Preface -- Villisca -- Section I. 1909 to 1912 -- The bloody penny -- Logan's turnpike -- The scandalous Schultzes -- Marshalltown -- The New Orleans axeman -- Which is not really a chapter -- Martin City -- The Casaways -- Oregon -- The double event -- Monmouth -- Ellsworth -- Paola -- Section II. Summer 1912 -- Villisca 2 -- Villisca 3 -- Villisca 4 -- Villisca 5 -- Dynamite Pfanschmidt -- Section III. 1900 to 1906 -- Stepping backward -- Trenton Corners -- Standing by Henry -- An uncertain set of names -- Just when you thought this story couldn't possibly get any uglier -- Hughes -- The Christmas Day murders -- West Memphis -- Jacksonville -- Cottonwood, Alabama -- Murder in the cold -- The worst one ever -- The Lyerly family -- Section IV -- Hiatus -- The crimes of 1908 -- Section V -- Conversation with the reader -- Hurley -- Beckley and beyond -- The Zoos and the Hubbells -- Clementine Barnabet -- Harry Ryan -- The first crime -- Brookfield and Villisca -- Where the evening is spread out against the sky -- Hinterkaifeck.

"Using compelling sleuthing techniques, legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applies his analytical acumen to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history. Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Jewelry and valuables were left in plain sight, bodies were piled together, faces covered with cloth. Some of these cases, like the infamous Villasca, Iowa, murders, received national attention. But few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station. When Bill James first learned about these horrors, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. He empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal, uncovering one of the deadliest serial killers in America. Riveting and immersive, with writing as sharp as the cold side of an axe, The Man from the Train paints a vivid, psychologically perceptive portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, when crime was regarded as a local problem, and opportunistic private detectives exploited a dysfunctional judicial system. James shows how these cultural factors enabled such an unspeakable series of crimes to occur. Bill James made his mark in the 1970s and 1980s with his Baseball Abstracts. He is currently the Senior Advisor on Baseball Operations for the Boston Red Sox"--Provided by publisher.