S03 E06: A Proper Woman

Hello everybody and welcome back to another Ghost Hunt episode. I’m your host, Erin Bogert, bringing to you (you guessed it!) another radio play. In the last episode, I mentioned how Frances Hall, a prime suspect in the Hall-Mills double homicide case, took a vacation to Europe not long after the grand jury failed to indict anyone. In today’s radio play, we find Mrs. Hall, joined by her friend Sally Peters, embarking on that journey.

It’s early February, 1923, and at Manhattan’s Pier 55, a band of newspaper photographers are swarming the S.S. Mauretania (MORE-EH-TAY-NIA), an ocean liner setting out for Europe. They had been tipped off that Mrs. Frances Hall would be aboard, but when they searched the ship with the help of the passengers, no sign of her could be found. Instead, Mrs. Hall is forty blocks to the north of Pier 55, on the steam liner “America'' bound for Genoa (JEN-O-UH) and Naples in Italy. Her and Sally Peters had asked that their names be left off the guest list in order to avoid those same reporters. And so, the two are able to enjoy a peaceful departure… 

Tale as old as time, isn’t it? Money talks so the wealthy don’t have to. The murders of Eleanor and Edward happened in September of 1922. By the end of that November, the grand jury had failed to indict anyone. While the Mills, especially Eleanor’s daughter Charlotte remain desperate for answers, for justice, wealthy Frances Hall, a prime suspect, travels abroad to Europe, where she remains for months. How would this case have been different if Eleanor Mills and her family had been wealthy? If Frances Hall and hers had been poor? I wonder, I wonder…

This episode was brought to you by the New Brunswick Historical Society and Thinkery & Verse. 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. Today’s radio play was written by Ania Upstill and performed and edited by Karen Alvarado. I’m your host and engineer, Erin Bogert. 

Transcript

Episode 6 - Proper Woman

Intro - Hello everybody and welcome back to another Ghost Hunt Episode. I’m your host, Erin Bogert, bringing to you, you guessed it!, another radio play. In the last episode, I mentioned how Frances Hall, a prime suspect in the Hall-Mills double homicide case, took a vacation to Europe not long after the grand jury failed to indict anyone. In today’s radio play, we find Mrs. Hall, joined by her friend Sally Peters, embarking on that journey.

It’s early February, 1923, and at Manhattan’s Pier 55, a band of newspaper photographers are swarming the S.S. Mauretania (MORE-EH-TAY-NIA), an ocean liner setting out for Europe. They had been tipped off that Mrs. Frances Hall would be aboard, but when they searched the ship with the help of the passengers, no sign of her could be found. Instead, Mrs. Hall is forty blocks to the north of Pier 55, on the steam liner “America'' bound for Genoa (JEN-O-UH) and Naples in Italy. Her and Sally Peters had asked that their names be left off the guest list in order to avoid those same reporters. And so, the two are able to enjoy a peaceful departure… or are they? Let’s listen in as they pull away from shore, shall we?

HALL: So glad we’re finally at sea, Sally. I was absolutely certain that the reporters would find us. It was a wonderful idea of yours to tip them off about the wrong ship.

PETERS: It turns out that women can be quite clever after all.

HALL: They certainly never suspected it.

PETERS: Well, they do tend to underestimate us, don’t they?

HALL: I suppose they do.

PETERS: I think women are capable of far more than most people suspect.

HALL: I... suppose so. 

[pause]

HALL: So, Sally, what are you looking forward to in Venice?

PETERS: The canals, I think. They sound so charming with the - what do you call them, those little boats?

HALL: The gondolas.

PETERS: Yes, those.

HALL: They are charming. We must also visit the churches. They have a wonderful old feel. 

Symbols of our values, We must protect our family values. 

PETERS: Exactly! And, Frances, as women I truly believe that we uphold those values better than anyone else. After all, we are the ones who already hold our families together.

HALL: A women’s role in the home is truly vital.

PETERS: And I’ve come to believe that we belong outside of the home as well.

HALL: Sally. Please. You sound like one of those suffragettes. Saying that women should do unseemly things like be in government.

PETERS: Well actually, Frances.. I’m thinking about campaigning for office.

[a long pause]

HALL: Oh. How… interesting.

PETERS: After all, why should I not. Women are the backbone of this country, it is time we had some say in how it is run.

HALL: But Sally, as the bible says in Timothy 2:10-14 “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”

PETERS: Surely, Frances, we are all fallible but we must at least try.

HALL: I choose to be a proper woman, Sally, and I would encourage you to do the same. 

PETERS: Perhaps in this day and age a proper woman needs to take matters into her own hands.

HALL: That is not how I was raised. Even when times were difficult I stood by my husband. I knew - know - the place of a wife. 

PETERS: Times are changing, Frances.

HALL: The Word of God is forever, Sally.

[a significant pause]

PETERS: Perhaps we should agree to disagree. For the sake of Venice.

HALL: Indeed. For the sake of Venice.

Outro -  *BUILDINGS WALTZ CONTINUES* Thank you for joining me on today’s journey. If you want to experience this radio play again, or others like it, might I suggest downloading the Geocache app where you can do some real life Ghost Hunting by traveling to the locations mentioned (in this case, Manhattan’s Pier 55) and searching for our caches. You can also get ready for Thou Shalt Not 2022, our real-life play that is coming back to the stage this September… which, yes, just so happens to be the 100 year anniversary of the murders. Tickets are available now through our website at thinkeryandverse.org. This episode was brought to you by the New Brunswick Historical Society and Thinkery & Verse. 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. Today’s radio play was written by Ania Upstill, directed by Johnny Meyer, performed by Rebecca Servon and Karen Alvarado, and edited by Karen Alvarado. I’m your host and engineer, Erin Bogert. Farewell!