Servant Girl Annihilator

The Servant Girl Annihilator, also known as the Midnight Assassin, was an unidentified American serial killer who preyed upon the city of Austin, Texas, in 1884 and 1885. The moniker "Servant Girl Annihilator" originated with the writer O. Henry. The series of eight axe murders were referred to by contemporary sources as the Servant Girl Murders.

The December 26, 1885, issue of The New York Times reported that the "murders were committed by some cunning madman, who is insane on the subject of killing women." The murders represent an early documented example of a serial killer operating in the United States, three years before the Jack the Ripper murders in Whitechapel.

Murders

According to Texas Monthly, the killer murdered seven women (five black, two white) and one black man. Additionally, the killer seriously injured six women and two men.

All the victims were attacked indoors while asleep in their beds. Five of the women were dragged, unconscious but still alive, and killed outdoors. Three of the women were severely mutilated while outdoors.

All the victims were posed in a similar manner. Six of the murdered women had a "sharp object" inserted into their ears.

The series of murders ended with the killing of two white women, Eula Phillips, age 17, and Susan Hancock, who was attacked while sleeping in the bed of her 16-year-old daughter on the night of December 24, 1885.

Only one of those arrested, James Phillips, husband of Eula Phillips, was convicted. Witnesses testified that he repeatedly said he would kill Eula if he ever found her to be unfaithful, and that he was prone to violent outbursts. He was found guilty of murdering his wife but the conviction was later overturned, citing insufficient evidence . Taylor was born in Fredericksburg, Texas, about 70 miles west of Austin.

According to a front-page article in The New York Times of December 26, 1885, 400 men were arrested during the course of the year. Contemporary newspapers reported that the murderer(s) had apparently fled the area, as no more murders were officially attributed to the killer by the authorities. Mary Ramey, 11, was murdered the night of August 30, 1885. Her mother, Rebecca Ramey, was seriously wounded.

In popular culture William Sydney Porter, better known as the short story writer O. Henry, was living in Austin at the time of the murders. Porter coined the term "Servant Girl Annihilators" in a May 10, 1885, letter addressed to his friend Dave Hall and later included in his anthology Rolling Stones: "Town is fearfully dull," wrote Porter, "except for the frequent raids of the Servant Girl Annihilators, who make things lively in the dull hours of the night...." However, no contemporary newspaper or published source referred to the murderer(s) as "The Servant Girl Annihilator."

In 2000, Steven Saylor published the novel A Twist at the End, which closely reconstructed the murders and the ensuing trials, with young William Sydney Porter playing a fictional role. The novel was published in the United Kingdom (as Honour the Dead) and has been translated into Portuguese and Hungarian.

Episode 6 (2015) of the podcast Tanis, a mystery/suspense docudrama, is titled "The Servant Girl Annihilator." It suggests a connection between the killings and the mysteries central to the podcast's ongoing story.