Servant Girl Annihilator and had a club foot which was similar to a footprint believed to have been left by the killer. In February 1886, shortly after the last murder, Elgin was shot and killed by police while he was attempting to assault a girl with a knife. William Sydney Porter, better known as the short story writer O. Henry, was living in Austin at the time of the murders. Porter coined the term "Servant Girl Annihilators" in a May 10, 1885, letter addressed to his friend Dave Hall and later included in his anthology "Rolling Stones": "Town is fearfully dull," wrote Porter,
William T. Porter 1856, another printer, George Wilkes, began a new sporting newspaper, which he called "Porter's Spirit of the Times", and employed Porter as editor. In 1845, Porter served as secretary for the New York Jockey Club, during the famous match race between the fillies Fashion and Peytona at the Union Course on May 15, 1845. Although the "Spirit" and the "American Turf Register" were known for their coverage of horse racing, Porter's main sporting interest for himself was fishing. Porter never married, and three of his brothers died before Porter himself caught a cold and died of consumption on July 19,