page_title: Hackettstown, New Jersey
section_title: Tillie Smith Murder Case
hierarchical_section_title: Hackettstown, New Jersey / History / Tillie Smith Murder Case
caption_attribution_description: English: Union Cemetery - Hackettstown, NJ - Erected by an Appreciative Public
context_page_description: Hackettstown is a town in Warren County, in the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 9,724, reflecting a decline of 679 from the 10,403 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 2,283 from the 8,120 counted in the 1990 Census. The town is located in the easternmost region of the Lehigh Valley.
  Hackettstown was incorporated as a town by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 9, 1853, from portions of Independence Township. Portions of territory were exchanged with Mansfield Township in 1857, 1860, 1872 and 1875.
  Hackettstown houses the US headquarters of Mars Wrigley Confectionary, a business segment of Mars, Incorporated, makers of Milky Way, Mars, M&M's, Twix and Snickers.
  It is believed that Hackettstown was named after Samuel Hackett, an early settler and large landowner. Hackett is said to have "contributed liberally to the liquid refreshments on the christening of a new hotel, in order to secure the name which, before this, had been Helms' Mills or Musconetcong".
context_section_description: In 1886, Tillie Smith, a 19-year-old kitchen worker from a poverty-stricken family, was raped, murdered and left lying in an open field on the campus of the Centenary Collegiate Institute, where she worked. James Titus, a janitor at the school, was tried and convicted of the rape and murder, based on circumstantial evidence and public opinion shaped by yellow journalism. Titus was sentenced to hang, but he signed a confession and served 19 years of hard labor. He lived from 1904 to 1952 in Hackettstown among many of the same residents who championed his conviction. The killing remains a popular local legend, inspiring several books, Weird NJ magazine articles, theatrical performances and dark tourism ghost tours.
caption: The Tillie Smith Monument to Chastity - "She Died In Defence of Her Honor" - Apr 8, 1886
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