Once upon a time in Austin, Texas, many servant women lived in peoples backyards. They were provided room and board by their employers, and they went to and from their backyard apartments and cabins via the alleyways which ran down the center of almost every block.

Attacks and attempted burglaries against Austin’s servant women were several per year. It was expected that there would typically be a handful of violent attacks and burglaries against this population each year, but in 1885 something changed.

Attempted break-ins, burglaries, attacks, harassment, and murders against Austin’s servant women in their servants quarters exploded into dozens of incidents. There were somewhere from 50-80 such incidents from January to December 1885. Women were being chased, threatened, robbed, stabbed, and ripped apart. A token stolen from one of the burglaries was left on the body of one of the murder victims.

The frenzy of burglaries and attacks threw the town into turmoil. There was no precedent for serial murder, so they did not know what or who they were looking for. Over 400 people were arrested and released, some tortured, some tried, none convicted. Citizens entertained a variety of theories but could not fathom the possibility that someone may be doing this for fun. Racist theories led to escalated racial tensions, locals campaigned for gratuitous lynching, police and city council turned against one another, and most servant women quit their jobs. Then, at the end of 1885, the violence ended.

To this day these events remain completely unsolved, but many theories prevail.

Nitty Gritty ATX spent 18 months scouring original sources, categorizing information and data, and transcribing original documents. We compiled this research into a five-part series on our podcast called Nitty Gritty ATX. We believe our research brings light to certain pieces of this puzzle that isn’t covered in the existing literature. Nitty Gritty ATX can be found on Spotify and Apple.

Adding all of our sources to this page is an ongoing project that is only just begun. If there is a particular citation you are looking for, please reach out to us to request it.

The transcript of the trial of James Phillips can be found in the Eula Phillips section.

The police transcript related to Susan Hancock’s murder can be found in her section.