She was one of the wealthiest women in America.

A co-founder of Stanford University. A widow. A fighter.

And in 1905, she came to Waikiki to rest—to recover from a poisoning attempt back home.

But on her second night at the Moana Hotel, Jane Stanford collapsed.

Her body convulsed. Her jaw locked.

And by the time the doctor arrived, it was already too late.

The coroner called it murder.

The Honolulu jury agreed.

But when her body was shipped back to California, the truth was buried.

Records vanished. Reports were rewritten. And the story was sanitized—until now.

This is the true story of Jane Stanford, the power struggle she refused to surrender, and the final silence that swallowed her name.

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Sources for this episode include:

The 1905 Honolulu coroner’s inquest, testimony from Dr. Robert W. Emerson, archives of the Honolulu Advertiser and Pacific Commercial Advertiser, and historian Richard White’s research in Jane Stanford’s Murder and the Unmaking of a University.

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If you have information about historical cases in Hawaii or untold stories worth investigating:

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Darkness may linger beneath the palms, but so does hope.

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