NARRATIVE

Rose always insisted that she walk home alone from Lewis’s house, since he had to wake up at an early hour for work, and this night was no exception. So, on September 2nd, 1883, around 9pm, she left his house for the last time. It was pitch black outside, with newspapers writing how it would have been difficult for her to see her own hands in front of her face in the darkness.¹ The road she first traversed was a simple country turnpike, with only one house. She reached a fork in the road, and from there she entered Stratford - there were 50 dwellings from this point to her father’s house. It was also incredibly dark here, with shade from the elm and maple trees amplifying it, and the only light was from the houses’ windows, which were pretty set-back from the road. She then would reach another fork in the road, and from which, houses were more scattered, and she was surrounded by many cornfields and meadows. ¹

 

Around 11:45pm on September 2nd, several people living in Peter H. Hodges’ house, a house not far from Rose’s father’s, reported hearing a shrill scream from outside. When it happened, they believed it to have come from an owl, but upon the discovery of Rose’s body, they knew it was the girl’s shrieks. ²

 

On September 3rd, at 7am, Charles Mason, a farmer’s boy who worked for Hodges, found Rose. Mason was driving Hodges’ cows to the pasture when he met up with two other workers. Together, they found her corpse, but initially believed her to just be sleeping, since she was lying in a rather natural position. Upon closer inspection, they realized that she was dead, and saw froth coming from her mouth, indicating that she had been strangled. The men immediately went to Hodge’s home to inform them of what they found. The workers brought other men from Hodge’s home to her body, and they recognized her to be Rose Ambler. The stone wall that she was found beside was shaded by maple trees, which separated the turf from the sidewalk. There were no signs of struggle on the turf walk, but there were on her body - fingerprints on her throat, a missing earring that was later found in her hat, as well as bruises on her hips and back. The person who killed her was most likely unfamiliar with the surroundings, as her body was in rather plain sight, despite the fact that there was a hedge only 100 feet away where she could have been hidden for days. ²

 

A day after the body was discovered, Deputy Coroner J. A. Joyce began a closed-door inquest to investigate the murder of Rose Ambler. While the Coroner was taking testimony, the Stratford police, assisted by Pinkerton detective J. S. Wood, continued to look for evidence. A reward of $300 – later raised to $1,000— was offered for information. ³

 

The first suspect to emerge from the inquest was Norman Ambler. A witness testified to seeing him in town that day and his threats against Rose and William Lewis were well known. But since the divorce, Ambler had been living at the home of Henry Hatch in New Milford, forty miles away. Hatch swore positively that Ambler was home in bed the night of the murder. ⁴

Edward Bertram testified that he saw Rose Ambler walking with a man Sunday night. Miss Julia Roberts saw a man behaving strangely near the bridge that night. Neither could identify the man, so he became the anonymous killer that the public strived to discover.  

 

Individuals like Tommy Gardiner ⁵, Charles H. Rugg ⁶ and L.S. Curtis ⁷ suspected briefly as well, but were also exonerated. The main suspect, although he was not convicted, was Rose’s lover, William Lewis.

 

Though the detectives had ruled out William Lewis as a suspect, he was rapidly becoming the prime suspect of the inquest. It was thought that blood stains were found on the lap-robe in Lewis’s carriage. However, this was ruled out by Professor White in his examination. ⁸ Some fibers found on Rose’s clothing matched fibers from the lap-robe, though. And, although it had rained the night of her murder, Rose’s clothes were dry. It was once thought that Lewis had murdered her in his barn then wrapped it in the lap-robe before dropping it by the wall. Witnesses testified that he and Rose had been heard quarrelling at Lewis’s home and it was speculated that he had second thoughts about the wedding. There also existed a rumor that Rose had been seeing another man besides Lewis, and that Lewis had killed Rose in a fit of jealousy upon the discovery of this affair. ⁹

 

The inquest went on until September 29 and reached no definitive conclusion. There was not enough evidence to charge anyone with murder, though it was stated that the jurors “think suspicion points toward” William Lewis. ¹⁰ No one was ever charged for Rose Ambler’s murder and the case remains unsolved.