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For other people named Joe Ball, see Joe Ball (disambiguation).
Joe Ball
Born
Joseph Douglas Ball

(1896-01-07)January 7, 1896
San Antonio, Texas, U.S. [1]
DiedSeptember 24, 1938(1938-09-24) (aged 42) [1]
Elmendorf, Texas, U.S.
Cause of death Suicide by gunshot
Other namesThe Alligator Man
The Butcher of Elmendorf
The Bluebeard of South Texas
Spouse
Dolores Goodwin
​
( m. 1937)​
Details
Victims2–20
Span of crimes
1937–1938
CountryUnited States
State(s)Texas

Joseph Douglas Ball (January 7, 1896 [2] [1] – September 24, 1938) [1] was an American murderer and suspected serial killer, sometimes referred to as the "Alligator Man", [3] the "Butcher of Elmendorf" [2] and the " Bluebeard of South Texas". [3]

Background

1920 U.S. census with the Ball family on lines 37–45. Joe D. Ball is on line 37.

Joseph Douglas Ball was born in San Antonio to Elizabeth Hart ( née Lawler; 1868–1922) and Frank Xavier Ball (1868–1937), a rich farm owner later turned general store owner, as the second of eight children. [2] [4] Joseph Ball's brother, Raymond Ball, was the first mayor of Elmendorf, Texas. [2]

After serving on the frontlines in Europe during World War I, Ball started his career as a bootlegger, providing illegal liquor to those who could pay for it. After the end of Prohibition, he opened a saloon called the Sociable Inn in Elmendorf, Texas. He built a pond that contained five alligators and charged people to view them, especially during feeding time; the food consisted mostly of live cats and dogs. [2]

Murders

After a while, women in the area were reported missing, including barmaids. When two Bexar County deputy sheriffs went to question him in 1938, Ball pulled a handgun from his cash register and killed himself with a bullet through the heart (as noted on his death certificate by the coroner, but some sources report that he shot himself in the head). [3]

A handyman who conspired with Ball, Clifford Wheeler, admitted to helping Ball dispose of the bodies of two of the women he had killed. [3] Wheeler described how Ball had killed barmaid Minnie Gotthardt in June 1937, and, later on, fellow barmaid Hazel Brown, also known as "Schatzie", after she fell for a regular customer at the bar and wanted to stop working for Ball. Wheeler led them to the remains of Hazel Brown and Minnie Gotthard. He was imprisoned for 2 years as an accessory to murder, whereas the alligators were donated to the San Antonio Zoo. [2] In a 1957 interview, Ball's wife Dolores "Buddy" Goodwin (whose temporary disappearance had been previously attributed to a murder by Ball) claimed that no actual women were thrown into the alligator pit, saying that there were only ever 2 murders. Ball's nephew, Richard "Bucky" Ball Jr., attributes the crimes to violent trauma experienced during his World War I service.

Few written sources from the era could verify Ball's crimes. Newspaper editor Michael Hall investigated the story in depth in 2002 and wrote on his findings for Texas Monthly. [2]

In popular culture

The film Eaten Alive by Tobe Hooper was inspired by Ball. The film features a man named Judd, a serial killer who runs a hotel and disposes of his victims' bodies by feeding them to a Nile crocodile. [5]

Ball was referenced in Bones in the fifth episode of season eight, "The Method in the Madness".

Macabre wrote a song called "Joe Ball Was His Name" on their album Carnival of Killers.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Texas Deaths, United States census, 1890–1976; Texas; roll 4030421, page 2025, line cn 40253. Retrieved on February 14, 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Hall, Michael (July 1, 2002). "Two Barmaids, Five Alligators, and the Butcher of Elmendorf". Texas Monthly. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d "Drag Texas Dunes for Alligator Man's victims". The Evening Herald. Rock Hill, S.C. October 19, 1938. Archived from the original on November 25, 2015. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
  4. ^ "United States Census, 1920". FamilySearch.
  5. ^ "Deep Red Horror Handbook".

External links

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