A Brief History
On May 10, 1899, a farmworker in Finland hacked seven people to death with an axe, proving once again that murderers do not necessarily need a firearm to inflict mayhem on the innocent public.
Digging Deeper
Karl Emil Malmelin, 27 years old at the time, was working on a farm in Klaukkala, Finland, when his offer of marriage was rebuffed by a young lady, the daughter of the property owner. Not one to take no for an answer, Karl proceeded to kill everyone on the farm, which included two men, three women, and two children.
Although convicted of the murders, Karl was later pardoned by Czar Nicholas II in 1912, that part of Finland being in the Russian Empire at the time. Another Finnish axe murderer, Toivo Koljonen who killed six people with an axe in 1943, was not treated so mercifully and was executed the same year.
This pair of murderous Finns once again prove that even if there were no guns, murderers would find a way to commit their crimes.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Were you aware of mass murders committed without the use of a firearm? Did you realize other “civilized” countries also experience mass murders?
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Bowman, Stephen. Villisca Axe Murders Revisited. Independently published, 2018.
Spooner, Emeric. Return to Smuttynose Island and other Maine Axe Murders. Createspace, 2009.
The featured image in this article, a prison photograph of Karl Emil Malmelin, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
