Female Serial Killers and Guns

This list is still incomplete.

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Gas gun

1938 – Mary Eleanor Smith – Pocatello, Idaho, USA

Grenade

1953 – Yoke Ying – Bentong area of Pahang, Malaysia

 

Machine-gun

1943 – Antonina Makarova – Lokot Autonomy (Russia)

1982 – Brigitte Mohnhaupt – Germany

Pistol (or presumably a pistol)

1883 – Mary Ganole – Flemingsburg, Kentucky, USA

1884 – Leonarda Martinez – Quetaro, Mexico

1884 – Angenette Haight – Dereuter, New York, USA

1887 – Amastaa Rubio de Pascadera – San Antonio, Zacatecas, Mexico
1896 – Fatima Ben Abdel Kader – Oran, Algeria
1899 – Bertha Lankford – Houston, Texas, USA

1900 – Molly Foxwater – Guthrie, Oklahoma, USA 
1905 – Anna Bergmann – Berlin, Germany

1905 – Frau (Ziesig) Manko – Lyck, West Prussia (Germany)

1908 – Grete Beier – Brand, Saxony, Germany

1911 – Jane Taylor Quinn – Chicago, Illinois, USA 
1912 – Mary T. Godau – Mobile, Alabama, USA

1914 – Minnie Wallace Walkup – Emporia, Kansas & Chicago, Illinois, USA

1915 – Frona McMahan – Sunburst, North Carolina, USA
1920 – Latvian Female Bolshevik Executioner – Soviet Russia

1924 – Euphemia Mondich – Detroit, Michigan, USA
1927 – Alma McClavey (Theede) – Memphis, Tennessee, USA

1938 – Lillie May Curtis – Center, Texas, USA

1938 – Maria Gomes de Oliveira, “Maria Bonita” – Pernambuco State, Brazil

1944 – Louise Peete – Pacific Palisades, California, USA

1954 – Winnie Ola Freeman (Winola Green) – Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

1958 – Putli Bai – Chati, India

1964 – Sharon Kinne – Independence, Missouri, USA
1966 – Margo Freshwater – Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, USA
1972 – Carolyn Elizabeth McCrary – Santa Barbara, California, USA

1974 – Carol Campbell – Santa Cruz, California, USA

1980 – Carol M. Bundy – Los Angeles, California, USA

1980 – Charlene Gallego – Sacramento, California, USA

1980 – Blanche Wright – New York, New York, USA

1982 – Bessie M. Pierson –Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
1982 – Judith Neelley – Fort Payne, Alabama, USA

1983 – Suzan Carson – San Francisco, California, USA
1983 - Charmaine Phillips – Durham, South Africa

1985 – Mary Lou Beets – Henderson County, Texas, USA

1989 – Sara Maria Aldrete – Matamoros, Mexico

1990 – Diane Spencer – Wayland, Michigan, USA

1976 – Patricia Allanson – Zebulon, Georgia, USA – handgun, (& rifle?)

1991 – Aileen Carol Wuornos – Port Orange, Florida, USA
1992 – Celeste Carrington – East Palo Alto, California, USA
2001 – Josephine Gray – Rockville, Maryland, USA

2001 – Brookey Lee West – Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
2003 – Raynella Dossett Leath – Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
2004 – Michelle Knotek – South Bend, Washington, USA
2004 – Kusuma Nain – Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, India

2004 – Caroline Peoples – Chicago, Illinois, USA
2004 – Angel Wright-Ford – Chicago, Illinois, USA

2007 – Shauntay Henderson – Kansas City, Missouri, USA
2008 – Betty Neumar – Augusta, Georgia, USA

2010 – Cristina Soledad Sánchez Esquivel – Mexico

2011 – Verónica Mireya Moreno Carreon – San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, Mexico

2011 – Nancy Manriquez Quintanar – Ecatepec, Mexico

2012 – Maria Guadalupe Jimenez Lopez – Monterrey, Mexico

2016 – Marinda Steyn – Krugersdorp, West Rand, Gauteng, Province, South Africa 

2018 – Mariam Abiola – Ilasamaja, Lagos, Nigeria

 

Rifle, Musket

1865 – Maria Oliviero – Cattanzaro, Italy

1891 – Mila – Požarevac, Serbia

1989 – Faye Della Copeland – Mooresville, Missouri, USA

2000 – Seema Parihar – Uttar Pradesh, India

2014 – Claudia Ochoa Felix – Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico

2011 – Verónica Mireya Moreno Carreon – San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, Mexico

2012 – Maria Guadalupe Jimenez Lopez – Mexico

2013 – Inessa Tarverdiyeva – Stavropol region, Russia

2015 – Melissa Margarita Calderón Ojeda – Bellavista, Baja California Sur, Mexico

2015 – Joselyn Alejandra Nino (Niño) – Lauro Villar, Matamoros, Mexico

2015 – Melissa Margarita Calderón Ojeda – Bellavista, Baja California Sur, Mexico

2016 – “Maria” (Filipino Hitwoman) – Phillipines

2016 – Yuri Patricia Sanchez – Monteria, Cordoba province, Colombia

2020 – Maria Guadalupe Lopez Esquivel – Aguililla, State of Michoachan, Mexico

Shotgun

1949 – Inez Brennan – Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

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Black Widows (2 victims: husband or “partner”)

Pistol
1875 – Minnie Taylor – Humboldt, Tennessee, USA
1881 – “Broncho Lou” (Mrs. Yankers) – Southern Colorado, USA

1888 – Martha Johnson – Stafford, Connecticut, USA
1899 – Bertha Lankford – Houston, Texas, USA

1903 – Minnie Cummings – St. Louis, Missouri, USA

1914 – Gertie Kidd-Williams – Oklahoma, USA

1915 – Frona McMahan (McMahan) – Sunburst, North Carolina, USA
1920 – Marie-Louise Victorine Bessarabo – Paris, France
1926 – Georgia Brown – Girard, Kansas, USA

1926 – Ora Lee Thacker – Hopkinsville, Kentucky, USA

1938 – Florence “Flossie” Hartman – Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, USA

1952 – Margie Zeglen – Texas, USA
1980 – Blanche Wright – New York, New York, USA

1988 – Hazel Allison – Clover, North Carolina, USA

1988 – Sandra Bridewell – Texas & Oklahoma, USA
1988 – Barbara Stager – Durham, North Carolina, USA

1992 – Frances Beasley Truesdale – South Carolina, USA

1993 – Jill Coit – Steamboat Springs, Colorado, USA

1986 – Terri Gilbert – Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

1996 – Della Dante Sutorius – Hamilton County, Ohio, USA

2001 – Dena Thompson – Yapton, West Sussex, England

2003 – Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong – Erie, Pennsylvania, USA

2008 – Betty Neumar – Augusta, Georgia, USA

2009 – Miriam Helmick – Whitewater, Florida, USA

2009 – Sonia Rios Risken – Lomita, California, USA
2011 – Angelina O'Mara – Sauk Rapids, Minnesota; Ashland, Wisconsin, USA

2012 – Catherine Symanowski – Red Level, USA
2014 – Rebecca Barker – Liberty Cty, Cherokee Cty., Texas, USA

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SEE: Female Serial Killer Collections: MASTER LIST

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[909-12/2/21]

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Esther Carlson, Suspected Serial Killer: California, 1931

FULL TEXT (Article 1 to 2): Los Angeles, Feb. 24.—(UP) The bodies of two men who died more than five years ago may be exhumed and examined for traces of poison, the district attorney’s office announced today, as the result of disclosures by one of two women held on suspicion of murder in connection with the strange death recently of August Lindstrom 82-year-old, retired lumberman.

Further action depends upon the coroner’s findings at an inquest today into Lindstrom’s death, Deputy District Attorney George Stahlman said Mrs. Esther Carlson, Lindstrom’s housekeeper, and Mrs. Anna Ericson, a neighbor, were arrested after poison was reported found in Lindstrom’s stomach after his body was exhumed from a grave in Williams, Ariz.

Yesterday Deputy Stahlman to the general hospital where she is recovering from the effects of poison similar to to that believed to have killed Lindstrom, Stahlman reported Mrs. Erickson told him that Mrs. Carlson cared for an aged man in Hemet, Calif., prior to the death in 1925 of  Mrs. Carlson’s husband. This man died, Mrs. Erickson said. Stahlman refused to reveal the man’s name, but said he would attempt to learn if Mrs. Carlson benefited from the estate.

The investigation into Lindstrom’s death began two weeks after he died in Lomita, Cal., when his son, P. H. Lindstrom, Chicago meat packer, learned that Mrs. Carlson had taken $2000 from a joint bank account she held with the aged man. Mrs. Erickson admitted receiving $300 of the money from Mrs. Carlson, it was reported.

Since their arrest the women have ceased to be friends. Mrs. Erickson attributes her present illness to coffee assertedly served to her by Mrs. Carlson after they were first questioned by authorities.

[“2 Women Face Murder Charge,” Oakland Tribune (Ca.), Feb. 24, 1931, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 2): Los Angeles, April 17. – Death was expected to triumph over the courts today as Mrs. Esther Carlson, who with Anna Erickson, is charged with the poisoning with August Lindstrom, lay in the county hospital critically ill with pulmonary tuberculosis.

The two women are scheduled to face trial on the murder charges April 30, but because of Mrs. Carlson’s critical state, Deputy District Attorney George Stahlman was to attempt to obtain a confession from her today.

Lindstrom died February 9, and relatives removed the body to Williams, Ariz., for internment. A few days later, Chicago relatives instituted an inquiry to discover what had become of the man’s bank account. It was then discovered that $2000 had been withdrawn from it by Mrs. Carlson a few days after his death.

A coroner’s inquest then showed Lindstrom’s body was saturated with arsenic. Inasmuch as both of the women had given him food before his death, they were questioned and a murder charge was placed against them when a Long Beach druggist identified Mrs. Carlson and Mrs. Ericskon as two women who had tried to purchase arsenic from him.

[“Death Likely To Free Woman From Charges Mrs. Esther Carlson, Accused in Poison Case, Believed Dying,” Oakland Tribune (Ca.), Apr. 17, 1931, p. 30]

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Sam Gnerre, “Who really killed August Lindstrom?” South Bay History, April 26, 2014

http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history/2014/04/26/who-really-killed-august-lindstrom/

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[2234-12/31/20]

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Clarice Spurlock, Indiana Suspected Serial Killer - 1949

FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 4): Mrs. Arleigh Spurlock, 30, of Evansville was arrested last night at Memphis, Tenn., and is being returned to Evansville to face a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of her mother, Mrs. Winter Dearing of Huntingburg. Her husband was with her in Memphis at the time.

An affidavit was issued at Evansville late yesterday charging that Mrs. Spurlock, the former Clarice Bearing of Huntingburg, administered lethal doses of arsenic to her 56-year old mother. Mrs. Dearing died last November 16 at the Welborn Memorial Hospital in Evansville after a brief illness at the home of her daughter in Evansville. Mr. Dearing died five months later, on April 5, at the Deaconess Hospital. Like Mrs. Dearing, he had also become ill while staying at his daughter’s home.

Police became suspicious due to the unusual circumstances of the two deaths, and started an investigation piled up with evidence that led Vandenburgh County Sheriff Frank McDonald yesterday to seek a murder warrant against Mrs. Spurlock.

Sheriff McDonald some time ago obtained an order for the exhumation of Mrs. Dearing’s body. Disinterment took place on August 3 at Huntingburg’s Fairmount cemetery, where both Mrs. Dearing and her husband were buried. The Vanderburgh county sheriff, State Police and an Evansville pathologist were present when the body was taken to the Finke Funeral Home in Huntingburg for examination. Later the body was re-buried in Fairmount cemetery.

Sheriff McDonald announced yesterday that results of toxicological examinations made at the Indiana University medical center by Dr. R. E. Farney, revealed conclusively that Mrs. Dearing died of arsenic poisoning. He received the official report yesterday afternoon.

Dr. Farney stated that he believes a fatal concentration of arsenic was administered to Mrs. Dearing within approximately ten days prior to her death, and that probably a second dose was given shortly before her death.

According to the Evansville police, Mrs. Dearing went to Evansville last September after her daughter had asked her to come to her home and help take care of her husband, Arleigh Spurlock. Dr. R. J. Rossow, who practiced medicine in Huntingburg before going to Evansville, was the attending physician. He has reported that Arleigh Spurlock complained of a numbness in his legs, and frequently vomited. Dr. Rossow was called to see Mrs. Dearing on November 8 after she complained of dizziness and nausea. During a call on November 10, he told Sheriff McDonald, he noted tenderness in the area of the gall bladder and Mrs. Dearing seemed to be suffering from gastritis. The doctor recommended that she be removed to a hospital. He called again on November 13 and asked that she be taken to a hospital. He called again on Nov. 15 and found Mrs. Dearing in such a serious condition that he threatened to quit the case unless the patient was hospitalized.

She was admitted to the hospital at noon on Nov. 16 and died at 4 o’clock that afternoon. She appeared to have suffered facial paralysis just prior to her death, hospital physicians said.

Cpl. Don Smiley of the State Police, who is assigned to the Jasper post, interviewed Dr. Rossow at great length on Mrs. Dearing’s death. Dr. Rossow told the officer he considered the death “most peculiar” and insisted upon an autopsy, but this was refused by Mrs. Spurlock. The doctor then signed the death certificate giving the cause of death as agranulocyto­sis leucopenia but admitted he was not positive beyond the question of a doubt.

Mr. Dearing came to the Spurlock home last February and a few days later, on February 17, he also became ill. Dr. Rossow was called to the Spurlock home on Feb. 17 and found Mr. Dearing with much the same symptoms that Mrs. Dearing complained of prior to her death which occurred less than two months later, on April 5. He failed to respond to the treatment and was admitted to the Deaconess Hospital on Feb 22.

Sheriff McDonald said he learned that five days before his death, Mr. Dearing made a will in which he left his entire estate to his daughter, Mrs. Clarice Spurlock. The will was witnessed by Dr. Rossow and Dolph Vandeveer. Mrs. Spurlock was made executrix of the estate with authority to dispose of the property as she saw fit. The value of of the estate is indicated at about $20,000, Sheriff McDonald said.

The will does not mention the dead couple’s son and only other child, Bernard Seaton Dearing, 31. He is now serving a two-to-fourteen year sentence in the Indiana State Prison for forgery. He was arrested in Huntingburg shortly after his father’s funeral and was convicted in the Dubois circuit court at Jasper. His wife and two small children live at Princeton.

Several peculiar incidents in which Mrs. Spurlock was involved set off investigations in Huntingburg. The garage at the Dearing house was burned on May 8, shortly after Mrs. Spurlock had been seen there by neighbors. This precipitated an investigation by State Police and the state fire marshall’s office.

Less than a week later, on May 13, another strange incident attracted police attention to the Dearing home. At 8 o’clock that evening, a next-door neighbor, William Kaetzel, received a phone call from Arleigh Spurlock in Evansville. Mr. Spurlock said his wife had gone to the Dearing home in Huntingburg that day and he was worried because she had not returned.

Mr. Kaetzel found the Spurlock auto in the driveway of the Dearing home, which was dark. He then phoned Chief of Police Gus Mayo. The police chief flashed a light through a window and found Mrs. Spurlock to be unconscious. He then called Dr. Fielding Williams, who ordered her removed to the to the Stork Hospital. The police chief reported that he found two books of matches on the floor. One of Mrs. Spurlock’s slippers was about three feet from the foot on which she had been wearing it. The door of a nearby closet was open, and Mrs. Spurlock was lying in such a manner that her feet were in the closet, the Huntington police chief said. He and Dr. Williams looked through the woman’s purse for dope. They found an empty pill box which Spurlock said later had contained “rest pills.” In the kitchen they also found a glass about half full of water. Mrs. Spurlock was released from the hospital the next day. She said that two men grabbed her after she entered the darkened house and that one of them had jabbed her with a needle.

Mr. and Mrs. Dearing were liked and respected by their fellow citizens in Huntingburg. Mr. Dearing, a native of Nebo, Ky., has been employed since 1920 as a railroader and was a jovial and pleasant person. He was a big man, nearly six feet tall and weighing close to 200 pounds. He was a deacon and elder in the Christian Church at Huntingburg, and belonged to the Masons, Odd Fellows and Brotherhood of Railroad Trainsmen.

Mrs. Dearing’s mother, Mrs. Sarah Jane Chastain, lives in Detroit.

[“Poison Suspect Found In Memphis; Arsenic Death Of Mother Blamed On Mrs. Spurlock,” The Dubois County Daily Herald (Jasper, Indiana), Aug. 20, 1949, Page 1]

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FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 4): EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Investigation of a Huntingburg, Ind., woman's arsenic death spread yesterday to the death of her husband and the illness of her son-in-law.

Mrs. Clarice Surplock, a buxom Evansville brunette, is held in Memphis, Tenn., charged with murdering her mother, Mrs. Eunice Irene Dearig, 56, of Huntingburg.

~ To Exhume Body ~

R. Owen "Williams, Vanderburgh county prosecutor, announced that the body of Mrs. Spurlock's., father, Winter Bearing, 60, will be exhumed early this week.

Sheriff Frank McDonald also said he will ask Mrs. Spurlock's ailing husband. Arleigh Spurlock, 39, to submit to toxicological tests.

The sheriff said he will go to Memphis today to bring the attractive 27-year-old Mrs. Spurlock back to face the first degree murder charge filed in Mrs. Dearing's death.

Spurlock was held along with his wife Saturday after they were arrested by Memphis detectives." He was released later.

He told Memphis officers that he and his wife were on their way to Hot Springs, Ark., for a vacation. Their attorney added that Spurlock was to have been treated at Hot Springs for arthritis.

Spurlock is an instructor in an Evansville business college. He and his wife live in a new suburban section at the edge of Evansville. Both are natives of Huntingburg.

Sheriff McDonald said both Mrs. Spurlock’s parents died here while visiting in their daughter’s home. The sheriff signed, an affidavit charging her with murder after toxicological tests showed Mrs. Dearing died from poisoning last Nov. 16. Dearing died last April 5.

McDonald said he began investigating last May after, learning of the strange illnesses that led to the Dearing deaths. He declared Spurlock’s health had been growing worse until the investigation began and he accused Mrs. Spurlock of trying to block his inquiry.

The sheriff said the toxicologist’s report showed six grains of arsenic in Mrs. Dearing's body.

[“Arsenic Death Probe Spreads,” The Post-Standard (Syracuse, N. Y.), Aug. 22, 1949, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT (Article 3 of 4): PRINCETON, Ind. —  Mrs. Clarice Spurlock was free today of charges she killed her father and mother with poison.

The 28-year-old Evansville housewife was acquitted last night of first degree murder in the death of her father, Winter Dearing of Huntingburg, Ind. A second charge then was dismissed for insufficient evidence on motion of the prosecution.

Mrs. Spurlock remained in custody overnight because of an arson charge against her in Dubois circuit court at Jasper. Her attorneys said they would try to have bond set so she might be released pending trial on that charge.

A 12-man jury deliberated only 35 minutes before returning a verdict yesterday.

Special .prosecutor Owen Williams of Evansville had asked for the death penalty in his closing argument.

The defense contended there Was no evidence Mrs. Spurlock ever possessed, any arsenic, the poison which killed her parents. They asked the jurors not to ''guess" her into the electric chair or life imprisonment and said the case had been built up for political reasons.

Dearing died in an Evansville hospital last spring after visiting his daughter. Mrs. Dearing died  in the fall of 1948 under similar circumstances.

The state presented 48 witnesses while the defense rested without presenting any evidence.

The arson charge involves burning of the Dearing's garage at Huntingburg in 1947. The state tried to bring the arson case into the murder trial but testimony along that line was ruled out.

[“Woman Freed In Poisoning Of Parents,” The Pampa Daily News (Tx.), Mar 31, 1950, p. 1]

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FULL TEXT (Article 4 of 4): Princeton, Ind., March 23 — (INS) — An Evansville pathologist testified today that he believed Winter Dearing, of Huntingburg, died of arsenic poison.

Dr. A. W. Ratcliffe, pathologist at Deaconess hospital, Evansville, was a witness in the murder trial of Mrs. Clarice Spurlock, 28, of Evansville, in Gibson circuit court.

Mrs. Spurlock is charged with the murder of Mr. Dearing, her father, and the state also contends she fatally poisoned her mother, Mrs. Eunice Dearing, likewise with arsenic, and attempted to kill her husband, Arleigh Spurlock, with arsenic.

Dr. Ratcliffe participated in the examination of organs of Mr. Dearing after his body was exhumed from a cemetery at Huntingburg.

The witness said the internal organs ot the victim showed degeneration of tissues from a toxic similar to arsenic.

“The brain of Mr. Dearing showed traces of heavy metal poisoning similar to lead or arsenic.”

Dr. Ratcliffe said:

"The brain of Mr. Dearing showed traces of heavy metal poisoning similar to lead or arsenic.” James E. Lopp, of Evansville, defense attorney, slashed vigorously at the testimony of the Evansville pathologist and tried in vain to force him to admit that the poison might have entered the body through arsenic formerly used in embalming, from soil at the grave water seepage or from paint on the coffin.

Dr. Ratcliffe said:

“How could arsenic from any of these sources have entered the internal organs?”

[“Doctor Believes Dearing Died of Arsenic Poison,” The Dubois County Daily Herald (Jasper, Indiana), Mar. 23, 1950, p. 1]

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Chronology:

Nov. 16, 1948 – Eunice Irene Dearing, 56, mother, death.

Apr. 5, 1949 – Winter Dearing, 60, father, death.

May 8, 1949 – Dearing’s garage burned, arson suspected.

May 13 – Mrs. Spulock found unconscious (strange incident).

May (ca) 1949 – Arleigh Spurlock, 39, attempted murder suspected (ill for months)

Aug. 3, 1949 – autopsy

Aug. 19, 1949 – Clarice Spurlock arrested

Mar. 31, 1950 – acquitted on first degree murder charges in mother’s death (lack of sufficient evidence)

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MORE: Female Serial Killers & Arson

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[1904-2/17/19; 2674-3/3/22]
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Kate and Kit Kelly, Female Members of the Kelly Serial Killer Family – Kansas 1887

FULL TEXT: Wichita, Kan., Dec. 25 – A man who has arrived her from “No Man’s Land” confirms the reports of wholesale murders by the Kelly family, who have disappeared. The family lived in a one-story hut, with a barn a short distance away. An investigation showed that the house had a cellar, and in this was the decomposed body of a man. This body lay almost beneath a trap which had been built in the floor. In one corner of the cellar were found two other bodies, both so far decomposed as to be unrecognizable.

Beside these Mr. Gregg says four bodies were found buried beneath the stable, one of which was that of a woman. Lying alongside of the barn, buried at a depth of not over three feet, was unearthed the remains of a man. Almost two feet away was a second body. At the corner of the barn was buried the bodies of the bodies of a third man and woman.

The bodies were taken from their resting place and given burial. Nothing has been heard of the Kellys since they moved. There was a feeling. however, that with their ill-gotten gains they have gone to old Mexico.

[“Eleven Bodies Found. Work of the Kelly Family in Rivalry of the Benders – What Was Found at Their Deserted Homestead.”]

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FULL TEXT: A special from Fort Elliott, Tex, Jan 2, says: The last act in one of the bloodiest of tragedies has closed, and the Kelly family have quickly met the vengeance they deserved. Two or three weeks ago the whole country was startled by a report of wholesale butchery and robbery near Oak City, in “No Mans Land Land,” said to have been committed by the Kelly family who lived in a dwelling frequented by travellers. The visitors at Kelly halfway house were cattlemen, drummers and other men who had money and it was this fact that led to the murders.

About the middle of December Kelly’s house was shut up, and no one could tell what had become of the inmates. Soon came inquiry from a Chicago firm for a missing drummer and he was traced to the Kelly house but no farther. A search of the premises led to the discovery of his body in the cellar. There were also five other bodies there, and four bodies were found buried beneath the stable, one of which was that of a woman about 50 years of age.

In the woodshed was found a blunt ax upon which were plainly visible particles of flesh and human hair.

When information of the ghastly find was brought to Beaver City. It was recollected that the Kelly family consisting of the old man William, aged 55 years; Bill, a son of 20; Kate, the old man’s wife, and “Kit,” the 18-year-old daughter, had a few days before passed through town en route as they said to New Mexico. They were driving a span of horses and leading four others and seemed to have plenty of money.

A posse of twenty citizens at once started in pursuit. The trail led along the north bank of Palo Duro Creek. It was found that the family had changed their course south toward Wheeler, Texas. About noon on Thursday they were seen far ahead. They at once left the wagon and mounted the horses which they had been leading. For two hours there was a hot chase and then the horse ridden by Mrs. Kelly stumbled and fell. No stop was made on account of this incident and about a half hour later the vigilante were near enough to the son and daughter to shoot. A cry of halt brought them to a stop but the old man who rode a better animal kept on his way.

Upon coming up with Bill and Kit, the girl began at once begging for mercy saying she “never killed anybody.” Bill said: “ Oh! Shut up; it isn’t any use Kit, you’ve got to go with me. You know you had just as much to do about it as I.” Ropes were speedily procured, and  the two were bound. One of the party climbed a tree and slipped two ropes over one of the outstretched branches at the ends of which two running nooses had been made. The murderers were then placed beneath them and the ropes adjusted about their necks. True hangman style they were told they could pray or make any statement they desired. There was no such thing as repentance in either of them.

“Let her go,” said Bill Kelly, “I’ve had my share of fun.”

“Shall I tell?” half whispered the girl to her brother.

“No, --- --- them, let them find out for themselves,” was the reply.

In a moment the two bodies were hanging in mid air. The ropes were tied to an adjoining sapling and the bodies were left hanging while the posse rode on after old man, Kelly who by this time had disappeared from sight. His trail was easily followed as the horse he rode had been shod only in front. After three hours of terrific riding the party came near enough to the old men to order him to halt. This refused to do when a shot was fired the ball spinning past his head. Still he kept on when another shot was fired and the old man stopped his horse in an instant the band surrounded him and dismounted.

The leader of the vigilante told him that he had but a short time to live, and anything be had to say would be heard. The old man commenced talking in almost inaudible voice and made a brief statement about as follows:

“I moved to Kansas from the mountains Pennsylvania in 1869, and lived at different points along the southern border until I decided to move to No Man’s Land settled 25 miles from Beaver City, and went into the cattle business. Soon after I opened a sort of tavern. Several persons disappeared while passing along this trail but as to their death I have nothing to say. A good deal of talk of foul play was made and I determined to move on to south Texas. This is all I have to say.”

A few words were spoken by members of the band aside when preparations were at once made to hang him. In a few minutes his body was swinging in the air. He was then let down and asked to confess his crime. This he did.

He and all the members of his family were equally guilty. He said they had killed and robbed nine men and two women. He told where the money was hidden that had been taken and gave up what he had on his person. He professed not to know where the murdered persons came from. He was again swung up and left to hang. On his person was found a gold watch bearing the initials “T. A. T.” Taylor was the name of one of the missing men.

[“Foul Wretches. – An Extraordinary Family of Murderers and Thieves Wiped Out. – A Fearful Fate – A Party of Indignant Citizens of No Man’s Land Hands Them Over to the Devil. – Are They The Benders?” The National Police Gazette (New York, N. Y.), Jan. 21, 1888, p. 7]

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3 Serial Killer Clans in 19^th Century Kansas:

1873 – Kate Bender (“Bloody Benders”) – Cherry Vale, Kansas, USA

1887 – Kate & Kit Kelly (Kelly Family) – No Man’s Land, Kansas, USA
1897 – Nancy Staffleback & 2 sons, Ed, George – Galena, Kansas, USA

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For similar cases, see: Female Serial Killer Bandits

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For more cases of this category, see: Female Serial Killers of 19th Century America

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Links to more Serial Killer Couples

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More cases: Female Serial Killers Executed

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[2809-12/28/20]

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