COLLEGE GIRL MURDERS BEST FRIEND

	REEFER MADNESS MICHIGAN

MICHIGAN'S
(Reefer Madness Era)
COLLEGE GIRL MURDERS BEST FRIEND

NOT A FEDERAL GORE FILE CASE
COLLEGE GIRL MURDERS BEST FRIEND
NAME: Virginia Hope Morgan - DATE: Dec 1936 - Location: Lancing, Mi

What the Narc’s were claiming
A college graduate, allegedly crazed by the continued use of marihuana cigarettes, brutally murdered her closest friend by pumping five bullets into her breast. Voluntarily giving herself up, she would offer no reason for her premeditated, cold-blooded act. Psychiatrists sought in vain to pierce her sullen silence by repeated interviews with her in her cell. To a schoolgirl friend she is alleged to have given the clue which science failed to secure. "Leave cigarettes alone, kiddo, and, whatever you do, never, never smoke 'reefers'; see what they have done for me? Nobody will ever know how often I have wanted to kill my Dad. I've got the best Dad in all the world, girlie, but I've had to fight myself for months to keep from killing him." Two days later she committed suicide in her cell! -- “Assassin of Youth” (Book) 1954 By Robert Devine

One University girl, in Michigan, under the influence of this dire drug killed her chum, another girl, with a knife and later committed suicide. --1938 – Marihuana –weed of madness/Killer Weed

In Michigan, a college girl stabbed her dearest friend to death and then killed herself. -- On the Trail of Marihuana the Weed of Madness (1939) By Earle Rowell

Passers-by gasped in horror as a scream drew their attention to the body of a boy hurtling downward from an upstairs window of his home. Those who reached him almost as soon as he crashed upon the ground expected to find a corpse. He was not dead, however. Willing hands tenderly lifted him and an older sister, evidently the only other occupant of the house at the time, took charge of him until the arrival of a physician.

Little hope was held out for his recovery. For months he survived the terrible fall, though so broken in body as to be a helpless invalid. But apparently something more, than his body was affected. Those nearest him noticed a marked change in his demeanor. He seemed possessed of a terrible fear. He dreaded being left alone, even with his sister in the house.

Months after his death that sister , allegedly crazed by the continued use of marihuana cigarettes, brutally murdered her closest friend . It began then to be whispered about that her brother had not fallen from the window by accident but that, in one of her moments of marihuana madness, she had pushed him to his death. "Only that," said the gossips, "could explain his fear of being left alone in the house with her from the time of his 'accident' to the day of his death."

His sister, following the shocking and cold-blooded murder of her friend, would give authorities no reason for her premeditated act. Psychiatrists sought in vain to pierce the problem by repeated interviews with her in her cell. To a schoolgirl friend she is alleged to have given the clue which science failed to secure. "Leave cigarettes alone, kiddo, and, whatever you do, never, never smoke 'reefers'; see what they have done for me. Nobody will ever know how often I have wanted to kill my Dad. I've got the best Dad in all the world, girlie, but I've had to fight myself for months to keep from killing him."

Next day she committed suicide in her cell! -- Moloch Of Marihuana (1945) Robert James Devine

WHAT THE NEWSPAPERS WERE SAYING:

Lansing State Journal
[S]- LansingStateJournal-1936-12-09p1- New Step in Probe of Killing; Captain Visited Fiancee's Slayer"
[S]- LansingStateJournal1936-12-09p9- "Impulse Slayer"
[S]- LansingStateJournal1936-12-10p- "Holding Funeral For Slain girl"
[S]- LansingStateJournal1936-12-10p1- "Holding rites Today for Girl Friend Killed"
[S]- LansingStateJournal-1936-12-11p1- "Girl Slayer's Insanity Plea Raises Doubts"
[S]- LansingStateJournal-1936-12-11p- "Plea of Insanity Is Raising Doubt"
[S]- LansingStateJournal-1936-12-12p1- "Slayer Reads in Cell as Victim is Buried" "Hope Morgan, Impulse Slayer Speculates on Sanity Report"
[S]- LansingStateJournal-1936-12-13p- "Hope Morgan Faces First Sunday Behind Jail Bars"
[S]- LansingStateJournal-1936-12-14p1- "Find Weapon Hidden in Cell of Girl Slayer"
[S]- LansingStateJournal-1936-12-14p- "Hidden Weapon found in Hope Morgan's Cell"
[S]- LansingStateJournal-1936-12-15p1 - "Hope Morgan Leaves Solution of Crime Jealousy of Chum, As She Hangs Self in Cell"
[S]- LansingStateJournal-1936-12-15p - "Murder Motive Bared by Girl in Scribbled Magazine Notes"

BALLSTON SPA, NY
[S]- BallstonWeeklyJournal1936-12-15p1-"Hope Morgan Shot Her Friend Now a Suicide"

CALEDONIA, NY
[S]- CaledoniaAdvertiser1936-12-30p8- "Takes Life After Slaying"

BUFFALO, NY
[S]- CourierExpress1936-12-09p1- "Girl Soon to be Married is Shot By Friend"
[S]- CourierExpress1936-12-16p2- "Girl Who slew Best Friend is Suicide in cell"
[S]- CourierExpress1936-12-16p16- "Hope Morgan commits Suicide"

IRONWOOD, MI
[S]- IronwoodDailyGlobe1936-12-09p1- "Bride-Elect Slain By College Chum"
[S]- IronwoodDailyGlobe1936-12-09p8- "Can't Explain Desire to Kill"
[S]- IronwoodDailyGlobe1936-12-10p17- "Girl Killed by chum is Buried"
[S]- IronwoodDailyGlobe1936-12-11p1- "Held in slaying"
[S]- IronwoodDailyGlobe1936-12-12p2 - short mention
[S]- IronwoodDailyGlobe1936-12-15p8 - "Girl Who Slew Friend, Suicide"

Escanaba, Mi
[S]- EscanabaDailyPress1936-12-11p1- "Disagree Upon Sanity of Girl"
[S]- EscanabaDailyPress1936-12-13p1- "Girl Killer Remains in Jail at Mason"

SAULT STE. MARIE, MI
[S]- EveingNews1936-12-16p1- "Hope Morgan Learned too Late She was Loved"
[S]- EveningNews1936-12-09p1- "East Lansing Girl Slays Sorority Sister as They Mail Wedding Invitations"
[S]- EveningNews1936-12-11p11- pictures, short
[S]- EveningNews1936-12-11p12- "Cast Doubt on hope's Story of Killing of Her Sorority sister"
[S]- EveningNews1936-12-12p8- picture short
[S]- EveningNews1936-12-14p1- "Find Long and Sharp Nail File In Hope's Bunk"
[S]- EveningNews1936-12-15p1- "Whim Slayer Hangs Self"
[S]- EveningNews1936-12-18p3- "Lover Weeps At Cremation"

AND PROBABLY A WHOLE LOT MORE!

MUSEUM COMMENTS:

Although not technically one of Harry Anslinger’s Gore File cases, still it was made mention of by some the heavy weights of the Reefer Madness campaign, such as Earle Rowell and the Rev. Robert Devine. Thus prompting us to take a closer look at it. And if worst comes to worse, it does make for fun reading anyway. Just look at they would have us believe:

That a young collage girl first killed a little boy (her little brother).
That later on in a Marihuana induced insanity, she than then out and killed her best friend
That while in jail (after the effects of the Marihuana had worn off) she told one of her friends never to use Marihuana or the same thing was going to happen to her.
And last of all, that to escape her misery she ended it all by committing suicide while in jail.

And in truth there is some evidence to back some of this up. As her brother's Dead Certificate reveals, he either fell or was pushed off a building of some sort.

StuardMorgan

HOWEVER, note that Stuart was 19 year of age at the time of his death. Also, while the various writers attribute the actions of Hope Morgan to the use of Marihuana, it should be noted that NO mention of Marihuana was made anywhere in any of the newspaper articles. Also, Anslinger himself (for good or for bad), made no mention of the case in his Gore file.

[Case#MI14_HopeMorgan]

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