The Unsolved Murders of the Axeman

        In 1918, Joseph Maggio and his wife Catherine were asleep in their apartment located right above Joseph’s store in New Orleans. That night, A man had snuck into their home and brutally killed the couple by slitting their throats and bashing their heads in with an ax. When law officials arrived, they failed to find any evidence that could point to the murderer. Over the next few months, more attacks took place with a similar story of a man with an axe sneaking into people's homes. Some victims had survived but even with their accounts of the situation, officers failed to solve the case. Some suspects were questioned and tried but they were all found innocent. 

Then, one night the axe man had sent a letter to a local newspaper that warned of his next attack. The letter had claimed that on the night of March 19, 1919, he would strike New Orleans once again. However, he had given the people a way to survive. He wrote that anyone who was playing Jazz Music for the entire night would be spared while those who didn’t would get the axe. That night, Jazz music could be heard all across New Orleans, and no one was killed. The Axeman had attacked a few more times over the course of the next few months but the police still could not produce a lead. His last attack was in October of 1919 and since then, he was never heard from again. 

Source: 

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/la-axeman/