The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer

by Skip Hollandsworth

A sweeping narrative history of a terrifying serial killer--America's first--who stalked Austin, Texas in 1885

In the late 1800s, the city of Austin, Texas was on the cusp of emerging from an isolated western outpost into a truly cosmopolitan metropolis. But beginning in December 1884, Austin was terrorized by someone equally as vicious and, in some ways, far more diabolical than London's infamous Jack the Ripper. For almost exactly one year, the Midnight Assassin crisscrossed the entire city, striking on moonlit nights, using axes, knives, and long steel rods to rip apart women from every race and class. At the time the concept of a serial killer was unthinkable, but the murders continued, the killer became more brazen, and the citizens' panic reached a fever pitch.

Before it was all over, at least a dozen men would be arrested in connection with the murders, and the crimes would expose what a newspaper described as "the most extensive and profound scandal ever known in Austin." And yes, when Jack the Ripper began his attacks in 1888, London police investigators did wonder if the killer from Austin had crossed the ocean to terrorize their own city.

With vivid historical detail and novelistic flair, Texas Monthly journalist Skip Hollandsworth brings this terrifying saga to life.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Crime, Mystery, Audiobook, Book Club

321 pages, Hardcover

First published April 5, 2016

About the author

Skip Hollandsworth is an award-winning journalist, screenwriter, and executive editor of Texas Monthly magazine. His work was included in the 2002, 2003, 2006, and 2010 editions of Best American Crime Writing and he has won a National Magazine Award for feature writing. Hollandsworth co-wrote the acclaimed screenplay "Bernie" with director Richard Linklater. He lives in Texas with his wife

Reviews

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating, non-fiction examination of what may have been the first serial killer in the United States. "The Midnight Assassin" or "Servant Girl Annihilator" terrorized Austin, Texas, for about a year before disappearing. Then, when Jack the Ripper began running around London, some in Texas theorized that their killer had crossed the ocean.

The scariest part, like Jack the Ripper, is that this person was never caught or identified.

"Several journalists proclaimed in their articles that the murders were nothing less than an Edgar Allan Poe tale of terror come to life. One reporter nicknamed the killer "the Midnight Assassin... who strides at will over Austin's sacred soil." pg 4

Skip Hollandsworth uses newspaper articles and period pictures to make these historical events come to life. It is a story that you almost can't believe. You can feel the citizen's terror as the murders increase and no one is found.

"A woman has been chopped to pieces!" Wilkie yelled. "It's Mrs. Hancock! On Water Street!" pg 139

This was before investigations were conducting using forensic evidence or even finger prints. It is interesting to see how authorities looked for the killer.

"... the idea that Jack the Ripper was a Texan made for sensational copy, and soon the newspapers in England were in on the frenzy. "A Texas Parallel!" cried the Woodford Times of Essex. "The monster has quitted Texas and come to London!" trumpeted the London Daily News..." pg 234

It is also a glimpse into the shadowy part of the human soul.

"I do not believe any man figures into the world's history with such a terrible and horrifying distinction from the rest of humanity," the reporter declared. "He may well give to history a new story of crime — the first instance of a man who killed in order to gratify his passion." pg 173

The Midnight Assassin is a story of forgotten history that most of the world no longer remembers. The murderer's name has now become a fairy tale to scare children...

"But people in Austin hadn't forgotten about him — not completely. Children had devised their own nickname for the Midnight Assassin: they called him the "Axe Man." They raced for their homes as the sun was setting, shouting to one another that the Axe Man was hiding in the shadows just beyond the light of the moonlight towers, waiting for them to come close so he could grab them." pg 255

Recommended for readers of true crime and thrilling history.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting true crime book about a brutal serial killer in Austin, Texas, in the late 1800s. There is speculation that Austin's so-called "Midnight Assassin" may have later traveled to London and become Jack the Ripper, due to some similarities in the murders.

Why is it that certain sensational events in history are remembered and others, just as dramatic, are completely forgotten? Jack the Ripper has haunted the imagination of the public like no other killer in Western civilization. He is universally considered to be the prototype of the modern-day criminal monster, his exploits the subject of at least a hundred books and dozens of films and plays.

But beginning in December 1884, Austin, Texas, was terrorized by someone equally as vicious and, in some ways, far more diabolical than London's Ripper. For almost exactly one year, the Austin killer criss-crossed the entire city, striking on moonlit nights, using axes, knives, and long steel rods to rip apart women ... For the first time on record, an American city was forced to confront a brilliant, brutal monster who for some unknown reason was driven to murder, in almost ritualistic fashion, one woman after another.

I found the story to be fascinating, and Hollandsworth does a nice job painting the scene in Austin, with good historical details and descriptions of how the crimes unfolded. But there is no tidy solution — more than 100 years later, it's not clear who the killer was or what motivated them. So if you like your murder mysteries all neatly wrapped up with no questions left unanswered, you will be unsatisfied by the ending.

In the epilogue (which was my favorite section of the book), Hollandsworth discusses his reporting techniques. He admits he became obsessed with the Austin serial killer, and went to extreme lengths to try and solve the case himself. What a story that would have been!

Recommended for fans of historical true crime.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three years before Jack the Ripper's infamous reign of terror in London, an unknown assailant introduced America to the notion of serial murder. The "Midnight Assassin" killed as many as ten people, most of them women, all of them brutally, over a period of years. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the story Skip Hollandsworth tells is the fact that it had never been told until now. Austin, Texas, was plunged into chaos for months by a series of horrific killings, as was reported thoroughly and sensationalistically across the country at the time and as Hollandsworth so engagingly describes in his book, yet the case had been all but forgotten in the ensuing decades. Why?

Aside from the basic question of who did it, why it was forgotten looms largest in The Midnight Assassin, and both questions remain unanswered. The first is understandable – it's hard to solve 150-year-old murder mysteries – but I wish Hollandsworth had spent more time delving into the second. Because I suspect the answer lies largely in the same area as the reason why the case ultimately went unsolved: Because of who the victims were.

The initial victims of the Midnight Assassin's axes, knives and ice picks were African American – servant women and an occasional unlucky boyfriend. The authorities focused overwhelmingly on "bad blacks," either singly or in groups, and only after exhausting all options in that avenue began entertaining the possibility of a white suspect. Of the seven deaths in Austin, only the final two were white women – and only the final two provoked the kind of all-out response that may have scared the suspect elsewhere. Likewise, the case was quickly forgotten – again, I would suspect because of the 14 maximum deaths one could attribute to the Midnight Assassin, all but four were black women and men (seven murders in Austin, one possible murder in San Antonio, two likely murders in Gainesville, two who died indirectly as a result of precautions they had taken to protect themselves, and two whose lives were shortened because of wounds they received).

This failure (or decision not) to fully explore the racial implications of both contemporary and subsequent treatment of the serial murders is the only flaw in Hollandsworth excellent treatment. He's written a page-turner and paints such a vibrant picture of the city of Austin in the late 19th century that the city itself is one of the most compelling characters. I have to give him props, as well, because he is clear when he engages in reasonable speculation beyond what is explicitly stated in contemporary sources, an important part of establishing his own credibility – and the failure of which was a significant flaw in Erik Larson's similar, and similarly much-heralded, work about a similar 19th-century serial killer.

So if you like true crime, if you like taut narrative history, if you like colorful portayals of the Gilded Age and the Old West with all of the race and class distinctions and prejudices those eras and regions entail, you should really enjoy Skip Hollandsworth's The Midnight Assassin.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written and researched, this true crime mystery is right up there with the best of Erik Larson. This lesser known crime spree is well deserving of more attention and Skip Hollandsworth does it a great justice. The pacing was spot on and the world was expanded enough so the reader feels that nothing is left out yet didn't feel lost in a sea of characters and side-road theories.

Also, I must say, I love how this ebook is formatted. I've never commented on the formatting of an ebook before, but the title pages for each part is set up in such a way that they really add a mood to the book. I hope the hardcopy books keep them.

**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

[Fiona Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Proper review to come once Covid-mush reforms into brain; in the meantime, this was an entertaining and really interesting look at Austin in the late 1800s, as well as a recounting of the crimes that took place there. The author does editorialize the facts occasionally, in service of a more readable narrative, but occasionally it went a bit further than felt necessary. The links to Jack the Ripper were tenuous, and perhaps should have been framed more as "people wondered at the time" than they were.

Overall one I did enjoy, but not one that would cause me to seek out more from this author on my own; I'd read more of his if I came across it in the wild, or if he wrote on something I have a particular interest in.

[Kaiju Reviews · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll admit a few things here to start. 1) Yes, I read Devil in the White City and I liked it. Was it perfect? No. The White City part of the story fascinated me. The Devil part of the story I thought was much weaker. 2) I am from and live in Texas. 3) My wife was born and raised in Austin. So, what do these admissions tell you? The tell you the power of marketing. I got this book on day one. You can probably piece together why yourself. So, why didn't this work where 'Devil' mostly did? I have some theories. The author Skip Hollandsworth does spend a little time on Austin's development as a city, but it doesn't fit into the 'oh wow' category like the 'white city' in Larsen's book did. Much of the history of Texas and history of the killings as told here turns into a long list of characters that make mostly just brief appearances, only to vanish again. As for the murders themselves, it doesn't sound like there was much actual information available, so Hollandsworth is left stitching together fragments, using conjecture and some bad editorializing as the glue. I get that editorializing is part of the deal here, but if you're going to opine, you should opine mostly in the direction of general consensus, right? Unless you have the facts to support otherwise. Case in point: Hollandsworth calls the killer 'brilliant' on several occasions. I'm no profiler, but to my knowledge, the genius psychopath a la Hannibal Lector exists only in fiction. Whacking someone in the head with an ax doesn't a genius make. But even that aside, there isn't enough here to tell a story. The cast of characters is too large and too little is known about them. While it's great work that Hollandsworth dug up this lost tale out of the annals of history, he doesn't give it enough to be an interesting tale to read. Once more, it's preposterously loose connection to the Ripper murders in Whitechapel is nothing more that desperation and filler... there are no connections at all between the two. Disingenuous at best. Definitely skip this one.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Skip Hollandsworth first read about the events in this book when he picked up a pamphlet about Jack the Ripper, which speculated that the Ripper was the same man who committed a series of similar murders in, “a small city in Texas.” In December, 1884, a series of attacks and murders began in Austin, Texas. At first, these attacks were mainly on servant girls, usually housed in shacks, outside the affluent houses where they worked.

As the vicious attacks continued, the perpetrator was given the rather unwieldy title of, “the Servant Girl Annihilator.” Most of the women attacked were black, although two Swedish girls were also injured. To be fair to the authorities they took the attacks seriously, regardless of the class/race of the victims. There was little in the way of description – the killer was variously described as ‘black,’ ‘white,’ ‘yellow,’ or even reported as fleeing the scene in a dress. Servant women in Austin lived in fear of going to sleep – afraid that they would be axed in their beds. However, even sleeping in their employee’s kitchens did not keep them safe. It seemed as though this attacker could walk into anywhere and wreak havoc.

In despair, various detectives were brought in, men arrested and even charged, but there seemed no real evidence, or clues. Tracker dogs were at a loss to discover any scent. There were no real descriptions or clues and why did the killer sometimes just seem to want to terrorise and, at other times, seem intent on killing? When two white women were killed in one night, the city rose in uproar, demanding answers and justice, but still those charged with investigating the crimes seemed at a loss.

This is very much a picture of a time and place, as well as a well investigated true crime book. I loved all the details of this – the message sent for Pinkerton’s detectives, which ended up being delivered to the wrong detective agency, the undercover detectives whose cover was blown almost as soon as they arrived, the political concerns about the crimes and the panic which spread through the town. The author does a good job of recreating the feeling of a new town, trying to create itself as a successful and affluent place to live and work and keep its citizens safe against an unknown attacker. A good read if you enjoy historical true crime.

[Rebecca Rolfes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hollandsworth is an experienced journalist who should know better. This is what journalists call "emptying the notebook." He spent years researching this book and wants to make sure that every single, solitary thing he learned, you will learn too. He has literally emptied his notebook onto the page. Chapters two and three are such long historical digressions that you keep wondering if he'll ever get back to the murders. The problem is, there is very little known about the murders or the murderer but a great deal known about Austin, Texas, at the time. If you want to know how Austin got to be Austin, this is your book. If you want a gripping murder mystery, read something else. If I had not been trapped on a long car trip with only this as an audio book, I would have given up much sooner.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of The Midnight Assassin from NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Henry Holt and Company for fulfilling my wish list. Thanks to Skip Hollandsworth for the opportunity.

"A killer who gives to history a new story of crime."

Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the events of a serial killer on the loose in the early years of the city of Austin, Texas. The term "serial killer" wasn't in anyone's vocabulary at the time. More shockingly, what took place in Austin was three years before anyone even heard of the horrendous exploits of Jack the Ripper himself.

My first encounter with this series of crimes was through History Detectives on PBS. Skip Hollandsworth's research was referenced there. I'd encourage you to go to their website and view the program from Season 11. It will fascinate you to no end.

Austin, Texas was just being birthed with a city population of 17,000. Mayor John Robertson described Austin as "on the verge of a golden new era." But that was all to change in December of 1884 with the grizzly discovery of the body of Mollie Smith. And what was to follow left Austin and its citizens reeling in its wake. The victims were African American servant girls who were accosted in the homes of their employers as they slept.

Fear swept through the city as an unknown assailant criss-crossed his way through the streets of Austin. No witnesses survived to give much needed accurate details. Those who, fortunately, sidestepped attacks were only able to agree that these assaults were made by a young black male. Not one could provide police with more than that.

Austin's police department was made up of only 12 officers. Modern day forensics were unheard of and crime scenes were tainted and compromised. You will read of the devastating toll these crimes made on the citizens themselves, race relations, protection of women, and the political fall-out in the aftermath.

Skip Hollandsworth does an exceptional job with his many years of research dedicated to the subject. The book reads like an exciting novel rather than a work of non-fiction. The book is rich with photos of the time period displaying wooden sidewalks, horse-drawn buggies, the construction of the capitol building, and the like. The Midnight Assassin is surrounded with Texas developments that were unfolding historically during this time period as well as the tinge of the darkening shadows of these heinous crimes.

[SheriC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update:
I gave the hardcover copy to my Dad for his birthday. The bound copy is full of goodies, like maps and photos, and contains a reference index. My dad, a native Austinite, is a history buff who particularly loves the late 1800s, and was so delighted with this book that he also sent a copy to his brother.

Original Review:
It seems amazing that I’ve never heard of this string of attacks and murders in Austin, although I seem to recall hearing of the legend of the mysterious woman in white (apparently the ghost of the murdered Eula) when I was a student at UT. Or maybe from my visits to my grandparents in Austin as a kid?

The author does an excellent job of presenting the events and his research findings objectively. The narrative is not at all dry – it’s engaging while paying the reader the compliment of avoiding sensationalism and emotional manipulation. I was as fascinated by the story of historical Austin, its people and growth and politics and race relations, as I was by the mystery of the attacks. The insight into the process (and limits) of 19th century forensics, law enforcement, and justice, was compelling as well.

Audiobook, borrowed from my public library via Overdrive. Clint Jordan provides an excellent performance with an authentic regional voice, although his mispronunciation of a few place names was a little distracting. For example, Seguin is “suh-GEEN”, not “SEG-win”. The author reads the afterword in his own voice, which is even more authentically, delightfully, regional.

[Bill Riggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

The year is 1884, in Austin, TX years before Jack the Ripper and before anyone knew the term “serial killer” a wave of brutal murders is about to consume the city in unimaginable panic. His tools- axes, bricks and an ice pick the killer slips in, kills horrifically, usually leaving at least one witness alive, and then disappears back into the darkness. No one is caught. No one convicted. The murders simply stop. The Midnight Assassin is the talk of the nation. Newspapers try to link the murders to the London Ripper killings, but soon the murders fade into obscurity. Everyone knows about the Ripper and H.H. Holmes but no one remembers the fantastical murders that rocked Austin. Why?

[Carol]

Tragic yet Captivating

Extending my thanks to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Co. for providing this e-galley for my honest review.

I’m not going to debate what sparks our fascination with serial killers. I just know it is so. The Midnight Assassin is a must for true crime lovers. It’s helpful that it delves into an old case, removing it from our immediate consciousness. In December 1884, a person or persons killed several black women, one just a child and possibly three white women, in Austin, Texas. These brutal murders took place over the course of one horrible year.

If not for the brutality of the murders, the narrative would flow easily. Be warned, the horrific means the killer used are gruesome in their depiction. The murders are quick, sometimes taking only a few minutes, performed with axes, knives, and steel rods and executed in the still of moonlit nights. The killer is likened to Jack the Ripper and there is even an attempt to link the crimes to the same man. Though I say man, there was even speculation that perhaps the killings were done by a woman. Though possible, it seems improbable due to the sheer strength that was needed to carry out violence of this nature.

What really stood out to me and what made The Midnight Assassin a fascinating read was the contrast of its citizens going about their lives, almost nonchalantly, attending opera, celebrations, and other cultural or social events, interspersed with the depravity of the murders. Though Austin’s citizens were shocked by the killings of the black women, it wasn’t until white women were also killed that the cry for finding the fiend was ramped up. There was no medical examiner during these time so a justice of the peace conducted an inquest before a “jury of inquest” consisting of six males who listened to evidence presented by police officers, witnesses and doctors, before delivering a cause of death. Declaring the deceased murdered also required the justice to issue a warrant to a suspected party. Many men were arrested, some more than once but none of the charges stuck.

Tidbits of history, the justice system, the social classes and the politics of the time are woven throughout and added greatly to my satisfaction of the way this book was written. The building of the great city of Austin, first known as Waterloo, and its Capital, moved from Houston, give one a good sense of the times and a picture of the emergence of this important city. I highlighted many passages as there were many engaging stories and facts I might research further.

One brief story that made me laugh amid the horror and helped to lighten the tone was the suggestion by a Fort Worth Gazette reporter who thought the killer might be Frankenstein. This reporter, who had not read Mary Shelley's novel printed the name of the suspect as Frank Einstein.

Skip Hollandsworth heard about the “Midnight Assassin” as the killer became known in 1988 and was surprised that little had come down in history about this case. Hollandsworth has certainly remedied this with The Midnight Assassin. It’s one for the books.

[Anthony McGill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A CRIME AND A CITY.
Engrossing, painstakingly researched true crime history of America's first serial killer; crimes still unsolved to this day.
Author Hollandsworth has brilliantly captured time and place in his re-creation of the hunt for a brutal, mysterious killer with the burgeoning growth of Austin, Texas from frontier town to the bustling metropolis of state capital. A gripping study which combines all the fear generated by crimes of appalling depravity, investigative incompetence by 'Town Hall,' racial intolerance and all sorts of political shenanigans in late 19th. Century Austin.

As much a history of a city as of a crime, best summed up by the author's own words in the notes section: "In many ways, Austin became the most interesting character in the book, an intoxicating mixture of the Old South, the Old West, and the new Gilded Age. Because the murders affected every level of Austin society -from the most privileged members of white society to desperately impoverished African-Americans- I had a rare opportunity to create a portrait of race, class, gender, urban life, and, most significantly, the nature of American violence."

An excellent combination of true crime and social history and an engrossing read.

[Katherine Addison · Rating 5 out of 5]

[reviewed in audiobook; now own in trade paper]

This book is excellent.

I'd seen mentions of the ax murders in Austin in 1884-85 in books about Jack the Ripper, due to the understandable but implausible theory that the dude from Austin had made his way to Whitechapel, so I was delighted when I realized that this book is about those ax murders. I listened to it for that reason, but it gave me a great deal more than that.

This is a loving reconstruction of the life of Austin, Texas, in the 1880s, brimming over with the tiny details that make history recognizable as real life. Hollandsworth talks about the murder victims and the police (and bloodhounds) and private detectives who failed to find the murderer, but he also talks about the reporters, and he talks about the mayor of Austin (who hired the wrong Pinkerton Detective Agency) and the governor of Texas and the director of the State Lunatic Asylum and the ordinary residents of Austin, both white and black, and how their lives were changed by these terrible crimes.

Hollandsworth faces the horrific racism of 1880s Texas straight on and deals with it very matter-of-factly, laying it out without any kind of either apology or apologia. It's a part of the story, and he treats it as such. Most of the "midnight assassin"'s victims were black servants; only the last two women murdered in Austin were white. The difference in reactions from the white citizenry of Austin is about what you'd expect, and of course the prevailing theory about the murders was that they were committed by a gang of young black men, even though evidence of such a gang was never produced.

The "midnight assassin" (as one reporter called him--once again, we see the power of good PR; Jack the Ripper is assured of immortality because of his catchy name) murdered poor black women and middle- to upper-class white women. He murdered a girl as young as 12. He beat one victim to death with a brick. He shoved some sort of rod into the ears of more than one victim, so hard that it punctured the brain. And of course, he used his axe. He also left potential witnesses alive with apparent unconcern. And yet nobody ever got a good look at him. The two witnesses, both children, who saw him couldn't even agree on whether he was white or black. (Which also raises the question of copy-cat killings, which Hollandsworth doesn't go into to any great degree, but a copy-cat seems unlikely to me, unless maybe Eula Phillips' cuckolded husband decided to use the axe murders as a cover . . . on the same night that the serial killer was murdering another white woman? That's actually even weirder than the Occam's Razor answer of the serial killer choosing two white women on the same night, Christmas Eve 1885.) None of his victims ever made a sound. (In that way he is like Jack.) These are very peculiar murders, and there's not really much you can do to reduce their peculiarity.

Hollandsworth didn't do as much meta as I would have liked (but almost no true-crime writer ever does), and (the only part of the book where I could fact-check him) his grasp of the Whitechapel murders is decidedly sketchy. (But, then, the only Jack-the-Ripper "expert" he mentions by name is Shirley Harrison, who of course has a theory that James Maybrick came over to Texas to murder women in Austin in 1885 before going back to Britain to murder women in London in 1888 before being murdered by his own wife in Liverpool (if Florence Maybrick killed him, which isn't 100% certain) in 1889.) So, yeah, he's not super strong on his Ripperology, but that's only a minor defect in an otherwise splendid book.

I highly recommend this book, especially but not exclusively if you are interested in the history of Austin, in the details of small-city life in America in the 1880s, or in nineteenth-century serial killers.

(The reader was excellent, too. He shouldn't have tried for the German accent for that one quote from a German language newspaper, and he had a couple of weird mispronunciations, but I loved him first to last.)

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skip Hollandsworth often has amazing articles in Texas Monthly. Sadly, this book was not as good. There was a ton of filler, facts he'd found while researching the murders. But they just didn't have much to do with the actual crimes. And there's no resolution to any of them. No one has a clue. So it just felt meaningless.

[La Crosse County Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally published November 2016

Content warning: Some graphic descriptions of crimes

If you are a reader that enjoys a page-turning microhistory that is also a true crime story, then grab a copy of Skip Hollandsworth’s The Midnight Assassin.

The time is 1884 in Austin, Texas. This growing Texas town is finding they are making national news with several unsolved bizarre murders of women from all different nationalities and backgrounds.

The common thread seems to be that the killings take place in the middle of the night. Anyone sleeping in the same room or quarters is hit on the head with an axe handle. The murderer uses knives, axes, and long steel rods hammered into the heads of the victims. The slain women are hauled into the yard and cut up. Items such as firewood or lumber are placed on top of the women. Despite the similarities in the murders, as many as twelve different men would be arrested for these murders. The boyfriend or husband of each woman was the usual suspect.

Amidst the panic, several Texas politicians are trying to either make a name for themselves by helping to solve the crimes or having to distance themselves from the rumors and scandal. Gun sales, home alarm systems, and even sedative use increased dramatically. Many people left Austin to try to protect their family and servants from this threat.

The mayor sent a telegram to Chicago to request help from the Pinkerton detectives. Well, it turned out there was a less skilled detective agency that was also using the Pinkerton name. They got the telegram and sent two agents down who had the equivalent of a mail-order detective training. You can imagine these other Pinkerton detectives did not find any new leads.

Years later, detectives in London wondered if this assassin traveled from Austin to London and became Jack the Ripper. Indeed, the concept of a serial killer or even someone killing in a ritualistic way was unknown. This book is full of political slander, murder, and mystery. Just like with Jack the Ripper, we may never know the true identity of the midnight assassin, but it sure is fun to speculate.

See also:

If this type of true crime microhistory is up your alley, you will also enjoy The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Thunderstruck by Erik Larson is another true crime and microhistory you may also like.

Both of these nonfiction titles are well researched and will immerse you in a certain place and time. They read like novels!

Stop in to any of our La Crosse County Library locations and peruse the latest microhistories in nonfiction. Our staff in Campbell, West Salem, Bangor, Holmen, and Onalaska would love to help you!

Find this book and other titles within our catalog.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! I read it entirely in the space of 24 hours, couldn't put it down. The extent of Hollandworth's research is impressive. What I found just as fascinating as the details of the crimes were the period details that brought to life the mind-set of the people of Austin, how they thought and felt and acted as they tried to go about their daily lives amidst the terror of the murders. I also learned a lot about the history of Texas.

Do I think that the Servant Girl Murderer was Jack the Ripper? No. As Hollandworth points out, there are too many dissimilarities between the crimes. I do wonder, though, if Dr. Given might have been the killer, and that's the real reason his brother-in-law had him locked up in an insane asylum. He wouldn't have wanted to tell anyone of his suspicions because the man was married to his daughter, and he would have wanted to spare her.

I also found it interesting that Black Elk, the Native American who came over to England with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, got stranded there and ended up being interrogated with regards to possible involvement in the Jack the Ripper killings. I read his memoir, Black Elk Speaks, and I don't remember him mentioning that anywhere in the book.

If you're interested in a real whodunnit of a true crime story, this is the book to read. Maybe you will get some fresh ideas about the perpetrators. Highly recommended!

[Darcia Helle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never heard of the "Midnight Assassin", and had no idea that a serial killer terrorized Texas before Jack the Ripper terrorized London. I'm intrigued by historical crime, so I was immediately drawn to this book. It's a fascinating read that kept me fully engaged.

Clearly, the author put an immense amount of time and effort into research. While we are immersed in detail, I never felt overwhelmed by it all. And, most importantly, the detail never outweighed the story. This is an easy book to read.

While the focus is, of course, the murders, Hollandsworth gives us far more. I felt what it was like to live in this emerging Texas city that was still remote and removed from much of the country. We see how racism influenced opinions, inciting fear, hatred, and further division. We also see the politics of the time, and how politicians then, as now, made decisions based more on retaining their position than on what was needed.

The Midnight Assassin is a complex story told with ease, offering us a vivid look at a frightening time and place in American history.

*I was provided with an advance copy by the publisher, via LibraryThing.*

[Amy H. Sturgis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skip Hollandsworth provides a thorough and fascinating account of the unsolved murders of women (of different ages, races, and economic/social positions) that took place in 1884-1885 in the burgeoning city of Austin, Texas. The horrific crimes shocked not only the region but also the world. The Midnight Assassin reveals how these killings affected not only the physical face of Austin but also the political realities of the state, making and breaking careers and reputations. Furthermore, the author considers how "experts" by the end of the 1880s were drawing connections between the Austin murderer and London's Jack the Ripper, a connection some Ripperologists continue to consider today.

This is a compelling work that doesn't lose the forest for the trees. I recommend it to anyone interested in the 1880s, Western/Southern U.S. history, the history of forensics and crime, and/or the Whitechapel murders.

[Ctgt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book about a series of killings in Austin in the late 1800's. I was hoping for something similar to The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America but it never rose to that level. The killer or killers were never caught so there is a mystery left unanswered but the attempt to tie these killings in to the subsequent Ripper murders in England seemed fairly far-fetched.

6/10

[Luis Lopes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am still reading the book, but I Like it alot, Skip describes not only the muders, but discribes the people of Astin Texas, describes the bildings, the pubs the Hotel's, the book is fantastik!!!

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Are you looking for a book about the history of Austin in the late 1800's? If so, then this is the book for you! Do you want to read about the unsolved murders of 8 people? If so, then don't bother with this book. In the epilogue, Hollandsworth mentions he wrote an article about these events for the magazine Texas Monthly. I imagine that would be a more satisfying read than this book was. There simply isn't enough available information about the crimes to warrant an entire book.

Several years ago I read a book called A Twist at the End, which was a fictional story about these events. It turns out, that is the best way to go about writing about the crimes. The author writing historical fiction can flesh out the story and characters and even solve the crime. With non-fiction, the author is limited to writing about what is known. It makes for a deeply unsatisfying piece of non fiction.

While I can sympathize with Hollandsworth over the frustratingly small amount of available facts, that doesn't alter the fact that his book is dull dull dull. Oh, the filler! All the filler needed to pad the book out in order to make it longer than 25 pages! Props to him for doing a prodigious amount of research - if I'd gone into the book wanting to read a history of Austin then I'd have been so pleased. However, since I did not want to read about what shows were playing at the theater, what restaurants were popular, who was running for minor government positions etc., I found it incredibly tedious. A book about true crime can be a lot of different things, but one thing it shouldn't be is tediously dull.

Snore!!!!

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very well researched book considering that the records the author had to use were very old. The book tells the story of a serial killer, possibly Americas first, that terrorized Austin Texas between 1884 and 1885. The main victims were servant girls who were gruesomely struck down with an ax. I recently helped my daughter study for her American history test so I had just reviewed the events surrounding the history of Texas. It was interesting to read about how far Austin had come in a mere forty years after having been annexed by the United States. In the new American Texas, slavery has been abolished, but African Americans still had a long way to go to achieving the equal rights afforded by the US Constitution.

At first the attacks only involved servants, primarily African Americans. Police investigated, torture local African American citizens in hopes of getting a confession, and due to the poor forensic science techniques of the day, generally make no progress in their investigation thus leaving the citizens of Austin terrorized. The citizens were so scared that some of them even perished from the safety measures they took to protect themselves from the murderer. On Christmas Eve the case reached a new level when two prominent white women were killed two hours apart in their backyards. The case takes on new urgency but when no new suspects are found suspicion falls on their husbands.

The books strength lay in the vivid rendering of the city of Austin as it was leaving it's wild west roots in favor of becoming a more civilized society. The weaker parts of the book were towards the end when the author went off the known victims to explore possible improbable links to other cases including Jack the Ripper. In the end the case will always be frustrating because the killer whoever they were is long dead and there is no way to definitely prove who it was. The author did try his best to put an end to this mystery lost to time but this book was more a look back in time than a who done it. While reading the book I found this web site very interesting. http://www.mysanantonio.com/150years/... has a slideshow showing what Austin looked like at the various murder sites in the 1800's juxtaposed with pictures of how it looks today. This book is great for fans of Eric Larson who is a master at weaving crime and history making for compelling reading. In fact one of Larsons subjects, the serial killer H.H. Holmes is briefly considered as a suspect for the Austin murders in this book.

[Denise Mullins · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book promises to explore “Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer” in Austin during the 1880s, it fails to satisfactorily fulfill any of these objectives. Instead, half the book chronicles the absurdly racist laws of the city which initially led its leaders to the absurd assumption that only blacks would target female black servants( the killer’s first victims). And although the research presented is quite fascinating (if reading sociology texts is your thing), the discussion of the actual crimes- albeit grisly- seems an aside to focus on the political machinations that drove the city.
The author then transports readers to England with a far-fetched hypothesis that this same killer morphed into Jack the Ripper, even though those crimes were perpetrated using an entirely different M.O. Most irksome is the fact that Hollandsworth offers no resolution and ends with the lame excuse that some crimes are meant to remain unsolved. In my opinion, that cop out is the most egregious crime.

[Kirsti · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book taught me some new words:
Hello Girl: a female telephone operator

moll buzzer: a pickpocket who specializes in robbing women

calaboose: a prison (from the Spanish calabozo, meaning dungeon)

onion sociable: a party in which several young ladies go into a bedroom, one of them takes a bite out of an onion, and then they all go into a parlor and get kissed by a young man who tries to guess who has onion breath

boob gun: a small firearm that a woman can conceal within a corset or attach to a garter

uxoricide: the murder of a wife by a husband

I enjoy Hollandsworth's reporting but was unsatisfied with this book because so much about the killings is still unknown.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical true crime books that are about crimes 100 or more years old often suffer from a central difficulty: the witnesses, the suspects, and investigators have passed on. In some cases, files and reports have gone with them. This is clear with perhaps the most famous unsolved historic crime of all: Jack the Ripper. There are so many theories and suspects in the killing that it has spawned a virtual industry churning out book after book, some claiming to have positively identified the identity of England's most notorious killer. And yet, no claim has gone on to become the absolutely only true solution. It is near to impossible to truly verify, as police work in the late 1800s did not include the modern techniques most people would see on a crime television show today. Very little evidence survives.

This doesn't have to discourage the historian or journalist, as usually they know how to research, where to look and to find multiple sources. Writing about the crime without going too far afield in speculation, but documenting the era, the people and the case can still provide an interesting and cautionary tale. Skip Hollingsworth is up to the task and has written an intriguing and captivating book about such an unsolved case: The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer. In fact, the Hollingsworth's subject and the Ripper case have a tenuous connection, which Hollingsworth discusses later in the book.

The case concerns a series of gruesome murders that occurred from 1884-1885 in Austin, TX. The killer attacked women in the homes late at night, killing them brutally, and sometimes attacking others and leaving them barely alive, and then escaping into the dark of the evening. The city of Austin was in a panic and the local law enforcement was unable to find the killer, or much evidence as to who he truly was. But it didn't stop them from arresting at least a dozen men that they suspected of being the Midnight Assassin. Some we let go once they were verified as innocent, and others that made it to trial were found innocent as well. The brutal nature of the murders gripped the city in fear and people began arming themselves, even in their own homes and bedrooms, and multiple family members and friends shared bedrooms hoping to be able to defend themselves or scare off a would be attacker. But sometime after 1885, the murders stopped. While they were never truly able to find the killer, others offered various suggestions of suspects- including an "alienist" (period term for psychiatrist) who suggested that the killer fled Texas and made his way to England where he began to kill again, becoming Jack the Ripper.

The case was never solved, and even though the author tried to solve the case or at least come up with a plausible suspect, it is to his credit that he doesn't try to force a solution. He explains the difficulty in doing so in the epilogue, but the narrative of the story itself is unmarred by supercilious speculation or conjecture. He tells the story as it was- and in the process captures the character of a place trying to change itself from small Texas town, to a modern American city. He does due diligence on the various leaders and officials as they try to solve the murder, calm the populace, and modernize Austin. But Hollingsworth goes beyond that to describe the way of life for those whose names weren't on the social registry- the black citizens of Austin. He describes the transition from the Reconstruction era society to the emergence of Jim Crow and how it affected the lives of the black citizens of Austin, and how the first victims, as well as the first suspects came from that community.

The book has an engaging writing style, reminiscent of The Devil in the White City- in that the author really captures not just the crime, but the place and time- in this case Austin near the end of the 19th century. It has a lively pace overall and pulls the reader in from page to page, although there are just a few places where the pace slows as Hollingsworth discusses the ins and outs of Austin government and politics. But it's not too distracting from the overall story, and it is easy to understand why he includes it. He is telling the story of the crimes and how they affect the citizens, just as much as he is trying to tell how these murders affected Austin itself.

It is sad to see how the victims and their families were so affected by these savage crimes and that they never found peace in having the killer caught. It does cause the reader to wonder what happened, why the killer did what they did, and why they did it in the manner they did. That is the difficult part in walking away from the book- there is no explanation or satisfactory answers. But then, this isn't a fictional murder mystery; this a true event, much like Jack the Ripper. And like Jack the Ripper, all we will have to continue to go on is speculation, few clues, and a desire to really know what happened. 4 Stars

Disclaimer: I received an advance copy of the book through the courtesy of the publisher and Goodreads for an honest review.

[Melanie (Perpetually Reading) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to follow!

[Deb Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A more thoroughly researched true crime novel would be difficult to find. Hollandsworth sets the scene by describing the people, politics, and culture of 1885 Austin, Texas where the first American serial killer did his/her deeds.

For whatever reason, these crimes never caught the interest and imagination of America at large, certainly nowhere near the notoriety that the brutal serial murders attributed to Jack the Ripper later did.

In a time when we are used to forensic science playing a large part in criminal investigations, the author reminds us that no such tools were at the disposal of law enforcement at the time of the Austin, Texas crimes.

[Sarah-Grace (Azrael865) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the setting the scene content. Explaining how things were in those days from a historical stand point. I agree that some of it is became overkill. It must have been very difficult for the author to find factual accounts of the events and he needed to fill in gaps somewhere.
It must have been very difficult for them to investigate a new kind of crime, serial killing, without any previous experience to lean on. The author did an amazing job to find as much detail as he did. The records weren't very well preserved from back then and there weren't very many interviews he could do with people who would remember anything from then.
And the author didn't sugar coat anything. He was very straight forward with how the racial attitudes of that day, so soon after the Civil War, played into the investigation not being conducted as it would have if the earliest victims hadn't been black women. He also highlighted the stuck in the mud focus of investigators that the perpetrator must be one of the "bad black" usual suspects of the area.

It is sad that so much history is lost. The people of Austin mostly don't know the significance of the outdated first electric street lights that were almost removed.
Quoted from the author's epilogue: "And scattered around the city are fifteen moonlight towers. They are essentially useless, the pale glow of the lamps barely visible above the harsher glare coming from hundreds of electric and mercury lights closer to the streets. But they are not going anywhere. In the 1970s, city officials were able to get the towers designated as state and national historical landmarks."
As the author says,
"Why is it that certain sensational events in history are remembered and others, just as dramatic, are completely forgotten? Jack the Ripper has haunted the imagination of the public like no other killer in Western civilization."
The Austin killer in this book pre-dates the ripper by a couple years and he was forgotten. His crimes were just as brutal.

[Anna Geismar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having been raised in Austin, I've always known about the serial killer that led the city to install moon towers, but never knew much detail. It is great to have this book as a resource to learn more about the story. Unfortunately, I think the author missed the opportunity to turn this into a really compelling read -- it felt like he just compiled all the notes from his research and didn't try to create a strong narrative. I know he didn't have many facts to work with, but I was really looking forward to reading something that was both a gripping story and that gave me a glimpse into what austin was like in its early days. The book did that to some extent, but it felt very much like s reporting of the facts rather than weaving together a story and creating a strong sense of place. I think it is probably a style that works for magazines but not for longer books.