George Hassell

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George Hassell
Born	George Jefferson Hassell (1888-07-00)July , 1888 Smithville, Texas, United States
Died	February 10, 1928(1928-02-10) (aged 39)
Cause of death	Execution by electric chair
Criminal penalty	Death
Details
Date	December 5, 1926
Location(s)	Farwell, Texas, United States
Target(s)	Family
Killed	9
Weapons	Ballpeen hammer Straight razor Stockings shotgun axe

George Jefferson Hassell (July, 1888 – February 10, 1928)^[1] was a convicted mass murderer who killed his wife and eight children (ranging in age between 1 and 21 years old) on December 5, 1926 in Farwell, Texas.

Family background[]

Hassell was born in Smithville, Texas, the youngest of seven children. After his brother died from being kicked in the head by a mule, he married his brother's widow, Susan Ferguson of Oklahoma.

Crime[]

On the night of December 5, 1926, Hassell and his wife argued over him raping Ferguson's under-aged daughter who was Hassells own niece as well as his step-daughter. Hassell proceeded to strike his wife in the face repeatedly with a ballpeen hammer. After the murder of his wife he moved between each member of the family's beds, using a straight razor and stockings to kill them, in order from youngest to oldest. He woke the two eldest boys and a scuffle ensued, ending with Hassell killing them with a shotgun and an axe. All of the bodies were then stored in the newly dug root cellar by the house.

The victims[]

• Susie, age 41
• Alton, age 21
• Virgil, age 15
• Maudie, age 13
• Russell, age 11
• David, age 7
• Johnnie, age 6
• Nannie Martha, age 4
• Samuel, age 22 months

Arrest, trial, and execution[]

Hassell claimed to the town he and his family were returning to Oklahoma, and sold all of their belongings in a large yard sale. During the auction a wagon ran over the sinkhole and aroused the suspicion of law enforcement. Soon afterward, Hassell attempted suicide but survived, and excavations revealed the remains in the root cellar. He also confessed the murder of the members of his other family in 1917, Marie Vogel and her 3 adoptive children, two of which were adopted from Colorado: a boy c. 8, a girl c. 5 and an infant c. 1. They were living under the family name "Baker" in Whittier, California. Hassell said that he killed his common-law wife and three children after an argument about him fighting in World War I.

After Hassell confessed, a short trial was convened, and Farwell and its sister city of Texico, New Mexico took on a carnival atmosphere.

At the time death row for men and the execution chamber were both at Huntsville Unit.^[2] On February 10, 1928,^[1] George Hassell became the 37th man to be put to death in the electric chair in the state of Texas.

Motive[]

Hassell had a long history of criminal behavior, including the murder of his first family (wife and children) in Whittier, California, embezzlement and military desertion.^[3] According to his testimony his initial act was a crime of passion, and he killed the children to protect himself. A psychiatric report at the time characterizes him as a sociopath. Allegedly, Hassell had been thinking about murder since he was 17 and before joining the army.

References[]