Euel Lee

Serial Killer

Euel Lee: The Orphan Jones Murder Case

Background

Euel Lee, who was also known by the alias Orphan Jones, was a farm laborer whose prosecution became one of the most controversial criminal cases in Depression-era Maryland. He is sometimes described as a serial killer because four people died at his hands, but the accepted facts indicate that the victims were killed during one continuous attack. He is therefore more accurately classified as a multiple or mass murderer rather than a serial killer, whose crimes would normally occur in separate incidents over time. Lee was an African American man who worked for William Green Davis, commonly called Green Davis, a white farmer living near Taylorsville in Worcester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Lee and Davis reportedly had an increasingly bitter relationship involving wages, racial insults and disagreements over money. Accounts of the case frequently state that Davis withheld a dollar from Lee's pay or refused to pay him money that Lee believed he had earned. Although the amount was small, the dispute represented a larger conflict between the two men.

The Davis Family Murders

During the night of October 11 and the early morning of October 12, 1931, someone entered the Davis family home near Taylorsville. Green Davis, his wife and two of their daughters were attacked and killed. The crime scene revealed that a firearm had been used, although contemporary descriptions differ regarding the precise sequence in which the victims were confronted and shot. Green Davis was found fatally wounded inside or near the family residence. The other members of his household were discovered dead in different areas of the home. The number of victims and the fact that nearly an entire household had been destroyed caused immediate alarm throughout Worcester County. News of the killings spread rapidly across the Eastern Shore, where racial tensions were already extremely high. The verified date of death for all four members of the Davis family was October 12, 1931. Historical accounts do not consistently preserve the full names of Green Davis's wife and daughters, and their identities have often been reduced to their relationships to the male head of the household. Because reliable surviving summaries do not agree on their complete names, they should not be identified by uncertain or unverified names. ...

Confirmed Victims: (4)

William Green Davis Age: (55), Date of Death: October 12, 1931

Suspected Victims:

Evan Davis Age: (52), Date of Death: January 24, 1918

Thomas Davis Age: (56), Date of Death: January 24, 1918

Lynchings on Maryland's Lower Eastern Shore: Euel Lee