Morbid - Episode 527: The Murder of Mary Stannard

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

On the afternoon of September 3, 1878, twenty-two-year-old Mary Stannard d left her home in Madison, Connecticut, telling her father she was going blackberry picking and would be back before dark. When night came and Mary hadn’t returned, her father went out to look for her and eventually found her body by a creek in the woods. The investigation into her murder was truly wild and remains TECHNICALLY unsolved. Thank you to the amazing Dave White of Bring Me The Axe Podcast for research!ReferencesBendici, Ray. 2015. "The CT files: the 'unsolved murder of Mary STAN-ard." Cennecticut Magazine, August 23.Foote, William. 1970. "Mary STAN-ard, she was murdered." Hartford Courant, March 5: 16.Hartford Courant. 1878. "Hayden re-arrested." Hartford Courant, October 9: 3.—. 1878. "Strong circumstantial evidence against a clergyman." Hartford Courant, September 7: 2.—. 1878. "The Madison murder." Hartford Courant, September 6: 3.Hayden, Herbert. 1880. The Reverend Herbert Hayden: An Autobiography. Hartford, CT: Press of the Plimptron Manufacturing Co.New York Times. 1878. "A young woman's ruin and death." New York Times, September 6: 1.—. 1878. "Is Rev. Mr. Hayden guilty." New York Times, September 14: 5.—. 1879. "Mary STAN-ard's death." New York Times, November 7: 5.—. 1878. "Mrs. Hayden's testimony." New York Times, September 21: 1.—. 1880. "The Hayden case: beginning of the closing arguments." New York Times, January 15: 5.—. 1879. "The long murder trial." New York Times, November 21: 2.Pearson, Edmund. 1927. "Mary STAN-ard and the Reverend Mr. Hayden." Vanity Fair, March 01.Unknown author. 1879. Poor Mary STAN-ard: A Full and Thrilling Story of the Circumstances Connected with Her Murder. New Haven: Stafford Printing Company.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Plus, this audible original offers a unique immersive experience. Combining an original score, Dolby Atmos Sound Design, and the richness of theatrical performance, and of green gables. Listen now, only on Audible. Hey, Weirdo's I'm Ash. Am I Malena? And this is morbid. I'm just struggling. Okay, can I just talk about myself for a second? Never, never.

I was going to say this is mermaid instead of morbid because I went to like a, I think it's called a white elephant. Oh, yeah. It's not like a secret saying. It's like a white elephant. Yeah. And I got this sexy mermaid ornament, which I have pictured here. Wow.

Drew just put it on the Christmas tree. Are we sure we're calling that a sexy mermaid or? Yeah. Are we calling it a slightly disturbing mermaid? Yeah, I'm sexy. Look, he's wet. He's a sexy mermaid. What do you think Michael? You guys have never had my side. Whatever. He's my sexy mermaid in my heart. Okay.

I got number one at the White Elephant and I actually got to pick that out of all the gifts. Yeah, well they were silly gifts So that was the best one in my opinion. Yeah, I wanted him. What a Yankee swap, the light. It was great. That was. It was fantastic. I love it.

I loved it. I never done like a silly swap before. And this one was like the silliest one that I ever did. The silliest of all the swaps. Yeah, my brother-in-law has a Newfoundland and high Carolina Michael. Um, you were looking off into the distance when you said that. And I thought Carolina Michael just like,

materialized next to me. I was like, where are they? You don't see them? Hi. Are they in the rubble that's right there? Do not see them. But my brother-in-law Lolly put a bunch of, his, his dog's hair into a bag.

And he put like a sewing kid in there. And he was like, make your own Newfoundland sweatshirt. That's funny. Tee-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie-ie that somebody loves. So yeah, I picked the sexy mermaid. Okay. All right. I quote unquote sexy mermaid. She's sexy. She's sexy. So yeah, I was gonna say this is mermaid. You're like the moral of that story.

You've also been feeling it because of so much talk of the sea. Yeah, only a little bit. Only this is an aquatic hoe. Now, I think you guys know me by now. We're like five years into this, that I hyperfixate. And when I hyperfixate, I really go hard on my hyperfixation. Like John can feel them come at you like senses it in the air. Like he feels a vibration and he's like, what are you hyperfixating on today? No, I can feel it for my house sometimes.

I'm like, oh, she's got a new one. She's got a new one. My latest type of fixations involve the C aqua. Which I've been moving in that direction for a while. I was swimming against that curve. Yeah. I mean, it started long ago with the Titanic. We all got hyperfixated on that for a little bit.

Oh, yeah. Okay, I was like, just me. No, I thought everybody had that moment in their childhood. Like for me yeah. Okay, I was like, just me. No, I feel like everybody had that moment in their childhood. Like for me, second grade, it was like when you could start reading articles on the computer and computer class, they would like teach you how to do that. And I read a little like article about the Titanic. People in the second grade for you.

Yeah, what was it like? It was like last year for you. That was literally, I was like a grown-up adult. That was like a second grade. That's crazy. It was like a big-ass computer. That was what we could do. Yeah, no, it was second grade. That's crazy. It was like a big-ass computer. Yeah, mine was when they brought, they called it the big piece.

And it was like a big piece of the Titanic. Oh my God. And we got to go see it in the music. The light of science. And you could literally put your hand. I don't think we should have touched it, but we did. Do you touch it? Yeah, and it had like a one it fell. How old are you?

One of the port holes, I think they're called, like those circular windows. Yep. Because it must have been like a lower part of the ship was still intact in there. Oh, how old were you? Did you have representations? I wasn't with you.

I was with elementary school. And they just had touched that. Well, we just went in a line. And like, I would say, my representation is not here. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not touching that. They were, I mean, they weren't, they didn't force us to touch here. Yeah, I don't know touching that they they were I mean They weren't they didn't force us to touch it like they weren't like touch it

Like I don't think it was part of the whole Can you suffer great misfortunes in your life? No, I'm good It was I touched it. I was like I'm gonna touch that but I'm not gonna go down to the bottom of the sea and touch That's sure That's different. But that's where it all begins, really, is when you should have a healthy respect and fear of the ocean. Some of us don't get that, but like most of us do. And then all of a sudden, I think you're all probably with me because I think everyone is. You're on North Sea TikTok right now.

Oh, apps of fucking, of course you are. I'm, oh. Like as soon as that starts, I'm like, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I and then also maybe your phone heard me on North Sea TikTok a lot. And it was like she likes that. That's probably part of it. And then actually I answered my own question. On our honeymoon, we were really interested by the boats that were coming and going to the point that drew literally downloaded a boat tracker. Hell yeah.

On his phone and I'd be like, what's that one? What's that one? I love that. Yeah, but that's like, I gotta know who the people that are working in the North Sea are. Yeah. Because I keep seeing these videos and I'm like, are you people that are working in the North CR. Yeah, because I keep seeing these videos and I'm like, are you all, are you okay? I feel like what happened.

You must, I feel like that's like when you're in trouble. No, I think that, no, that's their job. No, but you should be in trouble if you have to go to the North CR. That should be a punishment. That should be a punishment. That should be a punishment. These are just men and women who are like, this is my job.

The ballsy of my day at the office is swimming next to the biggest propeller you've ever seen in your life while the sea ranges around me. And I fix that propeller. I can't even hear that sentence about losing my marbles. Or I'm fixing this light underneath the ocean while it rages around me and drowns me

a hundred times. And I'm like, I got to shake one of your hands. Like I got to just be like, what? Did you see? Did you see the one that I got the other day where they were like pushing the biggest ships in like the whole entire world out to see for the first time? That fucked me. Yeah, you know, I don't like the big things, but you watch the structures. Yeah, it's just me. I think it was the North Sea page

put the post of them. All right. Well, here we go. Now if you guys are listening to this, I think I'm now going to make you be on North Sea TikTok because your devices are going to think they're going to hear me talking about it and they're gonna think that's something you like. So I honestly, you're welcome because it's a great place to be. You're welcome. And you will find yourself being like, yo. And the last clip will shock you.

It always, it's always gonna shock you. That's no lie, that makes me laugh so hard. It usually does, so the whole thing shocks me. Usually it's the first clip for me. I'm like, I feel like you should have just walked to this one. It's just every everything to the end. But you know what? Luckily, my story is on land today. I'm happy about that. I say luckily, but

it's not a really lucky story on land. It's a pretty terrible one. But it's on land. So we're out of the sea. We have a little bit of an old-timey crime here, but my goodness is there a lot happening here. It's an old time of crime. This is the murder of Mary Stannard. And I looked at the pronunciation to say it because I thought it was Stonardi first, but it's Stannard. I could see why you would think that.

Now, on the afternoon of September 3rd, 1878, 22-year-olds Mary Stannard left her home in Madison, Connecticut. What's up, home in Madison, Connecticut. What's up, Connecticut? Hey, CT. Telling her father she was gonna go blackberry picking because that's very 1800s Connecticut. We love them.

She said she was gonna be back by dark, so don't worry about it. And night came, and Mary had not returned. So her father went out to look for her and eventually found her body by a creek in the woods. Her father found her body. Yes. And it horrifically. The investigation into her murder was truly wild.

I mean, there's a preacher involved. There's adultery and elicit affair. Always. There's a possible pregnancy. There's all kinds of things. And it remains technically unsolved to this day. Allegedly. But it doesn't.

Allegedly. Yeah. I mean, they're all done. Everybody's dead. And also, when you hear this, you're gonna say, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I could tell by the, by the game and your eye over there that this is a wild plot. This is a wild plot. This is the most salacious all of this. Isn't it such a good word? It has a good mouth feel. It does have a good mouth feel. It does have a good mouth feel.

So let's talk about Mary. Okay, yeah. Mary Elizabeth's standard was born September 3rd. I don't know if that sounds familiar to you. Yeah, she's got under birth. Oh God. September 3rd, 1856 in Madison, Connecticut. So we love a Virgo.

We do love a Virgo. I love a Virgo. We love Virgo. I have a Virgo. Dave's a Virgo. Caleb's a Virgo. We do love a Virgo. I love a Virgo. We love Virgos. I have a Virgo, Dave's a Virgo. Dave's a Virgo. Caleb's a Virgo. My aunts a Virgo. I have a Virgo.

I have a Virgo in my chart. I'm sure I do somewhere. But Madison itself was a small town of about 1500 residents on the southeastern coast along the Long Island Sound. Not a ton is known about her life prior to becoming an adult because it was the 1800s. She was living a pretty by by those standards on remarkable life, you know, just a very normal just average life. But at the time she was killed Mary was living at home with her father. Again,

she was 22. Her father was Charles Stunard. No, I said it the way I wanted to say it first, standard, standard. And she was also living with her step sister Susan Holly and Mary's two-year-old son, William. Okay. There's very little information about Mary's mother, but several newer newspaper articles claim that Mary's quote, mother and grandmother were insane. Oh, that's sad. From the Hartford current. OK. Now, Mary had given birth to a child's William. She was unmarried.

And in the 1800s, that's already kind of a little black mark there. And she was also refusing to name the child's father. OK. So there were rumors around town that the father was a married man in a nearby town. And when you find out what happens later, you're like, oh, but this meant that Mary was not held in the highest of social regards. Yeah. But shockingly, and this is pretty shocking for this,

she wasn't a complete pariah. She was considered a quote-unquote fallen woman by those who at that time were trying to claim their own shit didn't stink. Moral superiority shit, you know, was like rampages. Dill is rampant, everybody tries to put on the shit doesn't think what they want to shit on someone. Correct. But so she gave birth to what they considered.

And I hate the term illegitimate child, you know? Because it's like that's a child. But they're pretty legit, I see them. And although that kind of thing was undesirable, especially back then, most residents actually believed, quote, in their estimation, she had been more sinned against than sinning. Wow.

And she was generally treated fairly and with a reasonable amount of respect considering. Like she wasn't, again, held in high social regard, but she was not treated shittily. Like, shittily. As shitty as you've seen in the, we've seen in other cases where it's like, she might as well be like thrown in the river at that point.

100%. Yeah. But like many rural people, especially at the time, Mary was poor, she was uneducated, but generally, everybody thought she was very time, Mary was poor, she was uneducated, but generally, she, everybody thought she was very cheerful, she was friendly, she was a very hard worker, and it was said that she was, quote, ready at any time to do any labor, no matter how menial, that would result in her being able to contribute

to the family fund that herself and child should not become a burden. So, she's kind of like a boss bitch who's gonna work hard for herself and her family. That's what I'm getting. She's got that and she seems nice. She's friendly, she's cheerful. She had a little oops situation. I don't know if it was a married man. That was the rumor.

And you know what, rumors. And you know what, she got William out of it. Exactly. She seemed happy. She was a great mom. And she has like a nice little family. Yeah, and she had a great dad and stuff and mom and everything that was going to take care of her. Mm-hmm. We've got a new sponsor today and I am literally so excited about it. Squeeze.com juice cleanses are something I've actually had on my radar for a pretty long

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life. One breakfast item per box while subscription is active. That's free breakfast for life at HelloFresh.com slash morbid free with code morbid free. Hello fresh is America's number one meal kit. Now, again, had she gone past her 22 years, she would have probably gone on to lead a pretty, you know, fairly average life. So young. Unfortunately, she had to come and meet Reverend Herbert Hayden in the summer of 1878. I'm going to go out on a limb here. had to come and meet Reverend Herbert Hayden in the summer of 1878. I'm gonna go out on a limb here. He sounds like a douche.

Herbert Hayden. Herbert Hayden. No, no, no. No, interested. Well, let's talk about him. Shall we? Shall we? Shall we?

We shall. Herbert Hayden was born in 1850 in Taunt and Mass Chewsets. Girl, bye. Girl, bye. My hair everyone just looked at me cheesets. Girl by. My hair, everyone just looked at me in the room. Girl by. Listen, I used to live there, I can say that. It's true.

I no longer too. Yeah, he was born in Taunt and my god, my friends used to call me Taunt Nash when I would get mad. Taunt Nash. Oh. Oh. The Taunt, up at all. Well, that's where Herbert Hayden came from.

Yeah, that checks. But at the time, Tonton was actually a thriving mill town. Yeah, Tonton was like gorgeous, very thriving. It's pretty wild what we came of Tonton. And he, you know, Hayden spent, or Herbert Hayden spent,

had a very ordinary childhood in a very modest home, very normal. Okay. In 1869, he attended the Providence Conference Seminary in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. And around this time, Hayden met Rosa Shaw, who was a schoolteacher from Carver, Massachusetts. Carver.

Carver Kid. Carver, right next to Plymouth. There you go, the Plymouth isn't here too. I know it is, I knew it. You know, so they fell for each other. You know, the schoolteacher, the guy going to, you know, a Seminary Jesus place. Jesus place. They fell for each other and the two became engaged and eventually married in 1971. Is that allowed? In 1971, 1871.

You love that? I did a question. I married. I was like, sure, sure. Can you even get married, though? Yeah, you're like, but I don't care. I was like, cool. Back to the future, but he's 150. That's awesome. Can you actually get married? See, mortal? Yeah, there's certain, there's all kinds of different, like, I think it's certain, like, certain pastors can get married.

Oh, okay. I think it's all different. Okay, okay. Like, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, Like, I pre-scant different like certain steps of spiritual leaders. Not even steps, I think it's certain like offshoots, like it depends on your religion, it depends on your congregation, it depends on your place, so many logistics. Yeah, there's a lot of different things.

I don't know all of them, but I know that this in particular was okay. Okay. Now according to Herbert Hayden, just one year before they were married, Rosa lost her mother and her sister to tuberculosis. Oh, shit. And her doctor predicted Rosa might also succumb

to that disease within the year. But he recommended maybe a change of scenery to a less polluted environment just to help out. Okay, because I remember there in town. Yes, of course, there's tuberculosis in town. So the couple ended up marrying in August, 1871. Like I said, not in 1978. We're going to do it again. I was 100 years later, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. And so let's go see that rock. But they went and returned to East Greenwich, so Hayden could continue his education, and it was a good place for Rose to kind of

like chill out for her. Yeah. Now over the course of two years that followed their marriage, Rosa gave birth to two children. And while Herbert continued his education, completing his seminary training in the spring of 1873, he graduated from the conference seminary and then enrolled at, was, I think it's, Wesleyan College in the middle of Connecticut. Yeah, totally.

And Rosa stayed home and raised the kids. Hayden really wanted to complete the program, but the workload and his part-time minister duties, essentially, became a little too much for him to handle. And he began a long battle with really extreme fatigue that kind of prevented him from keeping up with his studies. He just couldn't keep up with it all. He was running himself into the ground.

Out of six semesters, he only completed about two semesters worth of work. So he really gave up. Thumbs down. He really gave up. Quitter. Now, he accepted that he was no longer going to be able to meet all his responsibilities, so he dropped out. And in 1875, he accepted a part-time position preaching on Sundays at the church

in West Rocky Hill, Connecticut. That was a small community between Hartford and Middletown. The position at Rocky Hill was supposed to just be like kind of a temporary thing. He intended to kind of parlay it into something more long-term, but this worked for now, because it was helping to pay the bills. So like, why not? Yeah. And it's in your line of work that you want to do. Right. Right. Right. And after one year at Rocky Hills, he was transferred again to Rockland and then transferred again in 1877, this time to replace the minister at a church in Monroe, Connecticut. So the position in Monroe was had better pay, and it seemed like it could really turn into something more permanent, but there was a problem. It was nearly 50 miles from his home in Rockland.

Oh shit, that's a far drive. Yeah, and it's far away from the current price. So it made sense for Herbert to spend the majority of his week in Monroe to kind of handle church business and you know, not have to do that commute all the time. So this left Rosa though at home alone with the kids a lot. And again, this position held promise for Herbert's career, but it meant Rosa was left alone. And that's a lot to put on her.

And it was like five or six days out of the week, she was completely alone. Yeah, and that's putting a lot of distance in between them as a married couple. Yeah, and she was kind of recovering from like almost having tuberculosis anyway. So she's already kind of dealing with stuff. tuberculosis anyway, so she's already kind of dealing with stuff.

And the loss of her mom and sister. Yeah, like she's dealing with grief, all that stuff. In the stress and anxiety, we're starting to make her ill at this point. And because of this, the couple, because he had this new job, decided that they were going to hire someone to help her around the house with the kids, and so they hired a young woman. And this young woman was Mary standard. She lived on a farm with her father,

just a few houses down from the Haydons, so it worked out. Now by late 1877, Mary had moved into the Haydons house and was working like five or six days a week with them, like just helping with the kids, keeping the house, like helping with meals. And she was even more necessary to the family when at the end of the year, Rosa became pregnant again with their third child.

Oh, wow. And although she was very much an indispensable part of the household as far as Rosa was concerned, by March 1878, several residents of Monroe began noticing that although Rosa found her indispensable, it seemed like Herbert really liked Mary. It was coming home more often. Yeah.

Within a few weeks of her being hired on a full time by the Haydons, quote, there were scandalous stories of meetings and lots and other unfrequented places in the evening where Herbert and Mary would be alone. Uh-oh. It was unconfirmed, of course, but later it kind of was. But there was a popular story shared around town that one evening Hayden took his wife out for an oyster dinner and halfway through the meal. He excused himself briefly to return home where he was quote, guilty of improper intimacy

with Mary before coming back to the restaurant. You take your wife out for oysters and then your raggedy ass goes home to your mistress. I miss her. Are you kidding me? Yeah. That was a story. You were on a date to get oysters,

which like there's implications there already. Yeah. You know. Yeah. And then you go home because the offer de Giacs hit and then you go fuck your mistress. Yeah. What the fuck? home because the offer DG act and then you go fuck your mistress. What the fuck?

No. The mistress that's taking care of our kids. Yeah, that's yeah, we wait. What? Yeah. I'm saying no. No.

And then poor Rosa sit in their offer DG act up. Yeah. And with no one to go. He's already done with no where to go. Yeah, she should find someone else. Herbert sucks.

No, it also should be said right away that as far as anyone knew the attraction between Mary and Herbert was mutual and they had a very consensual relationship. So it's like, and again, this is shocking for the time. Few people really thought badly of Mary for her participation in the affair. And actually when it came to responsibility

for the infidelities, many around town noted that Mary, and this might have been part of it, I think, because I was really shocked to see that everybody wasn't blaming her. Not because I think they should just blame her, but because that's usually the way it goes, especially in the 1800s. Like, it's so that's like that now. Yeah, and it's like, in the 80s, it was like, you don't even blink an eye. It's like, of course, it's her fault. But apparently Mary was very easily influenced by others and was likely very susceptible to Hayden's charms. Because in fact, when it came to Mary, it seems like everyone kind of had a fondness for her because they deemed her quote a very simple and easy-minded girl. Now that doesn't necessarily mean she was like cognitively,

you know, like cognitively anything was wrong here. I think it just necessarily mean she was like cognitively, you know, like cognitively anything was wrong here. Right. I think it just means that she was like, you know, innocent. She's innocent. She kind of grew up uneducated. She's not very worldly. Yeah.

And she's very easily influenced and manipulated. There's like a night of a day. A night of a day, I think, yeah. And so I think people were like a little easier to forget, like the quicker to forgive her for social missteps, I should say. But Herbert Hayden denied the affair with Mary. He maintained his innocence until the day he died. So where the fuck did you go during that aphrodisiac dinner?

So we'll never know what caused their affair to eventually come to an end, which it did. Or will we? But whatever the case, by late spring, their romance had died out and When Rosa gave birth to the couple's third child in August, I remember he was carrying the song while his wife was pregnant Yeah, that's good. Mary had moved out of the Hayden house and stopped working for them. I wonder why we don't know I wonder do you think Rosa caught wind of something and was like

You get the fuck out of here. Yeah. Well, we'll see. OK. She ended up moving in with Jane Studdly near nearby Gilford. It was Jane Studdly, a friend to whom Mary first confided this affair. OK. Perfect. After about two weeks of moving into the home,

Jane noticed that Mary seemed very despondent. She was like super emotional. She could be set off a lot easier. And it was not typical of Mary. She pregnant. And so when Jane asked what's wrong with her, Mary broke down and confessed that she and Hayden hadn't been having an affair, and that she had been, quote,

criminally intimate with the Reverend. And now, believe she was pregnant. I was gonna say those emotions. Yeah. Having so- Yeah. Intimate. Criminally intimate. That would be a fucking awesome band name.

We are criminally intimate. That's fucking great. Somebody name your band that. Please do. Or good, a good book, you. Criminally intimate would be a great book. I would pick that up and never put it down. Listen up, book talk.

That's your next book. Criminally intimate. I shouldn't tell anybody that. I know, book talk. That's your next book, criminally intimate. I shouldn't tell anybody that. I know, never mind, too. You don't really write smuts. I do not. Criminally intimate is a smut book. Yeah, and I give credit to smut writers

because I don't know if I could. No, I feel like I feel right in the face just thinking about it. Like I'm like, good for you, man, because I could not. It's the inner workings of somebody's mind right there. So shout out to Smut authors. Yeah, hats off. But Jane herself had some medical knowledge. And she definitely knew, I'm not sure exactly how,

like she had so much medical knowledge, but she knew a lot about pregnancy. She made me, she was a midwife or new midwife. She had some kind of interest in it. But Jane examined Mary and she said she found, quote, two well-recognized signs of pregnancy. The text that we found this in isn't super specific about it.

But together, the two women did the math and determined that Mary was about five months pregnant. Five months. Yeah. And this fell in the time frame that Mary and Herbert were carrying on in a fair. Damn, that's pretty far along. Yeah.

So although she was known to be what, like I said earlier, people thought of her as a woman of lower than average intellect, you know what I'm saying. Mary knew giving birth to another child out of what lock with a married man, married preacher, no less, was about as undesirable an occurrence as she could imagine.

Like this is definitely not a good thing. And not only would it be a significant and unavoidable source of shame at the time, and probably alter or really end a lot of her relationships with family and friends. Like this is a biggie. Yeah. But it would also be just another,

what she considered undue burden on her father, who was also struggling and was trying to keep, you know, her and her son afloat. So she was feeling like she was becoming an issue, which is sad. Mary. So desperate for a solution, Jane suggested that Mary go to Herbert Hayden to explain the circumstances and ask for his help. Basically, reasoning that he would have to be just as invested in dealing with this as she was. Like, you have to come up with a solution here. You would think. And Mary agreed that this was a good idea. But before doing that,

she sat down to write a letter to her sister Susan and included in the envelope another letter that was intended to be given to Herbert Hayden. In the letter Mary told her sister Susan about the affair, the possible pregnancy, and asked that she give the letter to Herbert Hayden. Now according to Mary, the letter she wrote to Hayden was a similar explanation and a request that he take her to New Haven, quote, for an operation, and then to return her to Mrs. Dudley for any sickness that might follow. Okay. Now Mary mailed the letter to her sister in Rockland and she got it two days later. But by then, Mary had returned home to her father's house and intercepted her sister

before she gave the letter to Hayden because she was like, I want to give a to him in person, actually. Okay. She just changed her mind. Yeah. Now a little after 1 p.m. on September 3rd, 1878, her 22nd birthday. Oh. Mary standard gathered up her tinpale and left the house. She told her father, she was gonna go to Big Rock about a quarter mile from the house to pick blackberries and she would be home soon.

That afternoon, the sun went down, it was getting darker. And Charles standard became concerned. She hadn't come back, that wasn't like her. So he set out in the direction of Big Rock to find out where she had gone. As he made his way through the brush into the clearing by Big Rock, Charles made the gruesome discovery. Mary was lying on her back with her arms folded neatly across her chest. She had a clean white bonnet that she was wearing when she left

and it was folded neatly beneath her head. And her tin pale was just a few feet away overturned, but there was no evidence that any berries had ever been in it. So she didn't even make it there. And so Charles ran to her and quickly realized that he was not going to be able to bring her back. Mary's throat had been cut, severing the jugular vein, carotid artery and the larynx. Oh my God.

Broodily cut, deep. She also had a severe head wound. There was a hole in her scalp. What? And there was also a large bruise on the back of her right hand. Oh my God. So she was brutalized. Yeah, absolutely.

So Charles freaked out, ran to the nearest home for help that of Francis Mills, and the news spread across the village very quickly. And before long, a group of men had assembled at the Mills house, and they set out for the scene. They discovered Mary's body and the woods where Charles had told them, and a quick search of the area turned up, no, nothing else, really, of note.

No instrument of murder, no instrument. Like, because it seems like there was two different things you use, like something to cut her throat, and probably a blunt instrument that hit her in the skull. Neither one was found. And because it was nearly completely dark at that point, and at this point, it actually started to rain. Oh, no.

The men called off the search for the evening and just carried Mary's body back to the standard home before sending for justice Henry Stone and Dr. Rufus Matthewson. Dr. Matthewson was the one who performed the autopsy. In his post-mortem examination, Dr. Matthewson confirmed that Mary's cause of death was pretty certainly that wound her throat. He also noted the wound to the right

side of the head, and he said, quote, jagged in star-shaped and apparently made by a blunt instrument. Truly interesting, though, is that according to Dr. Matthewson, Mary's body showed no signs of pregnancy or of having been recently pregnant. Interesting. And the state of the body indicated, quote, an outrage was not committed upon her, so no sexual assault. Okay. So she was not pregnant.

So this all could have been avoided. It sounds like. Yeah. Horrifying. Now, a coroner's inquest was immediately called the following day and it was overseen by Justice Stone and Dr. Matthews. Um, among the first witness called was Francis Mills, who was the owner of the home where Charles, uh, standard had run to after discovering Mary's body. And, uh, Mills told the jury that she had been walking out in the woods earlier with her son around 3 p.m.

in the afternoon and heard agonizing shrieks and recognize the voice of Mary Stannards, but didn't approach the scene and didn't see anything. So you heard agonized shrieks, and you're just like, you didn't tell anyone. I'm a girl about my business. Like I'm just gonna leave.

Like I understand I'm wanting to like run in the, like you know, to put your son in harm's way and all that way. Yeah. You're not gonna tell anyone like, hey, I heard some shit in the woods. Like we should probably go check that out. She really said not my chair, not my problem. She really did.

But Mills testimony led many in the inquest to speculate that she quote might have been outraged by, and this is a quote, by a tramp and then murdered. Oof. Now, Dr. Matthewsson, however, dismissed that theory and reminded the jury, there was no evidence of sexual assault. She was not outraged, quote unquote.

Okay. Now, almost immediately after the body was discovered, rumors started swirling around town about Herbert Hayden's possible connection to this murder. After all, for the past year, there had been a lot of talk about the illicit romance between the two. And then Mary's employment with the Hayden's had ended rather abruptly. But it was Mary's sister, Susan Holly, and Charles Stannard, her father, who offered the most insightful of testimonies, I would say.

Now, according to both of them, Reverend Hayden had come to their home around 11 a.m. on the morning of the murder, but she was in town, and he and Mary had gone out for a walk. When they returned, Mary told them both that they had made an appointment to meet later that afternoon. Not far from where the body was discovered. Right. Additional testimony from Susan and Jane Studley revealed that Mary had confessed her affair with Hayden to both of them, and that she believed herself to be pregnant with Herbert Hayden's child.

Now when asked about this, Herbert Hayden denied having met with Mary a second time that day. He said he had been out cutting wood all afternoon, all by himself, and didn't see Mary again until he and the others went to the woods to retrieve her body. What a great alibi. A great alibi is one that no one can confirm her tonight. Totally, no one saw me, but I was there.

I was in the woods alone by myself. All day. So secluded. Just chop, chop, chop, I saw me, but I was there alone by myself all day. It's a clue to just chop chop chop. So the dude now, after hearing two days of testimony, head juror Charles Denard, who are standard, no relation, by the way, a no Charles standard is her father. Yeah, this is head juror, Charles standard, who is not related. That's crazy. He went to justice, H.B. Wilcox.

H.B. Wilcox. I have feelings. Oh, I have feelings. Sorry, wait a minute. H.B. Wilcox, the judge. He's the justice. Okay, okay. And so this head juror requested that an arrest warrant

be issued for Hayden, Herbert Hayden. You did. The request stunned justice Wilcox, who was a member of Hayden's church. Instead, he insisted he said, he had, quote, heard Hayden preach a very good sermon. It did not seem possible the minister could be guilty and he would rather sign his own death warrant than that arrest warrant against Mr. Hayden. Blink, blink, blink, blink. Now luckily against his protests,

the arrest warrant was signed that Friday morning and a sheriff, because they were like, fuck off. Well, no, so don't you think that would be like, like you know how jurors get dismissed for being too close to the case? When you think that would be a conflict? Yeah, back thenors get dismissed for being too close to the case? When you think that would be a conflict? Yeah, back then I don't think they bought an evening conflict. So I think they were just like,

huh, yeah, whatever. As we'll see, because it gets worse. I had a feeling. So a sheriff's deputy went out to Madison. I don't know why I said sheriff. I sheriff, I sheriff, deputate. Sorry, I don't really know what happened there. I'm sure of Stepu.

Depu, one to Madison and placed Herbert Hayden under arrest for the murder of Mary Standard. Although the evidence against Hayden was, at this point, pretty circumstantial and opinions kind of heavily were influenced by rumor at this point. Yeah. Belief in his guilt was pretty widespread.

One reporter wrote. One reporter wrote. Yeah, one reporter wrote. The circumstances of the murder were so overwhelming against the clergyman that surprise was expressed that he was not at once placed in custody. And the reporter then wrote, of his guilt, as the case appears now, there can be very little doubt. And it looks as if he was led through fright to commit the crime of murder, and yet did it in such in so bungling a manner as to make it almost

impossible for him to escape suspicion and arrest. So they're like, this fucking idiot. Like that's essentially what they're saying. Now, the public and at the very least the press might have been very confident in Hayden's guilt at the time, but far more important in this case was the judge's opinion. And in this case, the judge on the case was Justice H.B. Will Cox. I had a feeling.

Our friend. And also, he's not my friend. A friend in staunch advocate of Herbert Hayden's innocence, which seems fine. So legit. Can we call it anyone else? Literally, and go outside and grab the first guy you see and I think that'll be better.

Really come on. The trial began September 10th and was held in the basement of the Madison town hall. And it was a space described as, quote, low ceiling, stifling dirty room, almost a cellar. Why don't they have a courthouse? You know, they 1800s off. The fuck?

So, Judge, come over to this basement and let's judge this man. Judge H. Lind Harrison was acting on behalf of the state. Well, L.M. Hubbard, the local postmaster, was acting on behalf of Hayden. That's real close to Elbrough. These were real, they were wily back then. For real. No, Wilcox, again, was the presiding justice.

And it should be noted that although he had legal training, he had no trial experience. Sounds like this. Where are we? Sounds like this is a well-oiled machine. I think it's going to turn out fine. Yeah, everything will be great. The rumors about Herbert Hayden's affair with Mary went a long way to people drawing conclusions about his guilt.

That wasn't the soul, or even the most important reason he was arrested. Actually, it was the testimony from Susan Hawley in Charles Standard regarding Hayden's supposed appointment with Mary on the day of her murder. That was the most suspicious. Yeah. And in her testimony, and the fact that he didn't have an alibi, his alibi was like, I was chopping wood alone in the forest. Right.

No one saw me. Can you get me a bear to tell, to like, you know, cooperate this? No, no, no, I can't. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. There are some things about me that I actually like. There are some things that I'm already crushing it at, and I feel like this is the time of year where we focus on what we're not good at, what we're not doing, you know, the whole new year, new you thing. I don't agree with that.

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Listeners, we have a new show that we think you're going to freaking love. From Wondering and Hosted by Laura Beale, the critically acclaimed Doctor Death is back with a new season. Doctor Death, Bad Magic, a story of miraculous cures, magic, and murder. When a charismatic hot shot doctor announced revolutionary treatments for cancer and HIV, it seemed like the world had been given a miracle cure. Medical experts rushed to praise Dr. Serhaut Gumbruku, a genius who is the co-founder of a cutting-edge biotech company.

But when a team of private researchers dive into Serhaut's background, they begin to suspect the brilliant doctor is hiding a shocking secret. And when a man is found dead in the snow with his wrist shackled and bullet casing, spreading the snow bank, Serhaut would no longer be known for world-changing treatments. He'd be known as a fraud and a key suspect in a grisly murder.

Follow Dr. Death Bad Magic on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Dr. Death Bad Magic early and add free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Now, so in her testimony during the Inquest and during the first trial, Susan Holly, her sister, explained that after Mary's first visit with Hayden on the day of her murder, her sister claimed that she had told Hayden of the supposed pregnancy. Yeah. So in that first meeting where they took a walk, she had revealed to Herbert Hayden that the supposed pregnancy. So in that first meeting where they took a walk, she had revealed to Herbert Hayden that she was pregnant.

And he told her not to worry that they would go to the pharmacy and get a quote, unquote, quick medicine that would end the pregnancy. Now further testimony from other residents confirmed that Hayden had gone to the pharmacy on the morning of the murder and purchased a quantity of arsenic. Quick medicine, I bet.

I don't know if I would call it medicine, per se. No, during his testimony, Hayden said, well, of course I did that. My house and barn are overrun with rats. I had purchased the arsenic to mix with sugar and kill the rats. However, he insisted he had not yet used the arsenic. He hadn't used it to kill the rats. And as far as he knew, it was still in the package in his barn.

Okay. So he's like, I didn't even open it. And he made sure to say that, which I was like, that wasn't smart. Because we can fix that out later. Now the second piece of compelling evidence was a bloody knife that they discovered during the search of Herbert Hayden's property. Did he also use that on the rats? Following his arrest,

authorities searched his home in the adjacent barn where they discovered a bloody knife about the size and shape of that which was believed to have made the wound in Mary's neck. But you brought that home. The knife was sent to MC White, a professor of pathology at Yale Medical School, who conducted extensive tests on the blood. I love this because it's very 1800s because it's like it went to Yale University.

They conducted extensive tests on the blood. He just like sniffed it. And what he said was, I think it's human blood. That's so extensive. And I didn't just make that up. That's a fucking quote from the New York Times in 1878. That checks. When he was called to testify, Professor White confirmed that it was blood.

And he told the prosecuting attorney, quote, I think it's human blood. I'm feeling it's just blood. I'm like, I get it in the 1800s. I'm surprised they could tell it was blood and not jelly, but like still. White explained that he had made a similar examination of the blood stains found on Mary's bonnet, that pure white bonnet that she had worn,

and those discovered on a large stone found near the body and said he quote, had no doubt that this blood on the stone was human blood. So he could definitely tell that that was human blood. A few days later Herbert Hayden's wife Rosa took the stand to testify for the defense. Come on Rosa. When her husband went out that afternoon to chop wood, he left the knife in question with her, quote, to use in peeling pairs while he was away. Here.

How did he get bloody in the meantime? According to Rose, she's a glad you asked. She's a glad you asked. I think was human. A good human pair. And her answer is, I think it's like, I'll do some extensive testing. And I'll be able to tell you that I too think it might be human.

Me, thanks. Now, according to Rosa, Herbert Hayden had cut his finger with that knife a few days prior to the murder, and that likely explained the blood on the blade. Bitch, you were going to use that to cut pairs? I know, it was like that's gross. That's nasty. Now, additional testimony was provided by the defense's own expert, Professor L.J. Sanford, who gave extensive

testimony regarding the testing process. And it all did little to explain the presence of the blood, like how it got there. But it was long-winded and complicated enough to raise doubts in Professor White's testimony. So he just confused the jury. That was his whole aim. He was like science, science, science, science, biology, biology, biology, and the shares are like, ah, I don't know what that is. And at the same time, that testimony was being given in the court, H. Lynn Harrison lobbied to have Mary's body disinterred and have the wound and stomach be examined more thoroughly. Harrison's request came in light of the fact that

not only had the knife been discovered in the barn and can now be compared to the wound, they were like, we need to get her back so we can compare it. But also after the prosecution learned from that hate and had purchased a large quantity of arsenic poison from the local pharmacy just days before the murder, the defense objected strongly

because they were like, we can now test our stomach contents. And the defense was like, no! And they were like, why, though? And they were like, he's a preacher, he can't afford additional legal fees that we're gonna accrue while the state puts the hold on the case to exume and examine the body.

Okay. And judge Wilcox being a friend and having no sympathy or affinity for the prosecution agreed with the defense and refused to pause the case. But he said, you can exume her. I'm just not pausing the case. So we might find him innocent while you're doing your tests while you figure out like,

indubitably that he did this. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Now, so they're not going to pause the case. Could get to the end of it before they even get Mary out of the ground and try to make these, like, literally the smoking gun discoveries. Right. But he's like, yeah, I don't care.

During the inquest in the first trial, a great deal of information came to light that the prosecution really believed warranted further investigation before any court could reasonably determine guilt or innocence. We're having a lot of stuff come up that you do need to pause so we can go through all this. And this included, like we said, an exhumation of Mary's body to examine stomach contents and that neck wound, and as well as several statements and claims relating to the knife

and to Hayden's whereabouts on the afternoon of a murder. It was just too much coming out that was like, this is shady. Now judge Wilcox, however, you said that's very strange. That's very strange. You refused again to adjourn the case to allow the further investigation. And on September 19th, 1887, Wilcox announced that he had heard enough. He wasn't even gonna let it keep going. According to Wilcox, a close friend and defender of the accused, remember.

The prosecution had presented a largely circumstantial case that was easily explained away by the defense. Regarding the knife, Wilcox said, quote, he himself had at that moment a knife in his pocket, which must have been full of blood resembling human, for he had recently killed a dog with it. And a dog's blood resembles that of a human being. This man killed a dog, and we're listening to this fucker. Why did he kill a dog with a knife? Fuck this guy. What the hell? Fuck this guy. Judge Wilcox. Fuck you. Why is it in there being like, this guy's fine. He's innocent, he's innocent.

I don't give a shit. I'm not gonna listen to anything. Also, I have a knife in my pocket that I fucking murdered a dog with. So I could also be a murdered. It's like, why don't we put your ass on trial then? What the fuck are you doing? Serious.

Killing dogs out here in these streets. What the fuck? Fuck Judge Wilcox. There's a cream court at this point. Well, then, Wilcox. We got somewhere else, the court sucks. They 1800s of it all. But Wilcox went on to say that Mrs. Hayden, Rosa Hayden's testimony,

was further proof of Hayden's innocence, because, quote, he didn't think she would tell a falsehood to save her husband from the gallows. I don't think. Like, go to bed. Judge Wilcox, go to your room, shut up. It's a guy. This woman won't, you don't think she'll get on the stand until a falsehood to save her husband and father

of her children, father of the gallows, father of her three children, whom she needs them to provide for. You're like, ah, that would do. What lies, that she's a religious woman. He's like secret secrets are no fun. I don't think she would do that. She doesn't like those.

Like what? What? Like, and everybody in all these men, we're just sitting there going, yeah, uh-huh, absolutely. She pinkie swore to me that she'd tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We spit shook on it. Yeah, she, she flashed a peace sign and I thought that was pretty great.

So, and you think that's the worst shit you've heard? The last thing that I'm gonna tell you, I'm not even there yet, but the last thing I will tell you in this thing is gonna blow your fucking mind out of here. Get out of here, friend. Get out of here, friend. Get out of here, friend. Will Cox told the crowd assembled in the courtroom. Let me say, from the test run, no.

No, no, no. I won't. Just get. Let me say, from the testimony given, that if I were a sure of heaven and eternal felicity as I am of this man, that this man is guiltless of the crime of killing Mary E. Standard, I should rest content. What? So he's saying, if I am more sure that this man is innocent

of this crime, then I am that heaven exists. Wow, cool. And I would rest content if I was as sure that heaven exists as I am sure of his innocence. And it's like content if I was as sure that heaven exists as I am sure of his innocence. And it's like, what did this guy, what's he got on you? Well, I can watch it with the fucks going on. Yeah.

That's like, what, what's happening? You guys, like, you see, he's like, are you two having an affair with pre-tradited? I'm just like, well, cocks, what's happening? Yeah, do you guys have a look at this? We'll just be honest. I don't know, I'm just gonna spend this one here. I'm asking for a friend. Because he's just like Wilcox what's happening. Yeah, do you guys get together on the weekends? Just be honest. I don't know. I'm just wondering. I'm asking for a friend because he's just like I love him. Wait, I mean he's in his name and they're literally like here's the bloody knife found in his barn

No, no, no me too. I have bloody knives like it's just like you weren't shut up like you're It's getting real bloody knives everywhere. We all got them. no, no, no, I don't know about this brother. He's, he's wild. And with that, the charges against Herbert Hayden were discharged and he was allowed to leave the court a free man. What the fuck? Now at the time of Herbert Hayden's arrest, public opinion was generally that he had killed Mary standard

after, after being told that she was pregnant that he had killed Mary standard. And got away with after being told that she was pregnant. Yeah. Everybody thought. The prosecution offered a strong and compelling case that presented motive her pregnancy and their affair. Yep. Means the bloody knife discovered in the barn, his barn. Yep. And opportunity, the appointment in the woods, they had literally laid out motive, means, and opportunity clearly for everybody. Right. And they had a wealth of damaging testimony to go along with it, which he bought arsenic that morning.

The defense on the other hand, presented a rebuttal that included basically some murky scientific jargon that they probably just pulled out of their ass, but mostly relied on the assertion that Hayden simply couldn't have done this because he's a minister and his wife wouldn't lie. Totally. That's literally the case they rested on. No, you're not wrong. This guy is a minister or preacher and his wife,

she's so pretty, she wouldn't lie. Yeah. That's it. And they were like, sounds good. And like the prosecution's like, we have literally the perfect case. So sorry, did the jury even make the decision or did the judge?

No, the judge just was like, he was just like all done. I've heard enough. So it was the point of the judge. And again, one of those arguments is clearly and objectively much stronger than the other. The charges were nonetheless dismissed by a judge who from the very start was convinced of Hayden's innocence and not only resented even having to preside over this case

in the first place, but resented the prosecutor for what he believed was an unjust, unjust, and fucked up a tack on his friend and a beloved preacher of the town. So while the charges against Hayden were dismissed at the time, Acheland Harrison remained convinced of his guilt. And that's the prosecutor.

He was like, fuck that. Like, I know this is true. And he refused to let Wilcox's bullshit decision, biased decision, prevent him from continuing to pursue the case. Which is good on him. He believed that Mary's statement to her sister about, quote, quick medicine,

referred to the arsenic purchased by Hayden on the morning of the murder. Agreed. And Harrison arranged for Mary's body to be exhumed. He was like, fuck that, I'm still gonna look. I'm gonna still do this investigation. Because the family deserves to know what happened.

Yeah. And not content to leave the second examination up to the county doctor. He was like, I don't trust anybody in this fucking place. It's good to DIY. Harrison arranged for the second post-mortem examination to be conducted by pathologist MC White and SW Johnson, the chair of the chemistry department also from Yale.

And the two Yale pathology professors. He was like, I trust them. And their examination of the contents of Mary Stumick, the pathologist discovered quote, a mass of unabsorbed arsenic, which they claimed was quote, enough arsenic to kill the whole community of Rockland. Oh my God.

to kill the whole community of Rocklands. Oh my God. They found the arsenic in her stomach. They found all of the arsenic in her stomach, and then he slid her throat as well. Yup. By white and Johnson's estimation, there were roughly 50 or 60 grams of arsenic and Mary's stomach, but she had likely ingested more

and some had already been absorbed prior to her death. Oh my God. It doesn't take a ton of arsenic to kill an average size adult. I looked it up in Grant, like the FBI's probably like coming to my door tomorrow. They're like, hey, can you stop getting grams? At the low end of the dosage, 0.145 grams can be lethal.

Wait, and I'm sorry, how much was in her? 50 or 60 grams, and they believe there was more than had already been absorbed. What the fuck? That is, and that's on the low end of the dosage, but even 1.145 can be lethal, and that is less than only one eighth of a teaspoon. Is a lethal dose.

Holy shit. Yeah. Yeah, I am dumb struck right now. And it was during this second autopsy that another surprising revelation was made relating to Mary's belief that she was pregnant. Although there was still no evidence to suggest that she had recently been pregnant. Okay.

During the examination of her reproductive organs, the pathologist discovered several ovarian cysts, which they said explained, quote, had only mimicked the symptoms of early pregnancy. So that explained, they said, that's why she believed she was pregnant. It wasn't her making it up. Right.

Because that was another thing that was starting to go, oh, she made this shit up to keep him to like take him away from his wife. And I don't think so. And they were like, no, no. She was experiencing symptoms that at that point, especially mimicked early pregnancy, and they weren't, how were they to tell?

Like that's true. And also, you just go off of symptoms back then. Yeah. And the argument that she was saying that she was pregnant because she wanted to keep him as stupid because she literally had written a letter where she was like, I don't want to do this again. I don't know what to do. Like, I'm going to be shunned.

Like, this is how that actually happened. I'm actually leaning more toward I would not like to do this again. Now, when White and Johnson reported their findings back to Harrison, he took their report to Superior Court judge, Hitchcock and Culver. I was like, there's gotta be another court because this one is Jakey. He has bought it. I like to trade it in. They immediately issued a warrant for Haven and Zerrest again.

And he was taken into custody by sheriff's deputies and delivered to a cell at the jail house in New Haven. The following day, reporters noted that as he was being transported to the jail, quote, Heidon was as smiling and talkative as on the day of his trial. Not the fuck. Cause he thought he was like, I'm not, on the day of his trial. What the fuck? Because he thought he was like, I'm not,

they're not gonna get me. Who could not, man? In between the dismissal of charges and his re-arrest, Hayden had managed to gain considerable sympathy from the residents of Monroe. E. Particularly those in his congregation. Yeah, of course.

Who viewed him as a victim of an overzealous prosecutor. And after the first trial ended, the congregation passed, quote, resolutions of unqualified and continued respect for brother Hayden as a man and minister. Among other things, the resolutions claimed, quote, his later rest was made on the most criminally frivolous grounds and was therefore a great outrage upon him and society at large. And it noted that his arrest was do only to quote,

wicked designs of evil men. And the resolution closed with a pledge by the congregation to continue their unconditional emotional and financial support. Unconditional, you say. So this man conned that entire investigation into also paying to support him through this murder trial where he is so fucking guilty, it is outrageous. He's a dickle.

Now, the general support for hate and was pretty broad and the resolution was specifically kind of signaling that there was a huge shift and what was gonna happen here. Before, it was like of signaling that there was a huge shift in what was going to happen here. Before, it was like pretty broad that everybody was like, yeah, if he did this, yeah. It makes sense. Like, here's the motive, here's the means, here's the opportunity.

Now, they're like, he might have done this, but we don't give a phone. And when everybody's like, no, I think you guys are just mean. No way. He loves God. So, and that's it, because everybody's now reframing Hayden as a pious and morally righteous victim, in what was essentially described as a battle

between good and evil now. Are you fucking crazy? Where he is good. And they are evil. For sure. And as such, Herbert Hayden entered into his second trial for the murder of Mary Standard as a kind of, like, folk hero, and a victim of a government system

determined to pin a murder on him that he did not commit. I don't know about that. So why do you have arsenic in your possession and she's got it in her stomach? Rats. You went to get it that morning? Yep, she said more about the practice.

She said it's just coincidence. I know it's coming back. Now while Hayden Satinjale waiting a second trial, Harrison and a small group of investigators continued building their case against him. The Examation and second autopsy had not only allowed them to confirm the arsenic and Mary Stumick, but also meant that they could take a sample so they could compare it to something. And the problem was, however, that Hayden claimed he hadn't seen that packet of arsenic since he purchased it. And the initial search of the barn had turned up any arsenic.

Yeah, because it was all fucking gone. Now upon reass and remember, he said, I never even opened that pack. He made, he, I remember that information that he had never opened that package. Now upon reass they searched the barn a second time and the arsenic was located. Only after the defense ended up having to give specific instructions as to where it could be found. So it was hidden as well. The packet of arsenic from the barn was turned over to CM White for analysis and was

confirmed to be opened and to have the same chemical structure as what was discovered in Mary's stomach. Dude, come on. And it was fucking a pin. It was hidden. It was discovered in Mary's stomach. Dude, come on. And it was fucking a pin in. It was hidden. Hidden and opened. And this man said, I never opened it. And it's just sitting in my barn.

And as the same chemical structure as the kind in Mary's stomach. And it was fucking 60 grams missing pretty much. So for a variety of reasons unrelated to the case, Hayden's trial was actually delayed repeatedly and nearly a year passed before the second trial even began in early November 1898. And during the first trial, witnesses for the prosecution like Susan Hawley and June, you know, Jane Studdly, they were all kind of regarded with sympathy because they had just lost a loved one.

Very gruesome way, like Charles Stanner, they were all treated very nicely this time. However, the public opinion had swayed in Herbert Hayden's favor, remember, and the public, including the judge and defense attorneys, had no sympathy for anyone that they believed was participating in the persecution of this minister. On the headstand and in the press, witnesses like Susan Holley and Charles Stannard were belittled in court and portrayed to be ignorant laborers of low intelligence now. Wow. Herbert Hayden, on the other hand, was held up of a man of culture and strong moral

and religious character, while his wife Rosa was treated as though she were the real victim here, having been robbed of her husband for so long. Maybe he robbed you of him. Yeah. He robbed a woman of her whole fucking life and William of his mother. Exactly. And Charles of his daughter. Yeah. And Susan of her sister. And as he had done the first time around, Harris presented the jury with a strong case built on scientific evidence and witness testimony. So he established, they're like science, I don't know her. No, I don't know her.

He established the relationship between Hayden and Mary, reminded them of the motive in the case, and more importantly, gave incredibly compelling evidence that connected Mary's death to the arsenic and the knife discovered in Herbert Hayden's barn. Right. And it was the scientific evidence that was the linchpin of the entire case.

And Harris went out of his way to include expert testimony from several pathologists at Yale, many of whom recreated their experiments in the courtroom before the judge and jury just to make it like drive it home. Unfortunately, while such scientific evidence might seem irrefutable to us now, to a 19th century jury in the confusing, like in this whole case, which craft? This confusing stream of jargon and strange-looking lab instruments that were brought in just confused the hell out of them.

Yep. And according to one press report at the time, this is wild. Oh, God. No. At one time during the examination, No. Five jury men who had finished their inspection were reading newspapers, which were spread out before them.

But no one imagined they were reading reports about the trial. They're just reading newspapers, well, this is happening. Come on. Like, yeah, you can't make that shit up even. And it's going to get worse. Ow! When it came to the argument from the defense, Hayden's lawyer Samuel Jones presented more or less the same case

that was presented during the first trial. The strong scientific evidence presented by the prosecution was treated that it was like it was mystical gibberish, further muddying the jury's understanding of the arsenic analysis. He just confused them more. And also their defense rested largely on Hayden's supposed strong moral character and that of his wife. And then they made sure to say that the victim and her family

were just ignorant farmers and made poor choices and were poorer, had poor character. I cannot. And remember Herbert cheated on his wife. I do remember that. But we're holding him up as the strong moral character. But of course. But like this man is admitting to meeting with Mary

to discuss the affair and possible pregnancy. But they're holding him up as the moral character and just like sanctimonious motherfucker up here. Yes. Yeah. In fact, during Charles's standards testimony, the defense focus considerable attention on Mary's illegitimate child. William.

William. And quote unquote illegitimate child, and even made attempts to establish that Mary herself had been born out of wedlock, implying that not only was the witness immoral, but also couldn't be trusted. That's so fucked up. So now they're like, Charles, how was she, were you married when Mary was born? Maybe she's an illegitimate child, so that makes you fucking gross and we can't trust

you anymore. And it's like, what does that have to do with anything? Like, that's not why we're here. And they had no, nothing to prove it. No basis, exactly. So rather than prove his client's innocence, Jones just casts suspicions on someone else. He just decided to throw it on someone else. Benjamin Stevens, a neighbor of the standards

who occasionally did work for Charles Standard just out of the loop at their home sometimes. Just decided to off-merry, run away. On the like, the morally righteous and upstanding Herbert Hayden, who was fucking his nanny behind his wife's back, by the way, and had Hayden arsenate within his possession and a bloody knife.

Stevens was a poor farmer who was known to partake in the drake get times heavily. And it happens. It's the 1800s. What, come on, the fuck else is there to do? Let's go drunk. Also, Stevens had been seen leaving the house just after Mary did on the day of the murder and had no alibi for the rest of the afternoon that anybody could confirm.

Which is like this, mother talker. Jones also pointed out that it could have just as easily been Charles standard who committed the murder. Wow, that's fucked up. Quote, to prevent the repetition of the disgrace that had once before fallen upon the family from the same source. Wow. Saying from the same source, the same source being Mary, his own fucking child. That's so fucked up. To be clear, there was not one fucking shred of evidence to suggest either of these men had anything to do with Mary's death.

Exactly. Jones was just sowing the seed of doubt just to fuck with the jury because that's all he had. Right. He didn't have anything to prove his client was innocent. No. Everything proved his guilt. There is not one shred of evidence besides Rosa sitting on the fucking stand and being

like, I love my husband. I don't think he'd do that. He would not murder someone. He was cutting peaches. And he was like, he was a buddy. And that's all he has. So his only way of doing this is to just go, those two could have done it.

Like I could have done it. You could have done it. But like, I don't have arsenic in my possession or bloody knife. Fugging what? Wild. Now, after more than two months, the trial finally reached closing arguments on January 13, 1880.

Lind Harrison reiterated his case for the jury, emphasizing that fearing his reputation would be ruined should the affair and pregnancy be made public. Hayden had a very strong motive to kill Mary, and the weapons used in the murder were found in his fucking home, with blood on them. Quote, the experts had shown that arsenic was found in the brain of the murdered girl and that it must have reached there before death. Harrison reminded the courtroom, quote, it was also shown that Hayden was the only man who was known to have arsenic in Rockland

that entire day. That could have killed an entire fucking village of people. And that he bought it secretly. He secretly bought it and then said it was never opened and then it was hidden. In his closing arguments on the other side, Jones focused on Hayden's supposedly upstanding character. And again, cast dispersions on Benjamin Stevens.

Quote, if Hayden had killed the girl, it was most strange that no blood was found on his clothing. But it was found on a knife in his possession, you dumb fuck. And also, what clothing? We don't know what clothing he was wearing that day. He could have gotten rid of them. That's the other thing. John's remarked in statement, quote, Ben Stevens denial that he committed the crime should

have no weight. As he had been contradicted in material parts of his testimony, he is referring to an earlier part of the trial when Stevens testimony was challenged by a witness for the defense. And that's it. It wasn't like contradicted. They challenged it. Right. With no basis, which is the same thing that's challenged it. Right. With no basis.

Which is the same thing that's happening to your client, but with basis. The jury deliberated for nearly four days before finally reporting that they had become hopelessly deadlocked. What the fuck are you deadlocked? 11 jurors were in favor of a quiddle. One was a holdout that was committed to Hayden's guilt. One.

What? Certain that they would not reach a verdict if the jury returned for further deliberation, the judge declared a mistrial and hit Herbert Hayden, walked free. No. The prosecution briefly considered retrying the case because they were like, this is fucked up. Are you guys kidding me?

But there was exorbitant costs in two trials alone. And the fact that they had already presented the most compelling case they possibly could. Yeah, aside from having like some just omniscient narrator that could come in and be like, hi, I was watching the whole thing. It was what happened. They didn't see a point to try him a third time.

They were like, he's just gonna be allowed to walk free and we're exhausted. This family is now being torn to shreds. And now we've put them through a second trial and now people are blaming her father. And it's using him. We're not gonna put him through that again. No.

Now in both trials, the jury weighed what was very clear evidence of Hayden's guilt and chose instead to absolve him of everything all wrongdoing rather than challenge their beliefs about class and respectability at the time. I want to know about this one jury that was like, y'all are wrong. Well, and while Hayden may have escaped criminal penalties, he didn't escape consequences altogether. Okay, well, that's good to hear. Following the declaration of a mistrial, Herbert Hayden was stripped of his credentials

and banned from preaching altogether. Oh, wow. I'm surprised by that. Sounds to me like people knew what was the truth. Yeah. Sounds to me like after hearing that trial that there was really no denying it. I'm so surprised by that, that the jury was like, no way, no, no, not at all. And now they're like, well, fuck.

But then like somebody was like, no, you fucking know this. And you're like, you clearly did this. Wow. And you got away with it. And like the higher ups, yeah, they were like, they were like, fuck you. To us anymore, like, by.

So no longer a pillar of the community and held up as this righteous moral god for all of them. He and Rosa moved to New Haven where they lived until his death in 1907. Wow. Now in 1914, 33 years after that second trial, the Hartford Current interviewed the last living member of the jury. Stop it.

Stop it. His name is Horace Perry. Horace. And he was asked, what was your rationale for voting to acquit Herbert Hayden of the charge? Because was he one of the 11 and? I don't think they knew whether he was one of the 11,

but they assumed who was, but I think they're just like, clearly there was like, what was the rationale? Like, what was the conversation that day? Perry explained. Oh my God. That throughout the trial, Rosa Hayden had been sitting in front of the jury and was, quote, a very beautiful young woman. As far as the majority of the jury

was concerned, quote, from the day the trial opened until the last ballot was cast, their view had been, how can we convict a man with a beautiful young wife like that? And that is the end of the fucking story. How can we convict a man because we want to fuck his wife? That is the end of that story. I'm gonna go run over my microphone really fast. I quit 14. This man. This horse.

I'm gonna go now. This horse, Mr. Perry said, you wanna know why we didn't listen to a shred of the fucking evidence that was presented to us. His wife was hot and she was sitting in front of us. What the fuck does that have to do with anything? When I tell you my soul launched into orbit,

no, no, this will be my last podcast. It's been a great run. Are you fucking, like, bye, bye, most of the jury wanted a fuck his wife. Are you fucking, like, bye. Bye. Bye. Most of the jury wanted a fuck his wife. Why so we couldn't convict him? That is essentially what that man just said. No, that is what he's, what?

I'm on another, I'm on a new level. That is what? His wife was beautiful. So not even like his wife was so beautiful, we thought to ourselves like, wow, he'd never cheat on her. So this is ridiculous. That you'd even be involved with that woman. We can't kill him. It's like, yeah, maybe he killed her, but like his wife's super hot.

Also, when you think that's why you would want to convict him. So you could step on in there and be like, Hey, baby. I chorus. Should I be like, I'm like, I'm convinced how do we convict a man who put a hug now like that? Like that. Are you joking me? Do we know what Rosa looked like? I'm like, I'm just rendition. I don't even know, but I'm like, let me see. I'll be the

fucking judge of that. I am just, how gorgeous was she, the fuck? Marilyn Monroe sitting in front of that jury? I am, are you joking me? Without words, to be honest. No, that's, I'm telling like that, bye. That's why I was like, just you fucking wait. Like, you don't think it's gonna get worse,

but it's hard to function for the rest of this day. Are you kidding me? I'm saying, I'm saying. I was looking up to see if I could find Rosa. It's hard to find. Well, she's so beautiful. Nobody ever took a photograph of her because they were scared.

Oh my gosh. Oh, I mean, this is an artist's rendition, but I don't know if this is correct. It's gotta be like something. Let's see it. I'll be the judge, the jury. Let me see the executioner. It probably No, that's not it's an artist's rendition. If that you know what, thank you so much for listening. You know what? Thank you so much for listening. I'll not note. We totally hope that you keep listening.

And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you go Google a picture of Rosa and that artist's rendition because baby, you will have different thoughts than that whole last journey. Goodbye! Hey, fuck! Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts.

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