The man from the train : the solving of a century-old serial killer mystery
(Book)

"From legendary writer Bill James, in collaboration with his daughter, Rachel, a compelling, dramatic, and meticulously researched narrative about a century-old series of unsolved axe murders across America, and how the authors came to solve them. A hundred years ago, a traveling axe murderer horrified the nation, leaving a ghastly trail from Florida to Washington State and looping back again. He was a very clever fiend, and he'd worked out a method whereby he could murder perhaps a hundred people without being caught. Piecing together information from thousands of sources, baseball writer Bill James set out to create a full picture of what the man had done, and drew up a plan for how the monster might be identified--never really expecting that his plan would work. But it did. Using twenty-first-century research tools beyond the imaginations of people one hundred years ago, James and his coauthor sorted through hundreds of similar cases, compiling a list of thirty-four habits that identify The Man from the Train's crimes. Beginning with the murders of eight people in Villisca, Iowa, in 1912, the authors chased the story backward through the years eventually finding its origins near the end of the nineteenth century. Innocent people were executed for crimes that the real killer had committed. Innocent people were also murdered by lynch mobs for his crimes. Riveting and immersive, with writing as sharp as an axe, Wye Man from the Pain paints a vivid, unforgettable portrait of small-town justice systems overwhelmed by the crimes and exploited by opportunists. The authors' groundbreaking research will convince skeptics, amaze aficionados, and change the way we view criminal history."--Jacket.