| Birth Date: | 29 July 1899 |
| Birth Place: | Rahway, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Sing Sing Prison, New York, U.S. |
| Conviction: | First degree murder |
| Conviction Penalty: | Death by electrocution |
| Criminal Status: | Executed |
Mary Frances Creighton (July 29, 1899 – July 16, 1936) was an American woman convicted and executed for murder by poisoning.[1] Creighton was nicknamed "The Long Island Borgia" and the "Black-Eyed Borgia[2] by the press, because of her use of arsenic poisoning. She was sentenced to death by electric chair. She passed out before the execution, and was executed in an unconscious state.[3]
Mary Frances Avery was born in Rahway, New Jersey. As a young girl, both her parents died, and she and her siblings were raised by their maternal grandparents.[4] Growing up, she was not known to be an outstanding student and she made few friends, preferring to keep to herself. Creighton was estranged from her two sisters because of a quarrel about the inheritance from their parents.
When she was 15 years old, she moved to Newark where she graduated from high school. In 1917, she met her future husband, John Creighton, a sailor who fought in the First World War. The couple married on December 25, 1918.
The couple moved in with John's parents, Walter and Anna Creighton, who owned a house in Roseville, Newark. In 1918, John and Mary Frances had a daughter who they named Ruth. Some years later, Mary Frances' younger brother, Charles Raymond Avery, also moved in with them. The addition of another person made the house more crowded and the relationship between Creighton and her mother-in-law became even more strained as they both wanted to decide how the house should be run. Matters were hardly made better by the fact that whenever John and Mary Frances argued, both her husband's parents would support him against her.[5]
The relationship between Creighton and her mother-in-law continued to deteriorate, with Creighton telling neighbours that her mother-in-law was a disturbed person who was talking about wanting to commit suicide.
In 1920, her mother-in-law became ill and was admitted to hospital with fever and cramps leading to her death. This was followed in 1921 by the death of Creighton's father-in-law, and in 1923, Creighton's brother Raymond also died. Raymond had named his sister the sole beneficiary of his $1,000 life insurance policy.[6] These many deaths in connection with the Creightons made the authorities take note, and Creighton was suspected of poisoning all three.
Creighton and her husband, John, were tried for Raymond's death in 1923, but were acquitted due to a lack of witnesses. The Anna Creighton murder trial, which was held in 1923 as well, also ended with Creighton being acquitted, again due to a lack of witnesses, and also due to the testimony of toxicologist Alexander Gettler, who found only a trace amount of arsenic in Anna Creighton's system.[7] John Creighton stood by his wife and protested her innocence throughout. During the 1923 trial, Creighton was pregnant and gave birth to a son, John Jr.
Feeling that they could no longer make a home in Newark due to the suspicions and the subsequent trial, the family relocated to Baldwin, Long Island. There John Creighton made the acquaintance of a neighbour named Everett Appelgate, a fellow member of the local American Legion association.[8] The two men became friends, and upon hearing that Appelgate and his wife Ada were currently living with Ada's father, but that the living situation was not good due to disagreements with him, John Creighton proposed that the Appelgates move in with his family. This would also help supplement the Creightons' income through rent paid by the Appelgates. The Creightons' daughter, Ruth, and the Appelgates' daughter, Agnes, had also become friends, so this seemed to be an ideal situation in all aspects.
Through later investigation and witness accounts of Ruth Creighton and others, it was revealed that Everett Appelgate had been grooming Ruth. Appelgate had also, according to Creighton, had a sexual relationship with her at the same time. Creighton's defense lawyer would later claim that she had been "a woman led wrong by the power of an evil man."
In September 1936, Ada Appelgate became sick and was taken to the local hospital where she was examined and sent home. Several days later, Ada died at home of unknown causes. It was suspected that it could have been pneumonia or some other natural cause, as Ada Appelgate was a very obese and unhealthy woman.
Not long after Ada Appelgate's death, an anonymous source sent the police a letter and a package of newspaper clippings dating back to 1923 and Creighton's trial that involved her in other suspicious deaths, urging them to investigate the death of Ada Appelgate. Nassau County's District Attorney's office began an investigation and autopsy was performed on Ada Appelgate and traces of arsenic was found. This was enough to arrest Creighton; she repeatedly confessed to and denied killing both mother-in-law, Anna, and her younger brother, Raymond. Creighton claimed to have poisoned Ada Appelgate so that her fifteen-year-old daughter, Ruth, who she had been pimping out to Everett Appelgate, could legally marry Everett.
Both Creighton and Appelgate were found guilty of first-degree murder. Mrs. Creighton appeared "chalky-white” said the New York Post, "but the plump, brown-gowned Borgia gave no outward signs of dismay. On January 29, both defendants returned to Nassau County court to hear formal verdict. Judge Cortland A. Johnson sentenced them to execution through the electric chair during the week of March 9, just five weeks away.
Creighton was imprisoned at Sing Sing Prison to await her execution.[9] On the day of the execution (July 16, 1936) Creighton was suffering from hysterical paralysis and was given a morphine injection,[10] and some reports state that she was completely unconscious when the electric chair was turned on.
The case and Mary Frances Creighton were showcased on the true crime TV show Deadly Women (season 5 episode 4) on the episode "Matriarchs of Murder" [11]