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Speaker 1: So just because Halloween is over doesn't mean we don't

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Speaker 1: want to be a little bit terrified by real life

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Speaker 1: murder stories. Right. A serial killer horrified the people of

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Speaker 1: New Orleans over one hundred years ago and left a

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Speaker 1: dozen people dead or horribly injured. I'm Patty Steele, who

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Speaker 1: was the Axe Man? That's next on the backstory. The

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Speaker 1: backstory is back. It's nineteen eighteen. New Orleans is being

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Speaker 1: terrorized by a shadowy figure who breaks into homes at night,

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Speaker 1: slaughtering families as they sleep. His weapon of choice is

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Speaker 1: sometimes an axe or whatever else he finds in your home.

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Speaker 1: His motive remains a mystery to this day, as does

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Speaker 1: his identity. The Axe Man's murders has the entire city

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Speaker 1: in a state of fear, and his identity is one

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Speaker 1: of America's most intriguing cold cases. Who is he? Well,

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Speaker 1: there are a few ideas. The terror begins with the

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Speaker 1: murder of Joseph Maggio, an Italian grocer, and his wife Catherine,

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Speaker 1: on a morning in late May. Their bodies are found

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Speaker 1: in their home above their store, their throats slashed with

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Speaker 1: a razor and their heads cracked open with an axe.

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Speaker 1: The police can't figure it out. The killings were silent.

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Speaker 1: Nobody heard anything at the crime scene. There's a razor

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Speaker 1: that belonged to Joseph's brother, Andrew, a barber who works nearby.

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Speaker 1: Of course, he's their first suspect. Now, the problem is

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Speaker 1: he has an airtight alibi, so he's released. Then they

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Speaker 1: notice a chilling message scrolled on the wall which reads

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Speaker 1: Missus Maggio will sit up tonight just like missus Tony.

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Speaker 1: What does that mean? Nobody knows. Now it's a few

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Speaker 1: weeks later, June nineteen eighteen, a hot summer night, this

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Speaker 1: time a local grocer, Louis Bessemer and his mistress Anna

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Speaker 1: Harriet Lowe, are asleep in their home behind their store.

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Speaker 1: Just before daylight, someone enters their bedroom. He or she

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Speaker 1: is wielding an axe. Lewis and Anna are brutally attacked,

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Speaker 1: their skulls fractured, their bodies left for dead, but miraculously

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Speaker 1: they both survive for the moment, though Anna later dies

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Speaker 1: from her injuries. Here's the thing. Just before she dies,

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Speaker 1: Anna offers some odd info. She claims it was Lewis

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Speaker 1: who had attacked her. The cops are confused because the

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Speaker 1: story doesn't match the mo of the killer. They arrest Lewis,

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Speaker 1: but very quickly release him due to lack of evidence.

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Speaker 1: Just like the Maggio case, the Bessemer attack left them

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Speaker 1: with more questions than answers. Why are these people targeted?

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Speaker 1: Why does it seem so random? Over the next few months,

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Speaker 1: the attacks continue, each more horrifying than the last. The

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Speaker 1: axe men targets grocers and their families, and the only

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Speaker 1: thing they have in common other than their occupied is

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Speaker 1: that they're all Italian Americans and the mo is similar.

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Speaker 1: The attacks always take place late at night. The killer

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Speaker 1: enters through a back door or window, leaving it splintered open.

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Speaker 1: Each time, he uses the victim's own axe or another

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Speaker 1: object he finds in their home. He doesn't bring his

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Speaker 1: own weapon. He wants to use your stuff to kill you.

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Speaker 1: His method is consistent, brutal, and familiar. On August fifth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighteen, the axe man goes after the Schneider family.

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Speaker 1: Anna Schneider is pregnant and home alone. Her husband finds

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Speaker 1: her covered in blood, her skull split open, but again miraculously,

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Speaker 1: she survives and her baby is born healthy. The attacker, however,

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Speaker 1: is nowhere to be found, no fingerprints, no clues nothing

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Speaker 1: but a horrific scene. By March nineteen nineteen, New Orleans

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Speaker 1: is in a panic. That's when the Axe Man goes

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Speaker 1: by public in a way that brings him even more infamy.

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Speaker 1: The Times Picky You newspaper gets a letter from somebody

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Speaker 1: claiming to be the Axe Man. It says, esteemed mortal.

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Speaker 1: They have never caught me, and they never will. They

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Speaker 1: have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as

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Speaker 1: the ether that surrounds your earth. I am not a

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Speaker 1: human being, but a spirit and a demon from the

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Speaker 1: hottest hell. I am what you or Lenians and your

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Speaker 1: foolish police call the Axe Man. I am fond of

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Speaker 1: jazz music, and I swear by all the devils in

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Speaker 1: the nether regions that every person shall be spared in

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Speaker 1: whose home a jazz band is in full swing at

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Speaker 1: the time I have mentioned. If everyone has a jazz

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Speaker 1: band going well, then so much the better for you people.

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Speaker 1: March nineteenth was the date, and New Orleans went wild.

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Speaker 1: Jazz filled the streets, musicians were hired, parties erupted, and

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Speaker 1: the entire city came alive with music, praying it would

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Speaker 1: keep them safe. And it worked, at least for that night,

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Speaker 1: but pretty soon after the Axe Man goes back to

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Speaker 1: his bloody work in the Munsick followed more murders. The

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Speaker 1: Courtamiglia family was attacked in their home and their little

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Speaker 1: girl Mary is killed. People began to wonder why was

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Speaker 1: the killer targeting Italian grocers? Was it racism? And who

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Speaker 1: is this killer? And why is he terrorizing the people

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Speaker 1: of New Orleans. Two names stand out, Joseph Monfrey and

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Speaker 1: Frank Doc Mumphrey. Mumphrey was apparently connected to the Black Hand,

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Speaker 1: a criminal gang involved in extortion and violence, particularly among

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Speaker 1: Italian immigrants. They sent threatening letters and sometimes violently attacked

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Speaker 1: if families didn't pay up. Then there's Doc Mumphrey, a

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Speaker 1: guy with a violent, shady past and known to have

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Speaker 1: a grudge against Italian Americans. In fact, one of the

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Speaker 1: women attacked who survive said it was Mumfrey. Interestingly, within

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Speaker 1: a short time, both of those men left New Orleans

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Speaker 1: and both moved to Los Angeles and both were murdered there.

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Speaker 1: The killings in New Orleans ended, but no one was

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Speaker 1: ever definitively identified as the Axe Man. Was the Axe

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Speaker 1: Man Monfrey, Mumfrey or somebody else? We may never know

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Speaker 1: the Axe Man's story is a definite reminder that sometimes

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Speaker 1: the scariest beings aren't on a screen, but hiding in

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Speaker 1: the dark corners of real life, waiting to be uncovered.

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Speaker 1: Hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. I would

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Speaker 1: love it if you'd subscribe or follow for free to

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Speaker 1: get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to dm

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Speaker 1: me if you have a story you'd like me to cover.

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Speaker 1: On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Reel Patty Steele.

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Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks,

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Speaker 1: the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer

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Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new

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Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out

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Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram

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Speaker 1: at Reel Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The

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Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know