Henry Lee Moore

Henry Lee Moore (November 1, 1874 – September 30, 1963) was an American suspected serial killer who was convicted of killing his mother and grandmother with an axe in their home. While in prison, it was alleged by a Justice Department agent named W. M. McClaughry that Moore was possibly responsible for a string of unsolved axe murders in several states, among them being the Villisca axe murders. Although described as a friendly-looking man, he had the morbid habit of visiting various morgues in St. Louis with the purpose of looking at the bodies. Not only that, he also collected newspaper scraps from infamous criminal cases, including that of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen.

Moore communicated with various women through letters, and in May 1910, he was arrested in Wichita, Kansas, for forgery. He was convicted and sentenced to a year of imprisonment in the Hutchinson Reformatory, receiving his parole in May 1911.

Double murders Sometime after his release, Moore began corresponding with a 16-year-old Columbia girl named Queenie Nichols, eventually professing his love for her. His attorney tried to appeal to the Supreme Court, but his request was denied. Livingston suggested that the prisoner could have something to do with the string of axe murders, which the press had labeled as Billy the Axeman. Given the coincidental timing that Moore had just been released at the start of the spree, led McClaughry to propose this theory. Burnham-Wayne Murders (September 17, 1911, in Colorado Springs, Colorado): The bodies of May Alice Burnham and her two children, Nellie and John, were discovered by her sister when she called on their home on Dale Street. When news of the murder spread, crowds appeared, and one neighbor found it odd that the neighbors directly behind the Burnham home had not appeared to see what was going on. Henry F. Wayne, his wife Blanche, and eighteen-month-old daughter Lula were found murdered in their home on Harrison Place. Arthur Burnham, the husband of one of the victims, was arrested on suspicion, but later released. He was suffering from tuberculosis and had been a ward at the local sanitarium during the murders. He passed from his illness a few months later. Dawson Murders (October 1911, in Monmouth, Illinois): M. E. Dawson, along with his wife and daughter, was killed with an axe. Showman Murders (October 1911, in Ellsworth, Kansas): William Showman, along with his wife and three children, was also killed with an axe. Hudson Murders (June 1912, in Paola, Kansas): Roland Hudson and his wife were killed with an axe. Villisca axe murders (June 10–11, 1912 in Villisca, Iowa): the Moore Family (no relation to Henry Lee Moore), as well as two visiting girls named Ina Mae and Lena Stillinger, were axed to death at the Moores' home.

McClaughry's theory was overblown by the contemporary media, who claimed that he was stating it as fact and not speculation. However, this was later discredited by M. F. Amrine, Superintendent of the Kansas State Reformatory, who reported that Moore was corresponding with him at the time of the murders and that Henry was at home in Columbia.

A similar inquest was also initiated by Chief Chargeois for a 1911 axe murder that took place in Lafayette, Louisiana. Although Clementine Barnabet and one of her followers were suspected of that crime, the man had already been imprisoned at the time of the killings. The result from the investigation is currently unknown, but it is presumed that it was called off.

In regard to the Villisca murders, few of the residents believed the theory. However, according to Joseph Stillinger, father of the killed Lena, Moore very much resembled a man that once worked for him. That man, who had given his name as "Hellum", was hired in April 1912 and worked for only a week before disappearing. Stillinger and an officer later went on to confront Moore in prison, but, most likely, the mysterious man was not Henry Lee Moore.