PULP NONFICTION -

A reading from the pioneers of true crime

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This episode is the third of six exploring the sensational Hall-Mills murder trial of 1926.

The murder took place four years earlier, when the bodies of the Episcopalian rector Edward Wheeler Hall and choir singer Eleanor Mills were found shot, mutilated and posed under a crabapple tree in DeRussey’s Lane, a remote part of Brunswick, New Jersey, popular with young lovers seeking a private place to park. Love letters written between the two were scattered about the scene, and the rector’s wife, her two brothers and a cousin were charged with the murders. The trial became the proverbial media circus, and the press section included Damon Runyon, the famed sportswriter also noted for his short stories about the seedy side of Broadway, who sent out dispatches in the same evocative prose style. In addition to inspiring Guys and Dolls, Damon Runyon was also a pioneer of true crime.

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Musical direction by Dave Sams