Hall-Mills Murders 1922 New Jersey

[Beowulf]

I read William Kunstler's book ages ago. He thought maybe the KKK was somehow invovled in the murders. However, reading the except from the book you posted, I wonder if Mrs.Hall was invovled in their deaths after all.
Why would she ask if there was sickness in Mr.Mill's family that night,why even make the statement that she thought they were dead somewhere. How would she even know that they were dead. I would have thought maybe my husband might have been with a sick parishioner,and Mrs. Mills was helping take care of the person,because my husband asked her for help. I wouldn't automatically assume either one was dead. Now, if he didn't come home after two or three days,then I would of course call police and report him as missing.
But to say right off the bat they're dead, sounds suspecious to me.

Yes. Also during the trial it was brought out that she had phoned the police that evening of her husband's disappearance and inquired 'if they had found any casualties?'.

Of course one could understand she was fearful for her husbands welfare, but in lieu of this statement it does sound...strange.

[jason_c]

Hi guys.

The Crime Library has a pretty good article on this murder, complete with the tale told by 'the Pig Lady': http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/n...y/mills/1.html

Best regards,
Archaic

Archaic, thanks for the link. Im reading up on the case now.

[louisa]

Beowulf - that is one magnificent house! How I'd love to have a look around inside.

However, the Reverend didn't give it up for Mrs. Mills. He was still living there wasn't he? It was never his anyway.

[Beowulf]

Beowulf - that is one magnificent house! How I'd love to have a look around inside.

However, the Reverend didn't give it up for Mrs. Mills. He was still living there wasn't he? It was never his anyway.

The plan was to elope with her, which is why they...didn't.

I stood outside that house for a little bit, wishing I could see the interior. Yes, that would be fun.

[Mayerling]

One of the great "hyphen trials" of the 1920s

Hello everyone,

By "hyphen trials" I am referring to four major homicide cases from the U.S. and England in the 1920s called by double names:

1) Sacco - Vanzetti
2) Thompson - Byswater
3) Hall - Mills
4) Snyder - Gray.

Except for the last one, wherein the guilty parties were punished, there are doubts and questions about the other three.

I read the Kunstler book, and found it interesting. I am surprised he apparently thought it a pointless pot-boiler. My problem with his K.K.K. soltion is that it just does not bare up when given the times and the power of the Klan in the Eastern states. They were powerful in the south and midwest (possibly more than ever before). However, although they did establish groups in southern Jersey (near New Brunswick) and even New York City (Staten Island still has one, I believe), they really were no very effective.

The Klan was anti-Black and anti-Immigrant (especially Catholic and Jewish immigrants) but they made little headway in areas with large non-Protestant populations or where the local criminal groups (mostly Italian and Jewish) could really strike back violently. That's why they never got a foothold in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, and Philadelphia (or on the west coast). Powerful definitely but not invicible. In fact, on several occasions they requested police protections from really big threats. It that was the case they'd be taking a real chance even in a backwater like New Brunswick. Kunstler makes an attempt to say they had more support against Protestant Clergy (like Reverend Hall) who were straying. I can't quite buy that.

I have read the Thurber essay, A KIND OF GENIUS (referring to Willie Stevens, Mrs. Hall's brother and co-defendant). It really just reviews the facts (pretty well). Thurber only wrote one other essay on true crime. I forget the name (I think it is Action at the Metropole) but it is about the 1912 Becker - Rosenthal Case.

Jeff

[Dr. John Watson]

Re: Photos of the bodies

Just came across this interesting post and want to clear up a possible misconception concerning the photo of the bodies. No photographs were ever taken of the bodies of Rev. Hall and Mrs. Mills, at the crime scene or anywhere else. The photo shown was created in 1999 by author Gerald Tomlinson for use on the cover of his excellent book, Fatal Tryst. It's a clever reconstruction in which Mr. Tomlinson photographed two models, dressed like the victims and lying in the same position as the bodies, which he then superimposed on an actual photo of the scene taken around the time of the murders. Mr. Tomlinson told me he photographed the models in his backyard. By the way, Tomlinson's is the best of the two books on this double-murder, although I disagree with his conclusions.

Dr. John