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These Deadly Jokes Were Not Too Funny for their Victims in the End

Khalid Elhassan November 30, 2022 29 min

The Prankster Who Got a Legislature to Honor a Serial Killer

Joke - Tom Moore in court — Tom Moore in court. Waco Tribune Herald

In a long and productive life, Tom Moore garnered plenty of accolades as a Texas District Attorney, compassionate lawyer, and reformist legislator. He practiced law into his 90s, and in Mclennan County, he received the highest honor bestowed upon any attorney: judges no longer required him to wear ties in their courtrooms. As one of them put it: “He has such vast experience and has lived so long and has seen so much. He is the only lawyer that practices in front of me that I don’t require to wear a tie. I am quite certain that is a privilege he has earned“. Another side of Tom Moore was his sense of humor.

When he served in the Texas House of Representative, Moore grew annoyed with the numerous resolutions that were passed, even though nobody had read them. So he decided to have some fun with that. On April 1^st, 1971, as a joke, Moore proposed a resolution to honor an esteemed American, Albert DeSalvo. It praised him for: “his dedication and devotion to his work … He has been officially recognized by the state of Massachusetts for his noted activities and unconventional techniques involving population control and applied psychology“. The name of the honoree might ring a bell for some. After the resolution passed by a unanimous vote, Moore let his colleagues know that they had just officially honored the Boston Strangler.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.