1917 New Orleans
For over a year, from May 1918 to October 1919, the city of New Orleans, Louisiana was in a frenzied panic over a roaming serial killer dubbed the “Axeman”.
December 17th, 1917: Local grocer on Apple Street, Eprfanio Andollino and his two sons, John,14, and Salvadore, 13, are attacked at around 3am. His wife, Anna, and infant daughter, sleeping right next to him, were not attacked. The man hit Eprfranio in the head with an axe 4 times. The man then apparently threatened the wife with a pistol to silence her and ran into the next room with the boys. After he attacked both of them, he fled to the kitchen. All survived.
The first to succumb to the sharp blade of the Axeman was an Italian grocer named Joseph Maggio and his wife, Catherine on May 23, 1918. As they lay sleeping in their apartment above the Maggio grocery store the killer cut the couple’s throats with a straight razor that belonged to Joseph's brother, Andrew, before bashing in their heads with an ax. When law enforcement began to investigate they found the bloody clothes of the murderer, as he had obviously changed into a clean set of clothes before fleeing the scene. Police ruled out robbery as motivation for the attacks, as money and valuables left in plain sight were not stolen by the intruder. Near the couple’s home, a message written in chalk read: “Mrs. Joseph Maggio will sit up tonight. Just write Mrs. Toney”. Investigators immediately questioned several people but all were released for lack of evidence. Andrew was home at the time of the incident and is the one that found them in their room. He ran down the street for help and was quickly implicated in the murders, but later released.
A little more than a month later, another couple was attacked in the early morning hours of June 28, 1918. Louis Besumer, a grocer, and his mistress, Harriet "Anna" Lowe, lived in quarters at the back of the store. They were discovered by John Zanka, a baker making morning deliveries, lying in a pool of blood. Besumer had been struck with an ax above his right temple and Lowe was hacked over the left ear. Though badly injured, both were still alive.
Once again people were questioned and one black man, who was a new employee with them, was arrested, but was later released.
Though the crime made the newspapers, of bigger note to some was the “scandal” of the mistress. Anna was actually married to Louis's brother. Anna had claimed while in the hospital to be Louis's wife, but he made it clear when he left the hospital, yelling "that woman is not my wife!"
After the attack, one side of Anna's face was partially paralyzed and on August 5th, she had surgery performed in an effort to correct it. Two days later she died, but before she passed she told authorities that she suspected it was Louis Besumer (her husband's brother) who had attacked her and that she was also sure he was a German Spy. Authorities did find letters in his home in German and Yiddish. He was arrested, but released 2 days later. He was arrested again, later. Besumer was then charged with murder and served nine months in prison before being acquitted on May 1, 1919, after a ten-minute jury deliberation.
On August 5th a third similar attack was made on a Mrs. Edward Schneider who was 8 months pregnant. As the 28-year-old lay in bed, she awoke to see a dark figure standing over her, and was bashed in the face repeatedly. Shortly after midnight, she was discovered by her husband who was just returning from work. Her scalp had been cut open, and her face was completely covered in blood, but she survived the attack to give birth to a healthy baby girl two days later. One man was arrested on suspicion but soon released for lack of evidence. By this time, investigators began to publicly speculate that the attack was related to the previous incidents involving Besumer and Maggio.
Just five days later, yet another grocer, a man named Joseph Romano was attacked on August 10th. The 80 year old grocer lived with his two nieces who awoke to the sound of a commotion in the adjoining room where their uncle resided. Pauline and Mary Bruno were being looked after by their uncle.The girls entered Romano’s room to find that he had taken a serious blow to his head and saw the assailant was fleeing. The grocer, though seriously injured was able to walk to the ambulance once it arrived, but he died two days later due to severe head trauma. The girls were able to provide a brief description of the killer — , heavy-set man but extremely agile, who wore a dark suit and slouched hat.
Other clues of the crime were similar to the previous ones, such as the scenes were often ransacked but nothing was ever stolen, that the killer used the owner’s hatchets and blades, that panels of doors or windows were chiseled away to gain entry, and that the majority of the victims were Italian.
Police were inundated with reports from citizens claiming to have seen an axeman lurking neighborhoods, axes chisels found in backyards, and doors and windows that appeared to have been tampered with. People began to carry loaded shotguns and family members took turns watching over their families at night. One report alleged that the Axeman was masquerading as a woman, another that he had been seen leaping over a back fence.
The people were afraid, determined to protect themselves, and bordered on panic. But, perhaps the heat generated by that terror was somehow transferred to the Axeman, as the killings and assaults stopped, as quickly as they had started.
Over the months, the fear waned and the neighborhoods returned to normal until March 10, 1919, when the Axeman struck again. Charles Cortimiglia was an immigrant and grocer who lived with his wife, Rosie, and two-year-old daughter, Mary, in the town of Gretna, just across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. When screams were heard coming from the Cortimiglia residence in the early morning hours, neighboring grocer, Lorlando Jordano, rushed across the street to investigate. There he found that the three had been attacked.
Rosie had awakened to find her husband struggling with a large man wielding an axe. When her husband fell to the floor the assailant turned on her as she held her daughter and begged for their lives. Undaunted, the killer slammed the axe down on both mother and daughter.
When the neighbor arrived, Charles lay in a pool of blood on the floor as Rosie stood in the doorway with a serious head wound, clutching her deceased daughter. The couple was rushed to the hospital where both were treated for skull fractures. Charles we released two days later, while his wife remained in the care of doctors.
Upon gaining full consciousness, Rosie stated that the attack was made by neighboring grocer Lorlando Jordano and his 18-year-old son, Frank. Though Lorlando, a 69-year-old man, was in too poor of health to have committed the crimes and Frank Jordano was too big to have fit through the panel in the back door. However, the pair were arrested. Though Charles Cortimiglia denied his wife’s claims the Jordanos were charged with the murders, and would later be found guilty. Frank was sentenced to hang, and his father to life in prison. After the trial, Charles divorced his wife. About a year later Rosie Cortimiglia reversed her claim, stating that she had falsely accused the two out of jealousy and spite. With her claim being the only evidence against the Jordanos, and they were released from jail shortly thereafter.
Following the Cortimiglia murders, New Orleans was again filled with terror and once again began to arm themselves. The police stated that they believed all of the crimes to have been committed by the same man… “a bloodthirsty maniac, filled with a passion for human slaughter”. Then a new twist came upon the scene when the Times-Picayune newspaper received and taunting letter on March 14, 1919, that promised another attack:
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 was 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 [March 19, 1919}, 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
Per the killer’s statement that no one listening to jazz on March 19 would get the axe, the music flowed from homes across much of the city, dance halls were filled to capacity, and professional and amateur bands played jazz at parties at hundreds of houses around town, and no one was killed.
The Axeman murders are so ingrained in the town’s spirit that they actually inspired a whole subsection of NOLA music; “Axeman’s Jazz.” The first hit single of this musical branch: “The Mysterious Axman’s Jazz (Don’t Scare Me Papa),” in 1919.
For several weeks all was quiet, but people still lived in fear. On August 10, 1919, another grocer named Steve Boca was attacked in his bedroom as he slept. Boca awoke during the night to find a dark figure looming over his bed. Suffering from a blow from an axe, he survived and upon regaining consciousness, he ran to the home of his neighbor, Frank Genusa, where he lost consciousness and collapsed. A neighbor contacted the Charity Hospital Ambulance. He was then treated for his injuries but was unable to remember the details of the attack. Like others who had been assailed by the Axeman, nothing was taken from his home and a panel on the back door of the home had been chiseled away.
On September 2, a local druggist named William Carson escaped the lethal Axeman when he fired several shots at an intruder who had broken into his home. The killer left a broken door and an ax behind.
On September 3, 1919, a young girl named Sarah Laumann was attacked with an ax while she slept in her locked and shuttered home. When neighbors came to check on the young woman who had lived alone, they discovered her lying unconscious on her bed, suffering from a severe head injury and missing several teeth. Though she suffered from a brain concussion she recovered. A bloody ax was discovered on the front lawn of the building. The attacker had entered through a window instead of picking the lock on the back door like all the others, and the doctors noted the wounds seems circular in nature. It's unknown if she is an actual victim of The Axe Man or not.
Once again, New Orleans was in a state of hysteria. But, nothing more would be heard from the Axeman for nearly two months. The last attack came on October 27, 1919, when grocer Mike Pepitone was slain. That night his wife, Esther, heard a noise and arrived at the door of the bedroom just as a large, ax-wielding man was fleeing the scene. Pepitone had been struck in the head 18 times and was covered in his own blood. His murder left his wife and six children behind, who were not attacked. Mrs. Pepitone was unable to describe any characteristics of the killer. The usual clues had been left behind.
The authorities continued to work on the case, but, it would be in vain. Pepitone’s murder was the last known of the Axeman Killer. He was never seen or heard from in New Orleans again. It is also said in some reports that Esther claimed 2 men killed her husband. She also remarried not long after. It's also reported that Mike's father may have been involved with the Mafia and had killed a man in the past.
Name Occupation/Status Date Attacked/Died
Eprfanio Andollino Grocer Dec 17th, 1917 Survived
Anna & Daughter Wife/daughter Dec 17th, 1917 Not Attacked/survived
John Andollino Son Dec 17th, 1917 Survived
Salvadore Andollino son Dec 17th, 1917 Survived
Joseph Maggio Italian Grocer May 23nd, 1918 Died at the scene
Catherine Maggio Wife of Joseph May 23nd, 1918 Died at the scene
Louis Besumer Italian Grocer June 27th, 1918 Survived
Harriet Lowe Mistress of Louis June 27th, 1918 Died 2 months later
Anna Schneider 2-months pregnant August 5th, 1918 Survived and gave birth
Catherine Maggio Wife of Joseph May 22nd, 1918 Died at the scene
Joseph Romano None - Elderly August 10th, 1918 Died 2 days later
Charles Cortimiglia Italian Grocer March 10th, 1919 Survived
Rosie Cortimiglia Wife of Charles March 10th, 1919 Survived
Steve BocaIalian Grocer August 10th, 1919 Died at the scene
Sarah Laumann Homemaker Sept 3rd, 1919 Died at the scene
Mike Pepitone Italian Grocer Oct 27th, 1919 Died at Hospital
SUSPECTS:
Joseph Mumfre (1875 - 1921)
Crime writer Colin Wilson, based on an account by author Robert Tallant, suspected Joseph Mumfre (also spelled Monfre, Momfre or Manfre) to be the Axeman. Mumfre was in New Orleans at the time, and left shortly after the Pepitone murders. Mumfre was allegedly shot to death in December 1920, in Los Angeles, by Esther, the widow of Mike Pepitone. Wilson speculated that Esther killed her husband's murderer for revenge. In actuality, Mumfre, her second husband's business partner, approached Mrs. Pepitone (her second husband had already disappeared without a trace). He demanded $500 and jewelry. According to her, Mumfre threatened that if she didn't cooperate, he would "Kill [her] the same way he had killed [her] husband". Pepitone retrieved two guns and fatally shot Mumfre (who had a pistol in his pocket) at least eleven times. She was acquitted on grounds of self-defense.
Concurrent reports stated that Mumfre was in jail during the Axeman hiatus between August 1918 and March 1919. Others reported that he was in jail from 1911 to 1918. Neither is confirmed.
There may have been a man called Joseph Mumfre, Momfre, Monfre or Manfre (which was a common name at the time), in New Orleans, connected to the organized crime and accused of committing a bombing in 1907. However, local records for the period are not extensive enough to positively identify the individual.
Two of the alleged "early" victims of the Axeman, an Italian couple named Schiambra, were shot by an intruder in their home, in 1912. The prime suspect was referred to by the name of "Momfre" multiple times.
Author Jay Robert Nash believed Mumfre to be a hitman working for the mob, whom extorted money from Italian grocers. However, not all the Axeman victims were Italians nor grocers.
According to scholar Richard Warner, the chief suspect in the crimes was Frank "Doc" Mumphrey (1875–1921), who used the alias Leon Joseph Monfre/Manfre.
Andrew Maggio
Brother of one of the first reported victims of the Axeman worked as a barber.
Briefly considered as a suspect in the case, as the straight razor used to kill his brother and sister-in-law was his own. Was eventually released, as the authorities were unable to contradict his statements as well as his account of an unknown man supposedly seen lurking near the residence, prior to the murders.
Lewis Oubicon
An African-American man whom was briefly suspected of the Besumer attack. Was later released because of lack of evidence.
Louis Besumer
Indicted on charges of attacking his mistress, Annie Harriet Lowe, because of her own admission (she had earlier accused Louis of being a German spy, a fact that was allegedly confirmed also by a series of letters). Was later acquitted.
Emmett Daniels
A WWI veteran. Charged in 1917 with the murder of two women in Belgium in 1915, suspected of many more but acquitted on all counts. One member of his battalion claimed that Daniels killed a woman with an axe and kept beating her with the blunt end.
James Gleason
A former convict. Was briefly detained on charges of attacking Anna Schneider. He was later released.
Lorlando Jordano and Frank Jordano
Competitors grocers of the Cortimiglias. Suspected of their murders.
Were eventually exonerated, after Rosie Cortimiglia confessed she implicated them out of spite (however, further accounts suggested she was compelled to implicate them by police force members).
Jake Bird
Some researchers have connected a convicted murderer and self-confessed serial killer to the Axeman legend. Bird was eventually tried and executed for the axe murders of Bertha Kludt and her daughter, Beverly June Kludt, which took place in Tacoma, Washington on October 30, 1947. Criminologists who studied him before his execution came to believe that he may have killed as many as forty-six people. Survivors of the Axeman attacks stated that the killer was a “large, white man,” which seems to rule our Bird, who was African-American, but some researchers have still insisted that he is a suspect.
Bird was born in 1901 in Louisiana, although he could not recall the location. He was a transient and supported himself as a manual laborer and with railroad work, which kept him moving from place to place. He had an extensive criminal record, including burglary and attempted murder and had spent thirty-one of his years in jail in Michigan, Iowa and Utah. In his later confession, Bird said that he entered the Kludt house to commit robbery and hit Bertha in the head with an axe while trying to flee the house after she discovered him and tried to stop him. When Beverly June came to her mother’s aid, he killed her. Detectives didn’t believe his story. They were convinced that Bird had entered the house to commit rape and had killed Bertha in her bedroom while trying to sexually assault her. He killed the daughter, they believed, while trying to escape.
The bodies of the Kludts were found by police after they apprehended Bird, whom they saw flee the Kludt residence when they arrived in response to calls that there were screams coming from the house. They saw the barefoot man run out and crash through a picket fence. They gave pursuit and had to scale several fences before cornering them in an alley. Bird attacked the officers with a knife before he could be subdued. His clothes were covered with blood and brain matter and his shoes were back at the house. There was an axe on the kitchen floor where the body of Beverly June lay lifeless. Her mother was found dead in her bedroom.
Bird was charged with first-degree murder and held without bail. His trial began on November 24, 1947 and lasted two days. Bird's request to represent himself was denied, and a court-appointed attorney represented him. Bird recanted his confession at the trial. His defense attorney claimed that Bird's confession was inadmissible, as it had been obtained under duress as Bird claimed the police had beat him. The judge permitted the confession to be admitted into evidence. The confession, along with the bloody clothes and Bird’s fingerprints at the scene were enough to convict him. The jury deliberated only thirty-five minutes before finding him guilty. He was sentenced to death by hanging.
After his conviction was announced, Bird was allowed to make a final statement. He spoke for twenty minutes, noting that his request to represent himself had been denied and that his own lawyers were against him. He then added, “I’m putting the Jake Bird hex on all of you who had anything to do with my being punished. Mark my words you will die before I do.”
Allegedly, six people connected with the trial died: Judge Edward D. Hodge of a heart attack within a month of sentencing him to death, as did one of the officers who took his first confession. A police officer who took a second confession died, as did the court’s chief clerk, and one of Bird's prison guards. J.W. Selden, one of Bird’s lawyers, died on the first anniversary of his sentencing.
The execution at the Washington State Penitentiary was scheduled for January 16, 1948, but Bird claimed he had committed forty-four other murders, which he was willing to help the police solve. Washington governor Monrad C. Wallgren granted him a sixty-day reprieve. Police from other states interviewed Bird, and eleven murders were substantiated. He was knowledgeable enough about the thirty-three other murders to be considered a prime suspect. The interviews with Bird enabled the police departments of many states to declare many unsolved murders as solved. In addition to his Washington state murders, the transient Bird apparently had killed people in Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin. He mostly preyed on Caucasian women. Bird had dispatched his victims with an axe.
It should be noted that none of those murders included the New Orleans Axeman victims.
During his reprieve, Bird attempted to appeal his death sentence, but it was denied. He was hanged on the morning of July 15, 1949 and buried in an unmarked grave in the prison cemetery.
Also, as the majority of the victims were of Italian descent, the "Black Hand" and the Mafia were briefly suspected to be behind the murders, with the Axeman working as a hitman on behalf of one of these organizations. However, this was deemed improbable, mainly because it was believed the mob wouldn't have left survivors as the Axeman did, and also because of lack of evidence to support this.
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