Execution Tales Chapter 17 Revision 2
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17: Things Begin to Unravel
To minimise the chances of them getting together after they had left the Refuge Jane never told the girls who left where they were headed until she had taken them there.
Totally by accident two former Refuge students, April Jones & Beth Slade, who were working as chamber maids at two different New York hotels, bumped into each other on April 10th 1872. They were delighted to see each other again & decided to try & track down other girls they had known at the Refuge.
April & Beth returned to the Refuge & were shown into Doctor Edwards’s office. Jane put on a good show of being pleased to see them even though this was far from the case. The girls asked if Jane could possibly tell them where certain of their friends had gone to work after leaving so that they could look them up.
Jane sighed & told them that unfortunately she wasn’t allowed to as that information could only be given to family members. This was to try & ensure that nothing that may have happened in the students’ often troublesome lives before they had entered the Refuge could come back to interfere with, & perhaps mar, their new lives. While disappointed April & Beth accepted Jane’s explanation, shook hands with her as she wished them well & left the office
When Jane discussed the girls visit with Josiah that evening her husband told her not to worry & forget it. Doctor Edwards however could not get rid of the slight feeling of unease she had had since her meeting with the two former Refuge students
April & Beth were quite determined in their quest to find other former Refuge girls. They put up notices in hostels for young women in the area & in the cafes & bars that their age group tended to frequent. Within a week the number of former Refuge students that were in touch with each other had grown to six, after two weeks the number was ten.
All of them agreed that it would a really good idea to start a former Refuge students association to help support girls when they first left the Refuge as without exception the girls had found the first few weeks out in the world on their own difficult.
April & Beth sat down & worked out that given the Refuge had been operating for almost a year & a half & that two or three girls left every month the number of former Refuge students currently working in & around New York should be somewhere between thirty five & fifty. They decided that they would make every effort to try & contact them all to let them know that they weren’t totally alone in the world
The discussion then turned to how they would ensure they contacted girls when they first left the Refuge. The solution was simple they would follow Doctor Edwards as she left with the girls & when they had discovered where the girls were going to be working they would approach them after they had arrived.
On May 1st 1872 April & Beth, who had both taken the day off work saying they were unwell, waited round the corner from the Refuge. They knew that Doctor Edwards normally left in her horse drawn carriage with the departing students at approximately 10 am on the first day of the month.
Being a lady of routine this is exactly what Jane did, accompanied by two nervous but excited sixteen year old girls looking very smart in their Refuge uniforms. The girls had no difficulty in keeping up with the Doctor’s carriage as it navigated its way through the busy city streets.
After fifteen minutes the carriage arrived at its first destination, a middle sized hotel in quite a respectable district. Jane & one of the girls got down from the carriage & went into the hotel. After five minutes Doctor Edwards came back out alone & got back in the carriage.
Having taken careful note of the name of the hotel & its address April & Beth set off in pursuit. As they walked quickly past the hotel entrance the newly arrived Refuge girl emerged from the building having been directed to an entrance at the back of the building.
April made a quick decision & told Beth to stay & make herself known to the girl while she would continue to follow Doctor Edwards’s carriage. However she had to give up after a mile or so as the carriage neared the city boundary & sped up as the traffic thinned..
The outcome was identical on June 1st 1872. One girl contacted by Beth & one disappearing down the road out of New York in Doctor Edwards carriage rapidly pulling away from a despairing & exhausted April.
By now the number of ex Refuge girls in contact had risen to eighteen & they all agreed to contribute from their meagre wages towards hiring a horse drawn carriage to follow Doctor Edwards & her charges on July 1st 1872.
April & Beth didn’t want to take any more time of work so two other girls, Therese & Yvonne who happened to be free on the 1st of July took their places.
The carriage driver had been initially dubious when he saw the ages of his hirers but when they showed him the money he was quite happy to follow their instructions of, “Follow that carriage – but not too close”, as they pointed at the carriage waiting outside the Refuge.
When Doctor Edwards drew up outside yet another hotel & went in with one of the two girls in the carriage Therese & Yvonne waited until she came back out on her own & climbed back into her carriage. Yvonne then left the carriage & went into the hotel intent on making contact with the Refuge girl who had just been dropped off .
Therese’s carriage continued to track Jane’s as it left the hotel & headed out to the city boundary. The driver asked whether she was sure she wanted to continue as this looked as if it was going to be quite expensive. The girl gave him her purse & told him to take her as far as the money she had would allow provided he could still return her to the city. His curiosity aroused the driver, who was a thoroughly decent fellow, asked what this was all about. Therese told him the full story of the Refuge & what they were trying to do. On hearing this the driver gave her the purse back & said they would go as far it took & she could settle up later.
When Jane’s carriage turned into the driveway leading to the house Therese asked the driver to pull over as she considered what to do next. She asked him where they were & wrote down the address he gave her.
From her time in the Refuge she realised that they were sitting outside Mr & Mrs Edwards’s house. Therese had always found Doctor & Mr Edwards, the few times she had met him, to be very kind & considerate. Having come all this way she decided to take the bull by the horns, present herself to the Edwards & tell them why she was there.
She asked the driver to enter the Edwards driveway & when they arrived at the house she requested that he wait. Therese nervously got down from the carriage went across & pulled a cord hanging from a bell.
After a minute a somewhat flustered Jane answered the door. She asked if she would mind waiting a minute, shut the door & went back inside. Jane said to Josiah, “We have company – just follow my lead. We need to get the girl out of here for now”. Josiah lifted up the comatose, already chloroformed newly arrived Refuge girl, & carried her into the room next door.
Jane took a deep breath to compose herself & returned to the front door. She opened it & said, “My dear girl how can I help?”. Therese stumblingly started to explain who she was why she was there. Jane stopped her & invited her in.
Josiah recognised Therese & walked across to the girl & shook her hand. The first question Mr Edwards asked was “But how did you get here Therese?”.
The girl explained & straight away Josiah went outside & spoke to the hire carriage driver, “My dear chap I hear you have had a long trek, please come in & have a drink before you take the young lady back to the city”.
The driver replied. “Well sir that is awfully decent of you. Don’t mind if I do”.
Jane & Josiah sat & listened as Therese told her story. Jane sat back & said after she had finished, “I must say Therese the idea of a former students association is an excellent one. I wish I had thought of it. Would you excuse us for a minute my dear”
With that Mr & Mrs Edwards retired to the kitchen to confer. Jane, always the leader in a crisis, was clear on what must be done, “They both have to die Josiah. Go & get your gun & give it to me. I will shoot the driver in the back of the head & you chloroform the girl”.
Josiah nodded in agreement, & went & got his old service revolver, which he regularly checked, loaded it, & gave it to his wife.
The Edwards returned to the room & Jane went & stood behind the carriage driver who was happily enjoying a large whisky, took out the gun & blew his brains out.
At the same time Josiah chloroformed Therese. An hour later she & the Refuge girl, having first been drugged & raped by Mr Edwards were dancing side by side on the gallows in the basement. This was the first time that Jane & Josiah & carried out a double hanging & they found the spectacle thoroughly enjoyable & highly stimulating
Afterwards three more bodies were buried under the cellar floor. This brought the total to fifty seven with the carriage driver having the distinction of the first male to be interred under the house.
The horse drawn hire carriage provided a different kind of challenge. Mr & Mrs Edwards concluded that killing & burying the horse would be totally impractical so they detached it from the carriage & took the animal to an outhouse until they decided how to dispose of it. They moved the wooden carriage to the back of the house & burnt it
A week later April, Beth & Yvonne sat down & discussed what they should do about Therese’s disappearance. Yvonne had checked at the hotel where her friend worked & was told that Therese hadn’t returned after her day off the previous week. They resolved that they should tell the police
Nothing more would probably have happened if it wasn’t for the fact that the police officer who took the girls’ statements was aware that the driver of a hire carriage had also been gone missing at round about the same time as the Refuge girl. He didn’t share this with the three girls at the time however he immediately reported it to the detective investigating the disappearance of the carriage driver.
The initial hypothesis of the police was that the driver had sexually assaulted Therese & then probably killed her before running away. The main evidence countering this interpretation of events was the apparent excellent character of the driver. He was a family man & regular church goer & no-one had a bad word to say about him. His wife was distraught at his disappearance.
The only further development in the case that month was the retrieval of the horse which had been pulling the carriage. It was found wandering about just outside the city & was identified through it’s distinctive markings by the hire company
Mr & Mrs Edwards waited nervously to see what would happen next. Much to their relief nothing did. They decided to suspend their murderous activities for a couple of months & the girls who left at the start of August & September arrived at their new places of employment safely.
The one other precaution that they took was Josiah, driving a second carriage, wearing a hat & muffler, followed the former Refuge girls who were tracking his wife each time she took Graduates to their new jobs. After Therese’s disappearance it appeared that the girls had reverted to walking when trailing Jane’s carriage.
To minimise the chances of them getting together after they had left the Refuge Jane never told the girls who left where they were headed until she had taken them there.
Totally by accident two former Refuge students, April Jones & Beth Slade, who were working as chamber maids at two different New York hotels, bumped into each other on April 10th 1872. They were delighted to see each other again & decided to try & track down other girls they had known at the Refuge.
April & Beth returned to the Refuge & were shown into Doctor Edwards’s office. Jane put on a good show of being pleased to see them even though this was far from the case. The girls asked if Jane could possibly tell them where certain of their friends had gone to work after leaving so that they could look them up.
Jane sighed & told them that unfortunately she wasn’t allowed to as that information could only be given to family members. This was to try & ensure that nothing that may have happened in the students’ often troublesome lives before they had entered the Refuge could come back to interfere with, & perhaps mar, their new lives. While disappointed April & Beth accepted Jane’s explanation, shook hands with her as she wished them well & left the office
When Jane discussed the girls visit with Josiah that evening her husband told her not to worry & forget it. Doctor Edwards however could not get rid of the slight feeling of unease she had had since her meeting with the two former Refuge students
April & Beth were quite determined in their quest to find other former Refuge girls. They put up notices in hostels for young women in the area & in the cafes & bars that their age group tended to frequent. Within a week the number of former Refuge students that were in touch with each other had grown to six, after two weeks the number was ten.
All of them agreed that it would a really good idea to start a former Refuge students association to help support girls when they first left the Refuge as without exception the girls had found the first few weeks out in the world on their own difficult.
April & Beth sat down & worked out that given the Refuge had been operating for almost a year & a half & that two or three girls left every month the number of former Refuge students currently working in & around New York should be somewhere between thirty five & fifty. They decided that they would make every effort to try & contact them all to let them know that they weren’t totally alone in the world
The discussion then turned to how they would ensure they contacted girls when they first left the Refuge. The solution was simple they would follow Doctor Edwards as she left with the girls & when they had discovered where the girls were going to be working they would approach them after they had arrived.
On May 1st 1872 April & Beth, who had both taken the day off work saying they were unwell, waited round the corner from the Refuge. They knew that Doctor Edwards normally left in her horse drawn carriage with the departing students at approximately 10 am on the first day of the month.
Being a lady of routine this is exactly what Jane did, accompanied by two nervous but excited sixteen year old girls looking very smart in their Refuge uniforms. The girls had no difficulty in keeping up with the Doctor’s carriage as it navigated its way through the busy city streets.
After fifteen minutes the carriage arrived at its first destination, a middle sized hotel in quite a respectable district. Jane & one of the girls got down from the carriage & went into the hotel. After five minutes Doctor Edwards came back out alone & got back in the carriage.
Having taken careful note of the name of the hotel & its address April & Beth set off in pursuit. As they walked quickly past the hotel entrance the newly arrived Refuge girl emerged from the building having been directed to an entrance at the back of the building.
April made a quick decision & told Beth to stay & make herself known to the girl while she would continue to follow Doctor Edwards’s carriage. However she had to give up after a mile or so as the carriage neared the city boundary & sped up as the traffic thinned..
The outcome was identical on June 1st 1872. One girl contacted by Beth & one disappearing down the road out of New York in Doctor Edwards carriage rapidly pulling away from a despairing & exhausted April.
By now the number of ex Refuge girls in contact had risen to eighteen & they all agreed to contribute from their meagre wages towards hiring a horse drawn carriage to follow Doctor Edwards & her charges on July 1st 1872.
April & Beth didn’t want to take any more time of work so two other girls, Therese & Yvonne who happened to be free on the 1st of July took their places.
The carriage driver had been initially dubious when he saw the ages of his hirers but when they showed him the money he was quite happy to follow their instructions of, “Follow that carriage – but not too close”, as they pointed at the carriage waiting outside the Refuge.
When Doctor Edwards drew up outside yet another hotel & went in with one of the two girls in the carriage Therese & Yvonne waited until she came back out on her own & climbed back into her carriage. Yvonne then left the carriage & went into the hotel intent on making contact with the Refuge girl who had just been dropped off .
Therese’s carriage continued to track Jane’s as it left the hotel & headed out to the city boundary. The driver asked whether she was sure she wanted to continue as this looked as if it was going to be quite expensive. The girl gave him her purse & told him to take her as far as the money she had would allow provided he could still return her to the city. His curiosity aroused the driver, who was a thoroughly decent fellow, asked what this was all about. Therese told him the full story of the Refuge & what they were trying to do. On hearing this the driver gave her the purse back & said they would go as far it took & she could settle up later.
When Jane’s carriage turned into the driveway leading to the house Therese asked the driver to pull over as she considered what to do next. She asked him where they were & wrote down the address he gave her.
From her time in the Refuge she realised that they were sitting outside Mr & Mrs Edwards’s house. Therese had always found Doctor & Mr Edwards, the few times she had met him, to be very kind & considerate. Having come all this way she decided to take the bull by the horns, present herself to the Edwards & tell them why she was there.
She asked the driver to enter the Edwards driveway & when they arrived at the house she requested that he wait. Therese nervously got down from the carriage went across & pulled a cord hanging from a bell.
After a minute a somewhat flustered Jane answered the door. She asked if she would mind waiting a minute, shut the door & went back inside. Jane said to Josiah, “We have company – just follow my lead. We need to get the girl out of here for now”. Josiah lifted up the comatose, already chloroformed newly arrived Refuge girl, & carried her into the room next door.
Jane took a deep breath to compose herself & returned to the front door. She opened it & said, “My dear girl how can I help?”. Therese stumblingly started to explain who she was why she was there. Jane stopped her & invited her in.
Josiah recognised Therese & walked across to the girl & shook her hand. The first question Mr Edwards asked was “But how did you get here Therese?”.
The girl explained & straight away Josiah went outside & spoke to the hire carriage driver, “My dear chap I hear you have had a long trek, please come in & have a drink before you take the young lady back to the city”.
The driver replied. “Well sir that is awfully decent of you. Don’t mind if I do”.
Jane & Josiah sat & listened as Therese told her story. Jane sat back & said after she had finished, “I must say Therese the idea of a former students association is an excellent one. I wish I had thought of it. Would you excuse us for a minute my dear”
With that Mr & Mrs Edwards retired to the kitchen to confer. Jane, always the leader in a crisis, was clear on what must be done, “They both have to die Josiah. Go & get your gun & give it to me. I will shoot the driver in the back of the head & you chloroform the girl”.
Josiah nodded in agreement, & went & got his old service revolver, which he regularly checked, loaded it, & gave it to his wife.
The Edwards returned to the room & Jane went & stood behind the carriage driver who was happily enjoying a large whisky, took out the gun & blew his brains out.
At the same time Josiah chloroformed Therese. An hour later she & the Refuge girl, having first been drugged & raped by Mr Edwards were dancing side by side on the gallows in the basement. This was the first time that Jane & Josiah & carried out a double hanging & they found the spectacle thoroughly enjoyable & highly stimulating
Afterwards three more bodies were buried under the cellar floor. This brought the total to fifty seven with the carriage driver having the distinction of the first male to be interred under the house.
The horse drawn hire carriage provided a different kind of challenge. Mr & Mrs Edwards concluded that killing & burying the horse would be totally impractical so they detached it from the carriage & took the animal to an outhouse until they decided how to dispose of it. They moved the wooden carriage to the back of the house & burnt it
A week later April, Beth & Yvonne sat down & discussed what they should do about Therese’s disappearance. Yvonne had checked at the hotel where her friend worked & was told that Therese hadn’t returned after her day off the previous week. They resolved that they should tell the police
Nothing more would probably have happened if it wasn’t for the fact that the police officer who took the girls’ statements was aware that the driver of a hire carriage had also been gone missing at round about the same time as the Refuge girl. He didn’t share this with the three girls at the time however he immediately reported it to the detective investigating the disappearance of the carriage driver.
The initial hypothesis of the police was that the driver had sexually assaulted Therese & then probably killed her before running away. The main evidence countering this interpretation of events was the apparent excellent character of the driver. He was a family man & regular church goer & no-one had a bad word to say about him. His wife was distraught at his disappearance.
The only further development in the case that month was the retrieval of the horse which had been pulling the carriage. It was found wandering about just outside the city & was identified through it’s distinctive markings by the hire company
Mr & Mrs Edwards waited nervously to see what would happen next. Much to their relief nothing did. They decided to suspend their murderous activities for a couple of months & the girls who left at the start of August & September arrived at their new places of employment safely.
The one other precaution that they took was Josiah, driving a second carriage, wearing a hat & muffler, followed the former Refuge girls who were tracking his wife each time she took Graduates to their new jobs. After Therese’s disappearance it appeared that the girls had reverted to walking when trailing Jane’s carriage.
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