The Death of Carrie Selvage

You have often heard me talk about my list of cases and working my way through them. I do not always know how a case made it to the list or even what it is always about before I sit down to find a case that catches my interest at the moment and has me doing research. I am often surprised when I come across an interesting cases and I do not remember hearing anything about it, especially when not only it takes place in Indiana, but in Indianapolis specifically where I spent most of my “growing up” years. I lived there from the age of four until the age of twenty-eight. Now, granted I was not alive in 1900 when this case first “took place” nor in 1920 when legally it seems it was solved, but I had never heard of this case. Note that I used the word “case” and not “crime” when I described this story but also know that while the crime of murder has not and cannot probably ever be proven here that does not mean that there was not a murder, or even a crime. Because of the era in which this case occurred, and because of the elements involved this story will also include some history of behaviors and the way things were in the time period. I feel like these are things that are important to know going into the story.

In March of 1900 a forty-three year old Indianapolis schoolteacher named Carrie Selvage was admitted into Indianapolis Union State Hospital. It was said that Carrie had suffered a “nervous breakdown” and later stated that she was “afflicted mentally” but lets talk about women and these “afflictions” in the time period. First, I want to point out that it appears that at the time she was admitted into the hospital her father had already passed away. Her mother was alive and she had at least four brothers and a sister alive. The sister it seems was married and lived in another area of the state. Carrie, was not married and of course she was not of the male sex and in this time period men basically had all of the power to do as they wanted and women basically did as they were told, regardless of the relationship really. In this case with her father already dead this left the brothers, more than likely the oldest which was probably Joseph since he was mentioned the most in many of the articles I read, basically in charge of the family. This mean even the mother would have had little to no say and she would have followed the sons lead, as well as Carrie as she was unmarried. Now, this is not to say that if her father was still alive that Carrie would not have been admitted into the hospital as he too may have made that decision, which would have been followed also.

If you look up the history of “female hysteria” you will see that some things we consider today to be absolutely normal or in no way considered a “mental” issue were seen differently in this era. Having hot flashes from menopause could get a woman committed; just simple irritation from a woman could be considered a mental issue; if a wife was no longer interested in sex, her husband could have her committed and considered to have a mental issue or “nervous breakdown” as they were often called. It was the idea of send the women away and either they are really “mental” or they will change their ways (if they can) basically so they understood “just how good they had it.” The latter would have been more in cases where a husband would commit a wife but that was not always the case.

In Carrie's case while the story of a “nervous breakdown” was said to have occurred due to stress, there were some other issues that she apparently had. According to her brother she was nearly blind and suffered from severe arthritis. There could have been a multitude of reasons that she was committed and the fact that her family was said to be “prominent” could have led to even more secrecy. Obviously Carrie could have had some mental issue as was stated but we will never truly know if that was the fact or not. She could have just as easily had a drug addiction if she was on medication for the arthritis that her brother said she had. Heroin and cocaine were over the counter a lot of the time or very accessible at the very least so my point is that she could have been admitted for any number of reasons and not “afflicted mentally” necessarily.

Carrie could not have been at the hospital very long if my reports say that she entered the facility in March and on March 11^th she disappeared. The story is that she had gone out for a morning walk with a nurse wearing “felt slippers” and “an expensive long blue bed gown.” Once returned to her room, which was said to be on the first floor, she had allegedly asked the nurse for a glass of milk. The story goes that the nurse left the room, locked the door behind her and when she returned “less than five minutes later” Carrie was gone. There was an indication that this occurred sometime in the morning and it was unclear just how much the staff was looking for her, nor does it seem that they notified her family. Her brother, Joseph showed up that afternoon for a visit with her and that is when he was informed.

Joseph contacted the authorities and the family and a search was conducted. It was said that “every nook and cranny” of the building was searched and every lead followed. Some leads had her leaving the hospital grounds; one had her getting on a bus headed to her birth state of Ohio; another had her walking near a nearby canal. The White River was “dragged” so was Fall Creek and later the canal was said to be drained, but nothing was ever discovered. The family offered a reward, but still nothing happened.

Then in 1902 a group of medical students were at a lecture learning the “proper dissection of a corpse.” One of the students was said to have thought the cadaver looked much like Carrie Selvage and the professor agreed. It was said that a local dentist was called who apparently had worked on Carrie's teeth and he found a gold tooth where Carrie had indeed had one and so they called the Selvage family. It was said that her brother, Joseph could not positively identify the body due to the decomposition but some how or another the body was apparently officially identified as Carrie and was buried in the family plot at Crown Hill Cemetery.

The next thing was to determine where the school had obtained the corpse which led them to a man named Rufus Cantrell. Surprisingly this is another name I had never heard but apparently he was nicknamed the “King of the Ghouls” and fairly well known around Indianapolis as a grave robber. It is not clear what charges led to his arrest because in reality there were few laws and rules at that time regarding this area, but at any rate he was taken into custody and questioned. It was said that Cantrell told investigators the ins and out of grave robbing and even named several doctors who paid extra money for “fresh bodies.”

The police would claim that during questioning that Cantrell confessed to murdering Carrie saying that he and his “gang” of friends were on the hospital grounds doing their grave robbing “thing” and she had come outside. He allegedly stated that they were scared she would get them busted and so they kidnapped her and held her in the basement of a farmhouse where they abused her for several days and she simply died. Then he was said to have sold it to the school. Cantrell would claim that the police and/or the media had made this confession up and that he had no information regarding Carrie's whereabouts. I do not have a lot of information other than Cantrell was allegedly sentenced to ten years in prison.

But, before we go any further and learn more about this story, let's look a little at this alleged story told by Rufus Cantrell. First, we have to believe that either Cantrell and his “gang” were grave robbing in the light of day or that Carrie, who “disappeared” about mid-morning was out roaming the hospital grounds all day until night fall and no one, despite an alleged elaborate search, ever found her. Secondly we have to believe that she died in mid-March of 1900 and according to his story then sold the body to the school and they did not use the body until 1902. This just does not seem plausible. It may have been one of those cases in which authorities wanted it closed and did whatever they had to in order to get it. This case and the issue of grave robbing did have the state creating the State Anatomical Board which made new laws about how medical school obtained cadavers. And this is how things stayed for nearly twenty years.

I was reading up on Union State Hospital and I had read that it had “soon” closed after the disappearance of Carrie Selvage. What I did not know until near the end of my research when I found an article written in 1920 was that it was said that the hospital actually closed the very next week. Keep in mind that just because this article was written this way does not mean it was completely true. The same article stated that Rufus Cantrell was arrested in December of 1913 and that clearly could not have been true. In the same respect it does not mean that the hospital did not close the following week. We do know that it did close, at least within a few years and some may ask why it would make a difference but as you read on you may understand my questions in this area.

There was information that said after the facility was used as the hospital that it became a boarding house of sorts. I found an article in the Indianapolis News (which was the evening paper at the time; they stopped publication in 1999) from February of 1904 that I believed was an ad for the boarding house. The title was “Private Hospital for Rent for Term of Years” and it specified that there were twenty-nine rooms with two bathroom. The rent was $125.00 a month. It even said “recently occupied by the Union State Hospital.” It also stated that it was a three story brick building on “the southeast corner of Alabama and Michigan Streets.” I tried to place this in my head and I could not picture it. I do know that sometimes street names were changed. In fact, while the street I currently live on did not change names the actual addresses have changed since the early 1900's. Later the it was said to have been located at 1333 N. Capital Ave. and described as a residence as if it was built more as a house than a facility. It appears through a Google search that the original home is no longer standing, which is not all that surprising. It seems as if it is now a building that has a “sign” business inside.... but here I am getting off track a bit again...

So, after apparently first being the Indianapolis Orphans Asylum and then the Indianapolis Union State Hospital and then a boarding house for a short period the building remained vacant until 1920. A new company bought the building and one report stated that it was being turned into a “machine shop” and another indicated at least a portion of it was being converted into a “garage.” Construction workers were sent to the building to do some remodeling. The initial information I read on this was a little confusing to me. It was indicated that there was a cupolas on the roof. Now, if you do not know what this is you can search it but basically it's an architectural piece that is more ornamental than anything. It also allows light and ventilation to get in under the roof. So the cupolas was going to be removed and again my first information gave me the impression that the construction worker was on the roof and had looked down inside the cupolas and it was there that he saw a skeleton.

The authorities were called but apparently so was Carrie Selvages family. It appears that near the skeleton were some felt slippers and what appeared to be a blue night gown, the exactly clothing said to be worn by Carrie the day she disappeared. Here's where things get a little bit more confusing, and even more strange. A cupolas first can only be accessed from the inside of a building. Secondly, it is a very, very small area and someone would have had to squeeze into the area and would have had to been very small. But, according to an article written in 1920 just after the discovery this was not just a small area in the attic. “The place where the skeleton was found is apparently a second attic- reached by going through a door to the left of that of the main attic, climbing over an inside roof and down to the right into the small corner where the skeleton was found.” The skeleton itself was found in the sitting position. Carrie's brother, Joseph would later say that the skeleton was intact until which he and someone with him touch it and the skull apparently fell.

The coroner was called and due to the obvious condition of the skeleton could not determine a cause of death but he apparently theorized that she had froze to death based on the fact that the day Carrie disappeared, as for a few days after it had been unusually cold in the area. Authorities for their part would claim that “Miss Selvage, who was afflicted mentally, hid in the attic to escape some supposed danger and starved to death.” They closed the case on Carrie Selvage.

Joseph Selvage believed that his sister had met with foul play and was placed in this area. His claims do seem to have a bit of merit. First, he argued that Carrie was nearly blind and would have had trouble getting to the area. Secondly, he argues that with her arthritis she could not have contorted her body into the position that the skeleton was found, and adding to that if she had “starved” as the authorities would claim why would she have remained sitting up rather than slumped over in agony. There are so many other questions remaining such as, how did she get past workers in the facility to make her way up to the attic without being seen? How did she know where to go considering she had been there no more than two weeks? Why would she have made her way to this particular spot and just stay?

Another thing that was mentioned in this article when it spoke of speaking to her brother was a comment he made about the fact that she had false teeth and they were missing. This has left me very, very confused. If in fact she had false teeth then why was a dentist called in 1902 to identify a cadaver and claim dental records matched? How was it that no one said right then and there that it was obviously not the body of Carrie Selvage? Joseph was said to believe that the fact that her teeth were missing was intentional to prevent identification.

All of this brings me back to the question of when exactly did Union State Hospital cease operations. Was it the following week? Why did they cease operations? Was the disappearance of one of their patients a public relations nightmare? Was this the first or was this the last of many issues at the hospital? At the very least it seems that there was some neglect going on. Initially my research stated the nurse claimed to lock the door when she left, but if that was the case how did Carrie get out? Why would she have gone out the window, if she could have, and then somehow gotten back into the building to make her way to this “second attic”? That would make no sense. I suspect the nurse claimed to have locked the door because that was policy and either she failed to follow that rule, or another employee with a key went in after she left the room and before she had brought back the requested milk. What exactly what the hospital trying to cover their rears for.... were they trying to prevent a neglect charge or were they trying to prevent a murder charge??