On this day, March 5, in 1873, on a moonlight night, Louis Wagner rowed out to the Smuttynose Island in Maine and took an ax to two women in a murder that still haunts the New England fishing community.
Wagner, 28, knew the women were going to be alone that night and hoped to find a stash of money in the house that the families were saving to buy a boat.
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When he found no cash, he killed Norwegian immigrants Karen and Anethe Christensen. A third woman was awakened by the screams, fled and hid under a rock until daylight.
Wagner was captured in Boston. He had with him a white button belonging to Karen. He was hanged to death.
The ax used to kill the women remains on display in Smuttynose.
— Scott McCabe
