FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP — 1922 · Unsolved Case
The Hall-Mills Murders
On 16 September 1922, on farmland in Franklin Township near New Brunswick, New Jersey, the bodies of Episcopal priest Edward Wheeler Hall and choir member Eleanor Mills were found lying side by side. The two were known to be having an affair, and torn love letters had been placed between them. The first investigation came to nothing. Four years later, under pressure from a newspaper, the case was reopened and the rector's wife and two of her brothers were tried; the trial, which opened in November 1926, became famous for a witness nicknamed 'the Pig Woman'. The defendants were acquitted. Regarded as an early example of a media circus, the murders remain unsolved.
- Date
- 1922
- Place
- Somerset County, New Jersey, USA, Franklin Township, US
- Category
- Unsolved Case
- Case Status
- Unsolved
- Coordinates
- 40.4930, -74.4590 ↗
Timeline of Events
- 14 September 1922Reverend Hall and Eleanor Mills were murdered.
- 16 September 1922The bodies were found in a field in Franklin Township.
- 1926The case was reopened after newspaper reports.
- 3 November 1926The trial of the rector's wife and two brothers began; they were acquitted.
Sources
- Yale Review — The Hall-Mills Murder Trial, 1926 yalereview.yale.edu ↗
- New Brunswick Free Public Library — Hall-Mills Murder Case Collection nbfpl.org ↗
- Wikipedia — Hall–Mills murder case en.wikipedia.org ↗
- Yale Review
- New Brunswick Free Public Library
- Wikipedia
Source grade A: several independent sources, at least one an official record or reference work. If you spot a mistake or something missing, report it with "Suggest a correction" in the app.
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🕯️ This record was prepared with respect, in memory of those who lost their lives.