Trouble in White Cloud

In May of 1922, a young Michigan farmer named Romie “Doc” Hodell was found hanging in a barn outside White Cloud. At first glance, it looked like suicide.

But his feet were touching the ground.

Within days, doctors ruled it murder. And what followed would become one of the strangest and most divisive criminal cases in Michigan history.

Three months earlier, Romie’s father had died suddenly after drinking coffee at the same farmhouse. His death had been ruled a stroke. But when his body was exhumed, state chemists claimed they found strychnine — enough, they said, to kill a dozen men.

Soon there were forged suicide notes. Allegations of jealousy. A violent fight the night before the barn death. A vigilante mob that tied ropes around suspects’ necks and threatened to lynch them. Confessions that were later recanted. Claims that police used ghostly theatrics inside the very barn where the body was found.

By the end of 1922, a 21-year-old woman named Meady Hodell was sentenced to life in prison. Her mother joined her. Her brother was convicted. Others were acquitted. Appeals followed. Retrials were ordered. And for decades, questions about forensic science, coercion, and small-town justice refused to disappear.

Was this a calculated poisoning and staged killing?
A family conspiracy?
Or a miscarriage of justice fueled by fear, rumor, and community pressure?

Meady Hodell would spend more than 26 years behind bars before her sentence was commuted.

This episode examines the evidence, the confessions, the toxicology, the mob justice, and the haunting uncertainty that still lingers in the sandy soil of Newaygo County.

Because sometimes the truth isn’t buried with the body.

Sometimes it never fully surfaces at all.

Transcript

In the early morning rain of May 6, 1922, a man walked out to his barn in rural Newaygo County, Michigan, to feed his horses.

He did not come back.

Hours later, his body was found hanging from a harness strap, suspended from a beam in the upper story of the Terwilliger barn.

But it was not the clean, unmistakable scene of a suicide.

His boots touched the dirt floor.

His knees were bent beneath him.

One eye was blackened.

His lip was cut.

There were marks on his face.

Mud clung to his shoulders.

And within days, this quiet stretch of sandy farmland outside White Cloud would erupt into one of the strangest and most divisive murder cases in Michigan history — involving poison, vigilantes, coerced confessions, alleged ghostly interrogations, and a young woman who would spend more than a quarter of a century in prison insisting she was innocent.

This is the story of two families that did not get along. And the long shadow cast by a rope in a barn.

Welcome to Year Six of the Curator135 Podcast, my name is Nathan Olli and this is Episode 102 - Trouble in White Cloud.

To understand what happened in 1922, you have to understand the land.

The Dudgeon family arrived in White Cloud in 1905. They came from Indiana and purchased 1,280 acres in Goodwell Township — a massive parcel in an area that had once been known as “Big Bear Swamp.”

The white pine forests that had made mid-Michigan wealthy were gone by then. Lumber barons had stripped the region and moved north. What remained were stumps — thousands of them — scattered across sandy soil. Charred scars from forest fires. Open, wind-swept clearings. A land that was no longer forest, but not yet truly farmland.

The Dudgeons called their property “The Ranch.”

Their neighbors called it “The Dudgeon Swamp.”

The family was not universally admired. There was a certain amount of resentment and jealousy in the rural community caused by the Dudgeon attitude and being able to purchase such a large parcel of land. The Dudgeons were one of the first to own a new electric truck.

Charles H. Dudgeon was determined, proud, and ambitious. He fenced land that neighbors had informally used for grazing. When those fences went up, wires were cut. Arguments followed. There were physical fights.

Charles Dudgeon mortgaged part of his land for $350 down payment on Fred Riblet's eighty acres, which was a quarter mile west of the Dudgeon property, for his daughter Lola and her husband, Frank Priest.

Without telling the Dudgeons, Frank Priest sold his contract for the land to Jake Terwilliger, who was caught dragging logs off the land by the Dudgeons. A fight ensued in which Terwilliger took a severe beating. The Dudgeon men were convicted of assault and served ninety days in the White Cloud jail.

A neighbor, Tom Scott, had a dispute with the Dudgeons over Scott crossing their property. Although Wilmer and Lee Dudgeon were both badly hurt by Scott, they were again arrested, convicted and served more time in jail.

After Charles Dudgeon's death in 1920, Alice Dudgeon had an altercation with the teacher of the school across the road from her house, for which she was taken to court and fined.

She also was accused of having an altercation with Jake Terwilliger at which time she broke a few of Terwilliger's ribs.

The Dudgeons were not isolated, but they were not warmly embraced either.

The house they built reflected their circumstances — a rough, unfinished structure of ash boards and tar paper. Newspaper sheets lined interior walls. The stairs were steep enough to resemble a ladder. The family moved in before windows or doors were installed.

It was a hard life in a hard place.

But it was a life bound tightly by family.

Charles and Alice Dudgeon raised five surviving children there: Lee, Wilmer, Herman, Lola, and the youngest daughter, Meady.

And it would be Meady who would eventually stand at the center of this storm. Meady’s education ended in the eighth grade at the age of 16, at which time she worked locally. For a time she worked in the telegraph office in White Cloud and a chair factory in Big Rapids. It was during this time span that Meady reportedly gave birth to two children that were fathered by her brothers. Upon their births, the infants were taken to the Dudgeon barn, clubbed to death and buried.

In March of 1921, Meady Dudgeon married a man named Romie Hodell. She’d met him after he’d contracted to buy a load of cedar fence posts from them. 

She was twenty years old. He was twenty-six.

Romie had grown up north of Grant, Michigan. He was one of several siblings in a working-class farm family. By trade, he was a “stumper” — a man hired to dig out the massive tree stumps left behind after logging. It was grueling labor, done with teams of horses, chains, sweat, and persistence. 

Romie "Doc" Hodell had four brothers, Gayle, Forrest, Wayne and Hollis who still lived at home with their mother, Nina. His two sisters, Lila and Lola, were married. Lila Siegel lived in Comstock Park, Michigan and Lola Cook lived in White Cloud. In 1920 Romie moved to Wilcox Township where he lived on property on 2 Mile Road. He later rented a house in Goodwell Township from J.E. Terwilliger. This was the same property which Charles Dudgeon's son-in-law, Frank Priest had sold behind his back. 

The marriage did not begin in isolation. It began in tension.

Romie was aware that Meady had previously kept company with another man — Carl Sailors. Sailors was connected to the Dudgeon family through work, and he remained in the orbit of the household even after the wedding.

Witnesses later described Romie as jealous — deeply so.

The couple moved between properties, sometimes living in Meady’s family home, sometimes renting small houses tied to Romie’s work.

Money was a problem.

Romie was in debt — nearly $1,800 — a heavy burden in 1922.

He had hired hands. Among them was a 24-year-old English immigrant named Robert Bennett, who had arrived in Michigan not long before.

In January of 1922, Romie and Meady received a letter from Romie's mother, Nina Hodell, telling them they would be visited by Romie's father, David, who was a carpenter and barn builder. David and Nina were having marital problems, so David left his wife running a rooming house in Detroit, to stay with his children.

Less than a month later, on February 4, 1922, David Hodell, age 67, died. Romie was at work in nearby Woodville when the death occurred. After eating dinner with Meady and her mother, David went out to fetch wood from the woodpile. On his way back into the house, he collapsed and died. Meady ran across the road for help from her neighbor, Cornelia Anderson. Dr. Price T. Waters and Undertaker Alex J. McKinley were summoned from White Cloud. After a short inspection, Dr. Waters attributed Hodell's death to apoplexy, death resulting from a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke

A funeral followed four days later. Meady’s brother, Lee, donated his suit coat for David to be buried in. Romie, the grieving son, donated his blue serge pants and Undertaker McKinley provided a shirt.

In May of that year, Romie and Meady were preparing to live away in a shack on a farm where Romie had secured work stumping. As they were packing to leave, Carl Sailors showed up to the Dudgeon home. Romie accused Sailors of seeing Meady while he was at work. Words were exchanged between Romie and Meady’s brother, Herman, which quickly escalated into a fist fight. Meady’s other brother, Lee joined in, and Romie took a bad beating from the both of them. After the fight, Romie forced Meady to walk down the road ahead of him in the rain. He talked at length about them dying together and finally told Meady that he wanted her to go to White Cloud to see Attorney Harold Cogger about a divorce.

Romie and Meady spent the night at the Dudgeon house, where Romie slept with Lee and Meady slept with her mother, Alice.

The next morning, it was raining again. Romie chose not to work. Instead, he walked to the rented barn on the Terwilliger property to feed his horses. His mother-in-law, Alice, told him that his breakfast would be ready upon his return. When he did not return for breakfast, concern turned to search.

Lee Dudgeon and Romie’s hired hand, Robert Bennett, went to the barn. They climbed to the upper story.

And they found him. The harness strap was looped over a beam. His body hung awkwardly but it did not hang freely. His feet were flat against the dirt.

His knees bent beneath him as if he had been placed there rather than dropped.

There were visible injuries: a blackened eye, cuts along the lip and cheek.

Mud was smeared across his shoulders — as though he had been dragged. Inside the barn, two different suicide notes were found. 

On a calendar near his body was the first note. "Dearest Meady, I can not write words to the effect that I want to but I don’t want my mother to feel bad for me or you either… Please don't marry Carl, my last request. One who gives his life for you. Doc"

Another note, written on a scrap of paper found on the lower level of the barn read, "When you read this I will be no more. Don't look for me as you will never find me until it is too late… One who loves you, Doc."

Sheriff Nobel A. McKinley, Deputy Sheriff Winfield E. Patterson, Undertaker Walter B. Reed, and Prosecuting Attorney Harold J. Cogger soon arrived at the barn after being notified by the Dudgeon family. They untied Romie’s body and placed him in the back seat of McKinley’s police car. 

Romie and Meady were only married fourteen months at the time of his death.

When local officials performed the post-mortem examination of Romie’s body, they concluded quickly: the cause of death was not strangulation, It was a blow to the neck,  two inches below the right ear. The doctors would later testify that the blow caused instant death. The hanging was staged.

Romie Hodell had been killed before he was suspended.

The following day, May 7th, Romie was buried at the Goodwell Cemetery in Goodwell Township.

Because of the hard feelings between the Hodells and Dudgeons, Sheriff McKinley attended Romie's funeral, where he frisked the participants and removed any weapons that were found.

Once the hanging was ruled a homicide, all hell broke loose.

The inquest that started on May 6th ran until May 15th. During that time, Robert Bennett, Romie's hired hand, was arrested for the murder of Romie. Shortly after, he was released. 

Meady and her brothers, Lee and Herman had Romie's body exhumed by the sexton of the Goodwill Cemetery due to rumors of his body being stolen during the night of the funeral. 

It was determined during the inquest, that the suicide notes given to the authorities by Lee Dudgeon were not in Romie's handwriting.

As time dragged on and the investigation continued, the locals grew restless. Rumors swirled and some men decided to take action. 

On July 30th, 1922, nineteen local men stopped Lee and Herman Dudgeon on a rural road near the Fulkerson School. The Dudgeon brothers were moving a threshing machine for a neighbor when the mob approached. 

The brothers were ordered to get down on the ground but refused. Lee and Herman were eventually separated and ropes were placed around their necks. They were told that if they did not confess they would be lynched. One of the men, Paul Andrews, Superintendent of Schools, stated that when the rope was pulled tight around Lee Dudgeon's neck he said he would confess. When the rope was loosened, he refused to confess. 

This happened numerous times before Forrest Hodell, Romie's brother, grew tired of the back and forth and tied the rope to his motorcycle and pulled out all the slack, choking Lee. One slip of the clutch and Lee’s neck would snap. Herman was ready to confess almost immediately, and this finally convinced Lee to join in. 

The Dudgeons received black eyes and Lee, a broken nose, not to mention the rope burns on their necks.

Lee Dudgeon was made to write out his confession on the spot.

“I, Lee Dudgeon, don't know how Romie Hodell was murdered, but I do know that he was murdered by Robert Bennett. My brother, Herman and myself helped hang Romie Hodell in the upper story of Jake Terwilliger's barn after he was killed. Bennett came to our place and asked us to go with him. I asked, "What for?" And he said he wanted us to hang "Doc" in the barn. I told him that I didn't wish to do anything of the kind, and he said, "If you don't I will put you fellows in the same place." He had his hand in his coat pocket where his gun was concealed and we went with him. After hanging "Doc" up, Bennett said, "By God, he won't bother anybody else."

The confession was signed by Lee and Herman Dudgeon and several witnesses and presented to Justice of the Peace and Undertaker Walter B. Reed, who’d been summoned from White Cloud. After he left, the Dudgeon brothers recanted and changed their story. 

Deputy Sheriff Winfield E. Patterson soon arrived and amidst the confusion released the Dudgeon brothers and left to arrest Robert Bennett for a second time. According to reports, Bennett was kept in a dungeon with no bed or chair. He slept on the concrete floor with only a blanket. He received as little as four meals per week. Bennett received letters daily from his mother, who had moved back to London, professing her belief in his innocence. He ended up in jail for nearly eleven months. 

Shortly after the lynching incident, Michigan State Police were brought in after a request was made by Alice Dudgeon for protection for her family. 

All nineteen vigilantes were later arraigned. Each pleaded guilty. Each was fined just one dollar. The fine was reportedly reduced because the court believed if harsher penalties were imposed, townspeople would simply raise money to cover them.

White Cloud was not neutral. White Cloud had opinions. And those opinions were already hardening.

In August of 1922 the Dudgeon family members were transported to Fremont and then Big Rapids for questioning. All of the investigatory attention was focusing on the family now. 

On the 8th, Lee and Herman were grilled by detectives until they finally confessed to knowing that their sister, Meady killed her husband and father-in-law. They’re locked up in the Big Rapids jail.

On the 9th, Meady confessed to the poisoning of her father-in-law and the murder of her husband. She’s also placed in the Big Rapids jail.

The following day, after being driven to Big Rapids for interrogation, Alice Dudgeon confessed to the murder of Romie and knowledge that her daughter, Meady, poisoned her father-in-law, David Hodell. She too was given a cell in the Big Rapids jail. 

These statements were notarized. But the defense would later claim they were obtained through coercion. According to testimony, defendants were taken late at night to isolated buildings — including the Terwilliger barn.

They were told the spirits of David and Romie Hodell demanded confession. Officers were accused of wearing white sheets and staging “ghost” encounters. Ropes were allegedly placed around necks again. Police denied these accusations categorically.

But during trial, multiple defendants insisted fear and intimidation were used.

The image of law enforcement invoking ghosts in a barn became one of the strangest elements of the entire case.

The three Dudgeons and Bennett were brought back to White Cloud where they were arraigned before Justice of the Peace Walter B. Reed. Each waived examination and were bound over to the circuit court. 

On August 15th of 1922, Romie’s father David was exhumed from his grave. The organs were removed and sent to State Chemist Charles Bliss in Lansing. Bliss reported that the stomach, liver, spleen, and kidneys contained strychnine. Stating that the amount found within the organs was enough to kill a dozen men.

Meady’s trial began October 10th, 1922, in White Cloud.

A motion for change of venue was denied by Judge Joseph Barton despite defense arguments that local hostility made a fair trial impossible. The jury was composed entirely of farmers — twelve men selected after interviewing sixty-seven candidates.

The opening statement of Prosecuting Attorney William J. Branstrom, stated that he would prove Meady had killed her aged father-in-law, David Hodell, by poisoning, and that she said to a woman at the funeral "I am afraid they will have me arrested, I think they believe I killed the old man." Branstrom said he would prove that Meady admitted to six persons she poisoned Mr. Hodell.

The Defense Attorneys, Arthur W. Penney and Alpheus A. Worcester made a request, which was granted, that all witnesses except the one being used on the stand be excluded from the court room.

Meady sat expressionless, unmoved by what was taking place. Also in court was David Hodell's wife, Nina, who was accompanied by two of her sons, Forrest and Gayle, members of the "lynch mob."

Judge Barton admonished the jury not to discuss the case among themselves or read the newspapers. The jury was locked up at night at the Wayside Inn under the charge of Deputy Sheriff Patterson. 

One by one over the course of two weeks, witnesses were called to testify. Neighbor Cornelia Anderson testified that Romie and Meady lived across the road from the Anderson farm in Wilcox Township. She stated that she had seen David Hodell working on the woodpile at 10:00 am on February 4th apparently in good health. Mrs. Anderson testified that Meady called her over to the Hodell house at 2:00 pm that afternoon where she saw David Hodell lying dead.

Dr. Waters testified that he had pronounced death due to apoplexy. Undertaker A.J. McKinley testified about the embalming of David Hodell's body. The defense suggested that the poison found in the body could have been embalming fluid.

Sergeant George E. Karkeet of the Michigan State Police testified that he and Sergeant John Palmer were driving Meady to Big Rapids when they abruptly stopped the vehicle and asked her what she put in her father-in-law's coffee. Meady made no reply until Karkeet suggested that Hodell was a lot of trouble for her. Meady said, "Yes, the old man was lots of care."

During Karkeet's testimony, the jury was removed from the court room while Attorney Penney attempted to convince the court that the confessions were obtained through fear and mistreatment. Penney charged that the trio from the Michigan State Police took Meady from the county jail late one night to a lonely school house where they threatened that unless she confessed, she would be taken to the Terwilliger barn to be confronted by the spirits of her husband and father-in-law. Penney also claimed that she was so frightened that she confessed. It was also alleged that Lee Dudgeon was taken from jail late at night to the Terwilliger barn where he was confronted by a "ghost" who pointed an accusing finger at Dudgeon naming him as one of the conspirators in his death. The troopers then took Dudgeon to the ground and placed a rope around his neck, threatening him with hanging unless he confessed. Penney also stated that Alice Dudgeon, Herman Dudgeon, and Robert Bennett's confessions were obtained in the same manner.

The statement made by Alice Dudgeon and Meady Hodell on August 10th that they confessed because they had been bothered by ghosts probably gave the idea to the police to coerce confessions from the defendants with fear of reprisals from the ghosts of David and Romie Hodell. Lee Dudgeon had stated that he had seen ghosts in the fields before he was arrested.

The jury was returned to the court room and upon direct examination by Penney, Karkeet told about Meady's written confession before Justice of the Peace Walter B. Reed and Prosecutor Branstrom.

Karkeet also testified that Meady told him that she had written the "suicide" notes.

Miss Fern Miller, stenographer for Prosecutor Branstrom, told of receiving the confession of Meady on August 11th. "The old man was sick and miserable. He asked me to put him out of the way, and I thought it would be better for him and better for us if he were over there—so I did it."

Sexton of Ashland Center Cemetery in Grant, Charles Egolf was called to the stand, where the defense attempted to show that Egolf's advanced years prevented him from keeping a close vigil on the cemetery. The defense was suspicious that Hodell's body had been tampered with and that poison had been placed in it before the exhumation on August 15th.

It was at this point that the defense attorneys went into the life history of Meady and pictured her as the victim of a plot on the part of certain authorities who wanted a "goat" on which to pin the crime. "Our little sister here." said the attorney, pointing to the defendant, "is the under-dog. She has been made to seem vile and criminal."

Prosecuting Attorney Branstrom indicated that the body of Meady Hodell's father, Charles H. Dudgeon, who died in May 1920 may be exhumed. Branstrom claimed he had evidence that Mr. Dudgeon had died under mysterious circumstances.

It was stated in court that it was Meady's brother, Lee Dudgeon who started the ghost aversion to the family by reporting to them and his neighbors that he had seen his father's spirit running across the field of his farm, long before the Hodell's deaths were to have revived it.

Finally, after two weeks the attorneys made their closing statements on October 26th, 1922.

Prosecutor William J. Branstrom laid out the state’s theory again. Meady poisoned David Hodell’s coffee with strychnine. Later, when Romie became a liability — possibly aware of the poisoning — she struck him with a rolling pin. When he did not die immediately, her mother Alice delivered the fatal blow. Her brothers staged the hanging.

The defense leaned heavily on the "strong arm tactics" by the three State policemen.  They reminded the jury again that it was reported that when a defendant was taken to the Terwilliger barn, they were interrogated by one policeman while the other two tried to "spook" them. The two policemen wore sheets, made noises, and spoke from the shadows trying to convince the defendants that the "ghosts" of David and Romie Hodell wanted them to confess. It wouldn’t be enough.

After a two hour deliberation, the jury found Meady guilty in the first degree of the murder of her father-in-law, David Hodell. Meady, dressed in a red coral necklace and dark dress sat emotionless as the verdict was read by the jury foreman. On her third finger on her left hand was her wedding ring. Meady was sentenced to life in the Detroit House of Corrections. She was twenty-one years old.

Alice Dudgeon was tried next. On November 13th, 1922 Alice went on trial in White Cloud before Judge Barton. A change of venue was requested by the defense, but once again denied by Judge Barton. Sentiment towards the Dudgeons had become extremely hostile and the attorneys were having a difficult time choosing a jury.

On December 7th, 1922 Alice Dudgeon was found guilty in the first degree for the murder of her son-in-law, Romie "Doc" Hodell. It was claimed that Meady Hodell had put strychnine poison in her husband Romie's coffee and since he did not die immediately, she clubbed him with a rolling pin. The blow did not kill Romie, so Alice finished the job with the same rolling pin. She instructed her sons, Lee and Herman to hang the body in the Terwilliger barn while she and Meady wrote "suicide" notes. 

It took the jury just an hour and forty-five minutes before reaching their verdict. She was sentenced to life in the Detroit House of Corrections as her daughter was six weeks before. 

Meady Hodell arrived at the Detroit House of Corrections. She became a housekeeper for the Superintendent of The Detroit House of Corrections, A. Blake Gillis. Meady was a model prisoner, who constantly professed her innocence.

In February of 1923, The trials of Lee and Herman Dudgeon and Robert Bennett began after a change of venue from White Cloud to Big Rapids. Judge Barton would still be presiding. The trial proceeded very slowly due to the difficulty in selecting a jury and a severe blizzard prevented some jurors from arriving at the court house. By all accounts, the trial was a repetition of the previous two trials.

On March 5th, Judge Barton was forced to declare a mistrial due to the sickness of a juror. 

In May of the same year, the venue for the trial was changed once again from Big Rapids to Hart, Michigan. On July 26th, after another long, exhausting trial, Lee Dudgeon was found guilty for complicity in the murder of his brother-in-law, Romie "Doc" Hodell. Both Herman Dudgeon and Robert Bennett were found not guilty. For the crime of manslaughter, Lee Dudgeon received three consecutive terms of 5 years in Ionia State Prison.

In May of the following year, Lee and Alice Dudgeon's cases were appealed in the Michigan Supreme Court. Meady's case was never appealed to the Supreme Court because her attorneys failed to file exceptions to the charge of Judge Barton within a specified time.

On Christmas Eve of 1924 Lee Dudgeon was released from Ionia State Prison for a new trial. 

By May of 1925, Lee Dudgeon's sentence was reduced to three years. Upon his release, he settled in Muskegon, Michigan, where he married and had a son named Lee.

During Alice’s retrial the jury failed to convict her, and she was ultimately released. She was held in the White Cloud jail until she was released to the care of her son, Lee in Big Rapids. She was never brought back to trial.

In June of ‘25 the Dudgeon house, which had stood unoccupied for three years, had its windows and doors removed, the exterior walls of tar paper had been shredded by the weather, some of the floor boards had been removed by skunk hunters, and the newspaper covered walls had yellowed, burned to the ground.

In November of 1927, Alice Dudgeon sent a letter to the Commissioner of the Detroit House of Corrections. 

“In regard of my poor little Daughter, Meady Hodell. Dear ones of the Board, I hope to see my Daughter home on a Parole to stay with her old mother that can't hardly get around anymore. The Poor Child is there for something that she is not guilty of. God bless you but I do think it is wicked to keep her there. Oh How glad I am the Poor Child is clear of everything that was put on the Poor girl. Please do let her come home. Oh god the Board will be rewarded in the other world. To think she has to suffer for something that she is not guilty of. Oh How grand it is that We Can Say that all say the truth god knows that she is an innocent Child. Please Parole her to me god Will be with you Dear ones of the Board. Alice Dudgeon - Poor Meady Hodell’s Mother. God Bless you.”

Eight years later, Alice Dudgeon died at her son, Lee's house in Muskegon, Michigan. While Meady still sat in prison. On January 10th, 1935, Meady Hodell, on guarded release, attended the funeral of her mother, Alice Dudgeon, in Muskegon, Michigan. Meady paid for her mother's funeral with the money she had saved from her $.10 a day prison salary. 

In October of 1936, Meady was denied parole, then again in December of 1937, March of 1938, and finally February of 1948. All the while, Harry L. Spooner, reporter and county historian, who had reported for the local newspaper on the Hodell/Dudgeon murder trials became a crusader on the behalf of Meady Hodell. Even though he was a close friend of David Hodell he was convinced that Meady was innocent and spent 24 years sending letters to the leading officials of the time trying to get Meady paroled.

Finally in July of 1949, Meady Hodell's sentence was commuted by Governor G. Mennen Williams.

She was released from the Detroit House of Correction after serving 26 years, 7 months, and 23 days. The Superintendent of the prison, A. Blake Gillies, gave Meady the $400 in cash and $850 in bonds that she had saved from her $.10 a day prison salary. She became a housekeeper for four priests at St. Matthew's Roman Catholic rectory in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. 

On March 23rd, 1952 at the age of 49, she passed away.

Two men died in 1922. One from blunt force trauma, staged as suicide. One from alleged poisoning, though experts disagreed. Confessions were given and withdrawn. 

A mob attempted lynching. Police were accused of theatrics bordering on superstition.

Scientific testimony clashed and a twenty-one-year-old woman lost nearly three decades of her life. Was justice done? Or did White Cloud decide the ending before the evidence was fully weighed?

The barn is gone. The maple tree used in the lynching was cut down in the 1980s. The Dudgeon house burned. But the questions remain.

And perhaps that uncertainty — more than any verdict — is what still lingers in the sandy soil of Newaygo County.

I hope you enjoyed this episode. This one was fun for me because I stumbled upon ‘The Dudgeon Swamp’ while searching for spooky Michigan based ghost stories. There are, it seems, many folks out there that consider the area that all of this took place in to be extremely haunted. From there I found a wonderful retelling of events collected by a man named Lee Keippel. There’s no date listed as to when it was written, and I believe the man who researched it is no longer with us but between court documents and newspaper articles, he did a lot of homework. What do you think? Were the Dudgeons a wacky, backwoods family, full of incest and insanity, or were they an easy target for law enforcement looking to close the books on a heinous crime? 

I love when I stumble into a spooky, true crime tale, especially when it occurred less than a couple of hours from me. Anyway, I hope you liked it. I’ll have photos, documents and news articles posted on the website soon. Curator135.com

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