Serial Axe Murder?

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:01 pm

I wish I could find more online information about these cases. But this is the only information I have been able to find thus far.

A lethal drifter prone to violent rages, Henry Moore was prosecuted in December 1912 for murdering his mother and maternal grandmother in Columbia, Missouri. Both his victims had been slaughtered with an ax, and while the crime was grim enough, it barely scratched the surface of a bloody rampage spanning eighteen months, five states, and more than twenty homicides. Discovery of Henry's secret came about when lawmen in Villisca, Iowa, requested federal assistance in solution of a local massacre, in June of 1912. An unidentified assailant had employed an ax to slaughter J.B. Moore, four children, and a pair of female visitors, the Stillinger sisters; police had bodies in abundance, but they had no clues. A federal officer, M.W. McClaughry, was assigned to the case, and his investigation indicated that the crime in Iowa was not unique. Nine months earlier, in September 1911, six victims had been slain in Colorado Springs; the victims there included H.C. Wayne, his wife and child, along with Mrs. A.J. Burnham and her children. October was a busy month, with triple murder wiping out the Dewson family in Monmouth, Illinois, rebounding into Ellsworth, Kansas, where the Showman family - five in all - were slaughtered in their home. On June 5, 1912 - mere days before the carnage in Villisca, Rollin Hudson and his wife were murdered in Paola, Kansas. Axes had been used in every case. In no case had a suspect been identified, and rumors of "a romance angle" in the Hudson crime produced no leads. McClaughry was convinced that he was dealing with a transient maniac, but clues were still in short supply. Hard work, coincidence, and luck eventually saved the day. McClaughry's father was the warden of the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, a man with far-flung contacts in the prison system. When he heard about the case of Henry Moore, already serving life in the Missouri lockup, he informed his son. Comparison of modus operandi in the several cases, capped by interviews with Moore, inspired McClaughry to announce, on May 9, 1913, that the books were cleared on twenty-three Midwestern homicides. Ironically, there was a ghoulish post-script in the case that launched McClaughry's own investigation. In September 1917, a minister, the Reverend Lynn George Kelly, was arrested for the murders at Villisca. Kelly signed confessions , indicating that the massacre was perpetrated in response to God's direction. Booming astral voices had directed Kelly to a rubbish heap, where he retrieved a cast-off ax, and on from there, until he reached the home of J.B. Moore. Obeying his instructions to "slay utterly," the pastor crept inside and killed eight persons as he wandered through the house. But there were problems with the minister's confession. On the same day they were publicized, George Kelly told his wife the documents contained "pure fabrications." Granted, he had signed the statements, but he was not sure precisely why. Approaching trial, he publicly recanted, and his ramblings seemed to bolster pleas of mental illness. That November, members of a jury spent four and a half hours deliberating evidence before acquitting Rev. Kelly on all counts. Despite McClaughry's confidence in Henry Moore's participation, the Villisca case, officially, remains unsolved.

http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkillers/M ... ry_lee.php

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http://www.millersparanormalresearch.com/

http://www.saljournal.com/content/2-0-/ ... story.html

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 11:59 pm

I have 2 books here to read on Villisca and now I don't know if I need to read them.

We were into Villisca a while ago here. The filmmakers came to visit our site and invite us to theirs.
There's a web-site for the crime- have you been?

theebmonique · Post by **theebmonique** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 12:28 am

I believe it's Mdme. Audrey who knows a bit about Villisca, as it is not far from where she resides.

Tracy...

theebmonique · Post by **theebmonique** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 12:34 am

Until Auds can respond...try this:

http://www.villiscaiowa.com/

Tracy...

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 12:53 am

Oh that's right. She was thinking of going. Did she go?

Boy that site sure looks different! Thanks for the link.
I was hoping they would get their film entered locally here at out Enzian Film Festival and suggested it to both parties, but no luck.

theebmonique · Post by **theebmonique** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 1:00 am

We are in the middle of the Sundance Film Festival. I wonder if they could shop it around at SUndance ?

Tracy...

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 2:41 pm

Has anyone here ever been to the house or know anyone that has been? Did Audrey visit the house? I have read that is it supposed to be a highly haunted location. I'd be interested to hear the stories.

Audrey · Post by **Audrey** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 5:10 pm

I have driven by, but not visited the house.

My niece's school class did a project about the house and did visit it though! A school project!

They had a documentary type movie in the theatre a few months ago which I did attend as well.

The Millers sight is fascinating and I get chills every time I listen to some of those recordings.

Is there a site dedicated to discussing the case? MD! I would like that, I think!

I would like to stay in the house overnight, it is expensive but not prohibitively so. I just need to get enough people willing to stay with me!

theebmonique · Post by **theebmonique** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 5:14 pm

I would NOT be afraid to stay there.

Tracy

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 12:35 pm

Audrey @ Sat Jan 28, 2006 5:10 pm wrote:I have driven by, but not visited the house.

My niece's school class did a project about the house and did visit it though! A school project!

They had a documentary type movie in the theatre a few months ago which I did attend as well.

The Millers sight is fascinating and I get chills every time I listen to some of those recordings.

Is there a site dedicated to discussing the case? MD! I would like that, I think!

I would like to stay in the house overnight, it is expensive but not prohibitively so. I just need to get enough people willing to stay with me!

I'm with Audrey, I think I'd like to stay in the house, but not by myself. I need at least 3 friends to go with me.

They had also better put me in a room somewhere near the front door. I'd like to be able to see the house for myself. I am not sure when or if I will get the opportunity to go to Iowa though, it sometimes seems like an almost impossible task just to be able to make the trip to Massachusetts. So if any of you go and spend the night there, I'd love to hear the stories about it!

Audrey · Post by **Audrey** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:09 pm

I could make inquiries...

Anyone willing to pay their airfare to Iowa can stay... I will pay the fee to rent the house for the night!

theebmonique · Post by **theebmonique** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:15 pm

Sounds like a bad girl's plan to me ! I'm in.

Tracy...

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:43 am

I thought I had 2 books on Villisca to read, but it turns out 1 is Villisca and 1 is on the Hossak muder case, 1900, in Iowa.
That man was attacked in his bed by an axe, and lived 10 hours! We can be satisfied that a merciful Providence took Andrew Borden very soon after the attack on him! The Hossack man actually lay muttering to his family and his brains were on his pillow!
He didn't know he was attacked- he thought he was sick.
He lingered long enough that all his family and neighbors for miles around congregated in his house and bedroom as he lay dying.

I went to search newspapers to see if there were any pictures because 4 photos were taken but there are none in the book.

I found an article in the Washington Post of March 4, 1906 with the headline:
"Wave of Husband Murders In Iowa."
Apparently 8 women had been tried recently for killing their husbands. The article claimed that only 2 were convicted and mentioned a recent New Hampshire state execution of a woman as obvioulsy not being a deterrent to murder. It also claimed that in about the same amount of time 4 men had been arrested for murdering their female "other" and all 4 were convicted.

Ladies, do we have an edge on getting away with murder?

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 11:42 am

Audrey @ Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:09 pm wrote:I could make inquiries...

Anyone willing to pay their airfare to Iowa can stay... I will pay the fee to rent the house for the night!

That sounds like a great plan Audrey. My problems usually revolve around schedule conflicts. It seems like something unexpected is always cropping up to throw a wrench into our plans. Between school schedules, work schedules, the schedules of my children, and a bunch of unforeseen difficulties, at the last minute I often have to put things off until another time.

Angel · Post by **Angel** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:10 pm

I could do it in the spring sometime.
It's funny- I don't think it would bother me to stay there, but the Borden house gives me the heebie jeebies for some reason.