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Just like Jack the Ripper terrorised London in late 1888, another serial killer had people terrified to be alone in their New Orleans homes. He left a trail of dead bodies covered in axe wounds – and he would even send letters to the local paper taunting the police.
The following is the gruesome tale of the Axeman of New Orleans.
On the morning of May 22, 1918, two brothers heard the cry of their other brother and ran to his bedroom to see what was wrong. When they arrived, their brother Joseph Maggio, lay soaked in his own blood, dying in bed. His wife was already dead, having sustained axe wounds to the head and neck so severe she was virtually decapitated. Joseph died not long after their arrival.
This was the first known attack of the New Orleans Axeman. Seven more attacks followed – one on a two-year-old girl sleeping in her begging mother’s arms. All attacks happened in the victim’s homes. Not everyone died, however. Witnesses were left, but nobody could ever identify their assailant. The Axeman would apparently gain entry to the home by patiently chiselling his way through a panel in the rear door.
There were some apparent break-in attempts that were foiled. A chiselling sound was heard by a few home occupants who then frightened the would be killer away. On multiple occasions, axes were found abandoned at those scenes.
Pandemonium, understandably, began to take hold. To explain things a bit, here’s a splurb from Prairieghosts.com:
“By this time, hysteria was sweeping through the city. Families divided into watches and stood guard over their relatives as they slept. People went about with loaded shotguns and waited for news of the latest ?Axeman sightings?. On August 11, the killer was seen in the neighborhood of Tulane and Broad, masquerading as a woman, the rumors said. A manhunt was organized but without success. On August 21, a man was seen leaping a back fence but despite a quickly organized search party, the fiend escaped.”
Some people began to think the killer was more than human – that he was a demonic beast sent from hell to do the devil’s bidding. The Axeman knew this, and fed these fears in a letter to a local paper. He said:
“Hell, March 13, 1919
“Esteemed Mortal:
“They have never caught me and they never will. They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether that surrounds your earth. I am not a human being, but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police call the Axeman.
“When I see fit, I shall come and claim other victims. I alone know whom they shall be. I shall leave no clue except my bloody axe, besmeared with blood and brains of he whom I have sent below to keep me company.
“If you wish you may tell the police to be careful not to rile me. Of course, I am a reasonable spirit. I take no offense at the way they have conducted their investigations in the past. In fact, they have been so utterly stupid as to not only amuse me, but His Satanic Majesty, Francis Josef, etc. But tell them to beware. Let them not try to discover what I am, for it were better that they were never born than to incur the wrath of the Axeman. I don't think there is any need of such a warning, for I feel sure the police will always dodge me, as they have in the past. They are wise and know how to keep away from all harm.
“Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as a most horrible murderer, which I am, but I could be much worse if I wanted to. If I wished, I could pay a visit to your city every night. At will I could slay thousands of your best citizens, for I am in close relationship with the Angel of Death.
“Now, to be exact, at 12:15 (earthly time) on next Tuesday night, I am going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite mercy, I am going to make a little proposition to you people. Here it is:
“I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in the nether regions that every person shall be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the time I have just mentioned. If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much the better for you people. One thing is certain and that is that some of your people who do not jazz it on Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.
“Well, as I am cold and crave the warmth of my native Tartarus, and it is about time I leave your earthly home, I will cease my discourse. Hoping that thou wilt publish this, that it may go well with thee, I have been, am and will be the worst spirit that ever existed either in fact or realm of fancy.
“The Axeman”
And do you know what the locals did next? On the appropriate night they played jazz music until the sun came up. Can’t say we blame them.
After the Jazz-fest a few more attacks occurred, but then the Axeman killings ended abruptly – nobody knows why. There has been speculation as to the killer’s identity, but even with several surviving victims, no suspect ever been confidently fingered.
Well, almost none anyway. We’ll close with this last bit from Prairieghosts.com (again):
“More than a year after the Axeman?s final appearance, a former New Orleans man named Joseph Mumfre was shot to death on the Pacific Coast. He had been killed by a woman named Esther Albano, who was later discovered to be the widow of the Axeman?s last victim, Mike Pepitone.
“The police began working to try and untangle the mystery that probably linked Mumfre?s murder to the Axeman case. Some curious coincidences were revealed during the investigation. Mumfre had once been the leader of a band of blackmailers in New Orleans who had preyed on Italians. He had also been (for a separate matter) sent to prison just after the first axe murders in 1911. In the summer of 1918, he was paroled — at the same time the Axeman appeared again. Immediately after the Pepitone murder, Mumfre had left New Orleans for the coast and strangely, the Axeman had vanished as well.”
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