The Midnight Assassin, by Skip Hollandsworth

The Hunt for America's First Serial Killer.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the WBZ book Club. This is Jordan Rich.
Well before the term serial killer was even coined, over
one hundred years ago, there was a series of murders
in Austin, Texas that rivaled those of Jack the Ripper
across the pond in England. The book is The Midnight
Assassin Panic Scandal and the Hunt for America's First Serial
Killer by author Skip Hollinsworth. The city of Austin, Texas,

(00:21):
in the late eighteen hundreds was terrorized by a vicious,
diabolical killer dubbed the Midnight Assassin, who at first prayed
mainly on poor black women in the community, ultimately brutally
murdering members of the white elite community. Weapons used include axes, knives,
and long steel rods. Eighteen eighty eight, investigators in London
actually tried to connect the murders in Austin, Texas with

(00:43):
those of Jack the Ripper. Suspects were arrested, many of
them poor black men, tinged by the racial prejudice of
the time, But the author of this book, Skip Hollandsworth,
offers his take with a lot of circumstantial evidence as
to who could be responsible. The Midnight Assassin that's the
book Club. WBZ, Boston's news radio