The Man from the Train

The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery
Author Bill James, Rachel McCarthy James
Language English
Subject True crime
Publication date
 September 19, 2017
ISBN 978-1-4767-9625-3 (hardcover)

The Man from the Train is a 2017 true crime book written by Bill James and his daughter[1] Rachel McCarthy James.

Bill James, although best known as a sabermetrician (a type of baseball analyst),[1][2] also writes about crime, Popular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence (2012) being another of James's crime books.[3]

In The Man from the Train, the Jameses claim to have discovered, through analysis of contemporary records, the existence and identity of a serial killer – Paul Mueller[4] – who operated throughout North America in the early 20th century killing between 40 and 100 people.

According to the Jameses, a number of murders in the period which were assumed by local police to be one-off incidents were actually committed by a single person, probably Mueller. The Jameses reach this conclusion based on certain similarities among these crimes. These similarities include proximity to railroad transport (thus the book's title), the blunt side of an axe as the method, the slaughter of entire families, covering victims with cloth prior to the murders (probably to prevent blood spatter), leaving the axe in plain sight, absence of robbery, and other similarities.[5]

The Jameses point out that in these times, local police usually assumed a local murderer with some connection to the victims, thus the concept of a nationwide traveling serial killer was never even considered. Locals arrested after police investigation were usually released on lack of evidence, but some were convicted and executed or (in the case of African Americans) lynched.[5]

Bill James's research began with his interest in and attempt to solve one famous unsolved crime, the Villisca axe murders in which a family of eight was slaughtered in Villisca, Iowa on the night of June 9, 1912. James suspected a possible serial killer, found some similar crimes, and brought on Rachel McCarthy James who found more.[1]

The Jameses discovered scores of murders, committed from 1898 to 1912, occurring in Nova Scotia, Oregon, Kansas, Florida, Arkansas, and other locations, which they ascribe to Mueller.[1]. The authors also suggest that Mueller may have been responsible for the Hinterkaifeck murders.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery − Kirkus Review". Kirkus. 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  2. ↑ Ben McGrath (July 14, 2003). "The Professor of Baseball". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  3. ↑ Nathaniel Rich (June 2, 2011). "Crunch the Numbers; Solve a Famous Murder". New York Times. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  4. ↑ Elizabeth Cook (October 15, 2017). "The Man from the Train: New book says serial ax murderer killed Lyerly family". Salisbury [North Carolina] Post. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  5. 1 2 Thomas McClung (2017). "The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery". New York Journal of Books. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
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