“Sister” Amy Duggan Archer-Gilligan was born in Milton, Connecticut on October 31, 1873. She was somewhat of a pioneer in the care of the elderly. During her time, not many nursing homes existed because up until then it was considered the family’s obligation to care for their loved ones. She was the owner of “Sister Amy’s Nursing Home for the Elderly,” and later, “Archer Home for the Elderly and Infirm.” Pioneer she may have been, but these are no nursing homes where you would have wanted to send your loved ones. “Sister” Amy was later proven to have murdered at least five people, though that number is likely much higher.
Amy was the eighth child of ten born to James Duggan and Mary Kennedy. She was educated at the Milton School and then the New Britain Normal School in 1890.
It seems that mental illness ran in her family. Amy’s brother, John was put in the Connecticut General Hospital for the Insane in 1902. Her sister was also moved there after jumping off a roof and becoming paralyzed.
In 1897 Amy married James Archer and they had a daughter, Mary, later that year in December.
In 1901 the Archers were hired to take care of John Seymour, an aging widower, who’s home they moved into located in Newington, Connecticut. Seymour died in 1904 and his family turned his home into a boarding house and let the Archers stay. The Archers cared for the elderly in this house, charging a fee, some of which they gave to the Seymour family for rent. The name of this home was Sister Amy’s Nursing Home for the Elderly.
The Archers moved to Windsor, Connecticut in 1907 when the Seymour family chose to sell the boarding house. They had enough saved to purchase another residence that they converted into the Archer Home for the Elderly and Infirm. Their clients could pay two ways: on a weekly basis, or for a flat fee of $1,000 which guaranteed care for the rest of their life. The poor souls who chose to pay the flat fee made themselves big targets for Amy and, as a result, died before their time.
In 1910 Amy’s husband, James, died of kidney disease. The death was considered natural causes, though it was curious that Amy had taken out an insurance policy of James just a few weeks before he died. Because of the money she got from this policy she was able to continue running the Archer home.
Amy remarried in 1913 to Michael W. Gilligan, who had just moved into her nursing home. He was 57 years-old and in good health. The very next year Michael was dead and in the short time of their marriage he had drawn up a will and left Amy with his entire estate. The official cause of death was “acute bilious attack” or severe indigestion. Who knew you could die from indigestion? And nobody questioned this.
Sixty deaths occurred in the Archer Home between the years of 1907 and 1917. Finally, relatives of Amy’s clients began to catch on and start inquiring about the large number of deaths happening at the house.
One of these deaths was of Franklin R. Andrews who was a perfectly healthy man. He was doing some gardening outside the house one morning and mysteriously by that same evening was dead. The official cause of death was from an ulcer in his stomach. Franklin’s personal papers were given to his sister, Nellie Pierce, after his death. She found that Amy had been hounding her brother for money before his death.
A pattern emerged of quit a few clients dying soon after giving money to their caretaker. Nellie reported her suspicions to the local district attorney, when the deaths continued. The D.A. ignored her so she decided to take it to the press. The Hartford Courant published the first of a few articles on May 9, 1916 about the “Murder Factory” as it would soon be called.
This forced the police to take the case more seriously and the started an investigation that lasted almost a year. The authorities exhumed the bodies of Michael, Franklin and the other clients. It was found that all five died by either arsenic or strychnine poisoning.
Amy was arrested and charged with five counts of murder, but her lawyer managed to get that reduced to one count, that of which was the death of Franklin Andrews.
The trial started in June 1917. It was testified that Franklin Andrews stomach had enough arsenic in it “to kill a half dozen strong men.” Local shop owners gave testimony that Amy had been buying large amounts of arsenic, that she needed to “kill rats”.
It also came out in court that her second husband’s will was fake and written in Amy’s handwriting.
A jury found her guilty on June 18, 1917 and she was sentenced to death by hanging. She was held at Wetherfield Prison. She appealed her case and was granted a new trial in 1919. This time around she pleaded insanity and her daughter testified that she was addicted to morphine. She was found guilty of second degree murder, but this time was sentenced to a life term.
Amy was declared temporarily insane in 1924 and was transferred to the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane in Middletown. This is where she stayed until she died at the age of 88 on April 23, 1962.
Today the “Murder Factory” still stands in Windsor at 37 Prospect St. where it has been turned into apartments.
You can see court document related to this case here.
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Historic Horrors 
Female serial killers are — despite all the false claims to the contrary — not rare in relation to their male counterpart. For a glimpse at the latest research, see “Index: Female Serial Killers: (google the title). Over 770 from ancient times to the present, from all parts of the world, are known and the list keeps growing. Look at “The Creepiest Female Serial Killers” (google0 to get a taste (a bad taste, of course) of what criminologists have “forgotten” to tell the public.
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Are you implying that some big conspiracy exists to keep people from knowing that woman serial killers have run rampant through history? Why? I should think the public would eat this stuff up. I have a hard time believing your “theory.” Are you in denial of the fact that men are far more violent than women and far more likely to commit crimes? In fact, the reason people find information about female killers so thrilling is because they are so rare. I’ve googled the material you suggest and I would be fascinated if what you’re saying is true, but I remain unconvinced. All you have to do is pick up a newspaper any day of the week and the proof is there–men are way ahead of women when it comes to killing. How funny that men like you want to deny women equality in everything but murder.
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That crazy bitch she need her hands chopped the fuck off
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