The Axeman of New Orleans Spared Your Life if You Were Listening to Jazz: Or Did He?
From May 1918 to October 1919 he terrorized Italian grocers and their families, disappearing completely after his last kill
If you watched the third season of American Horror Story, you might recall a certain jazz-loving character that killed with an axe but spared anyone listening to his favorite music genre.
Based on a real-life serial killer, that left six dead and six injured in New Orleans from May 23, 1918, to October 27, 1919, the fictional Axeman from the TV show skipped over houses where jazz music was playing.
In real life, the killer was never caught, nor was his identity discovered. The mystery of the New Orleans Axeman remains.
The attacks were brutal. All of the victims were Italian owners of grocery stores and their families. Some he killed, and some he left severely injured. All assaults occurred in New Orleans, except one incident in the nearby town of Gretna.
The first attack
The first of the murders occurred on May 23, 1918, when Joseph Maggio and his wife Catherine were brutally attacked in their bed where they had been sleeping next to each other.
The second attack
On June 27, 1918, Louis Besumer and his mistress, Harriet Lowe were found injured, but still alive. Before she eventually succumbed to her injuries, Harriet told the police she thought Louis had attacked her. He was arrested and charged with murder but with no evidence against him, he was eventually acquitted.
The third attack
In August of the same year, Anna Schneider, 8 months pregnant, was found by her husband, severely injured in the middle of the night. Despite her wounds, she survived and gave birth to a healthy baby two days later.
The fourth attack
It was at this point, authorities were beginning to believe the previous attacks were done by the same person. Five days after the attack on Anna Schneider, an elderly man was found by his nieces with a severe blow to his head. He died a few days later.
The fifth attack
There was a reprieve through the winter and the city relaxed until March 10, 1919, when a fifth attack occurred in the nearby city of Gretna. Charles Cortimiglia, his wife Rosie, and his two-year-old daughter Mary were assailed by a large man carrying an axe. Charles and Rosie survive, but their little girl did not.
Things got confusing when Rosie accused her neighbors of the attack. But there was never any evidence against them and she later retracted her statement. Eventually, this attack was tied to the others in New Orleans.
Understandably, the city of New Orleans was terror-struck. The Italian immigrant community even more so. The killer would break into the homes of Italian immigrants in the middle of the night and attack them, often with their own axes. Those he left alive reported they were assaulted by a white man in his 30s. Because of the ease with which he broke into the houses, the authorities believed they were dealing with an experienced burglar.
The newspapers covered it all with vivid detail. They ran with sensational stories about the Mafia being involved, even though there was never any evidence these crimes were Mafia-related.
The furor further intensified after the New Orleans Times-Picayune received a letter claiming to be from the very Axeman himself:
Hell, March 13, 1919
Esteemed Mortal of New Orleans:
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 (and the worst), 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 out on that specific 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
The paper printed the letter and the city went nuts. The citizens of New Orleans took the Axeman’s word they would be safe if only they were listening to jazz. That night the jazz clubs were in full swing.
However, historians have since questioned if that letter was truly written by the killer.
There were no killings on the night the letter was printed. But months after the letter, three more attacks occurred. On September 2, 1919, William Carson shot at a man who had broken into his home. The intruder left behind an axe.
On September 3, 1919, Sarah Laumann was attacked by a man with an axe as she slept in her bed. Severely injured, she recovered from her wounds.
The last known attack happened on October 27, 1919. Mike Pepitone was killed by a blow to his head. His wife saw a man fleeing the scene and carrying an axe. He left behind his wife and six children.
Back to that letter, who really wrote it?
In The Axeman of New Orleans: The True Story, Miriam Davis puts forth the theory that the Axeman did not write the letter. Her reason being that evidence showed the Axeman was working class. In contrast, the letter writer appears to be someone well-educated.
She thinks the man that wrote the letter was local jazz musician, John Joseph Davila. After the letter, he put out the song, The Mysterious Axeman’s Jazz (Don’t Scare Me Papa). The song was tremendously popular and could have been an old-fashioned viral publicity stunt. And it certainly wouldn’t be the first time (or the last) that someone in America capitalized on the misfortune of others.
Why Italian grocers?
The people targeted by the Axeman were all Italian immigrants that owned groceries. Davis doesn’t think the Axeman had anything to do with jazz. The target of the crimes were mainly immigrants from Sicily.
Many Italian immigrants had started as plantation workers and worked their way up to the grocery store business. In 1920, half of all groceries in New Orleans were owned by Italian immigrants.
Due to their darker complexions and their early beginnings as field workers, immigrants from Sicily tended to face similar prejudices that Black Americans also experienced in the American South. Especially Black Americans that had saved their money, invested in a business and were doing better than some whites believed they should be.
Davis’s theory is that the Axeman was someone carrying out a racist agenda. Someone who was so incensed that these “foreigners” were doing better than he was, that he attacked them in the middle of the night.
Other murders
There were also similar crimes against Italian grocers in New Orleans from 1910 to 1911. And then three more times in the 1920s in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Authorities now believe these were all probably carried out by the same Axeman.
Who was he?
There are numerous theories, but every one of them has serious holes. The newspapers printed a lot of stories about the Mafia at the time. They were known to exact violence on anyone who didn’t meet their demands for money. But the New Orleans police rejected this theory as they believed the Mafia wouldn’t have left any survivors.
There were various arrests that all turned out to be nothing, but the only suspect that has ever been discussed as possibly being the Axeman was Joseph Mumfre. However, modern-day crime experts can’t find any evidence whatsoever that Joseph was the killer.
Another popular theory is that these were not all done by the same person, but by various copycat killers.
In the end, it remains a mystery.
Probably not a jazz lover after all
It’s a horrifying, yet compelling story to imagine a crazed Axeman walking the streets at night, and passing by any home with the sound of jazz pouring out the windows, only striking down people who sleeping quietly in their homes.
But closer to the truth is that the Axeman was probably a racist with serious resentment against prosperous immigrants from Sicily. Like many immigrants that came to America, these hardworking people faced many stereotypes and hardships on their way to the American dream.
Sources: 1) Smithsonian Magazine, The Axeman of New Orleans Preyed on Italian Immigrants; 2) wbur News, The Axe Murderer Who Loved Jazz; 3) Legends of America, The Axeman of New Orleans
