The Servant Girl Annihilator

[rashore]

The Servant Girl Annihilator. I find this one interesting because it is a cold case, and an early example of an American serial killer. Enjoy

Date: 1884-1885

Location: Austin, Texas

Victims:

Mollie Smith, 25, was murdered the night of 30 December 1884. Walter Spencer was seriously wounded.

Clara Strand and Christine Martenson, two Swedish servant girls, were seriously wounded the night of 19 March 1885.

Eliza Shelly was murdered the night of 6 May 1885.

Irene Cross murdered by a man with a knife on the night of 22 May 1885.

Clara Dick was seriously wounded in August, 1885.

Mary Ramey, 11, was murdered the night of 30 August 1885. Her mother, Rebecca Ramey was seriously wounded.

Gracie Vance, was murdered on the night of 28 September 1885.

Orange Washington was murdered during the attack upon Gracie Vance. Lucinda Boddy and Patsey Gibson were seriously woumded

Susan Hancock was murdered the night of 24 December 1885

Eula Phillips was murdered the night of 24 December 1885. Her husband, James Phillips, was seriously wounded

Cause of Death: Axe

Accused: Several accused and many arrested

Quote

Back when the University of Texas consisted of only one building, when Interstate 35 was called East Avenue, a vicious serial killer horrified Austin.

The murderer was made legend as the Servant Girl Annihilator, with a reputation of killing female servants after attacking them in their sleep with an axe, dragging them to the backyard and raping them.

Over the course of one year, seven girls and one man died from the annihilator’s midnight attacks.

You would not have been able to turn away if you had seen her. Her name was Eula Phillips—Luly, her best friends called her—and in 1885 she was one of the loveliest young women in Austin. Her skin was pale, her eyes soft and contemplative, her dark, curling hair swept back from her temples. She wore billowy white dresses. One enchanted newspaper reporter described her as “beautiful, frail.” - See more at: http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/capital-murder/#sthash.Wr2ccIAh.dpuf

 

http://www.mysanantonio.com/150years/major-stories/article/A-look-back-at-the-serial-killer-that-terrorized-6222438.php

Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_Girl_Annihilator

Texas Monthly, July, 2010: http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/capital-murder/

 

[timewarrior]

Ah yes. . .the old serial killings are always the most interesting. . .especially the unsolved ones. . .