In 1985, a terrifying string of attacks in Austin, Texas erupted through the city, praying on the servant class.

An unknown attacker, or band of attackers, broke into the residences of servants across the city, striking many of them in the head with an axe.

The attacks carried on for months, with the police making little advancement, until the night of Christmas Eve saw two of the city's gentry struck down, forcing the authorities to act.

Cue a flock of nose-blown bloodhounds, a trio of fake pinker turns, and a mare with far too much on its plate.

This is dark histories, where the facts are worse than fiction.

Hello and welcome to Dark History's Season 5 Episode 9, I'm Ben, and I hope this episode finds you well.

I've got some fun news coming up about the monthly Patreon prize draw, but I'll come onto that in the second half of the podcast, because I think this episode's going to be a bit of a long one, so let's just jump straight into it, and I'll speak more about that news.

In the second half of the podcast, so yeah, let's do this episode, let's get into it. This is the Midnight Assassin.

In 1885, Austin, Texas, was a city on the up.

Half a century earlier, it had been nothing more than a small frontier settlement on the banks of the Colorado River, named Waterloo.

But in 1838, when the capital of Texas was moved from Houston, the town was transformed both in name and scope.

Waterloo became Austin, named in honor of Stephen F. Austin, the father of Texas, and the man who had bought the first group of families to the region in 1825,

enchanted by the offer of 1,200 acres per family, a 12 and a half cents per acre, and bolstered by the safety of the order that they were to kill the indigenous Caronkawa people on site, who Austin demonized heavily in propaganda as violent cannibals.

Prior to the relocating of the capital, the town's population fluctuated heavily.

At times, consistent of as few as 20 residents, living in a smattering of houses running along the banks of the river and lining a wide main strip of dirt road.

The roads of the town were muddy, travel was difficult and supplies limited.

Paired with the low productivity in the settlement due to the lack of sawmills, most houses were simple single-story log buildings, insulated with hay and moss.

In the evenings, the earlier settlers would sleep under umbrellas, shivering in the bitter cold as cattle snacked hungry on the walls of their houses.

In time, things improved, little by little, until after the relocation of the capital, largely chosen for its surrounding natural beauty and to encourage westward expansion, when Austin jumped up and became a town in hurry.

By 1840, the population boomed to 800, as carpenters, blacksmiths and labourers stimulated the industry and economy, vastly improving conditions in the town.

Plans were drawn up and a sprawling square crisscross of roads forming a grid that stretched from the banks of the river to the capital building in the north was sketched out with lots of promptly auctioned.

Not everyone agreed on the relocation, and over the next years attempts were made to bring the capital back to Houston, but all ended in failure.

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