Inside Info on Uncle John's Nellie

As a journalist, I learned a long time ago to roll my eyes when I got a phone call or email from someone claiming to have “inside” information on a topic or person I’d written about. Oh, right. Sure thing.

Last February, when the LA Times published a story about my forthcoming book, “The Enigma Woman: The Death Penalty of Nellie May Madison,” I got an email from a man purporting to be the nephew of Nellie’s last husband, John Wagner. I’d spent months scouring all available sources, looking for information on Wagner and, out of the blue, here it was. Oh, right. Sure thing.

I wrote him back -- polite but distant. “Thanks so much for your email. Glad you enjoyed the story.” I couldn’t be too rude though; I wanted him to buy the book.

Imagine my surprise when he emailed me right back, giving me a birth date, December 1896; and a death date, summer 1976. I did have those, though the caller didn’t know it. His information was dead-on.

But my general elation (and brief embarrassment at being so cynical) was tempered by the fact that his information had come too late to include in the book.

The caller had never met Nellie, so he couldn’t tell me anything about her and her life after prison. But the caller’s sister, as it turned out, had a box of keepsakes that Wagner had kept after Nellie’s death. In it was a poem she wrote about mothers—a beautiful and sentimental poem; surprising, because I never envisioned her as a sentimental person. There were also some photos. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on these, but couldn’t afford the time to drive four-hundred miles.

Two weeks ago I opened my email to find a note and an attachment from my new best friend—Nellie’s nephew-in-law. There were the precious photos!

In one, Nellie is at work, wearing a protective visor as she sits at a table, leans into the camera and smiles. In another, she sits on the front bumper of a car, hands planted firmly on hips. In the third, she’s dressed up and standing in a lush garden. Again, hands on hips.

Though the photos are undated, all three appear to have been taken in the late 1940s or early 1950s. At a time when modest and tasteful dresses were the housewife’s traditional garb, Nellie wore pants in all three photos! She also seemed happy and bursting with self-confidence.

Clearly, after her devastating conviction, death sentence and imprisonment, she had gotten her game back. And that makes me extraordinarily happy – though still cynical.

--Kathy Cairns       

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Kathleen Cairns' The Enigma Woman: The Death Sentence of Nellie May Madison tells the story of the first woman sentenced to death in California.  Her other book, Front-Page Women Journalists, 1920–1950, is also available from the University of Nebraska Press.  Kathy is a lecturer in the Department of History at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

You can read review excerpts for The Enigma Woman here.

                         
      
      
                           

Comments

[David Carroll]

Hi Ms cairns,

The photographs are brilliant. I am so pleased that they turned up. If the book is reprinted will they be included?

I thought I would take this opportunity to ask a couple of questions about Nellie and your book:-

Do you know of any evidence to prove that she had borrowed large sums of money from her friends because of Eric Madison and if so who?

Was Maria Cooper Janis able to confirm her family's links with Nellie's family? It would be interesting to know if Gary and Nellie stayed in touch whilst in California.

Was John Wagner's nephew and niece aware of their Aunt's background before they saw your book?

Is it possible to read a copy of the poem she wrote?

Whilst you were researching your book did you have any luck with the newspaper picture archives? I noticed in your book that you mention that there was one picture you found where she looked great. I think the best I saw whilst browsing Newspaperarchive.com was in the Modesto Bee and News Herald Thursday 29 March 1934 p26 in which Nellie looks great. Another photo I saw which didn't seem to be tampered with was in the Nevada State Journal Friday March 30 1934.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
David