go after them. 725 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:50,040 Speaker 2: They eventually indict Henry Stevens I'd mentioned before, he lives 726 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:52,280 Speaker 2: down the shore. He had this alibi that he was 727 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 2: on the beach fishing with these other guys who lived 728 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:57,520 Speaker 2: near him in Lavalllette, New Jersey, which is kind of 729 00:31:57,640 --> 00:31:59,240 Speaker 2: center of the Jersey shorts and you're like next to 730 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:01,640 Speaker 2: Tom's River. So we had these witnesses that said, yeah, yeah, 731 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:03,520 Speaker 2: we were with him on the beach that night. The 732 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 2: new prosecutor kind of goes after them and realizes that 733 00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:08,680 Speaker 2: their recollection is not as ironclad as it seems, so 734 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:11,800 Speaker 2: he kind of starts breaking down Henry's albi, and the 735 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,680 Speaker 2: pig woman again becomes a central figure for the prosecution. 736 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:18,440 Speaker 1: But she didn't see the housekeeper and the chauffeur, right, 737 00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:21,080 Speaker 1: she said she just saw Willie and Francis. 738 00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:24,239 Speaker 2: Alexander Simpson is the new special prosecutor from Jersey City 739 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:25,560 Speaker 2: who takes over this case. 740 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 3: He kind of leaves aside. 741 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,400 Speaker 2: He doesn't really go after the whole Luis Guist's story, 742 00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:32,720 Speaker 2: which is really what reopened the case. What he's more 743 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,400 Speaker 2: interested in with Louise Geist is whether or not on 744 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:38,480 Speaker 2: the Thursday night of the murders, when Edward disappeared, he 745 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 2: had gotten a phone call from Eleanor and Luise Geist 746 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:44,200 Speaker 2: answered the call, and Francis at one point picked up 747 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:46,320 Speaker 2: the phone, and Louise saw her pick up the phone. 748 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:49,480 Speaker 2: The prosecutor at this point is trying to establish that 749 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 2: Luis could not definitively say that Francis hung up the phone. 750 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:56,080 Speaker 2: And if Francis hadn't hung up the phone, she would 751 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:59,360 Speaker 2: have heard their plan to rendezvous and known the time 752 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,240 Speaker 2: and the place. So that's kind of what he focuses 753 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:03,040 Speaker 2: on with Louise. 754 00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:05,200 Speaker 1: So what ends up happening with this case? 755 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:06,560 Speaker 3: It goes to trial. 756 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 2: Jane Gibson once again is the star witness, the calling 757 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:12,640 Speaker 2: card comes up a trial in a very big way. 758 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:14,720 Speaker 3: They went after her credibility in a big way. 759 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:18,080 Speaker 2: And it's still hinged on this story of hers which 760 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:20,600 Speaker 2: she had changed details all along the way. She had 761 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:23,440 Speaker 2: different versions of her fateful mule ride, so it was 762 00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:25,160 Speaker 2: very hard to believe her, I think. 763 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:27,640 Speaker 1: So what ends up happening with the trial. We have 764 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:31,800 Speaker 1: the one unstable witness who comes on Jane the pig woman. 765 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:33,120 Speaker 1: Is she convincing or. 766 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:34,520 Speaker 3: No, she's not convincing. 767 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:36,680 Speaker 2: There were so many things that came out about her 768 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:39,640 Speaker 2: story that she had misrepresented, didn't add up that they 769 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:41,800 Speaker 2: were able to just portray her as not having an 770 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,680 Speaker 2: ounce of credibility and the jury was in agreement about that. 771 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,440 Speaker 2: But there were two jurors who just couldn't get past 772 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,960 Speaker 2: the calling card evidence. But they were ultimately convinced otherwise 773 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:52,480 Speaker 2: and there was an acquittal. 774 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:54,520 Speaker 1: Wow, And is that the end of this story? 775 00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 2: It is not the end of the story. Francis and 776 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:58,320 Speaker 2: her brothers they sued Pirst for libel. 777 00:33:58,360 --> 00:33:58,640 Speaker 1: Wow. 778 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,360 Speaker 3: After this happened cause problems for hearst as well. 779 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:04,840 Speaker 2: In September of nineteen sixty nine, and Old, I shouldn't 780 00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:06,920 Speaker 2: say old all the time he was sixty seven. He 781 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:09,239 Speaker 2: was in the hospital Saint Peter's in New Brunswick, which 782 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,239 Speaker 2: happens to overlook the park that was adjacent to the 783 00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:14,120 Speaker 2: farm where all this happened. It had been a big 784 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:16,359 Speaker 2: you know, it had been where Eleanor and Edward met 785 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:18,520 Speaker 2: on their lover's bench and all that, and he's sitting 786 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:21,680 Speaker 2: in this hospital room overlooking this park and he thinks 787 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:24,120 Speaker 2: he's on his deathbed. He has this really bad bone infection, 788 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 2: his foot got run over. He owned the gas station 789 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:30,200 Speaker 2: his foot had got run over a few weeks earlier. Separately, 790 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:33,400 Speaker 2: has like a heart attack and he overhears the nurses 791 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:34,840 Speaker 2: talking about how he might not make it, and he 792 00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 2: has this crisis of conscience and from his hospital room 793 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:40,360 Speaker 2: calls up the New Brunswick Police Department and says, I 794 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,719 Speaker 2: have information about about this murder from nineteen twenty two, 795 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:46,520 Speaker 2: the Hall Mills murder. And he gives them this story, 796 00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:48,279 Speaker 2: which kind of gets buried for a few months because 797 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:50,400 Speaker 2: they had other stuff going on. But someone at the 798 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:53,200 Speaker 2: New Brunswick Police Department, the detectives unit, a few months later, 799 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:55,719 Speaker 2: picks up this police report. And this guy's name was 800 00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:59,200 Speaker 2: Julius Bolag. He was an old Hungarian man from New Brunswick. 801 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:02,200 Speaker 2: There was a a large Hungarian population there still is. 802 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:04,759 Speaker 2: And his story is that he was good friends with 803 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,480 Speaker 2: Willie Stevens in New Brunswick. Willy was known to hang 804 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:08,959 Speaker 2: out kind of in the Hungarian quarter. 805 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:10,480 Speaker 1: And this is Francis brother. 806 00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:14,000 Speaker 2: Francis's brother, Willie Stevens, who was acquitted with Francis and 807 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:18,000 Speaker 2: her other brother, and he gives this story that Willy 808 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,400 Speaker 2: hated Edward Hall because he controlled his allowance, which was 809 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 2: a note that they hit in the early in nineteen 810 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:23,560 Speaker 2: twenty two. 811 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,200 Speaker 3: That was something that came up in the newspapers. Said 812 00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:26,879 Speaker 3: he hated him. 813 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:31,080 Speaker 2: Everyone knew about the affair and Willy, he says, hired 814 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:35,200 Speaker 2: two hitmen to off Edward and that he had unwittingly 815 00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:38,279 Speaker 2: delivered the hit money to these two hitmen wow for 816 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:41,200 Speaker 2: the family. And he claims that Willy found him on 817 00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:43,520 Speaker 2: the street one day and Sanda need to do something 818 00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:46,040 Speaker 2: for me, and he leads into a car and there's 819 00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:48,319 Speaker 2: an older woman and there's a guy who fit the 820 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 2: description of Francis and Henry Stevens, and they give him 821 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:54,400 Speaker 2: these two envelopes and he goes around to the corner 822 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:56,640 Speaker 2: a few blocks away and hands it to these two 823 00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,719 Speaker 2: local thugs, one of them owned again like a speakeasy 824 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:02,320 Speaker 2: in downtown New Brunswick, and he gives them this money, 825 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:04,560 Speaker 2: these two envelopes, there's three thousand dollars each in it, 826 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:08,200 Speaker 2: and Willie later tells him that the job's done when 827 00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:10,000 Speaker 2: he said that they killed them, and so he comes 828 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:13,919 Speaker 2: with this story, which again seems so strange and unbelievable 829 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:16,920 Speaker 2: and outrageous. But they actually do put a detective on 830 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:20,360 Speaker 2: this to reinvestigate the case. So this detective named George 831 00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:23,480 Speaker 2: Saloom goes and tries to interview anyone who is still alive, 832 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 2: anyone who knew, and he does find little bits and pieces. 833 00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:30,040 Speaker 1: Forty eight years later, Yeah, I mean, that's a long time. 834 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:33,280 Speaker 2: And he does corroborate some details of things that Julius 835 00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:36,360 Speaker 2: bolog told him. But they also gave him again you 836 00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:38,200 Speaker 2: can't put too much stock in lie detector tests, but 837 00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:41,480 Speaker 2: they gave him two polygrabs, which he passed with flying colors. 838 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:45,280 Speaker 2: They gave him a psychological evaluation, but again they couldn't 839 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:48,120 Speaker 2: find He couldn't find the spoken gun. He found a 840 00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:51,120 Speaker 2: record of one of these two gangsters being murdered in 841 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,280 Speaker 2: nineteen thirty three, and he brings up his newspaper article 842 00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:56,479 Speaker 2: with Freeman of them. One of them is this guy 843 00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:59,880 Speaker 2: who has been identified as the hit man. And he 844 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:02,239 Speaker 2: points to the guy and he says, yep, that's him. 845 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:05,239 Speaker 2: So he confirms his name. He confirmed other people that 846 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 2: this guy spoke about in his story. I mean, it 847 00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:09,640 Speaker 2: makes you wonder why would you have come forward with 848 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:11,920 Speaker 2: this story? How could he have just made this upright? 849 00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:14,840 Speaker 2: And they're never able to find the other hitman of 850 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:17,800 Speaker 2: the two. Fascinating development that just comes out of nowhere 851 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:18,479 Speaker 2: decades later. 852 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,640 Speaker 1: So is it wrong that I believe the pig woman 853 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:26,839 Speaker 1: for some reason because that overkill two gangsters. Are they 854 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,280 Speaker 1: going to really slit some woman's throat? 855 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:32,640 Speaker 2: I think in the end, in some way, there's too 856 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:36,480 Speaker 2: much smoke around Francis and the brothers for their not 857 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:37,440 Speaker 2: to have been something like. 858 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:40,600 Speaker 3: It can't be that everyone was lying or made something. 859 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,160 Speaker 2: I just feel like, yeah, some way it points back 860 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:45,319 Speaker 2: to them, whether it's through Jane Gibson, whether it's through 861 00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:48,439 Speaker 2: Julius Bolag or anything else, because none of the other 862 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:51,680 Speaker 2: theories really add up. Bill James in his book about 863 00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:55,200 Speaker 2: Popular Crime, he actually this is Bill James, the statistician 864 00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:58,600 Speaker 2: and m man on the train. Yes, he actually makes 865 00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:00,919 Speaker 2: this big case for Jim Mills because's the obvious and 866 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:03,840 Speaker 2: having studied this and knowing these characters so well, I 867 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:06,799 Speaker 2: just don't think that Jim Mills had the will to 868 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:07,160 Speaker 2: do this. 869 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:11,800 Speaker 1: There is no satisfying ending for anybody in this story. 870 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:12,120 Speaker 3: That's right. 871 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:13,880 Speaker 2: And I think that again, to bring this back to 872 00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:16,560 Speaker 2: what I said at the beginning about ambition, I think 873 00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:18,440 Speaker 2: that this doesn't sound horrible to say, but you know, 874 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:21,480 Speaker 2: Eleanor her ambition was to live a life that was 875 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:23,080 Speaker 2: better than what she was given. And I think she 876 00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:24,640 Speaker 2: thought she was She's on the path to doing that 877 00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:26,319 Speaker 2: if they were really going to Elope with this man 878 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:28,000 Speaker 2: that she was in love with, who had had enough 879 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,200 Speaker 2: money to go and set them up. And in Edward 880 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:33,680 Speaker 2: Hall's case, you know, he had clearly inserted himself into 881 00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:37,000 Speaker 2: this station that was beyond the station he was born into. 882 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:39,640 Speaker 2: You know, he was ambitious about his own position in life. 883 00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:42,399 Speaker 2: And these two people find themselves, they find each other, 884 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:45,919 Speaker 2: and they're trying to both of them want something more, 885 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:48,000 Speaker 2: both of them want a better life than they have, 886 00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:50,160 Speaker 2: and they're going for it, and the end up getting 887 00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:50,719 Speaker 2: killed for it. 888 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:58,400 Speaker 1: On the next episode of Wicked Words, doctor Anne Burgess 889 00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:01,440 Speaker 1: on being a realter with the FBI. 890 00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:06,279 Speaker 4: My very first contact was Roy Hazelwood. Now Roy was 891 00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:09,280 Speaker 4: the new agent that was given the task of having 892 00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:13,319 Speaker 4: to train in the area of rape picktemology. So he 893 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:16,719 Speaker 4: brought me into the FBI for training lecturing, and in 894 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:20,879 Speaker 4: that process is where I met first Bob Wrestler, who 895 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:24,719 Speaker 4: was really the protege, if you will, of the very 896 00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:28,799 Speaker 4: kind of informal profiling program that was going on, and 897 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:31,920 Speaker 4: he then introduced me to John Douglas. 898 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:32,960 Speaker 3: Those are the two. 899 00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:36,200 Speaker 4: Agents that are characterized in mind Hunter. 900 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:50,960 Speaker 1: My new book All That Is Wicked is available for 901 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,160 Speaker 1: pre order now, including the audiobook. All That Is Wicked 902 00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:56,840 Speaker 1: is based on our first season of tenfold War Wicked. 903 00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:58,960 Speaker 1: You might think you know the whole story of killer 904 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:02,359 Speaker 1: Edward Ruloff's c but there's so much more. My book 905 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:06,000 Speaker 1: American Sherlock is also available. This has been an exactly 906 00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:10,000 Speaker 1: right tenfold more Media production. The producer is Alexis Mrosi. 907 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:14,280 Speaker 1: Our mixer is Ryo Baum. Our sound designer is Andrew Epen. 908 00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:17,600 Speaker 1: Curtis Heath is. Our composer, Nick Toga did the artwork. 909 00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:22,400 Speaker 1: Il Sabrink designed the website. The executive producers are Georgia Hartstark, 910 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:27,040 Speaker 1: Karen Kilgarriff and Danielle Kramer. Follow Wicked Words on Instagram 911 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:30,279 Speaker 1: and Facebook at tenfold more Wicked and on Twitter at 912 00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:33,480 Speaker 1: tenfold More. And if you know of a historical crime 913 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:36,719 Speaker 1: that could use some attention, especially if it happened in 914 00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:41,480 Speaker 1: your family. Email us at info at tenfoldwar wicked dot com. 915 00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:45,080 Speaker 1: We'll also take your suggestions for true crime authors for 916 00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:45,920 Speaker 1: Wicked Words