TEXAS “BLUEBEARD.”

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 16, 29 October 1938, Page 9

TEXAS “BLUEBEARD.”

SHOCKING ATROCITIES. PETS FED TO ALLIGATORS. NEW YORK, October 13. A Texas “Bluebeard’’ frequently fed livo cats and dogs to his five pet alligators. He was Joe Ball, proprietor of a roadhouse at Elmendorf, near San Antonio. He shot himself 10 days ago, as the police were about to question him concerning the disappearance of six women. “I know Joe killed one woman, because he told me so,” said Ball’s third wife, Dolores, to the police. “Wle often visited her grave in the sand dunes.” The police aro hampered in their search for the body, because hundreds of tons of sand have shifted since the third Mrs Ball last visited the grave, She has a long scar on her face, from a wound inflicted by Ball. The woman said that Ball used to collect money from customers who desired to see him feed live cats and dogs to his alligators at tho back of liis tavern. A previous witness had told the police that lie surprised Ball in the act of carrying the limp body of a woman toward the alligator pit.