Tweet
The Hall-Mills Murder case:
If you like to read unsolved murders, here's one for you that even inspired the writing of the Great Gatsby. Unsolved as yet, I think the best book written about it, (of which there are only two, and one pending, is Fatal Tryst by Gerald Tomlinson.
From Wikipedia:
The Hall-Mills murder case involved an Episcopal priest and a member of his choir with whom he was having an affair, who were killed on September 14, 1922, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The suspected murderers, the priest's wife and her brothers, were acquitted in a 1926 trial. The case is largely remembered in journalism history for the vast extent and sensational nature of the newspaper coverage it received in nearby New York and nationwide. It would take the Lindbergh kidnapping trial in the 1930s to eclipse the high profile of the Hall-Mills murder. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall%E2...ls_murder_case
"It's good to see a new book and a new slant on the notorious Hall-Mills murder case of the 1920s. Younger readers aren't likely to know about the Hall-Mills double homicide, but it was an O.J.-level sensation at the time, seventy-some years ago. A popular married minister and an attractive married choir singer were caught and killed in an adulterous embrace, an event that kept American journalists' pens and readers' tongues wagging for months on end. Frederick Lewis Allen in his classic book on the 1920s, "Only Yesterday," calls Hall-Mills the "crime of the decade." In Fatal Tryst," a new and compelling book on the case, Tomlinson retells the Hall-Mills story with verve and crystalline clarity. He included material not found in William M Kunstler's 1964 retelling, including contemporary observations by Damon Runyon, Dorothy Dix, and Ishbel Ross; later reflections by James Thurber and Rex Stout; and the 1970 revelations (if such they were) of Julius Bolyog, a self-proclaimed friend of Willie Stevens, one of the defendants tried and acquitted of the murders. Tomlinson's solution is more plausible than Kunstler's and makes more sense than any alternative that comes to mind or that was suggested at the time. The author's explanation ties up most of the loose ends in the case. Tomlinson does an exemplary job of supporting a theory of the unsolved crime with facts, incidents,and that elusive commodity, common sense. And what an assortment of characters the tale presents!: the prevaricating Pig Woman, the eccentric Willie Stevens, the hypocritical Ralph Gorsline, the cocky Alexander Simpson -- a Russian novel hardly offers more varied specimens of humanity. Is the author right in his penultimate chapter? Does he finger the killer? Who knows? He seems to be on the right track." Written by simply a customer, who read this book.
Both lovers found under the crabapple tree they met secretly at, laying on the ground, obviously positions were arranged by someone after their death.
"Both were shot in the head. The man once and the woman three times. Her wounds were under the right eye, over the right temple, and over the right ear, with an exit wound in the back of her skull. He had been shot over the right ear, with an exit wound in the back of his neck, as if someone had shot him from above.
The feet of both were pointing toward the crab apple tree, and the womans head rested on the mans right arm, as if posed that way for some macabre reason. The woman wore a blue dress with red polka dots, black silk stockings and brown oxfords, with her blue velvet hat dumped beside her body. Her left hand rested on the mans right knee, and a brown silk scarf, soaked in blood, was wound around her throat. The mans face was covered by a Panama hat, but they could see he wore glasses. Just under the hats rim, it was clear that the glasses were spotted. His right hand was extended partly under the dead womans shoulder and neck, and their clothes were perfectly in order. Scattered pieces of torn paper, which turned out to be letters and cards, lay between them. The womans hat lay off to her right. The strangest thing was a small card leaning against the heel of the mans left shoe, obviously placed there by whomever had killed these two. It was speckled with something, either fly droppings or blood. The grass around them was trampled."
If you like to read unsolved murders, here's one for you that even inspired the writing of the Great Gatsby. Unsolved as yet, I think the best book written about it, (of which there are only two, and one pending, is Fatal Tryst by Gerald Tomlinson.
From Wikipedia:
The Hall-Mills murder case involved an Episcopal priest and a member of his choir with whom he was having an affair, who were killed on September 14, 1922, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The suspected murderers, the priest's wife and her brothers, were acquitted in a 1926 trial. The case is largely remembered in journalism history for the vast extent and sensational nature of the newspaper coverage it received in nearby New York and nationwide. It would take the Lindbergh kidnapping trial in the 1930s to eclipse the high profile of the Hall-Mills murder. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall%E2...ls_murder_case
"It's good to see a new book and a new slant on the notorious Hall-Mills murder case of the 1920s. Younger readers aren't likely to know about the Hall-Mills double homicide, but it was an O.J.-level sensation at the time, seventy-some years ago. A popular married minister and an attractive married choir singer were caught and killed in an adulterous embrace, an event that kept American journalists' pens and readers' tongues wagging for months on end. Frederick Lewis Allen in his classic book on the 1920s, "Only Yesterday," calls Hall-Mills the "crime of the decade." In Fatal Tryst," a new and compelling book on the case, Tomlinson retells the Hall-Mills story with verve and crystalline clarity. He included material not found in William M Kunstler's 1964 retelling, including contemporary observations by Damon Runyon, Dorothy Dix, and Ishbel Ross; later reflections by James Thurber and Rex Stout; and the 1970 revelations (if such they were) of Julius Bolyog, a self-proclaimed friend of Willie Stevens, one of the defendants tried and acquitted of the murders. Tomlinson's solution is more plausible than Kunstler's and makes more sense than any alternative that comes to mind or that was suggested at the time. The author's explanation ties up most of the loose ends in the case. Tomlinson does an exemplary job of supporting a theory of the unsolved crime with facts, incidents,and that elusive commodity, common sense. And what an assortment of characters the tale presents!: the prevaricating Pig Woman, the eccentric Willie Stevens, the hypocritical Ralph Gorsline, the cocky Alexander Simpson -- a Russian novel hardly offers more varied specimens of humanity. Is the author right in his penultimate chapter? Does he finger the killer? Who knows? He seems to be on the right track." Written by simply a customer, who read this book.
Both lovers found under the crabapple tree they met secretly at, laying on the ground, obviously positions were arranged by someone after their death.
"Both were shot in the head. The man once and the woman three times. Her wounds were under the right eye, over the right temple, and over the right ear, with an exit wound in the back of her skull. He had been shot over the right ear, with an exit wound in the back of his neck, as if someone had shot him from above.
The feet of both were pointing toward the crab apple tree, and the womans head rested on the mans right arm, as if posed that way for some macabre reason. The woman wore a blue dress with red polka dots, black silk stockings and brown oxfords, with her blue velvet hat dumped beside her body. Her left hand rested on the mans right knee, and a brown silk scarf, soaked in blood, was wound around her throat. The mans face was covered by a Panama hat, but they could see he wore glasses. Just under the hats rim, it was clear that the glasses were spotted. His right hand was extended partly under the dead womans shoulder and neck, and their clothes were perfectly in order. Scattered pieces of torn paper, which turned out to be letters and cards, lay between them. The womans hat lay off to her right. The strangest thing was a small card leaning against the heel of the mans left shoe, obviously placed there by whomever had killed these two. It was speckled with something, either fly droppings or blood. The grass around them was trampled."
Attached Files
If I find anyone would like to see it I will put the pic up. It is in the books in black and white from 1922.
Comment