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<v Speaker 1>Paul Pulert Calm March second, nineteen forty nine.

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<v Speaker 2>A balding mail order romeo who contacted moneyed women through

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<v Speaker 2>lonely Hearts letters and his fat, unkempt paramour, confessed today

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<v Speaker 2>that they had killed two women and a three year

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<v Speaker 2>old girl in the past two months. Missus Martha Beck,

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<v Speaker 2>twice divorced, met Raymond Fernandez through a correspondence club when

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<v Speaker 2>she was living in Pensacola. Fernandez was then living in

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<v Speaker 2>New York late to nineteen forty seven. She came to

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<v Speaker 2>New York to meet the swarthy Hawaiian born man and

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<v Speaker 2>worked out with him the details of a plan to

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<v Speaker 2>meet other women through their club and take them for

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<v Speaker 2>their money. Together, they went to Laureltown, Pennsylvania, where Fernandez

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<v Speaker 2>met and married a forty year old widow. After three weeks,

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<v Speaker 2>the widow left him, so they turned to Chicago. There,

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<v Speaker 2>under another name, he married another woman and got four

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<v Speaker 2>thousand dollars from her. Eventually, after similar experiences in Vermont

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<v Speaker 2>and Massachusetts, Fernandez and missus Beck met the woman identified

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<v Speaker 2>as Janet Fay in Albany. McMahon quoted missus Beck as saying,

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<v Speaker 2>we got three thousand dollars from her on January fourth,

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<v Speaker 2>because she was jealous, the husky Missus Beck slugged Missus

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<v Speaker 2>Fay over the head with a pipe. Fernandez then strangled her,

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<v Speaker 2>and they stuffed her body in a steamer trunk. Fernandez

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<v Speaker 2>told the prosecutor the slaying took place in his apartment

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<v Speaker 2>at Valley Stream on Long Island. They took the body

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<v Speaker 2>to a house they rented near the Idlewild Airport on

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<v Speaker 2>Long Island and buried it. The pair came to Grand

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<v Speaker 2>Rapids January twenty third to meet the widowed Missus Downey.

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<v Speaker 2>Her husband was killed in nineteen forty seven when a

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<v Speaker 2>truck he was driving was struck by train. After living

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<v Speaker 2>for several weeks in Missus Downing's house, Fernandez induced her

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<v Speaker 2>to sell the property and moved to California. Last Saturday,

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<v Speaker 2>the widow began showing signs of suspicion, however, and the

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<v Speaker 2>pair determined to silence her. First, they drugged her with

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<v Speaker 2>sleeping pills. Then Fernandez shot her with a pistol that

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<v Speaker 2>had belonged to her ex serviceman husband. Missus Downing was

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<v Speaker 2>buried in a shallow grave in the basement. They first

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<v Speaker 2>thought of taking the child with them back to New York,

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<v Speaker 2>but gave it up because they were afraid they couldn't

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<v Speaker 2>explain to relatives where they got a child. To appease

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<v Speaker 2>the little girl, they bought her a dog, but she

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<v Speaker 2>still cried, We'll have to get rid of her. McMahon

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<v Speaker 2>quoted Fernandez as telling missus Beck. Missus Beck, in her statement,

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<v Speaker 2>related how she quote undressed the girl and holding her

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<v Speaker 2>by the feet. I put her head in one of

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<v Speaker 2>the tubs of water we had bailed out of the

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<v Speaker 2>mother's grave. The two poured concrete around the little girl's body,

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<v Speaker 2>McMahon said, and went to a movie. When they returned

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<v Speaker 2>about midnight, police were waiting for them. They had been

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<v Speaker 2>called in by a suspicious neighbor. Neighbors called the police

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<v Speaker 2>because they hadn't seen missus Downing and the child since Saturday,

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<v Speaker 2>and noted an unusual amount of activity in the house

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<v Speaker 2>where Fernandez and missus Beck had lived with their victims

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<v Speaker 2>since January twenty third. After finding four thousand dollars in

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<v Speaker 2>cash on Fernandez, they searched the house and found the bodies.

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<v Speaker 2>True crime historian presents an Eye for an Eye a

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<v Speaker 2>special edition of Yesterday's News, exploring the criminal justice system

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<v Speaker 2>in its most extreme, inflicting the death penalty. Episode three

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<v Speaker 2>hundred and sixty nine tells us the tragicomic tale of

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<v Speaker 2>a romantic in business partnership that goes awry when a

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<v Speaker 2>woman's jealousy overpowers her professional detachment. It's also a love

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<v Speaker 2>story of a passion so profound that they take their

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<v Speaker 2>love all the way to the electric chair. I'm true

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<v Speaker 2>crime historian Richard O. Jones, and for your horror and indignation,

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<v Speaker 2>and I give you mister and missus Bluebeard, Martha Beck's

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<v Speaker 2>Lonely Hearts Club. Mister Bluebeard's flirtations all began very quietly.

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<v Speaker 2>Every day the Hawaiian born spaniard labored at his construction job.

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<v Speaker 2>Every night, in his dingy little Brooklyn room, he wrote letters, letters, letters.

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<v Speaker 2>The women's names he scrawled on the envelopes came from

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<v Speaker 2>a printed list of two hundred purchased for two dollars

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<v Speaker 2>from a matrimonial agency. Then the postman began to stuff

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<v Speaker 2>answers into mister Bluebeard's Brooklyn letterbox with cooy words. The

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<v Speaker 2>writers admitted that they were fat, short, tall, thin, rich,

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<v Speaker 2>poor big town girls. Small town girls, arm girls. No

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<v Speaker 2>matter what the age, each was a girl, Each was lonely,

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<v Speaker 2>Each was eager to meet Ray Martin, Charles Martin, or

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<v Speaker 2>Raymond Martin Fernandez, depending on the alias mister Bluebeard used

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<v Speaker 2>when he wrote the letter, she was answering. During the

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<v Speaker 2>two years following nineteen forty five, when he began writing letters,

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<v Speaker 2>Ray Fernandez met only a few of his correspondents and

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<v Speaker 2>realized no financial profit. He was only potentially, not actively dangerous.

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<v Speaker 2>This was his period of learning. Each month Fernandez discarded

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<v Speaker 2>correspondence added new ones. In April nineteen forty seven, he

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<v Speaker 2>wrote to a Missus Martha Beck, a registered nurse in Pensacola, Florida.

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<v Speaker 2>Her chaste little answer prompted him to write her again.

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<v Speaker 2>In the fall of nineteen forty seven, Fernandez came upon

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<v Speaker 2>one of his New York correspondents, Missus Jane Wilson Thompson,

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<v Speaker 2>a jolly, plain faced dietitian in Manhattan's Presbyterian Hospital. Missus

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<v Speaker 2>Thompson's frail seventy two year old mother, Missus Pearl Wilson,

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<v Speaker 2>eyed her daughter's caller coldly and wondered where on earth

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<v Speaker 2>Jane had met him. Fernandez, balding at thirty two and

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<v Speaker 2>stoop shouldered in his ill fitting clothes, looked like a

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<v Speaker 2>farm hand, startled by the roar of the city. When

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<v Speaker 2>he smiled, two front gold teeth gleamed unpleasantly. Then Fernandez

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<v Speaker 2>spoke Missus Wilson, as well as Jane, the lonely heart,

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<v Speaker 2>whose husband was in a mental institution, succumbed to the

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<v Speaker 2>blandishments of this seemingly gentle man. In September nineteen forty seven,

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<v Speaker 2>he moved into a room of his own in Missus

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<v Speaker 2>Thompson's West one hundred and thirty ninth Street department. In October,

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<v Speaker 2>he told Missus Wilson he was taking Jane to Spain

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<v Speaker 2>to see the land of his father's. Missus Thompson giggled

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<v Speaker 2>and intimated honeymoon plans. Fernandez smiled, tenderly, patting the wallet

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<v Speaker 2>in which he had just placed Jane's share of expenses.

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<v Speaker 2>He kept his own counsel. Fernandez did take plane Jane

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<v Speaker 2>to Spain. One can assume she never met the wife

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<v Speaker 2>and four children he had abandoned there in nineteen forty five,

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<v Speaker 2>the year he began writing letters in Brooklyn. Jane deluged

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<v Speaker 2>friends people in the apartment house with cards saying she

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<v Speaker 2>was having a wonderful time. Fernandez sent a cable to

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<v Speaker 2>Martha Beck. In December, mister Bluebeard returned to New York

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<v Speaker 2>wearing his in his ill fitting suit and a face

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<v Speaker 2>of sorrow. He went directly to the six room apartment,

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<v Speaker 2>where missus Wilson awaited her daughter's return. Mother, I have

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<v Speaker 2>bad news, the man began. Where's Jane. Where's my Jane?

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<v Speaker 2>Demanded missus Wilson. Our Jane's dead. She died in a

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<v Speaker 2>train accident near Cadiz. There were tears and comforting. Then

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<v Speaker 2>the man got down to business with the trembling old lady.

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<v Speaker 2>He brought forth a document purportedly written by her daughter,

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<v Speaker 2>which gave him possession of the apartment and its furnishings.

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<v Speaker 2>Jane had some insurance, was Fernandez's tentative beginning. After missus

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<v Speaker 2>Wilson's tears were stayed, she made me the beneficiary. The

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<v Speaker 2>old lady wept again. I know, but I spent so

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<v Speaker 2>much money on doctors when Jane had her heart attack.

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<v Speaker 2>Missus Wilson exclaimed, I thought you said Jane died in

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<v Speaker 2>a train accident. I did Fernandez lost none of his equanimity,

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<v Speaker 2>but she had a heart attack first. Such was the

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<v Speaker 2>subsequent bitterness over Missus Thompson's insurance money. Missus Wilson told

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<v Speaker 2>shocked friends she feared the quarreling would affect her heart.

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<v Speaker 2>In the end, the insurance was halved. Fernandez a share

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<v Speaker 2>was three hundred dollars. With this money, he went to

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<v Speaker 2>Pensacola for a meeting more momentous than he realized. It

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<v Speaker 2>was the inevitable union of mister and Missus Bluebeard quote.

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<v Speaker 2>When that man stepped down from the train and I

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<v Speaker 2>saw him for the first time, I believe I was

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<v Speaker 2>in love. A love so great had come to me.

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<v Speaker 2>It would live as long as I did. That is

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<v Speaker 2>what Martha Beck, then twenty seven, has said of her

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<v Speaker 2>meeting with Raymond Martinez Fernandez. Mister Bluebeard never has said

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<v Speaker 2>what he thought when he first saw Martha, a veritable

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<v Speaker 2>amazon beside him. She stood six feet tall, weighed two

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<v Speaker 2>hundred pounds, and was husky from her boxer like shoulders

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<v Speaker 2>to her knees. But her eyes were big and soft,

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<v Speaker 2>her ankles and feet were delicate, and her fat face

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<v Speaker 2>was sweet, and her voice was gentle. Missus Beck was coy,

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<v Speaker 2>all female, all sex. Being much the intellectual superior of

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<v Speaker 2>this hard to get professional lover, she knew how to

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<v Speaker 2>woo him without being caught at it. Within a few hours,

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<v Speaker 2>the New Yorker was trying to shake this dimple Dumpling's

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<v Speaker 2>determination to return to Manhattan with him. All right, sugar,

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<v Speaker 2>you go do your work. I'll follow you in a

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<v Speaker 2>few days, follow my sweety right to his apartment in

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<v Speaker 2>West hundred and thirty ninth Street in little Old New York.

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<v Speaker 2>Back in New York, Fernandez barely had time to hustle

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<v Speaker 2>bewildered missus Wilson on to a train for Wilmington, North Carolina,

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<v Speaker 2>where she had relatives before missus beck. Purring and puffing

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<v Speaker 2>loomed in the doorway of the West one hundred and

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<v Speaker 2>thirty ninth Street apartment, and that night Martha, no stranger

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<v Speaker 2>to love, discovered that Ray was a perfect lover. She

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<v Speaker 2>made a vow to herself never to leave him. When

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<v Speaker 2>Ray insisted that Martha returned to Pensacola, the clever woman

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<v Speaker 2>seemed to acquiesce. At least she went to Florida. Then

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<v Speaker 2>she telephoned them, I've lost my job, honey, and I've

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<v Speaker 2>no one to turn to but you. Martha's explanation was glib,

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<v Speaker 2>sweet and untrue. Actually, missus Beck was well liked in Pensacola,

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<v Speaker 2>where she was graduated from from a school of nursing,

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<v Speaker 2>and she had many people to whom she could turn.

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<v Speaker 2>For one, there was her widowed mother, Missus Julius Seabrook

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<v Speaker 2>sixty eight, a matriarch who worried constantly about this daughter,

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<v Speaker 2>the smartest of her five children and the only wayward one.

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<v Speaker 2>But the truth was not in Martha. With her illegitimate

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<v Speaker 2>daughter Sue and her son Anthony Beck two, she came

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<v Speaker 2>back to raise, bed and board in little Old New York.

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<v Speaker 2>Fernandez felt a strong sexual attachment for this woman, but

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<v Speaker 2>he didn't take too kindly to becoming a family man overnight.

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<v Speaker 2>He told her so, little did he know, Martha. Martha

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<v Speaker 2>said the children got on Fernandez's nerves, and he told

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<v Speaker 2>her she would have to find a place for them,

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<v Speaker 2>but she could stay. Missus Beck said she decided to

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<v Speaker 2>place the children for adoption, but I didn't tell them

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<v Speaker 2>of my plan because I knew he would not allow

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<v Speaker 2>me to do it. Inquiry disclosed adoption procedure would take

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<v Speaker 2>a long time, so she went to a Salvation Army

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<v Speaker 2>home in New York on January twenty fifth, nineteen forty eight,

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<v Speaker 2>and asked for permission to remain overnight.

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<v Speaker 3>Quote.

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<v Speaker 2>As soon as my son went to sleep with my

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<v Speaker 2>daughter watching over him, I told my daughter I was

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<v Speaker 2>going out to buy some candy. I walked out. Tears

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<v Speaker 2>rolled down her cheeks as she said, I have never

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<v Speaker 2>seen them since she walked out with the children. A

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<v Speaker 2>few hours later, she returned, where are the kids, Ray demanded,

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<v Speaker 2>I left them at a Salvation Army center. They'll never

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<v Speaker 2>find me, but they've got my mother's name on them.

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<v Speaker 2>Kiss me, darling, we're alone. After several days of wallow

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<v Speaker 2>in a sexual love, Fernandez laid it on the line.

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<v Speaker 2>He told Martha how he intended to correspond with lonely hearts,

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<v Speaker 2>how he intended to profit by their loneliness. When I

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<v Speaker 2>bring them here, when I marry them, I'll introduce you

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<v Speaker 2>as my sister, or maybe as my sister in law.

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<v Speaker 2>You can take it or leave it. Fernandez delivered his

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<v Speaker 2>ultimatum while he sat down before Jane Thompson's typewriter. Martha

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<v Speaker 2>said she'd take it. She even helped him with his

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<v Speaker 2>voluminous correspondence. Time and again, Missus Bluebeard found herself rebelling

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<v Speaker 2>at the role their way of life had forced her

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<v Speaker 2>to play. When Ray brought home old women, she didn't

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<v Speaker 2>mind too much. When he brought home women who were

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<v Speaker 2>young and pretty, Martha couldn't stand it. Shortly before Valentine's

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<v Speaker 2>Day nineteen forty eight, Ray announced that he was going

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<v Speaker 2>to Royersford, Pennsylvania to meet Missus Esther Henny, a forty

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<v Speaker 2>year old first grade teacher in the Penhurst State School.

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<v Speaker 2>He had been courting Missus Henny for several months and

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<v Speaker 2>had learned that she had a substantial bank account. Now

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00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:26.080
<v Speaker 2>he was going to propose marriage. Almost sick with jealousy,

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<v Speaker 2>Martha did as she was bid, readied her bridal chamber

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<v Speaker 2>for another occupant. Fernandez and Esther sent word that they'd

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<v Speaker 2>been married in Fairfax, Virginia. Martha, with a smile on

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<v Speaker 2>her face and her fingernails biting into her clenched fists,

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00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:48.200
<v Speaker 2>awaited their arrival. Her heart sank when she saw that

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<v Speaker 2>her new sister in law was a pleasant, plump blonde

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<v Speaker 2>and no hag. However, she played her role of sister

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00:16:57.080 --> 00:17:01.240
<v Speaker 2>well and masked her rage. When Ray and Esther retired

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<v Speaker 2>for the night, perhaps Fernandez knew what was happening, so

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<v Speaker 2>he managed to tiptoe to Martha's bed to give her

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<v Speaker 2>a good night kiss and a whisper it's you I love.

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<v Speaker 2>Four days after Esther's arrival at the West one hundred

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<v Speaker 2>and thirty ninth Street department, Ray, so sweet and solicitous

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<v Speaker 2>during months of courtship, turned irritable. He demanded that Esther

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<v Speaker 2>sign over her insurance policies to him. She refused, but

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<v Speaker 2>she did give him five hundred dollars for rent and

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<v Speaker 2>other bills he owed. Then he insisted that she signed

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<v Speaker 2>papers making him beneficiary of her teacher's pension. She wouldn't,

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<v Speaker 2>but she did give him one hundred and fifty dollars

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<v Speaker 2>for a debt he said, he owed. Martha Ray gave

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<v Speaker 2>the astonished Esther tongue lashing after tongue lashing. One day,

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<v Speaker 2>she found five hundred dollars missing. She kept silent because

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<v Speaker 2>she didn't know whether to blame sullen Ray or moody Martha,

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<v Speaker 2>who only the day before had made a noisy, bloody

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<v Speaker 2>and vain attempt to slash her wrists from other residents

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<v Speaker 2>in the apartment building, Esther learned ominous whispers of how

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<v Speaker 2>Ray took a woman into Spain and she died there.

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<v Speaker 2>Now terror clutched the bride from Pennsylvania. She spent day

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<v Speaker 2>after day with Martha, whose every glance was menacing. She

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00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:33.839
<v Speaker 2>spent night after night waiting alone in her bedroom for Ray,

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<v Speaker 2>whose soft voice could be heard in Martha's room. When

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00:18:38.200 --> 00:18:40.720
<v Speaker 2>he finally did get to her bed, he was ugly

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<v Speaker 2>and ready for sleep. When her two rings and her

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00:18:44.680 --> 00:18:50.319
<v Speaker 2>wristwatch disappeared, Esther, certain that something sinister was afoot, but

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<v Speaker 2>unable to find the key to the mystery, decided to

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00:18:54.440 --> 00:18:59.440
<v Speaker 2>swallow her pride and return quietly to Royersford. Then she

249
00:18:59.480 --> 00:19:05.559
<v Speaker 2>couldn't find car. She rushed to Ray, my car's been stolen.

250
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<v Speaker 2>Esther reported, I lost it in a poker game, he answered.

251
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<v Speaker 2>A few days later, the frantic bride found her automobile

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00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:18.079
<v Speaker 2>parked on a side street. In the glove compartment, she

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00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:22.799
<v Speaker 2>found pawn tickets. Taking these to the pawnshop, she found

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00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:25.599
<v Speaker 2>her watch and rings and learned that they had been

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00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:31.319
<v Speaker 2>left by Fernandez. Redeeming them, Esther climbed into her car

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<v Speaker 2>and sped toward Philadelphia.

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<v Speaker 4>To avoid future commercial interruptions, visit us at www dot

258
00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:56.000
<v Speaker 4>patreon dot com slash true Crime Historian. For as little

259
00:19:56.039 --> 00:19:58.960
<v Speaker 4>as a dollar a week, you can enjoy full access

260
00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:03.960
<v Speaker 4>to the true crime Historian Dusty Vault, exclusive episodes, and

261
00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:10.160
<v Speaker 4>whatever personal services you require. That's www dot patreon dot

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00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:12.960
<v Speaker 4>com slash true Crime Historian.

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<v Speaker 2>It was to be many months before Esther Henney discovered

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00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:28.079
<v Speaker 2>she'd been in the clammy clutches of mister and Missus Bluebeard.

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00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:31.759
<v Speaker 2>Had she known, she might have been too thankful to

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00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:35.519
<v Speaker 2>be alive to take her troubles to a lawyer. However,

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00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:40.200
<v Speaker 2>the attorney exacted a promise from Fernandez to pay Missus

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00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:43.440
<v Speaker 2>Henny fifty dollars a month until he had made full

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00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:49.119
<v Speaker 2>restitution for her losses. Ray incidentally was sending one hundred

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<v Speaker 2>dollars a month to his wife in Spain, a habit

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00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:57.960
<v Speaker 2>of which Martha was unable to break him. Instinct told

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<v Speaker 2>this odd pair that it was time to clear out

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00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:02.759
<v Speaker 2>of the West one hundred and thirty ninth Street place.

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<v Speaker 2>They rented rooms in a bungalow on Washingtonaw Avenue in Chicago,

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<v Speaker 2>and their landlady thought mister and missus Fernandez were a

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<v Speaker 2>very nice couple, so quiet, so genteel. Ray found employment

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00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:22.960
<v Speaker 2>at a machinist's bench and bought himself atopay to cover

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00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:28.039
<v Speaker 2>his increasing baldness. Martha became a registered nurse at Saint

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00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:33.319
<v Speaker 2>Luke's Hospital in July. She left the other nurses sorrowful

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<v Speaker 2>when she took a leave of absence because of the

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00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:39.359
<v Speaker 2>masked death of her parents, her brother, and her child

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<v Speaker 2>in an auto accident in Pensacola. Her mother was very

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00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:48.519
<v Speaker 2>much alive in caring for Martha's children. Her brother, Dudley

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00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:53.079
<v Speaker 2>was a Pensacola cop, and her father, a typesetter on

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<v Speaker 2>the Milton Georgia Gazette, had been dead three years. Actually,

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00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:03.599
<v Speaker 2>Big Eyed Bluebeard was preparing to go about her lover's business,

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00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:09.359
<v Speaker 2>and her gorge was rising. Ray had told her only

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00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:13.799
<v Speaker 2>that Ruby Mercer of Fayetteville, North Carolina was coming to

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00:22:13.880 --> 00:22:18.640
<v Speaker 2>Chicago in answer to his letters. The same old jealousy

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00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:23.480
<v Speaker 2>poisoned Martha until she saw Miss Mercer. From Martha's point

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00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:26.920
<v Speaker 2>of view, she had nothing to fear from this female.

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<v Speaker 2>Questioning Miss Mercer deftly, Ray and Martha found the woman

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00:22:31.400 --> 00:22:34.000
<v Speaker 2>had no money in the bank at home and only

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00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:37.960
<v Speaker 2>seven dollars in a bus ticket in her purs They

295
00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:42.000
<v Speaker 2>persuaded the lady to go back to where she came from. Ray,

296
00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:45.039
<v Speaker 2>who had taken a day off from work to meet

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00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:49.039
<v Speaker 2>Miss Mercer, went back to his job. Martha became a

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<v Speaker 2>nurse in Holy Cross Hospital. Then one terrible weekend, mister

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<v Speaker 2>Bluebeard left Martha alone. He was looking over a prospect

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<v Speaker 2>in green Forest, Arkansas. The poor, unsuspecting soul was missus

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<v Speaker 2>Myrtle Young, forty three years divorced and the mother of

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00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:15.599
<v Speaker 2>a son seventeen and a daughter twenty. Important item. She

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00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:20.519
<v Speaker 2>owned a small hotel in green Forest. Ray returned to

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<v Speaker 2>his love sick Martha, his eyes were shining, who was

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00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:30.039
<v Speaker 2>figuratively licking his chops. I told her to come up here.

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<v Speaker 2>She thinks I'm Charles Martin. On August eleventh, Ray and

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<v Speaker 2>Martha quit their jobs. That night, Martha had an attack

308
00:23:39.319 --> 00:23:45.119
<v Speaker 2>of the same old sickness jealousy. She exhibited twenty sleeping

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00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:49.319
<v Speaker 2>pills she had stolen from the hospital. Ray persuaded her

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<v Speaker 2>not to take them. The next morning, Missus Young was

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<v Speaker 2>met at a Chicago bus terminal by an extremely gentle

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<v Speaker 2>Charles Martin and his nervous, smiling sister. In appearance, Martha

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00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:07.200
<v Speaker 2>found Myrtle very much like herself. Now, where was her

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00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:11.160
<v Speaker 2>four thousand dollars? Oh, she left that in her Green

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00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:15.519
<v Speaker 2>Forest bank. Wasn't that all right? Charles was so sweet

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<v Speaker 2>to Myrtle that his sister wondered whether anyone ever died

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<v Speaker 2>of jealousy. On August fourteenth, with Martha as a furious

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00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:30.160
<v Speaker 2>matron of honor, Missus Young and Charles Martin took out

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00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:33.920
<v Speaker 2>a marriage license and were married at the Cook County Building.

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<v Speaker 2>The three went next to Chicago's First National Bank. There,

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<v Speaker 2>at her husband's urging, Myrtle asked to cash a check

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<v Speaker 2>against her account in her Arkansas bank. The First National

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<v Speaker 2>was stuffy about it and refused her request. Myrtle might

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<v Speaker 2>have let it go at that, but her bridegroom was

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<v Speaker 2>so annoyed he made her sleep with her sister in

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00:24:57.880 --> 00:25:03.519
<v Speaker 2>law on their bridal night. Perplexed, Myrtle telephoned her hometown bank.

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<v Speaker 2>The very next day, August fifteenth, her four thousand dollars

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00:25:08.279 --> 00:25:12.680
<v Speaker 2>was available at Chicago's First National. The three went to

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00:25:12.759 --> 00:25:17.319
<v Speaker 2>the bank. The newlyweds established a two thousand dollars joint

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00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:22.359
<v Speaker 2>checking account for mister and missus Charles Martin. Myrtle put

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00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:25.880
<v Speaker 2>the remaining two thousand dollars in her wallet, but she

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00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:30.240
<v Speaker 2>brought it out soon. At an automobile agency, she spent

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<v Speaker 2>seventeen hundred and fifty dollars for a nineteen forty one

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<v Speaker 2>sedanette Charles wanted. He wanted to drive it right off,

335
00:25:39.400 --> 00:25:43.400
<v Speaker 2>but Myrtle insisted on a new paint job. That night,

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<v Speaker 2>Myrtle took them to dinner at a Loop restaurant, and

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<v Speaker 2>later she took them to a movie. That was where

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<v Speaker 2>she fell ill. When they reached their Washtonaw Avenue rooms,

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00:25:54.920 --> 00:25:58.519
<v Speaker 2>nurse Martha gave her sister in law a bicarbonate of

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00:25:58.599 --> 00:26:02.920
<v Speaker 2>soda and put her to bed. Myrtle called archly to

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00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:07.839
<v Speaker 2>her bridegroom, who went to her. Martha worried on the Davenport,

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00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:13.960
<v Speaker 2>but not about Myrtle's health. At four a m. Fernandez

343
00:26:14.119 --> 00:26:17.640
<v Speaker 2>came to his beloved, I don't know what's wrong with Myrtle.

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<v Speaker 2>Take her to a hospital, he ordered, Crossly. Martha dressed

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00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:27.559
<v Speaker 2>hastily and jerked Myrtle into her clothes. The two women

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00:26:27.640 --> 00:26:31.920
<v Speaker 2>started by bus for a hospital, with Myrtle muttering you've

347
00:26:31.960 --> 00:26:36.240
<v Speaker 2>poisoned me. You've poisoned me. With her best hospital manners,

348
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<v Speaker 2>Martha got Myrtle on a bus and sought to soothe

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00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.480
<v Speaker 2>her temporary rival. But Myrtle kept mumbling that her sister

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<v Speaker 2>in law had poisoned her, that she feared the whole

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<v Speaker 2>marriage venture, and that her life was in danger. Her

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00:26:51.960 --> 00:26:57.839
<v Speaker 2>hysteria was rising. Suddenly, Myrtle leaped from her seat in

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<v Speaker 2>the almost empty bus, ran to the driver and demanded

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00:27:01.799 --> 00:27:08.680
<v Speaker 2>a policeman. Martha lumbering after sought to shush her. Martha

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<v Speaker 2>would not be quieted. The driver brought his bus to

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<v Speaker 2>a halt. Okay, lady, He told Myrtle, there's the Brighton

357
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<v Speaker 2>Park police station.

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<v Speaker 3>You go in there.

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00:27:20.319 --> 00:27:23.200
<v Speaker 2>He pointed to a lighted entrance and gave Martha a

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00:27:23.319 --> 00:27:29.119
<v Speaker 2>sympathetic smile. As Myrtle ran from the bus. Martha hurried

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<v Speaker 2>after her. Myrtle pounded up to the startled desk sergeant,

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00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:36.640
<v Speaker 2>screaming that she'd been poisoned, that she was in danger

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<v Speaker 2>of her life. Missus Bluebeard stood behind the frenzied woman

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<v Speaker 2>and twirled her finger at her head to indicate that

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<v Speaker 2>Myrtle was mentally unbalanced. I'm taking her to a hospital.

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<v Speaker 2>Martha purred, that's where she ought to be. The desk

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<v Speaker 2>sergeant agreed, then, placatingly, lady, you go to a hospital. Tomorrow,

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<v Speaker 2>you telephone and we'll send a policeman around. Thus, missus

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<v Speaker 2>Bluebeard piloted her victim out into the Chicago night. Now

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<v Speaker 2>we'll go to a hospital. Martha's voice was soft, syrupy,

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<v Speaker 2>but the sick woman balked and stood under a street light,

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<v Speaker 2>fumbling in her purse. My bank book's missing, Myrtle screamed,

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<v Speaker 2>I'm not going back to a hospital. I'm going back

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<v Speaker 2>to Charles and ask him about this. And back they

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<v Speaker 2>went to the bungalow on Washington Aw Avenue. While Myrtle

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<v Speaker 2>searched frantically through her belongings for her bank book. Fernandez's

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<v Speaker 2>eyes rested accusingly on his full lipped paramour. Martha's brown

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<v Speaker 2>eyes watched him slyly. Each pair of eyes seemed to

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00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:54.960
<v Speaker 2>say that the other had robbed Myrtle. Now, honey, why

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<v Speaker 2>don't you look in your purse again? Martha suggested the

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<v Speaker 2>sick woman dump the clutter of her handbag onto her bed,

382
00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:06.680
<v Speaker 2>and there, in one of the compartments lay her bank

383
00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:12.039
<v Speaker 2>book had it been stolen and returned, Neither Ray nor

384
00:29:12.200 --> 00:29:16.960
<v Speaker 2>Martha has said. At any rate, the lost and found

385
00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:20.039
<v Speaker 2>bank book proved the last straw for the sick woman.

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<v Speaker 2>I've had enough. I'm going home. Martha glanced triumphantly at

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00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:38.519
<v Speaker 2>her lover, but neither spoke. Early the next morning, August sixteenth,

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<v Speaker 2>Fernandez and Martha took the distraught woman to the bus terminal. Myrtle,

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<v Speaker 2>still ill, had just missed a southbound bus. There would

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<v Speaker 2>be an hour's wait. Without a word or a glance.

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<v Speaker 2>Mister and missus Bluebeard exchanged a single thought Myrtle might

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<v Speaker 2>remember her money, and utilized that sixty minutes by hurrying

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<v Speaker 2>to the First National Bank. Excusing himself, Fernandez went to

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<v Speaker 2>the washroom hurriedley wrote a check for two thousand dollars

395
00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:18.559
<v Speaker 2>and slipped it to Martha. Martha needed no instruction. While

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00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:22.079
<v Speaker 2>Myrtles about to be abandoned husband sought to soothe her

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<v Speaker 2>into a peaceful departure, Martha rushed to the bank. There

398
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<v Speaker 2>she discovered, to her angry embarrassment that haste made waste

399
00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:36.240
<v Speaker 2>her lover had made out the check to Ray Martin

400
00:30:36.359 --> 00:30:40.759
<v Speaker 2>instead of Charles Martin. Naturally, the bank refused to honor

401
00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:46.039
<v Speaker 2>the check, Martha dashed back to the bus terminal. By

402
00:30:46.079 --> 00:30:49.880
<v Speaker 2>the time Martha arrived, Myrtle was already on her way

403
00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:53.480
<v Speaker 2>to Arkansas. The thought of her newly purchased car and

404
00:30:53.519 --> 00:30:57.039
<v Speaker 2>of her joint checking account swept from her sick mind.

405
00:30:58.279 --> 00:31:03.640
<v Speaker 2>Mister Missus Bluebeard made to the First National Fernandez using

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<v Speaker 2>the name Charles Martin, wrote a check which emptied the

407
00:31:07.240 --> 00:31:11.279
<v Speaker 2>joint account of its two thousand dollars. Then they hurried

408
00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:16.119
<v Speaker 2>to the automobile agency to pick up Myrtle's car. They

409
00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:20.119
<v Speaker 2>packed their belongings, dumped them into the new car, and

410
00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:27.200
<v Speaker 2>headed east. Meanwhile, at Springfield, Missouri, a dazed and seemingly

411
00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:30.960
<v Speaker 2>very sick woman was taken from an Arkansas bound bus

412
00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:35.000
<v Speaker 2>and hurried to a hospital. She kept insisting that she

413
00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:38.480
<v Speaker 2>had been kept captive and beaten until she surrendered her money.

414
00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:43.319
<v Speaker 2>Hospital doctors decided she had indeed been beaten about the

415
00:31:43.400 --> 00:31:47.240
<v Speaker 2>head and that this beating may have caused her mental derangement.

416
00:31:47.960 --> 00:31:51.319
<v Speaker 2>Papers in her bag identified the sick woman as missus

417
00:31:51.359 --> 00:31:56.400
<v Speaker 2>Myrtle Young of green Forest, Arkansas. Relatives hurried to her

418
00:31:56.480 --> 00:31:59.960
<v Speaker 2>aid and placed her in a mental hospital in Little Roy.

419
00:32:00.759 --> 00:32:05.279
<v Speaker 2>Then On August twenty first, several days after her marriage,

420
00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:11.079
<v Speaker 2>Myrtle Young died. The death certificate read cerebral hemorrhage and

421
00:32:11.160 --> 00:32:17.319
<v Speaker 2>liver inflammation. Only two people realized that the car for

422
00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:21.039
<v Speaker 2>which Missus Young's money had paid was speeding mister and

423
00:32:21.079 --> 00:32:29.880
<v Speaker 2>Missus Bluebeard on to New England to more daring crimes.

424
00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:36.720
<v Speaker 2>Mister and Missus Bluebeard sped eastward in a car bought

425
00:32:36.759 --> 00:32:40.880
<v Speaker 2>with their last victim's money behind them. In a little Rock,

426
00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:47.640
<v Speaker 2>Arkansas hospital, Missus Myrtle Young, forty had died of cerebral hemorrhage,

427
00:32:48.200 --> 00:32:51.240
<v Speaker 2>insisting to the last that she had been held captive

428
00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:55.359
<v Speaker 2>in Chicago by her bridegroom and his sister, who beat

429
00:32:55.400 --> 00:32:59.559
<v Speaker 2>her until she surrendered her money ahead of them. In

430
00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:04.319
<v Speaker 2>spring Field, Vermont, a boarding house keeper quivered over her

431
00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:09.960
<v Speaker 2>prospective meeting with Raymond Martinez Fernandez, a lonely heart's penpal

432
00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:12.039
<v Speaker 2>to whom she hoped soon.

433
00:33:11.880 --> 00:33:12.599
<v Speaker 3>To be married.

434
00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:19.319
<v Speaker 2>I hope she's a hag, grumbled Fernandez's companion, Missus Martha Beck,

435
00:33:19.720 --> 00:33:25.680
<v Speaker 2>as they neared their destination. She isn't, the man retorted, grinning.

436
00:33:26.359 --> 00:33:31.160
<v Speaker 2>She's thirty nine, blonde and attractive. Her name is Irene

437
00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:37.720
<v Speaker 2>de la Pointe married, asked Martha, seldom privy to biographical

438
00:33:37.839 --> 00:33:42.880
<v Speaker 2>data on mister Bluebeard's prospects, Missus de la Pointe is

439
00:33:42.920 --> 00:33:49.119
<v Speaker 2>a widow, Fernandez replied stiffly. Brief silence followed this announcement.

440
00:33:49.839 --> 00:33:53.519
<v Speaker 2>Then Martha wailed, Sugar, if you love me, please don't

441
00:33:53.559 --> 00:33:59.960
<v Speaker 2>make love to her. Fernandez's lips thinned to a harsh line, Martha,

442
00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:04.240
<v Speaker 2>remember your promise not to be jealous and not to interfere.

443
00:34:04.640 --> 00:34:07.839
<v Speaker 2>You're getting to be a business and social nuisance. Why

444
00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:10.840
<v Speaker 2>don't you go back to Florida and let me be,

445
00:34:10.840 --> 00:34:13.239
<v Speaker 2>because you're the only man who can make me happy.

446
00:34:13.519 --> 00:34:17.400
<v Speaker 2>I'll never let you go. The car carried its bickering

447
00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:22.679
<v Speaker 2>love birds to Springfield. It was late August nineteen forty eight,

448
00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:26.920
<v Speaker 2>shortly after the death of the aforementioned Missus Young, that

449
00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:32.639
<v Speaker 2>Fernandez and Missus Beck arrived in New York. Fernandez's greedy

450
00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:37.599
<v Speaker 2>eyes swept first over his prospective bride's property and then

451
00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:43.000
<v Speaker 2>over Missus de la Pointe. He liked what he saw. Irene,

452
00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:47.719
<v Speaker 2>in turn, was pleased with her matrimonial agency. Find what

453
00:34:47.880 --> 00:34:53.199
<v Speaker 2>Fernandez lacked in beauty, He was stoop shouldered swarthy, gold

454
00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:58.679
<v Speaker 2>toothed in hayseedy he made up for in charm. At

455
00:34:58.760 --> 00:35:02.000
<v Speaker 2>least Irene he found him delightful when she could prime

456
00:35:02.079 --> 00:35:05.760
<v Speaker 2>away from the devoted woman he'd introduced as his sister.

457
00:35:06.679 --> 00:35:10.159
<v Speaker 2>He seemed afraid even to pay Irene a compliment when

458
00:35:10.199 --> 00:35:15.199
<v Speaker 2>pouting missus Beck was around. However, he managed a moment

459
00:35:15.239 --> 00:35:19.599
<v Speaker 2>alone with Irene to propose marriage, and they did slip

460
00:35:19.639 --> 00:35:23.639
<v Speaker 2>away for a few glorious hours, during which they took

461
00:35:23.760 --> 00:35:29.880
<v Speaker 2>premarital blood tests. When they told Martha, she turned hysterical.

462
00:35:30.639 --> 00:35:34.920
<v Speaker 2>Martha had disrupted each of Fernandez's marriage for profit plans

463
00:35:35.239 --> 00:35:39.119
<v Speaker 2>since she had joined him eight months before. This one

464
00:35:39.239 --> 00:35:44.920
<v Speaker 2>was no exception. One night, her great eyes wide with excitement,

465
00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:49.880
<v Speaker 2>she whispered dreadful details of Ray's past in Irene's car.

466
00:35:51.320 --> 00:35:54.559
<v Speaker 2>The next morning, the Vermont widow, who never let her

467
00:35:54.639 --> 00:36:00.320
<v Speaker 2>heart rule her head, sent the pair packing. Fernandez as

468
00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:04.440
<v Speaker 2>was in a fury. Don't you talk to me like that,

469
00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:09.280
<v Speaker 2>Martha shrieked, I can't stand it. Irene was pretty and

470
00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:14.000
<v Speaker 2>you were falling in love. I'll kill myself. The car

471
00:36:14.400 --> 00:36:19.920
<v Speaker 2>outbound from Springfield came to a halt. Martha dashed from

472
00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:24.320
<v Speaker 2>it and threw herself into the nearby Black River. Fernandez

473
00:36:24.440 --> 00:36:28.719
<v Speaker 2>ran after hauled out her two hundred dripping pounds. He

474
00:36:28.880 --> 00:36:33.360
<v Speaker 2>was not contrite. I've got a perfectly good racket, and

475
00:36:33.400 --> 00:36:37.559
<v Speaker 2>you keep spoiling it with your jealousy, he scolded, We're through.

476
00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:42.360
<v Speaker 2>You take the next bus south. Wiley, Martha knew better

477
00:36:42.760 --> 00:36:47.519
<v Speaker 2>than to irritate her Hawaiian born spaniard too much. With

478
00:36:47.639 --> 00:36:50.559
<v Speaker 2>tears in her eyes, she took a bus to the

479
00:36:50.599 --> 00:36:54.840
<v Speaker 2>North Carolina home of a married sister. Free at last

480
00:36:54.880 --> 00:36:59.719
<v Speaker 2>of his mistress, Fernandez visited his sister, Missus frank Cano,

481
00:37:00.239 --> 00:37:04.559
<v Speaker 2>in the Astorias section of New York. There he planned

482
00:37:04.599 --> 00:37:09.400
<v Speaker 2>new conquests of lonely hearts. He wrote Missus de la Pointe,

483
00:37:09.880 --> 00:37:15.039
<v Speaker 2>seeking a reconciliation with her. Irene answered, I only wish

484
00:37:15.119 --> 00:37:17.400
<v Speaker 2>I had a way of looking deep down into your

485
00:37:17.480 --> 00:37:21.119
<v Speaker 2>head and reading what is there true as you say,

486
00:37:21.559 --> 00:37:25.079
<v Speaker 2>there would always be doubt between us after those hideous things.

487
00:37:25.119 --> 00:37:29.119
<v Speaker 2>Martha told me. She even implied you intended to do

488
00:37:29.239 --> 00:37:32.079
<v Speaker 2>away with me as you did with Jane. After you

489
00:37:32.159 --> 00:37:35.800
<v Speaker 2>succeeded in getting what I had, then you could go

490
00:37:35.880 --> 00:37:39.480
<v Speaker 2>away and enjoy yourself with her, your only true love.

491
00:37:39.960 --> 00:37:45.360
<v Speaker 2>You skunk, but I love you. Darn it well, Darling,

492
00:37:45.559 --> 00:38:01.760
<v Speaker 2>so long and try to be good. Enjoy ad free

493
00:38:01.800 --> 00:38:03.440
<v Speaker 2>listening at the safe house.

494
00:38:04.039 --> 00:38:09.719
<v Speaker 4>Dubbadubbadubba dot Patreon dot com, slash true crime historian.

495
00:38:16.960 --> 00:38:20.320
<v Speaker 2>One of Ray's correspondents who appeared to be a really

496
00:38:20.320 --> 00:38:25.639
<v Speaker 2>good prospect was missus Janet j Faye and Albany, New

497
00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:31.800
<v Speaker 2>York widow. She wrote that she was forty attractive, like dancing,

498
00:38:32.280 --> 00:38:37.199
<v Speaker 2>and had almost seven thousand dollars before Ray could get

499
00:38:37.239 --> 00:38:43.119
<v Speaker 2>to Albany, Big Martha, looking like sunshine. After Storm returned

500
00:38:43.159 --> 00:38:47.800
<v Speaker 2>to New York, ferreted him out and cooed, take me back, sugar,

501
00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:51.760
<v Speaker 2>I'll behave I'll do anything you say. Remember those twenty

502
00:38:51.800 --> 00:38:55.800
<v Speaker 2>sleeping pills I stole from that Chicago hospital. I took

503
00:38:55.920 --> 00:38:58.880
<v Speaker 2>six of them to kill myself, but I lived, and

504
00:38:59.039 --> 00:39:02.480
<v Speaker 2>then I knew I wasn't supposed to die. Please take

505
00:39:02.559 --> 00:39:06.679
<v Speaker 2>me back. And because there was a strong sexual tie

506
00:39:06.719 --> 00:39:12.159
<v Speaker 2>between them, mister Bluebeard again took Missus Bluebeard into his arms.

507
00:39:12.760 --> 00:39:16.599
<v Speaker 2>As mister and Missus Charles Martin. They leased the upper

508
00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:20.760
<v Speaker 2>floor of a house in Adeline Place, Valley, stream Long Island.

509
00:39:21.800 --> 00:39:25.280
<v Speaker 2>They paid two hundred dollars for two months. Rent then

510
00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:30.239
<v Speaker 2>moved in on December seventeenth, nineteen forty eight, and brought

511
00:39:30.280 --> 00:39:35.880
<v Speaker 2>with them many religious objects and five radios. On December

512
00:39:35.920 --> 00:39:39.280
<v Speaker 2>twenty sixth another letter came to Ray from his lonely

513
00:39:39.320 --> 00:39:44.519
<v Speaker 2>heart in Albany. He told Martha about missus Fay and

514
00:39:44.599 --> 00:39:49.480
<v Speaker 2>made her promise to behave no matter what happens. On

515
00:39:49.519 --> 00:39:55.320
<v Speaker 2>December thirty first, Martha and Ray drove north. Martha remained

516
00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:59.599
<v Speaker 2>in an Albany hotel. That New Year's Eve, Ray went

517
00:39:59.639 --> 00:40:03.480
<v Speaker 2>to see Janet in her one room, kitchenette apartment. He

518
00:40:03.599 --> 00:40:07.320
<v Speaker 2>found missus Faye some twenty years older and some twenty

519
00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:11.440
<v Speaker 2>pounds heavier than she had described herself. That did not

520
00:40:11.559 --> 00:40:14.800
<v Speaker 2>make her less attractive, for she had desire in her

521
00:40:14.840 --> 00:40:19.480
<v Speaker 2>heart and money in her bank. At ten thirty PM,

522
00:40:19.639 --> 00:40:22.880
<v Speaker 2>when Ray left Janet, he promised to bring his sister

523
00:40:22.960 --> 00:40:26.840
<v Speaker 2>to see her. Martha needed only one look that New

524
00:40:26.920 --> 00:40:30.880
<v Speaker 2>Year's Day to see that Missus Fay was simply gaga

525
00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:40.760
<v Speaker 2>about Ray. Fernandez for the most part, behave circumspectly. That afternoon, Ray, Martha,

526
00:40:40.760 --> 00:40:44.639
<v Speaker 2>and Missus Fay drove to Amsterdam, New York to visit

527
00:40:44.719 --> 00:40:49.639
<v Speaker 2>missus Faye's stepdaughter and her husband, doctor and missus Alton Spencer.

528
00:40:50.960 --> 00:40:55.039
<v Speaker 2>Returning to Albany, missus Faye asked her friends to spend

529
00:40:55.039 --> 00:40:57.519
<v Speaker 2>the night with her. Don't you go to sleep until

530
00:40:57.559 --> 00:41:02.159
<v Speaker 2>she does, Ray warned Martha. The next day was Sunday.

531
00:41:03.000 --> 00:41:07.320
<v Speaker 2>Mister and missus Bluebeard marked time until Monday so missus

532
00:41:07.320 --> 00:41:11.400
<v Speaker 2>Fay could go to her banks bright and early that

533
00:41:11.559 --> 00:41:16.559
<v Speaker 2>January third, Excited, Janet wrote one two thousand dollar check

534
00:41:16.639 --> 00:41:21.079
<v Speaker 2>payable to her and another fifteen hundred dollar check payable

535
00:41:21.119 --> 00:41:24.440
<v Speaker 2>to the First National Bank of New York. She also

536
00:41:24.559 --> 00:41:28.440
<v Speaker 2>drew about thirty four hundred dollars in cash. Here, Charles,

537
00:41:28.480 --> 00:41:32.639
<v Speaker 2>you keep these, missus Fay simpered as she handed suave

538
00:41:32.760 --> 00:41:37.320
<v Speaker 2>mister Bluebeard checks and bank book. I'll feel safer if

539
00:41:37.320 --> 00:41:40.199
<v Speaker 2>you have them. It was nine p m. When the

540
00:41:40.280 --> 00:41:44.239
<v Speaker 2>pair ushered their giggling victim into their Valley Stream apartment.

541
00:41:45.519 --> 00:41:51.159
<v Speaker 2>Janet purred Missus Beck fixed food in the kitchen. Bluebeard

542
00:41:51.280 --> 00:41:54.760
<v Speaker 2>tacked up pictures in the living room, carelessly leaving his

543
00:41:54.840 --> 00:41:59.280
<v Speaker 2>hammer on a chair. Then he suggested that missus Fay

544
00:41:59.519 --> 00:42:02.360
<v Speaker 2>use a un method of telling her all many friends

545
00:42:02.719 --> 00:42:08.679
<v Speaker 2>of her impending marriage. How asked missus Fay. As Fernandez

546
00:42:08.760 --> 00:42:14.159
<v Speaker 2>sent for paper and ink, Write surprise across here. His

547
00:42:14.199 --> 00:42:18.719
<v Speaker 2>finger went diagonally across the sheet. Then write your name here.

548
00:42:19.880 --> 00:42:23.480
<v Speaker 2>His finger traveled horizontally along the bottom of the paper.

549
00:42:24.960 --> 00:42:28.599
<v Speaker 2>Mary is a grig, missus Faye did as she was bid,

550
00:42:29.159 --> 00:42:32.400
<v Speaker 2>commenting the while that she'd better get to Manhattan early

551
00:42:32.440 --> 00:42:35.880
<v Speaker 2>on the morrow because she felt easy only winter money

552
00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:41.039
<v Speaker 2>was banged. Mister Bluebeard suggested she endorse her checks at once.

553
00:42:42.000 --> 00:42:45.039
<v Speaker 2>She did. I think I ought to call my late

554
00:42:45.119 --> 00:42:48.320
<v Speaker 2>husband's sister and tell her I'm down here, the old

555
00:42:48.400 --> 00:42:54.559
<v Speaker 2>lady suggested. Happily, Martha's shadow fell across the doorway. It's

556
00:42:54.599 --> 00:42:59.519
<v Speaker 2>too late, missus Beck objected. Janet looked through her couped

557
00:42:59.519 --> 00:43:04.360
<v Speaker 2>to Fernandez, patted his strong hand and babbled on about

558
00:43:04.360 --> 00:43:09.239
<v Speaker 2>her checks. Martha scolded, Oh, give the woman her money

559
00:43:09.280 --> 00:43:11.159
<v Speaker 2>so she can go and we can get some rest.

560
00:43:11.840 --> 00:43:15.039
<v Speaker 2>The dislike the two women felt for each other was plain.

561
00:43:16.280 --> 00:43:19.519
<v Speaker 2>Since there was only one bed, Martha and Janet had

562
00:43:19.519 --> 00:43:23.079
<v Speaker 2>to occupy it together. From his place on the front

563
00:43:23.159 --> 00:43:27.719
<v Speaker 2>room couchs, Fernandez could hear Janet telling Martha that once wed,

564
00:43:28.039 --> 00:43:31.639
<v Speaker 2>she and Charles wouldn't want a sister around. It was

565
00:43:31.760 --> 00:43:36.119
<v Speaker 2>late when Janet Weeping came to him. She was making

566
00:43:36.159 --> 00:43:39.440
<v Speaker 2>such a fuss over something Martha had said. He feared

567
00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:44.679
<v Speaker 2>the people downstairs would hear shushing. Janet Fernandez strode to

568
00:43:44.719 --> 00:43:49.320
<v Speaker 2>Martha's bed, quiet that woman he ordered no matter how.

569
00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:53.000
<v Speaker 2>He waved his hand in the general direction of the hammer,

570
00:43:53.599 --> 00:43:58.559
<v Speaker 2>saw Martha's face and used his paramour's own much worn plea,

571
00:43:59.360 --> 00:44:03.199
<v Speaker 2>if you love me, you will. Then he went to

572
00:44:03.280 --> 00:44:08.719
<v Speaker 2>the bathroom and stayed there ten or fifteen minutes. Martha

573
00:44:08.920 --> 00:44:13.239
<v Speaker 2>glided to the living room. She says she saw old

574
00:44:13.360 --> 00:44:18.599
<v Speaker 2>missus Fay lying nude on the couch. Her jealousy boiled over.

575
00:44:19.719 --> 00:44:23.119
<v Speaker 2>She said. The next thing she knew, Ray was shaking

576
00:44:23.159 --> 00:44:34.840
<v Speaker 2>her by the shoulders and shouting what has happened. Testifying

577
00:44:34.920 --> 00:44:38.400
<v Speaker 2>in his own defense the mail order, Romeo said the

578
00:44:38.480 --> 00:44:41.519
<v Speaker 2>killing occurred during the five or ten minutes he was

579
00:44:41.559 --> 00:44:45.039
<v Speaker 2>in the bathroom of the Valley Stream apartment he shared

580
00:44:45.119 --> 00:44:49.679
<v Speaker 2>with Missus Beck. The door was closed, he said, calmly

581
00:44:49.760 --> 00:44:52.719
<v Speaker 2>and quietly. I went back in the living room and

582
00:44:52.760 --> 00:44:56.960
<v Speaker 2>Missus Beck was standing up over missus Fay. Missus Fay

583
00:44:57.159 --> 00:45:01.119
<v Speaker 2>was crouched over the suitcase, her head was flattered with blood.

584
00:45:01.760 --> 00:45:04.880
<v Speaker 2>The suitcase was bloody, and on the floor there was

585
00:45:04.920 --> 00:45:09.039
<v Speaker 2>a great, big puddle. I was confused. I rushed over

586
00:45:09.159 --> 00:45:13.360
<v Speaker 2>and Missus Beck was standing over missus Fay, and I said, Martha,

587
00:45:13.400 --> 00:45:17.039
<v Speaker 2>what happened. She came out of a daze, if it

588
00:45:17.119 --> 00:45:20.960
<v Speaker 2>was a daze or a coma, and said, my god,

589
00:45:21.079 --> 00:45:27.960
<v Speaker 2>what happened? Missus Faye groaned. Ray grabbed Martha's white scarf,

590
00:45:28.440 --> 00:45:32.079
<v Speaker 2>wrapped it about the wrinkled throat, and using the hammer

591
00:45:32.119 --> 00:45:37.920
<v Speaker 2>and the tourniquet, twisted and twisted and twisted. Silence filled

592
00:45:37.960 --> 00:45:42.519
<v Speaker 2>the room. I said, you should know, and I told

593
00:45:42.519 --> 00:45:46.039
<v Speaker 2>her go to a hospital or call a doctor or something.

594
00:45:47.519 --> 00:45:51.159
<v Speaker 2>She got down and she said, there's nothing you can do.

595
00:45:51.639 --> 00:45:59.480
<v Speaker 2>She's dead. Then Ray laughed. Ray cried. Fernandez said he

596
00:45:59.559 --> 00:46:04.280
<v Speaker 2>was thrown into hysterics by the sligh. I got upset

597
00:46:04.320 --> 00:46:07.119
<v Speaker 2>and nervous. I got a bottle of whiskey and drank

598
00:46:07.199 --> 00:46:10.840
<v Speaker 2>most of it. I sat on the couch crying. Missus

599
00:46:10.880 --> 00:46:13.920
<v Speaker 2>Beck said, there's no sense getting that way. There's nothing

600
00:46:13.920 --> 00:46:16.840
<v Speaker 2>we can do. We then decided to get rid of

601
00:46:16.880 --> 00:46:17.400
<v Speaker 2>the body.

602
00:46:23.800 --> 00:46:24.159
<v Speaker 3>Now.

603
00:46:24.320 --> 00:46:29.159
<v Speaker 2>They worked together, swiftly. Together, they washed the hammer and

604
00:46:29.199 --> 00:46:32.480
<v Speaker 2>replaced it in the tool box. Together, they sought to

605
00:46:32.599 --> 00:46:37.119
<v Speaker 2>jam Missus Fay into one of their small trunks. Failing this,

606
00:46:37.480 --> 00:46:40.880
<v Speaker 2>they dumped the body into a closet and closed the door.

607
00:46:42.239 --> 00:46:47.519
<v Speaker 2>Morning was near. Mister and Missus Bluebeard washed the blood

608
00:46:47.599 --> 00:46:52.159
<v Speaker 2>stained living room carpet with soap, ammonia and water. The

609
00:46:52.199 --> 00:46:57.679
<v Speaker 2>more they washed, the deeper the stain. When the stores opened,

610
00:46:57.719 --> 00:47:01.840
<v Speaker 2>they went shopping. They returned with a big trunk and

611
00:47:01.880 --> 00:47:06.000
<v Speaker 2>a new rug. They lifted missus Fay's body into the

612
00:47:06.039 --> 00:47:11.119
<v Speaker 2>new trunk. They put down the new rug. They deposited

613
00:47:11.199 --> 00:47:14.559
<v Speaker 2>the stained one in a garbage can well away from

614
00:47:14.599 --> 00:47:18.840
<v Speaker 2>the house. Then they drove to Astoria with the heavy

615
00:47:18.880 --> 00:47:23.000
<v Speaker 2>trunk and deposited it in the basement of Ray's sister's home.

616
00:47:24.079 --> 00:47:27.199
<v Speaker 2>For ten days, they hunted a house with a basement.

617
00:47:28.519 --> 00:47:32.599
<v Speaker 2>During that ten days, Martha stole time to open an

618
00:47:32.639 --> 00:47:37.000
<v Speaker 2>account with one of missus Fay's checks. She cashed the

619
00:47:37.039 --> 00:47:41.119
<v Speaker 2>other in Albany, saying missus Fay was buying a trailer

620
00:47:41.480 --> 00:47:46.440
<v Speaker 2>for a trip to Florida. Eradicating the words surprise from

621
00:47:46.519 --> 00:47:51.199
<v Speaker 2>papers missus Fay had signed. Fernandez typed letters to her

622
00:47:51.239 --> 00:47:56.360
<v Speaker 2>relatives and friends telling of her forthcoming marriage he took

623
00:47:56.400 --> 00:47:59.840
<v Speaker 2>special care with the letter destined for Missus Fay's stepped

624
00:47:59.840 --> 00:48:04.119
<v Speaker 2>down in her own handwriting. It was signed Janet J.

625
00:48:04.480 --> 00:48:04.760
<v Speaker 3>Fay.

626
00:48:06.079 --> 00:48:12.000
<v Speaker 2>Missus Spencer received this letter on January twelfth, nineteen forty nine.

627
00:48:12.159 --> 00:48:15.440
<v Speaker 2>It didn't make her very happy. It doesn't sound at

628
00:48:15.480 --> 00:48:19.960
<v Speaker 2>all like mother. Missus Spencer worried, and when did she

629
00:48:20.039 --> 00:48:29.280
<v Speaker 2>learn to type? With a shudder, Missus Spencer realized that

630
00:48:29.360 --> 00:48:33.960
<v Speaker 2>she knew absolutely nothing about the Martins, her stepmother's new friends.

631
00:48:34.679 --> 00:48:40.599
<v Speaker 2>That day, she reported Missus Fay's disappearance to the Albany Police.

632
00:48:40.840 --> 00:48:47.159
<v Speaker 2>By that time, Missus Fay had indeed disappeared. Her body,

633
00:48:47.760 --> 00:48:51.679
<v Speaker 2>wrapped in cloth, was secreted in a six foot hole

634
00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:56.239
<v Speaker 2>dug and cemented over by the strong muscled mister Bluebeard

635
00:48:56.760 --> 00:48:59.480
<v Speaker 2>and the basement of a house he had rented in

636
00:48:59.599 --> 00:49:11.559
<v Speaker 2>South Ozone Park, Long Island. The very day Missus Spencer

637
00:49:11.679 --> 00:49:16.079
<v Speaker 2>received the letter that alarmed her, Ray Fernandez received one

638
00:49:16.119 --> 00:49:21.440
<v Speaker 2>that set him thinking. It was postmarked Grand Rapids, Michigan.

639
00:49:22.280 --> 00:49:28.159
<v Speaker 2>It was signed Delaphene Downing. Mister Bluebeard made no mention

640
00:49:28.280 --> 00:49:32.400
<v Speaker 2>of this letter to Missus Bluebeard until January twenty third,

641
00:49:33.159 --> 00:49:38.119
<v Speaker 2>after they had traveled from Ozone Park to Chicago. Martha

642
00:49:38.199 --> 00:49:41.199
<v Speaker 2>thought Ray had driven west only to pick up a

643
00:49:41.239 --> 00:49:44.400
<v Speaker 2>tupe on which he had paid twenty five dollars down

644
00:49:44.519 --> 00:49:51.039
<v Speaker 2>many months before. Ray was dissatisfied with the color. Martha

645
00:49:51.159 --> 00:49:54.480
<v Speaker 2>tried to die the tupe and spoiled it. He threw

646
00:49:54.519 --> 00:49:57.639
<v Speaker 2>it away, so she was in no mood to hear

647
00:49:57.719 --> 00:50:00.800
<v Speaker 2>him say, there's a cute little widow named I'm Deelaphine

648
00:50:00.840 --> 00:50:05.039
<v Speaker 2>downing up in Byron Center, just outside Grand Rapids. Her

649
00:50:05.119 --> 00:50:08.079
<v Speaker 2>husband's been dead a year. She's got a two year

650
00:50:08.119 --> 00:50:13.920
<v Speaker 2>old daughter and some property. You said, cute, Martha accused,

651
00:50:14.440 --> 00:50:19.000
<v Speaker 2>How old is she? Twenty eight? Martha bristled, but she

652
00:50:19.039 --> 00:50:23.440
<v Speaker 2>held her tongue an unpleasant restraint, which she continued throughout

653
00:50:23.480 --> 00:50:26.440
<v Speaker 2>the three days she waited in a Grand Rapids hotel

654
00:50:27.199 --> 00:50:32.400
<v Speaker 2>while Ray conducted his courtship in Byron Center, two miles southwest.

655
00:50:32.960 --> 00:50:37.239
<v Speaker 2>At long last, Ray came for Delaphine's a nice girl.

656
00:50:37.400 --> 00:50:39.960
<v Speaker 2>She'll be glad to see you. I told her you

657
00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:42.760
<v Speaker 2>were my sister from Chicago, and you could cook and

658
00:50:42.840 --> 00:50:47.239
<v Speaker 2>take care of the kid, Fernandez told her. Martha sniffed,

659
00:50:47.880 --> 00:50:50.480
<v Speaker 2>but she was sweet as chocolate pudding when she met

660
00:50:50.519 --> 00:50:55.360
<v Speaker 2>her prospective sister in law, a cheerful, bespectacled girl in

661
00:50:55.480 --> 00:50:59.840
<v Speaker 2>Missus Downing's five room cottage, and she managed to exhibit

662
00:50:59.880 --> 00:51:04.280
<v Speaker 2>a jolly, if false humor, which she drove with ray

663
00:51:04.519 --> 00:51:10.559
<v Speaker 2>Delaphine and Raynell to Palisade, Nebraska, to visit Missus Downing's parents,

664
00:51:11.039 --> 00:51:16.400
<v Speaker 2>mister and Missus Martin Price. Delaphine's relatives were given the

665
00:51:16.440 --> 00:51:20.000
<v Speaker 2>impression that she was already married to this wealthy New

666
00:51:20.119 --> 00:51:24.760
<v Speaker 2>Yorker Charles Martin, that he was an ex Secret serviceman

667
00:51:24.920 --> 00:51:28.840
<v Speaker 2>and a civil engineer for a railroad, and that Delaphine

668
00:51:28.840 --> 00:51:32.800
<v Speaker 2>met her second husband through his sister Martha quote who

669
00:51:32.960 --> 00:51:37.880
<v Speaker 2>nursed me in the hospital when I had Raynell unquote.

670
00:51:38.280 --> 00:51:42.239
<v Speaker 2>Mister Missus Bluebeard and their victims returned to Byron Center

671
00:51:42.719 --> 00:51:48.440
<v Speaker 2>on February fourteenth, nineteen forty nine. Missus Downing failed to

672
00:51:48.480 --> 00:51:52.400
<v Speaker 2>greet her neighbors, Missus Newell D. Burt and mister Missus

673
00:51:52.519 --> 00:51:57.760
<v Speaker 2>Lawrence Sullivan. Delaphine's changed, though, they said to each other,

674
00:51:58.280 --> 00:52:01.039
<v Speaker 2>she hasn't bothered with us ever since since those nasty

675
00:52:01.119 --> 00:52:04.880
<v Speaker 2>New Yorkers came to town. As a matter of fact,

676
00:52:05.320 --> 00:52:09.440
<v Speaker 2>Missus Downing scarcely had time for her neighbors for with

677
00:52:09.559 --> 00:52:13.360
<v Speaker 2>the aid of her house guests, she was liquidating her property.

678
00:52:14.599 --> 00:52:17.159
<v Speaker 2>She sold her house and gave the down payment of

679
00:52:17.199 --> 00:52:21.280
<v Speaker 2>five hundred dollars to mister Bluebeard. She traded in her

680
00:52:21.320 --> 00:52:23.880
<v Speaker 2>car plus one hundred and seventy five dollars for a

681
00:52:23.960 --> 00:52:27.719
<v Speaker 2>new one. She established a joint checking account to which

682
00:52:27.760 --> 00:52:32.239
<v Speaker 2>she contributed thirteen hundred dollars, and he two thousand, seven

683
00:52:32.320 --> 00:52:37.519
<v Speaker 2>hundred dollars of Missus Fay's money. She was also busy

684
00:52:37.760 --> 00:52:42.159
<v Speaker 2>arguing with Charles. She had sent her Missouri's sister eight

685
00:52:42.239 --> 00:52:45.840
<v Speaker 2>hundred dollars for a business venture, and she was determined

686
00:52:45.840 --> 00:52:49.719
<v Speaker 2>to send her fifteen hundred dollars more. It's not fair,

687
00:52:50.039 --> 00:52:54.239
<v Speaker 2>stormed Fernandez, both to Missus Downing and later to Martha.

688
00:52:54.960 --> 00:52:58.840
<v Speaker 2>But to Martha he added, Delaphene's a really nice woman.

689
00:52:59.159 --> 00:53:02.079
<v Speaker 2>What do you say we take her to California with us?

690
00:53:02.519 --> 00:53:07.719
<v Speaker 2>Martha saw red and forgot her promised to behave. After that,

691
00:53:08.320 --> 00:53:19.119
<v Speaker 2>things were rather unpleasant. On February twenty six, Fernandez went

692
00:53:19.239 --> 00:53:22.719
<v Speaker 2>shopping in Grand Rapids. He came home with a new

693
00:53:22.760 --> 00:53:25.079
<v Speaker 2>one hundred and four dollars two pay on his head.

694
00:53:26.000 --> 00:53:31.800
<v Speaker 2>Delaphine screamed, she didn't recognize him. Already suspicious of Martha,

695
00:53:32.360 --> 00:53:38.159
<v Speaker 2>Delaphine hurled unpleasant charges at Fernandez. Then she had hysterics.

696
00:53:39.079 --> 00:53:41.320
<v Speaker 2>Do you have enough of those sleeping pills to put

697
00:53:41.320 --> 00:53:46.440
<v Speaker 2>her away for good? Ray whispered. Martha grinned and nodded.

698
00:53:47.440 --> 00:53:51.599
<v Speaker 2>Trained as a nurse, Missus Beck persuaded Missus Downing to

699
00:53:51.679 --> 00:53:56.599
<v Speaker 2>take the pills. Quote to call you, honey, unquote. Mister

700
00:53:56.639 --> 00:54:02.400
<v Speaker 2>and Missus Bluebeard kept a death watch. Ray was nervous. Sugar,

701
00:54:02.440 --> 00:54:05.440
<v Speaker 2>she may not die for a day or two. Martha warned,

702
00:54:06.639 --> 00:54:10.960
<v Speaker 2>she's gotta die. People may come. Mister Bluebeard wrapped a

703
00:54:11.039 --> 00:54:14.719
<v Speaker 2>gun in two baby blankets and shot the sleeping woman.

704
00:54:15.800 --> 00:54:17.639
<v Speaker 2>Then he ran to the yard to see if the

705
00:54:17.679 --> 00:54:22.199
<v Speaker 2>shot had attracted attention. He returned from the garage with

706
00:54:22.320 --> 00:54:25.679
<v Speaker 2>a rope. You tie her up. I can't bear it,

707
00:54:25.920 --> 00:54:30.920
<v Speaker 2>he said, handing the rope to his mistress. Martha. Heaved

708
00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:34.119
<v Speaker 2>and tugged at the body, at a blanket and at

709
00:54:34.159 --> 00:54:38.559
<v Speaker 2>the rope, while Fernandez worked in the basement to gather.

710
00:54:38.639 --> 00:54:42.199
<v Speaker 2>They took the body down. You can't put her in

711
00:54:42.239 --> 00:54:46.639
<v Speaker 2>that hole. There's too much water in it, Martha objected,

712
00:54:46.760 --> 00:54:51.519
<v Speaker 2>peering into the grave. Fernandez had dug. Martha bailed two

713
00:54:51.719 --> 00:54:54.320
<v Speaker 2>wash tubs full of muddy water out of the grave.

714
00:54:55.199 --> 00:54:58.840
<v Speaker 2>Then they put Missus downing in her bloody pillow under

715
00:54:58.880 --> 00:55:04.199
<v Speaker 2>her head. Mister Bluebeard filled up the hole, sealed it

716
00:55:04.239 --> 00:55:08.639
<v Speaker 2>with old concrete, then looked at his watch. It was

717
00:55:08.719 --> 00:55:13.400
<v Speaker 2>seven point thirty. The whole job had taken four hours.

718
00:55:14.199 --> 00:55:18.159
<v Speaker 2>After that, they wakened sleeping Renell to get something to eat,

719
00:55:18.639 --> 00:55:23.119
<v Speaker 2>and took the baby to a movie. The next day, Sunday,

720
00:55:23.639 --> 00:55:27.920
<v Speaker 2>Renell proved to be a problem. She cried constantly for

721
00:55:28.000 --> 00:55:32.920
<v Speaker 2>her mother. Mister Missus Bluebeard took her for a ride.

722
00:55:32.960 --> 00:55:37.519
<v Speaker 2>She cried. They spent twenty five dollars for a cocker

723
00:55:37.559 --> 00:55:43.400
<v Speaker 2>spaniel puppy. The puppy scratched renew The baby howled louder,

724
00:55:44.199 --> 00:55:48.480
<v Speaker 2>so they returned the dog and retrieved their money. Sunday night,

725
00:55:49.199 --> 00:55:52.519
<v Speaker 2>the first night they'd had alone for love in many weeks,

726
00:55:53.159 --> 00:55:57.800
<v Speaker 2>the child kept screaming. Monday morning, she was still shrieking.

727
00:55:58.440 --> 00:56:01.559
<v Speaker 2>We could put her down there with her mother. Martha suggested,

728
00:56:02.599 --> 00:56:06.000
<v Speaker 2>you'll have to do it. I haven't the heart. Well,

729
00:56:06.079 --> 00:56:11.400
<v Speaker 2>we'll see. The pair went into Grand Rapids withdrew all

730
00:56:11.480 --> 00:56:15.159
<v Speaker 2>but five hundred dollars from the joint account, bought some

731
00:56:15.239 --> 00:56:20.440
<v Speaker 2>fresh cement, and then returned to Missus Downing's cottage. Martha

732
00:56:20.519 --> 00:56:23.760
<v Speaker 2>took the nude child to the basement, wrapped it in

733
00:56:23.840 --> 00:56:26.920
<v Speaker 2>a blanket, and held its head down in one of

734
00:56:26.960 --> 00:56:31.679
<v Speaker 2>the wash tubs of muddy grave water. The child struggled

735
00:56:31.719 --> 00:56:36.480
<v Speaker 2>so hard even Big Martha could hardly manage. She plunged

736
00:56:36.519 --> 00:56:41.239
<v Speaker 2>the baby fully under water. Let her be, don't make

737
00:56:41.280 --> 00:56:46.719
<v Speaker 2>her suffer anymore. Ray called, what's the matter? Taunted Missus Bluebeard,

738
00:56:47.000 --> 00:56:50.840
<v Speaker 2>Why don't you come down? Fernandez did come down later.

739
00:56:51.960 --> 00:56:56.559
<v Speaker 2>Put it there, Martha ordered, pointing to a green toolbox.

740
00:56:57.480 --> 00:57:02.199
<v Speaker 2>Fernandez put the body in the box, cemented it, and

741
00:57:02.280 --> 00:57:07.079
<v Speaker 2>then re cemented Missus Downing's grave. Then the lovers went

742
00:57:07.159 --> 00:57:10.519
<v Speaker 2>to a movie, oblivious that things had been happening in

743
00:57:10.559 --> 00:57:15.320
<v Speaker 2>the world outside, that Missus Downing's puzzled neighbors had called

744
00:57:15.320 --> 00:57:20.760
<v Speaker 2>her relatives and that they had called the police. Home

745
00:57:20.800 --> 00:57:24.679
<v Speaker 2>from the movie, mister and Missus Bluebeard were preparing for

746
00:57:24.760 --> 00:57:30.440
<v Speaker 2>bed when the police arrived. Missus Downing, oh, she and

747
00:57:30.480 --> 00:57:33.639
<v Speaker 2>her daughter have gone to Detroit for a visit. Ray

748
00:57:33.800 --> 00:57:38.880
<v Speaker 2>lied glibly, but the police warrant in hand pushed in

749
00:57:40.760 --> 00:57:45.679
<v Speaker 2>the police saw the packed bags. Searching Fernandez, they found

750
00:57:45.719 --> 00:57:48.440
<v Speaker 2>his large wad of money in his list of a

751
00:57:48.519 --> 00:57:53.280
<v Speaker 2>hundred and seventy lonely hearts with check marks after seventeen names.

752
00:57:54.840 --> 00:57:58.320
<v Speaker 2>Then in the basement they found the wet patch of cement,

753
00:57:58.840 --> 00:58:05.960
<v Speaker 2>and under it they found delaphene downing. Fernandez paled, you

754
00:58:06.079 --> 00:58:09.360
<v Speaker 2>got me dead to rights, I might as well tell everything,

755
00:58:09.480 --> 00:58:14.280
<v Speaker 2>he said. He told his story quietly to Michigan's Kent

756
00:58:14.360 --> 00:58:20.840
<v Speaker 2>County Prosecutor Roger O. McMahon. Sometimes his big knuckled hands

757
00:58:20.920 --> 00:58:26.719
<v Speaker 2>writhed as he talked, Otherwise he showed no emotion. Then

758
00:58:27.119 --> 00:58:31.639
<v Speaker 2>Husky Missus Beck was brought in. Her memory for detail

759
00:58:32.000 --> 00:58:36.480
<v Speaker 2>was phenomenal. On the following June ninth, Indicted for the

760
00:58:36.559 --> 00:58:40.159
<v Speaker 2>murder of Missus Fay, they went to trial in Bronx

761
00:58:40.199 --> 00:58:45.719
<v Speaker 2>County Supreme Court before Justice Ferdinand Pecora. It took thirteen

762
00:58:45.840 --> 00:58:50.119
<v Speaker 2>days to get twelve jurors. It took thirty more days

763
00:58:50.119 --> 00:58:55.119
<v Speaker 2>for prosecution and defense to present its case. It took

764
00:58:55.159 --> 00:58:59.719
<v Speaker 2>the jurors approximately twelve hours to find both Martha Beck

765
00:58:59.800 --> 00:59:10.239
<v Speaker 2>and Raymond Martinez Fernandez guilty of murder in the first degree.

766
00:59:10.280 --> 00:59:18.400
<v Speaker 2>March ninth, nineteen fifty one and final statements issued through

767
00:59:18.400 --> 00:59:24.159
<v Speaker 2>their lawyer, Herbert Rosenberg. Both Martha and Fernandez stressed their

768
00:59:24.239 --> 00:59:29.480
<v Speaker 2>great love as if that were absolution. Martha said, I

769
00:59:29.519 --> 00:59:32.360
<v Speaker 2>have sinned, and with that knowledge, I am paying my

770
00:59:32.480 --> 00:59:37.920
<v Speaker 2>debt to society. But Fernandez didn't even acknowledge his sin.

771
00:59:38.880 --> 00:59:42.119
<v Speaker 2>Two hours before going to the chair, he told his

772
00:59:42.199 --> 00:59:44.880
<v Speaker 2>lawyer he wanted to shout his love of Martha to

773
00:59:44.960 --> 00:59:49.159
<v Speaker 2>the world. The news that she still loved him made

774
00:59:49.199 --> 00:59:54.000
<v Speaker 2>him want to burst with joy, he said. The last

775
00:59:54.079 --> 00:59:57.760
<v Speaker 2>day for the Lonely Heart's killers was one of frustration,

776
00:59:58.599 --> 01:00:01.880
<v Speaker 2>but they put their all in to their last statements.

777
01:00:02.679 --> 01:00:05.679
<v Speaker 2>What does it matter who is to blame? Asked Martha.

778
01:00:06.360 --> 01:00:10.360
<v Speaker 2>She went on, my story is a love story, but

779
01:00:10.519 --> 01:00:13.280
<v Speaker 2>only those tortured by love can know what I mean.

780
01:00:14.760 --> 01:00:19.039
<v Speaker 2>Then her vanity intruded. I was pictured as a fat,

781
01:00:19.320 --> 01:00:24.280
<v Speaker 2>unfeeling woman. True, I am fat, But if that was

782
01:00:24.320 --> 01:00:27.400
<v Speaker 2>a crime, how many of my sex would be guilty.

783
01:00:28.559 --> 01:00:32.880
<v Speaker 2>I am not unfeeling, stupid or moronic. The prison and

784
01:00:32.960 --> 01:00:36.519
<v Speaker 2>the death house have only strengthened my feelings for Raymond.

785
01:00:36.880 --> 01:00:39.760
<v Speaker 2>And in the history of the world, how many crimes

786
01:00:39.760 --> 01:00:44.039
<v Speaker 2>can be attributed to love? My last words and my

787
01:00:44.159 --> 01:00:48.679
<v Speaker 2>last thoughts are he who is without sin cast the

788
01:00:48.760 --> 01:00:55.440
<v Speaker 2>first stone. Fernandez made no reference to his crimes. I'm

789
01:00:55.480 --> 01:00:58.599
<v Speaker 2>going to die, as you know. That's something I've been

790
01:00:58.639 --> 01:01:02.920
<v Speaker 2>prepared for since nineteen nine. I'm going to die like

791
01:01:02.960 --> 01:01:09.000
<v Speaker 2>a man. Twice. Wednesday, lawyers for the lovers appealed to

792
01:01:09.079 --> 01:01:14.440
<v Speaker 2>state courts for postponement of the electrocution. Yesterday, the appeal

793
01:01:14.559 --> 01:01:17.400
<v Speaker 2>was renewed in the federal court here and on the

794
01:01:17.440 --> 01:01:21.280
<v Speaker 2>same grounds that Martha and her boyfriend weren't present when

795
01:01:21.320 --> 01:01:24.880
<v Speaker 2>the state Court of Appeals sentenced them to death. Federal

796
01:01:24.960 --> 01:01:32.039
<v Speaker 2>Judge John F. X mcgoie turned down the appeal too. Undaunted,

797
01:01:32.400 --> 01:01:36.679
<v Speaker 2>defense lawyer William Richter went to Washington to appeal to

798
01:01:36.760 --> 01:01:42.400
<v Speaker 2>the US Supreme Court. The condemned, as usual, were permitted

799
01:01:42.440 --> 01:01:45.320
<v Speaker 2>to choose the menus for their last lunch and dinner.

800
01:01:46.519 --> 01:01:51.480
<v Speaker 2>Martha selected liver and onions for lunch, with spinach or broccoli,

801
01:01:51.800 --> 01:01:56.239
<v Speaker 2>whichever the prison cook had on hand. She dined at

802
01:01:56.280 --> 01:02:00.880
<v Speaker 2>about five pm on fried chicken, fringe, fried potatoes, and

803
01:02:01.000 --> 01:02:07.519
<v Speaker 2>lettuce and tomato salad with dressing no dessert. Her sweetheart's

804
01:02:07.639 --> 01:02:13.239
<v Speaker 2>lunch consisted of fried eggs, french fried potatoes, sliced tomatoes,

805
01:02:13.559 --> 01:02:17.280
<v Speaker 2>ice cream, and coffee, topped by a box of candy

806
01:02:17.320 --> 01:02:23.800
<v Speaker 2>and cigarettes. His evening meal was an onion omelet, sliced tomatoes, almond,

807
01:02:23.840 --> 01:02:29.039
<v Speaker 2>ice cream, fruit, and coffee. Martha did not have a

808
01:02:29.159 --> 01:02:33.679
<v Speaker 2>last hour visitor, but Fernandez's brother, Anthony, accompanied by a

809
01:02:33.679 --> 01:02:37.639
<v Speaker 2>woman he described as their sister, Catherine, drove to sing

810
01:02:37.760 --> 01:02:40.760
<v Speaker 2>sing last night and spent ten minutes in the prison.

811
01:02:41.719 --> 01:02:45.800
<v Speaker 2>Anthony refused to answer any questions on leaving, saying only

812
01:02:45.920 --> 01:02:50.800
<v Speaker 2>that he had found Raymond perfectly all right. At noon,

813
01:02:51.440 --> 01:02:54.639
<v Speaker 2>with the sun shining rich with its promise of spring

814
01:02:55.360 --> 01:02:57.840
<v Speaker 2>bright on the river that flows in view of the

815
01:02:57.880 --> 01:03:04.280
<v Speaker 2>Graystone Deathhouse, authorities began their preparations for dispatching the killers

816
01:03:04.320 --> 01:03:10.559
<v Speaker 2>to their deaths. Fernandez was bathed, shaved, and attired for

817
01:03:10.599 --> 01:03:14.519
<v Speaker 2>the occasion and the light shirt and black trousers that

818
01:03:14.599 --> 01:03:17.679
<v Speaker 2>make up what is called the death suit. They were

819
01:03:17.719 --> 01:03:21.599
<v Speaker 2>then moved to pre execution cells near the quarter that

820
01:03:21.800 --> 01:03:27.519
<v Speaker 2>leads to the death chamber. Missus Beck, who changed to

821
01:03:27.599 --> 01:03:32.519
<v Speaker 2>a house dress, remained in the woman's wing. At six pm,

822
01:03:32.639 --> 01:03:35.599
<v Speaker 2>a small spot was shaved on the top of her head.

823
01:03:36.679 --> 01:03:39.039
<v Speaker 2>The two lovers had not seen each other since they

824
01:03:39.079 --> 01:03:42.559
<v Speaker 2>wound up in the death house August twenty second, nineteen

825
01:03:42.679 --> 01:03:48.719
<v Speaker 2>forty nine, and did not meet again last night. Executioner

826
01:03:48.920 --> 01:03:53.199
<v Speaker 2>Joseph FRANCEL, who lives in Cairo, New York, was to

827
01:03:53.239 --> 01:04:04.039
<v Speaker 2>receive one hundred and fifty dollars for each execution. Martha

828
01:04:04.079 --> 01:04:08.320
<v Speaker 2>and Fernandez died specifically for the strangling and bludgeoning of

829
01:04:08.400 --> 01:04:14.320
<v Speaker 2>Missus Janet Faye Wilson, sixty in Valley Stream. They buried

830
01:04:14.320 --> 01:04:17.639
<v Speaker 2>her in a cellar in South Ozone Park, Queens in

831
01:04:17.800 --> 01:04:23.360
<v Speaker 2>January nineteen forty nine. Fernandez had lured her from her

832
01:04:23.400 --> 01:04:28.239
<v Speaker 2>home in Albany through Lonely Hearts letters. But they also

833
01:04:28.320 --> 01:04:33.519
<v Speaker 2>admitted the slaying of Missus Delphine Downing twenty eight, another

834
01:04:33.639 --> 01:04:38.639
<v Speaker 2>lonely widow trapped by the Lonely Hearts letters, and Missus

835
01:04:38.679 --> 01:04:43.320
<v Speaker 2>Downing's two year old daughter Raynell and Byron Center near

836
01:04:43.400 --> 01:04:49.119
<v Speaker 2>Grand Rapids, Michigan. The baby was killed drowned in a

837
01:04:49.119 --> 01:04:52.599
<v Speaker 2>bucket of water by Martha and buried with the mother

838
01:04:53.239 --> 01:04:57.440
<v Speaker 2>simply because Fernandez and his mistress couldn't figure out what

839
01:04:57.599 --> 01:05:02.360
<v Speaker 2>else to do with her. Michigan has no capital punishment

840
01:05:02.440 --> 01:05:08.320
<v Speaker 2>for murder. The state therefore waived prosecution so Fernandez and

841
01:05:08.480 --> 01:05:13.280
<v Speaker 2>Martha could pay the ultimate penalty in New York. But

842
01:05:13.320 --> 01:05:16.639
<v Speaker 2>the killers died in the megalomania of their love affair,

843
01:05:17.400 --> 01:05:20.760
<v Speaker 2>the love they invoked, even after all Hope had died

844
01:05:20.880 --> 01:05:30.920
<v Speaker 2>in the last unsuccessful moves to save them, The Lonely

845
01:05:31.000 --> 01:05:36.079
<v Speaker 2>Heart's Killers, Fat Martha Beck and her lover Raymond Fernandez,

846
01:05:36.440 --> 01:05:39.519
<v Speaker 2>died in the electric chair at Sing Sing last night

847
01:05:40.079 --> 01:05:45.400
<v Speaker 2>for one of their three admitted murders. They died phlegmatically,

848
01:05:46.039 --> 01:05:51.199
<v Speaker 2>eyes open until the death masks were lowered over their faces.

849
01:05:51.239 --> 01:05:56.880
<v Speaker 2>Martha smiled and winked. Fernandez, in a last foppish gesture,

850
01:05:57.519 --> 01:06:00.280
<v Speaker 2>pulled up his trousers as if to preserve of the

851
01:06:00.360 --> 01:06:06.039
<v Speaker 2>crease as he sat in the death chair. Fernandez went

852
01:06:06.079 --> 01:06:09.480
<v Speaker 2>to his death before his mistress. As the weaker of

853
01:06:09.519 --> 01:06:13.480
<v Speaker 2>the pair. He was led into the death chamber at

854
01:06:13.480 --> 01:06:18.119
<v Speaker 2>eleven twelve o'clock, accompanied by the Catholic chaplain of the prison,

855
01:06:18.480 --> 01:06:23.239
<v Speaker 2>the Reverend Thomas Donovan. The killer stared around him without

856
01:06:23.360 --> 01:06:28.639
<v Speaker 2>curiosity and took his place docilely. At eleven sixteen.

857
01:06:29.320 --> 01:06:30.039
<v Speaker 3>He was dead.

858
01:06:31.119 --> 01:06:36.800
<v Speaker 2>Four minutes later. Martha entered, walking between two matrons. She

859
01:06:36.880 --> 01:06:40.519
<v Speaker 2>wore a blue gray house dress, and her hair shaved

860
01:06:40.559 --> 01:06:45.599
<v Speaker 2>at the pate to receive the fatal electrode was meticulously curled.

861
01:06:46.440 --> 01:06:51.159
<v Speaker 2>She seemed curiously self possessed. Earlier, she had confessed that

862
01:06:51.280 --> 01:06:56.159
<v Speaker 2>her quote sin was great, but the penalty is greater, unquote,

863
01:06:56.519 --> 01:07:01.159
<v Speaker 2>and she seemed almost detached. When the end came, there

864
01:07:01.400 --> 01:07:06.280
<v Speaker 2>was one slight mishap. The electric chair was a tight fit,

865
01:07:06.719 --> 01:07:09.840
<v Speaker 2>and Martha had to wriggle slightly to get her more

866
01:07:09.880 --> 01:07:13.679
<v Speaker 2>than two hundred pounds between the fatal arms. She didn't

867
01:07:13.719 --> 01:07:18.119
<v Speaker 2>allow that to upset her composure. Her eyes drifted once

868
01:07:18.159 --> 01:07:21.599
<v Speaker 2>around the room, and she glanced up as the death

869
01:07:21.760 --> 01:07:26.559
<v Speaker 2>mask was lowered. At that moment, a ghostly smile played

870
01:07:26.599 --> 01:07:30.559
<v Speaker 2>at the corner of her mouth. She looked to her left,

871
01:07:30.639 --> 01:07:33.079
<v Speaker 2>where the matrons who had attended her during her long

872
01:07:33.159 --> 01:07:38.800
<v Speaker 2>imprisonment were standing. The matrons, Missus Nellie Evans and Missus

873
01:07:38.840 --> 01:07:44.960
<v Speaker 2>Bessy Irving, were near tears, fighting for control. Martha seemed

874
01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:50.320
<v Speaker 2>to sympathize. Her left eyelid dropped in an unmistakable wink.

875
01:07:52.000 --> 01:07:54.960
<v Speaker 2>Then the mast came down and there was the hum

876
01:07:55.079 --> 01:08:00.760
<v Speaker 2>of the current. At eleven twenty four, she too was dead.

877
01:08:02.800 --> 01:08:06.599
<v Speaker 2>The lonely Heart's killers were given four shocks of electricity

878
01:08:06.639 --> 01:08:12.480
<v Speaker 2>each to speed them to eternity. The slender Fernandez died quickly,

879
01:08:13.760 --> 01:08:17.800
<v Speaker 2>but Martha struggled and her body strained against the straps

880
01:08:17.880 --> 01:08:22.439
<v Speaker 2>as the first shock hit. Again at the second shock,

881
01:08:22.680 --> 01:08:27.840
<v Speaker 2>she jerked forward. On the third and fourth, she was inerted.

882
01:08:29.279 --> 01:08:32.279
<v Speaker 2>She was accompanied to the chair by the Protestant chaplain

883
01:08:32.279 --> 01:08:36.399
<v Speaker 2>of sing Sing, the Reverend Luther Hannam, but she did

884
01:08:36.439 --> 01:08:39.520
<v Speaker 2>not turn to him as he stood murmuring a prayer,

885
01:08:40.800 --> 01:08:43.640
<v Speaker 2>nor did she give more than a cursory glance to

886
01:08:43.720 --> 01:08:48.159
<v Speaker 2>the thirty two official witnesses, eight more than the law requires,

887
01:08:48.359 --> 01:08:51.720
<v Speaker 2>who overflowed the chapel like pew of the death chamber

888
01:08:52.119 --> 01:08:56.399
<v Speaker 2>and were ranged along the walls. All the witnesses but

889
01:08:56.600 --> 01:09:02.439
<v Speaker 2>two were reporters representing twenty nine newspapers, and all were

890
01:09:02.520 --> 01:09:06.359
<v Speaker 2>searched for cameras before being allowed to enter the death chamber,

891
01:09:06.840 --> 01:09:11.199
<v Speaker 2>and keeping with the regulations laid down after the electrocution

892
01:09:11.359 --> 01:09:15.319
<v Speaker 2>of Ruth Snyder, the Sashwayed husband killer back in the

893
01:09:15.439 --> 01:09:20.760
<v Speaker 2>nineteen twenties. The two non reporters were the Michigan sheriff

894
01:09:20.840 --> 01:09:27.640
<v Speaker 2>deputies who arrested the lonely Heart's pair. The witnesses badly

895
01:09:27.720 --> 01:09:31.520
<v Speaker 2>strained the capacity of the box like death chamber, but

896
01:09:31.680 --> 01:09:35.560
<v Speaker 2>none of the doomed killers seemed aware of it. The

897
01:09:35.640 --> 01:09:39.439
<v Speaker 2>killers entered through the famous green door, directly facing the

898
01:09:39.479 --> 01:09:44.199
<v Speaker 2>death chair. In the small room, the lower walls of

899
01:09:44.359 --> 01:09:48.680
<v Speaker 2>dark green bordered with black, and the upper walls and

900
01:09:48.760 --> 01:09:52.720
<v Speaker 2>ceiling a pale yellow. There was little else for them

901
01:09:52.760 --> 01:09:56.439
<v Speaker 2>to see. To the left of the death chair stood

902
01:09:56.479 --> 01:10:01.720
<v Speaker 2>the screen behind which the official executioner manipulated the switches,

903
01:10:02.119 --> 01:10:04.960
<v Speaker 2>and a few feet from the screen the door to

904
01:10:05.039 --> 01:10:10.000
<v Speaker 2>the autopsy chamber. It was in this autopsy chamber the

905
01:10:10.119 --> 01:10:15.680
<v Speaker 2>doctor Howard Kipp, chief surgeon at Sing Sing, pronounced his finding,

906
01:10:17.319 --> 01:10:21.399
<v Speaker 2>This man is dead, and for only in the thirteenth

907
01:10:21.520 --> 01:10:24.960
<v Speaker 2>time in the history of New York State, the formula

908
01:10:25.119 --> 01:10:25.760
<v Speaker 2>was altered.

909
01:10:26.680 --> 01:10:47.199
<v Speaker 3>I pronounced this woman dead.

910
01:10:48.279 --> 01:10:53.960
<v Speaker 2>That was mister and missus Bluebeard, Martha Beck's Lonely Hearts Club.

911
01:10:54.880 --> 01:10:58.119
<v Speaker 2>Called from the historic pages of the New York Daily News,

912
01:10:58.479 --> 01:11:02.520
<v Speaker 2>the Detroit Free Press, the Lansing State Journal, and other

913
01:11:02.640 --> 01:11:08.560
<v Speaker 2>newspapers of the era. True Crime Historian is a creation

914
01:11:08.680 --> 01:11:14.640
<v Speaker 2>of popular media opening theme by Nico Vitessi, incidental music

915
01:11:14.640 --> 01:11:18.279
<v Speaker 2>by Nico Vitessi, Chuck Wiggins, and Dave Sam's some music

916
01:11:18.359 --> 01:11:22.560
<v Speaker 2>and sound effects license from podcast music dot Com. Closing

917
01:11:22.600 --> 01:11:25.960
<v Speaker 2>theme by Dave Sam's and Rachel Shott, engineered by David

918
01:11:26.039 --> 01:11:30.359
<v Speaker 2>hih at Third Street Music Media Management. And original graphics

919
01:11:30.359 --> 01:11:34.039
<v Speaker 2>for all new episodes by Sean Miller Jones. And as

920
01:11:34.199 --> 01:11:37.479
<v Speaker 2>for me, well you heard it. Stoop shouldered in his

921
01:11:37.600 --> 01:11:41.359
<v Speaker 2>ill fitting clothes, looked like a farm hand, startled by

922
01:11:41.399 --> 01:11:45.439
<v Speaker 2>the roar of the city. I'm true crime historian Richard O.

923
01:11:45.680 --> 01:11:48.239
<v Speaker 2>Jones signing off for now.