Stories from Mount Hope: The Boston Belfry Murder

Thomas W. Piper was a devout Baptist church-goer and became a sexton at the large, prosperous Warren Avenue Baptist Church in Boston’s South End. But he was also a convicted serial killer.

Thomas W. Piper was born the son of a farmer, T. C. Piper, in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, on April 22, 1849.  He was a bright, clever boy who worked as a carpenter on the family farm until the family moved to Boston in 1866.  He was also a devout Baptist church-goer and became a sexton at the large, prosperous Warren Avenue Baptist Church in Boston’s South End.

His transition to serial killer began on Dec. 5, 1873.  He chose his first victim after drinking his customary self-treatment for a kidney disorder, a mixture of laudanum and whiskey, which caused hallucinations.  That evening, along the street, he spotted a lone woman, Bridget Landregan, a domestic servant returning to her residence.  He stalked Bridget for a while, and then with a piece of wood described as “bat-like”, he smashed her head open, fatally wounding her.  

An hour or so after that murder, another woman was viciously assaulted nearby, but she survived.  Police said no more about that case, presumably out of “courtesy” for the victim and her family.

Then, early in 1874, Piper met up with his next victim, Mary Tyner, a “girl of the town” in Victorian terms, in downtown Boston.  They went to her home, where Piper promptly hit her over the head several times with what police thought was an ax.  She survived, but was confined to a mental asylum until her death about a year later, never able to identify her attacker.

On Sunday morning, May 23, 1875, Piper, as usual, greeted the church arrivals in its vestibule.  After the service ended, Piper, having consumed a purportedly large quantity of whiskey and laudanum, lured 5-year-old Mabel Young up to the belfry with a promise of showing her the pigeons.  He sent her on up the stairs, then picked up the bat he had left near the door, and followed her.  His blows to her skull did not kill her, so he tried to muffle her screams by locking her in the tower room.  He escaped through a window and dropped 13 feet to an alley.  The child was found, but she died the next day.  

Piper was arrested.  He was ultimately convicted of the murder of Mabel, and a date for execution was set.  The connections to the other murders and the assault were made only after Piper decided to confess, saying he had an intense urge to commit murder, which made him a “bad man”.  He was hanged on May 6, 1876, and buried privately in Mount Hope Cemetery. His grave is unmarked.

Bibliography:

Dempewolff, R. Famous Old New England Murders and Some That Are Infamous. Brattleboro, VT: Stephen Daye Press, 1942: 92-112.

South End Historical Society Facebook page on Warren Avenue Baptist Church

Wikipedia. Thomas W. Piper. 

https://www.firstbaptistboston.org/history.html

Written by Sally Ebeling and edited by Paul LaShoto, March 2025

The Stories of Mount Hope blog features periodic posts on a variety of topics concerning historic Mount Hope Cemetery. This blog is hoping to unearth the hidden stories of Mount Hope Cemetery. Please let us know if there is something you think should be highlighted by emailing storiesfrommounthope@boston.gov