America’s First Serial Killer: The Servant Girl Annihilator

Investigating The Grisly Crimes That Haunted America In The 1880s

Content Warning: This episode talks about violent murders, the reader’s discretion is advised.

The Annihilator also raped and mutilated his victims; three of them were left mutilated indoors while only one victim was mutilated outdoors. Adding to the brutality of the murders, the killer would insert sharp objects in their ears.

The Servant Girl Annihilator’s sadistic modus operandi

During the late 19th century, the city of Austin, Texas was a fledging American frontier town slowly growing into an economic powerhouse. However, the influx of migrants from all across the South brought along its own set of troubles.

The town was plagued by a series of increasingly brutal murders. The killer targeted servant girls and would break into their homes during the middle of the night often mutilating them before escaping with a trace. The killer would be dubbed America’s first serial killer and was rumored to have also been responsible for the Whitechapel murders.

In the dead of the night when all seems quiet and you think you’re safe that’s when evil comes out to play.

Criminal File investigates, Case #04 — The Austin Axe Murderer

Austin, A Growing But Divided City In The Late 1800s

Austin, Texas was a small frontier town back in the late 1880s and was home to a population of 15,000 people. The city was undergoing a series of modernization and improvement projects for its infrastructure and railway network but the city was plagued by diseases, poverty, and racial divide making it a hot spot for crime.

It was also during these difficult times that one of the earliest and quite possibly first serial killers in American history would make their mark in history. Between 1884 and 1885, a mysterious figure would brutally claim the lives of 8 individuals often mutilating them before dispatching them off with an axe.

This sudden outburst of violence would send the city into panic. A curfew was quickly issued to all residents effectively bringing the “City of the Violet Crown” into a grinding halt.

While the term ‘serial killer’ would only be coined in the 20th century, the city became known as the birthplace of America’s first documented Serial Killer.

The First Victim, Mollie Smith

Between December 1884 to December 1885, a series of increasingly violent murders all across the town of Austin sent shockwaves through the quarter. The killer would later be dubbed as “The Servant Girl Annihilator” or the Midnight Assassin.

This unknown assailant would break into the homes of the victims during the dead of the night and attack them violently while they are sleeping and at their most vulnerable state.

The first victim of the attacker was 25-year-old chef, Mollie Smith. Smith worked for William Hall and was discovered by Hall with axe wounds all over her head and torso.

On the night of December 30, 1884, Mollie was sleeping beside her boyfriend Walter Spencer when the killer broke into their home. He proceeded to brutally attack Walter leaving him with severe injuries before dragging Mollie out into the yard and assaulting her with an axe. It is not known if there were other people living in the home with the couple or if anyone had heard the commotion.

While the investigators were still trying to wrap their heads around the attack on Mollie Smith and Walter Spencer, the killer would strike again.

On the night of March 19, 1885, Clara Strand and Christine Martenson two Swedish immigrants were severely wounded when they were assaulted on the way home. Fortunately, the pair survived but they were unable to identify their attacker.

I found conflicting reports from various sources claiming that Clara Strand and Christine Marternson’s attack might have been committed by another individual and not the Servant Girl Annihilator. Due to the lack of proper documentation and coverage on the case, I am unable to verify these claims.

The Annihilator Left A Witness Alive

After news of Mollie Smith’s death was released to the public, residents of Austin were naturally terrified and avoided leaving their homes at night. Some residents would gather together at one of their homes for safety at night. Their fears were well founded as the Annihilator would soon strike again.

On the night of May 6, 1885, Eliza Shelly an employee of Dr. Lucien B. Johnson was staying in a small cabin with her three children behind Dr. Johnson’s apartment was brutally attacked. Johnson heard a series of bone-chilling screams and rushed over to the cabin.

To his horror, he saw Shelly lying motionless on the ground, she had severe puncture wounds on her head, and the attacks were so brutal that her brain was visible looking as if her attacker was trying to split her head into two.

Eliza’s eight-year-old son was sleeping beside her during the night of the attack. The perpetrator tossed her son off the bed and threw a blanket over the boy telling him to stay quiet before dragging Eliza Shelly from the bed.

A trail of bloody footprints was left at the scene and investigators believed that two separate weapons were used in the attack of Eliza though none of the weapons would be recovered.

It is unknown what Eliza’s son shared with the investigators but case reports state that the boy’s witness account was not enough to track down the killer.

“Town is fearfully dull, except for the frequent raids of the Servant Girl Annihilators, who make things lively during the dead hours of the night.”

Contents of a letter written by author O. Henry to his friend, Dave Hall on the murders in Austin.

The Calm Before The Storm

The perpetrator would not rest as just a few weeks after the discovery of Eliza Shelly’s body, another victim would soon be found.

Irene Cross who was living with her son and nephew at the time was discovered on the night of May 22, 1885, with stab wounds all over her body. This marked the first attack where the Annihilator used a knife instead of an axe.

Irene was stabbed so many times in the head and neck that she was nearly scalped, and one of her arms was completely severed. Her nephew Douglas Brown was able to catch a glimpse of the Austin Axe Murderer, describing him as an African American man with a large body frame who was barefooted at the time.

Despite this witness account the police were still nowhere close to narrowing down the identity of the perpetrator and the increasingly violent nature of the crimes meant that the killer was getting more brazen.

The population of the town soon reached 23,000 and it was getting increasingly difficult for the police to track down the suspect. They even sent bloodhounds to seek out the areas where the previous victims were found but to no avail.

After the discovery of Cross’s body, the killings stopped for a couple of months which led the residents of Austin into a false sense of security. Many assumed that the killer might have been arrested for other criminal activities or most likely fled the town.

They would soon discover how wrong their assumptions were as the Servant Girl Annihilator would once again begin their killing spree at a much more rapid pace.

A Bloodbath Ensused

On the night of August 31, 1885, Rebecca Ramey and her 11-year-old daughter Mary were viciously assaulted. Rebecca survived and told investigators that she was struck by an unknown object whilst sleeping and woke up screaming in pain before discovering her daughter missing.

Mary’s body was discovered in an alleyway, she had been assaulted by the Annihilator and authorities discovered that both her ears were punctured by a sharp object. Investigators believed that she may have been alive for hours before succumbing to her wounds.

On the night of September 28, 1885, two more victims were discovered. Gracie Vance and her boyfriend Orange Washington were living in a small shack owned by their employer William Dunham.

On the night of the attack, the couple had invited Lucinda Boddy and Patsy Gibson as houseguests to sleepover in the shack.

William Dunham woke up in the wee hours of the morning to the sounds of screaming and broken glasses. He discovered Lucinda Boddy trying to fight off a man whose features were obscured by the darkness. Dunham’s sudden appearance scared off the assailant.

The pair searched the apartment and found the body of Gracie Vance who was killed with a rock and the body of Orange Washington mutilated with an axe. Washington was believed to have survived but later succumbed to the severity of his injuries.

A Change In M.O.

Now it was clear that the Annihilator had a specific type of victim, servant girls of African-American descent all of whom were either living in or near their employer’s homes. But the killer would once again change his methods with the discovery of two more victims.

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1885, two women Susan Hancock and Eula Phillips were discovered dead by their husbands. They were attacked brutally with an axe prior to their passing. Their discovery made it seem like no one was safe in Austin.

Strangely, the killings stopped completely after the deaths of Hancock and Philips and just like that, the Annihilator seemingly vanished.

The List of Suspects And Possible Theories

400 suspects were brought into questioning and after an extensive series of interviews and trials, all of them were believed to be innocent. Despite extensive resources and manpower poured into the investigation, the Austin Axe Murders would officially be classified as unsolved.

The following are the most prominent suspects and popular theories of the time.

Jimmy Phillips the husband of Eula Phillips and Moses Hancock the husband of Susan Hancock were both arrested and trialed for the murders of their wife.

Both their convictions would be overturned as the police and jury found it highly improbable that two men with no connections to each other would murder their wives on the same night using the exact same methods.

Nathan Elgin was one of the police’s main suspects believed to be responsible for the killings. He was shot in the leg by a policeman when he was caught trying to attack a woman with a knife and would later succumb to his wounds.

What made Nathan Elgin a strong contender was that the killings stopped almost immediately after Nathan passed. Another important factor was that the Servant Girl Annihilator had left a set of footprints in one of the crime scenes that showed that he only had four toes — which coincidentally matched with Nathan Elgin who only had four toes on his right foot.

Ultimately I was unable to find any conclusive reports to match Nathan Elgin to the Servant Girl Annihiltator.

There were other theories surrounding the case claiming that the killings were the work of multiple killers and another even claiming that the killer was a practitioner of dark magic which aided him in his escapes. Again I was not able to find any evidence supporting these claims.

Here is a map that I found depicting the location of where the victims were found courtesy of thedragaudio.com.

The Servant Girl Annihilator And Jack The Ripper

Before we close out the case, there is one more theory that I would like to add to today’s episode. Even though the Servant Girl Annihilator is not as well-known as some of the other killers such as Ted Bundy, interest in the Annihilator has not dwindled.

Present-day investigators revisited the case some 100 years later and came up with an interesting theory that the Annihilator used the killings in Austin as ‘training’ and as a test of the law enforcement’s capabilities before moving to London right before news broke of another infamous unknown killer, Jack The Ripper.

The timeline matches this theory perfectly as the killings in Austin, Texas stopped in 1885 and the Whitechapel murders started in 1888.

They have singled out an interesting figure living in the town of Austin during the time of the murders. Maurice (last name unknown), was a cook at the time in the town of Austin.

He apparently worked in a small hotel by the name of Pearl House Hotel in Austin which was very close to the sites where several of the victims were discovered.

According to some of Maurice’s acquaintances, he had left the town of Austin in January of 1886 several weeks after the murders stopped, and headed off to London on a ship that perfectly matched him to the timeline between the killings in Austin and the killings in London.

A man by the name of George M. Dodge a seaman in London was interviewed by Scotland Yard in 1888 who were investigating the Jack The Ripper killings.

George reportedly told Scotland Yard that he met a cook by the name of Maurice — Maurice was apparently robbed by ‘a woman of bad character’ and he had sworn to kill every Whitechapel woman until he found the woman that robbed him. Not long after George met Mauricie, Whitechapel women would be found murdered and mutilated.

Both the Servant Girl Annihilator and Jack The Ripper cases share a common factor in that the victims of both cases were often people from the lower class of society. Interestingly, sources suggested that the Whitechapel killings stopped soon after Maurice left London.

Closing Out The Case

Well, Detective, today’s Criminal File is arguably one of the toughest ones that we have done thus far. The lack of evidence and proper investigation tools coupled with a lack of documentation and reports from the time has left this case sadly unsolved.

I fear we may never know the true identity of the Servant Girl Annihilator and we can only hope that with time, more evidence will eventually surface. This case remains one of the most elusive cases in criminal history with the fate of the killer remaining unknown and up for debate. Until next time, Detective.

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