19th Century Serial Killers

[JuliaH]

Pierre Rivière?

[Mayerling]

Totally amazed how many women are on this list.

You might also add

Harry Hayward of Minnesota - who murdered his misress Kitty Ging with two assistants, and in his confession mentioned several other previous killings that had not been solved.

Samuel Dougal, who killed one definite victim in 1899 (and was tried for it in 1903 and convicted). He may have killed two earlier wives in the 1880s.

Dr. Milton Bowers of San Francisco - supposedly (he was acquitted)killed three wives.

Robert Butler, who killed a wife, husband, and child (but was acquitted after a remarkable defense of himself in court) and later killed a man he was trying to rob.

John Owens, who slaughtered a family of a blacksmith in 1870.

Thomas Fury (Great name that!) who killed his family in 1865 or 66 - he wanted to get his figure into the Tussaud Chamber of Horrors.

Emmanuel Bartholemey - made a career of killing policemen and political opponents in France in Britain, fighting the last known duel in England (which he probably fixed against his opponent). He ended beng hanged in 1855 for killing a wealthy merchant (who he was possibly trying to blackmail) and a retired soldier who tried to stop him. Reading about him he comes across as a total villain. He had one defender: Victor Hugo writes a chapter honoring him as a French patriot who "was misunderstood" by the British in the novel Les Miserables. If one really thinks highly of Hugo, reading that idiotic chapter reduces the novelist's stature quite a bit.

Jeff

[Versa]

Ratcliff Highway murders?

Might be considered a spree killer, I don't know much about the case until I get the book from mum

nice list btw and worth a bump!

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

Maria van der Linden (or Van der Linden or Vanderlinden) murdered by poison 16 to 27 people (sources vary) between 1880 and 1883 in Leiden, Holland. Another 45 - 50 victims survived.

Cool name.

Wolf.

[Abby Normal]

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!





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





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





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.

Totally amazed how many women are on this list.

[DVV]

Then I don't know this book, thanks Stan.

[sdreid]

I don't know for sure about translation but the author is Douglas Starr.

[DVV]

An English book or a translation from French ? Who's the author ?

Amitiés

[sdreid]

Joseph Vacher, the French Ripper.

I saw a new book at Borders the other day about this case entitled The Killer of Little Shepherds.

[DVV]

Joseph Vacher, the French Ripper.

[sdreid]

Lee Ah Bow aka Quimbo Appo killed 3 in New York 1859-1876

Antonio Boggia killed 4 in Italy 1849-1859

[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.

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.

[sdreid]

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

[sdreid]

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