The Axeman of New Orleans

by Miriam C. Davis

  “How could you think I could kill”: NOI, May 26, 1918.

  “Up to the time we conducted”: NODS, May 26, 1918.

  “We don’t know where to start”: NOTD, October 12, 1910.

  “one of the criminal mysteries”: NODS, October 12, 1910.

  “award[ing him] the first honors”: NOI, October 19, 1910.

  “the better class of Italians”: NOI, May 25, 1912.

  “lust for blood”: NOTD, May 17, 1912.

  unclear how long: On May 15, 1916, the NOTP noted that Henry Sciambra sold his store “a few days after [his brother’s] murder,” but since it gets the date of the murder wrong (saying it happened in 1914), the information may not be entirely reliable. The New Orleans City Directory records that in 1913–1914 Henry Sciambra was still at 2302 Dauphine St. and Di Giorgi on N. Rocheblave St.; Di Giorgio is not listed as owner of the grocery at 2302 Dauphine until 1915–1916.

  “considerably worried because of an Italian”: NODP, May 17, 1912.

  George Musacchia: Sometimes appearing as Masuchia or Musachia.

  “bore all the earmarks”: NOI, May 27, 1912.

  7. A German Spy?

  Particulars of the attack on Louis Besumer and Harriet Lowe, and the police investigation, found in NODS, June 27–29, 1918; NOI, June 27–30, 1918; NOTP, June 28–30, 1918; NODS, July 3, 5, 7–8, 12, 15, and 30, 1918; NOTP, July 1, 3–7, 9–10, 12, and 15, 1918; and NOI, July 1, 3–4, 7–8, 1918.

  For German spies in WWI and US counterespionage measures, see Witcover, Sabotage at Black Tom. For treatment of Germans in the United States during the First World War, see Peterson and Fite, Opponents of War; and Schaffer, America in the Great War, chapter 2, “Controlling Dissent.”

  For James G. Coulton’s career, see NODS, February 7, 1949; NOI, February 7, 1949; and NOTP, February 7–8, 1949.

  For Mooney’s demotion of detectives, see NOI, July 3, 1918; NODS, July 7, 1918; and NOTP, July 7, 1918.

  Details of the attack on Mary Schneider from NODS, August 5–7, 1918; NOI, August 5–7, 1918; and NOTP, August 6–7, 1918. Additional details on the Schneider family from 1920 US Census, Ancestry.com.

  named Louis Besumer: His name is also sometimes spelled Besemer or Bessemer.

  Come around to the front: The New Orleans papers contained two or three different versions of Zanca knocking on the door and entering the grocery. My version is based on the report in the NOI, June 30, 1918; and NOPD, Reports of Homicide, September 14, 1918, in New Orleans Public Library. See also NODS, June 27, 1918; NOI, June 27, 1918; NOTP, June 28, 1918; and NOTP, May 1, 1919.

  “My God, what’s happened?”: Zanca’s conversation with Besumer has been reconstructed based on NOPD, Reports of Homicide, in New Orleans Public Library; NODS, June 27, 1918; NOI, June 27, 1918; NOTP, June 28, 1918; and NOI, June 30, 1918.

  “one of the queerest [mysteries]”: NOTP, July 4, 1918.

  Harriet Anna Lowe: Her name sometimes appears as Annie Harriet Lowe or Harriet Annette Lowe. Besumer referred to her as “Annie.” NOI, September 16, 1918.

  “My husband is a German”: NOI, June 28, 1918.

  HATCHET MYSTERY: NOTP, June 29, 1918.

  schools abolished German language instruction: My husband’s Swedish grandfather was bullied during the war for speaking Swedish, which some, apparently, could not distinguish from German.

  “proceeded to tell about the people”: NOTP, July 4, 1918.

  “a born investigator”: NOI, July 3, 1918.

  “I am a man who leaves nothing undone”: NOTP, July 4, 1918.

  “The other articles in my store”: NOTP, July 7, 1918.

  his former wife lived in Cincinnati: Eventually, Besumer admitted to two ex-wives. NOTP, August 20, 1918.

  “twitche[d] uncontrollably”: NODS, August 25, 1918.

  “I feel sure he and I are married”: NOTP, July 7, 1918.

  their memory of the details was a little foggy: The Item reported that these attacks had occurred during the last two years. NOI, June 27, 1918.

  usually on moonless nights: According to the Naval Observatory (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php, accessed August 31, 2015).

  a greater risk of being spotted: In addition to the evidence of fresh blood, Lowe said that she was attacked in daylight. NODS, June 27, 1918.

  Caring for three small children: The 1920 US Census (Ancestry.com) shows Edward and Mary Schneider and their four children living next to Emile and Kate Gonzales.

  “Struck? Oh, no”: NODS, August 7, 1918.

  POLICE BELIEVE AX-MAN: NOTP, August 6, 1918.

  connecting the Schneider attack: Jim Coulton was the Times-Picayune’s crime reporter and so presumably was responsible for the paper’s coverage of the crimes.

  “it probable that Mrs. Schneider”: NOTP, August 6, 1918.

  VICTIM OF AX-MAN NOW HAPPY: NOTP, August 7, 1918.

  Andy Ojeda took a different tack: Ojeda was probably covering police headquarters at this time. NODS, April 1, 1950.

  “It is nothing more or less”: NODS, August 7, 1918.

  AXE-MAN’S VICTIM CAN’T RECALL: NOI, August 7, 1918.

  ARMED MEN GUARD SLEEPING FAMILIES: NOI, August 8, 1918.

  AX-VICTIM TO BE TAKEN: NOI, August 15, 1918.

  8. Axeman Hysteria

  For details of Joe Romano’s murder, see NODS, August 10, 1918; NOI, August 10, 1918; NOTP, August 11, 1918; NOPD, Reports of Homicide, August 10, 1918, in New Orleans Public Library; and Coroner’s Office, autopsy report, August 10, 1918, in New Orleans Public Library. Additional information about the Romano/Bruno family from the 1920 US Census, Ancestry.com.

  For Axeman panic, see NOI, August 10–12, 1918; NOTP, August 11–12, 1918; and NODS, August 11 and 13, 1918. For examples of Axeman spotting, see NOI, August 12 and 16, 1918; NODS, August 12, 16–17, 1918; and NOTP, August 12 and 17 and October 31, 1918.

  Accounts of Axeman-like break-ins that came to light after Joe Romano’s murder come from NOI, August 10 and 15, 1918; NODS, August 11, 1918; and NOTP, August 12 and 16, 1918.

  For evidence of thefts at Italian stores after the Romano murder, see NODS, August 19–21, 1918; NOI, August 20, 1918; and NOTP, August 21–22, 1918.

  For examples of Axeman-like burglaries/panel robberies, see NOI, September 15, 25, and 27, 1918; NOTP, September 15 and 25, 1918; NODS, September 15 and 23, 1918; NODS, March 10, 1919; and NOTP, March 16, 1919.

  For Piggly Wiggly and the rise of supermarket chains, see Levinson, The Great A&P.

  Harriet Lowe’s account of her assault is based on details in NOI, August 19, 1918; NODS, August 19, 1918; and NOTP, August 20, 1918.

  For the bloodstains found in Besumer’s trunk, see NODS, August 5, 1918; NOI, August 21, 1918; NODS, May 1, 1919; and NOTP, May 1, 1919.

  My account of Besumer’s response to Lowe’s charges is based on information in NODS, August 20, 1918; NOI, August 20, 1918; and NOTP, August 20–21, 1918.

  Information on Besumer’s arrest and murder charge found in NODS, August 19–20, 23, and 25, 1918; NOI, August 19–21 and 23, 1918; NOTP, August 20–21 and 24, 1918; NODS, September 16, 24, and 27, 1918; NOTP, September 17, 1918; NOI, September 17 and 25, 1918; NOI, November 24 and December 6, 1918.

  For details of Harriet Lowe’s operation and death, see NOI, August 21, 1918; NOTP, August 21, 1918; NODS, September 6–7, 14, and 16, 1918; NOI, September 6, 16–17, 1918; NOTP, September 6–8, 14, and 17–18, 1918; NOPD, Reports of Homicide, September 16, 1918, in New Orleans Public Library; and Coroner’s Office, autopsy report, May 24, 1919, in New Orleans Public Library.

  To understand the dynamics of domestic abuse, see Bancroft, Why Does He Do That?; and Barnett, “Why Battered Women Do Not Leave,” parts 1 and 2.

  For evidence of Mooney’s views on the Axeman, see NOI, August 10, 1918; NODS, August 11, 1918; NOTP, August 12, 1918; NODS, March 11, 1919; and NOTP, March 11 and 16, 1919.

  My understanding of the workings of memory is based on Loftus, “Make-Believe Memories” a
nd “Malleability of Human Memory”; and Schacter, Seven Sins of Memory.

  Information about the Spanish flu in New Orleans comes from NODS, September 16 and 19, 1918; NOI, September 18, 1918; NOTP, September 18, 1918; NODS, October 8–9, 20, and 29, 1918; and NOTP, October 10, 16, 31, 1918.

  “Something has happened”: NOTP, August 11, 1918.

  “He was awfully light on his feet”: NOI, August 10, 1918.

  “The skull was not shattered”: NOPD, Reports of Homicide, August 10, 1918, in New Orleans Public Library.

  “I believe it is criminal”: NODS, August 16, 1918.

  “this blood-mad creature”: NOI, August 15, 1918.

  “badly frightened negro woman”: NOTP, August 17, 1918.

  “scathing criticism”: NOI, August 12, 1918.

  “exhaustive investigation”: NODS, August 11, 1918.

  “thinly settled sections”: NOTP, August 17, 1918.

  Jim Coulton sought out: Jim Coulton was the Times-Picayune’s crime reporter, so presumably he conducted the interview.

  “This is very probably the man”: NOTP, August 13, 1918.

  “The homes of all the victims”: Ibid.

  “Take this for the gospel”: NOI, August 10, 1918.

  “Attention Mr. Mooney and All Citizens”: NOTP, August 23, 1918.

  “I met Mr. Besumer in Jacksonville”: NOTP, August 20, 1918.

  “You’ll get your money and more”: NODS, August 20, 1918.

  “Annie, you are going to make a fire”: NOI, August 19, 1918.

  “As I lay in bed”: NOTP, August 20, 1918.

  “gave me some trouble”: Ibid.

  “peculiar disposition”: NODS, August 20, 1918.

  “I feel that I am going to die”: NOTP, September 6, 1918. A slightly different version is found in NOI, September 6, 1918.

  Writing over thirty years later: Robert Tallant mentions the story of Besumer’s and Lowe’s violent bickering in Ready to Hang.

  when she said she couldn’t remember: The black-haired man she recalled bending over her was probably John Zanca.

  9. The Mysterious Axeman’s Jazz

  Information about Iorlando Guagliardo (aka Jordano) and his family comes from State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives; “Orlando Guagliardo Jordano” and “Frank Guagliardo” in Ancestry.com, One World Tree Project; 1920 US Census, Ancestry.com; New Orleans Death Records, Ancestry .com; NODS, March 18, 1919; and NOI, March 18, 1919.

  For Charlie Cortimiglia’s background, see State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives; NOI, March 10 and 12, 1919; NOTP, March 10, 1919; NODS, March 10, 1919, and February 4, 1920.

  Description of Rosie Cortimiglia based on information in State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives; and NOTP, February 4, 1920.

  For a description of Frank Jordano, see NODS, March 15, 1919; NOTP, March 15, 1919; NOI, March 18, 1919; NOTP, February 5, 1920; NOTP, June 17, 1923, and March 14, 1926; and State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  Details of the conflict between the Cortimiglias and Jordanos over the grocery business come from NOTP, March 10, 1919; NOI, March 10 and 15, 1919; NODS, March 15, 1919; and State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  Details of the events of the night of Saturday, March 8, 1919, and the following Sunday morning come from State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  Manny Fink’s account of hearing the Axeman taken from his testimony in State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  For Sheriff Louis Marrero Sr.’s history, see Chambers, History of Louisiana; Curry, Gretna; Fortier, Louisiana; Goodspeed, Biographical and Historical Memoirs; NOI, May 2, 1912; NODS, October 25, 1917; NOI, January 15, 1920; NOI, February 26–27, 1921; and NOTP, February 27, 1921.

  For details of the initial investigation of the Cortimiglia crime scene, see NOI, March 10–11, 1919; NOTP, March 10–11, 1919; and State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  For details of the Vicari break-in, see NOI, March 11, 1919; NODS, March 11, 1919; and NOTP, March 11, 1919. Also State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, 587–589, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  Information about Dr. Fernandez’s coroner’s jury comes from State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives; NOTP, March 10–11, 1919; NODS, March 15, 1919; NOI, March 17, 1919; NODS, April 16, 1919; and NOTP, April 17, 1919.

  For Frank’s testimony before the coroner’s jury, see State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives; NOI, March 10, 1919; NOTP, March 10, 1919; and NODS, March 15, 1919.

  For details of the Cortimiglias’ recovery in Charity Hospital, see NOI, March 10–11, 1919; NOTP, March 10–12, 1919; NODS, March 11–13, and 15–16, 1919; and State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  Details on interrogation of suspect Charles Anderson found in NODS, March 12, 1919; NOTP, March 12, 1919; NOI, March 12–14, 1919; and State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  For accusation against Frank and Iorlando, see NODS, March 15–19, 1919; NOTP, March 15–16 and 18, 1919; NOI, March 15–19, 1918; and State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  Details of J. J. Davilla’s career from NOTP, July 30, 1916, March 10, 1918, and March 18 and 20, 1919; NODS, March 20, 1919; NOTP, March 23, 1919; NODS, May 10, 1919; NOTP, May 11, 1919; NOTP, July 20, 1947; and NOTP, May 26, 1957.

  For Saint Joseph’s Day in New Orleans, see Chupa, “St. Joseph’s Day Altars”; McColloster, “New Light”; Orso and Kaveski, “Undisclosed Aspects”; Plemer, “Feast of St. Joseph”; and Tallant, Dreyer, and Saxon, Gumbo Ya-Ya, 6.

  For Saint Joseph’s Day 1919, see NODS, March 16 and 18–19, 1919; NOTP, March 18–19, 1919; Herald, March 20, 1919; and NOTP, July 20, 1947.

  For Robert Rivarde’s background, see Louisiana District Judges, Biographies; NODP, February 19, 1912; NOI, December 4 and 7, 1916; NODS, December 7–8 and 17, 1916; NOI, January 30, 1967; NOTP, January 31, 1967; States-Item, January 30 and 31, 1967.

  For Rosie’s arrest as a material witness, see NOI, March 28, 1919; NOTP, March 28, 1919; NODS, March 28–29, 1919; NODS, February 4, 1920; NOI, February 4, 1920; NOTP, April 26, 1920; and State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  “all crippled up”: State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  “it would just kill her”: State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  “a pronounced Italian type”: NOTP, February 4, 1920.

  “of a manly bearing”: NOTP, March 15, 1919.

  They set March 19, Saint Joseph’s Day: State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  “Mama, have you got anything”: State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  “nonfeasance, malfeasance, extortion”: NODP, May 25, 1912.

  Santo Vicari: Sometimes spelled Vaccarri or Viccari.

  “the murder was the deed”: NOTP, March 10, 1919.

  “Do you know who attacked you”: NOTP, March 12, 1919.

  “Who hit you?”: State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  “That son-of-a-bitch Cortimiglia”: Ibid.

  “Frank Jordano and the old man”: Ibid.

  “They’ve arrested Frank Jordano”: NODS, March 15, 1919.

  “How are you feeling?”: Ibid.; State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.

  “Editor of the Times-P
icayune”: NOTP, March 16, 1919.

  The real killer didn’t send: Newspapers refer to two letters to Mooney from an anonymous “student of criminology” about the series of axe murders (NOI, August 8, 1918; NOTP, August 9, 1918). Seven months later the Times-Picayune reported that the superintendent received two letters he believed to be from the Axeman (NOTP, March 11, 1919), and when the paper printed the letter purporting to be from the Axeman, it noted that it was “similar in some respects” to the letters received by Mooney (NOTP, March 16, 1919). In Empire of Sin, Krist (p. 275) suggests that the letters may have come from the killer himself. He may be right, but so little is known of these letters that it is difficult to speculate.

  “I keep on hearing the police”: Rumbelow, Jack the Ripper, 118.

  WAIT—WATCH THE AXMAN’S JAZZ: NOTP, March 23, 1919.

  “think[ing] of the great amount of harm”: Herald, March 20, 1919.

  “Did Frank Jordano attack you”: NODS, March 16, 1919.

  Q: “Did Frank Jordano hit you”: NOI, March 18, 1919.

  Q: “Was Iorlando Jordano with Frank Jordano”: NOI, March 17, 1919.

  “was unable to give details”: NOTP, March 18, 1919.

  “I am confident we have the right men”: Ibid.

  “You must make up your mind:” NOTP, February 4, 1920.

  “useless and unnecessary”: NOTP, May 8, 1919.

  10. “Hung by the Neck Until Dead, Dead, Dead”

  All direct quotations during the trial are taken from the trial transcript in State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives. I have edited and rearranged testimony for narrative purposes.

  Details of Louis Besumer’s trial are from NODS, April 30 and May 1–2, 1919; NOI, April 30 and May 1–2, 1919; NOTP, April 30 and May 1–2, 1919.

  Description of the Gretna courthouse based on evidence in NOI, February 6–7, 1907; NODP, February 7, 1907; and “Parish of Jefferson” in Inventory of the Parish Archives, Louisiana State University Archives.

  For Judge Fleury’s background, see NOI, June 2, August 28, and November 3, 1914; and NOTP, November 6, 1914.