The Murder of Mary Rogers

Mary Rogers was murdered in 1841 and dumped in the Hudson River. Her death is said to have caused one of the first murder media sensations in the city. To this day, it remains unsolved, despite many theories and possible confessions. By now, it is unlikely that the murder of Mary Rogers will ever be solved. Her body has long since rotted and those who knew her have long since died. All we have left to go on are sensationalist stories and witness accounts that were handled more than 160 years ago.

On July 25, 1841, Mary Rogers spent some time at her mother's boarding house in New York City, went to church, visited a friend and spoke with her fiancé, Daniel Payne. She left Daniel in the afternoon, saying that she was going to visit with a female relative. The weather turned bad that night and Mary Rogers did not return home. There was still no sign of her the following day. Her fiancé, her mother and her former fiancé/friend - Alfred Crommelin - went out looking for her.

Mary Rogers would have been easily spotted in the city, as she had made a name for herself in the papers and among the men in New York City as "The Beautiful Cigar Girl." She worked at cigar shop owned by John Anderson. However, no one had seen her. Three years before, Mary had disappeared similarly. She was gone for at least several days, possibly weeks (sources vary on this detail). She came home unharmed, saying that she had stayed with relatives out of town. Nonetheless, her friends and family were worried. It turned out that they had every reason to be worried.

On July 28, two men pulled a body out of the Hudson River. They had been walking on the New Jersey side when they spotted it floating by. The body belonged to a woman who had been brutalized, according to witnesses who saw the body. The coroner said that she had wounds that indicated she had been "violated," but that she had been virginal before that time. Her wounds also showed that she was strangled by a man, her wrists had been bound and a piece of her dress had been inserted into her mouth and tied behind her neck. Alfred Crommelin identified the body of the dead girl as Mary Rogers.

Both fiancés were off the list of suspects quickly. Daniel Payne apparently had some very solid alibis for the date of Mary Rogers' disappearance, though he would later cast the shadow of mystery upon himself. There were other suspects, but no one could be pinned to the crime. The coroner claimed that the murder of Mary Rogers had been committed by a group of at least two men. There were plenty of groups that people wanted to blame, but absolutely no evidence to link them to the crime. Even the small bit of evidence that was later found was questionable, at best.

On August 25, a few boys found some women's clothing in a thicket. Among these clothing items were a handkerchief and a pair of gloves. The handkerchief had the initials M.R. sewn into them. Incidentally, Mary Rogers' body was found with a pair of gloves. Despite this strange fact, papers touted the thicket as the scene of the Mary Rogers' murder. On October 7, Daniel Payne went and sat at that thicket drunk. He then wrote a note that said, "To the World here I am on that very spot. May God forgive me for my misspent life." After he was done, he drank enough laudanum to bring about his death and wandered off to die on a bench. Whether his suicide note was a confession or a symbol of his love for Mary Rogers, no one knows. If it were not for his alibi, it would easy to guess the former.

About one year after Mary Rogers' fiancé killed himself, a strange confession took place. A local innkeeper was dying from an accidental gunshot wound. This woman was supposedly known for allowing abortions to take place in her inn. She said that Mary had come to her inn for such a procedure and died in the process. Fearing for himself, the doctor had thrown Mary Rogers' body in the Hudson River. This confession does not fit with the coroner's report, or the supposed thicket murder scene. Some suggest the woman was delirious. She did claim that she was being haunted by a female ghost. Then again, John Anderson had reportedly been haunted by Mary Rogers as well.

If there is one thing that can be learned from the death of poor Mary Rogers it is that people love attention. No matter the source of a famous story, no matter who had to die for it to become popular, there is someone, somewhere who is willing to get their five minutes of fame from it. People will lie, people will plant evidence, people will deny evidence and the truth can get lost in the mess.

*Edgar Allan Poe later wrote a story called, "The Mystery of Marie Roget." It was based on the Mary Rogers story.

Sources

MacGowan, Douglass, The Murder Mystery of Mary Rogers, retrieved 1/13/11, trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/classics/mary-rogers/index.html

New Jersey's History's Mysteries, retrieved 1/13/11, njhm.com/maryrogers.htm