Joe Ball
This is a story you will not soon forget, (especially if you work as a waitress:). This is the story of Joe Ball. You see Joe was not your average businessman, (as you will soon find out). Joe ran a small bar outside of Elmsdorf, Texas, located off of Highway 181.
The name of Joe’s bar was: The Sociable Inn (quaint isn’t it). Joe’s Inn became well known and liked around the area once he began raising alligators (to wit, he liked feeding live cat’s and dogs) in a concrete pool he built behind the bar. The tavern was also popular because there were new barmaids and or waitresses coming and going all the time. Joe’s wives also seemed to disappear on a quite regularly basis. However, one thing that Joe never fell short on was fresh meat for the alligators (and possibly the customers).
Joe was very protective of his beloved gators. At one particular point in time, when a neighbor complained about the smell of rotted meat, Joe pulled out a gun on the guy and in a not so nice way explained that it must have been the “alligators food” and that the nosy neighbor should mind his own business in the future if he did not want to become part of that food. Another one of Joe’s neighbors was so afraid of Joe that he moved to another city just to get the hell away from him.
Joe’s business seemed to be doing well, despite the fact that his help seemed to keep disappearing (hard to find good help ya know). That is… until around the year 1937, when the family of one of Joe’s former waitresses, twenty-two-year-old Minnie Gotthardt, began to ask questions, specifically of the police.
Since Joe had employed Ms. Gotthardt, the police questioned him. Nonetheless, they were unable to find any substantial evidence (and Joe seemed like such a nice guy). Hence, he was cleared of all involvement, and dismissed as a possible suspect.
A short time after Ms. Gotthardt’s disappearance, another family went to police about their missing daughter, Julia Turner. Ms. Turner had also worked part time for Joe Ball. Police again visited the Inn, and Joe gave them the same old song and dance as he had the previous time. He claimed that she had told him she was having some problems and wanted to move on and start again.
When the police searched Julia’s room, she shared with a friend they discovered she had not packed any of her clothing or belongings. Upon discovering this tidbit of information, they went back to Joe’s for another round of questioning. This time, Joe suddenly and conveniently remembered that he had lent her five hundred dollars because she was in such a desperate state, and could not go back to her home due to problems with her roommate. Joe Ball was again in the clear
Unfortunately, Joe could not seem to control himself. In the following months, two more of his employees came up missing. This time the local police turned the case over to the Texas Rangers. Upon receiving all of the information from the local police, they checked into Joe’s background, including among other things, his previous employees.
They then discovered that an alarming number of them (a few dozen) had vanished. More incredible was the fact that no one had seen either his second or third wives since they supposedly “ran out” on him.
The Texas Rangers questioned Joe relentlessly for hours on end. Nonetheless, he would not crack. Hence, they had no choice but to release him. Unfortunately, though for poor old Joe he left a few strings untied. His handyman William Sneed came forward and revealed to police the times he was forced by Joe at gunpoint to feed pieces of female corpses to Joe’s alligators.
In Addition, his old neighbor came forward and told why he had run off. He said he had witnessed Joe cut meat off of a human body and feed the pieces to the alligators. The police just about had all of the evidence that they needed.
On Sept. 24, 1938, Police paid one last visit to The Sociable Inn to take a gander into Joe’s meat barrels. Realizing that this was it (oh shit!), Joe pressed the “NO SALE” button on his cash register. When the drawer popped open, he reached in and grabbed his revolver, and shot himself. Some claim he shot himself in the chest, some say he shot himself in the head. No matter, it was in fact a fatal shot.
In the aftermath, Joe’s handyman William Sneed, despite admitting to authorities that he had helped Joe dispose of the waitress’s bodies, only spent two years in prison. Joe’s Alligators were sent off to the San Antonio zoo for the public to enjoy, and Joe’s third wife re-surfaced. She claimed to know about her predecessor’s fates and explained that she did not want to end up the same way. Hence, she ran off and hid (she was never charged with any crime).
Just how many women Joe ball turned into “alligator food” is unknown, this is a secret he took with him to his grave and we will never be certain of the exact number…
Minnie Gotthardt, known as Big Minnie
Minnie Gotthardt, or “Big Minnie” was a partner in Joe’s bar for a while.
She lost her arm in a car accident, and then disappeared.
Police were led to the area where she had been dismembered
and buried by Clifton Wheeler, Ball’s handyman.
Hazel “Schatzie Brown”, victim
Hazel Brown, also known as ‘Schatzie’ was a barmaid at Joe Ball’s bar.
Her body was disposed of by Ball and Wheeler three miles from town,
and Wheeler led investigators to the site
