Slain By Naked Maniac

Iowa, 1900

James Fitzsimmons Dead, Three Others Injured

Cedar Rapids dispatch: Charles Mefford, a maniac, at 5 o'clock a.m. killed James Fitzsimmons, fatally injured John Drake, seriously and possibly fatally injured Mrs. James Fitzsimmons and then ended his own life.

Mefford was 20 years old and had been insane for a number of years. Two years ago he was in the Independence asylum for a short time, but escaped and was never returned. He was not generally considered dangerous. Saturday night about ten o'clock, while clad in nothing but a shirt, he darted out of his home, a raving maniac. He was seen two or three times between then and midnight, but the police failed to find him.

Shortly before 5 o'clock Reginald Andrews, the janitor at the Old Ladies' Home was awakened by crashing glass. The next moment Mefford stood before him. stark naked, swinging a neck yoke. He warned Andrews that his time had come and swung the neck yoke in an effort to brain him. The latter dodged and grabbed the weapon, threw Mefford on the bed and choked him until he begged for mercy.

Then Andrews agreed to give him a bath, a suit of clothes and some breakfast, which apparently satisfied him. Rushing through the house, Andrews locked the twelve or fourteen old ladies in their rooms, notified the police by telephone, and then ran across the street, to the home of Joseph Drake for assistance.

Drake dressed, picked up a revolver, and they started out. As they did so Mefford, carrying an ax, was seen to plunge through a window in the home of James Fitzsimmons, about 150 yards away. As he entered the room Mrs. Fitzsimmons uttered a scream. Mefford swung the ax and brought it down toward her head. Her uplifted arm saved her life; the arm was broken in two places and she sustained a serious scalp wound. Mr. Fitzsimmons hurried to the aid of his wife and his skull was crushed with the ax, death resulting immediately.

The maniac then rushed into the room of Miss Katie, who escaped with a few scalp wounds. Starting down stairs he was met by Drake who snapped his revolver four times at the madman, each time upon an empty shell. Mefford grabbed the revolver, ran a few blocks and killed himself with the one load the revolver contained.

—Humeston New Era, Humeston, Iowa, July 4, 1900.

Croaking Ape-Man is Captured; Man of Mystery

Pittsburgh, 1920

Ape is Captured; Man of Mystery

Has Terrorized Greensburg and Homestead for Weeks. Will Not Talk.

Pittsburgh, Aug. 26. — The supposed ape that has terrorized Greensburg and Homestead for two weeks is believed to have been captured Wednesday in a heavy wooded thicket in Baldwin township. It is a man and, nearly nude, with matted hair on his face and head six inches long, so closely resembled an ape that the officers who came upon him unawares were in doubt for several minutes in what category to class him. When captured the man was sleeping beside a fire. On being awakened he sprang at Constable Risenbarth and attempted to sink his teeth in the officer's throat. It took several minutes to subdue him. Apparently unable or unwilling to speak, the man sits moaning in a cell in the Hays police station, occasionally giving utterance to deep guttural sounds resembling the croaking of a huge frog.

The ape-man first appeared in a section of West Virginia bordering on the Monongahela River. For several days depredations committed there were laid to his door. His next appearance was in Westmoreland county, in the vicinity of Greensburg, where he came unawares onto a quiet poker game in a small shanty and, after scaring the players away, quietly disappeared with the "kitty." After terrorizing several families in Westmoreland, the ape-man appeared in the vicinity of Homestead, where the killing of sheep and dogs and the milking of cows aroused the entire countryside. Several posses thought they had him cornered in an abandoned mine, but Tuesday the ape-man appeared near Carrick, and attacked Mrs. Netti Schaffer, who as picking elderberries near her home. Her cries for help brought aid and the ape-man fled.

—The Gettysburg Times, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, August 26, 1920, page 2.