# Henry Stevens

> Henry Stevens was tried with his sister, Frances Stevens Hall, and his brother Willie in 1926 for the 1922 murder of Eleanor Mills, the choir singer found dead beside his sister's husband, the Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall, outside New Brunswick, New Jersey. The jury acquitted all three on Dec. 3, 1926. The killings are officially unsolved.

- Case: The Hall–Mills trial · Somerville, New Jersey · 1926
- Section: historical case (closed; the defendant has died)
- Outcome: Acquitted. Acquitted, with his sister and brother, of the murder of Eleanor Mills on Dec. 3, 1926. The acquittal is final. The remaining indictment, for the murder of Rev. Hall, was dismissed the next morning. No one else was ever charged. He died in 1939.
- Died: December 1939
- Last updated: 2026-11-04
- Editorial review: approved 2026-11-04
- Web page: https://criminalbackstories.com/history/henry-stevens/
- All defendants are presumed innocent until found guilty by a court of law. Charges and allegations described on this site are not proof of guilt.

## Why this case is remembered

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.[1][3] 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.[10][9] 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.[11][8][10]

## Case at a glance

- Charges tried: Murder of Eleanor Mills; a second indictment, for the murder of the Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall, was dismissed after the verdict[5][1]
- Victims: The Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall, rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist in New Brunswick, and Eleanor Mills, a member of his church choir[10][7]
- Date and place: Last seen the night of Sept. 14, 1922; found Sept. 16 under a crab apple tree in Franklin Township, Somerset County[7][13]
- Trial: Nov. 3 to Dec. 3, 1926, in Somerville, before Somerset County Judge Frank L. Cleary and New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Charles W. Parker[5][1]
- Prosecution: Somerset County Prosecutor Francis L. Bergen and special prosecutor Alexander Simpson[5]
- Defense: Clarence E. Case, Robert H. McCarter and Timothy N. Pfeiffer[5]
- Verdict: Not guilty, Dec. 3, 1926, after about five hours of deliberation[1][3]

## The backstory

This page is one of three on the defendants tried together in 1926: [Frances Stevens Hall](/history/frances-hall/), [Henry Stevens](/history/henry-stevens/), [William "Willie" Stevens](/history/william-stevens/). The backstory below is the same on all three.

### The killings

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.[7][10] 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.[7][5][13] 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.[10][13]

### The first investigation

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.[7][5]

### The case reopened

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."[4][9] 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.[5][7] Simpson won a separate trial for the cousin.[7][6]

### The trial

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.[5][9] The three defendants were tried for the murder of Eleanor Mills only; a separate indictment charged them with the murder of Rev. Hall.[5][1] 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."[7][9] Dying of cancer, she testified from a hospital bed brought into the courtroom.[9][5] 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.[6][7] 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 verdict

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.[1][3] 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]

### Theories

The acquittal is the only legal finding in the case, and no one else was ever charged.[1][13] 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.[12][15] 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]

## Personal backstory

### Family

Henry Stevens was the brother of Frances Stevens Hall and of William "Willie" Stevens.[5] He was born on Nov. 10, 1869.[16] *No sourced account of his early life, schooling or work was found in the sources reviewed.*

### The trial

Jane Gibson testified that by flashlight she saw Henry Stevens on the lane that night, and defense witnesses testified that he had spent the night bluefishing on the Jersey shore.[6] The AP reported that he smiled after the last verdict was read.[1]

### After the trial

He died in December 1939; a burial database gives the date as Dec. 3, and Familypedia, citing *The New York Times*, gives Dec. 4, at his home in Lavallette, N.J.[16][17] *No statement by him about the case after the trial was found in the sources reviewed.*

## Myth and record

- Claim: The 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."[14][9]
  The record: The jury acquitted all three after five hours and two minutes, and the remaining charges were dismissed the next morning.[1][5] No one else was ever charged, and the case is officially unsolved.[13][12] The record does not establish who killed Hall and Mills.[7]
- Claim: Local rumor held that the victims' bodies were sexually mutilated, according to the historian Mary S. Hartman.[7]
  The record: Hartman found no credible evidence for the rumor and notes that the autopsy recorded Hall's genitalia as "normal."[7]
- Claim: The "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.[7][9]
  The record: Gibson 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.[7][1]

## The two sides

- Prosecution: 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.[5][7] The State called 87 witnesses.[5]
- Defense: 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.[5][6] The detective who received the card in 1922 testified that he had initialed it, but the card in evidence bore no initials.[6]

## Timeline

- Sept. 14, 1922: The Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall and Eleanor Mills are last seen.[7]
- Sept. 16, 1922: Their bodies are found on a lane in Franklin Township.[7][13]
- Nov. 1922: A Somerset County grand jury hears 67 witnesses over five days and returns no indictment.[7][5]
- July 1926: The New York *Daily Mirror* revives the case, and Frances Hall is arrested at midnight on July 28.[4][5]
- Summer 1926: After more than a month of hearings, a grand jury indicts Frances Hall, her brothers Henry and Willie Stevens, and a cousin.[5][7]
- Nov. 3, 1926: The trial opens in Somerville.[5][9]
- Dec. 3, 1926: The jury acquits all three defendants of Eleanor Mills's murder.[1][3]
- Dec. 4, 1926: Justice Parker grants the attorney general's motion to dismiss the remaining charges.[5]
- Sept. 2022: 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.[11][8]

## What came after

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.[5][7] 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).[12][15] In 1964 the lawyer William M. Kunstler published *The Minister and the Choir Singer*, arguing that the jury reached the right verdict.[7][5] No one else was ever charged, and the killings remain officially unsolved.[13][12]

## Sources

1. [Associated Press report on the Hall-Mills verdict, datelined Somerville, N.J., Dec. 3, 1926](https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042470/1926-12-04/ed-1/seq-1.pdf). Salem, Ore., morning newspaper, Dec. 4, 1926, p. 1 (Historic Oregon Newspapers, University of Oregon Libraries). (archival record or trial reporting from the time)
2. [United Press report on the Hall-Mills verdict, datelined Somerville, N.J.](https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn96088003/1926-12-04/ed-1/seq-1/ocr/). Ashland Daily Tidings (Ashland, Ore.), Dec. 4, 1926, p. 1 (Historic Oregon Newspapers). (archival record or trial reporting from the time)
3. ['Not Guilty' Is Verdict in Hall Case; Plan to Free Prisoners on Bail](https://www.nytimes.com/1926/12/04/archives/-not-guilty-is-verdict-in-hall-case-plan-to-free-prisoners-on-bail-.html). The New York Times, Dec. 4, 1926. (archival record or trial reporting from the time)
4. [The Press: Under The Crabapple Tree](https://time.com/archive/6655950/the-press-under-the-crabapple-tree). Time, Nov. 15, 1926. (archival record or trial reporting from the time)
5. [Bernard Ryan Jr., Frances Hall, Henry Stevens, and William Stevens Trial: 1926, in Great American Trials](https://www.encyclopedia.com/law/law-magazines/frances-hall-henry-stevens-and-william-stevens-trial-1926). Gale (via Encyclopedia.com). (book)
6. [Bernard Ryan Jr., Frances Hall, Henry Stevens, and William Stevens Trial: 1926 (A Mule-riding Pig Woman), in Great American Trials](https://law.jrank.org/pages/2871/Frances-Hall-Henry-Stevens-William-Stevens-Trial-1926-Mule-Riding-Pig-Woman.html). Gale (via JRank Law Library). (book)
7. [Mary S. Hartman, The Hall-Mills Murder Case: The Most Fascinating Unsolved Homicide in America](https://jrul.libraries.rutgers.edu/index.php/jrul/article/download/1633/3073). The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries. (book)
8. [Joe Pompeo, Blood & Ink: The Scandalous Jazz Age Double Murder That Hooked America on True Crime (excerpt)](https://crimereads.com/the-murder-of-edward-hall-and-eleanor-mills-new-jerseys-original-crime-of-the-century/). William Morrow, 2022 (excerpt published by CrimeReads, Sept. 13, 2022). (book)
9. [The Hall-Mills Murder Trial, 1926](https://yalereview.org/article/hall-mills-murder-trial-1926). Harold Schechter, The Yale Review, April 1, 2019. (news report)
10. [Looking Back at the Crime of the Century](https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/news/looking-back-crime-century). Rutgers University Libraries, Nov. 8, 2022. (news report)
11. [The Hall-Mills Murders 100th Anniversary Lobby Display](https://franklintwp.org/?p=25088). Franklin Township Public Library (N.J.), Sept. 30, 2022. (news report)
12. [Hall-Mills Murder Case Collection](https://www.nbfpl.org/local-history/hall-mills-murder-radio-broadcast). New Brunswick Free Public Library. (news report)
13. [Rare exhibit of famous murder case from 92 years ago on display at Somerset County Courthouse](https://newbrunswicktoday.com/2014/10/rare-exhibit-of-famous-murder-case-from-92-years-ago-on-display-at-somerset-county-courthouse/). New Brunswick Today, Oct. 2014. (news report)
14. [The Hall-Mills Case: Takeaways From an Unsolved Murder in NJ](https://community.njsba.com/njsbafamilylawsection/discussion/the-hall-mills-case-takeaways-from-an-unsolved-murder-in-nj-oct-18-new-jersey-law-center). New Jersey State Bar Association, Oct. 8, 2019. (news report)
15. [The Hall-Mills Murders](https://crimelibrary.org/notorious_murders/family/mills/8.html). Crime Library. (news report)
16. [Henry Hewgill Stevens (1869-1939)](https://www.burialmap.com/memorial/henry-hewgill-stevens-1869-1939). BurialMap. (reference work)
17. [Hall-Mills murder](https://familypedia.fandom.com/wiki/Hall-Mills_murder). Familypedia (fan wiki), citing The New York Times obituaries. (reference work)