Remembering Tillie Smith: 140 Years

This April 8 marks the 140th tragic anniversary of the death of Tillie on our campus: a kitchen maid whose murder brought national attention to the college and the topic of domestic violence. 

Matilda “Tillie” Smith worked as a kitchen maid at Centenary Collegiate Institute—now Centenary University—in 1885 and 1886. 

After attending a play on Main Street with her friends on the night of April 8, 1886, Tillie did not return back to campus. She was raped and murdered, her body found the following morning by a man walking his dog. 

James Titus—a janitor who worked at Centenary for 11 years at the point of Tillie’s death—was accused of her murder. Tillie’s case led to journalists from the East Coast traveling to write about the trial. 

Tillie was originally buried in a pauper’s grave in Union Cemetery in Hackettstown until people in town started donating money to give her a proper grave. She is now reburied at the highest point of the cemetery, “In Defence of Her Honor” written on her headstone. 

Tillie Smith’s story is a major part of the history of Centenary University and Hackettstown, and keeping her memory alive is important. She will be remembered for defending her honor.

Learn more about Tillie Smith and her case in an article written by Samantha Swayze last April.