“Jolly” Jane Toppan was quoted as saying that her goal in life was “to have killed more people—helpless people—than any other man or woman who ever lived.” Her career as a nurse gave her the perfect opportunity to carry out that mission. She had access to drugs that were lethal if given at wrong dosages and elderly patients, whose deaths may not raise much suspicion. Eventually “Jolly” Jane became too enthusiastic with her killings, murdering four members of a family she was supposed to be caring for, causing authorities to take notice.
When she was arrested, she claimed to have killed as many as 31 people, though only 12 were proven to have been connected to her. What made Jane Toppan’s case unusual is her motive. The majority of female serial killers commit their murders for financial gain, maybe even for attention, but not “Jolly” Jane. She did it for the sexual thrill she gained from holding and caressing them as they died.
The Early Life of Jane Toppan
Jane Toppan was born with the name Honora Kelley on March 31, 1854 in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents had three other children, also girls, of which Honora (Jane) was the youngest. When Honora was only a year old, tuberculosis claimed her mother’s life. The girls’ father, Peter, was a tailor by profession, but also an abusive alcoholic. There’s evidence to believe that he suffered from some type of mental illness. It was said that he once sewed his own eyes shut and was known by some as “Kelley the Crack,” as in “crackpot.”
A few years after their mother’s death, Peter dropped off the two youngest girls, Honora (age 6) and Delia (age 8) at Boston Female Asylum. Despite its name, the Boston Female Asylum was actually an orphanage “for the care of indigent girls.” Honora and Delia never saw their father again. Records from the asylum indicate that Honora and Delia were “rescued from a very miserable home.” Nothing is known about what life for the girls was like in the asylum, but there are unconfirmed reports of what became of two of Jane’s siblings. Supposedly, Delia became a prostitute and alcoholic and Nellie, an older sibling who wasn’t dropped off with Delia and Honora, ended up in an insane asylum sometime later in life.
In November of 1862, two years after being left at the orphanage, Honora found a home with Mrs. Anne Toppan of Lowell, Massachusetts, where she was to work as an indentured servant. The Toppan family changed Honora’s name to Jane and gave her their last name. During this time, there was a stigma surrounding the Irish, so the family wanted her to have a more American name. They would also tell anyone who asked that Jane was an Italian girl whose parents died at sea.
Jane graduated Lowell High School at the age of 18. With her becoming an adult, the Toppan family released her of her indenture agreement. Jane chose to continue to stay with the family as a servant. When Anne Toppan died, her daughter, Elizabeth took over ownership of the home. Jane got along well with Elizabeth and continued to work for her. When Elizabeth got married and her new husband moved into the house, there was a disagreement between him and Jane, which caused her to move out.
By this time, Jane was in her early 30s and started studying to become a nurse at Cambridge Hospital. She was friendly and well-liked by patients, earning her the nickname of “Jolly Jane.” The patients may have been fooled, but her co-workers knew something wasn’t right with her. They grew to dislike her with a passion.
The Dark Side of Jane Toppan
Jane’s colleagues didn’t appreciate her need to gossip and the way she would celebrate the dismissal of fellow workers she didn’t like. There were occasions when Jane would tell her co-workers that there was no use in keeping the elderly patients alive. They would laugh it off, thinking she was joking. Jane would also tell outlandish tales: she was offered a job by the Czar of Russia, her father sailed around the world, her brother was given an award by Abraham Lincoln for his part in Gettysburg, her sister married an English Nobleman. None of it remotely true.
Administrators at the hospital grew concerned with Jane’s intense fascination with autopsies. Little did they know that far more nefarious things were going on. As Jane used her charms to get close to her patients, she would pick favorites. She preferred to target the most ill of the elderly people in her care. Then she would do experiments on them, altering the dosages of their medications just to see what would happen. She also explored what different amounts of morphine or atropine did to them. Jane spent a lot of time with them, making up fake charts and using drugs to bring them in and out of consciousness. Doing this gave her a sexual thrill and she would often lay in bed with the unfortunate patient.
Amelia Phinney was a patient of Jane Toppan in 1887 who lived to tell the tale. She was in the hospital for surgery and during her recovery, Jane had given her a bitter tasting drug that made her lose consciousness. She was groggy, but not fully asleep when she experienced Jane climbing into her bed and kissing her all over her face. Someone entered the room, surprising Jane and causing her to stop. Amelia awoke the next morning thinking it must have been a dream. Many years later when the truth came out about Jane, she knew it hadn’t been a dream after all.
Despite the experiments and abuse of patients, Toppan was approved to be sent to the distinguished Massachusetts General Hospital in 1889. She didn’t last long there, as she was fired the following year for tampering with patient records. She went back to working at Cambridge for a short time, but was soon dismissed from there as well for the careless use of medications. Incredibly, Jane was still able to get good recommendations so that she could work as a personal nurse for the wealthy.
Lives Taken
Jane Toppan became close with her landlord, Israel Dunham and his wife, Lovely. Jane later said that they had become ‘feeble and fussy’ and ‘old and cranky.’ She killed Israel on May 26, 1895. He was 83 years old. She continued to care for Israel’s wife for two years, then killed her on September 19, 1897. Lovely was 87 years old.
Jane had still kept in touch with her foster sister, Elizabeth. In 1889 Elizabeth complained of being depressed, so Jane invited her to the cape for a relaxing day at the beach. Jane packed a picnic basket with corned beef, taffy and mineral water. Unfortunately for Elizabeth, the water had been poisoned with strychnine.
“I held her in my arms and watched with delight as she gasped her life out,” Jane would later admit. After killing Elizabeth she insisted upon making her way into Elizabeth’s home with one goal in mind. She wanted to marry Elizabeth’s widower, Oramel Brigham.
While she was attempting to worm her way into Mr. Brigham’s life, Jane was asked to care for 70 year old Mary McNear. Toppan was specifically chosen because the doctor who dispatched her said she was “one of my best nurses.” Mary was poisoned and killed by the hands of Jane Toppan on December 28, 1899.
Back in Mr. Brigham’s home, Jane schemed to get him to fall in love with her. On January 15, 1900, Jane killed the 45 year old housekeeper so that she herself could impress Mr. Brigham with her housekeeping skills. Mr. Brigham still wanted nothing to do with her. Not as a housekeeper and definitely not as a wife.
Jane wasn’t ready to give up on him yet. She decided she would poison him and then nurse him back to health to win his affection and gratitude. When this failed, she told him that she would tell everyone that he had gotten her pregnant to tarnish his reputation. Mr. Brigham was furious and he threw Jane out of his house.
It’s reported that Jane tried to commit suicide by overdosing on morphine, but she was sent to the hospital and survived.
Jane then rented a cottage in Cambridge from the Davis family. Toppan was unable to keep up with the payments. Mrs. Mattie Davis came to collect payment but Jane poisoned her with a mixture of morphine and atropine. Then she moved in with Mattie’s husband, Alden Davis, to take care of him after his wife’s death.
In less than a month Jane had killed Alden and two of his daughters, Minnie and Genevieve. Minnie’s father-in-law became suspicious of all the sudden deaths in the family. He was able to get a judge to order Minnie’s body be exhumed so that toxicology test could be performed. The tests found that she had been poisoned with morphine and atropine.
Arrest and Trial of Jane Toppan
“Jolly” Jane Toppan was arrested on October 29, 1901. The following year she went on trial. She made a confession to her lawyer that she had killed 31 people.
She claimed that she had started her life of murder because a boyfriend had broken up with her at the age of 16. He had given her a promise ring, but then moved away to be with someone else.
“If I had been a married woman, I probably would not have killed all of those people,” she said. “I would have had my husband, my children and my home to take up my mind.”
The trial took place at Barnstable County Courthouse and lasted 8 hours. The jury only needed 27 minutes to decide that Jane Toppan was not guilty due to insanity. She spent the remainder of her life in Taunton State Hospital. She died on August 17, 1938 at the age of 84.
Motive
Most believe that Jane’s main motive behind her crimes was sexual pleasure. There is evidence to support these beliefs. It was reported that Jane Toppan would sometimes grope her victims as they died while staring into their eyes to try to see the inner workings of their soul.
Toppan admitted during an interview to getting a sexual thrill from bringing her victims close to death, reviving them, and then watching them die. She stated that she enjoyed climbing into bed with them to hold them close as they passed away.
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Sources
https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/jolly-jane-toppan-killer-nurse-obsessed-death/
https://www.lowellsun.com/2011/11/02/for-10-years-jolly-jane-poured-her-poison/
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