Frances Stevens Hall, the widow of the Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall, was tried with her brothers Henry and Willie Stevens in 1926 for the 1922 murder of Eleanor Mills, the choir singer found dead beside her husband outside New Brunswick, New Jersey. The jury acquitted all three on Dec. 3, 1926. The killings are officially unsolved.
Dec. 3, 2026, is the 100th anniversary of the verdict: on Dec. 3, 1926, a Somerset County jury in Somerville acquitted Frances Stevens Hall and her brothers Henry and Willie Stevens of the murder of Eleanor Mills.13 The Rutgers University Libraries describe the case as a story that fed the tabloid press of the 1920s and helped establish true crime as entertainment.109 The killings themselves reached their centennial in 2022, when the Franklin Township Public Library mounted a display of items from the case, including Willie Stevens's eyeglasses, and the journalist Joe Pompeo published a book on the case and the newspapers that covered it.11810
This page is one of three on the defendants tried together in 1926: Frances Stevens Hall, Henry Stevens, William “Willie” Stevens. The backstory below is the same on all three.
The Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall, rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist in New Brunswick, N.J., and Eleanor Mills, a member of his church choir, were last seen on the night of Sept. 14, 1922.710 Their bodies were found on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 16, under a crab apple tree on a lane in Franklin Township, in Somerset County, just outside New Brunswick.7513 According to the Rutgers University Libraries, the two were having an affair, both had been shot in the head, Mills’s throat had been cut, and love letters between them had been placed between the bodies.10 New Brunswick Today, describing a 2014 exhibit of case materials at the Somerset County Courthouse, reported that Mills was shot three times and Hall once.13 Reporters and curiosity-seekers disturbed the scene before it was secured, and no police photographs were taken.1013
According to the Rutgers University Libraries, confusion over whether Somerset or Middlesex County should lead the investigation likely contributed to the case going unsolved.10 In late November 1922 a Somerset County grand jury met for five days, heard 67 witnesses, including Jane Gibson, and returned no indictment.75
In July 1926 the New York Daily Mirror, a Hearst tabloid, revived the case on its front page; Time reported at the time that its July 16 headline read “HALL-MILLS MURDER MYSTERY BARED.”49 According to the historian Mary S. Hartman, the reopening followed an annulment petition in which the husband of a former Hall household maid alleged that she had known of a planned meeting that night.7 Frances Hall was arrested and arraigned at midnight on July 28, 1926.5 With Gov. A. Harry Moore’s intervention, Alexander Simpson was named special prosecutor.7 After more than a month of hearings, a Somerset County grand jury indicted Frances Hall, her brothers Henry and Willie Stevens, and a cousin.57 Simpson won a separate trial for the cousin.76
The trial opened in Somerville on Nov. 3, 1926, before Somerset County Judge Frank L. Cleary and New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Charles W. Parker.59 The three defendants were tried for the murder of Eleanor Mills only; a separate indictment charged them with the murder of Rev. Hall.51 Francis L. Bergen, the Somerset County prosecutor, and Simpson tried the case for the State; Clarence E. Case, Robert H. McCarter and Timothy N. Pfeiffer defended.5 The State called 87 witnesses and the defense 70.5
Jane Gibson. The State’s principal witness was Jane Gibson, a farm woman whom the press called the “Pig Woman.”79 Dying of cancer, she testified from a hospital bed brought into the courtroom.95 She testified that on the night of Sept. 14 she had ridden her mule after a suspected thief and, on the lane, saw two men and two women against the sky; that she heard a woman say “Explain those letters” and a shouted “Henry”; that a flashlight showed her Henry Stevens; and that she heard one shot, then three more, and rode away.6 On cross-examination Case questioned her about her past and about her account four years earlier, and she could not recall a number of details.6 Time reported during the trial that she collapsed on the stand.4
The calling card. A fingerprint expert for the State testified that Willie Stevens’s fingerprint was on Rev. Hall’s calling card, found at the scene.67 The defense brought out that the card had been handled by police, reporters and others, and had been held by the Daily Mirror’s editor for three years; three defense experts found no resemblance between the smudge and Willie Stevens’s prints; and the detective who received the card in 1922 testified that he had initialed it, though the card in evidence bore no initials.6
The defendants. Defense witnesses testified that Henry Stevens had spent the night of the killings bluefishing on the Jersey shore.6 Willie Stevens testified, and on cross-examination rejected Simpson’s suggestion that his search for the missing minister that night was “fishy”; the press praised his performance on the stand.5 Frances Hall testified that her husband had been devoted to her.5
The jury deliberated five hours and two minutes and on Dec. 3, 1926, found all three defendants not guilty of the murder of Eleanor Mills, the Associated Press reported; the trial had lasted 24 days.13 The AP reported that the brothers went back to jail that night pending a bail motion on the second indictment.1 The next morning Justice Parker granted the attorney general’s motion to dismiss all remaining charges.5 The United Press wrote that the verdict “may mark the end” of the effort to solve the killings.2
The acquittal is the only legal finding in the case, and no one else was ever charged.113 The New Brunswick Free Public Library notes that around 1969 a man named Julius Bolyog, who had been friendly with Willie Stevens, came forward with information that was broadcast on WINS radio; according to Crime Library, he said that Willie Stevens had paid him to deliver money to two young men in New Brunswick.1215 His account was never tested in court.12 In The Minister and the Choir Singer (1964), William M. Kunstler argued that the jury reached the correct verdict and that the Ku Klux Klan was responsible, a theory he acknowledged rested on circumstantial evidence, according to Hartman.7 Hartman calls the case America’s most fascinating unsolved homicide and writes that the killer’s identity may never be known.7
Frances Noel Stevens was the wife of the Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall, rector of St. John the Evangelist in New Brunswick.510 Her brothers were Henry and William “Willie” Stevens.5 At the trial she testified that her husband had been devoted to her.5 The press of the time called her “The Iron Widow,” according to the historian Harold Schechter.9 No sourced account of her childhood or schooling was found in the sources reviewed.
She was arrested and arraigned at midnight on July 28, 1926, after the Daily Mirror revived the case.54 The AP reported that her face brightened at the verdict, then settled into “calm satisfaction.”1
She sued the Daily Mirror, and later William Randolph Hearst and the Evening Journal, for libel; the suits were settled out of court.5 She died at her home in New Brunswick on Dec. 19, 1942.167 No statement by her about the case after the trial was found in the sources reviewed.
The claimThe widow and her brothers did it. A 2019 New Jersey bar program on the case said it was "widely suspected" that Frances Hall planned the murder with her brothers, and the press of the time called her "The Iron Widow."149
The recordThe jury acquitted all three after five hours and two minutes, and the remaining charges were dismissed the next morning.15 No one else was ever charged, and the case is officially unsolved.1312 The record does not establish who killed Hall and Mills.7
The claimLocal rumor held that the victims' bodies were sexually mutilated, according to the historian Mary S. Hartman.7
The recordHartman found no credible evidence for the rumor and notes that the autopsy recorded Hall's genitalia as "normal."7
The claimThe "Pig Woman" saw the killings. Jane Gibson was the State's star witness, and her testimony from a hospital bed is the best-remembered scene of the trial.79
The recordGibson testified that she heard voices and shots and, by flashlight, saw Henry Stevens; the defense attacked her credibility on cross-examination.6 A juror later said he would not convict on her testimony, and the jury acquitted.71
Special prosecutor Alexander Simpson's case rested on the account of Jane Gibson, a farm woman the press called the "Pig Woman," who testified that she saw and heard the shooting, and on a fingerprint expert who testified that Willie Stevens's print was on the minister's calling card found at the scene.57 The State called 87 witnesses.5
The defense, which called 70 witnesses, attacked Gibson's credibility on cross-examination, presented three fingerprint experts who found no resemblance between the smudge on the card and Willie Stevens's prints, and called witnesses who said Henry Stevens was bluefishing on the Jersey shore that night.56 The detective who received the card in 1922 testified that he had initialed it, but the card in evidence bore no initials.6
The Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall and Eleanor Mills are last seen.7
A Somerset County grand jury hears 67 witnesses over five days and returns no indictment.75
The New York Daily Mirror revives the case, and Frances Hall is arrested at midnight on July 28.45
After more than a month of hearings, a grand jury indicts Frances Hall, her brothers Henry and Willie Stevens, and a cousin.57
The jury acquits all three defendants of Eleanor Mills's murder.13
Justice Parker grants the attorney general's motion to dismiss the remaining charges.5
Frances Hall dies.7
The Franklin Township Public Library marks 100 years since the killings with a lobby display, and Joe Pompeo publishes Blood & Ink, a history of the case.118
The morning after the verdict, Justice Parker granted the attorney general's motion to dismiss the remaining charges, including the indictment for the murder of Rev. Hall and the charge against the cousin who had been granted a separate trial.57 Willie Stevens, Frances Hall and the cousin sued the Daily Mirror for $500,000 each, and later William Randolph Hearst and the Evening Journal; all the suits were settled out of court for amounts that were not disclosed.5 Decades later, a man named Julius Bolyog made a claim about Willie Stevens that was broadcast on the radio and never tested in court (see "Theories" below).1215 In 1964 the lawyer William M. Kunstler published The Minister and the Choir Singer, arguing that the jury reached the right verdict.75 No one else was ever charged, and the killings remain officially unsolved.1312