Grisly slasher murder still baffling a century later




Offbeat Oregon History podcast show

Summary: In their little house on Druid Street in the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland, Robert Green and his family were getting ready for bed when they heard the screams. Rushing to the front porch, they found their neighbor, Ann Louise Agee, in her nightclothes, wild-eyed and disheveled. “Help! Come quick! They’re killing Harry!” she screamed. Green looked across at the Agee home. From where he stood, by the light of streetlamps and the few lights inside the house, he could dimly see the front porch. The door was opening and a figure was staggering out of the front door, clutching at its throat. Then it collapsed on the porch. Green sprinted across and leaped onto the porch. There he found his neighbor, carpenter Harry Agee, in a pool of blood, dying. Looking up at him, Harry opened his mouth and tried to speak. Only a ghastly gurgling resulted from the effort. (St. Johns, Multnomah County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/21-08.harry-agee-murder-mystery-600.html)