Stuff You Should Know
Episode Summary: The Unsolved Murder of Hall and Mills
Air Date: August 19, 2025
Hosts: Josh Clark & Chuck Bryant
Episode Overview
This episode dives into the infamous, unsolved Hall-Mills double homicide of 1922—one of America’s first true "trials of the century." Josh and Chuck unravel the twists, sensational media coverage, major suspects, and lasting cultural echoes of the still-unsolved murders of Reverend Edward Hall and choir singer Eleanor Mills in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Throughout, they reflect on the botched investigation, the powerful families involved, and the case’s rippling effect on American popular culture—even possibly inspiring The Great Gatsby.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. How the Case Came to SYSK's Attention
- Chuck and Josh banter about whether coverage in People magazine (June 26, 2025) brought the case to their attention.
- "[People] said that it, it inspired the Great Gatsby." – Josh (03:46)
- They note the case's comparability to later media sensations and the fascination with unsolved crimes.
2. Setting the Scene: The Victims & Their Relationships
- Reverend Edward Hall:
- Pastor at St. John’s Episcopal, beloved yet controversial in the community.
- Married to Frances Hall, a wealthy heiress, but openly having an affair with Eleanor Mills, a choir singer, and church member.
- Eleanor Mills:
- Married to school janitor James Mills.
- Acted as Hall’s assistant, furthering the intimacy of their relationship.
- Both families were known to be aware of the affair.
- "Her [Frances Hall's] first public response was GWA." – Josh (09:28, a humorous aside).
3. The Murders: Discovery and Gruesome Details
- On September 14, 1922, the bodies are found by 15-year-old Pearl Bomber and boyfriend Raymond Schneider.
- Lovers' Lane setting; posed under a crabapple tree, bodies arranged as if cuddling.
- Hall shot once in the temple, Mills was mutilated—shot three times and nearly decapitated. Her tongue and vocal cords were later discovered cut out.
- Love letters from Mills to Hall strewn around the bodies:
- "This. This was a highly staged crime scene." – Josh (12:34)
4. Crime Scene Chaos: Media Sensation and Lost Evidence
- Crime scene overrun by gawkers, souvenir hunters, and even vendors selling popcorn and "grim" keepsakes like dirt from the site.
- "They were showing up at a rate of 1000 cars a day... Vendors selling popcorn and balloons, and the dirt they were selling for 25 cents a bag." – Chuck (14:10)
- Massive contamination, making forensics nearly impossible.
5. Botched Police Investigation & Early Theories
- Confusion between Middlesex and Somerset counties over jurisdiction.
- Multiple, clashing investigations, lack of cooperation.
- Early theory from Frances Hall that this was a robbery (Hall's watch and wallet missing), but skepticism abounds due to the nature of the crime scene.
- "A robbery gone wrong... But the question was, was that really the motive behind this murder, where Eleanor Mills's throat had been cut to the backbone?" – Josh (21:00)
- Wild theories: KKK involvement, mysterious “Italians,” incompetent or panicked attempts to find scapegoats.
6. Scapegoats and False Confessions
- Authorities try pinning it on the couple who found the bodies, alongside local teens. They endured long interrogations, leading to dubious confessions and retractions.
- "None of this really makes much sense..." – Chuck (25:13)
- Key point: No plausible way for teens, robbers, or third parties to plant private love letters at the scene.
7. Suspicions Shift to Frances Hall and Family
- Public pressure mounts on authorities to investigate Hall's wealthy widow, Frances, her brothers Willie and Henry, and cousin Henry.
- Initial questioning is deferential, but public scrutiny persists.
- Alibis appear suspicious and inconsistent; evidence mounts against the Hall family.
8. Grand Jury, Indictments, and Star Witnesses
- First grand jury (1922) declines to indict; Frances Hall leaves for Europe.
- In 1926, sparked by maid Louise Geist's mention in a divorce case that she was paid to stay silent, the case reopens.
- New Jersey governor demands action; renewed grand jury indicts Frances, her brothers, and her cousin.
9. Dramatic Testimony and the Pig Woman
- Jane Gibson, "the Pig Woman," gives key eyewitness testimony, dramatically delivered from a stretcher while she is dying of cancer.
- Recalls hearing/seeing the Halls under the crime’s crabapple tree and hearing gunshots, but her credibility is widely contested—even by her own mother in court!
- Sensational coverage: 12 million+ words written during the 1926 trial; the public obsessed with reading the aired love letters.
10. Love Letters and Public Humiliation
- Love notes (signature lines: "Darling Wonderheart" and "Babykins," with German sign-off DTL—"thy true lover") read in open court to national amusement and embarrassment for Frances Hall.
- Memorable Moment:
"Darling Wonderheart, I just want to crush you for two hours..." (48:25)- Chuck delivers this passage as Charles Bronson, to Josh’s delight.
- Memorable Moment:
11. Trial Outcome and Aftermath
- Frances Hall, brothers, and cousin acquitted after Willie’s unexpectedly strong testimony—he holds up under examination, undermining prosecution hopes.
- Defendants sue The Mirror for libel, cases settle quietly.
- Frances continues church charity work, lives privately until her death in 1942.
- The case never returns to court.
12. Cultural Legacy & The Great Gatsby
- Some speculate the sensational trial inspired aspects of The Great Gatsby, particularly themes of class disparity and the public’s focus on high-society scandal over working-class tragedy.
- "Her death [Eleanor Mills] does not...people did not pay much attention to that. It was all about this wealthy woman and her wealthy husband." – Josh (54:55)
13. Final Reflections and Notable Resources
- The case remains officially unsolved; most modern observers consider the Hall family responsible.
- Notable sources: Yale Review (Harold Schechter), Local History Project, and SYSK contributor Livia.
Notable Quotes & Timestamps
-
On the media frenzy:
"They were showing up at a rate of 1000 cars a day...vendors selling popcorn and balloons, and dirt they were selling for 25 cents a bag."
— Chuck (14:10) -
On the love letters as key evidence:
"So much so that I'm quite certain that the people who killed this couple were like, oh, that was so stupid afterward, like, why did you put the letters down?"
— Josh (27:16) -
The infamous love letter, read by Chuck as Charles Bronson:
"Darling Wonderheart, I just want to crush you for two hours..."
— Chuck (48:33) -
On the social divide:
"[Eleanor Mills'] death...was ignored because she's not upper class...the wealthy people got to go on with their lives while the dead working-class victim is just largely forgotten."
— Josh (54:55)
Important Timestamps
- 04:12–06:25: Introduction of Edward Hall, Frances Hall, and Eleanor Mills.
- 09:35–13:02: Details of the murders and the staged, gruesome crime scene.
- 14:10–15:26: Public/media circus and destruction of crime scene evidence.
- 18:55–24:04: Botched investigations, scapegoating, and failed robbery/outsider theories.
- 27:33–29:03: The police blundering and focus on irrelevant suspects.
- 34:34–35:44: The Pig Woman’s testimony and its impact.
- 43:38–45:45: The reopening of the case, new evidence, and lost witnesses.
- 48:25: Public reading of the infamous love letters.
- 52:13–53:13: The Iron Widow’s testimony and the strong defense by the Hall family.
- 54:26–54:55: Connection to The Great Gatsby.
Tone & Style
The episode is classic SYSK: conversational, wry, with gentle humor ("I'm not going to stop until I'm successful. So just look out, buddy, because you're in my crosshairs now." – Josh, 04:04), moments of pop-culture riffing, and a clear preference for humanizing even scandalous figures. They maintain a focus on evidence and critical thinking, gently lampooning the outlandishness of the era’s public and the authorities.
In Summary
This episode offers an engrossing, skeptical, and at times darkly funny tour of the Hall-Mills murder, revealing how media, wealth, and social status shaped one of America’s earliest true crime sensations. While no one was ever convicted, the hosts leave little doubt as to the public’s—and history’s—suspicions. For true crime fans, historians, or even Gatsby devotees, this is a can’t-miss caper.