18: The Beginning of the End

If Jane & Josiah had been able to control themselves & stopped killing then they would almost certainly have got away with murdering the fifty seven people they had now accounted for however they couldn’t. They decided to restart the murders on the 1st of October with Josiah continuing to shadow the Refuge girls who would trail behind Jane’s carriage. As had been the case in the past after Jane had dropped off the first girl & began to head out of the city to the house the girls on foot couldn’t keep up with the carriage

What Mr & Mrs Edwards didn’t know was that as a result of Therese’s disappearance for the third month running April & Beth were also following Jane’s vehicle in a hired carriage. Initially they attached no significance to Josiah’s carriage as it overtook them on the road out of New York. Mr Edwards for his part was so focused on catching up with his wife he didn’t even look at the girls as he swept past them. When the two carriages ahead of them turned into the entrance to the drive leading to the Edwards mansion April & Beth were slightly surprised. As poor Therese had done three months before they asked their driver to stop while they considered what to do. The decision they took to return to the city & consult with the others undoubtedly saved their lives. The latest girl to enter the Edwards’s house wasn’t so fortunate & later that day victim number fifty eight was dumped into the mass grave beneath it

On their return April & Beth decided that they would hold a meeting of the now twenty two Refuge girls who were in contact with each other to discuss how to proceed. At the meeting it was clear that they were all determined that the girls leaving the Refuge would learn of their existence so that they could offer support if it was required. April who had emerged as the leader of the group said that she was fed up with the skulking around & surely the obvious thing to do was simply to approach the Edwards, tell them that twenty two former Refuge students now knew of the informal former students association & give them a couple of their addresses to pass onto those girls about to leave the Refuge

The next day April & Beth entered Doctor Edwards’s office for the second time, told her of the links that now existed between the former students & gave her their addresses. Once they had left Jane sat pondering what they should do. By the time she arrived home that evening she had decided on the required course of action

As soon as she was in the door she sat down with Josiah told him of the visit by the girls & said quite simply, “We have to kill them all Josiah”. “In principle I agree my dear but how?” Mrs Edwards explained her plan. “My God Jane, it could work, it should work, in fact as we both know, it must work”, was Josiah’s verdict.

The following Saturday the twenty of the former Refuge girls who were able to make it arrived back at the Refuge in response to the invitation that Jane had given April when she had visited her lodgings earlier in the week. Ironically neither April or Beth could attend as they were not allowed the time of work. For most it was their first visit since they had left to make their way in the world. Jane & Josiah welcomed them with open arms & ushered them into the largest classroom which was on the top floor of the four storey building. It was decorated with bunting & a large sign proclaimed “Welcome Home”. Lined up to greet them were the current twenty residents of the Refuge. Once they were all settled Jane made a short speech to the forty assembled girls welcoming the returnees & extolling the example they represented to the students of what they too might be able to achieve. After she had finished the Refuge students filed out & went back downstairs. Josiah then brought out a large punch bowl & filled twenty two glasses from it. These were passed out to everyone in the room & Jane made a toast “To the Refuge”. All of the girls shouted back “To the Refuge” & drained their glasses.

Mr & Mrs Edwards while appearing to drink actually didn’t let any of the liquid pass their lips. They then stood, watching & waiting. One by one the girls sat down & within five minutes they were all unconscious, knocked out by the powerful sedative which Jane had laced the punch with. Jane & Josiah quickly went round & made sure that the windows were shut. Josiah lit a gas lamp & placed it on a desk at the front of the room. Jane walked rapidly to the control wheel for the newly installed gas lighting & turned it on full. Gas began to hiss into the room & Mr & Mrs Edwards made no attempt to light any of the permanent gas lights. They took a last look round checking that the girls were all still comatose, removed the door key hanging on a hook next to the door & left locking it behind them

They descended the stairs & went to the kitchen apparently for some coffee but in reality because this was the room furthest away from the classroom they had just left. They told the staff who were there that they had decided to leave the returning girls to their own devices for a while, not wanting their presence to inhibit them in anyway. One of the kitchen maids said “If I may say so Mr & Mrs Edwards that shows just what considerate & nice people you are”. Jane & Josiah nod modestly not daring to look at each other as they wait. Jane had done some research on the coal gas now filling the room upstairs & she had calculated that it would take twenty five minutes to reach a density that would cause an explosion. Once half an hour has passed she was feeling increasingly anxious. Had the gas lamp gone out? Had one of the girls woken up & realised their predicament?”.

She needn’t have worried, thirty three minutes after Jane & Josiah had locked the door to the upstairs room the building was shaken by a mighty bang. Even though they had been expecting it the noise & power of the explosion startled Mr & Mrs Edwards. Once they had recovered they sprung into action shouting “Fire! Fire! Everyone out! Fire! Fire!” Jane went outside & took command of the frightened girls & staff streaming from the building. Josiah looked up from the sidewalk to evaluate the extent of the damage caused by the blast & more importantly whether anyone in the classroom could have survived. He was reassured when he saw the extent of the devastation. The two external walls of the classroom had been completely blown out & a large section of the roof had collapsed. Apart from being in a state of shock, & some cuts & bruises, all of the resident students & staff were accounted for.

The newly established New York Fire Department & the police were soon on the scene & they were quite quickly joined by several horse drawn ambulances. Mr & Mrs Edwards were ushered to the other side of the road, along with their students & staff, to give the Emergency Services space to do their jobs. Ever the heroes Jane & Josiah spent most of the rest of the day organising temporary accommodation for the students & resident staff. At 7 pm they were told by a very sympathetic police Captain that they should go home. He then arranged a police carriage to take them to the house. Once inside they hugged each other in delight.

Of the twenty Refuge girls who had been in the classroom when it exploded only six were pulled alive from the wreckage & two of them quickly succumbed to their injuries. April & Beth were stunned & horrified when they learned of the tragedy that evening. They rushed to the hospital where the surviving girls had been taken but were told by a nurse that their four remaining friends were too ill to receive visitors. They returned the next morning & ran into Mr & Mrs Edwards who were also there to check on the condition of the survivors, for not so benign reasons. Jane & Josiah hugged April & Beth & they all said how horrible & tragic it was.

Later that day Mr & Mrs Edwards went to police HQ & gave their account of events, leaving out the drugged punch, closing all the windows, putting a lit gas lamp in the room & then filling it with gas. April & Beth were also interviewed & told the story of the Refuge girls from the beginning up until twenty of their friends had been blown up

19: The End Approaches

A week later Police Captain Sean O’Hanlon, who had been personally chosen by the Commissioner & the Mayor to investigate the tragedy, which had made national & international news, held a meeting attended by his officers plus representatives from the Fire Department & the gas company who had installed the pipes at the Refuge. “Well gentlemen is there any reason why we can’t put this down to a terrible tragedy caused by a gas leak, it wouldn’t be the first though hopefully it might be the last”. He glanced meaningfully at the gas company representatives who had the grace to look uncomfortable

The senior Fire Officer, John McKay spoke, “Well Sean there are a couple of things that puzzle me. Firstly we know that coal gas doesn’t knock you out straight away, initially it makes you feel nauseous & light headed for several minutes before you pass out but the four survivors made no mention of that. All they could remember was toasting the Refuge then not much more after that. I could accept one girl not remembering feeling sick, but four? Also I would have assumed that someone in the room should have been able to report the gas leak before passing out. After all these were twenty reasonably fit young girls. As we know for reasons I still can’t get my head round the classroom door was locked however surely the immediate thing you would do if you suspected a gas leak would be to open the windows but as far as we can tell they were all shut at the time of the blast. Secondly as far as we can tell the controller of the gas was found set at full on. I know it is difficult to be sure about this given the level of damage but that is how it was when we found it”

Captain O’Hanlon sighed inwardly he had hoped to put this one to bed quickly but that didn’t appear to be the case. “OK folks we keep going”. He looked at his trusted second in command Lieutenant Jimmy O’Rourke. “Jimmy I want you to dig up everything you can on Mr & Mrs Edwards & their Refuge project”. He turned to the Fire Officer, “John can your guys comb the scene of the explosion for any trace of the punch bowl or the glasses the girls drank the toasts from”. Initially McKay looked puzzled & then light dawned “You think they may have been drugged Sean?”. Captain O’Hanlon shrugged & said “I know it sounds very unlikely but in light of what you are telling me I can’t see how we can rule it out entirely. We reconvene same day same time next week to see what progress has been made. Thanks for coming gentlemen & good day

Jane & Josiah basked in the good will of New Yorkers & with the help of the Mayor’s office were quickly able to lease a new property for the Refuge students & staff to move into. They were slightly discomfited by their first meeting with the insurance company who told them that no payment could be made until the cause of the explosion was made official. However they were assured that this would no doubt be a formality as it appeared to everyone that it had been due to a gas leak. They were reassured when they relayed this to the Mayor’s office & were informed that they would be granted an interest free loan from the public purse to get the Refuge back up & running that they could settle when the insurer’s paid out

Once their friends were allowed to receive visitors April & Beth visited the hospital each day. After hearing their stories the two girls went to the public library & began to research coal gas, particularly how it affected those who were exposed to it. Having done this the same questions that Fire Officer John McKay had raised at the meeting with Captain O’Hanlon began to nag away at them

At the second gathering of the investigating team Captain O’Hanlon asked, “What more do we know. Jimmy you first”. The Lieutenant gave a potted history of Mr & Mrs Edwards, the Employment Agency & the Refuge. He also told the meeting about the unsolved disappearance of Therese & the carriage driver & what the police theory had been at the time on the case. Captain O’Hanlon turned to Fire Officer McKay, “John?”. “Well Sean we managed to retrieve four undamaged drinking glasses from the scene, no sign of the punch bowl I’m afraid. We passed them to your pathologist for analysis”. Lieutenant Jimmy O’Rourke continued, “The pathologists have come back to me & said they may have found traces of a powerful sedative in two of the glasses. This evidence wouldn’t stand up in court but when I asked the senior doctor what his experience told him he said that he was 80% certain that the punch the girls drank was drugged”

The Captain stroked his chin & said “In reality what we are beginning to say is that the Edwards may have drugged the girls & then blown up their own school. Where is their motive for God’s Sake.! Why on earth would they do such a thing?. Jimmy could you bring the two girls who we interviewed earlier back in for a chat”. Will do Captain”. The Lieutenant replied

Two days later April & Beth sat in one of the interview rooms at New York Police HQ. They stood up when Captain O’Hanlon & Lieutenant Jimmy O’Rourke entered, the Police Officers smiled & shook the girl’s hands. The more they learned about these young ladies the more impressed they were.

Captain O’Hanlon spoke first, “Thanks for coming girls. I am glad to hear your friends are on the way to recovery. I will get straight to the point. Can either of you think of a reason why Mr & Mrs Edwards would want to blow up their own school? Before you ask insurance is an unlikely motive, they are a very wealthy couple. The only other motive we can think of is that you girls somehow posed a threat to them & had to be taken out of the picture”.

The girls are flabbergasted. April asked, “What on earth makes you think that Captain? Mr & Mrs Edwards are the kindest people I have ever met.” O’Hanlon replied, “I know it sounds very far-fetched but we must explore every possibility. I am afraid I am not at liberty to share details but there are certain inconsistencies between what Mr & Mrs Edwards have told us & the physical evidence we have recovered from the Refuge that we need to resolve. Can either of you think of a reason as to why the Edwards could possibly regard your informal association of former students as a danger to them?”. April & Beth sat turning over in their minds trying to make sense of all they had experienced in last few weeks

In addition to being clever April was also a voracious reader of the detective stories that were beginning to be published in what were often called “Penny Dreadfulls. She turned to Beth & said, “Supposing Therese had found herself in the same position that we were but instead of returning to the city she had gone up to the house. If the Edwards had done something to her they would also have had to get rid of the carriage driver”.
She looked at the Captain. “ I understand that those two cases are still unsolved?”. O’Hanlon nods his pulse beginning to quicken. “Also Captain our informal former refuge girls association has been going for some months now & there are at least ten girls who no-one has seen. Life is difficult at first when you leave the Refuge & any support & help is normally very welcome. I can accept that maybe one or two girls may want no part of us but as many as ten? I would also have thought given the publicity surrounding the explosion at the Refuge that at least some of those girls would have been in touch & that hasn’t happened”.

Lieutenant O’Rourke leaned forward, “What are you suggesting April?”. The girl replied “I am not suggesting anything Lieutenant I am just relaying the facts as I see them. Beth & I researched the effect of coal gas on people & we can’t understand, if there was a gas leak, why the girls didn’t simply open the windows”.

O’Hanlon & O’Rourke looked at each other & smiled. The Captain said “That has been bothering us too ladies”. He continued, “We seem to be implying that the Edwards need a regular supply of young girls. But why? For what purpose? They don’t need the money so they are unlikely to be selling them into sexual slavery abroad”. Seeing April & Beth wince at his last comment O’Hanlon apologised, “Sorry girls but we need to consider all eventualities in a case like this”. At that he stood up & said, “Thank you for coming in your input has been very valuable. We will no doubt talk again soon”.

After April & Beth left O’Hanlon said to O’Rourke, “Jimmy we are missing something crucial here & I think the clue to it lies in the pasts of Mr & Mrs Edwards. Use all the resources you need & find out their life stories from the beginning till now. Check out where they came from, their professional & personal lives, when & where they met, where they have been on vacation, what they like to do for fun. We need to know everything there is to know about the Edwards”

At the next weekly progress meeting O’Hanlon introduced a new comer to the investigating team, “Gentlemen this is Doctor Harris a specialist in dealing with criminal insanity. The reasons for his presence will become apparent as we proceed. Jimmy over to you”. O’Rourke pinned a large piece of paper to one of the walls which summarised all they had managed to find out about Mr & Mrs Edwards. Before he started to go through it he gave the meeting a brief update on that week’s developments including their meeting with April & Beth then he started to relay the information they had gleaned.

“This is what we now know. Taking Mrs Edwards first. Jane Queen, as she was before her marriage, is a very clever lady who was one of the first female MD’s to graduate from the University of Philadelphia in 1859. She then went to work in one of the main Philadelphia hospitals up until the start of the Civil War in 1861. She then moved east & practiced in several military hospitals in New Your & Washington until 1865 when the war ended. By all accounts she was very well thought of by her colleagues. She has not worked as a doctor in America since then. She married Josiah Edwards in 1866 & they travelled for a few months. The destinations we are sure they visited were Mexico, London England & Damascus in Arabia. Josiah inherited quite a lot of money when his father died in 1865 so they weren’t under any financial pressure to get back to any kind of work when they returned”.

He continued, “They set up home in a Brownstone in New York, for which they paid in cash, & they stayed there until 1869 when they sold the property & bought quite a large house in the country about half an hour’s horse carriage drive from the city & set up their Employment Agency. The Agency specialised in finding jobs for mainly quite well qualified new immigrants to America & became successful pretty quickly. It is still running today. In 1870 they set up the Refuge with the full support & assistance of the city authorities. The Refuge is funded by a combination of the Edwards’s resources & charitable donations. Mrs Edwards left the Employment Agency to concentrate full time on establishing & then running the Refuge.”

“Moving onto Mr Edwards. Josiah graduated as a lawyer from the University of Chicago in 1854, he is five years older than his wife. He started his career in quite a large Chicago practice & worked their until 1858 when he took up a position in the Attorney General’s office in St Pauls Minnesota. He seems to have been offered the job by a University classmate. At the outbreak of the war he enlisted & served in several staff officer roles up until 1865. He had reached the rank Major when he left & like his wife he was well respected by his fellows”.

We are pretty sure that Jane & Josiah met for first time in St Pauls in 1860 at the same time as the execution of Anne Bilansky”

They all remembered the Bilansky case as it had provoked national news coverage One of the sergeants asked, “How do you know that Lieutenant?”.

O’Rourke continued. “I asked one of Jane’s colleagues at the time if she could recall anything a bit out of the ordinary from her time working with her & she remembered Jane asking to swap shifts at quite short notice. She recalled this because it was an unheard of thing for Doctor Queen to do. She told her colleague that she had some urgent business in Minnesota to attend to. The other doctor assumed it was something to do with her family, agreed to the change & then thought no more about it. I was going to visit St Pauls last week anyway to see what I could find out about Josiah’s time in the city & so was on the lookout for a possible connection between him & Jane & I found it”

“Josiah was one of the team that prosecuted Anne Bilansky & on the basis of information given to me by one of Josiah’s fellow lawyers after I asked him the same “Anything unusual” question I asked Jane’s colleague. I went to the prison. There is a record in the prison visitors book of a Mr Edwards & a Doctor Queen visiting the prison the day before the hanging. I was able to talk to the guard who had accompanied them & he remembered it because it was quite an unusual thing to have happened & Jane & Josiah’s behaviour had struck him as slightly odd”.

“The reasons they gave for their visit were professional & were accepted without qualm by the prison authorities, after all Josiah had been involved in the case from the start & Jane was there in her capacity as a medical professional to see in the flesh someone capable of such a crime. He recalled they had no contact with Bilansky, they just stood in silence & stared at her in the exercise yard & during this time they had joined hands. Working on a hunch I went to the hotel that overlooks the square where the gallows stood in the days of public executions & checked the register. Doctor Queen & Mr Edwards stayed there on the night before the hanging & the night after. They booked in at different times & had separate rooms. The room Doctor Queen had would have had a very good view of the scaffold”.

Even though he already knows all this O’Hanlon felt his pulse quicken in the same way it had during the last interview with Alice & Beth. There is absolute silence in the room

The Lieutenant went on, “The next time we know for sure that they were together was at the hanging of the Confederate spy Scarlett Fawcett Majors in 1861 in Washington. It seems that Josiah pulled a few strings to ensure that Jane & he were on the official list of invited witnesses. It wouldn’t have been difficult given their professional credentials”

“The next confirmed meeting was at the execution of the Lincoln conspirators, including of course Mary Surrat, in Washington in 1865. Again they were on the guest list of invited government witnesses.”

“At about this time they took out a subscription to a quite lurid & sensational magazine called “True Crime Monthly” which specialises in graphic descriptions of murders & executions. Now I grant you that this publication sells thousands of copies every month but I doubt that they can count many lawyers & doctors amongst their readership”

“The only thing we know for sure about their travels abroad in 1866 that may be relevant is that they arrived in London a few days before the public hanging of Fred & Marie Manning which was one of the most notorious cases in England in recent years. I have written to a guy I know at Scotland Yard whom I met last year at a conference to discuss what we & the British were going to about the people smuggling into the USA which in reality is the slave trade under another name. I explained the situation & asked him to see if he could find any evidence of Mr & Mrs Edwards being present at the executions, similar to the hotel registers in St Pauls. Hopefully we will here back in a couple of weeks”.

“The last point I want to make is the Edwards set up their Employment Agency & bought the house in the country was 1869 & it was in 1869 that we effectively stopped having public hangings”

No-one speaks for a few seconds & then the sergeant who asked how O’Rourke knew of the first meeting in St Pauls said, “With respect Lieutenant all you have is some circumstantial evidence that the Edwards have an interest in executions & they are far from being alone in that, speculation that some young girls may be missing & some inconsistencies in the evidence related to the explosion at the Refuge. Remember we are dealing here with a highly respected professional couple who appear to be dedicated to doing good works & we are thinking of beginning to view them in same way as Chicago’s Doctor Holmes. In my opinion that is a huge jump to make based on what we know”

O’Hanlon interjected, “Don’t forget the unexplained disappearances of Therese & the carriage driver Sergeant & the Edwards interest appears to be purely in female executions. Doctor Harris what are your thoughts”.

The Doctor replied, “My dear Captain it is far too early to give an opinion, but where you seem to be going with this is certainly fascinating. It seems to me that the next logical step would be to focus on the Employment Agency to see if young women appear to have gone missing there also”.

The Captain responded, “We have considered that Doctor but decided against it. If something really sinister has been going on all we would succeed in doing is warning the Edwards that they are under suspicion. The Lieutenant & I think that the next step should be to visit the Edwards at their house in an informal & friendly manner, ostensibly just to update them on the investigation into the explosion but in reality to find out if they are willing to confirm what we know about their past, to see what more we can learn & if we can have a general poke about. Doctor Harris have you ever met the Edwards? Do you think there is any possibility of them being aware of your professional background”.

The Doctor considered for a moment. “I would have thought it highly unlikely Captain. I have never met them & my field of medical practice is totally different from that of Doctor Edwards”

For the first time in the meeting O’Hanlon smiled, “Good. Assuming you are OK with it I would like you to come with us to the meeting with Mr & Mrs Edwards “Sergeant Harris”. We will even give you a badge & please wear a less expensive suit”

The Doctor smiled back & gave a mock salute “OK Boss”.

Two days later at 6.30pm as arranged, Captain O’Hanlon, Lieutenant O’Rourke & “Sergeant” Harris are shown into the Edwards living room by Josiah. Once they are seated O’Hanlon says, “First of all I would like to express our thanks for agreeing to meet at this hour, & in your home. The fact is we have been so busy that doing it during the day just wasn’t on & we thought that here at least you were sure to be together. We also thought it only fair that we gave you a face to face update on where we are in the investigation”. Josiah & Jane are sitting on a sofa facing their visitors. Doctor Edwards replies, “As to the time & location of the meeting it suits us fine, also as you can imagine we are anxious to know what you have found out so far”.

O’Rourke says, “Well Doctor what we know for sure is that there was a gas explosion at the Refuge which resulted in the deaths of sixteen teenage girls. The gas company are going through their records, & what’s left of the pipes etc, to see what if they can identify any potential causes of the leak. As they obviously have a vested interest in the outcome of all of this what they are doing is being closely monitored by independent experts employed by us. One question I did want to ask was have you any idea why the door to the classroom was locked? While it had been blown down by the blast it was relatively undamaged & there is no doubt it was locked at the time of the explosion”.

Again it is Jane that replies, “A key is always kept inside the classroom, it usually hangs from a hook just next to the door. All I can surmise is that after Josiah & I left the girls decided to have a bit of a party & a carry on, we had left them some punch remember, & decided they didn’t want some boring adult returning unannounced. Remember gentlemen that the oldest amongst them was only seventeen”.

O’Hanlon smiles & says, “I can certainly relate to that being the father of a sixteen year old girl myself”

O’Rourke sighs, “That probably explains it. There was no trace of a door key inside the room, or in the possession of any of the victims, but given the size of the explosion & the extent of the damage it could have ended up anywhere”.

O’Hanlon says, “Well Mr & Mrs Edwards you now know as much as we do”. He looks around “I must say you have a lovely home. I am due to retire in a couple of years & Mrs O’Hanlon wants to move out of the city & into the country, not that we could afford something as grand as this. Can I ask a small personal favour?”

Jane’s warning antennae begin to twitch a bit more, “Of course Captain”.

O’Hanlon sheepishly replies, “Would you mind giving me a quick tour of the house to see if I can pick up any ideas that I could adapt for our retirement premises”.

Doctor Edwards smiles, “I would be delighted Captain”.

While Jane shows O’Hanlon round the house Josiah pours them all a drink. “Sergeant” Harris looks at O’Rourke, “Is this allowed Lieutenant?”.

O’Rourke replies, “Harris we have a long trek back to the city & it is 7pm & so on this occasion I can categorically say, yes, it is allowed”. He turns to Josiah, “How long have you been married Mr Edwards & how did you manage to get hold of, if I may say so, such a lovely wife?”.

Josiah smiles, “We have been married for six years Lieutenant. We originally met in 1860 in St Pauls Minnesota. I was working down there at the time & one night we happened to be staying in the same hotel. Jane was there for something to do with her work & on the first evening of our stay the hotel was so busy we ended up being placed at the same table for dinner. One thing led to another then the Civil War intervened. I was in the army being constantly moved about & she was working in military hospitals in New York & Washington. Anyway we got together when we could & finally tied the knot after the end of the war in 1866”

The Captain & Doctor Edwards return to the living room & O’Hanlon approvingly lifts his drink. O’Rourke looks at Harris, “I told you Sergeant that having a drink this evening would be fine with the Captain”.

O’Hanlon & Jane sit down. The Captain salutes Doctor Edwards with his glass, “Thank you for showing me the house Doctor Edwards. Your beautiful home has certainly given me some ideas to discuss with my good lady. Just one last question. Normally houses like this have a wine cellar, does yours?”

Jane replied, “It did Captain however Josiah & I had no use for such a thing so we just bricked up the door to it & left it as it was”

O’Hanlon gets to his feet, “Well I think we have taken up as much time as we need to. Let’s head back to the city gentlemen”. They all shake hands & the Captain assures the Edwards that they will be kept fully informed of any developments in the investigation

The police officers depart in their carriage. O’Rourke is driving with O’Hanlon & Harris sitting either side of him. The Captain is the first to speak “Well Jimmy what have we learned?”. The lieutenant replies, “Well Captain when Jane was showing you round the house we asked Josiah about his marriage & he confirmed that he first met Jane in 1860 in St Pauls. All of the information he gave us tallied with what we know however he made no mention of the Bilansky case, their visit to the prison or the hanging. However you have to say that isn’t all that surprising. Would you tell three policemen that you enjoyed witnessing public executions?”

O’Hanlon looks at Harris, “Your thoughts “Sergeant”?”. The psychiatrist pauses for a moment before replying, “There is no doubt that the dominant partner is Jane. Is she capable of planning & carrying out what we suspect her of? Intellectually, definitely, character wise, I simply don’t know. Let me think about it & revisit some quite recent work exploring these issues. Can we reconvene the day after tomorrow at your office at say 10am?”

“See you then Doc”, replies O’Hanlon

Two days later Captain O’Hanlon, Lieutenant O’Rourke & Doctor Harris sat in the Captain’ office. O’Hanlon asked “Well Doc what can you tell us?”. Harris takes off his glasses & responds, “ There has been a lot of work done recently on the causes of crime. Over 99% is entirely explicable, it is driven by circumstance, comprehensible motivation & opportunity. I am talking about poverty & greed as the grounds for robbery, lust resulting in rape & jealousy, infidelity causing marital assault & in extreme cases murder. The point is that these crimes while not in any way excusable are at least understandable. After the Doctor Holmes case in Chicago my profession took a collective intake of breath & said to itself in effect, “What on earth is going on here?”. The term that was arrived at to describe Doctor Holmes was “Psychopath”.

“Psychopaths have no empathy, all they care about is satisfying their needs & desires no matter who gets hurt. They tend to be very clever, very controlled & very high achievers. I read a very interesting article that suggested that if all of the Union Generals had been psychopaths focused solely on winning the war it would have been over in half the time with half the loss of life on both sides. The example that was quoted was Sherman’s ruthless “Scorched earth” march to the sea that effectively brought the Confederacy to its knees. In these terms General Sherman’s policy could be described as “Psychopathic” even though the objective was laudable”

“In the case of Doctor Holmes his motivation wasn’t driven by anything that normal people can relate to. He simply liked killing people & everything he did was focused on satisfying this need. There was no financial or sexual motive . The conversion of the hotel into a human slaughterhouse cost him a small fortune & as far as we know he didn’t sexually assault any of his victims. He just murdered as many as he could because he relished doing so.”

O’Rourke asked, “Do you think the Edwards could be psychopaths whose objective is to kill young girls?”

The Doctor replied, “I don’t know Lieutenant. To answer that question definitively I would have to interview them for an extended period of time & I can’t see that happening any time soon. I do however have a suggestion as to what to do next”.

O’Hanlon replied, “Let us have it Doc”.

Harris continued, “If they are indeed psychopaths, & they have been killing regularly for some time, what we know of this personality type tells us they won’t be able to stop for long, even though it would be the obviously sensible thing for them to do just now. Given the scrutiny it is under it would be literally suicide to start using The Refuge as a source of victims which leaves the Employment Agency. If they are long term mass murderers the Agency would have been used to provide suitable girls for them to kill before they established the Refuge “

O’Rourke said, “We discussed this earlier Doctor & decided not to investigate the Agency as this would warn the Edwards that they were under suspicion”

The Doctor replied, “ I am not suggesting you charge in & start ripping the place apart Lieutenant what I am thinking of is monitoring what is going on at the Agency in a manner that doesn’t arouse suspicion. Couldn’t you put an officer in in disguise so to speak?”

O’Rourke looked at Hanlon, “When we went to see Josiah to arrange the meeting at the house I did see a sign in the window saying that they needed an office clerk”.

The Captain sighed, “On the face of it Jimmy it sounds a really good idea but our guys have virtually no experience of that kind of work”

The Doctor said, “You might not but the Pinkerton’s certainly do”

The Pinkerton Detective Agency was the leading private organisation of it’s type in America & during the Civil War it had been heavily involved in counter espionage for the Union. It had been the work of Pinkerton agents that had brought the rebel spy Scarlett Fawcett-Majors to the gallows

O’Hanlon thought for a moment, “If we do decide to bring the Pinkerton’s in to help I would have to get the backing of the Commissioner. However if it looks to be our best option then I can’t really see him having a problem with it. Let’s do it. Tomorrow the three of us are going the Pinkerton’s New York office”.

A week later & the plan that Charles McLeod, the head of the Pinkerton’s New York office, O’Hanlon & O’Rourke had put together with advice being given by Harris had already been initiated. A Pinkerton agent with a false identity & forged references had started work at the Agency the previous day filling the office clerk vacancy. Based on his experience in the war McLeod had recommended putting temptation in the way of the Edwards by sending in a series of female Pinkerton agents masquerading as immigrants seeking work at the rate of one a week to see if Jane & Josiah would make an attempt to abduct one of them. The Detective Agency had scoured it’s personnel files for suitable candidates & the first young female agent, who worked out of the New York office, was going to the Employment Agency that day pretending to have just arrived in the country & to be looking for work. Two more were on standby, one in Washington & another in Chicago in case the first approach proved to be a wash out

In the event the first “Red herring” was unsuccessful. Two unmarked carriages, one with two policemen, & one carrying two Pinkerton agents drew up fifty yards behind Jane’s carriage & watched Mr Edwards & the Pinkerton girl enter one of New York’s larger legal firms to fill a vacancy for a legal secretary

Seven days later the second Pinkerton agent, who had arrived from Washington the day before, found herself explaining to the somewhat confused manager of a construction company that there must have been a mistake as she wasn’t really qualified to be his wages clerk

Chicago born Clare Grange was the third Pinkerton’s agent offered as bait to the Edwards. As soon as she entered the interview room Josiah knew what he absolutely had to do. Clare was very attractive with short blonde hair. She was a slender five foot three & she looked very smart in her black jacket, skirt, cap & white blouse. Her papers showed that she was twenty two, which was the only piece of information in her documentation that was true, had just arrived from Glasgow in Scotland & was a qualified nurse. Josiah arranged to pick her up at 10am the next day to take her to her non-existent new job.

That evening Jane & Josiah discussed whether they should go ahead with the abduction & murder of Clare. As ever it was Mrs Edwards who made the final decision, “Josiah the police have shown no interest in the Agency & I know that you are frustrated as me. Looking at the photo album, reliving the killings & then making love is no substitute for the real thing. We go for it”. Josiah nodded & they smiled evilly at each other

20: The Arrest

The next day Josiah’s carriage, with Clare in it, headed for the Edwards’s house followed by the two carriages carrying the police & the Pinkerton’s. Mr Edwards took no notice of the horse & rider that passed them on the road. This was another Pinkerton on his way to alert O’Hanlon, O’Rourke, four other police officers & Harris waiting in a larger clearly marked police carriage hidden in the trees just beyond the entrance to the Edwards’s house for the third time in as many weeks.

When Josiah & Clare’s carriage turned into the entrance leading to the Edwards’s house the two carriages following stopped & waited for O’Hanlon’s vehicle & the Pinkerton rider to join them. As soon as Josiah & Clare had dismounted from the carriage & disappeared into the house the Captain nodded at the rider. He galloped up the Edwards’s driveway jumped off his horse & ran to the door. He banged on it hard & shouted at the top of his voice, “Police, open up!”. The police & Pinkerton’s carriages quickly joined him. O’Hanlon directed two of his officers to the back of the building

Inside the house Jane & Clare were engaged in a desperate struggle. The Pinkerton agent, who was in a very high state of alert, had ducked & managed to avoid Mr Edwards effort to chloroform her from behind. Clare was highly trained in unarmed combat & she used Josiah’s lunge & weight against him & flipped him forwards over her shoulder. He landed on his back & was slightly winded. The agent immediately lifted her skirt & retrieved a small calibre Derringer pistol from her stocking top. Before she could bring it to bear Jane attacked her like a tigress bringing down it’s prey.

Outside O’Hanlon & his men could hear the sounds of the struggle & O’Rourke took out his gun & blew out the door lock. The Police & the Pinkerton’s rushed in & quickly pulled the struggling & yelling Jane off of Clare. By this time Josiah was back on his feet & he turned & ran. He headed for the kitchen where he kept his old Army Revolver, grabbed it, loaded it & placed the barrel in his mouth. O’Rourke was just behind him & as the Lieutenant barged into the kitchen Josiah smiled & said, “I suppose Lieutenant that it is inevitable that all good things must come to an end”. He then pulled the trigger & blew the back of his head off scattering blood & brains over the kitchen wall.

21: Trial & Execution

Two months later Doctor Edwards went on trial for mass murder. From the time of Jane’s arrest to the start of the trial the authorities had virtually demolished the Edwards house. Based on the photo album they knew they were looking for a lot of bodies & they found them under the cellar floor. In the mass grave they found the bodies of the fifty seven young women & girls murdered by the Edwards along with the remains of the carriage driver killed at the same time as the Refuge girl Therese.

When the sixteen girls who had died in the explosion at the Refuge were added in it meant that Doctor Edwards faced seventy four charges of capital murder.

While the case against Jane was being built O’Rourke received back from London of confirmation of the Edwards’s presence in the Winter Terrace in London at the time of the Mannings’ executions. However by this point the information was merely of academic interest

The entire country was both horrified & fascinated by the case. It attracted even more attention that of Doctor Holmes in Chicago, mainly due it had to be said by the fact that the accused was a still very attractive thirty four year old woman

Initially Jane’s lawyer had tried to argue that she was as much a victim as the dead young women & girls. Her defence was that she had been brutalised & bullied by her husband into participating in the murders however this had been blown out of the water by the evidence contained in the photo album of all the killings that had taken place in the cellar. Against each set of photographs in Doctor Edwards neat handwriting was a summary of each murder & how much she had enjoyed it.

Her lawyer pleaded with Doctor Edwards to allow him to put forward a plea of “Not guilty by reason of insanity”, but she refused to agree to this saying “It wouldn’t do any good , & anyway I am as sane as you”.

April, Beth & two of the four girls who survived the explosion at Refuge all gave evidence at the trial. The remaining two blast survivors were not yet fit enough to come to court. The girls, all wearing Refuge uniforms made a big impression on the court. They looked so young & innocent in their blue jackets & skirts, white blouses, & sailor hats. After they had testified the four girls took their places in the seats especially reserved for them in the court. The New York Attorney General, who was himself prosecuting, asked the jury to regard the four girls as being representative of all of the Edwards’s victims.

Since her arrest Doctor Edwards had barely uttered a word. The only person she talked to at any length was her lawyer. This continued through the trial, she sat impassive & expressionless at the defence table as the story of Josiah & her crimes unfolded before the court

The verdict & the sentence were inevitable. Guilty on all counts & death by hanging. Jane showed no reaction as the jury foreman read the verdict & the judge condemned her. Her lawyer indicated that he would be appealing against the sentence.

On her return to the prison Jane made her first request of the authorities, a blank notebook & pen, which she was given. She also asked for several medical journals which she knew had articles on what was now recognised as “Psychopathic personalities”. Jane then sat down in the death cell & began to write. Her first words were

“I: Awakening”

Over the next three weeks the appeals process rumbled on until it ended in the way everyone knew it would. “Appeal denied. Sentence of death confirmed”. Doctor Edwards now had seven days left to live

The practice at the prison when they had more than one woman on death row awaiting execution was to assemble the gallows in the prison yard & then carry out the hangings within a couple of days of each other. The scaffold would then be dismantled & stored away until it was next required. With her execution five days away Jane watched in the morning from her cell window as the guards assembled the gallows. She knew from listening to the guards talk amongst themselves’ that the other condemned young woman on death row is to be hanged later that day. Despite her situation she feels the familiar flutter of anticipatory excitement in her stomach

25 year old Amanda Holmes had been convicted of the poisoning of her husband so that she could replace him with her new lover. However at the post mortem significant amounts of arsenic had been found in Mr Holmes’s body & now Amanda was now going to pay for her crime.

At 5.50pm from her window Doctor Edwards watches the final preparations being made on the gallows & the arrival of the officials & invited spectators.

She hears a cell door bang open further down the corridor & a woman screaming “Show me mercy! Please don’t hang me! I beg you!”. Jane grips the bars on the window & closes her eyes. She can feel her arousal beginning to grow.

The noises outside subside as the execution party drag the struggling prisoner down the corridor & away from Jane’s cell towards the door leading to the courtyard.

Doctor Edwards’s watches, as ever transfixed by this type of spectacle, as Amanda is dragged struggling & fighting to the gallows steps & then up them to the platform above. The prisoner is a pretty blonde woman with a petite but womanly figure. She is dressed in a white blouse & full white satin skirt. She sobs helplessly as the Governor reads out the sentence. The executioner steps forward, cuffs Amanda’s hands behind her, places a black hood over her head followed by the noose which he pulls tight around her shaking slender neck. He stands back & at a nod from the Governor & pulls the lever that releases the gallows trapdoor

Amanda lets out a muffled cry as she falls. There is no snap her neck hasn’t been broken & she begins her jerking broken puppet dance. She swings wildly her legs kicking madly under her full satin skirt, displaying her rustling petticoats as she thrashes & jerks at the end of the rope. She struggles with the rope binding her wrists, her black hooded head bobbing back & forth fighting the noose.

Jane watches, biting her lips & tightly gripping the window’s bars so as not to betray her excitement to the guards outside her cell, as Amanda’s struggles weaken, fade to twitching, & then with a last convulsion that runs through her entire body, to utter stillness. Her hooded head sags to the side on her shoulder & the early evening breeze ruffles the hem of her skirt

For the first time in weeks waves of pleasure pulse through Jane as she comes. She closes her eyes & sways slightly.

Amanda’s body is left hanging for half an hour before being cut down & taken away to be buried inside the prison walls

That evening Jane made her second request to the authorities, she asked to see O’Hanlon, O’Rourke & the man she now knew to be Doctor Harris.

Two days later Doctor Edwards is hand-cuffed, taken from her cell & led into an interview room where the three men sit waiting. They look at the condemned woman trying to conceal their curiosity as to why she asked to see them. They take in the fact that despite the fact that she is a proven monster Jane Edwards is still a very attractive woman. Her brown hair is now worn short & her delicate features are only slightly detracted from by the prison pallor of her skin, a result of hardly being outside at all in the last few weeks. Now 34 years old she has retained her figure & as a death row prisoner she is being allowed to wear her own clothes, in her case a tight fitting brown skirt & yellow blouse which undoubtedly sit well on her. She nods briefly at the men as she sits down.

O’Hanlon asks “Why have you asked to see us Doctor Edwards?”

Jane replies, “To give you this Captain”, she hands him the notebook now full of her writings. “To be frank it may be of more use to “Sergeant” Harris here than to you . Despite themselves the three men smile slightly as they recall the “Nom de plume” the doctor used during the visit to the Edwards house. She continued, “I have described in there the story of how I have ended up here. Not as an excuse but as a factual explanation of what & why it happened. Perhaps it will help you prevent any Jane Queens of the future getting totally out of control & going on a killing spree they just can’t stop”.

Harris says, “Thank you for this Jane. Why did you say Jane Queens of the future rather than Jane Edwards? You must have been upset at the death of Josiah?”

Doctor Edwards responds, “Grief presupposes loss which assumes love. I have long since come to terms with the fact that I am incapable of “love”. Since I have been in here I have been reading up on psychopathic personalities & I have come to the conclusion that I am an almost perfect example of one. Josiah & I shared an obsession & his money enabled us to pursue it for several years. We were also extremely compatible sexual partners as the same things stimulated us in that way. I wasn’t surprised he killed himself at the end. He was always less able to face & deal with things than me ”. She looks at O’Rourke, “Did he say anything Lieutenant before he killed himself?”

O’Rourke replied, “ His exacts words were - I suppose Lieutenant that it is inevitable that all good things must come to an end”.

Jane smiled wanly, “A fitting epitaph for us both don’t you think”

Harris leaned forward & asked, “What triggered the need to kill Jane?”

Jane sighed, “I suppose it started with the abolition of public executions. Up until then Josiah & I could satisfy our fetish by attending female hangings. As you know doubt now know we went abroad just after we got married. On that trip we witnessed executions in Mexico, London & Arabia. When we returned to America & found that the public mood was turning against public hangings we were to put it mildly concerned & disappointed. The last two we attended were those of Bridget Durgan & Mary Rogers. It is all in the notebook. We then decided we had to make our own entertainment so to speak & it was then we set up the Employment Agency. Using it we could select victims that no-one would ever miss”..

After a few months we decided we needed to “Spice things up”..Josiah had read an article about Ancient Rome that described the fact that the Romans thought that executing a virgin was against the law of the Gods. There was an instance in this book he read where the Vestal Virgins had fallen out of favour with the Emperor & he had ordered them all killed. Before executing the Vestals the executioners raped each one of them.

The first Agency girl that Josiah raped was so terrified she just lay there like a lump of meat sobbing as he raped her. After that I obtained powerful drugs on prescription, allegedly for my husband, that were designed to stimulate the nerves in patients who were suffering from degenerative diseases of the nervous system. The effect of these on a normal person is to massively increase the sensitivity of all the sensations including sexual arousal & pain. That worked for us for a while, it was actually quite amazing, despite the fact that they knew what was going to happen to them next each of those girls orgasmed as Josiah fucked them. The problem was that none of the immigrant girls were virgins. That was when we decided to set up the Refuge- that was Josiah’s idea bless him”

O’Hanlon commented, “Hence the stipulation to the city authorities that all potential candidates for the Refuge had to be verified Virgins”.

Jane continued, “Precisely Captain. When I look back I think it was at this point we began to get out of control. Both Josiah & I had begun to take the stimulant drug before dosing the victims, which significantly enhanced our need to continue killing. If you look at it logically if we had simply stopped after the murder of the carriage driver & the Refuge girl, who I believe was called Therese, you would have been none the wiser & Josiah & I would be sitting safely at home. The fact was we couldn’t help ourselves”

O’Rourke asked, “Why blow up the Refuge?”

Jane responded, “ I realised if we continued to allow the former students to get together they would at some point realise that several of their friends were missing. So I told Josiah we had to kill them all & that is what we tried to do”.

Harris asked. “Jane, in three days’ time you are going to hang. How do you feel about that?”

Jane thought for a moment, “I watched the execution of Amanda Holmes from my cell & had my first orgasm in weeks. The authorities probably hoped it would put the fear of God in me but I can’t say it has. I don’t want to die & I am apprehensive however I am also curious as to what it is actually going to feel like. I have seen the terror of dozens of young women & girls just before they are hanged & then watched as they danced on the end of the rope as they strangled to death. I presume that you three will attending the execution?”

O’Hanlon nods, “Yes, we will be there, as will those surviving Refuge girls who want to see justice done for their dead friends”.

Doctor Queen nods & stands,“I think we are done here. So I shall see you all again on Friday at my hanging”.

At that O’Rourke goes to the interview room door & knocks on it. The prison guards come in & then escort Jane out & begin to take her back to her cell. The three men look at each other. O’Hanlon is the first to speak, “What do you reckon Doctor?”.

Harris replies, “Fascinating, truly fascinating. Jane Queen may be a mass murderer but she is also a truly remarkable woman”.

O’Hanlon points at the notebook left on the table by Jane & says, “My guess doctor is that if that is published it would outsell all of the other “Penny Dreadfulls” on the market put together”.

Doctor Harris smiles grimly, “You may well be right Captain, but first of all it needs to be forensically analysed by me & my colleagues to see what lessons we can learn for the future”.

It is Friday morning & April & Beth are waiting at the lodgings they share for the police carriage to collect them & take them to the prison. They are both wearing their old Refuge girl uniforms one last time. April places her blue & white sailor hat on top of her short blonde curly hair. She looks at her friend who, as does she, looks very smart in her white blouse, blue skirt & jacket, & hat perched on top of her short black hair. April says, “Are you up for this Beth?”. The blonde girl knows that her friend has a more sensitive nature than her. Beth nods & says with determination, “We need to do for all the other girls the Edwards’s killed April”. They hug each other tightly.

When they arrive at the prison they are lead through the building & into the courtyard. They both gasp when they see the scaffold looming above them. They then go & stand next to the other four surviving former Refuge girls who are also dressed in their old uniforms. The two who hadn’t been able to testify due to the injuries they sustained in the blast are in wheelchairs. They all embrace, their faces grim but resolute.

O’Hanlon, O’Rourke & Harris walk across to them & the Captain says. “If it gets too much for any of you no-one will think any less of you if you simply turn round & go back inside”. The girls all clasp hands with each other & April says, “We are determined to see this through Captain for the sake of all those Refuge girls who can’t be here”. O’Rourke says, “Well said April. Good for you. In fact good for you all”. The men went back & resumed their positions next to the prison governor

A door at the side opens & the execution party enter the courtyard. The hangman leads the way resplendent in a black suit & top hat. He is followed by Jane, escorted on either side by two prison guards. The prison chaplain brings up the rear reading the traditional prayer for the dead from a bible. Doctor Queen is wearing the same tight fitting brown skirt & yellow blouse that she had on during her interview with the Captain, Lieutenant & the Doctor. She appears composed though her face is deathly white.

As a result of the struggle it took to get Amanda Holmes to the platform Jane hands were cuffed behind her before she was taken from the death cell. As she walks towards the thirteen steps leading to the gallows platform she looks at O’Hanlon & briefly nods her head. Her glance falls on the Refuge girls & they all stare back at her. Doctor Queen & April’s eyes meet. Jane’s are expressionless & cold while April’s are grim & unwavering. The execution party mount the scaffold steps & when they arrive at the platform the two guards place the condemned woman on the trap, the noose dangling just in front of her face. The prison governor climbs the wooden steps & goes & stands in front of the prisoner. He takes a piece of paper from his inside pocket & starts to read from it, “Jane Edwards you have been found guilty of seventy four counts of first degree murder. For these crimes the state of New York has sentenced you to be hanged by the neck until you are dead. Do you have anything to say before this sentence is carried out”. Jane replied without a hint of a tremor in her voice, “No, just get on with it”.

The Refuge girls grip on each other’s hands’ significantly tightens. April & Beth glance at each other. They are both taken aback by the growing excitement in their stomachs & the gradual moistening of the crotches of what Doctor Edwards always referred to as their panties. As their eyes meet they realise that they are both experiencing the same unexpected sensations. April & Beth take deep breaths & return their gaze to the gallows platform above

The executioner pulls a black hood over Jane’s head & then places the noose around her neck. As he tightens the rope he carefully puts the knot at the back of the prisoner’s neck. Jane’s body tenses as she knows that this means she is going to strangle slowly rather have her neck broken. This is exactly what Josiah & she used to do to ensure the prolonged suffering of their victims.

In recent hangings efforts had been made to try & ensure the prisoner’s neck was broken by the drop, which had of course failed in the hanging of Amanda Holmes However in this case the authorities had decided that due to the enormity of her crimes Jane must die hard as possible. They might not be able to kill her seventy four times over but they could make sure that her death is as agonising & protracted as possible.

The spectators realise that this execution was going to be a bit different as the hangman unties the other end of the rope from the pole supporting the cross beam & is joined by the two prison guards.

A collective gasp goes up from the spectators as they realise how the condemned woman is going to be hanged. April & Beth grasp each other’s hands so tightly their knuckles are almost white. They press their thighs together under their blue skirts as their panties get even wetter, their juices ooze from their vaginas & soaking into them

There is deathly silence broken only by Doctor Edwards’s increasingly rapid breathing which moves the front of the black hood in & out.

At a signal from the Governor the executioner & the two guards pull on the rope & Jane rises slowly into the air. As soon as her feet leave the wooden platform she starts to kick & struggle against the rope. Once her dancing feet are six feet above the gallows platform the executioner & the guards tie the now quivering rope back round the wooden upright. Doctor Edwards firm breasts heave against her tight yellow blouse, her legs kick desperately beneath her well-fitting brown skirt. The rope is unforgiving as it digs into Jane’s trachea, twisting & stretching the tendons in her neck. Choking gasps can be heard coming from beneath the black hood. Doctor Edwards’s entire body twists back & forth. Her wrists strain against the handcuffs, her feet flutter in the air & then she starts to kick even more violently desperately searching for the platform six feet out of reach beneath her so that she can rest & release the pressure on her tortured throat. At times her knees reach her waist as her thighs pump up & down under her tight brown skirt. Her skirt is pushed up her shapely stockinged legs, at times to the top of her thighs, giving the spectators

 

Oh. My. God.

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Fantastic. Well deserved punishment

 

Good, real good or is it real bad? I mean, a poor woman is dying at the end of a rope and I'm liking it...I don know... and the two young ladies watching? will they be the Jane Queens of the future?

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