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Wednesday, July 10, 2024

July 10, 1934: Boyfriend off the hook. So who killed Marian Mills?

Marian Mills
It was the summer of 1934. Marian Mills, age 20, had just completed her degree at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. She was planning to return for post-graduate studies in the fall. Marian was a popular woman at the university. She had been chosen Engineers' Beauty Queen in 1932. 

In 1934, Marian Mills, a beauty queen, was the 20-year-old "campus sweetheart" of Neal Myers. Marian was the daughter of engineering professor M. Elbert Mills. Myers, a 21-year-old pharmacy student, was the son of Dr. P. B. Myers of Denver. 

On July 10, Marian died in the Norman, Oklahoma home of 39-year-old Mrs. Hazel Brown, the cook for Myers' fraternity house and "the only person of mature age in the house during the 24 tragic hours preceding the girl's death."

Hazel Brown Describes Arranging the Abortion

According to a signed statement she gave to the police, Brown had been a cook at the Delta Upsilon house for about eight years. Prior to that she had been a practical nurse in Oklahoma City. She got to know Neal Myers well during the previous two years because he had worked in the fraternity house kitchen to earn his board. She said that she considered him "a close friend."

In March of 1934, Brown said, Myers approached her and said, "Brownie, I am in trouble." He explained that he had gotten a girl pregnant and wanted to know about medicines that would work to cause an abortion. Brown reported that she'd told Myers that she had experience with abortion medication and they usually work. She reported that she told Myers everything she knew about abortifacients.

Hazel Brown

"He left then," Brown went on, "and came back to me in a few days and asked me to call a doctor who was a member of the D. U. fraternity and see what could be done." She called the doctor in question, who referred her to a doctor whose name is redacted in the newspaper.

Myers went to Oklahoma City to see this doctor, who had quoted a $75 fee for the abortion, which is a little over $1,750 in 2024 dollars. Myers said that when he told the doctor that he didn't have that much money, the doctor told him that then he'd have to marry the girl.

Brown said that the next she saw Myers was on June 6, when he said that he was nearly crazy over the situation. Brown said that she suggested that Myers go to his father with his problem but he said, "I can't." He then said he had heard of a doctor at Chickasha who might be cheaper.

Myers returned to speak to Brown on June 9, saying that he had gone to see the Chickasha doctor, who recommended quinine and castor oil. Myers was to give the girl -- finally identified to Brown as Marian -- these "medicines" as a preliminary step. Myers and the doctor had a discussion about where Marian and Myers should stay overnight for the procedure. Brown consented to let the couple use her house since it would only be an overnight stay. 

Starting the "Medicines"

Neal Myers

Hazel Brown said that she got home at about 8 pm on June 9 to find Myers and Marian in her living room. "I sat down there in the living room and talked to hem about an hour. We talked about her taking the capsules and I assured her it wouldn't hurt her, but that it would do the work. When I reassured her she said that she felt better about it then."

They then moved to the back porch and continued discussing the situation. Marian reported having taken three of the capsules before Brown had gotten home and continued to take them roughly every two hours. 

Brown took a bath and put on her robe and let Marian know that she could bathe next. "She got out a bottle with medicine [castor oil] and I prepared some orange juice for her to take it in. She poured all of the contents of the bottle and put it into a glass. After Marian had her bath I gave her a night gown to sleep in." Neal left to go take a bath at his own place and didn't return until after the two women had gone to bed. He didn't go to bed himself but instead paced the house, smoking cigarettes.

It Doesn't Seem to be Working

Hazel Brown's House, where Marian died

Six o'clock the next morning finds Myers asleep in his clothes on the couch. Brown tries to leave for work without waking the young people, but Marian awakens and tells Brown that she feels okay. Myers woke as well the the couple were distressed that the abortion drugs weren't working. 

Brown left for work at the fraternity house, about six blocks from her home, and returned a little after 10 am. Marian was still in bed, still distressed that the abortion capsules hadn't done their job. She told Brown that she had only a small window of time for the abortion in order to avoid raising suspicions. Myers, who sat playing solitaire while the women talked, asked, "Brownie, do you think it's going to work? It's got to. We're both crazy."

Brown went back to work. At around noon Myers called and asked her to send them some lunch. "I sent chipped beef, French fried potatoes, navy beans, squash, head lettuce, tomatoes, chocolate pudding, whipped cream, and graham crackers."

It was close to 2:00 when Brown again returned home to find Myers sitting in a chair, smoking, and Marian lying on the bed. Marian reported that though she felt weak, the drugs still weren't having their desired effect. 

Brown again left for work, just as her son 16-year-old son Richard was coming home. She wasn't at work long before Richard called saying, "Mother, come home right away." He wouldn't tell her why.

Returning to Find Tragedy

Brown hurried home to find a Dr. E. F. Stephens there. Dr. Stephens said said he'd gotten an emergency call that a girl had fainted and had arrived to find her dead. The man who had placed the call -- Neal Myers -- had taken his suitcase and vanished..

What Else Came to Light

Marian's parents had been kept in the dark about their daughter's pregnancy and plans. Mrs. Mills had dropped Marian off at the Norman bus station at 4 pm on Monday believing that she was going to a house party in Tulsa. 

Richard Brown, along with his 14-year-old brother, Charles, said that Myers had introduced Marian to them as his wife. The boys had been under the impression that the young couple's decision to spend the night had been a spontaneous one. 

Richard said that shortly after his mother left for work, Myers sent him to the store to buy chewing gum. When Richard returned, he said, "Neal told me he had called a doctor and for me not to go into the bedroom but to show the doctor in there when he arrived. Neal went out the back door, saying he was going to the infirmary for a doctor."

Myers left his El Reno home on Sunday morning, saying that he was going to see about a job in Oklahoma City and then would go to the Delta Upsilon fraternity house in Normal to straighten his room. He didn't come home and the police couldn't find him for questioning. His father issued a public plea for Neil to turn himself in so that his parents could help him.

Myers was charged with murder in Marian's death, and could have faced life in prison if convicted. 

Why was the young man arrested? Dr. Roy Emanuel testified that Myers had consulted him about a possible pregnancy. Emanuel said that Myers had only asked for advise, not for an abortion. Emanuel said that he'd recommended a test to verify the suspected pregnancy, and had also told the young man to consult with his father.

"Two or three weeks later he came back ... bringing the report, which showed the girl was not pregnant." Myers had Marian with him, and she said that she wanted an examination, because she didn't think the test was accurate. He did examine her and while he could not definitively say, he didn't think she was pregnant. The couple returned again the Thursday before Marian's death, and this time his examination verified that the girl was pregnant. Again, Emanuel said, he referred the couple to Myers' father.


Mrs. Brown, for her part, said that Myers had loved Marian and had wanted to marry her. He was opposed to the idea of an abortion. Marian, on the other hand, insisted that her parents would never accept Myers. Brown said that Marian had taken "a harmless drug" and that this was the only attempt that she personally knew of to abort the baby.

But evidently Marian had found an abortionist, or had done something herself more drastic than just take mild abortifacients, because doctors who examined her said that some sort of instruments had been used in the abortion that had caused her death.

Myers was supported by Brown, his father, and his fraternity friends during the trial. There were tears of joy in the courtroom when he was acquitted.

Marian's father "maintained a strict silence." And I've found no mention at all of any further investigation into the death of his daughter.

See more photos here.

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