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Nellie Madison at Tehachapi
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Nellie Madison at Tehachapi
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Description
Order Number
00128216
Title
Nellie
Madison
at
Tehachapi
Collection ID
Herald Examiner Collection
Location/Accession
HE
box
5100
;
HE-002-506
4x5
Date
1935
Physical Description
1
photographic
print
:b&w
;36
x
29
cm
.
Notes
Photograph
was
edited
for
publication
purposes
.
Historical Data
Nellie
Madison
was a
rebel
from the
time
she was a
little
girl
. She was
married
for the
first
time
in
1908
at
age
13
to a
man
11
years
her
senior
. Her
parents
had the
marriage
annulled
but that
didn't
slow
her
down
. By
1934
she was on her
fifth
marriage
.
Spouse
number
five
was
Eric
Madison
, an
abusive
schemer
. He
proposed
to
Madison
as
soon
as he
discovered
that she had
inherited
$1,000
. He was
unable
to
hold
on to a
job
and he was
unfaithful
.
Madison
came
home
one
day
and
found
him in
bed
with a
16-year-old
girl
.
Eric
wasn't
contrite
, he
mocked
her and
confessed
that he had
only
married
her for her
money
and then he
beat
her. His
rage
continued
for
nearly
a
week
.
Madison
was
so
afraid
for her
life
that she
bought
a
gun
. On
March
24
,
1934
, the
couple
began
arguing
.
It
was
about
midnight
and
Eric
was in
bed
and
Nellie
was
standing
at its
foot
. She
pulled
out
her
gun
, but
Eric
continued
to
curse
at her and from
underneath
the
bed
he
pulled
out
a
box
of
butcher
knives
. He
threw
a
couple
of them at
Nellie
.
When
he
turned
to
reach
for
another
one
Nellie
shot
him
five
times
in the
back
, and then she
ran
. She was
found
two
days
later
and
indicted
for
Eric's
murder
.
District
Attorney
Buron
Fitts
vowed
to
seek
the
death
penalty
.
Historically
women
who
refuse
to
conform
to the
norms
of
society
pay
a
price
, and
Nellie
was a
lifelong
non-conformist
.
During
the
trial
her
multiple
marriages
,
childlessness
, and
unconventional
life
style
weighed
heavily
against
her;
perhaps
even
more
than the
evidence
. The
public
and the
jurors
were
confounded
by the
fact
that she
never
dissolved
into
tears
or
begged
for
mercy
. The
newspapers
called
her "
Sphinx
Woman
" and "
Iron
Woman.
"
No
one
was
surprised
when
she was
sentenced
to
death
by
hanging
, but her
life
was
spared
in
1935
by
California's
governor
,
Frank
Merriam
,
after
a
long
and
very
public
sympathy
campaign
in
which
Aggie
Underwood
played
a
pivotal
role
.
Underwood
publicized
the
case
and
revealed
that
Nellie
had
suffered
terrible
abuse
at
Eric's
hands
.
It
was not
until
1942
that
Nellie's
life
sentence
was
commuted
to a
sentence
of
fifteen
years
,
making
her
eligible
for
parole
.
Upon
her
release
from
Tehachapi
she
thanked
Underwood
profusely
saying
, "
You
did
it
!
You
did
it
!
I
owe
it
all
to
you!
"
Description
Photograph
caption
dated
September
18
,
1935
reads
, "
Fourteen
months
in a
tiny
'
cell
' in
preparation
for
death
,
each
minute
ticking
her
closer
to the
gallows--then
suddenly
Nellie
Madison's
world
is
filled
with
sunshine
, the
almost-forgotten
smell
of the
out-of-doors
and the
thrilling
beauty
of
growing
flowers
. With her
death
sentence
commuted
to
life
imprisonment
,
Mrs
.
Madison
is
shown
out
int
he
garden
midst
the
flowers
of the
women's
prison
at
Tehachapi
for the
first
time
since
she
entered
prison
14
months
ago.
"
Subject
California Institution for Women (Tehachapi, Calif.).
Trials (Murder)--California--Tehachapi.
Female offenders--California--Tehachapi.
Criminals--California--Tehachapi.
Murderers--California--Tehachapi.
Women--California--Tehachapi.
Jails--California--Tehachapi.
Reformatories for women--California--Tehachapi.
Hollyhock--California--Tehachapi.
Gardens--California--Tehachapi.
Tehachapi (Calif.).
Portrait photographs
Night photographs
Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express photographs.
Herald-Examiner Collection photographs.
Coverage
1931
;
1932
;
1933
;
1934
;
1935
;
1936
;
1937
;
1938
;
1939
;
1940
Format
Photographic prints
Reproduction Information
Images available for reproduction and use. Please see the Ordering & Use page at
http://tessa.lapl.org/OrderingUse.html
for additional information.
Sub-Collection Name
Los Angeles Herald Examiner Photo Collection
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