True Crime Sunday: The Axeman of New Orleans

For the last of January’s unsolved crime theme, I wanted to take a look at the Axeman of New Orleans. This case interests me because of the number of possibilities and variety of angles from which to look at it. This is one of those cases that gets me thinking. Plus, there’s a supernatural element—if the letter is to be believed. You may be asking “What letter?” You’ll see.

From May 1918 to October 1919, a collective feeling of fear wound its way through the streets of New Orleans courtesy of a man creeping through the city streets and attacking citizens. While there was some connection, there was also enough unpredictability that no one felt safe. His routine was to gain entry to the victim’s home by removing one of the panels on the door or a hole in a wall and attack the victims with their own axe or hatchet. He would ransack the homes, but not take anything, and then flee into the night.

Police were stumped and the people of New Orleans were panicked. A number of arrests were made, but there was little to no evidence against any of them. In one case, a woman claimed she was attacked by her lover. He was acquitted. Another woman accused her neighbors of the Axeman attacks. They were arrested and convicted, but were later released when she recanted her claims. Yet another claim was made by the nieces of one of the victims. They said they saw a large, dark-skinned man wearing a dark suit and a slouched hat.

In March, 1919 a letter from Hell was sent to a newspaper. You read that right. He taunted the authorities in saying that he could really kick things up a notch if he wanted to and that he was buddies with Satan. But the Axeman wasn’t all bad. He confessed he was a big fan of jazz music, and promised that anyone playing jazz when he passed through town on March 19, 1919 would be spared.

As you can imagine, the city of New Orleans was alive with jazz music that night. True to his word, no one was killed that night. There was even a song written that was inspired by the occasion.

In October 1919, the Axeman’s reign ended as suddenly as it began. After the final attack, he was never heard from again.

One main theory in this case is that the perpetrator acted out of xenophobia. Most, but not all, of the victims in the case were Italian grocers. A second theory looks at the fact that a number of victims were women. Some supposed that the men were only attacked if they got in the way of his attacks. One of the women was eight months pregnant at the time of the attack. She survived and went on to give birth to a healthy baby girl. What a warrior!

Then there was the letter. Let’s be honest, the odds of the Axeman being one of Satan’s minions and but a specter in the city are pretty slim. But the element has intrigue. This is one angle where my interest in psychology comes in. What was the endgame there? Aside from frightening the populace, of course. He could have made any number of threats and claims, but he went with a jazz loving demon.

Though there are a number of theories about the whys of the case, there were never any solid leads as to the person responsible for it all.

So, what do you think? Was the Axeman a violent opportunist with a love for jazz? A guy with a grudge against Italian grocers? Was there something otherworldly going on or was he a bored guy looking to add some extra intrigue to the case? What if the letter wasn’t from the Axeman at all?  It makes sense that it was from him, but there’s enough weirdness in this case that I kind of wonder…

And a final question: What will we talk about for February? There’s only one way to find out.

Looking for more?

Axeman of New Orleans: The True Story by Miriam C. Davis

The Axeman by Ray Celestin (fiction)