Lou Perry—known as “Big Lou”—was from a troubled family. Her real name was Louisa Dorff, and she was born in West Virginia. Around 1870, the family moved to Cincinnati, where her two brothers, Charles and Samuel, got into trouble and were sent to the penitentiary. When they returned from prison, they got into trouble again, and the family was driven out of the city. Lou stayed behind.
The Illustrated Police News politely referred to Lou as a “kept woman.” The Cincinnati Daily Star was a bit harsher: “She went from bad to worse and finally became a low, miserable, besotted prostitute.”
The house William and Lou moved to on West Fifth Street probably helped to deteriorate their relationship. According to the Cincinnati Daily Gazette:
The house has been noted during the past two years for the disgraceful orgies carried on within its walls. It is no uncommon thing, it is said, for women perfectly nude to be running about the place in broad daylight, and rows are of almost nightly occurrence.
Around midnight on June 17, 1880, Condon saw Lou with another man. They were both intoxicated, and Lou was trying to take him upstairs to their room. Condon interceded, and the man ran away. Lou and Condon began fighting and he decided he had enough. He went inside their room to get his things to move out. Outside, Lou pounded and kicked the door, but he would not let her in. Condon came out carrying his banjo, and the fight renewed as they went down the stairs.
Outside, in a narrow courtyard on one side of the building, the fight turned violent. Lou Rushed towards him, and Condon struck her on the face with the rim of the heavy, brass-bound banjo. The blow broke her nose and cut a gash from the bridge of her nose to the lower part of the right cheek. Lou sank to the pavement.
Witnesses carried Lou upstairs to her bed. Condon made no attempt to escape but helped wash the blood from the ghastly wound. Lou died half an hour later. Condon gave no resistance when he was arrested. In Police Court, he was charged with second-degree murder and held on $5,000 bail. Two women at the scene, Hattie Whiting and Mattie Davis, were arrested for vagrancy and held in the workhouse to guarantee they would be available to testify.
At the inquest, Coroner Carrick stated,
The deceased came to her death from effusion of blood on the brain. I further find that the blow which fractured the nasal bones was the cause of said effusion and that the blow was inflicted with a banjo in the hands of William Condon.
On June 26, Condon was back in police court. He was bound over to the grand jury on the charge of manslaughter, with bail fixed at $2,000. Both the charge and the bail amount had been reduced.
There was no further mention of the case in the newspapers until December 29, when the Cincinnati Commercial printed a summary of Cincinnati homicides for the year 1880. Without further explanation, the article states that William Condon was discharged on the order of Prosecutor Drew.
At the time, the Cincinnati government was dominated by rival political gangs controlled by saloon owners. Corruption was rampant, and paying the right person could influence the outcome of a trial. This may be what saved Condon from prosecution.
Sources:
“An Actor in a Tragic Role,” JACKSON DAILY CITIZEN., June 17, 1880.
“The Banjo Homicide,” Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, June 18, 1880.
“Condon's Crime,” Cincinnati Daily Star., June 17, 1880.
“A Cutting Matinee,” The Cincinnati Enquirer, October 10, 1881.
“The Los Perry Murder,” Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, June 27, 1880.
“Lou. Dorf's Murder,” Cincinnati Daily Star., June 18, 1880.
“The Perry Inquest,” The Cincinnati Enquirer, June 19, 1880.
“Police Court,” The Cincinnati Daily Star, June 26, 1880.
“Twenty Homicides in Cincinnati during the Year,” Cincinnati Commercial, December 29, 1880.
“Where Are the Police?,” Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June 18, 1880.
“The Woman Killed With a Banjo,” Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June 19, 1880.
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