Hall–Mills murder case

In the history of journalism, the case is largely remembered for the vast extent of newspaper coverage it received nationwide; it has been regarded as an example of a media circus.[1] On September 16, 1922, the bodies of Eleanor Mills and Edward Hall were discovered in a field near a farm in Somerset County, New Jersey.A police officer at the scene noticed that the woman's throat had been severed, and maggots were already in the wound, indicating the death occurred at least 24 hours earlier.While the authorities addressed the confusion, curiosity-seekers trampled the scene, took souvenirs, and passed Hall's calling card among the crowd.[4] Continued speculation in the New York Daily Mirror, fueled by comments made by a man associated with one of Mrs. Hall's housekeepers, led Governor A. Harry Moore to order a second investigation and a trial in 1926.[3] The Hall–Mills trial began on November 3, 1926, at the Somerset County Courthouse in Somerville, with Charles W. Parker and Frank Cleary presiding as judges.It lasted about thirty days and garnered huge national attention, largely because of the social status of the wealthy Stevens and Carpender families.Gibson's account varied, differing when told to the police, to newspapers, and at the trial (at which she testified from a hospital bed rolled into the court room).James was acting sexton at St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church and full-time janitor at the Lord Stirling Elementary School, both in New Brunswick."[8] After the trial, Mrs. Hall brought a defamation suit against the New York Daily Mirror, which was settled out of court for an unspecific large amount.Damon Runyon was one of the reporters of the trial, as were famed mystery novelist Mary Roberts Rinehart, H. L. Mencken, and Billy Sunday.Attorney and liberal activist William Kunstler published a 1964 book titled The Minister and the Choir Singer, which he re-released with added editorial material in 1980 as The Hall-Mills Murders.But he acknowledged that the Klan had not previously killed anyone in the state, and could only speculate on why the KKK would target this particular couple, both of whom were white and uninvolved in racial politics.[citation needed] Fictional detective Nero Wolfe reads this book in A Right to Die, while investigating a similar situation.[citation needed] Additional images and a more detailed account of the local perspective and effect on the once-rural community of Franklin Township can be found in books written by William B.[11] The non-fiction book Blood and Ink: The Scandalous Jazz Age Double Murder that Hooked America on True Crime (2022), by Joe Pompeo, considers the Hall-Mills murder from the standpoint of the media coverage and its general effect on the treatment of crime in contemporary newspapers and magazines.
Eleanor Reinhardt Mills (1888–1922) was the wife of James Mills, and one of the murder victims.
Frances Noel Stevens Hall (1874–1942), widow of victim Edward Wheeler Hall and a defendant in the 1926 murder trial.
A calling card of Reverend Edward Wheeler Hall was found at the Hall-Mills murders crime scene in 1922.
The New York Times ; December 4, 1926
Eleanor Mills (journalist)SomersetNew JerseymurdershootingmutilationNot guiltyCharge droppedCold caseEpiscopalaffairSomerset, New Jerseyacquittedmedia circusLindbergh kidnappingSomerset County.32-caliberpistolmaggotscrab applecalling cardMiddlesex CountyNew BrunswickFranklin TownshipJoseph E. StrickerindictmentsNew York Daily MirrorGovernorA. Harry MooreSomerset County CourthouseSomervilleCharles W. ParkerAlexander SimpsonRobert H. McCarterNew Jersey Attorney GeneralfingerprintprosecutiondefensesextonVan Liew CemeteryNorth BrunswickBrooklynNew YorkManhattanBasking Ridge, New JerseyGreen-Wood CemeteryWall StreetElmwood CemeteryRutgers UniversityDouglass Residential CollegeJohnson & JohnsonmarksmanLavallette, New JerseyautismThe New York TimesLindbergh caseDamon RunyonMary Roberts RinehartH. L. MenckenBilly SundayJames ThurberStephen LongstreetFrances Noyes HartThe Bellamy TrialThe Goose WomanLouise DresserJack PickfordThe Past of Mary HolmesWilliam KunstlerKu Klux KlanNero WolfeA Right to DieGerald TomlinsonWilliam B. BrahmsRick GearySarah ChurchwellThe Great GatsbyF. Scott FitzgeraldList of unsolved murdersSomerville, New JerseyNew Brunswick, New JerseyBrahms, William B.Kunstler, William MosesTomlinson, GeraldMilltown, New Jersey