Joseph D. (Joe) Ball (b. January 7, 1896 - d. September 23, 1938) also referred to as The Alligator Man, the Butcher of Elmendorf and the Bluebeard of South Texas. He killed approximately twenty women in the 1930s. A World War I veteran, Ball was a bootlegger. When Prohibition ended he opened a saloon called the Sociable Inn in Elmendorf, Texas. He built a pond with five alligators that he charged people to see . Feeding time was the most popular viewing time--because they were fed live cats or dogs. Women started missing, including his barmaids, former girlfriends and wife. Clifford Wheeler, a handyman admitted helping Ball get rid of the bodies of two women. He led the authorities to the remains of Hazel Brown and Minnie Gotthard. Wheeler said Ball murdered twenty other women, but the alligators consumed the evidence. When two Texas Rangers questioned Ball he pulled a handgun from his cash register and killed himself.
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