The Postcard
A Carbonette Series postcard that was published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, Art Publishers to Their Majesties the King and Queen. The card, which has the title 'My Lady Ermine' on the back, was printed in England.
The card was sent via the British Army postal service. A soldier on the Western Front has used a pencil in order to write the following across the divided back:
"27. 6. 18.
Somewhere in France.
My Dear Lily,
Still merry and bright -
letter same post.
Heaps of love & kisses,
Bert xxxxxxxxx"
Although the card does not bear a censor's stamp, it has been signed by an officer who has obviously checked the message for security.
The Sinking of the Llandovery Castle
So what else happened on the day that Bert wrote the card?
Well, on Thursday the 27th. June 1918, Canadian hospital ship HMHS Llandovery Castle was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by German submarine SM U-86.
234 of the 258 people on board were lost in the attack, making it the deadliest naval disaster in Canadian history.
HMHS Llandovery Castle, built in 1914 in Glasgow, was one of five Canadian hospital ships that served during the Great War.
On a voyage from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool, England, the ship was torpedoed off southern Ireland on the 27th. June 1918. 234 doctors, nurses, members of the Canadian Army Medical Corps, soldiers and seamen died in the sinking and subsequent machine-gunning of lifeboats.
Twenty five people are known to have survived. 24 were the occupants on a single life-raft. One man clung to wreckage and was picked up by a fishing boat.
The incident became infamous internationally and was considered, after the Armenian genocide, as one of the war's worst atrocities. After the war, the case of Llandovery Castle was one of six alleged German war crimes prosecuted at the Leipzig trials.
The Axeman of New Orleans
Also on that day, Louis Besumer and his mistress Harriet Lowe were attacked in his New Orleans home with an axe that Besumer owned.
Besumer survived the attack, but the resulting investigation led to him becoming a suspect in the case. He served a nine-month sentence before a new trial acquitted him.
The attack was similar to a previous murder involving an axe as a weapon, and became connected to a series of subsequent serial murders in New Orleans.
The Serial Killings
On the 5th. August 1918, New Orleans resident Ed Schneider returned home late from work to find his pregnant wife had been attacked and bludgeoned. Remarkably, she survived the attack and gave birth two days later.
The Axeman of New Orleans was an American serial killer who was active in New Orleans, Louisiana, and surrounding communities, from May 1918 to October 1919.
Press reports during the height of public panic about the killings mentioned similar murders as early as 1911, but recent researchers have called these reports into question. The Axeman was never identified, and the murders remain unsolved.
As the killer's epithet implies, the victims usually were attacked with an axe, which often belonged to the victims themselves. In most cases, a panel on a back door of a home was removed by a chisel, which along with the panel was left on the floor near the door.
The intruder then attacked one or more of the residents with either an axe or straight razor. The crimes were not motivated by robbery, and the perpetrator never removed items from his victims' homes.
The majority of the Axeman's victims were Italian immigrants or Italian-Americans, leading many to believe that the crimes were ethnically motivated. Many media outlets sensationalized this aspect of the crimes, even suggesting Mafia involvement despite lack of evidence.
Some crime analysts have suggested that the killings were related to sex, and that the murderer was perhaps a sadist specifically seeking female victims. Criminologists Colin and Damon Wilson hypothesise that the Axeman killed male victims only when they obstructed his attempts to murder women, supported by cases in which the woman of the household was murdered but not the man.
A less plausible theory is that the killer committed the murders in an attempt to promote jazz music, suggested by a letter attributed to the killer in which he stated that he would spare the lives of those who played jazz in their homes.
The Axeman was not caught or identified, and his crime spree stopped as mysteriously as it had started. The murderer's identity remains unknown to this day, although various possible identifications of varying plausibility have been proposed.
On the 13th. March 1919, a letter purporting to be from the Axeman was published in newspapers, saying that he would kill again at 15 minutes past midnight on the night of the 19th. March, but would spare the occupants of any place where a jazz band was playing.
That night all of New Orleans' dance halls were filled to capacity, and professional and amateur bands played jazz at parties at hundreds of houses around town. There were no murders that night.
The Axeman's Letter
"Hottest Hell, March 13, 1919.
They have never caught me and they never will.
They 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 Orleanians and your foolish police
call the Axeman.
When I see fit, I shall come and claim other victims.
I alone know whom they shall be. I shall leave no
clue except my bloody axe, besmeared with blood
and brains of he whom I have sent below to keep
me company.
If you wish you may tell the police to be careful not
to rile me. Of course, I am a reasonable spirit. I take
no offense at the way they have conducted their
investigations in the past.
In fact, they have been so utterly stupid as to not only
amuse me, but His Satanic Majesty, Francis Josef, etc.
But tell them to beware. Let them not try to discover
what I am, for it were better that they were never born
than to incur the wrath of the Axeman.
I don't think there is any need of such a warning, for I
feel sure the police will always dodge me, as they have
in the past. They are wise and know how to keep away
from all harm.
Undoubtedly, you Orleanians think of me as a most
horrible murderer, which I am, but I could be much worse
if I wanted to. If I wished, I could pay a visit to your city
every night. At will I could slay thousands of your best
citizens (and the worst), for I am in close relationship with
the Angel of Death.
Now, to be exact, at 12:15 (earthly time) on next Tuesday
night, I am going to pass over New Orleans. In my infinite
mercy, I am going to make a little proposition to you people.
Here it is: I am very fond of jazz music, and I swear by all
the devils in the nether regions that every person shall
be spared in whose home a jazz band is in full swing at the
time I have just mentioned.
If everyone has a jazz band going, well, then, so much
the better for you people. One thing is certain, and that
is that some of your people who do not jazz it out on that
specific Tuesday night (if there be any) will get the axe.
Well, as I am cold and crave the warmth of my native
Tartarus, and it is about time I leave your earthly home,
I will cease my discourse. Hoping that thou wilt publish
this, that it may go well with thee, I have been, am and
will be the worst spirit that ever existed either in fact
or realm of fancy.
--The Axeman".
Identity of the Axeman
Crime writer Colin Wilson speculates the Axeman could have been Leone Manfre, a man shot to death in Los Angeles in December 1920 by the widow of Mike Pepitone, the Axeman's last known victim.
According to Richard Warner, the chief suspect in the crimes was Frank "Doc" Mumphrey (1875–1921), who used the alias Leon Joseph Monfre/Manfre.
Victims of the Axeman
Joseph and Catherine Maggio
Joseph Maggio, an Italian grocer, and his wife Catherine Maggio were attacked on the 23rd. May 1918, while sleeping alongside each other, at their home on the corner of Upperline and Magnolia Streets where they conducted a barroom and grocery.
The killer broke into the home, and then proceeded to cut the couple's throats with a straight razor. Catherine's throat was cut so deeply that her head was nearly severed from her shoulders.
Upon leaving the murderer bashed their heads with an axe, perhaps in order to conceal the real cause of death. Joseph survived the attack, but died minutes after being discovered by his brothers Jake and Andrew Maggio.
Catherine died prior to the brothers' arrival. In the apartment, law enforcement agents found the bloody clothes of the murderer, as he had obviously changed into a clean set of clothes before fleeing the scene. A complete search of the premises was not completed by police after the bodies were removed, yet later the bloody razor was found on the lawn of a neighboring property.
Police ruled out robbery as motivation for the attacks, as money and valuables left in plain sight were not stolen by the intruder.
The razor used to kill the couple was found to belong to Andrew Maggio, the brother of the deceased who ran a barber shop on Camp Street. His employee, Esteban Torres, told police that Maggio had removed the razor from his shop two days prior to the murder, explaining that he had wanted to have a nick honed from the blade.
Maggio, who lived in the adjoining apartment to his brother's residence, discovered his slain brother and sister-in-law roughly two hours after the gruesome attacks had occurred, upon hearing strange groaning noises through the wall.
Maggio blamed his failure to hear any noise related to the attacks on his intoxicated state, as he had returned home after a night of celebration prior to his departure to join the navy; police, however, were nonetheless surprised that he failed to hear the intruder, as he made a forced entry into the home.
Andrew Maggio became the prime suspect in the crime, yet was released after investigators were unable to break down his statement, as well as his account of an unknown man who was supposedly seen lurking near the residence prior to the murders.
Louis Besumer and Harriet Lowe
Louis Besumer and his mistress Harriet Lowe were attacked in the early morning hours of the 27th. June 1918, at the back of his grocery which was located at the corner of Dorgenois and Laharpe Streets. Besumer was struck with a hatchet above his right temple, which resulted in a skull fracture. Lowe was hacked over the left ear, and found unconscious when police arrived at the scene.
The couple were discovered shortly after 7am on the morning of the attack by John Zanca, a driver of a bakery wagon who had come to the grocery in order to make a routine delivery. Zanca found both Besumer and Lowe in a puddle of their own blood, both bleeding from their heads.
The axe, which had belonged to Besumer himself, was found in the bathroom of the apartment. Besumer later stated to police that he had been sleeping when he was bashed with the hatchet.
Police arrested potential suspect Lewis Oubicon, a 41-year-old African-American man who had been employed in Besumer's store just a week before the attacks. No evidence existed to prove the man guilty, yet police arrested him nonetheless, stating that Oubicon had offered conflicting accounts of his whereabouts on the morning of the attack.
Shortly after the attempted murder Lowe stated that she remembered having been attacked by a mulatto man, yet her statement was discounted by police due to her disillusioned state. Robbery was said to be the only possible explanation for the attacks, yet no money or valuables were removed from the couple's home.
Oubicon was later released as police were unable to gather sufficient evidence to hold him accountable for the crimes. Media attention soon turned to Besumer himself, as a series of letters written in German, Russian, and Yiddish were discovered in a trunk at the man's home. Police suspected that Besumer was a German spy, and government officials began a full investigation of his potential espionage.
Weeks later, after going in and out of consciousness, Harriet Lowe told police that she thought Besumer was in fact a German spy, which led to his immediate arrest. Two days later Besumer was released, and two lead investigators of the case were demoted due to unacceptable police work.
Besumer was once again arrested in August 1918, after Harriet Lowe, who lay dying in Charity Hospital after a failed surgery, stated that it was he who had attacked her more than a month previously with his hatchet. He was charged with murder, and served nine months in prison before being acquitted on the 1st. May 1919, after a ten-minute jury deliberation.
Lowe became the center of a media circus, as she continually made scandalous and often false statements relating to both the attacks and the character of Louis Besumer. The Times-Picayune sensationalized Lowe and her outspoken nature upon discovering that she was not the wife of Besumer, but his mistress.
A Charity Hospital source discovered the scandal, when Besumer asked to be directed to the room of "Mrs. Harriet Lowe," and was denied access as no woman by that name was a patient. Besumer's legal wife arrived from Cincinnati in the days immediately following the discovery, which further inflamed the ongoing drama.
Lowe further gained media attention as she repeatedly made statements which voiced her dislike of the New Orleans chief of police, as well as her reluctance to comply with police questioning. After the truth of her marital status was revealed publicly, Lowe told reporters from the Times-Picayune that she would no longer aid the police in their investigation, as she suspected that it had been Chief Mooney who first informed the press of the scandal.
Despite the scandal, and her delirious statements which suggested that Besumer was a German spy, Lowe returned to the home she shared with Besumer weeks after the attack. One side of her face was partially paralyzed due to the severity of the attack. Lowe died on the 5th. August 1918, just two days after doctors performed surgery in an effort to repair her partially paralyzed face. Just prior to her death, Lowe told authorities that she suspected it was Louis Besumer who had attacked her.
Anna Schneider
Anna Schneider was attacked in the early evening hours of the 5th. August 1918. The 8 months-pregnant, 28-year-old of Elmira Street awoke to find a dark figure standing over her and was bashed in the face repeatedly. Her scalp had been cut open, and her face was completely covered in blood.
Mrs. Schneider was discovered after midnight by her husband, Ed Schneider, who was returning late from work. Schneider claimed that she remembered nothing of the attack, and gave birth to a healthy baby girl two days after the incident.
Her husband told police that nothing had been stolen from the home, besides six or seven dollars that had been in his wallet. The windows and doors of the apartment appeared not to have been forced open, and authorities came to the conclusion that the woman was most likely attacked with a lamp that had been on a nearby table.
James Gleason, whom police said was an ex-convict, was arrested shortly after Schneider was found. Gleason was later released due to a complete lack of evidence, and stated that he originally ran from authorities because he had so often been arrested.
Lead investigators began to publicly speculate that the attack was related to the previous incidents involving Besumer and Maggio.
Joseph Romano and The Bruno Sisters
Joseph Romano was an elderly man living with his two nieces, Pauline and Mary Bruno. On the 10th. August 1918, Pauline and Mary awoke to the sound of a commotion in the adjoining room where their uncle resided. Upon entering the room, the sisters discovered that their uncle had taken a serious blow to his head, which resulted in two open cuts.
The assailant was fleeing the scene as they arrived, yet the girls were able to distinguish that he was a dark-skinned, heavy-set man, who wore a dark suit and slouched hat. Romano, although seriously injured, was able to walk to the ambulance once it arrived, yet died two days later due to severe head trauma.
The home had been ransacked, yet no items were stolen from Romano. Authorities found a bloody axe in the back yard, and discovered that a panel on the back door had been chiseled away.
The Romano murder created a state of extreme chaos in the city, with residents living in constant fear of an axeman attack. Police received a slew of reports, in which citizens claimed to have seen an axeman lurking in New Orleans neighborhoods. A few men even called to report that they had found axes in their back yards.
John Dantonio, a then-retired Italian detective, made public statements in which he hypothesized that the man who had committed the axeman murders was the same who had killed several individuals in 1911. The retired detective cited similarities in the manner by which the two sets of homicides had been committed, as reason to assume that they had been conducted by the same individual.
Dantonio described the potential killer as an individual of dual personalities, who killed without motive. This type of individual, Dantonio stated, could very likely have been a normal, law-abiding citizen, who was often overcome by an overwhelming desire to kill. He later went on to describe the killer as "A real-life Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".
Charles, Rosie and Mary Cortimiglia
Charles Cortimiglia was an Italian immigrant who lived with his wife, Rosie, and infant daughter, Mary, on the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Second Street in Gretna, Louisiana, a New Orleans suburb across the Mississippi River.
On the night of the 10th. March 1919, screams were heard coming from the Cortimiglia residence. Grocer Iorlando Jordano rushed across the street to investigate. Upon his arrival, Jordano found that Charles Cortimiglia, his wife, and their daughter had all been attacked by the unknown intruder.
Rosie stood in the doorway with a serious head wound, clutching her deceased daughter. Charles lay on the floor, bleeding profusely. The couple was rushed to Charity Hospital, where it was discovered that both had suffered skull fractures.
Nothing was stolen from the house, but a panel on the back door had been chiseled away, and a bloody axe was found on the back porch of the home. Charles was released two days later, while his wife remained in the care of doctors.
Upon gaining full consciousness, Rosie made claims that Iorlando Jordano and his 18-year-old son, Frank, were responsible for the attacks. Iorlando, a 69-year-old man, was too ill to have committed the crimes. Frank Jordano, more than six feet tall and weighing over 200 pounds, would have been too large to have fit through the panel on the back door.
Charles Cortimiglia vehemently denied his wife's claims, yet police nonetheless arrested the two and charged them with the murder. The men would later be found guilty. Frank was sentenced to hang, and his father to life in prison.
Charles Cortimiglia divorced his wife after the trial. Almost a year later, Rosie announced that she had falsely accused the two out of jealousy and spite. Her statement was the only evidence against the Jordanos, and they were released from jail shortly thereafter.
Steve Boca
Steve Boca, a grocer, was attacked in his bedroom as he slept by an axe-wielding intruder on the 10th. August 1919. Boca awoke during the night to find a dark figure looming over his bed. Upon regaining consciousness, Boca ran into the street, and found that his head had been cracked open.
The grocer then ran to the home of his neighbor, Frank Genusa, where he lost consciousness and collapsed. Nothing had been taken from the home, yet, once again, a panel on the back door of the home had been chiselled away. Boca recovered from his injuries, but could not remember any details of the trauma. This attack took place after the emergence of the infamous axeman letter.
Sarah Laumann
Sarah Laumann was attacked on the night of the 3rd. September 1919. Neighbors came to check on the young woman, who had lived alone, and broke into the home when Laumann did not answer. They discovered the 19-year-old lying unconscious on her bed, suffering from a severe head injury and missing several teeth.
The intruder had entered the apartment through an open window, and attacked the woman with a blunt object. A bloody axe was discovered on the front lawn of the building. Laumann recovered from her injuries, yet couldn't recall any details from the attack.
Mike Pepitone
Mike Pepitone was attacked on the night of the 27th. October 1919. His wife was awakened by a noise and arrived at the door of his bedroom just as a large, axe-wielding man was fleeing the scene. Mike Pepitone had been struck in the head, and was covered in his own blood.
Blood splatter covered the majority of the room, including a painting of the Virgin Mary. Mrs. Pepitone, the mother of six children, was unable to describe any characteristics of the killer. The Pepitone murder was the last of the alleged axeman attacks.
