- Hi guys, how are you today? My name is Bailey Sarian
and today's Monday which means it's murder,
mystery and makeup Monday. (Bailey vocalizing) If you are new here, hi,
my name is Bailey Sarian, you said that. And every Monday I sit down, I talk about a true crime story that's been heavy on my
noggin (tongue clicks). If you are interested in true crime and you like makeup I would
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if you are ever curious as to what products I'm using, I do list everything down in
the description box down below. That's where you can find that. There's always flies in here. Before we jump into today's story, today's video is sponsored by Audible. Let me tell you a little
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audible.com/baileysarian or text Bailey Sarian to 500 500. Big thank you to Audible for partnering with me on today's episode. And, as far as today's story goes, I thought we could actually
talk about a mystery that's been left unsolved. I don't really like doing unsolved stories because I'm the type of person
where I need that closure. I need to go to bed at
night knowing it's closed. So that's why I don't
really dabble too much in unsolved stuff here, but I
should include more, I should. But today we are going to talk about "The Hall-Mills murder mystery". (Bailey vocalizing) Edward Hall was born in
1881, yeah, we're going back. 1881, baby, oh, well
that's when he was born. Anyways, he was born. Middle-class parents in Brooklyn New York. Now, when he grew up he
became a minister at a church in New York and in New Jersey
before he accepted a position at St. John's in 1909. St. John's was located in New
Brunswick and at his new job, this is where he would meet
his new wife, Frances Stevens. Frances Stevens, now she, let me tell you, she was born in 1874. Now, Frances was an heiress of the Johnson and Johnson surgical supply fortune. You know that Johnson and Johnson money. Now, it said that Francis
and her two brothers, Henry and Willie, they were
worth, like $2 million each, $2 million was like, whoa, I'm rich, cause now it's like two million, that's not even gonna pay for school. It's said that Frances was a homely woman, a homely-looking woman, which I think, it kind of made me laugh. It's sad because I feel
like it always comes down to our looks. But back then, if you came
from money, you were expected to look like you came from money. And people would say that Frances, she just wasn't known for being beautiful. And, one reporter commented
that she was quote, "Not fully unattractive,
just not fully good-looking." So that's nice. This is why I did my eyes first cause I'm looking like a clown. Frances and Edward, they
were married in 1911. Edward was 30 years old and
Frances was 37 years old. Now, naturally everyone
assumed that like Edward was into this marriage only for money. It's easy to think that because
Johnson and Johnson, hello, like yeah, but after they got married, Frances and Edward they moved in together and they moved into their,
or Frances' family home. Now at that time, Frances'
brother, Willie also lived in the family home. Okay, so now I'm going to
talk about another couple who was involved in this story. James Mills and Eleanor Mills. James Mills was born on the
27th of January in 1878, a long time ago. He worked as a Shoemaker
before becoming the janitor at the St. John's church. The same church that Edward Wheeler, the man we talked about
first ministered at, and then Eleanor Mills. She was a soprano in the church's choir and she married James at the age of 15. Eleanor was a prominent member
of the church ladies group. It said that she spent her
time in church activities. She would read romance novels. She was just always
hanging around the church. Between the two of them
they had two children, Charlotte Mills who was born
in 1906 and Daniel Mills, who was born in 1910. Now the Mills, they lived
in a pretty rundown home. James only made about $35 a week, which wasn't cutting it for the family. Money was just tight,
but they tried their best and they made it work, they had to, they really had no choice. Now this is when it gets juicy. Eleanor and Edward began having an affair. Remember Edward is the minister. Eleanor works in the church choir and also a part of the women's group. It's unknown when the
affair officially started, it is said that in 1919, Edward
would go see Eleanor daily. Both of their partners, Frances and James would deny any knowledge as
far as this alleged affair, they had no idea, but it seemed
that everybody else knew. So, not only the church, but it seemed like the entire
town knew of the infidelity. Everyone was talking about it,
it was just the town gossip. You know how that goes, just one of those secrets
everybody knew about, does your town have one of those? It's weird how that happens, isn't it? On September 14th, 1922, both
Frances Hall and James Mills, they would find that neither
an Edward nor Eleanor had returned home. Normally, they would come
home around dinner time, five, 6:00 PM, like, what are you doing? It's 2:30 in the morning now, none of their partners are home. Frances and her brother,
Willie, they decided to go down to the church and search for her husband. Now, they go looking around the area and they're seeing that
he's nowhere to be found. He's not at the church, I
mean, that's where he works so where else could he be? They don't find them and they don't find any trace of them, all right? So then they just end up going
back home to their place. So on September 16th,
which is two days later, a young couple was out on the stroll. They were going down lover's lane. Lover's lane was like one of those areas that all the young kids
in love would hang out. Maybe they would make
out, do stuff like that, but it was like a walking area, a lot of people would
just go and take a stroll. Lover's lane was in Somerset, New Jersey which was right outside of New Brunswick. So it's like it wasn't too
far off from the location. So this young couple is taking a stroll and as they were walking,
they came across two bodies in like a field area. So they see laid under a crab apple tree, a man that was handsomely
dressed in a dark gray suit. He had on a white shirt
with a stiff white color and a white tie. He also had a Panama hat that
had been placed over his face as those like shielding him from the sun. At his side, there laid a lady, and her legs were
crossed her head pillowed on her, what seemed to
be like her companions outstretched right arm. Her left hand was resting on his knee. Now again, they they're dead
and they're under this tree. So their bodies are like positioned in this kind of like romantic way. It was very strange. Now the girl, she was wearing
a polka-dotted blue dress, a brown woolen scarf covered her throat and when they looked closer at the body they see that the lady had
been shot three times, oh shit. So this couple that came
across the bodies they hurry to like the nearest home and
they let the owner know like, "Hey we just saw bodies under a tree, can we please use your
telephone and call the police?" Two police officers were on
the scene within minutes. Now, once the police had arrived, they moved the scarf that
the woman was wearing and they see that her
throat had been ripped out. I wasn't filming anything I just said, I put powder on my face,
we didn't miss much, okay. So they were able to ID the bodies as Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills, mm-hmm. Now littered around the bodies were pieces of torn up love letters. Allegedly, the letters had
belonged to the two of them. Edward's business card
was left at his feet and due to the state of the
wound on Eleanor's neck, police were able to assess
that the two of them had been dead for at least 24 hours. For years, members of
the church had whispered about the close relationship between the minister and the choir singer. But now that gossip was confirmed
to be true, because again, around the bodies were
torn up love letters. They weren't torn up into
tiny iddy biddy pieces so, the police gathered these letters and were able to put them back together. And one of the letters was from
Eleanor and it said, quote, "Sweetheart, my true heart, I know there are girls
with more shapely bodies but I'm not caring what they have, I have the greatest part of all blessings, a noble man's deep, true eternal love." "I want to look up into your dear face for hours as you touch my body
close" end quote, super hot. Now in these letters, they
come across another one, and this one was from Edward
and Edward had written quote, "Darlin, wonder heart," wonder heart? Okay. "I just want to crush you for two hours, I want to see you Friday night alone by our road where we can
let out that universe of joy and happiness,
we call ours" end quote. Yeah, I don't know about you but if someone wrote me
a love letter saying, quote, "I wanna crush you
for two hours" end quote I'd be like, "Yeah, I
can't, I'm like really busy around that time you were
thinking about doing that, sorry." So, these love letters confirmed that of course they were having-- Well not of course, but
that they were indeed having an affair. Autopsies revealed that
Edward had been shot at a point-blank rage
with a point 32 caliber automatic pistol. The bullet it had entered his
head near the right temple and came out of the back of the left side. And then Eleanor had been
shot three times in the head. The New York Times had reported that one of the bullets entered
the woman's forehead about two inches above the nose. Another went through the right cheek and the third pierced the right temple. And then on top of that,
whoever did this shit, ah, because her throat had been cut so deeply that her jugular vein
windpipe and neck muscles were completely severed and her backbone could easily be seen. What the fuck kind of sick shit is that? What the hell is wrong with people? How come they didn't do it to the dude? Now naturally, I know what you're thinking because I'm thinking it
too, hello, it's the spouse, it's one of the spouses, right? Affair? (tongue clicks) It's gotta be one of the spouses. Now the Halls-Mill's case
had all the elements. It was dramatic, it
involved wealth and sex. I mean everything that just
really interests people. So when media got hold of this story, everyone lost their shit, okay? Everyone just went nuts. People were just heavily invested. Technically, we still do that to this day, on the news and stuff, when
something major happens. So I guess nothing really has changed. But anyways, so the media went crazy. This is dumb, but this
is also a different time. People were just, it's just different because it's so fucked up. Where the bodies were found, it turned into a major tourist attraction. So on weekends, the crime scene,
it became like a carnival. There were vendors out there
selling popcorn, peanuts, soft drinks, oh hell,
balloons, you want to balloon? People died here,
celebrate with the ballon. Hoards of people, curious
cats all came out there. It said that there were
about a thousand cars a day, just coming out to see
where this crime took place. Mind you, their bodies
weren't there anymore they had taken them away. But hundreds of people
flock to the crime scene because they want to see the bloodstains. They wanted to see if they
could find any evidence and and solve the crime or
something, I don't know. But people just lost their shit okay, getting balloons and
ahh, it's weird, right? But it's a different time
so I'm trying not to judge, but I'm judging so it's like, so within a few weeks, the crab apple tree that the bodies were found under had been completely stripped of every branch and bit of like bark. People were coming and
they wanted a souvenir. So they would take a piece of the tree. Yeah, I don't know, they
were really excited about it. There was one person who took like samples of the dirt
in the surrounding area and they put it in little bags. I don't think ziploc
bags were a thing yet. Did Johnson and Johnson make it yet? I don't know, they would put the dirt in like these little packs and they would sell it
to people for 25 cents who were looking to take a souvenir and they couldn't take the tree anymore cause the tree was destroyed. They took dirt at the crime
scene, you guys, what the fuck? People are weird. We're a weird breed. So saying that people were
obsessed is an understatement. And then naturally because people suck even back then they
sucked these seller people would get dirt from different areas put it in the little bag and be like, "Yeah, this is crime
scene dirt, 25 cents." Now, the problem with
all these people coming to the crime scene and kind
of making it into a show. It was interfering with the collection of evidence in the investigation because everything was
literally being destroyed. And again, this is like
the 1800, no, it's not It's the nineteen hundreds now, they were born in the eighteen hundreds. Okay, yeah, it's the
early nineteen hundreds. Okay, so their ability to
investigate crime scenes isn't that high tech, I
don't even know what they do, how they solve crimes
back then it must have been very challenging because
they didn't have any DNA yet, stuff like that, that we really
take for granted now huh? I think that's why a lot of
these older cases go unsolved because they didn't have
anything to work with. Anyways, so initial, initially, initially, wow, I can't talk. Police did not question James
Mills, Eleanor's husband because they thought he
was quote unquote dole. And they honestly thought he had nothing to do with the murders. He also had a pretty strong alibi. His neighbors had seen him at home and they heard him doing some woodwork. Now, these neighbors weren't
super close with him. So they would really
have no reason to lie. Now Frances, the Johnson and Johnson girl, she had an alibi as well. She said that she had
been home with her maid. The maid of course was like, "Yeah, she was here, I'm the maid." Police are stumped, they
really have no other leads. They're like, "We got nothing." Now a few weeks after the
bodies had been found, a 50-year-old woman, her
name was Jane Gibson. She owned a hog farm right
next to lover's lane. It was a lot of land at that time. So, I guess she would
kind of like ride around on a horse, not a hog, but
she would ride around to on her farm and her land area. And she could like ride up to lover's lane which wasn't too far off. So she was on her horse
and she was like riding around the areas, and she reported on the night of the killing
to hearing gunshots. And then she heard a woman scream, Henry. Now she believed that she had seen two men and two women at the
scene before the gunshots. Now when Ms. Gibson, the
hog farm lady came forward, she tells like all this
information that she had that night once media got ahold of this,
they of course went crazy. They were harassing this
poor lady who came forward And then they ended up giving
her the nickname, quote, "The pig woman" in the papers. So anytime her story was referenced in the papers they
called her the pig woman. I would be so pissed, I mean, really? I'm trying to help,
what are you guys doing? And you're calling me the pig woman? Now, in the media and whatnot, they were like just showing
all this upset with her. calling her a liar, and
saying that she's lying for attention and just like
attacking this poor woman who was just trying to help. If you remember, Frances
had her two other brothers, Willie and Henry. The witness reported hearing
a woman's scream, Henry before the gunshots, before the gunshots. Police go back and they question
Frances and her brothers and they actually ended up taking them in and arresting them. They go in front of a grand jury and they ended up just letting them go because like there was
no evidence pointing to them at all, besides
the witness report. So the case gets dropped
and they all get let go. For years, no one heard anything. Then, in 1926, a man named
Arthur, this Arthur guy, he was actually trying to separate from his wife at the time. The reason that he wanted to separate was because she kept secrets. Now, what kind of secrets was she keeping? Well, let me get this
lash on and I'll tell you. So, Arthur's wife was hiding a secret. Well, she had a lot of secrets apparently, but one of the biggest
secrets cause he came forward and told authorities about this, was that she was hiding information about the Hall-Mill's murder. Now, what could this random-ass wife know about these murders? Well this random-ass
lady was the former maid of Frances Hall, remember Frances' alibi? Arthur said that his wife had known that Edward and Eleanor
had planned to elope. She knew Willie Stevens had
a point 36 caliber pistol. And they also paid this ex-maid $5,000 to keep her mouth shut. Media gets a hold of this. And, of course it just
turns into a big story. So then the ex-made, ex-wife
now she comes forward and she's like, "No, my husband's lying, he's making of all this up." "He just wants attention,
all of it's fake. But at that point it was way too late. Arthur, her ex-husband, his statement had been
pushed out by the press. So I'm sure the ex-made, if it was true, she's probably like, oh fuck,
do still get to keep my 5,000? Because the media picked up this statement and it just got like crazy, police did actually reopen the case and go and investigate Frances Hall. I'm not exactly sure
how it worked back then I'm assuming they didn't
need hardcore evidence in order to take you into custody. I guess I should have looked into that a little bit more my bad. But on July 28th, 1926 Frances Hall, she was actually taken into custody after several hearings involving
more than 50 witnesses. A lot of the people
were just coming forward and saying that they heard something because they wanted to
be a part of the story. What is with that? What is what people doing that? People do that all the time. Anyways, and the jury actually
indicted her brothers, Willie Stevens and Henry Stevens, as well as their cousin Henry. So there's two Henrys. So they're like, it's gotta
be one of the Henry's, we don't know which one it is. So we're just gonna take both
of you guys in, okay, cool. The trial turned into
a complete spectacle. Main street was littered
with, again, these, a bunch of vendors and they
were selling refreshments, they were selling popcorn,
trying to just sell whatever they can to make some money. Do you remember when they found the body they found Edward's business card which was left by his feet. And they brought that in for evidence. Prosecutors stated that the card had Willie Stevens
fingerprints all over it. This same card had been handled by curious visitors to the
crime scene, as well as police. I'm not kidding you, when
they found the bodies, they were laying under the
crab apple tree, right? They take the bodies away of course but they leave the evidence there. So the business card that
was found by Edward's foot was left there and then
it was handed around. When people came to like
look at the crime scene, they passed it around. So everybody was touching it, which is not a good piece
of evidence to have, but they brought it in anyways. Now remembered the pig lady, remember? She actually heard something and they dubbed her the
pig lady, which sucks but I can't remember her name right now but they actually called
her to come testify. Ms. Gibson, that's her
name, Gibson, Jane Gibson, Jane Gibson. She actually was pretty ill. She was brought in from
the hospital on a stretcher and also a doctor and
two nurses came with her. She was carried into the
courtroom on a stretcher and placed on an iron hospital
bed facing the jury box. It's like theater, during her testimony, her account of the awful double murder, her own aged mother sat in
the front row of the gallery and would chime in yelling, quote, "She's a liar, she's
a liar, she's a liar." Again, the media had set her
up, Jane Gibson, the pig woman, as a liar and an evil person who's making this all up, why? I don't know why they were so against her. they just like, didn't wanna believe it. Anyway, so her own mom
she's being brought in by a stretcher and her own mom is there like, "She's a liar." What the-- The drama of it all. Defense attacked, Ms. Gibson. They attacked her
credibility, pointing out that she had gotten a
divorce in 1898 for adultery. They questioned her morals
and brought up the names of a few ex-lovers,
trying to discredit her and make her out to be untrustworthy, which it was kind of working. So then Frances, the
Johnson and Johnson girl, I wanna be part of the
Johnson and Johnson family, like that's fucking money,
that's like money, money. She took the stand and swore that her husband was
absolutely devoted to her. After over 80 witnesses, and
five hours of deliberation, they found all four not
guilty of the murders of Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills. The case to this day
still remains unsolved. Now, after the trial
had ended, the Stevens, the Johnson and Johnson family, they ended up suing both the Daily Mirror and the Evening Journal
for slander and libel. Both cases were settled outside of court. Many scholars believe that this case was actually the basis for,
F. Scott's Fitzgerald's, "The Great Gatsby." You know, the book, the
book was written three years after the murder and
it takes place in 1922. So it's rumored that the book is based off of this, unsolved murder mystery. I could believe it. So that's the story about the
Hall-Mills murder mystery. So the case never was solved technically but I think it was Frances
and like her brothers. Hello, first of all, she's rich, money can get rid of anything. I mean, ain't that the truth? Come on. If her husband was having an affair, and they separated I
wonder if at that time that he would be receiving
money from her estate because I'm sure the
family didn't want that. And I'm sure the family didn't even want the scandal in general so, they probably were able to
get the family off the hook, shit like that pisses me off If you have money in this country, you could get away with murder. I mean, we've seen it over
and over and over again. Do you think it was one of the spouses? What if we're looking at
the wrong person completely and it was the husband to Eleanor, but what would that benefit him? I'm not sure. The fact that the bodies
were like posed seems seems kind of like intimate and something that a random stranger wouldn't
be comfortable doing, rght? Or is that just me? And the fact that Eleanor's
throat was ripped out. I mean, to the point where you could see that her effing, sorry,
I shouldn't even curse. Her neckbone? What the fuck! Like, where did her throat go? They never found it, whoever got that. The guy, he was just shot, so that makes me think that
it was probably Frances because Eleanor seemed
to get attacked more. Eleanor was shot three
times versus the one time and her throat was ripped out. So it kind of seems
like somebody was upset with her more than Edward, poor Eleanor. I would love to hear
your thoughts down below. Thank you so much for
hanging out with me today. I hope you have a
wonderful, rest of your day. I'm really struggling to talk today. A big thank you to audible for partnering with me on today's video. I hope you have a wonderful day today. You make good choices and
I'll be seeing you guys later. Bye.
