George Jefferson Hassell was a Texas-born man who worked in California, married his dead brother's widow, and in December 1926 confessed to the deaths of that wife and her eight children near Farwell, in Parmer County, in the Texas Panhandle. He also confessed to four deaths at Whittier, California, years before. He was convicted in Parmer County of the murder of his stepson and sentenced to death. The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas affirmed in June 1927, and he was executed at Huntsville on February 10, 1928. The other deaths were never tried.
Hassell was born on July 5, 1888, in Smithville, Texas. His family moved to Oklahoma when he was a toddler. His mother died, and he ran away at 15.
His adult record was one of short jobs, desertions and marriages. He was convicted of embezzlement in Abilene, Texas, and served two years. He enlisted in the U.S. Army under an alias and deserted from Fort Sam Houston about nine months later. He later joined the Navy and deserted in San Francisco. He married six women in all.
Hassell lived with a woman named Marie Vogel and her young son as a common-law wife. The three went to California, where in Whittier he worked in the oilfields and the couple adopted two more children. In December 1926 he confessed to killing Vogel and the three children. The year of those deaths is not on record. He would not comment on the California confession.
Hassell's brother Thomas died on July 3, 1924. Thomas left a widow, Susan, who was 39 and had eight children, and Hassell went to her farm in the Texas Panhandle. They married about four months after Thomas died. The marriage may have been one of convenience, with Hassell supplying labor for the farm.
The Court of Criminal Appeals later described Hassell as a tenant farmer who had married his brother's widow, whose children were of various ages. Their names and ages are not on record.
Hassell was taken into custody on Christmas Day 1926 and confessed to killing his stepson, his wife and others of her children. The exact day of the deaths is not on record. By December 31 he was held in the Hale County jail at Plainview, awaiting trial in Parmer County, having confessed to 13 deaths, including those of his wife and eight children. After a short silence he gave many interviews from jail.
The trial was held in Parmer County. The date of the verdict is not on record. The case went to a jury. Hassell was defended by an attorney appointed by the court. Veniremen who had read or heard about the case were challenged for cause and seated after saying they held no fixed opinion, and the jury found Hassell sane. It convicted him of murder, the murder of his stepson, and fixed the penalty at death.
Hassell v. State, No. 10908, was decided by the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas on June 15, 1927, and is reported at 107 Tex. Crim. 541, 298 S.W. 293. The court recorded that he "was convicted for the murder of his step-son." Judge Lattimore wrote the opinion.
The court rejected the points raised for the defense. Hassell's application to move the trial to another county had been sworn only by Hassell, with an affidavit from his own lawyer, whereas the statute required the affidavits of two credible residents of the county; the court therefore did not reach the merits. It held that the trial judge had acted within his discretion in seating jurors who had formed impressions from news or hearsay but said they could decide on the evidence. It affirmed the conviction.
A motion for rehearing was overruled in an opinion by Presiding Judge Morrow. On sanity, the court observed that the record held little specific evidence, that the question had gone to the jury under a broad charge to which no objection was made, and that the jury had found him sane and aware of his wrongdoing. It said witnesses and physical facts corroborated the confession. The death sentence, it concluded, was "the reasonable conclusion of a deliberate and dispassionate jury." The date of the ruling on rehearing is not on record; the only date printed with the opinion is June 15, 1927.
George Hassell, of Parmer County, was executed at Huntsville on February 10, 1928, aged 39, the 37th person executed by the state of Texas from 1923.
Motive. None is on record.
Count. The figure of 13 is the number of deaths he confessed to, nine in Texas and four in California. One death, that of his stepson, resulted in a conviction. The other deaths were never tried.
Date of the California deaths. The year is not on record.
Children's names and ages. They are not on record.
July 5, 1888: George Hassell is born in Smithville, Texas.
July 3, 1924: his brother Thomas dies.
About four months later: Hassell marries Thomas's widow, Susan.
1926: the deaths near Farwell, Texas, of his wife and her eight children, to which he later confesses.
December 25, 1926: Hassell is taken into custody.
December 31, 1926: held in the Hale County jail at Plainview.
Date not on record: convicted of murder of his stepson in Parmer County; sentenced to death.
June 15, 1927: Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas affirms (Hassell v. State, 107 Tex. Crim. 541, 298 S.W. 293); rehearing overruled.
February 10, 1928: executed at Huntsville, Texas.