Blood & ink The scandalous jazz age double murder that hooked America on true crime

Joe Pompeo

Book - 2022

"Vanity Fair's Joe Pompeo investigates the notorious 1922 double murder of a high-society minister and his secret mistress, a Jazz Age mega-crime that propelled tabloid news in the 20th century. On September 16, 1922, the bodies of Reverend Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills were found beneath a crabapple tree on an abandoned farm outside of New Brunswick, New Jersey. The killer had arranged the bodies in a pose conveying intimacy. The murder of Hall, a prominent clergyman whose wife, Frances Hall, was a proud heiress with illustrious ancestors and ties to the Johnson & Johnson dynasty, would have made headlines on its own. But when authorities identified Eleanor Mills as a choir singer from his church married to the church sexton,... the story shocked locals and sent the scandal ricocheting around the country, fueling the nascent tabloid industry. This provincial double murder on a lonely lover's lane would soon become one of the most famous killings in American history--a veritable crime of the century. The bumbling local authorities failed to secure any indictments, however, and it took a swashbuckling crusade by the editor of a circulation-hungry Hearst tabloid to revive the case and bring it to trial at last. Blood & Ink freshly chronicles what remains one of the most electrifying but forgotten murder mysteries in U.S. history. It also traces the birth of American tabloid journalism, pandering to the masses with sordid tales of love, sex, money, and murder."-- Provided by publisher.

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Subjects
Genres
True crime stories
Published
New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers [2022]
Language
English
Main Author
Joe Pompeo (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
viii, 344 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 323-329) and index.
ISBN
9780063001732
  • The crabapple tree
  • The heiress
  • The tabloid editor
  • The Reverend
  • The choir singer
  • "Hark! Hark, my soul!"
  • "Billy goat! Billy goat!"
  • The flapper
  • The sideshow
  • "House of mystery"
  • The pig woman
  • Meet the press
  • The grand jury
  • Madame Astra
  • "A new, mongrel fourth estate"
  • "Investigation A"
  • "A tissue of disgusting lies!"
  • The arrests
  • Trial of the century
  • "I have told them the truth, so help me God!"
  • "A sort of genius"
  • The verdict
  • Old Glory
  • And then there were none
  • A room with a view.
Review by Booklist Review

In 1922, a grisly New Jersey murder propelled a circulation war among New York newspapers. Reverend Edward Wheeler Hall, the charismatic rector of St. John the Evangelist church in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Eleanor Mills, a pretty young member of the St John's choir, were found murdered in the local lover's lane. Both were married to others, and their relationship had been the subject of gossip. The Daily News, then only a few years old, was struggling to gain circulation. Phil Payne, the managing editor, thought the murders were perfect for the tabloid paper's sensational style. His reporters, several of whom were women, highlighted scandal, sex, class, and money in their coverage, and the fledgling tabloid's circulation soared, delighting Payne and publisher Joseph Medill Patterson. The murders were never solved, possibly due to a high-level cover-up. Journalist Pompeo brings this story and its fascinating characters to life in a way that will captivate true-crime lovers. His insights into tabloid journalism then and now show that it has not strayed far from its roots in sensationalism and melodrama.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Vanity Fair correspondent Pompeo debuts with a compulsively readable account of a sensational unsolved double murder a century ago. On Sept. 16, 1922, at an abandoned farm outside New Brunswick, N.J., the bodies of the Rev. Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills, who sang in the choir of his church, were found beneath a crabapple tree, posed in a manner to suggest intimacy. Hall was shot in the head, and Mills had been shot three times and her throat slit ear to ear. Both of their spouses were initially suspects, and Hall's wife and her two brothers went on trial in 1926. The evidence wasn't enough to convince the jury, however, and all three were found not guilty. Pompeo does a thorough job highlighting the questionable tactics of the scandal sheets of the period, such as a staged séance to elicit a confession. The Hall-Mills murders sold newspapers and brought thousands of curiosity seekers to the murder site before almost vanishing from memory as other scandals claimed the spotlight. Drawing on extensive documents related to the case that were lost until 2019, Pompeo provides the definitive account of the murders. This is essential reading for true crime buffs. Agent: David Marshall, Aevitas Creative Management. (Sept.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Vanity Fair correspondent Pompeo is the latest to try to solve the scandalous 100-year-old double murder that occurred in Somerset County, NJ. A compelling performance by narrator Robert Petkoff will keep listeners glued to their earbuds as he describes the discovery of two bodies--a married priest and a church choir member (not his wife)--under a crab apple tree, arranged as if they were intimately involved, with their love letters lying between them. Pompeo delivers a lively history of the time and place, including the backstories of each victim. He also details how their unfortunate fate launched the rise of tabloid newspapers, spreading the scandalous details of their lives, their deaths, and the ensuing trial, and fueling the rise of intense media coverage of high-profile true-crime stories in newspapers and magazines. Petkoff's heartfelt, impassioned reading of the love letters found at the murder scene is in stark contrast to the objective, authoritative court proceedings, as suspects were grilled and witnesses described in detail what they saw. VERDICT Followers of the Lindbergh kidnapping and O.J. Simpson trial will relish this story of an unsolved crime still open on the books.--Stephanie Bange

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