There is collection of newspaper articles that came out during the difficult year between the Christmas holiday of 1884 and 1885 when there were unknown and inexplicable senseless murders taking place towards females who were predominantly servants or domestic labor in Austin TX.
Another Outrage.
An unknown scoundrel. Scoundrel attempts to assault a plucky Swede girl.
Crime seems on the increase in the city and if the police do not exercise care and vigilance, there’s no telling where the epidemic will lead us to. There is scarcely a night that goes by without a record of an outrage and we are sorry that up to the present none of the offenders have been arrested. Last night, the worst and most disgraceful of all recent outrageous occurred when the premises of Mr Williams, of the Levinson and Philipson clothing house, forcibly entered. A most wanton assault attempted on a Swedish servant girl, employed by the family. Her room is somewhat isolated from the other apartments and access was had to it without much difficulty. The scoundrel, after quietly entering the room, made a determined and brutal assault on the poor girl, tearing the covering off her bed and several times striking her in the face. She made a gallant fight for her honor, however, and screamed and resisted successfully until the assistance of the family saved her from the outrage attempt. The Wretch who thus invaded Mr Williams residence and offered such insult and injury to his domestic, made good his escape and unfortunately for justice, can neither be captured nor identified. How long is this reign of nocturnal outrage, this epidemic of crime, to continue?
The Daily Sun, Austin TX, Monday, March 16, 1885.
