Bill Nutt

Correspondent

More than 130 years after her murder, Tillie Smith’s name resonates in the Hackettstown area.

Matilda Smith, an 18-year-old kitchen worker at Centenary Collegiate Institute (now Centenary University), was raped and strangled on April 9. 1886. Her body was left in an open field, near what is now the school’s library.

Tillie’s slaying was a sensation covered extensively by the press. James Titus, a Hackettstown resident who was in charge of maintenance at Centenary, was tried and convicted of the crime, only to be paroled after 19 years.

Smith’s presence is still felt. A monument to her dominates Union Cemetery in Hackettstown. People have been reported sighting her ghost in the university’s halls. Scholars convinced of Titus’ innocence question who might have done the crime.

But another puzzle also remains unsolved: Who was Tillie as a person?

To that end, Centenary Stage Co. in Hackettstown is sponsoring a two-day event centered on the Tillie Smith case.

Tomorrow afternoon, a guided walk will take visitors through Centenary University’s grounds to follow Tillie’s final movements before her death. The narrated walk will also offer insights into life in Hackettstown during the Victorian era.

On November 1, a staged reading of Jeanne Walker’s play “The Tillie Project” (which had been commissioned by Centenary Stage in 2002) will be held.

Following the production, local author Maryann McFadden will hold a talkback about her forthcoming book, “The Cemetery Keeper’s Wife.” The novel centers on Rachel, a contemporary woman who becomes fascinated with Tillie’s murder.

McFadden sees her book as a way to reclaim Tillie’s humanity. “Tillie is a legend,” she said. “She’s a ghost. But who was she, really? People have been focusing on James Titus and the trial. Tillie has become a footnote in the story of her own life.”

For four years, McFadden has been researching, writing, and rewriting the book. “I wanted to focus on Tillie,” said McFadden. “I wanted to include every nugget I found. I wanted to bring her to life.” (The book’s original title was “Finding Tillie.”)

Walker, for her part, indicated that she became interested in the way Tillie’s case touches on larger issues of class and fairness in an almost iconic way.

“The story of Tillie’s murder and the haunting of Centenary’s grounds (are) folklore,” Walker wrote in an e-mail. “It’s really at the level of ‘myth’ in the largest sense of the word. Local stories like this have the power to bring people together.”

The Tillie Smith case fascinates people for many reasons. Walked noted that some people praised Tillie for her virtue. (Her monument reads, “She died in defense of her honor.”) But others, even family members, have accused her of being a “harlot.”

“It’s a story about how we tend to think of women as either prostitutes or saints,” Walker wrote. “We still blame women for having sexual lives, as Tillie was blamed. I still see that kind of stereotyping happening to young women.”

“Then there’s the question of justice,” Walker wrote. “It’s pretty clear that the wrong man was found guilty. Tillie, the kitchen maid, and Titus, the janitor who was tried and jailed for her murder, were both servants. Lower class people.

“Big New York newspapers got involved,” she continued. “They wanted a good story. How much did that have to do with the rash, bungled trial?”

McFadden said that, in her research, she came to feel sympathy for Tillie. “She had a rough go of it,” she said. “Her father was a drunk. Her mother worked as a domestic. I saw Tillie as a young girl working hard for her family.”

Walker agreed that simplistic readings of Tillie’s story overlook the complexity in her life. “People were, on the one hand, too quick to besmirch Tillie as a ‘loose woman,’ and on the other, too quick after her death to make her into a saint,” Walker wrote.

“She was neither,” concluded Walker. “She was a healthy 18-year-old with ambition and a normal love life, a promising young woman who never got a chance to live out her story. No wonder we are haunted by her.”

IF YOU WANT TO GO:

TILLIE SMITH EVENTS

WHAT: The 1886 murder of kitchen worker Tillie Smith in Hackettstown is the subject of two events. A guided walk follows Smith’s last moments while providing insight into Victorian-era Hackettstown. A staged reading of the play “The Tillie Project” will be followed by a talk with Maryann McFadden, author of “The Cemetery Keeper’s Wife,” a novel that looks at the murder through the eyes of contemporary woman.

WHEN (Historical walk) 2 p.m. Saturday, October 28. (Staged reading and talkback) 8 p.m. Wednesday, November 1

WHERE: David and Carol Lackland Center, Centenary College, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown.

TICKETS: Free for historical walk, $5 reservation fee for staged reading.

INFORMATION: 908-979-0900 or www.centenarystageco.org.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS:

The 1886 murder of Tillie Smith, a kitchen worker in Hackettstown, is the subject of two events sponsored by Centenary Stage Co.

A free guided tour tracing Smith’s last moments takes place tomorrow at 2 p.m.

A staged reading of the play “The Tillie Project” will be held on Wednesday, November 1. The production will be followed by a talkback with Maryann McFadden, author of “The Cemetery Keeper’s Wife,” a forthcoming novel about a contemporary woman investigating Smith’s death.