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Maggie Lawrence
Prof. Presnell
UWRT 1103
27 Oct. 2014
Love Triangles: Love, Lust, Murder
Growing up Ive always thought of my family as your simple, small town, do-no-wrong
kind of family until I heard a story that was uncovered by some family members. A couple years
ago, a family member dug up an article on my great aunt Rosalie Hales King from 1938. While
she was living in the small town of Selma, NC in Johnston County, she ended up in one of the
most scandalous events that happened in the small tobacco field town of Selma. She was
involved in a love triangle with two other men and found herself in the middle of a murder trial
that rocked the small town, and very much surprised me. I first got interested in the topic of
love triangles because of this story. It really shocked me when I discovered something like this
happened in my own family, and it made me want to understand love triangles more in depth.
The Family Secret
It was late July in the year of 1938. My great aunt Rosalie Hales King found herself as a
witness in the murder of her former lover, John McMillan. She also found herself testifying for
her other former lover, whom she had at the same time, James Tharrington. She was stuck in
the middle of what turned out to be a love triangle gone wrong. Now I never had the pleasure
of meeting my great aunt, but Ive heard many great things about her, which made it that much

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harder to believe she could be involved in something so scandalous. At the time she had
already been divorced and somehow struck up two romances at once. As you can imagine,
there was a lot of jealousy in this triangle. Tharrington, however, claimed that he was not
infatuated with her, nor jealous and that his visits to her apartment were nothing more than
the visits of a friend. One night, she and McMillan went out to a tavern where they were
regular customers. A worker there confirmed they arrived around 9:30 that night, and also said
that he saw Tharrington come into the tavern while they were there, but left before the couple
did. When the couple arrived back to her apartment, they found Tharrington outside. He claims
that they got into a physical fight, with McMillan as the initiator. McMillan was much larger in
stature than Tharrington and beat him like a mad man. Tharrington was scared for his life so he
pulled out his gun and pulled the trigger three times. That would be Tharringtons side of the
story. However, another witness claims it did not go that way at all. Walton Parker, a tobacco
salesman in Selma, drove the couple home from the tavern that deadly night. When they
arrived at her apartment, they found my great aunts sister, Maude Hales Moseley, and
Tharrington sitting on the front steps. They got out of the car and started talking with one
another. McMillan then went to start his car, but Tharrington moved within twelve inches of
him and shot him three times. In court, it was the murders word versus the witness. I will
probably never know the real reasoning behind his choice to kill, but in my opinion there was
jealousy there but neither he nor my great aunt wanted to admit it for the sake of avoiding a
harsher punishment. Tharrington was found guilty by the jury of second degree murder and
sentenced 25-30 years in the state prison. It was a love triangle gone terribly wrong.

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Stuck in the Middle

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of two people that you both care about? For
instance, two of your best friends get in a fight but you stick by both of them without the other
knowing. Essentially, that is what a love triangle is, but on a romantic level. A love triangle is
defined as a romantic relationship involving three people, but two of them dont know about
the other. The one who is stuck in the middle has willingly chosen to become involved with
two people at a time. To understand the reasons why people get involved on the psychological
level, I looked into an online forum written by Susan Peabody called Triangles: The Agony &
Ecstasy. She writes, Most people dont seek them outat least not consciously. They just
seem to happen. One moment you are happily single. The next thing you know you are in love
with someone who is married. Or you are happily married and suddenly you realize your
partner is seeing someone else. As one can probably guess, the situation for anyone isnt ideal
and nothing good usually comes out of getting involved with someone married or in a
relationship. In Thomas Moores book Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way
Through Lifes Ordeals, he talks about how common it is for someone to come into therapy and
tell him about a new love that is threatening to the relationship that they are currently in.
Moore writes, Most didnt want new passion in their lives, but they savored it. Before they
knew it, they were in the very eye of a storm, a triangle that offered no satisfying exit. From
the countless number of stories I have read about love triangles, they all go wrong to some
degree. For some, relationships or marriages will be broken up and heartbreak caused, while in
some more extreme cases, violence between rivals can occur. Peabody concludes, The most
important thing to know about triangles is that they are unhealthy, painful, and potentially

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dangerous. Through my research, I have proved that statement true on three different
occasions, and I now I am sure that this is true for every situation involving a triangle.

Love, Madness, and Murder

To continue my research, I wanted to research stories other than my personal one to
compare and contrast. Through an article I found on the Smithsonians website, titled Fatal
Triangle by John Brewer, I learned that love triangles with deadly endings have been around
since relationships have been formed. My first story comes from 18 th century London, and it
involves the Earl of Sandwich, his mistress Martha Ray, and the Rev. James Hackman. Hackman
was deeply infatuated with Ray and heartbroken at her rejection of his offers of love and
marriage. Across town at the Covent Garden Theatere, a benefit performance of the opera
Love in a Village was playing. The Earl of Sandwich was not able to attend with Ray, so she was
accompanied by the Italian singer Caterina Galli. Also in the theatre, unbeknownst to them, was
Hackman watching the mistress. After spending some time watching her, he went to retrieve
two loaded pistols from his lodgings near the theatre. He returned to the theatre, several times
that evening, but made a stop for some glasses of brandy. His friends claimed that he then
attempted to shoot himself on two occasions, first in the lobby, where he was prevented by the
crowd from getting close enough to Ray to be sure that she would witness his death, and then
on the steps of the theater, where he was pushed away from her by a man carrying the sedan
chair of one of the theater's wealthy patrons. Around eleven that evening, the two women
exited the theatre and found themselves in a large crowd of people. When they finally made it

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to their carriage, Galli got in the carriage first. As Ray put one foot inside the carriage, Hackman
ran and grabbed her by the sleeve, and turned to find herself face to face with him. Before she
could utter a word, he pulled the two pistols from his pockets, shot Ray with the one in his right
hand, and attempted to shoot himself with the other. Hackman was arrested by a passing
constable and held for questioning until the next day. A week later, Hackman went on trial and
even though his lawyers entered a defense of temporary insanity, the jury quickly found him
guilty of the crime and he was executed a few days later. Hackman was just a man who couldnt
deal with being rejected by someone who he loved so dearly, but unfortunately it ended in the
death of his wannabe lover and himself.
A 21st Century Love Triangle
During this technological time we find ourselves in, love has been found online, for
some people, through dating websites, social media, etc. and has become somewhat of a norm.
However, I have found that it allows love triangles to happen more easily than it would be, if
say we didnt have cell phones or other kinds of technology that would allow people to contact
each other without a significant other knowing. For instance, Jim Avilas article titled Online
Love Triangle, Deception End in Murder for ABC News, is a perfect example. Thomas
Montgomery, a 46 year-old married father of two, found himself entering an online teen chat
room. A girl who went by the screen name Talhotblond started messaging him. She was 18 so
Montgomery decided he would also say he was 18, even using a picture of himself at that age
while he was in the marines. Before long, the flirtation became romance and Montgomery
found himself consumed by the online relationship. They began exchanging phone calls, love

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letters, and even gifts. Everything seemed to be going well for the two lovebirds until one day,
Talhotblond messaged him while his daughter was using his laptop. She immediately alerted
her mother of the situation, and that lead his wife to finding a trove of love letters, photos and
mementos from Jessi, including a pair of red panties. She then wrote a letter to the girl, whose
real name was Jessi, explaining who he really was, and included a picture of him and their
family. As soon as Jessi found out, she immediately broke off the relationship. However, Jessi
had also emailed one of Montgomerys coworkers, 22 year-old Brian Barrett. She found him to
be a better match than she was with Montgomery; or was it to get back at her former online
love? Jessi and Brian had become an item online, and Montgomery was not taking it well. At
one point he instant messaged Jessi saying, Brian will pay in blood. Although she still seemed
upset with Montgomery, her IMs showed her to be torn between love and hate. The two
eventually started to become an item again, Montgomery becoming very pleased that Jessi
wanted him for who he really was. It didnt last long, however. She took up with Barrett again
and that didnt sit well with Montgomery. On September 15, 2006, three shots were heard after
Barrett left work. He was found dead in the parking lot, shot three times with a military rifle.
When the police went to question Talhotblond, a woman named Mary Shieler opened the
door. It turns out that she had been posing as her daughter, even using her pictures to send to
both Barrett and Montgomery. Montgomery later pleaded guilty to the murder of Brian Barrett
and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The Similarities and Differences

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In all of these stories, jealousy seems to be the main motive of the love triangle
murders. Obviously it is hard to be completely happy in a love triangle, knowing that either
someone wants your rival in love instead of you, or a real relationship will never come out of it.
Also in all of these stories, it seems as if the murders were caused because the woman wanted
one man over another, and not because there were two in the picture at the exact same time.
Triangles can be like roller coasters. When one person in the triangle is, momentarily, the front
runner he or she is as high as a kite. But everyone pays such a high price for the thrill of being
chosen at any given momentthe winner of the competition (Peabody).
Break-Up the Triangle
Im sure my aunt Rosalie was traumatized by witnessing the result of her love triangle. I
have been shook up just by hearing about it and writing about it. Im sure the others who were
involved in love triangles and witnessed similar fates were also deeply affected. For me the
lesson learned is to never become involved in a love triangle to begin with. The result may be
murder.

Works Cited

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Avila, Jim. "Online Love Triangle, Deception End in Murder." ABC News. 27 Aug. 2011. Web.
13 Oct. 2014.
Web. Brewer, John. "Fatal Triangle." Smithsonian.com. 1 May 200513 Oct. 2014.
Moore, Thomas. "The Love Triangle." Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way
Through Life's Ordeals. New York: Penguin Book (USA), 2004. Print.
Peabody, Susan. "Triangles: The Agony & Ecstasy." Love Addiction Forum. 3 Nov. 2077. Web.
13 Oct. 2014.
"Tharrington Guilty Second Degree Murder." The Smithfield Herald 30 July 1938. Print.