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Cathy Wurzer

A century-old story of jazz and murder in New Orleans

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If you were in New Orleans exactly 100 years ago, you might have heard an early jazz recording like "Livery Stable Blues" being played loudly in homes across the city.

The reason? A man claiming to be the axe murderer who had already killed eight people in the area had written a letter to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, saying that he would be in the city on the night of March 19, 1919, looking for victims — but that he would spare anyone in a home where a jazz band was in full swing. The story inspired a song called "The Mysterious Axman's Jazz (Don't Scare Me Papa.)"