Mary Rogers cold case

Mary Rogers was commonly referred to as the “Beautiful Cigar Girl.” Mary was born in 1820 and her body was recovered on July 28, 1841 in the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey. During her life, Mary Rogers worked in a New York City tobacco shop owned by John Anderson. Mary was well paid since her beauty commonly invited more customers in to the shop. Mary was well known and liked by most clients of the shop and was known to pass flirting glances their way once in a while. On October 5, 1838 however Mary went missing from her home according to a New York Sun article. Mary’s mother, Phoebe Rogers told the New York Sun that she had found a suicide note from her daughter that was deemed by the coroner to be proof of her determination to commit suicide. On October 6th however, the Times and Commercial Intelligence newspaper reported that the disappearance was not actually a disappearance at all, rather, Mary had gone to Brooklyn to visit a friend. When Mary returned to work many believed that her disappearance had not been a hoax rather it had been a publicity stunt by the owner of the tobacco shop to get more business.

On July 25, 1841 though, Mary Rogers would go missing in a way. Mary told her fiancé, Daniel Payne that she was going to visit family on July 25th; however, three days later her body was recovered from the Hudson River in Hoboken. As beautiful and well loved as Mary had been her death caused quite the stir in local newspapers as well as nationally. What was released of the case indicted that Mary had been the subject of foul play being either murdered or dumped in the river and left for dead after abortionist Madame Restell had attempted to conduct a procedure on her. Months after the recovery of Mary’s body her fiancé would commit suicide by poison.

No one really knows what happened to Mary Rogers, many believe that she had been the victim of gang violence. One woman, Frederica Loss also came forward and told that Mary had certainly died after a failed abortion attempt by Madame Restell. The case would never be solved however when press coverage switched gears a couple of months later Samuel Adams was murdered by John C Colt. Although her murder was never solved, Mary Rogers was fictionalized in the Edgar Allan Poe story “The Mystery of Marie Roget.”