Tales of the New Orleans Axeman

[DVV]

Stan, your posts are (too) short...

[sdreid]

Always leave them wanting more David.

[sdreid]

TexLa Ax Murders is my term. They were traditionally called the less than politically correct Mulatto Ax Murders.

With Villisca and the like, the 1910s seem to have been the era of the ax murderer.

[sdreid]

Although obviously, some of the TexLa Ax Murders took place in Louisiana, none occurred in New Orleans.

[sdreid]

The murders began in May of 1918 so the killer most likely wasn't a WWI participant.

[sdreid]

That makes it a little more likely that it was a man over 30.

[sdreid]

Although obviously, some of the TexLa Ax Murders took place in Louisiana, none occurred in New Orleans.

New Orleans really refers to N.O. Metro since the hub of the murders seemed to be in the suburb of Gretna.

[sdreid]

That makes it a little more likely that it was a man over 30.

Which I think matches up with descriptions.

[sdreid]

I don't know if any suspect sketches were developed from any of the survivors. If so, it would be interesting to see.

[sdreid]

The last attack with the characteristic chiseling out of the back door panel was the nonfatal one against Steve Boca on August 10 of 1919.

[DVV]

A most complicated case.

[RivkahChaya]

There is an inordinate amount of unverified and likely false information associated with this case. To start off, it's said that this killer attacked Italian grocers in the middle of the night with an ax after chiseling out a panel in the back door of their residences to gain access but not all the victims were grocers nor Italian. There were many reported attacks including several nonfatal ones. In the end, there were just five core murder victims - two male and three female.

"Italian grocers" was a Southern euphemism for "prostitute" at the time.

Highly unusual, if not unique, for a serial killer, this guy appears to have wounded more people than he actually murdered. I would be tempted to call him a serial wounder except this doesn't seem to have been his intent.

The method reminds me of the Ratcliffe Highway murders.

Reminds me of the Zodiac, too. I'm not sure what their primary motivation was, but on some level, they were terrorists; they liked having a city in their grip, and dominating the headlines. Clearly, the Axeman wasn't into playing with bodies, like JtR, or Jeffrey Dahmer. I have wondered whether JtR might have been at least partly motivated by making headlines, but I don't think so. I think he was completely in his own head, and may not even have read the accounts of his crimes.

Has anyone read this book? I was wondering how closely it follows actual events as best we know them know.

The book by Julie Smith is very good, but it's one in a series about a modern detective in New Orleans. It's not really about the Axeman case. It's been about 15 years since I read it, and jazz music figures prominently, including the piece "The Axeman's Jazz." I had never heard about the Axeman before I read this book, so there's basic information that will get a novice interested, but it's not the place to go for more information. If you like mystery novels, it's good, though. Is Fleetwood Mac reading this? You could get it for the plane trip in October.

[sdreid]

And as mentioned before, Julie Smith was with Robert Graysmith in the same time at the Chronicle to connect Zodiac and Axeman authors.

[sdreid]

I haven't heard if they had any contact with each other.

[sdreid]

Graysmith got his book out first.