In February of 1863, Peter Kellie dropped off his daughters— Nora and Dahlia— at Boston Female Asylum. As a mix between an orphanage and school, it taught girls basic things, then sent them off as articled servants. Unfortunately, Dahlia grew up to be a prostitute and died after a life of heavy drinking. Nora though, had a little more luck.
Eventually, Nora was placed into a home, back in her hometown of Lowell. Her guardians ended up giving her a new name— Jane. The next 20 years of Jane’s life would prove to be less than stellar.
She grew up with her “adoptive” sister Elizabeth (think Cinderella). And after Anne— Jane’s adoptive mother— passed away, her contract was turned over to her sister. Instead of going free, she was stuck. This all happened during the Gilded Age, when the rich became richer and the poor delved deeper into poverty.
In 1885, Jane finally was released of her contract. She ended up attending nursing school at Cambridge Hospital. However, she proved to be a bad pupil. Jane often lied, and got other students in trouble for her own deeds.
Her patients still loved her, though. And she loved them too—- loved to poison them. She regularly used morphine (her favorite) and put others into comas. She also injected her victims with Atropine, which countered the visible effects of poisoning. Throughout her stay at Cambridge, she continued to lie, and often stole from patients and the hospital.
In 1890, Jane was kicked out of Cambridge medical school before she was able to get her degree. Despite this though, she stayed in town. She started working as a private physician and— with some recommendations from other physicians— ended up working at Cambridge Hospital. Unfortunately though, many died under Janes care— more than normal. She was let go eventually, because many people thought she was incompetent.
In 1891, Jane had received the nickname “Jolly Jane.” She was called this because she always had a jolly smile on her face. She often wore this smile when making her trademark mineral water. This mineral water consisted of mineral water(imported from Budapest), morphine, and atropine. It was a mix made to poison. She usually gave this to her landlords, slowly killing them.
Every summer though, she’d be able to escape life in the bustling city and spend her time in Cape Cod.
In 1899, Elizabeth— Jane’s adoptive sister— invited her to visit her. So, on August 26, they walked on the beach and caught up. It was a particularly hot day though, so the girls went back inside to eat and freshen up. Being the nice person she was, Jane offered to get them a nice glass of mineral water. Elizabeth, parched, agreed, and Jane came back with a tall glass of her ‘special’ mineral water. A while later, Elizabeth fainted, and Jane turned into the loving caretaker everyone knew her to be.
As time went on, Elizabeth only got worse. And as Elizabeth took her last breaths, Jane was in the bed, right next to her. Jane stated, “I held her in my arms and watched with delight as she gasped out her life.” After that though, she went back to Cambridge— as if nothing ever happened.
In January of 1900, Myra Connors— one of Jane’s friends— invited Jane over to visit also. Jane agreed and went on her way. Whether Jane was jealous of Myra, or she didn’t really care about her; by February 11th, Myra was dead. Jane had killed her. And after some sweet talking, Jane was able to walk away with Myra’s house and job too. However, one year later she was fired for poor workplace ethics.
That summer, Maddie Davis knocked on Jane’s door. She had been in town, visiting her daughter and thought why not visit Jane too. Maddie had come to talk about the fact that Jane hadn’t been paying the full rent in a couple months and her added up debt amounted to roughly $500 ($15000 today).
It was a hot day outside, and being the nice hostess that she was, Jane invited Maddie inside for a nice refreshing glass of European mineral water.
A while later, Jane suggested that she should go to the bank right then and take out the money that she owed Maddie. Madie thought that was a great idea and decided to go with her. Immediately after standing up, Maddie sat back down. She didn’t feel too well. Jane took her to go lay down and went into “nurse” mode. For a week, Maddie was drifting in and out of deep sleep and had seizures regularly. Jane then gave Maddie a huge dose of morphine and let it work it’s magic. A little while later, Maddie passed away.
Not long after Maddie died, Genevieve and Minnie Alden asked Jane to look after their ailing father— Jane agreed. When she got to the Alden’s residence, she decided that she wanted to get rid of the rest of the family, once and for all. Jane had to be smart about this though. So, she started building a case. She started setting things on fire, maybe because she wanted the family to blame each other of being unstable. She even told Minnie that she had seen Genevieve staring at rat poison.
A week later, Genevieve was found dead. Jane had told Minnie that she had seen a syringe in Genevieve’s room. Her death was ruled a tragic suicide. Two weeks later, Minnie’s father was gone too. That must’ve been hard for Minnie. In just the span of two weeks, she managed to lose both her sister and her father. Unbeknownst to her though, she would be meeting them pretty soon.
Minnie had ended up dead, just four days after her father had. This time it was different though, this time there was a witness. Minnie had a son— Jessie— who just happened to be staying with her. He was asleep when Jane had snuck into his room, picked him up, and took him to Minnie’s room. Unfortunately though, he couldn’t do anything but watch, as his mother seized and drew her last breath.
After though, she would go on to ask Minnie’s husband, if she could be his housekeeper— he said no. She then went on to try and seduce her late sister, Elizabeth’s, husband. He too rejected her. Jane had had enough. Maybe as a cry for attention, she had overdosed on morphine. She lived though, and was taken to a nearby hospital.
Though, just like Jane, not everyone is who they say they were. One patient in the hospital with Jane, was actually not a patient. He was an undercover, private detective hired by Paul Gibbs. He was Minnie’s father in law and suspected Jane of foul play. He decided to have minnie’s body exhumed also for further evidence. It all checked out, and Jane was arrested and charged with murder.
Though Jane could only name about 30 or so victims, it was suspected that her body count added up to around 100. It was a quick trial, Jane was deemed morally insane by the court. She was then sent off to Taunton State Hospital.
Life in a mental institution was hard, Jolly Jane’s smile slowly crept off her face. In the end Jane was killed by the paranoia that the nurses would do exactly what she had— kill her.
“Get the morphine dearie, and well go out into the ward, you and I will have a lot of fun seeing them die”
