One Sunday night, after having dinner with a man, Madge came home and was met by her mother who told her that Stephenson had been calling about urgent-sounding business. She called him back to suggest meeting the next day, but Stephenson drunkenly assured her that it would not take long. He would send somebody to pick her up. He hung up before she could say no.

Not soon after she arrived at Stephenson’s mansion, Madge realized she was in a bad situation. She was alone in a house with four drunk men (the others were Gentry, Shorty, and Klinck), and Stephenson was insisting on her drinking too. When she refused, he told the other men to force alcohol on her until she was ill. They then grabbed their guns and drove her to a train bound for Chicago. En route, a desperate Madge told Stephenson that kidnapping her would ruin his reputation. Stephenson replied, “I’m the law in Indiana.” The men took Madge to a private cabin on the train, where Stephenson proceeded to rape and brutalize her, biting down on different parts of her body until he drew and spat out blood.

The next day, they disembarked from the train a short distance away from Chicago. Stephenson knew it would be dangerous to risk a police investigation in a state where he had no power. They took Madge to a nearby hotel and kept her in a room with Stephenson. She begged for permission to contact her mother, who was probably worried sick that she had not come home. On her behalf, Stephenson sent a telegram saying that everything was fine, and that they were on a business trip to Chicago.

After Stephenson fell asleep, Madge took his revolver and briefly considered shooting him. However, she faltered at the prospect of political repercussions bringing trouble to her family. Consumed with despair, she prepared to shoot herself but was interrupted by one of Stephenson’s men knocking at the door. Madge told him that she needed medication and makeup to cover the bruises, so he escorted her to a drugstore where she also purchased a box of bichloride of mercury, an extremely deadly poison. Upon returning to the hotel, she hid in the bathroom and ingested several tablets of the chemical.

When Stephenson found the dying Madge, he proposed taking her to the hospital to have her stomach pumped—on the condition that Madge register as his wife for his protection. However, Madge refused. Without her cooperation, Stephenson did not know what to do. They decided to drive her back to Indiana, and, after locking her in Stephenson’s garage for hours, returned Madge home, attributing her dire condition to a car accident.