One of Iowa’s darkest chapters is now a tourist magnet

The Villisca Axe Murders That Destroyed Iowa Town

The Villisca Axe Murder House tells a tale of crime scene chaos and small-town division. On June 10, 1912, eight people were killed with an axe in their beds.

Hundreds of locals rushed the Moore home after news broke, picking up the murder weapon and even taking skull pieces as sick souvenirs.

Later, detective James Wilkerson blamed State Senator Frank Jones for hiring a hitman to kill his business rival. Jones fought back with a slander suit that tore the town apart.

Though Jones won in court, he lost his career while families split into warring camps based on whom they thought did it. The murder house stands today, still haunted by its unsolved past and the town it broke in two.

Neighbors Found Eight Bloody Bodies Behind Locked Doors

Mary Peckham noticed something wrong next door at 7 a. m. on June 10, 1912. The Moore family hadn’t started their morning chores and their house was quiet.

She tried the door but found it locked. Ross Moore came with a key and found the Stillinger girls dead downstairs.

Marshal Hank Horton found six more bodies inside. Someone had killed all eight people with an axe while they slept:

Josiah and Sarah Moore, their four children, and two young guests. Josiah’s face was beaten so badly his eyes were gone.

Hundreds of Curious Townspeople Trampled the Murder Scene

The town telephone office sent an alert at 8:40 a. m., telling everyone in Villisca about the murders. Locals rushed to the Moore house before police could block the doors.

People walked through blood, picked up the murder weapon, and some even took pieces of Josiah’s skull. Sheriff Oren Jackson couldn’t control the crowd wandering through the crime scene.

The National Guard arrived at 10:30 a. m. , but by then over 100 people had already messed up the evidence that might have solved the case.

Local Officials Bungled the First Hours of Investigation

County Coroner Dr. Linquist arrived by 9 a.m. but couldn’t check the bodies with so many people around.

A local druggist brought a camera, but officials turned him away, saying photos would be “too ghoulish. ”

The coroner’s jury waited until after 10 p.m. to look at the bodies, more than 14 hours after they were found.

Police tried using dogs to track the killer, but the trail stopped at a river south of town. Without tools like fingerprinting, investigators had almost nothing to work with.

A Texas Detective Started Building a Case Against a State Senator

James Newton Wilkerson, a former Texas lawyer working for the Burns Detective Agency, came to Villisca in 1914.

He went to Ross Moore’s drugstore claiming he knew who killed the Moore family. For two years, Wilkerson quietly built a case against Iowa State Senator Frank F. Jones.

His theory focused on business rivalry: Moore had left Jones’s company in 1908 and taken the John Deere farm equipment business with him.

Rumors also spread that Moore had an affair with Jones’s daughter-in-law.

Anonymous Flyers Destroyed a Political Campaign

During the June 1916 Republican Primary, Villisca voters got mystery flyers in their mailboxes.

The papers showed a prison photo of William “Blackie” Mansfield with claims linking him to Senator Jones. The timing ruined Jones’s re-election as voting started. Wilkerson then held outdoor rallies in nearby towns.

Standing in an open car, he patted his jacket pocket and told crowds he had “documents to convict Blackie Mansfield and prove Frank Jones paid for it.”

Jones lost his Senate primary to County Attorney Ratcliff.

The Alleged Hitman Faced a Grand Jury

Wilkerson arrested William Mansfield at a Kansas City packing plant in July 1916. He put Mansfield through harsh questioning but got no confession.

Montgomery County brought Mansfield back to Iowa to face a grand jury that spent a week looking at the evidence.

Wilkerson painted Mansfield as a drug-addicted killer behind similar axe murders across the Midwest, including killing his own family in Illinois in 1914.

Most locals thought Mansfield would stand trial based on the links to Senator Jones.

Payroll Records Proved the Suspect Was Nowhere Near Iowa

The grand jury refused to charge Mansfield in July 1916. Company records showed he was working in Illinois during the Villisca murders.

The same records gave him an alibi for axe killings in Kansas that happened just four days before the Moore family died.

Villisca folks couldn’t believe Mansfield walked free, especially Ross Moore and Joe Stillinger, father of the two murdered girls.

They kept backing Wilkerson, who attacked Senator Jones even more. Many locals still thought Jones hired someone to kill the Moores.

The Slander Trial Became the Biggest Show in Town

Frank Jones sued Wilkerson for $60,000 in September 1916 after the public claims wrecked his political career.

The trial ran through November and December in Red Oak, Iowa, turning into one of the most talked-about court battles in state history.

Though Jones filed the lawsuit, he basically found himself on trial for murder. Wilkerson relied on witnesses who claimed they overheard talks about the murders.

Wilkerson admitted making the claims but said they were true. The courtroom filled with people as the judge tried to keep order.

The Verdict Left Both Men With Unfinished Business

The jury found Wilkerson not guilty but ordered Jones to pay all court costs.

This strange decision told Montgomery County folks they thought Jones was guilty but had used his money to avoid justice.

Jones never faced murder charges, but his reputation was ruined.

He stayed in Villisca until he died in 1941, but his political career ended. Mansfield later sued Wilkerson for false arrest and won $2,225.

The detective who spent years building his case against Jones saw his own reputation damaged after the failed case.

The Town Split Into Hostile Camps

Villisca split along social and church lines after the trials. Methodist church members backed Jones while Presbyterians thought he was guilty.

Parents told their kids not to play with children whose families believed the “wrong” theory. The split affected business deals, social events, and daily life.

Even townspeople like Harry Whipple, briefly named as a suspect by Wilkerson, faced years of suspicion as children ran from them on the street.

A Traveling Preacher Became the Final Scapegoat

Iowa Attorney General Horace Havner convened a new grand jury in March 1917 to take another look at the murders.

They indicted Reverend Lyn George Jacklin Kelly, an English-born traveling minister with documented mental illness who had been in Villisca the night of the killings.

Kelly’s first trial in September 1917 ended with a hung jury after he confessed during intense questioning. His second trial in November brought a full acquittal.

With no one convicted and all suspects cleared, the case officially remained unsolved, leaving Villisca permanently scarred by unanswered questions.

Visiting Villisca Ax Murder House, Iowa

The Villisca Ax Murder House at 508 E 2nd St offers daytime self-guided tours and overnight stays in the same rooms where the 1912 murders happened.

You can rent individual rooms for $199 or the entire house. The house has no electricity or plumbing like in 1912, but there’s a modern bathroom in the restored barn.

Private group tours cost $300 for up to 10 people alongside cemetery tours.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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