Speaker 1: Paul Pulert Calm March second, nineteen forty nine.
Speaker 2: A balding mail order romeo who contacted moneyed women through
Speaker 2: lonely Hearts letters and his fat, unkempt paramour, confessed today
Speaker 2: that they had killed two women and a three year
Speaker 2: old girl in the past two months. Missus Martha Beck,
Speaker 2: twice divorced, met Raymond Fernandez through a correspondence club when
Speaker 2: she was living in Pensacola. Fernandez was then living in
Speaker 2: New York late to nineteen forty seven. She came to
Speaker 2: New York to meet the swarthy Hawaiian born man and
Speaker 2: worked out with him the details of a plan to
Speaker 2: meet other women through their club and take them for
Speaker 2: their money. Together, they went to Laureltown, Pennsylvania, where Fernandez
Speaker 2: met and married a forty year old widow. After three weeks,
Speaker 2: the widow left him, so they turned to Chicago. There,
Speaker 2: under another name, he married another woman and got four
Speaker 2: thousand dollars from her. Eventually, after similar experiences in Vermont
Speaker 2: and Massachusetts, Fernandez and missus Beck met the woman identified
Speaker 2: as Janet Fay in Albany. McMahon quoted missus Beck as saying,
Speaker 2: we got three thousand dollars from her on January fourth,
Speaker 2: because she was jealous, the husky Missus Beck slugged Missus
Speaker 2: Fay over the head with a pipe. Fernandez then strangled her,
Speaker 2: and they stuffed her body in a steamer trunk. Fernandez
Speaker 2: told the prosecutor the slaying took place in his apartment
Speaker 2: at Valley Stream on Long Island. They took the body
Speaker 2: to a house they rented near the Idlewild Airport on
Speaker 2: Long Island and buried it. The pair came to Grand
Speaker 2: Rapids January twenty third to meet the widowed Missus Downey.
Speaker 2: Her husband was killed in nineteen forty seven when a
Speaker 2: truck he was driving was struck by train. After living
Speaker 2: for several weeks in Missus Downing's house, Fernandez induced her
Speaker 2: to sell the property and moved to California. Last Saturday,
Speaker 2: the widow began showing signs of suspicion, however, and the
Speaker 2: pair determined to silence her. First, they drugged her with
Speaker 2: sleeping pills. Then Fernandez shot her with a pistol that
Speaker 2: had belonged to her ex serviceman husband. Missus Downing was
Speaker 2: buried in a shallow grave in the basement. They first
Speaker 2: thought of taking the child with them back to New York,
Speaker 2: but gave it up because they were afraid they couldn't
Speaker 2: explain to relatives where they got a child. To appease
Speaker 2: the little girl, they bought her a dog, but she
Speaker 2: still cried, We'll have to get rid of her. McMahon
Speaker 2: quoted Fernandez as telling missus Beck. Missus Beck, in her statement,
Speaker 2: related how she quote undressed the girl and holding her
Speaker 2: by the feet. I put her head in one of
Speaker 2: the tubs of water we had bailed out of the
Speaker 2: mother's grave. The two poured concrete around the little girl's body,
Speaker 2: McMahon said, and went to a movie. When they returned
Speaker 2: about midnight, police were waiting for them. They had been
Speaker 2: called in by a suspicious neighbor. Neighbors called the police
Speaker 2: because they hadn't seen missus Downing and the child since Saturday,
Speaker 2: and noted an unusual amount of activity in the house
Speaker 2: where Fernandez and missus Beck had lived with their victims
Speaker 2: since January twenty third. After finding four thousand dollars in
Speaker 2: cash on Fernandez, they searched the house and found the bodies.
Speaker 2: True crime historian presents an Eye for an Eye a
Speaker 2: special edition of Yesterday's News, exploring the criminal justice system
Speaker 2: in its most extreme, inflicting the death penalty. Episode three
Speaker 2: hundred and sixty nine tells us the tragicomic tale of
Speaker 2: a romantic in business partnership that goes awry when a
Speaker 2: woman's jealousy overpowers her professional detachment. It's also a love
Speaker 2: story of a passion so profound that they take their
Speaker 2: love all the way to the electric chair. I'm true
Speaker 2: crime historian Richard O. Jones, and for your horror and indignation,
Speaker 2: and I give you mister and missus Bluebeard, Martha Beck's
Speaker 2: Lonely Hearts Club. Mister Bluebeard's flirtations all began very quietly.
Speaker 2: Every day the Hawaiian born spaniard labored at his construction job.
Speaker 2: Every night, in his dingy little Brooklyn room, he wrote letters, letters, letters.
Speaker 2: The women's names he scrawled on the envelopes came from
Speaker 2: a printed list of two hundred purchased for two dollars
Speaker 2: from a matrimonial agency. Then the postman began to stuff
Speaker 2: answers into mister Bluebeard's Brooklyn letterbox with cooy words. The
Speaker 2: writers admitted that they were fat, short, tall, thin, rich,
Speaker 2: poor big town girls. Small town girls, arm girls. No
Speaker 2: matter what the age, each was a girl, Each was lonely,
Speaker 2: Each was eager to meet Ray Martin, Charles Martin, or
Speaker 2: Raymond Martin Fernandez, depending on the alias mister Bluebeard used
Speaker 2: when he wrote the letter, she was answering. During the
Speaker 2: two years following nineteen forty five, when he began writing letters,
Speaker 2: Ray Fernandez met only a few of his correspondents and
Speaker 2: realized no financial profit. He was only potentially, not actively dangerous.
Speaker 2: This was his period of learning. Each month Fernandez discarded
Speaker 2: correspondence added new ones. In April nineteen forty seven, he
Speaker 2: wrote to a Missus Martha Beck, a registered nurse in Pensacola, Florida.
Speaker 2: Her chaste little answer prompted him to write her again.
Speaker 2: In the fall of nineteen forty seven, Fernandez came upon
Speaker 2: one of his New York correspondents, Missus Jane Wilson Thompson,
Speaker 2: a jolly, plain faced dietitian in Manhattan's Presbyterian Hospital. Missus
Speaker 2: Thompson's frail seventy two year old mother, Missus Pearl Wilson,
Speaker 2: eyed her daughter's caller coldly and wondered where on earth
Speaker 2: Jane had met him. Fernandez, balding at thirty two and
Speaker 2: stoop shouldered in his ill fitting clothes, looked like a
Speaker 2: farm hand, startled by the roar of the city. When
Speaker 2: he smiled, two front gold teeth gleamed unpleasantly. Then Fernandez
Speaker 2: spoke Missus Wilson, as well as Jane, the lonely heart,
Speaker 2: whose husband was in a mental institution, succumbed to the
Speaker 2: blandishments of this seemingly gentle man. In September nineteen forty seven,
Speaker 2: he moved into a room of his own in Missus
Speaker 2: Thompson's West one hundred and thirty ninth Street department. In October,
Speaker 2: he told Missus Wilson he was taking Jane to Spain
Speaker 2: to see the land of his father's. Missus Thompson giggled
Speaker 2: and intimated honeymoon plans. Fernandez smiled, tenderly, patting the wallet
Speaker 2: in which he had just placed Jane's share of expenses.
Speaker 2: He kept his own counsel. Fernandez did take plane Jane
Speaker 2: to Spain. One can assume she never met the wife
Speaker 2: and four children he had abandoned there in nineteen forty five,
Speaker 2: the year he began writing letters in Brooklyn. Jane deluged
Speaker 2: friends people in the apartment house with cards saying she
Speaker 2: was having a wonderful time. Fernandez sent a cable to
Speaker 2: Martha Beck. In December, mister Bluebeard returned to New York
Speaker 2: wearing his in his ill fitting suit and a face
Speaker 2: of sorrow. He went directly to the six room apartment,
Speaker 2: where missus Wilson awaited her daughter's return. Mother, I have
Speaker 2: bad news, the man began. Where's Jane. Where's my Jane?
Speaker 2: Demanded missus Wilson. Our Jane's dead. She died in a
Speaker 2: train accident near Cadiz. There were tears and comforting. Then
Speaker 2: the man got down to business with the trembling old lady.
Speaker 2: He brought forth a document purportedly written by her daughter,
Speaker 2: which gave him possession of the apartment and its furnishings.
Speaker 2: Jane had some insurance, was Fernandez's tentative beginning. After missus
Speaker 2: Wilson's tears were stayed, she made me the beneficiary. The
Speaker 2: old lady wept again. I know, but I spent so
Speaker 2: much money on doctors when Jane had her heart attack.
Speaker 2: Missus Wilson exclaimed, I thought you said Jane died in
Speaker 2: a train accident. I did Fernandez lost none of his equanimity,
Speaker 2: but she had a heart attack first. Such was the
Speaker 2: subsequent bitterness over Missus Thompson's insurance money. Missus Wilson told
Speaker 2: shocked friends she feared the quarreling would affect her heart.
Speaker 2: In the end, the insurance was halved. Fernandez a share
Speaker 2: was three hundred dollars. With this money, he went to
Speaker 2: Pensacola for a meeting more momentous than he realized. It
Speaker 2: was the inevitable union of mister and Missus Bluebeard quote.
Speaker 2: When that man stepped down from the train and I
Speaker 2: saw him for the first time, I believe I was
Speaker 2: in love. A love so great had come to me.
Speaker 2: It would live as long as I did. That is
Speaker 2: what Martha Beck, then twenty seven, has said of her
Speaker 2: meeting with Raymond Martinez Fernandez. Mister Bluebeard never has said
Speaker 2: what he thought when he first saw Martha, a veritable
Speaker 2: amazon beside him. She stood six feet tall, weighed two
Speaker 2: hundred pounds, and was husky from her boxer like shoulders
Speaker 2: to her knees. But her eyes were big and soft,
Speaker 2: her ankles and feet were delicate, and her fat face
Speaker 2: was sweet, and her voice was gentle. Missus Beck was coy,
Speaker 2: all female, all sex. Being much the intellectual superior of
Speaker 2: this hard to get professional lover, she knew how to
Speaker 2: woo him without being caught at it. Within a few hours,
Speaker 2: the New Yorker was trying to shake this dimple Dumpling's
Speaker 2: determination to return to Manhattan with him. All right, sugar,
Speaker 2: you go do your work. I'll follow you in a
Speaker 2: few days, follow my sweety right to his apartment in
Speaker 2: West hundred and thirty ninth Street in little Old New York.
Speaker 2: Back in New York, Fernandez barely had time to hustle
Speaker 2: bewildered missus Wilson on to a train for Wilmington, North Carolina,
Speaker 2: where she had relatives before missus beck. Purring and puffing
Speaker 2: loomed in the doorway of the West one hundred and
Speaker 2: thirty ninth Street apartment, and that night Martha, no stranger
Speaker 2: to love, discovered that Ray was a perfect lover. She
Speaker 2: made a vow to herself never to leave him. When
Speaker 2: Ray insisted that Martha returned to Pensacola, the clever woman
Speaker 2: seemed to acquiesce. At least she went to Florida. Then
Speaker 2: she telephoned them, I've lost my job, honey, and I've
Speaker 2: no one to turn to but you. Martha's explanation was glib,
Speaker 2: sweet and untrue. Actually, missus Beck was well liked in Pensacola,
Speaker 2: where she was graduated from from a school of nursing,
Speaker 2: and she had many people to whom she could turn.
Speaker 2: For one, there was her widowed mother, Missus Julius Seabrook
Speaker 2: sixty eight, a matriarch who worried constantly about this daughter,
Speaker 2: the smartest of her five children and the only wayward one.
Speaker 2: But the truth was not in Martha. With her illegitimate
Speaker 2: daughter Sue and her son Anthony Beck two, she came
Speaker 2: back to raise, bed and board in little Old New York.
Speaker 2: Fernandez felt a strong sexual attachment for this woman, but
Speaker 2: he didn't take too kindly to becoming a family man overnight.
Speaker 2: He told her so, little did he know, Martha. Martha
Speaker 2: said the children got on Fernandez's nerves, and he told
Speaker 2: her she would have to find a place for them,
Speaker 2: but she could stay. Missus Beck said she decided to
Speaker 2: place the children for adoption, but I didn't tell them
Speaker 2: of my plan because I knew he would not allow
Speaker 2: me to do it. Inquiry disclosed adoption procedure would take
Speaker 2: a long time, so she went to a Salvation Army
Speaker 2: home in New York on January twenty fifth, nineteen forty eight,
Speaker 2: and asked for permission to remain overnight.
Speaker 3: Quote.
Speaker 2: As soon as my son went to sleep with my
Speaker 2: daughter watching over him, I told my daughter I was
Speaker 2: going out to buy some candy. I walked out. Tears
Speaker 2: rolled down her cheeks as she said, I have never
Speaker 2: seen them since she walked out with the children. A
Speaker 2: few hours later, she returned, where are the kids, Ray demanded,
Speaker 2: I left them at a Salvation Army center. They'll never
Speaker 2: find me, but they've got my mother's name on them.
Speaker 2: Kiss me, darling, we're alone. After several days of wallow
Speaker 2: in a sexual love, Fernandez laid it on the line.
Speaker 2: He told Martha how he intended to correspond with lonely hearts,
Speaker 2: how he intended to profit by their loneliness. When I
Speaker 2: bring them here, when I marry them, I'll introduce you
Speaker 2: as my sister, or maybe as my sister in law.
Speaker 2: You can take it or leave it. Fernandez delivered his
Speaker 2: ultimatum while he sat down before Jane Thompson's typewriter. Martha
Speaker 2: said she'd take it. She even helped him with his
Speaker 2: voluminous correspondence. Time and again, Missus Bluebeard found herself rebelling
Speaker 2: at the role their way of life had forced her
Speaker 2: to play. When Ray brought home old women, she didn't
Speaker 2: mind too much. When he brought home women who were
Speaker 2: young and pretty, Martha couldn't stand it. Shortly before Valentine's
Speaker 2: Day nineteen forty eight, Ray announced that he was going
Speaker 2: to Royersford, Pennsylvania to meet Missus Esther Henny, a forty
Speaker 2: year old first grade teacher in the Penhurst State School.
Speaker 2: He had been courting Missus Henny for several months and
Speaker 2: had learned that she had a substantial bank account. Now
Speaker 2: he was going to propose marriage. Almost sick with jealousy,
Speaker 2: Martha did as she was bid, readied her bridal chamber
Speaker 2: for another occupant. Fernandez and Esther sent word that they'd
Speaker 2: been married in Fairfax, Virginia. Martha, with a smile on
Speaker 2: her face and her fingernails biting into her clenched fists,
Speaker 2: awaited their arrival. Her heart sank when she saw that
Speaker 2: her new sister in law was a pleasant, plump blonde
Speaker 2: and no hag. However, she played her role of sister
Speaker 2: well and masked her rage. When Ray and Esther retired
Speaker 2: for the night, perhaps Fernandez knew what was happening, so
Speaker 2: he managed to tiptoe to Martha's bed to give her
Speaker 2: a good night kiss and a whisper it's you I love.
Speaker 2: Four days after Esther's arrival at the West one hundred
Speaker 2: and thirty ninth Street department, Ray, so sweet and solicitous
Speaker 2: during months of courtship, turned irritable. He demanded that Esther
Speaker 2: sign over her insurance policies to him. She refused, but
Speaker 2: she did give him five hundred dollars for rent and
Speaker 2: other bills he owed. Then he insisted that she signed
Speaker 2: papers making him beneficiary of her teacher's pension. She wouldn't,
Speaker 2: but she did give him one hundred and fifty dollars
Speaker 2: for a debt he said, he owed. Martha Ray gave
Speaker 2: the astonished Esther tongue lashing after tongue lashing. One day,
Speaker 2: she found five hundred dollars missing. She kept silent because
Speaker 2: she didn't know whether to blame sullen Ray or moody Martha,
Speaker 2: who only the day before had made a noisy, bloody
Speaker 2: and vain attempt to slash her wrists from other residents
Speaker 2: in the apartment building, Esther learned ominous whispers of how
Speaker 2: Ray took a woman into Spain and she died there.
Speaker 2: Now terror clutched the bride from Pennsylvania. She spent day
Speaker 2: after day with Martha, whose every glance was menacing. She
Speaker 2: spent night after night waiting alone in her bedroom for Ray,
Speaker 2: whose soft voice could be heard in Martha's room. When
Speaker 2: he finally did get to her bed, he was ugly
Speaker 2: and ready for sleep. When her two rings and her
Speaker 2: wristwatch disappeared, Esther, certain that something sinister was afoot, but
Speaker 2: unable to find the key to the mystery, decided to
Speaker 2: swallow her pride and return quietly to Royersford. Then she
Speaker 2: couldn't find car. She rushed to Ray, my car's been stolen.
Speaker 2: Esther reported, I lost it in a poker game, he answered.
Speaker 2: A few days later, the frantic bride found her automobile
Speaker 2: parked on a side street. In the glove compartment, she
Speaker 2: found pawn tickets. Taking these to the pawnshop, she found
Speaker 2: her watch and rings and learned that they had been
Speaker 2: left by Fernandez. Redeeming them, Esther climbed into her car
Speaker 2: and sped toward Philadelphia.
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Speaker 2: It was to be many months before Esther Henney discovered
Speaker 2: she'd been in the clammy clutches of mister and Missus Bluebeard.
Speaker 2: Had she known, she might have been too thankful to
Speaker 2: be alive to take her troubles to a lawyer. However,
Speaker 2: the attorney exacted a promise from Fernandez to pay Missus
Speaker 2: Henny fifty dollars a month until he had made full
Speaker 2: restitution for her losses. Ray incidentally was sending one hundred
Speaker 2: dollars a month to his wife in Spain, a habit
Speaker 2: of which Martha was unable to break him. Instinct told
Speaker 2: this odd pair that it was time to clear out
Speaker 2: of the West one hundred and thirty ninth Street place.
Speaker 2: They rented rooms in a bungalow on Washingtonaw Avenue in Chicago,
Speaker 2: and their landlady thought mister and missus Fernandez were a
Speaker 2: very nice couple, so quiet, so genteel. Ray found employment
Speaker 2: at a machinist's bench and bought himself atopay to cover
Speaker 2: his increasing baldness. Martha became a registered nurse at Saint
Speaker 2: Luke's Hospital in July. She left the other nurses sorrowful
Speaker 2: when she took a leave of absence because of the
Speaker 2: masked death of her parents, her brother, and her child
Speaker 2: in an auto accident in Pensacola. Her mother was very
Speaker 2: much alive in caring for Martha's children. Her brother, Dudley
Speaker 2: was a Pensacola cop, and her father, a typesetter on
Speaker 2: the Milton Georgia Gazette, had been dead three years. Actually,
Speaker 2: Big Eyed Bluebeard was preparing to go about her lover's business,
Speaker 2: and her gorge was rising. Ray had told her only
Speaker 2: that Ruby Mercer of Fayetteville, North Carolina was coming to
Speaker 2: Chicago in answer to his letters. The same old jealousy
Speaker 2: poisoned Martha until she saw Miss Mercer. From Martha's point
Speaker 2: of view, she had nothing to fear from this female.
Speaker 2: Questioning Miss Mercer deftly, Ray and Martha found the woman
Speaker 2: had no money in the bank at home and only
Speaker 2: seven dollars in a bus ticket in her purs They
Speaker 2: persuaded the lady to go back to where she came from. Ray,
Speaker 2: who had taken a day off from work to meet
Speaker 2: Miss Mercer, went back to his job. Martha became a
Speaker 2: nurse in Holy Cross Hospital. Then one terrible weekend, mister
Speaker 2: Bluebeard left Martha alone. He was looking over a prospect
Speaker 2: in green Forest, Arkansas. The poor, unsuspecting soul was missus
Speaker 2: Myrtle Young, forty three years divorced and the mother of
Speaker 2: a son seventeen and a daughter twenty. Important item. She
Speaker 2: owned a small hotel in green Forest. Ray returned to
Speaker 2: his love sick Martha, his eyes were shining, who was
Speaker 2: figuratively licking his chops. I told her to come up here.
Speaker 2: She thinks I'm Charles Martin. On August eleventh, Ray and
Speaker 2: Martha quit their jobs. That night, Martha had an attack
Speaker 2: of the same old sickness jealousy. She exhibited twenty sleeping
Speaker 2: pills she had stolen from the hospital. Ray persuaded her
Speaker 2: not to take them. The next morning, Missus Young was
Speaker 2: met at a Chicago bus terminal by an extremely gentle
Speaker 2: Charles Martin and his nervous, smiling sister. In appearance, Martha
Speaker 2: found Myrtle very much like herself. Now, where was her
Speaker 2: four thousand dollars? Oh, she left that in her Green
Speaker 2: Forest bank. Wasn't that all right? Charles was so sweet
Speaker 2: to Myrtle that his sister wondered whether anyone ever died
Speaker 2: of jealousy. On August fourteenth, with Martha as a furious
Speaker 2: matron of honor, Missus Young and Charles Martin took out
Speaker 2: a marriage license and were married at the Cook County Building.
Speaker 2: The three went next to Chicago's First National Bank. There,
Speaker 2: at her husband's urging, Myrtle asked to cash a check
Speaker 2: against her account in her Arkansas bank. The First National
Speaker 2: was stuffy about it and refused her request. Myrtle might
Speaker 2: have let it go at that, but her bridegroom was
Speaker 2: so annoyed he made her sleep with her sister in
Speaker 2: law on their bridal night. Perplexed, Myrtle telephoned her hometown bank.
Speaker 2: The very next day, August fifteenth, her four thousand dollars
Speaker 2: was available at Chicago's First National. The three went to
Speaker 2: the bank. The newlyweds established a two thousand dollars joint
Speaker 2: checking account for mister and missus Charles Martin. Myrtle put
Speaker 2: the remaining two thousand dollars in her wallet, but she
Speaker 2: brought it out soon. At an automobile agency, she spent
Speaker 2: seventeen hundred and fifty dollars for a nineteen forty one
Speaker 2: sedanette Charles wanted. He wanted to drive it right off,
Speaker 2: but Myrtle insisted on a new paint job. That night,
Speaker 2: Myrtle took them to dinner at a Loop restaurant, and
Speaker 2: later she took them to a movie. That was where
Speaker 2: she fell ill. When they reached their Washtonaw Avenue rooms,
Speaker 2: nurse Martha gave her sister in law a bicarbonate of
Speaker 2: soda and put her to bed. Myrtle called archly to
Speaker 2: her bridegroom, who went to her. Martha worried on the Davenport,
Speaker 2: but not about Myrtle's health. At four a m. Fernandez
Speaker 2: came to his beloved, I don't know what's wrong with Myrtle.
Speaker 2: Take her to a hospital, he ordered, Crossly. Martha dressed
Speaker 2: hastily and jerked Myrtle into her clothes. The two women
Speaker 2: started by bus for a hospital, with Myrtle muttering you've
Speaker 2: poisoned me. You've poisoned me. With her best hospital manners,
Speaker 2: Martha got Myrtle on a bus and sought to soothe
Speaker 2: her temporary rival. But Myrtle kept mumbling that her sister
Speaker 2: in law had poisoned her, that she feared the whole
Speaker 2: marriage venture, and that her life was in danger. Her
Speaker 2: hysteria was rising. Suddenly, Myrtle leaped from her seat in
Speaker 2: the almost empty bus, ran to the driver and demanded
Speaker 2: a policeman. Martha lumbering after sought to shush her. Martha
Speaker 2: would not be quieted. The driver brought his bus to
Speaker 2: a halt. Okay, lady, He told Myrtle, there's the Brighton
Speaker 2: Park police station.
Speaker 3: You go in there.
Speaker 2: He pointed to a lighted entrance and gave Martha a
Speaker 2: sympathetic smile. As Myrtle ran from the bus. Martha hurried
Speaker 2: after her. Myrtle pounded up to the startled desk sergeant,
Speaker 2: screaming that she'd been poisoned, that she was in danger
Speaker 2: of her life. Missus Bluebeard stood behind the frenzied woman
Speaker 2: and twirled her finger at her head to indicate that
Speaker 2: Myrtle was mentally unbalanced. I'm taking her to a hospital.
Speaker 2: Martha purred, that's where she ought to be. The desk
Speaker 2: sergeant agreed, then, placatingly, lady, you go to a hospital. Tomorrow,
Speaker 2: you telephone and we'll send a policeman around. Thus, missus
Speaker 2: Bluebeard piloted her victim out into the Chicago night. Now
Speaker 2: we'll go to a hospital. Martha's voice was soft, syrupy,
Speaker 2: but the sick woman balked and stood under a street light,
Speaker 2: fumbling in her purse. My bank book's missing, Myrtle screamed,
Speaker 2: I'm not going back to a hospital. I'm going back
Speaker 2: to Charles and ask him about this. And back they
Speaker 2: went to the bungalow on Washington Aw Avenue. While Myrtle
Speaker 2: searched frantically through her belongings for her bank book. Fernandez's
Speaker 2: eyes rested accusingly on his full lipped paramour. Martha's brown
Speaker 2: eyes watched him slyly. Each pair of eyes seemed to
Speaker 2: say that the other had robbed Myrtle. Now, honey, why
Speaker 2: don't you look in your purse again? Martha suggested the
Speaker 2: sick woman dump the clutter of her handbag onto her bed,
Speaker 2: and there, in one of the compartments lay her bank
Speaker 2: book had it been stolen and returned, Neither Ray nor
Speaker 2: Martha has said. At any rate, the lost and found
Speaker 2: bank book proved the last straw for the sick woman.
Speaker 2: I've had enough. I'm going home. Martha glanced triumphantly at
Speaker 2: her lover, but neither spoke. Early the next morning, August sixteenth,
Speaker 2: Fernandez and Martha took the distraught woman to the bus terminal. Myrtle,
Speaker 2: still ill, had just missed a southbound bus. There would
Speaker 2: be an hour's wait. Without a word or a glance.
Speaker 2: Mister and missus Bluebeard exchanged a single thought Myrtle might
Speaker 2: remember her money, and utilized that sixty minutes by hurrying
Speaker 2: to the First National Bank. Excusing himself, Fernandez went to
Speaker 2: the washroom hurriedley wrote a check for two thousand dollars
Speaker 2: and slipped it to Martha. Martha needed no instruction. While
Speaker 2: Myrtles about to be abandoned husband sought to soothe her
Speaker 2: into a peaceful departure, Martha rushed to the bank. There
Speaker 2: she discovered, to her angry embarrassment that haste made waste
Speaker 2: her lover had made out the check to Ray Martin
Speaker 2: instead of Charles Martin. Naturally, the bank refused to honor
Speaker 2: the check, Martha dashed back to the bus terminal. By
Speaker 2: the time Martha arrived, Myrtle was already on her way
Speaker 2: to Arkansas. The thought of her newly purchased car and
Speaker 2: of her joint checking account swept from her sick mind.
Speaker 2: Mister Missus Bluebeard made to the First National Fernandez using
Speaker 2: the name Charles Martin, wrote a check which emptied the
Speaker 2: joint account of its two thousand dollars. Then they hurried
Speaker 2: to the automobile agency to pick up Myrtle's car. They
Speaker 2: packed their belongings, dumped them into the new car, and
Speaker 2: headed east. Meanwhile, at Springfield, Missouri, a dazed and seemingly
Speaker 2: very sick woman was taken from an Arkansas bound bus
Speaker 2: and hurried to a hospital. She kept insisting that she
Speaker 2: had been kept captive and beaten until she surrendered her money.
Speaker 2: Hospital doctors decided she had indeed been beaten about the
Speaker 2: head and that this beating may have caused her mental derangement.
Speaker 2: Papers in her bag identified the sick woman as missus
Speaker 2: Myrtle Young of green Forest, Arkansas. Relatives hurried to her
Speaker 2: aid and placed her in a mental hospital in Little Roy.
Speaker 2: Then On August twenty first, several days after her marriage,
Speaker 2: Myrtle Young died. The death certificate read cerebral hemorrhage and
Speaker 2: liver inflammation. Only two people realized that the car for
Speaker 2: which Missus Young's money had paid was speeding mister and
Speaker 2: Missus Bluebeard on to New England to more daring crimes.
Speaker 2: Mister and Missus Bluebeard sped eastward in a car bought
Speaker 2: with their last victim's money behind them. In a little Rock,
Speaker 2: Arkansas hospital, Missus Myrtle Young, forty had died of cerebral hemorrhage,
Speaker 2: insisting to the last that she had been held captive
Speaker 2: in Chicago by her bridegroom and his sister, who beat
Speaker 2: her until she surrendered her money ahead of them. In
Speaker 2: spring Field, Vermont, a boarding house keeper quivered over her
Speaker 2: prospective meeting with Raymond Martinez Fernandez, a lonely heart's penpal
Speaker 2: to whom she hoped soon.
Speaker 3: To be married.
Speaker 2: I hope she's a hag, grumbled Fernandez's companion, Missus Martha Beck,
Speaker 2: as they neared their destination. She isn't, the man retorted, grinning.
Speaker 2: She's thirty nine, blonde and attractive. Her name is Irene
Speaker 2: de la Pointe married, asked Martha, seldom privy to biographical
Speaker 2: data on mister Bluebeard's prospects, Missus de la Pointe is
Speaker 2: a widow, Fernandez replied stiffly. Brief silence followed this announcement.
Speaker 2: Then Martha wailed, Sugar, if you love me, please don't
Speaker 2: make love to her. Fernandez's lips thinned to a harsh line, Martha,
Speaker 2: remember your promise not to be jealous and not to interfere.
Speaker 2: You're getting to be a business and social nuisance. Why
Speaker 2: don't you go back to Florida and let me be,
Speaker 2: because you're the only man who can make me happy.
Speaker 2: I'll never let you go. The car carried its bickering
Speaker 2: love birds to Springfield. It was late August nineteen forty eight,
Speaker 2: shortly after the death of the aforementioned Missus Young, that
Speaker 2: Fernandez and Missus Beck arrived in New York. Fernandez's greedy
Speaker 2: eyes swept first over his prospective bride's property and then
Speaker 2: over Missus de la Pointe. He liked what he saw. Irene,
Speaker 2: in turn, was pleased with her matrimonial agency. Find what
Speaker 2: Fernandez lacked in beauty, He was stoop shouldered swarthy, gold
Speaker 2: toothed in hayseedy he made up for in charm. At
Speaker 2: least Irene he found him delightful when she could prime
Speaker 2: away from the devoted woman he'd introduced as his sister.
Speaker 2: He seemed afraid even to pay Irene a compliment when
Speaker 2: pouting missus Beck was around. However, he managed a moment
Speaker 2: alone with Irene to propose marriage, and they did slip
Speaker 2: away for a few glorious hours, during which they took
Speaker 2: premarital blood tests. When they told Martha, she turned hysterical.
Speaker 2: Martha had disrupted each of Fernandez's marriage for profit plans
Speaker 2: since she had joined him eight months before. This one
Speaker 2: was no exception. One night, her great eyes wide with excitement,
Speaker 2: she whispered dreadful details of Ray's past in Irene's car.
Speaker 2: The next morning, the Vermont widow, who never let her
Speaker 2: heart rule her head, sent the pair packing. Fernandez as
Speaker 2: was in a fury. Don't you talk to me like that,
Speaker 2: Martha shrieked, I can't stand it. Irene was pretty and
Speaker 2: you were falling in love. I'll kill myself. The car
Speaker 2: outbound from Springfield came to a halt. Martha dashed from
Speaker 2: it and threw herself into the nearby Black River. Fernandez
Speaker 2: ran after hauled out her two hundred dripping pounds. He
Speaker 2: was not contrite. I've got a perfectly good racket, and
Speaker 2: you keep spoiling it with your jealousy, he scolded, We're through.
Speaker 2: You take the next bus south. Wiley, Martha knew better
Speaker 2: than to irritate her Hawaiian born spaniard too much. With
Speaker 2: tears in her eyes, she took a bus to the
Speaker 2: North Carolina home of a married sister. Free at last
Speaker 2: of his mistress, Fernandez visited his sister, Missus frank Cano,
Speaker 2: in the Astorias section of New York. There he planned
Speaker 2: new conquests of lonely hearts. He wrote Missus de la Pointe,
Speaker 2: seeking a reconciliation with her. Irene answered, I only wish
Speaker 2: I had a way of looking deep down into your
Speaker 2: head and reading what is there true as you say,
Speaker 2: there would always be doubt between us after those hideous things.
Speaker 2: Martha told me. She even implied you intended to do
Speaker 2: away with me as you did with Jane. After you
Speaker 2: succeeded in getting what I had, then you could go
Speaker 2: away and enjoy yourself with her, your only true love.
Speaker 2: You skunk, but I love you. Darn it well, Darling,
Speaker 2: so long and try to be good. Enjoy ad free
Speaker 2: listening at the safe house.
Speaker 4: Dubbadubbadubba dot Patreon dot com, slash true crime historian.
Speaker 2: One of Ray's correspondents who appeared to be a really
Speaker 2: good prospect was missus Janet j Faye and Albany, New
Speaker 2: York widow. She wrote that she was forty attractive, like dancing,
Speaker 2: and had almost seven thousand dollars before Ray could get
Speaker 2: to Albany, Big Martha, looking like sunshine. After Storm returned
Speaker 2: to New York, ferreted him out and cooed, take me back, sugar,
Speaker 2: I'll behave I'll do anything you say. Remember those twenty
Speaker 2: sleeping pills I stole from that Chicago hospital. I took
Speaker 2: six of them to kill myself, but I lived, and
Speaker 2: then I knew I wasn't supposed to die. Please take
Speaker 2: me back. And because there was a strong sexual tie
Speaker 2: between them, mister Bluebeard again took Missus Bluebeard into his arms.
Speaker 2: As mister and Missus Charles Martin. They leased the upper
Speaker 2: floor of a house in Adeline Place, Valley, stream Long Island.
Speaker 2: They paid two hundred dollars for two months. Rent then
Speaker 2: moved in on December seventeenth, nineteen forty eight, and brought
Speaker 2: with them many religious objects and five radios. On December
Speaker 2: twenty sixth another letter came to Ray from his lonely
Speaker 2: heart in Albany. He told Martha about missus Fay and
Speaker 2: made her promise to behave no matter what happens. On
Speaker 2: December thirty first, Martha and Ray drove north. Martha remained
Speaker 2: in an Albany hotel. That New Year's Eve, Ray went
Speaker 2: to see Janet in her one room, kitchenette apartment. He
Speaker 2: found missus Faye some twenty years older and some twenty
Speaker 2: pounds heavier than she had described herself. That did not
Speaker 2: make her less attractive, for she had desire in her
Speaker 2: heart and money in her bank. At ten thirty PM,
Speaker 2: when Ray left Janet, he promised to bring his sister
Speaker 2: to see her. Martha needed only one look that New
Speaker 2: Year's Day to see that Missus Fay was simply gaga
Speaker 2: about Ray. Fernandez for the most part, behave circumspectly. That afternoon, Ray, Martha,
Speaker 2: and Missus Fay drove to Amsterdam, New York to visit
Speaker 2: missus Faye's stepdaughter and her husband, doctor and missus Alton Spencer.
Speaker 2: Returning to Albany, missus Faye asked her friends to spend
Speaker 2: the night with her. Don't you go to sleep until
Speaker 2: she does, Ray warned Martha. The next day was Sunday.
Speaker 2: Mister and missus Bluebeard marked time until Monday so missus
Speaker 2: Fay could go to her banks bright and early that
Speaker 2: January third, Excited, Janet wrote one two thousand dollar check
Speaker 2: payable to her and another fifteen hundred dollar check payable
Speaker 2: to the First National Bank of New York. She also
Speaker 2: drew about thirty four hundred dollars in cash. Here, Charles,
Speaker 2: you keep these, missus Fay simpered as she handed suave
Speaker 2: mister Bluebeard checks and bank book. I'll feel safer if
Speaker 2: you have them. It was nine p m. When the
Speaker 2: pair ushered their giggling victim into their Valley Stream apartment.
Speaker 2: Janet purred Missus Beck fixed food in the kitchen. Bluebeard
Speaker 2: tacked up pictures in the living room, carelessly leaving his
Speaker 2: hammer on a chair. Then he suggested that missus Fay
Speaker 2: use a un method of telling her all many friends
Speaker 2: of her impending marriage. How asked missus Fay. As Fernandez
Speaker 2: sent for paper and ink, Write surprise across here. His
Speaker 2: finger went diagonally across the sheet. Then write your name here.
Speaker 2: His finger traveled horizontally along the bottom of the paper.
Speaker 2: Mary is a grig, missus Faye did as she was bid,
Speaker 2: commenting the while that she'd better get to Manhattan early
Speaker 2: on the morrow because she felt easy only winter money
Speaker 2: was banged. Mister Bluebeard suggested she endorse her checks at once.
Speaker 2: She did. I think I ought to call my late
Speaker 2: husband's sister and tell her I'm down here, the old
Speaker 2: lady suggested. Happily, Martha's shadow fell across the doorway. It's
Speaker 2: too late, missus Beck objected. Janet looked through her couped
Speaker 2: to Fernandez, patted his strong hand and babbled on about
Speaker 2: her checks. Martha scolded, Oh, give the woman her money
Speaker 2: so she can go and we can get some rest.
Speaker 2: The dislike the two women felt for each other was plain.
Speaker 2: Since there was only one bed, Martha and Janet had
Speaker 2: to occupy it together. From his place on the front
Speaker 2: room couchs, Fernandez could hear Janet telling Martha that once wed,
Speaker 2: she and Charles wouldn't want a sister around. It was
Speaker 2: late when Janet Weeping came to him. She was making
Speaker 2: such a fuss over something Martha had said. He feared
Speaker 2: the people downstairs would hear shushing. Janet Fernandez strode to
Speaker 2: Martha's bed, quiet that woman he ordered no matter how.
Speaker 2: He waved his hand in the general direction of the hammer,
Speaker 2: saw Martha's face and used his paramour's own much worn plea,
Speaker 2: if you love me, you will. Then he went to
Speaker 2: the bathroom and stayed there ten or fifteen minutes. Martha
Speaker 2: glided to the living room. She says she saw old
Speaker 2: missus Fay lying nude on the couch. Her jealousy boiled over.
Speaker 2: She said. The next thing she knew, Ray was shaking
Speaker 2: her by the shoulders and shouting what has happened. Testifying
Speaker 2: in his own defense the mail order, Romeo said the
Speaker 2: killing occurred during the five or ten minutes he was
Speaker 2: in the bathroom of the Valley Stream apartment he shared
Speaker 2: with Missus Beck. The door was closed, he said, calmly
Speaker 2: and quietly. I went back in the living room and
Speaker 2: Missus Beck was standing up over missus Fay. Missus Fay
Speaker 2: was crouched over the suitcase, her head was flattered with blood.
Speaker 2: The suitcase was bloody, and on the floor there was
Speaker 2: a great, big puddle. I was confused. I rushed over
Speaker 2: and Missus Beck was standing over missus Fay, and I said, Martha,
Speaker 2: what happened. She came out of a daze, if it
Speaker 2: was a daze or a coma, and said, my god,
Speaker 2: what happened? Missus Faye groaned. Ray grabbed Martha's white scarf,
Speaker 2: wrapped it about the wrinkled throat, and using the hammer
Speaker 2: and the tourniquet, twisted and twisted and twisted. Silence filled
Speaker 2: the room. I said, you should know, and I told
Speaker 2: her go to a hospital or call a doctor or something.
Speaker 2: She got down and she said, there's nothing you can do.
Speaker 2: She's dead. Then Ray laughed. Ray cried. Fernandez said he
Speaker 2: was thrown into hysterics by the sligh. I got upset
Speaker 2: and nervous. I got a bottle of whiskey and drank
Speaker 2: most of it. I sat on the couch crying. Missus
Speaker 2: Beck said, there's no sense getting that way. There's nothing
Speaker 2: we can do. We then decided to get rid of
Speaker 2: the body.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: They worked together, swiftly. Together, they washed the hammer and
Speaker 2: replaced it in the tool box. Together, they sought to
Speaker 2: jam Missus Fay into one of their small trunks. Failing this,
Speaker 2: they dumped the body into a closet and closed the door.
Speaker 2: Morning was near. Mister and Missus Bluebeard washed the blood
Speaker 2: stained living room carpet with soap, ammonia and water. The
Speaker 2: more they washed, the deeper the stain. When the stores opened,
Speaker 2: they went shopping. They returned with a big trunk and
Speaker 2: a new rug. They lifted missus Fay's body into the
Speaker 2: new trunk. They put down the new rug. They deposited
Speaker 2: the stained one in a garbage can well away from
Speaker 2: the house. Then they drove to Astoria with the heavy
Speaker 2: trunk and deposited it in the basement of Ray's sister's home.
Speaker 2: For ten days, they hunted a house with a basement.
Speaker 2: During that ten days, Martha stole time to open an
Speaker 2: account with one of missus Fay's checks. She cashed the
Speaker 2: other in Albany, saying missus Fay was buying a trailer
Speaker 2: for a trip to Florida. Eradicating the words surprise from
Speaker 2: papers missus Fay had signed. Fernandez typed letters to her
Speaker 2: relatives and friends telling of her forthcoming marriage he took
Speaker 2: special care with the letter destined for Missus Fay's stepped
Speaker 2: down in her own handwriting. It was signed Janet J.
Speaker 3: Fay.
Speaker 2: Missus Spencer received this letter on January twelfth, nineteen forty nine.
Speaker 2: It didn't make her very happy. It doesn't sound at
Speaker 2: all like mother. Missus Spencer worried, and when did she
Speaker 2: learn to type? With a shudder, Missus Spencer realized that
Speaker 2: she knew absolutely nothing about the Martins, her stepmother's new friends.
Speaker 2: That day, she reported Missus Fay's disappearance to the Albany Police.
Speaker 2: By that time, Missus Fay had indeed disappeared. Her body,
Speaker 2: wrapped in cloth, was secreted in a six foot hole
Speaker 2: dug and cemented over by the strong muscled mister Bluebeard
Speaker 2: and the basement of a house he had rented in
Speaker 2: South Ozone Park, Long Island. The very day Missus Spencer
Speaker 2: received the letter that alarmed her, Ray Fernandez received one
Speaker 2: that set him thinking. It was postmarked Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Speaker 2: It was signed Delaphene Downing. Mister Bluebeard made no mention
Speaker 2: of this letter to Missus Bluebeard until January twenty third,
Speaker 2: after they had traveled from Ozone Park to Chicago. Martha
Speaker 2: thought Ray had driven west only to pick up a
Speaker 2: tupe on which he had paid twenty five dollars down
Speaker 2: many months before. Ray was dissatisfied with the color. Martha
Speaker 2: tried to die the tupe and spoiled it. He threw
Speaker 2: it away, so she was in no mood to hear
Speaker 2: him say, there's a cute little widow named I'm Deelaphine
Speaker 2: downing up in Byron Center, just outside Grand Rapids. Her
Speaker 2: husband's been dead a year. She's got a two year
Speaker 2: old daughter and some property. You said, cute, Martha accused,
Speaker 2: How old is she? Twenty eight? Martha bristled, but she
Speaker 2: held her tongue an unpleasant restraint, which she continued throughout
Speaker 2: the three days she waited in a Grand Rapids hotel
Speaker 2: while Ray conducted his courtship in Byron Center, two miles southwest.
Speaker 2: At long last, Ray came for Delaphine's a nice girl.
Speaker 2: She'll be glad to see you. I told her you
Speaker 2: were my sister from Chicago, and you could cook and
Speaker 2: take care of the kid, Fernandez told her. Martha sniffed,
Speaker 2: but she was sweet as chocolate pudding when she met
Speaker 2: her prospective sister in law, a cheerful, bespectacled girl in
Speaker 2: Missus Downing's five room cottage, and she managed to exhibit
Speaker 2: a jolly, if false humor, which she drove with ray
Speaker 2: Delaphine and Raynell to Palisade, Nebraska, to visit Missus Downing's parents,
Speaker 2: mister and Missus Martin Price. Delaphine's relatives were given the
Speaker 2: impression that she was already married to this wealthy New
Speaker 2: Yorker Charles Martin, that he was an ex Secret serviceman
Speaker 2: and a civil engineer for a railroad, and that Delaphine
Speaker 2: met her second husband through his sister Martha quote who
Speaker 2: nursed me in the hospital when I had Raynell unquote.
Speaker 2: Mister Missus Bluebeard and their victims returned to Byron Center
Speaker 2: on February fourteenth, nineteen forty nine. Missus Downing failed to
Speaker 2: greet her neighbors, Missus Newell D. Burt and mister Missus
Speaker 2: Lawrence Sullivan. Delaphine's changed, though, they said to each other,
Speaker 2: she hasn't bothered with us ever since since those nasty
Speaker 2: New Yorkers came to town. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 2: Missus Downing scarcely had time for her neighbors for with
Speaker 2: the aid of her house guests, she was liquidating her property.
Speaker 2: She sold her house and gave the down payment of
Speaker 2: five hundred dollars to mister Bluebeard. She traded in her
Speaker 2: car plus one hundred and seventy five dollars for a
Speaker 2: new one. She established a joint checking account to which
Speaker 2: she contributed thirteen hundred dollars, and he two thousand, seven
Speaker 2: hundred dollars of Missus Fay's money. She was also busy
Speaker 2: arguing with Charles. She had sent her Missouri's sister eight
Speaker 2: hundred dollars for a business venture, and she was determined
Speaker 2: to send her fifteen hundred dollars more. It's not fair,
Speaker 2: stormed Fernandez, both to Missus Downing and later to Martha.
Speaker 2: But to Martha he added, Delaphene's a really nice woman.
Speaker 2: What do you say we take her to California with us?
Speaker 2: Martha saw red and forgot her promised to behave. After that,
Speaker 2: things were rather unpleasant. On February twenty six, Fernandez went
Speaker 2: shopping in Grand Rapids. He came home with a new
Speaker 2: one hundred and four dollars two pay on his head.
Speaker 2: Delaphine screamed, she didn't recognize him. Already suspicious of Martha,
Speaker 2: Delaphine hurled unpleasant charges at Fernandez. Then she had hysterics.
Speaker 2: Do you have enough of those sleeping pills to put
Speaker 2: her away for good? Ray whispered. Martha grinned and nodded.
Speaker 2: Trained as a nurse, Missus Beck persuaded Missus Downing to
Speaker 2: take the pills. Quote to call you, honey, unquote. Mister
Speaker 2: and Missus Bluebeard kept a death watch. Ray was nervous. Sugar,
Speaker 2: she may not die for a day or two. Martha warned,
Speaker 2: she's gotta die. People may come. Mister Bluebeard wrapped a
Speaker 2: gun in two baby blankets and shot the sleeping woman.
Speaker 2: Then he ran to the yard to see if the
Speaker 2: shot had attracted attention. He returned from the garage with
Speaker 2: a rope. You tie her up. I can't bear it,
Speaker 2: he said, handing the rope to his mistress. Martha. Heaved
Speaker 2: and tugged at the body, at a blanket and at
Speaker 2: the rope, while Fernandez worked in the basement to gather.
Speaker 2: They took the body down. You can't put her in
Speaker 2: that hole. There's too much water in it, Martha objected,
Speaker 2: peering into the grave. Fernandez had dug. Martha bailed two
Speaker 2: wash tubs full of muddy water out of the grave.
Speaker 2: Then they put Missus downing in her bloody pillow under
Speaker 2: her head. Mister Bluebeard filled up the hole, sealed it
Speaker 2: with old concrete, then looked at his watch. It was
Speaker 2: seven point thirty. The whole job had taken four hours.
Speaker 2: After that, they wakened sleeping Renell to get something to eat,
Speaker 2: and took the baby to a movie. The next day, Sunday,
Speaker 2: Renell proved to be a problem. She cried constantly for
Speaker 2: her mother. Mister Missus Bluebeard took her for a ride.
Speaker 2: She cried. They spent twenty five dollars for a cocker
Speaker 2: spaniel puppy. The puppy scratched renew The baby howled louder,
Speaker 2: so they returned the dog and retrieved their money. Sunday night,
Speaker 2: the first night they'd had alone for love in many weeks,
Speaker 2: the child kept screaming. Monday morning, she was still shrieking.
Speaker 2: We could put her down there with her mother. Martha suggested,
Speaker 2: you'll have to do it. I haven't the heart. Well,
Speaker 2: we'll see. The pair went into Grand Rapids withdrew all
Speaker 2: but five hundred dollars from the joint account, bought some
Speaker 2: fresh cement, and then returned to Missus Downing's cottage. Martha
Speaker 2: took the nude child to the basement, wrapped it in
Speaker 2: a blanket, and held its head down in one of
Speaker 2: the wash tubs of muddy grave water. The child struggled
Speaker 2: so hard even Big Martha could hardly manage. She plunged
Speaker 2: the baby fully under water. Let her be, don't make
Speaker 2: her suffer anymore. Ray called, what's the matter? Taunted Missus Bluebeard,
Speaker 2: Why don't you come down? Fernandez did come down later.
Speaker 2: Put it there, Martha ordered, pointing to a green toolbox.
Speaker 2: Fernandez put the body in the box, cemented it, and
Speaker 2: then re cemented Missus Downing's grave. Then the lovers went
Speaker 2: to a movie, oblivious that things had been happening in
Speaker 2: the world outside, that Missus Downing's puzzled neighbors had called
Speaker 2: her relatives and that they had called the police. Home
Speaker 2: from the movie, mister and Missus Bluebeard were preparing for
Speaker 2: bed when the police arrived. Missus Downing, oh, she and
Speaker 2: her daughter have gone to Detroit for a visit. Ray
Speaker 2: lied glibly, but the police warrant in hand pushed in
Speaker 2: the police saw the packed bags. Searching Fernandez, they found
Speaker 2: his large wad of money in his list of a
Speaker 2: hundred and seventy lonely hearts with check marks after seventeen names.
Speaker 2: Then in the basement they found the wet patch of cement,
Speaker 2: and under it they found delaphene downing. Fernandez paled, you
Speaker 2: got me dead to rights, I might as well tell everything,
Speaker 2: he said. He told his story quietly to Michigan's Kent
Speaker 2: County Prosecutor Roger O. McMahon. Sometimes his big knuckled hands
Speaker 2: writhed as he talked, Otherwise he showed no emotion. Then
Speaker 2: Husky Missus Beck was brought in. Her memory for detail
Speaker 2: was phenomenal. On the following June ninth, Indicted for the
Speaker 2: murder of Missus Fay, they went to trial in Bronx
Speaker 2: County Supreme Court before Justice Ferdinand Pecora. It took thirteen
Speaker 2: days to get twelve jurors. It took thirty more days
Speaker 2: for prosecution and defense to present its case. It took
Speaker 2: the jurors approximately twelve hours to find both Martha Beck
Speaker 2: and Raymond Martinez Fernandez guilty of murder in the first degree.
Speaker 2: March ninth, nineteen fifty one and final statements issued through
Speaker 2: their lawyer, Herbert Rosenberg. Both Martha and Fernandez stressed their
Speaker 2: great love as if that were absolution. Martha said, I
Speaker 2: have sinned, and with that knowledge, I am paying my
Speaker 2: debt to society. But Fernandez didn't even acknowledge his sin.
Speaker 2: Two hours before going to the chair, he told his
Speaker 2: lawyer he wanted to shout his love of Martha to
Speaker 2: the world. The news that she still loved him made
Speaker 2: him want to burst with joy, he said. The last
Speaker 2: day for the Lonely Heart's killers was one of frustration,
Speaker 2: but they put their all in to their last statements.
Speaker 2: What does it matter who is to blame? Asked Martha.
Speaker 2: She went on, my story is a love story, but
Speaker 2: only those tortured by love can know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Then her vanity intruded. I was pictured as a fat,
Speaker 2: unfeeling woman. True, I am fat, But if that was
Speaker 2: a crime, how many of my sex would be guilty.
Speaker 2: I am not unfeeling, stupid or moronic. The prison and
Speaker 2: the death house have only strengthened my feelings for Raymond.
Speaker 2: And in the history of the world, how many crimes
Speaker 2: can be attributed to love? My last words and my
Speaker 2: last thoughts are he who is without sin cast the
Speaker 2: first stone. Fernandez made no reference to his crimes. I'm
Speaker 2: going to die, as you know. That's something I've been
Speaker 2: prepared for since nineteen nine. I'm going to die like
Speaker 2: a man. Twice. Wednesday, lawyers for the lovers appealed to
Speaker 2: state courts for postponement of the electrocution. Yesterday, the appeal
Speaker 2: was renewed in the federal court here and on the
Speaker 2: same grounds that Martha and her boyfriend weren't present when
Speaker 2: the state Court of Appeals sentenced them to death. Federal
Speaker 2: Judge John F. X mcgoie turned down the appeal too. Undaunted,
Speaker 2: defense lawyer William Richter went to Washington to appeal to
Speaker 2: the US Supreme Court. The condemned, as usual, were permitted
Speaker 2: to choose the menus for their last lunch and dinner.
Speaker 2: Martha selected liver and onions for lunch, with spinach or broccoli,
Speaker 2: whichever the prison cook had on hand. She dined at
Speaker 2: about five pm on fried chicken, fringe, fried potatoes, and
Speaker 2: lettuce and tomato salad with dressing no dessert. Her sweetheart's
Speaker 2: lunch consisted of fried eggs, french fried potatoes, sliced tomatoes,
Speaker 2: ice cream, and coffee, topped by a box of candy
Speaker 2: and cigarettes. His evening meal was an onion omelet, sliced tomatoes, almond,
Speaker 2: ice cream, fruit, and coffee. Martha did not have a
Speaker 2: last hour visitor, but Fernandez's brother, Anthony, accompanied by a
Speaker 2: woman he described as their sister, Catherine, drove to sing
Speaker 2: sing last night and spent ten minutes in the prison.
Speaker 2: Anthony refused to answer any questions on leaving, saying only
Speaker 2: that he had found Raymond perfectly all right. At noon,
Speaker 2: with the sun shining rich with its promise of spring
Speaker 2: bright on the river that flows in view of the
Speaker 2: Graystone Deathhouse, authorities began their preparations for dispatching the killers
Speaker 2: to their deaths. Fernandez was bathed, shaved, and attired for
Speaker 2: the occasion and the light shirt and black trousers that
Speaker 2: make up what is called the death suit. They were
Speaker 2: then moved to pre execution cells near the quarter that
Speaker 2: leads to the death chamber. Missus Beck, who changed to
Speaker 2: a house dress, remained in the woman's wing. At six pm,
Speaker 2: a small spot was shaved on the top of her head.
Speaker 2: The two lovers had not seen each other since they
Speaker 2: wound up in the death house August twenty second, nineteen
Speaker 2: forty nine, and did not meet again last night. Executioner
Speaker 2: Joseph FRANCEL, who lives in Cairo, New York, was to
Speaker 2: receive one hundred and fifty dollars for each execution. Martha
Speaker 2: and Fernandez died specifically for the strangling and bludgeoning of
Speaker 2: Missus Janet Faye Wilson, sixty in Valley Stream. They buried
Speaker 2: her in a cellar in South Ozone Park, Queens in
Speaker 2: January nineteen forty nine. Fernandez had lured her from her
Speaker 2: home in Albany through Lonely Hearts letters. But they also
Speaker 2: admitted the slaying of Missus Delphine Downing twenty eight, another
Speaker 2: lonely widow trapped by the Lonely Hearts letters, and Missus
Speaker 2: Downing's two year old daughter Raynell and Byron Center near
Speaker 2: Grand Rapids, Michigan. The baby was killed drowned in a
Speaker 2: bucket of water by Martha and buried with the mother
Speaker 2: simply because Fernandez and his mistress couldn't figure out what
Speaker 2: else to do with her. Michigan has no capital punishment
Speaker 2: for murder. The state therefore waived prosecution so Fernandez and
Speaker 2: Martha could pay the ultimate penalty in New York. But
Speaker 2: the killers died in the megalomania of their love affair,
Speaker 2: the love they invoked, even after all Hope had died
Speaker 2: in the last unsuccessful moves to save them, The Lonely
Speaker 2: Heart's Killers, Fat Martha Beck and her lover Raymond Fernandez,
Speaker 2: died in the electric chair at Sing Sing last night
Speaker 2: for one of their three admitted murders. They died phlegmatically,
Speaker 2: eyes open until the death masks were lowered over their faces.
Speaker 2: Martha smiled and winked. Fernandez, in a last foppish gesture,
Speaker 2: pulled up his trousers as if to preserve of the
Speaker 2: crease as he sat in the death chair. Fernandez went
Speaker 2: to his death before his mistress. As the weaker of
Speaker 2: the pair. He was led into the death chamber at
Speaker 2: eleven twelve o'clock, accompanied by the Catholic chaplain of the prison,
Speaker 2: the Reverend Thomas Donovan. The killer stared around him without
Speaker 2: curiosity and took his place docilely. At eleven sixteen.
Speaker 3: He was dead.
Speaker 2: Four minutes later. Martha entered, walking between two matrons. She
Speaker 2: wore a blue gray house dress, and her hair shaved
Speaker 2: at the pate to receive the fatal electrode was meticulously curled.
Speaker 2: She seemed curiously self possessed. Earlier, she had confessed that
Speaker 2: her quote sin was great, but the penalty is greater, unquote,
Speaker 2: and she seemed almost detached. When the end came, there
Speaker 2: was one slight mishap. The electric chair was a tight fit,
Speaker 2: and Martha had to wriggle slightly to get her more
Speaker 2: than two hundred pounds between the fatal arms. She didn't
Speaker 2: allow that to upset her composure. Her eyes drifted once
Speaker 2: around the room, and she glanced up as the death
Speaker 2: mask was lowered. At that moment, a ghostly smile played
Speaker 2: at the corner of her mouth. She looked to her left,
Speaker 2: where the matrons who had attended her during her long
Speaker 2: imprisonment were standing. The matrons, Missus Nellie Evans and Missus
Speaker 2: Bessy Irving, were near tears, fighting for control. Martha seemed
Speaker 2: to sympathize. Her left eyelid dropped in an unmistakable wink.
Speaker 2: Then the mast came down and there was the hum
Speaker 2: of the current. At eleven twenty four, she too was dead.
Speaker 2: The lonely Heart's killers were given four shocks of electricity
Speaker 2: each to speed them to eternity. The slender Fernandez died quickly,
Speaker 2: but Martha struggled and her body strained against the straps
Speaker 2: as the first shock hit. Again at the second shock,
Speaker 2: she jerked forward. On the third and fourth, she was inerted.
Speaker 2: She was accompanied to the chair by the Protestant chaplain
Speaker 2: of sing Sing, the Reverend Luther Hannam, but she did
Speaker 2: not turn to him as he stood murmuring a prayer,
Speaker 2: nor did she give more than a cursory glance to
Speaker 2: the thirty two official witnesses, eight more than the law requires,
Speaker 2: who overflowed the chapel like pew of the death chamber
Speaker 2: and were ranged along the walls. All the witnesses but
Speaker 2: two were reporters representing twenty nine newspapers, and all were
Speaker 2: searched for cameras before being allowed to enter the death chamber,
Speaker 2: and keeping with the regulations laid down after the electrocution
Speaker 2: of Ruth Snyder, the Sashwayed husband killer back in the
Speaker 2: nineteen twenties. The two non reporters were the Michigan sheriff
Speaker 2: deputies who arrested the lonely Heart's pair. The witnesses badly
Speaker 2: strained the capacity of the box like death chamber, but
Speaker 2: none of the doomed killers seemed aware of it. The
Speaker 2: killers entered through the famous green door, directly facing the
Speaker 2: death chair. In the small room, the lower walls of
Speaker 2: dark green bordered with black, and the upper walls and
Speaker 2: ceiling a pale yellow. There was little else for them
Speaker 2: to see. To the left of the death chair stood
Speaker 2: the screen behind which the official executioner manipulated the switches,
Speaker 2: and a few feet from the screen the door to
Speaker 2: the autopsy chamber. It was in this autopsy chamber the
Speaker 2: doctor Howard Kipp, chief surgeon at Sing Sing, pronounced his finding,
Speaker 2: This man is dead, and for only in the thirteenth
Speaker 2: time in the history of New York State, the formula
Speaker 2: was altered.
Speaker 3: I pronounced this woman dead.
Speaker 2: That was mister and missus Bluebeard, Martha Beck's Lonely Hearts Club.
Speaker 2: Called from the historic pages of the New York Daily News,
Speaker 2: the Detroit Free Press, the Lansing State Journal, and other
Speaker 2: newspapers of the era. True Crime Historian is a creation
Speaker 2: of popular media opening theme by Nico Vitessi, incidental music
Speaker 2: by Nico Vitessi, Chuck Wiggins, and Dave Sam's some music
Speaker 2: and sound effects license from podcast music dot Com. Closing
Speaker 2: theme by Dave Sam's and Rachel Shott, engineered by David
Speaker 2: hih at Third Street Music Media Management. And original graphics
Speaker 2: for all new episodes by Sean Miller Jones. And as
Speaker 2: for me, well you heard it. Stoop shouldered in his
Speaker 2: ill fitting clothes, looked like a farm hand, startled by
Speaker 2: the roar of the city. I'm true crime historian Richard O.
Speaker 2: Jones signing off for now.