Back in the day things were supposedly better, the days when you could leave your house unlocked and no one would bother you (or your stuff), or sneak into the house after dark, bludgeoning you and your family to death with an axe...
Iowa was quiet, full of cornfields, farmhouses, picket fences, churches, church socials, and small town folk. It was on the surface, idyllic, a slice of early 1900s Americana....until that night in 1912. The Moore family and two neighbor girls had just arrived home late on Sunday, June 9th. Their day had been surrounded with regular worship at the Presbyterian church they attended, along with a church Children's Day event directed by Mrs. Moore herself. After the day's festivities, Mary Moore invited two neighbor girls, Ina Mae and Lena Gertrude Stillinger, to spend the night with their four children, Herman, Mary, Arthur Boyd, and Paul. By ten o'clock they were all in for the evening, milk and cookies being the last pleasures, their last hours among the living. By morning, eight innocent souls were extinguished...in a most horrifying manner. Someone, possibly more than one someone, had taken up Mr. Moore's own axe and in the dead of night murdered the entire family, along with Ina and Lena.
The first victim appeared to be Josiah "Joe" Moore, 48 years old and the father. He was the only victim in which the killer used the sharp end of the axe, Josiah's axe, taken from behind the house. It was so vile, so violent, that Joe Moore's face was virtually gone, eyes and all. The first blow must have come while Josiah was asleep and followed by instant death. More and more blows landed, over and over, full over-the-head axe strokes, so many that the ceiling above Josiah was noticeably marred. Maybe Sara Moore, age 39, woke up...she was after all sleeping next to her husband, but the same fate nevertheless awaited her. Then it was on to the four Moore children upstairs, killing the Stillinger girls in a separate ground floor bedroom...last.
Mary Peckam was one of the family's neighbors. An elderly lady, she was perplexed by the quiet surrounding the home early Monday. The Moore family would usually be up and about doing the chores along with things any normal rural American family would do at seven-thirty in the morning. Perplexed, she went to the front door and knocked...no answers were forthcoming so she summoned Josiah's brother, Ross. He had a key to the house and arrived about eight o'clock. Entering his brother's home, he was greeted with "Hell manifested on Earth". Seeing the bodies of his sister-in-law and his brother laying bloodied and purposely covered over with sheets, their heads shrouded in clothing rummaged from the dresser drawers. It must have been mind-numbingly shocking for the early 20th-century mindset. Henry Horton, the local peace officer, arrived about eight-thirty and the magnitude of the night's horror was revealed, every single soul...butchered.
Only two of the victims appear to have been cut with the business end of the axe, the rest were smashed with the blunt end. Josiah or "Joe", likely the first victim, had his head cut and smashed to a pulp. Lena Stillinger, age 12, probably the last victim, had cut marks on her knee and arm, defensive wounds, and a sign of likely struggle. Her nightgown was also pulled up, her bloody corpse laying naked and crossways on the bed. It was first assumed she'd been sexually violated, but upon medical examination that was ruled out. Each victim suffered 20 to 30 blows from Josiah's axe. All the victim's heads and bodies were covered by the killer...sheets over the bodies, clothes over the faces.
As horrid as this crime was, it was not all that uncommon. Virtually every American family owned an axe. It was a necessary tool in a world where wood was used for household heating and cooking. Axes had been used to kill from before the founding of the nation, but an odd rash of brutal and senseless axe murders, all very similar in nature, swept the country in a ten-year period between 1909 and 1919. Some are so alike that you have to wonder, was it the work of an early American serial-killer?
There were strange anomalies at the scene of the Villisca murders. An oil lamp with its glass globe removed and placed on the floor, the murder weapon partially cleaned and leaned against the wall in the Stillinger girl's room...placed next to it, a four pound slab of bacon the killer had taken from the ice-box. There was a plate full of uneaten food, along with a glass of bloody water, left on the kitchen table. In addition to covering the victim's heads with their own clothing, the killer also used clothing to cover up mirrors within the house. Four days earlier an eerily similar axe-murder took place in Paola, Kansas, 180 miles south of Villisca. On the night of June 5th, Rollin and Anna Hudson were bludgeoned to death in their home on West Street. Like Villisca, the weapon used was heavy, but according to investigators at the time not an axe, more likely a brick mason's hammer. Some strange things were found here as well. As in Villisca, the bodies and heads were covered. Investigators surmised that the couple's faces and heads were shrouded before they were bludgeoned...perhaps the killer was worried about messy blood spatter...
...and a lamp with its globe removed was found set on the floor.
Could this have been the work of the same killer? One year earlier...almost to the day, Ardenwald, Oregon, a small town outside of Portland, was the scene of of yet another axe killing. William and Ruth Hill, aged 34 and 33 respectively along with her two children from a previous marriage, were slain in their rural home, killed...with an axe. Like the Villisca murders, the axe had been left behind, propped against the bed of the killer's last victim, Ruth's 4 year old daughter, Dorothy Rintoul. The killing was different, yet not so different. The axe in the Ardenwald murders was stolen from a neighbor, not a belonging of the Hills. Both female victims were sexually assaulted. It was determined that Ruth Hill died whilst being raped. Dorothy was savagely raped, then murdered, the killer's bloody handprints all over her body. Small items of jewelry were taken but much more was left behind. All the victim’s heads and faces were literally destroyed by the axe, and in the case of Ruth's son, Phillip, the axe handle as well. Similar to Villisca, the killer covered up windows in the house to deter prying eyes from outside who might disturb the night of blood revelry. Like Iowa, the massacre may have involved more than one killer, as attested to by a "confession" given by one William Riggin in 1917. Unfortunately his story was inconsistent and prevented charges being filed, but it is interesting to note he was able to correctly point out where the Hill's cottage had once stood, remembering the location of the crime even after the home had been demolished some time before. There were other suspects, a neighbor Nathan Harvey, known as a violent and unscrupulous individual, did have argumentative interactions with William Hill, but again, there was not enough to indict him for the crime. Did William Riggin, along with two other monsters going by the alias "Brown" and 'Flynn" commit Oregon's most heinous crime? Did any other contemporary suspects carry out this horrid crime? Maybe, maybe not. Over 100 years later, the Ardenwald axe murders remain unsolved.
Like a host of other axe killings before and after, the murders of June 9th, 1912 in Villisca were never solved, the perpetrator (or perpetrators) never brought to a just resolve. As the decade progressed, axe killings in Indiana, Colorado, Texas, and Louisiana seemingly popped from the pages of newsprint at an alarming rate. Most, if not all, were never satisfactorily solved, slipping into police files as just another cold case. Perhaps the infancy of criminal investigation explains this, perhaps racism in some of the cases. Between late 1909 and mid 1912, a series of brutal axe murders occurred along the Southern Pacific rail line through Louisiana and Texas. All the victims were mulatto or mixed race, and mixed race marriages. This particular killing spree was very viscous, the murderers showing no mercy killing infant and adult alike, smashing and "axing" the skulls of entire families. In some of these murders (but not all) faces were covered up, either to prevent blood spatter during the act, or for other reasons yet to be determined. A message scrawled on the wall at one of the killings:
Clementine still looked good for at least some of the killings. She was convicted and sent away for life in October of 1912. She claimed to have committed 35 murders. Raymond and Zepherin never went back to trial, the charges dropped. Clementine Barnabet went to Angola Prison.
Mary Peckam was one of the family's neighbors. An elderly lady, she was perplexed by the quiet surrounding the home early Monday. The Moore family would usually be up and about doing the chores along with things any normal rural American family would do at seven-thirty in the morning. Perplexed, she went to the front door and knocked...no answers were forthcoming so she summoned Josiah's brother, Ross. He had a key to the house and arrived about eight o'clock. Entering his brother's home, he was greeted with "Hell manifested on Earth". Seeing the bodies of his sister-in-law and his brother laying bloodied and purposely covered over with sheets, their heads shrouded in clothing rummaged from the dresser drawers. It must have been mind-numbingly shocking for the early 20th-century mindset. Henry Horton, the local peace officer, arrived about eight-thirty and the magnitude of the night's horror was revealed, every single soul...butchered.
Only two of the victims appear to have been cut with the business end of the axe, the rest were smashed with the blunt end. Josiah or "Joe", likely the first victim, had his head cut and smashed to a pulp. Lena Stillinger, age 12, probably the last victim, had cut marks on her knee and arm, defensive wounds, and a sign of likely struggle. Her nightgown was also pulled up, her bloody corpse laying naked and crossways on the bed. It was first assumed she'd been sexually violated, but upon medical examination that was ruled out. Each victim suffered 20 to 30 blows from Josiah's axe. All the victim's heads and bodies were covered by the killer...sheets over the bodies, clothes over the faces.
As horrid as this crime was, it was not all that uncommon. Virtually every American family owned an axe. It was a necessary tool in a world where wood was used for household heating and cooking. Axes had been used to kill from before the founding of the nation, but an odd rash of brutal and senseless axe murders, all very similar in nature, swept the country in a ten-year period between 1909 and 1919. Some are so alike that you have to wonder, was it the work of an early American serial-killer?
There were strange anomalies at the scene of the Villisca murders. An oil lamp with its glass globe removed and placed on the floor, the murder weapon partially cleaned and leaned against the wall in the Stillinger girl's room...placed next to it, a four pound slab of bacon the killer had taken from the ice-box. There was a plate full of uneaten food, along with a glass of bloody water, left on the kitchen table. In addition to covering the victim's heads with their own clothing, the killer also used clothing to cover up mirrors within the house. Four days earlier an eerily similar axe-murder took place in Paola, Kansas, 180 miles south of Villisca. On the night of June 5th, Rollin and Anna Hudson were bludgeoned to death in their home on West Street. Like Villisca, the weapon used was heavy, but according to investigators at the time not an axe, more likely a brick mason's hammer. Some strange things were found here as well. As in Villisca, the bodies and heads were covered. Investigators surmised that the couple's faces and heads were shrouded before they were bludgeoned...perhaps the killer was worried about messy blood spatter...
...and a lamp with its globe removed was found set on the floor.
Could this have been the work of the same killer? One year earlier...almost to the day, Ardenwald, Oregon, a small town outside of Portland, was the scene of of yet another axe killing. William and Ruth Hill, aged 34 and 33 respectively along with her two children from a previous marriage, were slain in their rural home, killed...with an axe. Like the Villisca murders, the axe had been left behind, propped against the bed of the killer's last victim, Ruth's 4 year old daughter, Dorothy Rintoul. The killing was different, yet not so different. The axe in the Ardenwald murders was stolen from a neighbor, not a belonging of the Hills. Both female victims were sexually assaulted. It was determined that Ruth Hill died whilst being raped. Dorothy was savagely raped, then murdered, the killer's bloody handprints all over her body. Small items of jewelry were taken but much more was left behind. All the victim’s heads and faces were literally destroyed by the axe, and in the case of Ruth's son, Phillip, the axe handle as well. Similar to Villisca, the killer covered up windows in the house to deter prying eyes from outside who might disturb the night of blood revelry. Like Iowa, the massacre may have involved more than one killer, as attested to by a "confession" given by one William Riggin in 1917. Unfortunately his story was inconsistent and prevented charges being filed, but it is interesting to note he was able to correctly point out where the Hill's cottage had once stood, remembering the location of the crime even after the home had been demolished some time before. There were other suspects, a neighbor Nathan Harvey, known as a violent and unscrupulous individual, did have argumentative interactions with William Hill, but again, there was not enough to indict him for the crime. Did William Riggin, along with two other monsters going by the alias "Brown" and 'Flynn" commit Oregon's most heinous crime? Did any other contemporary suspects carry out this horrid crime? Maybe, maybe not. Over 100 years later, the Ardenwald axe murders remain unsolved.
Like a host of other axe killings before and after, the murders of June 9th, 1912 in Villisca were never solved, the perpetrator (or perpetrators) never brought to a just resolve. As the decade progressed, axe killings in Indiana, Colorado, Texas, and Louisiana seemingly popped from the pages of newsprint at an alarming rate. Most, if not all, were never satisfactorily solved, slipping into police files as just another cold case. Perhaps the infancy of criminal investigation explains this, perhaps racism in some of the cases. Between late 1909 and mid 1912, a series of brutal axe murders occurred along the Southern Pacific rail line through Louisiana and Texas. All the victims were mulatto or mixed race, and mixed race marriages. This particular killing spree was very viscous, the murderers showing no mercy killing infant and adult alike, smashing and "axing" the skulls of entire families. In some of these murders (but not all) faces were covered up, either to prevent blood spatter during the act, or for other reasons yet to be determined. A message scrawled on the wall at one of the killings:
"When He Maketh the Inquisition for Blood, He forgetteth not the crime of the humble – human five.”
Who were the "Human Five"? Did it imply involvement of more than one perpetrator? Over the course of this killing spree over four dozen people were butchered in their homes while they slept, and there is no doubt they were targeted along racial lines. But while racism was alive and well in the American South at this time, the investigation was solid nevertheless and law enforcement did arrest some viable suspects...
Raymond Barnabet of Lafayette, Louisiana. He was a prime suspect for the string of axe killings, taken into custody for the brutal murder of the Andrus family in February of 1911. His daughter and son, Clementine and Zepherin, spun a web of lurid tales surrounding a Church of Sacrifice, voodoo, hoodoo, hokum, and murder. Both said their father came home on the night of the murders with blood on his clothes, bragging about killing the Andrus's. Despite testimony from Raymond's common law wife and another couple who lived with them in the house, testimony that made Raymond's involvement implausible, he was tried and convicted for the crime. Surprisingly, right after Raymond's conviction, a new trial was granted, some of the reasoning being his obvious drunkenness in Court...
While he was locked-up, waiting for the second trial to commence, another axe murder occurred. This time, the Randall's, a Black family actually in Raymond Barnabet's hometown...Lafayette. They were butchered on the night of November 26th, 1911. It just so happened that Raymond's daughter, Clementine, worked as a domestic servant very close to the Randall residence, within earshot of the house where this particular murder occurred. Apparently the scene was brutal, International News Service reporting:
"all the victims were mutilated...Heads and limbs would be separated from the torso and strewn all over the house"...
Raymond Barnabet was no longer a suspect. Suspicion fell upon Clementine. She was arrested the next day, questioned, and jailed. She actually confessed to the murders, and to the murders of the Andrus family a month earlier. The police had the killer...
The Randall's and Barnabet's were members of the Sacrifice Church, and Clementine justified her murderous acts saying the Randall's were not following church orders. She also said her father was involved as well, and that she had helped him kill the Andrus'. Raymond was once again arrested and jailed. In the meantime, another family was axe-murdered, the Warner's in Crowley, a short distance west of Lafayette, on January 19th, 1912. "Coincidentally", this murder was just a couple of blocks from the Byers family, axe-murdered almost a year earlier. Two days later the killer (or killers) struck in Lake Charles, Louisiana (due west of Crowley) murdering the Broussard family, husband, wife and three children...in a way only an axe can...and leaving the "human five" message...
Since, Raymond and Clementine Barnabet were in jail, suspicion now fell on Zepherin and the Church of Sacrifice itself. Despite the allegations involving voodoo surrounding it, investigators couldn't make a connection between the Barnabet's and the Church's involvement in any of the horrific crimes. Meanwhile, detectives were piecing together connections in all these similar cases, deducing that the common denominator was the Southern Pacific railroad. Once they figured out how the locations and the murders fit into a modus operandi, they could predict roughly where and when the murderer would strike next. They were right...April 12th, 1912, San Antonio, Texas.
Nothing ever came of solving the so called "mulatto" axe murders in Louisiana and Texas. The Barnabet's were likely not the culprits. Clementine was released in August of 1923, and disappeared from history, the authorities clearly not believing her confessions. She would not have gotten out of Angola had the authorities suspected she'd murdered anyone, acquiescing that Clementine was simply the victim of her own mental illness.
It brings us back to the who...who committed these horrible crimes? Most, if not all, remain unsolved. The weapon was common, virtually every family had an axe to split wood America's pre-electric and pre-gas society, so it's not an unusual weapon of choice for killing. What's unusual is the frequency and volume of these types of killings during the early 20th century and the fact that we have no clear idea as to the reason, or even a definitive perpetrator. As 1912 came to close, the rash of sensational axe-murders subsided...at least for a while. At the same time, Atlanta was experiencing a wave of murders targeting Black women with a new "Jack the Ripper" creating a new and heinous "March to the Sea". In Louisiana's most famous city, perhaps the most famous city in the United States, the future would hold another axe-murdering terror, emerging in May of 1918. As the United States was waist deep in fighting the Germans during WWI...the Axeman cometh...
Axeman Jazz
*****
November 11, 1909 - Opelousas family - Rayne, Louisiana
January 31, 1911 - Byers family - Crowley, Louisiana
February 24, 1911 - Andrus family - Lafayette, Louisiana
March 22, 1911 - Cassaway family - San Antonio, Texas
June 9, 1911 - Hill family - Ardenwald, Oregon
September 17, 1911 - Wayne/Burnham families (next-door neighbors) - Colorado Springs, Colorado
September 30, 1911 - Dawson family - Monmouth, Illinois
October 15, 1911 - Showman family - Ellsworth, Kansas
November 26, 1911 - Randall family - Lafayette, Louisiana
January 19, 1912 - Warner family - Crowley, Louisiana
January 22, 1912 - Broussard family - Lake Charles, Louisiana
February 19, 1912 - Dove family - Beaumont, Texas
March 27, 1912 - Finucane/Monroe family - Glidden, Texas
April 12, 1912 - Burton family - San Antonio, Texas
April 14, 1912 - Three unidentified victims (possibly unrelated) - Hempstead, Texas
June 5, 1912 - Hudson family - Poala, Kansas
June 9-10, 1912 - Moore/Stillinger families - Villisca, Iowa
August 6, 1912 - Dashiell family (Mrs. Dashiell awoke after being struck with the axe and the killer fled, no live were lost) - San Antonio, Texas (last of the Barnabet/Mulatto Axe Murders)
May 1918 to October 1919 - "Axeman" Murders - New Orleans, Louisiana
