The Unsolved Death of Mary Rogers
A beautiful young woman engaged to be married was found brutally murdered, but is that the truth behind her death?
Mary Rogers was a young woman who lived a relatively sheltered life. Her father died when she was a young child, and her mother kept her close to home so she wouldn’t lose her dear Mary as well.
Mrs. Rogers ran a boarding house in 1840 out of her home in New York City. Mary grew up around the business and frequently helped her mother with whatever the boarders needed. However, as Mary grew, she wasn’t recognized as just Mrs. Rogers’ daughter anymore.
Mary had grown into a beautiful young woman with a perfect complexion. She was noticed by the men who boarded with her mother and the townspeople. It wasn’t long before a gentleman caller arrived at her door, but not for the reason one might expect.
John Anderson
John Anderson had heard of Mary’s beauty, and he wanted to see the young woman for himself. When he arrived at the boarding house, he was met with 20-year-old Mary and was not disappointed by the young lady standing before him. Anderson knew instantly his plan was going to work.
Anderson owned a large retail cigar store frequented by the likes of Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe. He thought he could hire the lovely and charming Mary as a clerk, and believed she would attract more clientele into the store. However, Anderson would first have to convince Mrs. Rogers to part with her daughter.
Mary had never worked away from home, and Mrs. Rogers could hardly stand the thought of her only daughter leaving the nest. The cigar shop had a reputation in town for the men who spent time there, and they weren’t always the most savory of characters. However, Mary finally convinced her mother to allow her to join the working world.
Mary’s New Life
As it turned out, Anderson had made a smart decision. Customers began to flock to the shop to see the new clerk. Mary was well-mannered and treated the customers well. She even kindly rebuffed each man’s advances towards her without bruising their egos.
Mary had worked at the cigar shop for ten months when she didn’t show up one morning in January of 1841. Mrs. Rogers began to worry when she found what appeared to be a suicide note, and Anderson couldn’t account for her whereabouts either. Mrs. Rogers reported her disappearance to the police.
Mary had already become a bit of a celebrity around town due to her popularity at the cigar shop, so the media jumped on the story immediately. However, the police didn’t have any information on where Mary was or what could have happened to her. Everyone had been left baffled.
Six days after Mary had disappeared, she had just as suddenly reappeared at the cigar shop as though nothing had happened. She appeared to be in good health but wasn’t her usual happy self. Instead, she seemed to be sullen and sad.
When asked where she had been, Mary explained she had been in the country visiting relatives, and it was simply a misunderstanding. Mrs. Rogers and Anderson provided the same explanation and made it clear they would not provide additional details regarding the matter and didn’t discuss the situation any further.
Rumors
A few days after Mary returned to the cigar shop, rumors began to circulate about her. One of the townspeople claimed to have seen her in another part of New York City with a naval officer and claimed she had lied about visiting relatives.
It wasn’t long before the rumors got back to young Mary, and she was heartbroken to hear the news. She didn’t want to be in the public eye with so many people speaking negatively about her, so she resigned from her position at the cigar shop and retreated to her mother’s house.
A New Beginning?
A month later, life was starting to look up for Mary again as she announced her engagement to a boarder who resided in her mother’s home by the name of Daniel Payne. The young lovers were soon to be married, and Mary was officially unavailable to those who still desired her.
On Sunday, July 25, 1841, Mary informed Daniel that she intended to leave that morning to visit her aunt, Mrs. Downing, in New Jersey. Daniel agreed to come calling for her later that evening and planned to pick her up from her aunt’s house and bring her home.
However, a terrible storm moved in and ravished the area that evening. Daniel thought Mary wouldn’t want to go out in the storm and it would be safer for her to remain at her aunt’s house. He told Mrs. Rogers of his decision, and she agreed it was the right thing to do.
Missing
Since the storm had passed overnight and it was a bright new day, Mrs. Rogers had expected Mary to make her way home in the morning, but she failed to arrive. Mary had still not made it home by the time the evening had fallen, causing Mrs. Rogers grave concern.
Daniel soon arrived home for dinner and learned the news his betrothed was missing. He assured Mrs. Rogers he would go straight to Mrs. Downing’s house to look for Mary. When he arrived at Mary’s aunt’s house, he was shocked to learn Mary had never made it to her house at all.
Just like the first time Mary had disappeared, Mrs. Rogers contacted the police to help in the search for her. Once again, the newspapers heard the beautiful Mary was missing and ran stories full of wild speculation of what may have happened to her this time.
Murder
The following Wednesday morning, a couple of fishermen were walking along Castle Point in Hoboken, New Jersey, when they discovered the mutilated body of a young woman floating near the shore. They alerted police, who quickly arrived at the scene.
The woman had been severely beaten and weighed down at the waist by a cord and a heavy stone. Despite that, her body had still floated to the surface. It had appeared lace had been torn from her dress and used to strangle her. She had also been brutally raped.
When Daniel had heard a body had been discovered, he rushed to the riverbed to see if the woman was that of his beloved. He was horrified to find the murdered young woman was indeed Mary and identified her for the police.
The Investigation
Initially, the police suspected Daniel might have been responsible for Mary’s murder but quickly ruled him out as a suspect. That left the police to look at other possibilities. However, a week went by without a resolution. The press started mocking the police as they wanted answers as to who killed the much-loved Mary.
This prompted the police to issue a statement in Mary’s case. They offered a large sum of money to anyone who could give the police information that led to the arrest and conviction of Mary’s killer. The police also offered immunity to anyone who may have had guilty knowledge of a crime but was still willing to turn in the suspect.
The following day the coroner received an anonymous letter from someone claiming to be a young man in Hoboken, New Jersey. He stated he hadn’t come forward earlier because he was involved in criminal activity and didn’t want to get caught. However, he claimed he saw Mary go into the woods with six rough-looking men. He believed Mary had gone with the men willingly.
Law enforcement could not determine who the author of the letter was, so they had the letter printed in the newspaper. Two other men came forward who knew Mary personally and corroborated the story. Both men agreed the woman appeared to be Mary, but they weren’t entirely sure.
A few weeks later, a stage-driver, Mr. Adams, came forward and claimed he saw Mary arrive in town with a well-dressed man and watched them enter Nick Mullen’s Roadhouse. This gave the police a new lead to investigate.
Mrs. Loss was the keeper of the roadhouse, and she agreed the couple came in and had a couple of glasses of lemonade. Mrs. Loss stated they soon left, and she watched them go out into the woods. She went on to say it wasn’t long before she heard screaming coming from the woods, but it’s a sound she frequently heard, so she didn’t pay any attention to it.
Two months later, Mrs. Loss’ children were playing in the woods when they discovered clothing in a thicket. In all, they found a white petticoat, a silk scarf, a parasol, and a linen handkerchief marked with the initials M.R. There appeared to be a struggle near the area the clothing was found.
Mrs. Rogers was able to identify the clothing as belonging to Mary. This led the police to believe they were on the right track and needed to find the well-dressed man who had been at the roadhouse with Mary.
Despite how hard the police tried, they could never locate the man they believed killed Mary. The police also came to believe Mrs. Rogers knew more about her daughter’s actions and her admirers than she was willing to tell them.
Aftermath
Daniel was so distraught over his bride’s murder that he chose to take his own life. A few weeks after Mary’s death, Daniel committed suicide by drinking a vial of poison. His body was found near the woods where police believe Mary had been raped and murdered.
In October 1842, Mrs. Loss was accidentally shot by her son. As she was on her deathbed, she confessed she knew who the man was who was with Mary on the day of her murder. Mrs. Loss claimed he was a physician who carried out abortions and that Mary had accidentally died during a procedure. The physician was attempting to cover up what had really happened.
Final Thoughts
Mary Rogers’ killer was never found, nor was the truth behind her death. Either way, a lovely young woman loved and admired by many lost her life much too young.
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