Nellie May Madison: California’s First Woman on Death Row
Morbid
08/19/24
•96m
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On the afternoon of March 25, 1934, Belle Bradley found one of her tenants, forty-five-year-old Eric Madison, dead on the floor of the apartment he rented with his wife, Nellie. Madison had been shot in the back four times with a .32 caliber revolver and there was no sign of Nellie Madison, nor was there any evidence of a break-in or a robbery. In the days that followed, investigators quickly determined that Nellie had shot her husband and they tracked her to a remote cabin in northern California, where she was arrested and taken back to Los Angeles and charged with the murder.
To the Los Angeles police and press, Nellie Madison was suspicious from the very start; not for any obvious reason or evidence against her, but because she openly defied the categories and characteristics used to define a wife and woman at the time. Although she was only thirty-three years old, she had been married five times and yet had no children. She also had a strong skillset from having worked many jobs, and having been raised on a farm in Montana, she was a skilled survivalist who had never needed the help of a man. Going into the murder trial, it was these facts, more than any physical evidence or witness testimony, that would count against her.
After a two-week trial, Nellie Madison was found guilty for the murder of her husband and sentenced to death, making her the first woman to ever sit on death row in the state’s history. However, Nellie’s death sentence was hardly the end of her case; in fact, it was the turning point in the story that would finally bring the truth about Eric’s death into the light.
Thank you to the incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research!
References
Cairns, Kathleen. 2005. "Saved From the Gallows." California Supreme Court Historical Society 5-14.
—. 2007. The Enigma Woman: The Death Sentence of Nellie May Madison. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
2015. A Crime to Remember. Television. Directed by Christine Connor. Accessed July 23, 2024.
Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. 1934. "Calls woman Lady Macbeth." Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, June 20: 1.
—. 1934. "Hint Madison is still alive." Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, June 13: 1.
—. 1934. "Mrs. Madison facinc noose; plans appeal." Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, June 23: 1.
—. 1934. "Self defense may be argued." Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, June 6: 1.
—. 1934. "Widow unmoved by death story." Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, April 12: 7.
Los Angeles Times. 1934. "Auditor found slain; wife hunted in inquiry." Los Angeles Times, March 26: 15.
—. 1934. "Death clew hunt pushed." Los Angeles Times, April 1: 17.
—. 1934. "Death plea hits widow." Los Angeles Times, June 20: 17.
—. 1934. "Deatn case widow mum." Los Angeles Times, Marchh 27: 19.
—. 1934. "Doubt cast on identity." Los Angeles Times, June 14: 17.
—. 1934. "Madison may be exhumed." Los Angeles Times, June 16: 13.
—. 1934. "Second pistol bought by Mrs. Madison hunted in mysrtery murder case." Los Angeles Times, March 28: 5.
—. 1934. "Slaying of mate denied." Los Angeles Times, June 15: 36.
—. 1934. "Widow veils death tale." Los Angeles Times, March 28: 17.
Rasmussen, Cecilia. 2007. "Unwitting pioneer of the battered-woman defense." Los Angeles Times, February 4.
The People of California v. Nellie May Madison. 1935. 3826 (Supreme Court of the State of California, May 27).
Underwood, Agness. 1934. "Widow weeps when held in murder quiz." Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, March 29: 1.
Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)
Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)
Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley
Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally
Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Previous Episode
The Radium Girls
August 15, 2024
•82m
When Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium in 1898, the chemical element was quickly adopted by manufacturers for its luminescent properties that would go on to be used in, among other things, the painting of clock faces, watches, and instrument panels, allowing them to be seen in the dark. At the time, the introduction of radioluminescent materials into manufacturing was hailed as a scientific solution to an age-old frustration, but it didn’t take long before that solution was shown to have terrible consequences.
As a radioactive element, radium is highly toxic to humans, particularly when ingested or inhaled. While it seemed unlikely that anyone would ingest or inhale the radium used to paint a clockface, this fact posed a serious problem for the largely female factory workers whose job it was to paint the dials. These “Radium Girls,” as they would come to be known, not only spent most of their day in close proximity to the paint, but also employed a technique in which they frequently wet their paintbrushes with their mouths, consuming small amounts of radium in the process.
Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, hundreds of young women working in at least three radium dial factories in the United States suffered deadly radiation poisoning as a result of working so closely with radium, all without any safety protocols and completely unaware of the dangers. After dozens of deaths, a group of factory workers successfully sued their employers for damages, exposing the widespread disregard for worker safety. While the suits were generally a major victory for the American labor movement, it was ultimately hard-won and little comfort to those who would die within a few years.
Thank you to the incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research!
References
Camden Courier-Post. 1928. "Woman radium victim offers living body to aid in search for cure." Courier-Post, May 29: 1.
eGov Newswire. 2021. "Menedez leads colleagues in introducing senate resolution to honor the lives and legacy of the 'Radium Girls'." eGov Newswire, June 26.
Evening Courier. 1927. "Radium poison victims want damage suit limits raised." Evening Courier, July 19: 2.
Galant, Debbie. 1996. "Living with a radium nightmare." New York Times, September 29: NJ1.
Lang, Daniel. 1959. "A most valuable accident." New Yorker, April 24: 49.
McAndrew, Tara McClellan. 2018. The Radium Girls: An Illinois Tragedy. January 25. Accessed July 8, 2024. https://www.nprillinois.org/equity-justice/2018-01-25/the-radium-girls-an-illinois-tragedy.
Moore, Kate. 2017. The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women. New York, NY: Sourcebooks.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. n.d. Radium Girls: The Story of US Radium’s Superfund Site. Environmental Preservation Snapshot, Orange, NJ: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
New York Times. 1928. "Finds no bar to suit by radium victims." New York Times, May 23: 11.
Prisco, Jacopo. 2017. "Radium Girls: The dark times of luminous watches." CNN, December 19.
United Press. 1928. "Woman, dying by degrees, tells of symptoms of radium posioning." Courier-News, May 16: 6.
—. 1928. "3 more are victims of radiun poisoning." Evening Courier, May 22: 1.
Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)
Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)
Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley
Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally
Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)
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Next Episode
Lee Roy Martin: The Gaffney Strangler
August 22, 2024
•66m
In the winter of 1968, reporter Bill Gibbons got an anonymous call from a man who wanted to confess to three murders in the small town of Gaffney, South Carolina. Gibbons thought the call was a prank, but he took it to the sheriff and the two men travel out to the first of three locations where the caller claimed to have left the bodies. After searching casually through the underbrush for a short time, the men discover the nude body of twenty-year-old Nancy Carol Paris, who’d been strangled to death. At the second location, they discovered the body of fourteen-year-old Tina Rhinehart, who appeared to have been killed in the same manner as Paris. Investigators soon learned that the third location the caller gave was where police had discovered the body of Annie Dedmond six months earlier.
In the days that followed, the “Gaffney Strangler,” as the press would come to call him, would contact Gibbons several more times, demanding that he print stories about the murders in the newspaper. He also insisted that Gibbons and the sheriff’s department needed to do something about the fact that Annie Dedmond’s husband, Roger, was sitting in jail for Annie’s murder. Then, a week later, the strangler struck again, this time kidnapping fifteen-year-old Opal Buckson in broad daylight, throwing her in the trunk of his car while her sister watched helplessly. Opal’s body would be discovered a week later, dead like the others.
A few days after the discovery of Opal’s body, police arrested Lee Roy Martin, a local mill worker and father of three who’d been born and raised in Gaffney. The arrest shocked the local residents and left everyone wondering, in a town as small as Gaffney, how could they have lived their entire lives with a violent psychopath and never known it?
Thank you to the incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research!
References
Charlotte Observer. 1972. "About Roger Dedmond, convicted of killing his wife." Charlotte Observer, November 7: 30.
2015. A Crime to Remember. Directed by Christine Connor. Performed by Christine Connor.
Dalton, Robert, and Craig Peters. 2009. Gaffney Strangler terrorized town 40 years ago, murdering 4 women. July 5. Accessed July 29, 2024. https://www.goupstate.com/story/news/2009/07/05/gaffney-strangler-terrorized-town-40-years-ago-murdering-4-women/29885910007/.
Fuller, Bill, and Jack Horan. 1968. "Dog only murder witness?" Charlotte Observer, February 10: 1.
Gaffney Ledger. 1968. "Attorneys ask court transcript of trial." Gaffney Ledger, February 21: 1.
—. 1968. "Officers search well; find Opal's clothing." Gaffney Ledger, February 28: 1.
Howe, Claudia. 1968. "Grim mystery, violent deaths engulf Gaffney." Charlotte Observer, February 14: 10.
Jones, Mark R. 2007. Palmetto Predators: Monsters Among Us. Charleston, SC: The History Press.
Martin, Tommy. 1988. "Lives of golf pro, texile worker crossed paths on February 13, 1968." Gaffney Ledger, February 5: 4.
—. 1968. "Martin sentenced to life in prison." Gaffney Ledger, September 19: 1.
McCuen, Sam E. 1968. "Crank telephone calls plague Gaffney police." The State, February 16: 19.
—. 1968. "Gaffney girl is kidnapped." The State, February 14: 1.
—. 1968. "Mother convinced her son innocent." The State, February 9: 1.
Skipp, Catherine. 2009. "Gaffney, S.C. haunted by murderous memories ." Newsweek, July 8.
The Gaffney Ledger. 1968. "Martin is charged in 3 stranglings." Gaffney Ledger, February 19: 1.
The State. 1968. "2 bodies found after phone call." The State, February 9: 1.
—. 1968. "Suspect attempts suicide." The State, February 21: 15.
Truluck, Jack. 1968. "In-laws believe Dedmond is guilty." Gaffney Ledger, February 21: 1.
United Press International. 1968. "Lee Roy Martin indicted in 4 Gaffney stranglings." Greenville News, May 21: 1.
Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)
Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)
Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley
Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally
Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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