Axeman of New Orleans

Axeman of New Orleans (German: ' Axeman of New Orleans ') is the pseudonym given by the press to a serial killer (or several people working together) that has never been determined with certainty . The series of murders took place in New Orleans between 1911 and 1919, with a long hiatus between 1911 and 1918. After 1919, no acts were known that can be assigned to the series.

Procedure pattern

What made the crimes stand out was that the attacks happened at night when the victims were in their beds. The perpetrator (s) broke into the victims' homes, usually by removing a board from the back door. Then the perpetrator or perpetrators went into the victims 'bedrooms and struck the victims' heads with an ax - and in one case a hatchet . No items were stolen. The ax was often left at the crime scene or in close proximity.

Victim

The victims were initially grocers of Italian origin, which is why it was initially suspected that the murders by the Mafia in connection with extortion of protection money could be involved. Later, people other than Italians were also victims. Overall, the selection of victims showed no discernible patterns.

In particular, the following deeds have been attributed to the Axeman of New Orleans:

1911

That year a grocer named Cruti was found murdered with an ax in his bed. The Rosetti couple were also found dead in their bed. The husband was a grocer. Furthermore, in 1911 the grocer Toni Schiambra and his wife were found dead in their bed with an ax.

However, it is controversial whether the victims from 1911 are part of the Axeman series of murders.

1918

• On May 22, 1918, the couple Joseph and Catharina Maggio were slain in their bedroom and their throats were cut with a razor.
• On June 6 or 28, 1918, the grocer Louis Besumer (according to other sources Louis Besemer ) and his partner Anna Harriet Lowe, who was sleeping next to him, were attacked. Besemer survived with head injuries, but had no concrete memories of the crime. His partner could not provide any useful information either and died in the hospital.
• On August 5, 1918, businessman Edward Schneider found his heavily pregnant wife with severe head injuries when he returned home. All she could remember was a dark figure. She survived and gave birth to a daughter on August 10.
• On August 10, 1918, Mary and Pauline Bruno woke up from screaming in the room of their uncle, the hairdresser Joseph Romano. They saw a large, dark figure flee, the uncle had been slain.

1919

• On March 10, 1919, Charles Cortimiglia was found dead in his bed by neighbors, his wife Rosie was seriously wounded, and their two-year-old daughter was also murdered. Rosie Cortimiglia accused the neighbors of the crime, but withdrew it in 1920.
• On August 10, 1919, the Italian grocer Steve Boca was attacked while he was sleeping. He survived badly injured, but only remembered a dark figure and the ax.
• On September 3, 1919, Sarah Laumann was found dead in bed. This time the perpetrator had gained access through an open window.
• On October 27, 1919, Mike Pepitone was slain. His wife, who is sleeping in another room, claims to have seen two men who fled from her husband's room after the fact.

Theories on perpetration

The perpetrator or perpetrators have not yet been identified with certainty. There were the following theories and rumors about the perpetrator:

Organised crime

The first solid theory was that it was acts of the Mafia or the Black Hand Gang in connection with extortion against grocers. This is countered, on the one hand, by the fact that the victims were not only of Italian descent and not always grocers, and on the other hand, the fact that the victims also included women and children, although the mafia at the time avoided killing women or children. In addition, there was no Mafia organization in New Orleans at the time.

Joseph Mumfre

Mrs. Pepitone, the wife of the last victim, claims to have recognized in a certain Joseph Mumfre the man who left her husband's room on October 27th. Mumfre was shot dead on the street in Los Angeles on December 2, 1920 by Mrs. Pepitone . She had followed him there and served three years in prison for the crime. Mumfre had previously lived in New Orleans and only moved from New Orleans shortly after the fact of October 27, 1919. He served prison terms between 1911 and 1918 and between the last act in 1918 and the first in 1919, which would explain the interruption in the series of murders. Beyond that, however, no evidence of Joseph Mumfre's perpetration could be found.

Other rumors / theories

There is also the theory that the Axeman was recognized and killed as early as 1919, which led to the end of the series of murders.

During the murders it was rumored that the perpetrator was a ghost. In New Orleans folklore , he is described as a long, thin man dressed in black with a black slouch hat. This rumor was likely supported by the fact that a man described as tall by some witnesses and surviving victims was able to gain access through the relatively narrow openings in the back doors.

Rumors about a supernatural being were further fueled by a letter of confession dated March 13, 1919 , in which the alleged perpetrator described himself as a supernatural being and carried the sender from hell 'from hell' . The author took inspiration from Jack the Ripper , who in 1888, presumably murdered five prostitutes in the East End of London , and who sent his third letter of confession to the police from hell .

The letter of confession was published on March 16, 1919 in The Times-Picayune newspaper. In it, the ax man mocks his pursuers and comes up with a bizarre suggestion: If there are no more deaths, a jazz band must play in every house in New Orleans the following Tuesday night. So it came about that jazz music could be heard almost everywhere in the city and there were no other victims. It was assumed, however, that a free rider would have made a bad joke with the frightened residents of New Orleans.

Artist's impression

To this day, the deeds that were never enlightened inspire musicians, illustrators, filmmakers and writers. Shortly after the series of murders, Joseph John Davilla composed the song The mysterious Axman´s Jazz (Don´t Scare Me Papa) . The ax man also appeared in the American Horror Story TV series . The British writer Ray Celestin took the historical case as the basis of his crime novel Hell Jazz in New Orleans (English. The Axeman's Jazz ), in which the young Louis Armstrong picks up the scent of the murderer. It was first published in 2014 and is also available in a German translation.

Web links

• Miriam Davis, The Axeman of New Orleans Preyed on Italian Immigrants , Smithsonian Magazine, February 15, 2018
• Cold Cases - The Axeman of New Orleans ( Memento March 1, 2005 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Murder series of the "Axeman of New Orleans". In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved February 17, 2020 .