Man with the Killer Smile: The Life and Crimes of a Serial Mass Murderer by Mitchel P. Roth (review)

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• Man with the Killer Smile: The Life and Crimes of a Serial Mass Murderer by Mitchel P. Roth
• James Presley

Man with the Killer Smile: The Life and Crimes of a Serial Mass Murderer. By Mitchel P. Roth. ( Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2022. Pp. 352. Notes, appendix, bibliography, index, illustrations.)

Serial killers tend to choose special types of victims, who are usually strangers. Mass murderers prefer crowds and increased body counts. George Jefferson Hassell (1888–1928), the subject of Mitchel P. Roth's latest book, Man with the Killer Smile: The Life and Crimes of a Serial Mass Murderer, fits into both categories as well as a third: familicide. ("Killer smile" alludes to Hassell's superficial charm he used on women.) He killed thirteen—two wives and eleven stepchildren. In the annals of true crime, Hassell is part of a rare subset of killers. In our era of AR-15s, terrorists, and frequent atrocities, these long forgotten but important crimes stand out. Just as study of a rare but malignant disease may shed light on it and other [End Page 362] disorders, so may this complex case of a serial mass killer who specialized in families offer insight into criminal behavior on several levels.

The basic facts are chilling. In Whittier, California, in 1917, Hassell killed Marie Vogel, his common law wife, and her three children, one from a previous marriage and two adopted. He strangled all four with his bare hands and stockings. He buried them under the house where the bodies remained undiscovered for years. In Farwell, Texas, near New Mexico, in 1926, Hassell's slayings did gain scrutiny and sent him to Death Row. He killed nine: his wife Susan–his older brother's widow whom he had married–and eight of her children. He used a variety of means to snuff out their lives, all up close and personal. He bashed in the skull of his wife with a hammer and dispatched others with an axe, a razor, his hands, and a shotgun. As in California, he buried all nine in a common pit and lied about their absences. In each instance, he killed the mother first and then her children, ages ranging from two to twenty-one, as if killing the children might eliminate possible witnesses against him or—who knows?—targeting them as proxies in revenge for some perceived slight from years before. The slayings were senseless and in cold blood. Hassell ended his life story in Huntsville's electric chair less than two years after the Texas murders. The legal process appears to have been fair. He was read a Miranda warning years before Miranda. The judge entered a plea of not guilty for him when he failed to respond.

Professor Roth acquits himself well in the challenging task of researching old cases. In the first murders no official documents exist. Often, he relies on genealogical data or newspaper articles. When forced to speculate, he says so. For the Texas crimes, court and prison records nail down much of the story, while Hassell himself produces an almost constant flow of words, many questionable. Though serial killers rarely confess, Hassell's statement runs to 3,000 words. He liked to talk, mostly about himself. "Checkered career" inadequately describes Hassell's life. As a poorly educated drifter with low-paying jobs he charmed women, boasted of living in 27 states and Mexico, deserted from both Navy and Army, committed lesser felonies, served prison time, sexually abused women, and committed incest with underaged nieces.

In the narrative, Roth introduces newspapermen whose names will be familiar to older readers: Edward Anderson, an Abilene reporter who today is known for his novels (Thieves Like Us, Hungry Men), and Paul Crume, later a front-page columnist for the Dallas Morning News. No one is likely to successfully plumb Hassell's troubled and troubling mind, but a United Press reporter offered the best summary: "the strangest of all Texas killers." (p. 183) Roth is professor of criminal justice and criminology at Sam Houston State University. The book is Number 13 in the North Texas Crime and Criminal Justice Series. Very well done, the book contains twenty...