Episode 3. Texas Servant Girl Murders
Description
In 1885, six African-American servants and two white society women were killed in Austin, Texas — almost all bludgeoned with an ax, dragged from their beds and raped. As quickly as the killings started, they stopped. No killer was ever identified. Desperate to find someone to blame, the authorities first rounded up hundreds of black men. Later, they pointed the finger at a white man, James Philips, whom they accused of murdering his teenage bride. Although Philips was eventually acquitted, the trial was akin to the OJ Simpson trial, with sensational, lurid details spilling out in court. After the furor and panic died down, so did the memory of the killings. Can the History Detectives solve these murders? They pore over the records and apply cutting-edge police techniques to determine who killed the servant girls of Austin.
Runtime
54 min 48 sec
Series
Subjects
Geography
Database
Films on Demand
Direct Link
Similar Films
Mechanical Monsters
A Rivalry Is Born
The Feud
America. Promised Land—Part 2
Age of Industry
Episode 4. Who Killed Jimmy Hoffa?
The American Industrial Revolution
Ellis Island, Part 2 of 3
The Progressive Era
Owning It All
Middlemarch. Episode 3
Modern Marvels. Household Wonders
Episode 1. Civil War Sabotage?
Liberty, Mother of Exiles
Fight No More Forever, The West, a Film by Stephen Ives