People laughed at the answer of course. Radio and TV comics had a field day with taxi-cab jokes. There was a full week of cartoons and columns, exploiting the particular newsworthiness of such a story. The killer hadn't killed for money or gain or the thrill of killing. He had murdered for a spectacularly innocuous reason.
John Charles Axelson was myopic, middle-aged and had once been a pressman for the New York Daily News until a liver ailment turned him out into the streets. A medical examination disclosed that the poor slob was dying of cancer. The Big C had plummeted him toward his fatal decision to kill taxicab drivers who whizzed by him with their Off Duty sign flashing.
He was unmarried, a World War Two veteran and none of his pensions had lightened the miserable road toward the grave.
He was another modern horrible man.
Unloved, lonely and unwanted by the fast-walking, not looking-to-the-left-or-the-right people all around us.
Take a look next time. A good look.
The life you save may be your own.
Or are you like Spanner and John Charles Axelson?
A horrible man.