On this day, Dec. 5, in 1873, the “Boston Belfry Murderer” killed his first victim.

Thomas Piper bludgeoned and strangled Bridget Landregan in the snow and was scared away by a couple who said the killer looked “batlike,” with a flowing black opera cloak. In 1874, another young girl was clubbed to death by a man with a cape. A third victim was bludgeoned in 1875.