For Robert Rivarde’s background, see sources listed in chapter 9.
For the difficulties empaneling a jury, see NOI, May 19–20, 1919; NODS, May 20, 1919; NOTP, May 20, 1919; and State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.
Details of the Jordano trial are from NODS, May 21–24 and 27, 1919; NOTP, May 22–27, 1919; NOI, May 23–24 and 26–27, 1919; and State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.
cases of Spanish influenza were declining: NODS, October 21 and 25, 1918; NOTP, October 22, 1918; and NODS, February 7, 1919.
“largely circumstantial”: NOTP, March 18 and May 1, 1919.
He’d been locked up in the parish prison: NODS, October 4, 1918; NOI, March 17, 1919; NOTP, March 17–18, 1919; NOI, April 12 and April 27, 1919; and NOTP, April 27, 1919.
“victims of the murderous Axeman”: NOTP, May 2, 1919.
“temple of justice”: NOI, February 7, 1907.
“obliterated their awe of death”: NOI, May 20, 1919.
11. Verdict
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.
the way a coroner or, today, a medical examiner: My thanks to Dr. Carol Terry, chief medical examiner, Gwinnett County, Georgia, for pointing out that surgeons often don’t know as much about forensics as they think they do.
“It is true, judge, that I may hang”: Composite speech based on accounts in NODS, October 11, 1919; NOI, October 11, 1919; and NOTP, October 11, 1919.
12. False Lead
For discussions of Joseph Mumfre as an Axeman suspect, see Krist, Empire of Sin; McQueen, Axman Came from Hell; and sources listed in the preface.
Information about Angola from Vodicka, “Prison Plantation”; Daily States (Baton Rouge), June 6, 1908; and NODP, October 29, 1908. Convict Record of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, in Louisiana State Archives, states that Mumfre was discharged on June 2, 1915.
For Vincent Moreci’s murder and Mumfre’s arrest as a suspect, see NODP, March 13 and December 22, 1910; NODS, November 19, 1915; NOTP, November 20–21, 1915; and NOI, November 21, 1915.
Story of Mumfre held by Sheriff Marrero and finally sent back to the penitentiary comes from NODS, February 3–5, 12, 14, and 16–18, 1916; NOTP, February 4–6, 12, 15, and 17, 1916; NODS, March 10, 1916; NOTP, March 11, 1916; NODS, July 10, 1916; and NOTP, July 11, 1916. See also Monfre [sic] v. Marrero, Westlaw, 138 La. 737, 70 So. 786 (1916); and Monfre [sic] v. Marrero, Westlaw, 138 La. 739, 70 So. 787 (1916)
For Mumfre’s trial, see NOTP, February 17, 1916; NODS, February 17–18, 1916; NODS, March 10, 1916; and NOTP, March 11, 1916.
For Mumfre being released from prison and quickly rearrested, see Convict Record of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, in Louisiana State Archives; NOTP, May 18, 1918, and January 20, 1919.
For Mumfre being run out of New Orleans, see NOTP, May 18, 1918; NODS, January 20, 1919; NOTP, January 20, 1919; NODS, January 24, 1919; and NODS, December 15, 1921.
Details of the attack on Sarah Laumann from NODS, August 4–5, 1919; NOI, August 4–5, 1919; and NOTP, August 4–5, 1919. Additional details about Sarah Laumann family from 1910 and 1920 US Census, Ancestry.com.
For the robbery on the night after the Laumann attack, see NODS, August 5, 1919; and NOI, August 5, 1919.
The story of Steve Boca and William Carlson is told in Tallant, “Axman Wore Wings” in Ready to Hang.
Details of the murder of Mike Pepitone in NOI, October 27, 1919; NODS, October 27–28, 1919; NOTP, October 27–29, 1919; NODS, May 15, 1921; NOPD, Reports of Homicide, October 27, 1919, in New Orleans Public Library; and Coroner’s Office, autopsy report, October 27, 1919, in New Orleans Public Library.
For the murder of Paul Di Christina and Peter Pepitone’s fear of retaliation, see NODP, April 14, 1910; NOI, April 14–15, 1910; NOTP, November 10, 1915; NOI, November 10 and 19, 1915; and NODS, May 15, 1921.
Details of Esther Pepitone’s move to California and marriage to Angelo Albano come from the 1920 US Census, Ancestry.com; Louisiana State Board of Health, death certificate for Jenny Albano, Parish of Orleans, October 14, 1918; NODS, October 27, 1919; and LAT, December 6, 17, and 25, 1921.
For Albano and Mumfre’s history, see NODP, April 16, 1908; NODS, February 5 and 24, 1916; NOTP, February 17, 1916; NODS, March 10, 1916; and LAT, December 6, 10, and 17, 1921.
Details of Albano’s disappearance in LAT, November 6 and December 10, 11, 17, and 25, 1921; Los Angeles Examiner, December 10 and 16, 1921; and NOTP, December 16, 1921.
Details of Mumfre’s death in LAT, December 6, 7, 17, 25, and 29, 1921; Los Angeles Examiner, December 8, 10, and 16, 1921; NODS, December 16, 1921; and Los Angeles Evening Herald, April 10, 1922.
For L.A. detectives learning about Mumfre’s identity and history from New Orleans, see LAT, December 10, 1921; NOTP, December 15, 1921; and Los Angeles Examiner, December 16, 1921. In addition, Esther Pepitone’s defense subpoenaed an identification officer with police records of “Joseph P. Monfre,” Superior Court, case no. CR17593, subpoena of A. R. Kallmeyer.
Details of Esther Pepitone’s trial taken from Los Angeles Evening Herald, April 8 and 10, 1922; and Los Angeles Examiner, April 11, 1922. See also NODS, December 16, 1921; LAT, December 17 and 25, 1921; and list of witnesses subpoenaed by the state, Superior Court, case no. CR17593.
Esther’s testimony at her trial is based on newspaper accounts of her trial but also on earlier newspaper accounts. The Los Angeles papers didn’t cover Esther Albano’s April 1922 trial in great detail. Some details of her testimony are taken from earlier newspaper coverage of the investigation and criminal proceedings against her on the assumption that she told substantially the same story on the witness stand in April 1922.
For biographical information on Robert Tallant, see Robert Tallant Papers, in New Orleans Public Library; and NOTP, April 2, 1957.
For biographical information on Andy Ojeda and Jim Coulton, see NODS, February 7, 1949; NOI, February 7, 1949; NOTP, February 7, 1949; NOTP, February 8, 1949; NODS, April 1, 1950; and NOTP, April 2, 1950.
a continuation of the vendetta: And, indeed, police suspected that subsequent shootings of Italians were part of the same vendetta. See NODS, January 30 and May 14–15, 1916; and Kendall, “Blood on the Banquette.”
“no bondsman [was] forthcoming”: NODS, February 14, 1916.
paid intervention: Convict Record of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, in Louisiana State Archives, notes: “Parole approved by Gov. L. E. Hall.”
“For years Monfre”: NODS, January 24, 1919.
“It would do the city no good”: Ibid.
Doc Mumfre left: That Mumfre left New Orleans for California about January 1919 is confirmed by his death certificate (in the name of “Leone J. Manfre”), California Department of Public Health, dated December 1921, which said that he had been living in Los Angeles for three years.
“I felt a stinging”: NODS, August 4, 1919.
“About 26 years old”: NOTP, August 4, 1919.
“a thick, blunt instrument”: NOTP, August 5, 1919.
“if he had hit her”: NOI, August 4, 1919.
MYSTERIOUS “AXMAN”: NOTP, August 4, 1919.
“probably six feet”: NODS, August 10, 1918.
Esther Pepitone: Sometimes spelled Pipitone.
“Oh, Lord!”: NODS, October 27, 1919.
“it looks like the Axeman”: NOPD, Reports of Homicide, October 27, 1919, in New Orleans Public Library.
Detectives theorized that he’d heard: Another theory was that Pepitone was attacked outside his bedroom and his murderers dragged him back to his bed or he managed to stagger back to bed. The homicide report records the finding of blood in the room next to Pepitone’s bedroom. But no subsequent New Orleans news story mentions this, so it may have been an early m
isapprehension by the reporting officer. Yet this version of events is also attributed to Mrs. Pepitone in LAT, December 25, 1921.
believed he was involved: Mike Pepitone was actually a nasty piece of work. He’d recently been arrested for physically abusing his six-year-old son. NODS, September 13, 1919; and NOTP, September 13, 1919.
“another vendetta mystery”: NODS, October 28, 1919.
fed the Axeman narrative: I’m presuming that Coulton wrote these articles because he was the police and crime reporter at the time.
“Mooney does not connect”: NODS, October 28, 1919.
“bore some of the characteristics”: NOTP, October 27, 1919.
“the Pepitone case is not unlike”: NOTP, October 29, 1919.
Leone J. Manfre: Without a doubt, Joe Mumfre and Leone J. Manfre were the same man. Mumfre’s 1917–1918 draft registration form records that he had a daughter Lena, who lived in Los Angeles. In 1915, the NODS noted that Mumfre had a twelve-year-old daughter in California. In 1921, “Leone J. Manfre” had a nineteen-year-old daughter in L.A. named Lena Manfre, which would give her the right name and right age to be Joseph Mumfre’s daughter (see Los Angeles Examiner, December 8, 1921). Also, L.A. court records show that for the trial of Esther Pepitone for killing Leone J. Manfre, the L.A. Police Department requested the police records of “Joseph Monfre” [sic] from New Orleans, suggesting that L.A. officials believed Manfre and Monfre/Mumfre to be the same man. See Superior Court, case no. CR17593, subpoena of Lena Vera Manfre, and subpoena of A. R. Kallmeyer for police records of Joseph P. Monfre.
Esther tried to carry on: Esther filed for divorce in early November and had a receiver named for Albano’s property so she could get into his safety deposit box. LAT, November 6, 1921; States, December 16, 1921.
testified that the dead man was her father: LAT, December 29, 1921. I’m assuming Lena testified for the same reason in April as she had in December.
“Albano has a big house”: The accounts of the trial in the newspapers covered only Esther Albano’s testimony. But the case records include copies of those subpoenaed by the defense for a pretrial hearing in March, and it only makes sense that the defense would call these witnesses during the actual trial. Mrs. Griffith’s testimony is taken from LAT, December 25, 1921.
not guilty: Esther Pepitone returned to New Orleans, where she died in 1940. She never remarried. NOTP, August 25, 1940.
“motive and probable solution”: NOTP, December 15, 1921. New Orleans police also told Los Angeles investigators that Mumfre killed Pepitone. Los Angeles Examiner, December 16, 1921.
“Perhaps it was just a coincidence”: NODS, December 15, 1921.
pointing out that Joseph Mumfre: NOI, December 16, 1921.
Tallant thought he was the first: Tallant, Dreyer, and Saxon, Gumbo Ya-Ya, vii. Tallant didn’t know about Kendall’s “Blood on the Banquette,” published in 1939.
“He was the Axeman”: Tallant, Ready to Hang, 215. In an earlier telling of the story published in 1945, Tallant didn’t quote Mrs. Pepitone as alleging that Mumfre was the Axeman. In fact, although he claimed that the Axeman crimes could be matched to the times Mumfre was out of prison, he added that “there was no evidence of his connection with the ghastly [Axeman] crimes.” Tallant, Dreyer, and Saxon, Gumbo Ya Ya, 89.
13. Rosie and Saint Joseph
For Frank’s reaction to the verdict, see NOTP, May 28, 1919.
For Jim Coulton’s firm belief in the Jordanos’ innocence, see NOTP, December 7, 1920. For Coulton’s personal experience with corrupt cops, see NOI, February 5, 1919.
For the appeals and delays in the Jordano case, see NOTP, June 30 and July 6 and 11, 1919; NODS, July 10, 1919; and NOTP, October 4, 1919.
Description of hanging based on accounts in NODP, April 29, 1905, and March 6, 1909; NOI, January 13, 1910; NOTP, July 24, 1918; NODS, November 28, 1919, and August 13, 1920.
Details of Lena’s wedding from NOI, January 4, 1920; NODS, January 4–5, 1920; and NOTP, January 4–5, 1920.
Evidence for the Cortimiglias’ difficulties after the trial found in NOTP, June 18, 1919; NODS, June 20, 1919; NOI, June 21, 1919; NOTP, July 11, 1919; NOTP, August 30, 1919; NOI, August 31, 1919; and NODS, May 22, 1920.
For Storyville and prostitution, I have relied on Krist, Empire of Sin; Rose, Storyville; and Vyhnanek, “Seamier Side of Life” (PhD diss.).
For the details of Rosie Cortimiglia’s arrest for prostitution, see NOI, November 1–2, 1919; NODS, November 2, 1919; and arrest record for Rosie Cortimiglia, November 1, 1919, in NOPD, Arrest Cards.
Details of Rosie and Charlie’s failed reconciliation in NOTP, November 7, 1919; NODS, February 4, 1920; NOI, February 4, 1920; and NOTP, February 4, 1920.
For the story of Rosie’s confession, see NODS, February 4, 1920; NOI, February 4, 1920; NOTP, February 4–5, 1920; and statement of Rosie Salama Cortimiglia to Times-Picayune, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.
For reaction to news of Rosie’s retraction, see NOI, February 4, 1920; and NODS, February 4, 5, and 7, 1920.
For memory, see Loftus and Hoffman, “Misinformation and Memory”; Loftus and Ketcham, Myth of Repressed Memory; Loftus and Thomas, “Creating Bizarre False Memories”; and Loftus works cited in chapter 8.
For details of the Jordanos’ state supreme court appeal, see NOI, February 4, 1920; NODS, February 7–8, 1920; NOTP, February 8, 1920; NOI, March 6, 7, and 14, 1920; NOTP, March 7 and 14, 1920; NODS, March 13–14 and April 5, 1920; NOI, April 5, 1920; and NOTP, April 6 and 22, 1920. See also the state supreme court decision, State v. Guagliardo et al., in Westlaw; and Supplemental Brief on Behalf of Defendants and Appellants, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.
For Rosie ill with smallpox, see NOTP, January 30, 1920; NOI, January 31 and February 11, 1920; and NOTP, December 7, 1920.
For Rosie swearing to affidavit, see NODS, April 26, 1920; and NOTP, April 26, 1920.
For grand jury investigation into Rosie’s charges, see NODS, May 12, 1920; and NOTP, December 7, 1920.
For fears that Rosie would not recant her testimony under oath, see NODS, May 16, 1920; and NOTP, May 19, 1920.
For details of attempts to get bail for Jordanos, see NOTP, April 26–27 and May 9, 13, and 20, 1920; NOI, May 28 and November 22 and 26, 1920; and NODS, November 26, 1920.
For failed attempts to retry Jordanos, see NOTP, May 9, 17, 19, and 20, 1920; NOI, May 28, 1920; NODS, November 14, 15, 21, 22, and 26, 1920; and NOTP, November 15, 16, and 27, 1920.
For details of the Jordanos’ life in the parish jail, see NOTP, February 5, 1920; NOI, November 15, 1920; and NODS, November 15, 1920.
For the Jordanos finally freed, see NODS, December 6, 1920; NOI, December 6, 1920; and NOTP, December 7, 1920.
“nonchalance”: NODS, February 4, 1919.
“I believe you”: NOTP, December 7, 1920.
“tempting dishes of chicken”: NODS, January 5, 1920.
“ancient restricted district”: NOI, January 29, 1919.
“Nothing in the world will ever”: NODS, November 2, 1919.
“I sinned”: Ibid.
“I would rather go to the gallows”: Composite statement based on NODS, October 11, 1919; and NOTP, October 11, 1919.
“He raised his hand”: NODS, February 4, 1920.
“Rosie, you cannot die”: Statement of Rosie Salama Cortimiglia to Times-Picayune, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.
“sought out friends”: NODS, February 4, 1920.
“either by their faces, figures or voices”: Statement of Rosie Salama Cortimiglia to Times-Picayune, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.
“I hope I can sleep”: NOTP, February 4, 1920.
“as surely as there is”: NODS, February 4, 1919.
How will Papa stand it?: NOTP, February 5, 1920.
“Both of us are happy”: Composite quote from NODS, February 4, 1920; and NOTP, February 5, 1920.
“Of course, I forgive Rosie C
ortimiglia”: NOI, February 4, 1920.
“It must have been the blessed Saint Joseph”: NOTP, February 5, 1920.
“I made up my mind to say”: Statement of Rosie Salama Cortimiglia to Times-Picayune, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.
“Did the Jordanos do it?”: NOI, February 4, 1920.
she no longer had the constant reinforcement: In the courthouse, Chief Leson was locked up with Rosie in the witness room. State v. Guagliardo and Guagliardo, 179, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.
“he would have to kill the baby”: Statement of Rosie Salama Cortimiglia to Times-Picayune, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.
“where human life was at stake”: NOTP, March 7, 1920.
“It is a significant thing”: NOI, March 14, 1920; Supplemental Brief on Behalf of Defendants and Appellants, in Supreme Court of Louisiana Historical Archives.
“As a matter of fact and law”: State v. Guagliardo et al., in Westlaw.
“the only reasonable presumption”: Ibid.
“to import into a case material facts”: Ibid.
“of her own free will”: NOTP, April 26, 1920.
“On the last night of my confinement”: Ibid.
“If Rosie Cortimiglia is convicted”: NOTP, May 13, 1920.
“laid special stress on the crime”: NODS, May 12, 1920.
“returned to the sweltering heat”: NOI, May 19, 1920.
“This is the second time”: NOI, November 22, 1920.
“If the state is not ready”: Ibid.
“Your honor, just before court opened”: NODS, December 6, 1920.
“You can go”: Ibid.
“That’s all right”: Ibid.
“Ain’t it fine?”: NOTP, December 7, 1920.
14. The Final Chapter?
Details of Lena’s and Iorlando’s deaths from NODS, February 10, 1921; NOI, February 10, 1921; NOTP, February 10, 1921, and October 18, 1925; “Giolando Guagliardo aka Jordano” and “Orlando Guagliardo Jordano” in Ancestry.com, One World Tree Project.
The Axeman of New Orleans Page 31