New Orleans Police Superintendent Frank Mooney stood in front of a grocery store in the

two-laying Gravier neighborhood.

It was just before dawn on the morning of August 11, 1918.

It was already hot, and by the time the sun was high in the sky, the temperature would

be well north of 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

He was getting the details while his officers canvassed the still sleeping neighborhood, but

he knew this.

15-year-old Pauline Bruno had been asleep in her room in the small apartment behind her

family's grocery store.

When she was awakened by moans coming from her uncle Joseph Romano's room, she saw

a large figure in the hallway outside her room.

Her terrified screams scared the intruder off.

Her uncle staggered down the hallway.

Call an ambulance.

My head hurts, he said, before collapsing.

He was bleeding from a massive wound to his skull, and he was covered in blood.

An ambulance rushed him to charity hospital.

A couple hours later, when Frank Mooney saw the crime scene, he was amazed that the man

had stood up and walked.

The pillow was soaked, and the bloodspray reached up the wall behind the bed frame to the

ceiling.

There was no sign of a struggle.

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