What does it mean to be haunted? For most people, it does not mean the strange or supernatural, but the all-too real: a scar from childhood, an opportunity missed, a wrong never righted. For the late Charlotte Mills, it was the murder of her mother on September 14th, 1922 on the outskirts of New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her mother's body lay beside that of their Episcopalian parish priest, Edward Hall. Love letters between the two were scattered about the bodies. Edward Hall had been shot once in the face. Her mother, however, had been absolutely brutalized. While the coroner failed to conduct a proper autopsy, he did, out of curiosity, cut open Eleanor to see if she was pregnant. Charlotte Mills, just sixteen years old, was interrogated by the police and press corps about all possible suspects to the murder: Was it her father, an impovershed groundskeeper for the church? Was it Edward's wife, the solemn (and wealthy heiress) Frances Hall? Was it Edward's brother-in-law, the eccentric Willie Stevens? Was it the KKK? Was it thieves? Immigrants? Some other scapegoat? Nothing was simple, and nothing could be proved. Charlotte, of course, could not do the police's job for them. But that didn't mean she didn't try. But, by 1926 she had been driven to quit the chase when Frances Hall and her brothers were acquitted at trial. She then moved to New York City, and tried to "make it" as a clerk at a bank. She told the press that she considered herself a "flapper," but she never had the cash to run with that crowd. She never felt safe after her mother's murder, and she died at the age of 45. So today, we will be joining Charlotte in her own mind, as she lives and relives the moments surrounding her mother’s murder. This episode was brought to you by the New Brunswick Historical Society, Thinkery & Verse and Butch Mermaid Productions. Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County board of chosen freeholders through a grant award from the Middlesex Cultural and Arts Trust Fund. Our theme music this season comes from Blimp66 of Freesound.org. Once again, today’s play featured talented voice actor Karen Alvarado. It was written, directed, and edited by JM Meyer and you may have recognized my voice for the hymn. As always, I’m your host and engineer, Erin Bogert, and one final time, thank you for listening.
