The Backstory: Searching for the killer called the Axeman

New Orleans was terrorized in 1918 and 1919 by the Axeman. He targeted the families of Italian grocers, broke into their homes in the dead of night, and went after them with an axe...or whatever else he could find. Who was he and why did he do this? 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So just because Halloween is over doesn't mean we don't
want to be a little bit terrified by real life
murder stories. Right. A serial killer horrified the people of
New Orleans over one hundred years ago and left a
dozen people dead or horribly injured. I'm Patty Steele, who
was the Axe Man? That's next on the backstory. The

(00:25):
backstory is back. It's nineteen eighteen. New Orleans is being
terrorized by a shadowy figure who breaks into homes at night,
slaughtering families as they sleep. His weapon of choice is
sometimes an axe or whatever else he finds in your home.
His motive remains a mystery to this day, as does
his identity. The Axe Man's murders has the entire city

(00:49):
in a state of fear, and his identity is one
of America's most intriguing cold cases. Who is he? Well,
there are a few ideas. The terror begins with the
murder of Joseph Maggio, an Italian grocer, and his wife Catherine,
on a morning in late May. Their bodies are found
in their home above their store, their throats slashed with

(01:11):
a razor and their heads cracked open with an axe.
The police can't figure it out. The killings were silent.
Nobody heard anything at the crime scene. There's a razor
that belonged to Joseph's brother, Andrew, a barber who works nearby.
Of course, he's their first suspect. Now, the problem is
he has an airtight alibi, so he's released. Then they

(01:34):
notice a chilling message scrolled on the wall which reads
Missus Maggio will sit up tonight just like missus Tony.
What does that mean? Nobody knows. Now it's a few
weeks later, June nineteen eighteen, a hot summer night, this
time a local grocer, Louis Bessemer and his mistress Anna

(01:56):
Harriet Lowe, are asleep in their home behind their store.
Just before daylight, someone enters their bedroom. He or she
is wielding an axe. Lewis and Anna are brutally attacked,
their skulls fractured, their bodies left for dead, but miraculously
they both survive for the moment, though Anna later dies

(02:18):
from her injuries. Here's the thing. Just before she dies,
Anna offers some odd info. She claims it was Lewis
who had attacked her. The cops are confused because the
story doesn't match the mo of the killer. They arrest Lewis,
but very quickly release him due to lack of evidence.
Just like the Maggio case, the Bessemer attack left them

(02:41):
with more questions than answers. Why are these people targeted?
Why does it seem so random? Over the next few months,
the attacks continue, each more horrifying than the last. The
axe men targets grocers and their families, and the only
thing they have in common other than their occupied is
that they're all Italian Americans and the mo is similar.

(03:04):
The attacks always take place late at night. The killer
enters through a back door or window, leaving it splintered open.
Each time, he uses the victim's own axe or another
object he finds in their home. He doesn't bring his
own weapon. He wants to use your stuff to kill you.
His method is consistent, brutal, and familiar. On August fifth,

(03:29):
nineteen eighteen, the axe man goes after the Schneider family.
Anna Schneider is pregnant and home alone. Her husband finds
her covered in blood, her skull split open, but again miraculously,
she survives and her baby is born healthy. The attacker, however,
is nowhere to be found, no fingerprints, no clues nothing

(03:52):
but a horrific scene. By March nineteen nineteen, New Orleans
is in a panic. That's when the Axe Man goes
by public in a way that brings him even more infamy.
The Times Picky You newspaper gets a letter from somebody
claiming to be the Axe Man. It says, esteemed mortal.
They have never caught me, and they never will. They

(04:14):
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 or Lenians and your
foolish police call the Axe Man. I am fond of
jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in

(04:35):
the nether regions that every person shall be spared in
whose home a jazz band is in full swing at
the time I have mentioned. If everyone has a jazz
band going well, then so much the better for you people.
March nineteenth was the date, and New Orleans went wild.
Jazz filled the streets, musicians were hired, parties erupted, and

(04:59):
the entire city came alive with music, praying it would
keep them safe. And it worked, at least for that night,
but pretty soon after the Axe Man goes back to
his bloody work in the Munsick followed more murders. The
Courtamiglia family was attacked in their home and their little
girl Mary is killed. People began to wonder why was

(05:23):
the killer targeting Italian grocers? Was it racism? And who
is this killer? And why is he terrorizing the people
of New Orleans. Two names stand out, Joseph Monfrey and
Frank Doc Mumphrey. Mumphrey was apparently connected to the Black Hand,
a criminal gang involved in extortion and violence, particularly among

(05:45):
Italian immigrants. They sent threatening letters and sometimes violently attacked
if families didn't pay up. Then there's Doc Mumphrey, a
guy with a violent, shady past and known to have
a grudge against Italian Americans. In fact, one of the
women attacked who survive said it was Mumfrey. Interestingly, within

(06:07):
a short time, both of those men left New Orleans
and both moved to Los Angeles and both were murdered there.
The killings in New Orleans ended, but no one was
ever definitively identified as the Axe Man. Was the Axe
Man Monfrey, Mumfrey or somebody else? We may never know

(06:29):
the Axe Man's story is a definite reminder that sometimes
the scariest beings aren't on a screen, but hiding in
the dark corners of real life, waiting to be uncovered.
Hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. I would

(06:49):
love it if you'd subscribe or follow for free to
get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to dm
me if you have a story you'd like me to cover.
On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Reel Patty Steele.
I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks,
the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer

(07:13):
is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new
episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out
to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram
at Reel Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele.
Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The
pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know