It's probable that the same person committed a series of axe murders between 1898 and 1912 across the United States, including the infamous 1912 Villisca axe murders in Iowa.  And, this serial killer appears to have traveled by train to perform these heinous acts.  If it were the same person, he was responsible for at least 59 deaths, with the potential to have committed up to nearly 100.  

The theory of a single killer hinges on a pattern of behaviors and circumstances: the murders were typically carried out with an axe belonging to the victim, the majority of the murders took place near a train track, the killings were done at night, and the victims were often asleep in their beds.  

The Villisca axe murders are the most notorious of these cases; however, with the passage of over a century, definitive answers are likely out of reach, and the true identity of "The Man from the Train" remains a subject of speculation.

Read MF Thomas' novels

Like Clockwork https://amzn.to/417lOzy
Arcade https://amzn.to/4aTpisx
A Sickness in Time https://amzn.to/41apSPK
Seeing by Moonlight ...