133 Years ago tonight...........
John C 
skippy 
Metsman Even though I wasn't living in H-town in 1977 I can tell you that story made the news down in Baltimore during that summer of Son of Sam. I certainly remember that 1977 story, it was the first time I'd heard of Hackettstown for anything other than sports. Back in those days, when the state championships were held in Princeton, the Tigers had several wrestlers go a long way. Also, a player from Hackettstown was on the Rutgers team that went into the 1976 basketball Final Four in Philadelphia undefeated. One day I was looking through the program and went, oh, that's where that crazy shooter was. I didn't even know about the football tradition until I moved into the area.
I'm about as sports crazy a person you'd ever meet -- so, I'd say that 1977 shooter was the first time many, many people in the USA ever heard about Hackettstown NJ.
This is the first I've heard of the Tilly Smith story. As John C said, it befell OLD Hackettstown. As they say in sports, it is always difficult to compare different eras.
Andy Loigu In terms of news coverage, the 1977 case, while horrific, was covered Nationally maybe a week or two. Tilly Smith case was covered for over a year nationally and again when James Titus was released from prison. The San Francisco articles are interesting reading.
Legacy Books is hosting a book reading on Saturday June 1 at 11AM by Mary Ann McFadden who is the author of a novel about Tillie Smith called The Cemetery Keeper’s Wife. She has done a lot of research about Tillie’s story and brought her back to life for me by describing who she was and what happened on that unfortunate night. See the Legacy Books Facebook page for info.
Quiet One Skippy: we will be doing the ghost walks in October. You'll need to get all information from our Facebook page "Haunted Hackettstown". We don't advertise on Hackettstown Life anymore due to their advertising policy.
Drew http://www.hackettstownhistory.com/narticle_tilliesmith.shtml
Here is the story on Tillie.
Greg Drew -
I didn't live here at that time so I was curious also..... and looked it up.
Gun Violence.
Several people died from random gun shots from some deranged person.
Too bad he had a gun.
Google 1977 murder in Hackettstown.
happiest girl
citychick https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/27/archives/sniper-slays-6-in-jersey-and-then-takes-own-life-6areswinihjersey.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/30/archives/suspect-in-jersey-sniper-killings-had-extensive-psychiatric-record.html
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