19th Century Serial Killers

[Mayerling]

Walter Horsford
Frederick Deeming
Catherine Flannagan
Margaret Higgins
Louisa Jane Taylor
Henri Pineux ("Count Henri de Tourville")
Roland P. Molineux

[Mayerling]

I wonder if the list should also include such wackos like John Wesley Hardin and William Bonney ("Billy the Kid"), both of whom are listed as old West gunslingers - but who are both killing men by the same method all the time: shooting.

[Mayerling]

Forgot Boston child murderer Thomas Piper.

[sdreid]

Newton's The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers does list some wild west types including Bonney and Hardin.

[Mayerling]

Thanks Stan.

[sdreid]

NP Jeff

Anna Zwanziger
Joseph Briggen
Lucretia Cannon

I have 20 more when I get the time.

[sdreid]

Thomas Carr
George Caraway
Williamina Dean
Martin Dumollard
Gessina Gottfried

[sdreid]

Marie Jeanneret
Helene Jegado
Pierre Lacenaire
Sarah Jane Newman
Charles Peace

[sdreid]

Pierre Voirbo
Thomas Wainright
Alfred Warder
Margaret Waters
Edmund de la Pommerais
Edward Pritchard
Jean Raies
Stephen Richards
Sarah Jane Richards
Lydia Newman

[sdreid]

Sorry-Should be Sarah Jane Robinson not Richards.

[Mayerling]

Laceniare?

I am not sure about Pierre Laceniare - he is recalled for one murder and an attempted murder that got botched (which was of a bank messanger - it was a murder for profit). He did supposedly kill a man (a nephew of the writer Benjamin Constant) in a duel about 1830 but it is a duel.

Similarly the murder of Jean Kinck, his son, and then his wife and other children by Jean Baptiste Troppman is a murder for profit, and I hesitate to consider that too - although there were time gaps in the Kinck murders.

I am glad you included Doctor Warder - the forgotten Victorian poison killer, who was once an expert witness (for Dr. Palmer, of all people) at a homicide trial.

Voirbo is also confusing - The murder of Bodace (a well-planned one if ever there was one) was for gain. He is responsible for the death (from delerium tremens) of an alcoholic suspect (Jefer?), but that killing was not planned. There is a possibility he killed a young woman at a cottage, but that has never been firmly established. His record of multiple killings is reminiscent of John Alexander Dickman - convicted of killing John Nisbet on that Newcastle train, and suspected in the death of Mrs. Luard and that moneylender.

Pritchard too is confusing. He certainly poisoned his wife and mother in law
(for which he hanged in 1865) but that was in one long instance. He probably also killed a maid he may have gotten pregnant in 1863. But the methods are different (poison for the wife and in-law; drug the maid and let her burn to death or die of smoke inhalation).

One might also consider secret poisoner (and hanged as a wife murderer) Eugene Chantrelle, who may have killed an earlier acquaintance with a doctored luncheon in the 1870s.

A late 19th Century practitioner who may have branched out and offered his ideas to others was Arthur J. Monson of the Ardlamont Mystery. Check out the essay on him by Roughead (as well as the essay on Chantrelle).

Jeff

[sdreid]

Also to my regret, I meant Lydia Sherman not Newman.

[sdreid]

All those I named and more are in the aforementioned The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers.

[Guest]

I would include murders for profit, at least in some cases. It's not always clear the exact motivation for some murders. Anyways, if Burke and Hare are included, so must be the London Burkers: John Bishop and Thomas Williams. Some others that may not have been mentioned are Mary Ann Britland, Jane Scott, Sarah Dazley, Jessie King. Also Ada Chard-Williams and her husband William, although their exact number of victims is unknown.

[Madam Red]

New updates!

Jack the Ripper
H. H. Holmes
Amelia Dyer
Mary Ann Cotton
Jane Toppan
George Chapman
Belle Gunness
Joseph Vacher
Servant Girl Annihilator
William Palmer
Johann Otto Hoch
The Bloody Benders
Thomas Neill Cream
Thug Behram
Delphin LaLaurie
Burke and Hare
Catherine Wilson
Joseph Philipe
W. H. Theodore Durrant
Thames Torso Murderer
Amelia Sach
Annie Walters
Jesse Pomeroy
Walter Horsford
Frederick Deeming
Catherine Flannagan
Margaret Higgins
Louisa Jane Taylor
Henri Pineux ("Count Henri de Tourville")
Roland P. Molineux
Thomas Piper
Anna Zwanziger
Joseph Briggen
Lucretia Cannon
Thomas Carr
George Caraway
Williamina Dean
Martin Dumollard
Gessina Gottfried
Marie Jeanneret
Helene Jegado
Pierre Lacenaire
Sarah Jane Newman
Charles Peace
Pierre Voirbo
Thomas Wainright
Alfred Warder
Margaret Waters
Edmund de la Pommerais
Edward Pritchard
Jean Raies
Stephen Richards
Sarah Jane Robinson
Lydia Sherman
John Wesley Hardin
William Bonney ("Billy the Kid")
John Bishop
Thomas Williams
Mary Ann Britland
Jane Scott
Sarah Dazley
Jessie King
Ada Chard-Williams
William Williams
Jean Baptiste Troppman
Eugene Chantrelle


Thanks everyone for contributing!

Forgot Boston child murderer Thomas Piper.

Boston, you say? I live in the area, although I've never heard of him before. Definitely going to have to look into this....

All those I named and more are in the aforementioned The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers.

My friend lives quite a bit away, so I'm still waiting for the return of my copy. XD

I am not sure about Pierre Laceniare - he is recalled for one murder and an attempted murder that got botched (which was of a bank messanger - it was a murder for profit). He did supposedly kill a man (a nephew of the writer Benjamin Constant) in a duel about 1830 but it is a duel.

Similarly the murder of Jean Kinck, his son, and then his wife and other children by Jean Baptiste Troppman is a murder for profit, and I hesitate to consider that too - although there were time gaps in the Kinck murders.

I am glad you included Doctor Warder - the forgotten Victorian poison killer, who was once an expert witness (for Dr. Palmer, of all people) at a homicide trial.

Voirbo is also confusing - The murder of Bodace (a well-planned one if ever there was one) was for gain. He is responsible for the death (from delerium tremens) of an alcoholic suspect (Jefer?), but that killing was not planned. There is a possibility he killed a young woman at a cottage, but that has never been firmly established. His record of multiple killings is reminiscent of John Alexander Dickman - convicted of killing John Nisbet on that Newcastle train, and suspected in the death of Mrs. Luard and that moneylender.

Pritchard too is confusing. He certainly poisoned his wife and mother in law
(for which he hanged in 1865) but that was in one long instance. He probably also killed a maid he may have gotten pregnant in 1863. But the methods are different (poison for the wife and in-law; drug the maid and let her burn to death or die of smoke inhalation).

One might also consider secret poisoner (and hanged as a wife murderer) Eugene Chantrelle, who may have killed an earlier acquaintance with a doctored luncheon in the 1870s.

A late 19th Century practitioner who may have branched out and offered his ideas to others was Arthur J. Monson of the Ardlamont Mystery. Check out the essay on him by Roughead (as well as the essay on Chantrelle).

Jeff

Thank you for your fascinating input, Jeff. <3 I really appreciate it.

I'm probably going to go through these names over the weekend and organize the list properly- ABC order, timeline, victim #, confirmed, suspected, or unknown.