The story of Jane Toppan

Disclaimer: This article is a highly summarised version of the events that occurred. For a more accurate and detailed account of these events, there are other articles and police reports available online.

 Jane Toppan, originally named Honora Kelley, was born to two Irish immigrants, Peter and Bridget Kelley, in 1857. It’s said that Bridget Kelley died of consumption and that Peter Kelley was a chronic drunk and prone to violence. Peter was also said to have been institutionalised after trying to sew his eyelids shut. Later, an alleged cousin said that Honora had an older sister who also had to be institutionalised. 

About six years later, Peter Kelley begged the Boston Female Asylum to take his two youngest daughters, Honora Kelley and Delia Josephine. A year later, Honora was indentured to Mrs Ann C. Toppan, by the Boston Female Asylum, later changing her name to Jane Toppan, although, she suffered shame and humiliation at the hands of her foster mother. Unfortunately, Jane developed a bitter hate and jealousy for her foster sister (Elizabeth), though she never mistreated Jane. To overcome the abuse, she developed a vivacious personality, she even denied her Irish heritage by making derogatory anti-Irish and anti-catholic statements in the Protestant circles she was involved in. Several of her schoolmates also despised her for being a outrageous liar. In 1874, when Jane turned 18, she was released from her duties to the Toppan family, receiving $50 as stipulated by the indenture agreement.

Before her active years, Jane was involved in nurse training at Cambridge Hospital. She was nicknamed “Jolly Jane” by her colleagues and patients for her outgoing and cheerful personality, no one suspecting that all the while she was secretly experimenting on patients. She was also dismissed multiple times for reckless drug use, but still went on to work as a private nurse. It is suspected that during her time at Cambridge, she killed more than a dozen patients, with one patient, Mrs Phinney, living to tell the tale of Jane’s maliciousness.

Jane Toppan claimed her first confirmed victim, Israel Dunham, her elderly landlord, on the 26th of May 1895, and his 87 year old wife, Lovey Dunham, on the 19th of September 1897. Both were suspected to have been poisoned with morphine or atropine. 

Jane’s third victim and, allegedly, the first victim she hated, was her foster sister, Elizabeth Brigham, aged 70, poisoned with strychnine, on the. 29th of August 1899. Just four months later, Jane claimed her fourth victim, a elderly patient of hers, named Mary McLear, also suspected of being poisoned with morphine and atropine. This was unusual as she tended to kill people she knew. 

On the 11th of February 1900, Jane poisoned an old friend, Myra Connors, with strychnine, in an attempt to take over Myra’s position at a theology school. She later approached the school saying that Myra was planning on taking a sabbatical and that she had planned on recommending Jane for the job. She was later fired from that job due to financial irregularities and complaints lodged against her. 

A year later, Jane began to live under new landlords, the Beedles. Although she tried to kill them too, she only succeeded in giving them gastrointestinal illness. She then poisoned their housekeeper, just enough to frame for her as a drunk to be dismissed so Jane could take over her position. Towards the end of the June of 1901, Mattie Davis, the wife to the landlord of a cottage Jane had stayed at during vacation, travelled to the Beedle’s house to collect the money that Jane owed them. Jane slowly poisoned Mattie over seven days, bringing her in and out of lucidity. Mattie finally died on the 5th of July. Jane later moved in with the Davis family to take care of Alden David after the death of his wife. Less than a week after she moved in, Jane set a fire in the house, but much to her disappointment, it was quickly put out. A few days later, she tried again, this time setting a fire in the pantry. However, some friends noticed the smoke and once again, put it out. 

In late July, in 1901, Jane poisoned Genevieve Gordon, the youngest Davis daughter, with morphine and atropine, trying to pass it off as a suicide. Around one or two weeks later, she killed Alden David, with morphine and atropine. On the 13th of August, she finally claimed her last victim, Minnie Gibbs, the oldest Davis daughter, using the same poisons as Alden. A month later, Minnie Gibb’s father in law summoned a toxicologist to exhume the bodies of the Davis family, causing the a state police detective to be assigned to follow Jane and keep an eye on her.

While this investigation was beginning, Jane moved back to Lowell in an attempt to catch the eye of her brother in law, O. A. Brigham, who was her foster sister’s husband. It’s believed that Jane poisoned Mr Brigham and nursed him back to health in hopes of getting in his good graces. However, her attempts didn’t work and was asked to leave by the end of September 1901. As a result, she attempted to end her life by taking a large dose of morphine, but her attempt failed and she was treated in the Lowell General Hospital, where she tried to take her own life again. However, the police were in full investigation mode at this point, assigning a detective to be a patient in the hospital to keep an eye on her. After she was discharged, Jane decided to travel New Hampshire to visit with friends, where she was promptly arrested in late October 1901.

For six months after her arrest, Jane was held in the Barnstable County Jail, awaiting her trial, while the police continued to uncover details of her murders. In April 1902, doctors declared her insane after a psychological examination. Both the defense and prosecution later agreed that she was not guilty due to insanity. In June, Jane admitted to killing a total of 31 people. During the trial, while Jane was waiting for the jury to confirm her sentence, she “chatted, laughed and was exceedingly jolly”. She left the building smiling. In the summer of 1904, Jane spent the next 34 years of her life in the State Lunatic Hospital at Taunton, until she died, on the the 18th of August 1983. She was diagnosed with “moral insanity” or, in today’s terms, a psychopath. She later claimed that her death toll may have reached 100, but she could no longer remember many details. After a while in the asylum, Jane claimed that the staff were abusing her and, ironically, planning to poison her. After refusing her food she lost half her weight. However, in the end, she recovered and spent the rest of her life with little to no mention in the press.

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