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Judge Josie-Jo “J.J.” Ford
Crow is a mysterious, deeply religious, and very tall woman who dresses all in black. She’s one of Sam Westing’s 16 potential heirs. Crow works as the cleaning woman at Sunset Towers and lives in a small maid’s apartment. She volunteers each week at a soup kitchen on Skid Row with her close friend, the delivery boy Otis Amber. Crow is severe and quiet, and the other heirs know little of her past. Eventually, it is revealed that Berthe Erica Crow is the mysterious Mrs. Westing—Sam Westing’s wife who left him after the death of their beloved daughter, Violet. Crow, desperate to secure her daughter a more secure social and financial position, arranged to marry Violet off to a crooked politician—and in doing so, she separated Violet from her true love, George Theodorakis, the son of a Westing factory worker. After Violet committed suicide the night before the wedding, Crow left Westing, returned to using her maiden name, and became devoutly religious in order to atone for her sins against her daughter and her family. Berthe Erica Crow’s full name is the “answer” to the Westing game—and though Crow “wins” the game by offering herself up to the authorities as Westing’s murderer, she’s absolved of any role in the man’s death and receives over $30,000 from Westing’s will. Crow eventually marries Otis. Together, they renovate the soup kitchen downtown, and many years later, the two lovers die within days of one another.
Berthe Erica Crow Quotes in The Westing Game
The The Westing Game quotes below are all either spoken by Berthe Erica Crow or refer to Berthe Erica Crow. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 20 Quotes
"I grew up in Westingtown where my father was a factory foreman. Violet Westing and I were, what you'd call, childhood sweethearts. We planned to get married someday, when I could afford it, but her mother broke us up. She wanted Violet to marry somebody important.”
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Chapter 24 Quotes
"Can we accuse an innocent woman of a murder that has never been proved? Crow is our neighbor and our helper. Can we condemn her to a life imprisonment just to satisfy our own greed? For money promised in an improbable and illegal will? If so, we are guilty of a far greater crime than the accused. Berthe Erica Crow's only crime is that her name appears in a song. Our crime would be selling—yes, I said selling, selling for profit the life of an innocent, helpless human being.”
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Berthe Erica Crow Character Timeline in The Westing Game
The timeline below shows where the character Berthe Erica Crow appears in The Westing Game. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
Downstairs, in Jake Wexler’s office, a pale and strict-looking woman named Crow, dressed all in black, looks out the window as the podiatrist cuts out a corn...
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Chapter 5
...a rich uncle somewhere down the line—she believes that she is Sam Westing’s rightful heir. Crow, the religious Sunset Towers cleaning woman, opens the door—she is dressed in all black, as...
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...why Plum, a young, inexperienced lawyer, is handling Westing’s estate. Angela returns to her seat. Crow comes into the room, followed by Sydelle Pulaski, who thumps in on ornately painted purple-and-white...
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Chapter 6
...of them, the will says, took his life. Chris has a spasm and Sydelle shrieks. Crow looks down. Plum continues reading—the will states that the culprit is far too smart to...
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Chapter 7
...Sandy McSouthers is paired with Judge Ford. Grace is paired with Mr. Hoo. Berthe Erica Crow is paired with Otis Amber. Theo is paired with Doug. Sydelle is paired with Angela.
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Chapter 8
...in the restaurant. Sandy is home and Deere is at the hospital, working. Otis and Crow are nowhere to be found. Sydelle thumps through the halls—she has been invited for tea...
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Chapter 10
...Angela rushes away, fearing she’s about to burst out crying. In the kitchen, she finds Crow standing there alone. Crow passes Angela a dishtowel and Angela immediately begins weeping into it.
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Chapter 14
...Hoo becomes incensed and orders her out. Grace returns to her apartment—once there, she finds Crow, who is cleaning her apartment, having an argument with Otis about having lost their clues....
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Chapter 15
...of the building on Halloween night other than Turtle and Doug. Sandy says he saw Crow and Otis leaving together. Theo hurries off to check his clues. Turtle asks Sandy to...
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Chapter 16
...the “bombs” a series of juvenile pranks and suggests that they’ve endangered no one’s life. Crow calls whoever tried to harm Angela a “devil.” As the captain attempts to reassure them,...
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Chapter 17
...Theo runs downstairs to find Doug and tell him. On the stairwell, he runs into Crow. She pulls him into her apartment and asks him to kneel and pray with her....
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Chapter 18
At school, Theo is still perturbed by his encounter with Crow the night before. He remembers Crow giving him something, but this morning, all he found...
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Chapter 19
Meanwhile, Crow cleans the Wexlers’ apartment, worried about returning to the Westing house in a few days....
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Sandy reads to Ford from Crow’s dossier file. It states that she was raised by a single father and married at...
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As Jake Wexler enjoys lunch, Crow shows up to Hoo’s restaurant. Grace seats her; Madame Hoo is serving a special tea...
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...is surprised when Ford exclaims that Grace’s maiden name, Windkloppel, corresponds to the name of Crow’s ex-husband, Windy Windkloppel. Ford rereads the reports. She finds an extract from an interview with...
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Chapter 21
Theo follows Otis and Crow on a city bus bound for a gritty downtown neighborhood. Together, the two of them...
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Chapter 22
...in all her pictures and must be about sixty, can be no one other than Crow. She continues looking through the files, focusing on Sam Westing’s in particular. She realizes that...
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...give no answer at the meeting tonight. Their only duty, Ford insists, is to protect Crow. Sandy confesses to Ford that he has discovered that Otis doesn’t live in the grocery...
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Otis and Crow make their way to the Westing house. Crow, however, is being sluggish—she tells Otis she...
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Chapter 23
...She is so far gone that she doesn’t even recognize Turtle with her new haircut. Crow arrives last, silently taking her seat near Otis.
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...their answer. Grace drunkenly announces the grand re-opening of Hoo’s on First the next day. Crow and Otis offer “mother” as their answer. Doug and Theo offer no answer. Sydelle and...
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...there will be a break before the winner is announced. The will instructs Berthe Erica Crow to go to the kitchen and gather the refreshments. Crow, fearful, rises from her seat...
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Crow and Angela return with refreshments. Sandy stands in the doorway taking swigs from his flask....
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Chapter 24
...look at them. Ford grows suspicious of Sandy’s suggestion—he already knows the answer must be Crow. As Ford watches Sandy, she considers his battered, scarred face—and she realizes that her partner...
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...realizes that what’s missing from the song are the syllables BER, THE, ERICA, and CROW. Crow grows pale. Ford urges the gathered heirs not to jump to any rash decisions—they have...
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...minutes speed by, the heirs stare at the answer in front of them: Berthe Erica Crow. Crow waits for her penance to begin. When no one offers up the answer, Crow...
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Chapter 25
The fourteen remaining heirs sit in Ford’s living room wondering what has happened. With Crow arrested and Sandy dead, the heirs are shocked, upset, and confused. The heirs are divided:...
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...says the name aloud. Ford repeats the name once again before deducing that Berthe Erica Crow married a man named Windkloppel—she is the former Mrs. Westing. Crow has been mourning the...
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...continues reading the will aloud. The indignant Otis interrupts to ask why Westing would make Crow an heir when she can’t inherit anything from jail—Crow, he says, has been sacrificed. Ford...
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...into the will, but it’s currently November. Otis Amber laments that today, the 15th, is Crow’s birthday. Turtle looks up from the will, remembering that Sandy asked her for a striped...
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Chapter 26
...noticed it before. Turtle declares that she wants to prove that while Westing is dead, Crow did not kill him. She calls her first witness, Chris, and asks him about the...
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...Barney Northrup, and Judge Ford. Westing hired him twenty years ago to take care of Crow—and make sure she never used the Westing name. Over the years he’s been taking care...
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...of Sandy’s death. Denton says he suspects a heart attack. Turtle says that she saw Crow put lemon juice in Sandy’s flask and asks if he could have died of an...
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...As everyone bows their heads in remembrance of Sandy, the door opens—Ed Plum brings in Crow.
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Chapter 27
Otis greets Crow excitedly. Crow happily states that the police have declared her innocent. Plum says that the...
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Chapter 28
...Hoo. Angela is a bridesmaid at this wedding—the other bridesmaid is Sydelle. The bride is Crow, and the groom is Otis—Flora has made Crow’s dress. The heirs gather in celebration as...
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...in college again and returned her engagement ring to Denton—she has not seen him since Crow’s wedding. Angela’s life is full between classes, weekly dates with Sydelle, and Sundays volunteering at...
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Chapter 30
...tells Eastman about the other heirs. Ford is now on the United States Supreme Court. Crow and Otis, she says, still run their soup kitchen—this, however, is a lie. Crow and...
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...it Sandy whether it is a boy or a girl. Eastman asks T.R. to tell Crow to pray for him. T.R. feels her mentor’s hand grow cold in her grasp. Tomorrow...
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