The Real-Life Back Story of ARSENIC & OLD LACE

by David Garnes, Dramaturge

The Little Theatre of Manchester is fast gearing up for its inaugural play of the 2022 season, “Arsenic and Old Lace.”

Local theatergoers may be surprised to learn that this perennial favorite is based on a series of murders that occurred at one Mrs. Amy Archer-Gilligan’s boarding house in Windsor. Sixty-six people died there between 1908 and 1916.

In May 1914, the suspicious sister of a suddenly deceased resident tipped off the “Hartford Courant,” whose intrepid reporters began an investigation that eventually led to the exhumation and autopsy of several bodies. All contained traces of arsenic or strychnine, including one hapless corpse whose arsenic count was high enough to kill several people.

Subsequent inquiries revealed that Amy had been the recipient of many advance “care for life” payments from residents, and a local pharmacist in Windsor revealed that for years she’d been a frequent purchaser of arsenic “to kill the rats and other pests.”

Archer-Winston was arrested, tried for murder, and sentenced to death. She was re-tried and found to be insane. She lived out the last 38 years of her life at the then Connecticut General Hospital for the Insane in Middletown.

Years later, playwright Joseph Kesselring became interested in the case and obtained access to court records from Hugh Alcorn, the attorney for Hartford County who had presided at Archer-Winston’s trial. Alcorn later accepted an invitation from Kesselring to attend the hit show in New York but reportedly did not become a fan.

Read More:

https://windsorhistoricalsociety.org/event/trial-of-amy-archer-gilligan/

https://windsorhistoricalsociety.org/amy-archer-gilligan-entrepreneurism-gone-wrong-in-windsor/

https://windsorhistoricalsociety.org/product/the-devils-rooming-house/