Between May 1918 and October 1919 someone broke into houses in New Orleans by chiselling out a panel of the back door, took the household's own axe from the yard, and attacked the people asleep inside. At least six died and a dozen were injured. Almost all of the households were Italian immigrant grocers living above their shops, which produced a good deal of contemporary speculation about the Mafia and about a grudge against Italian grocers, none of it ever supported.
The city was gripped by it. There were armed vigils, sales of shotguns, and a large number of false sightings.
In March 1919 the newspapers published a letter, purportedly from the killer, dated from Hell, declaring that he was a spirit and a demon, that the police were powerless, and that at fifteen minutes past midnight on the coming Tuesday he would pass over the city and spare every household from which a jazz band was playing. New Orleans played jazz all night. Nobody was attacked. Whether the letter was genuine or a hoax by a journalist has never been established, and it is the reason the case is remembered as it is.
The last attack was in October 1919. In December, a man named Joseph Mumfre was shot dead in Los Angeles by the widow of one of the victims, who said he was the Axeman; she was convicted and released after three years. There is no evidence connecting Mumfre to the attacks. The case has never been solved.