Amputation and decapitation are very much in the Grand Guignol tradition which surely did a lot to inspire the shudder pulp cover, and unsurprisingly we find a few examples at Dime Mystery Magazine, such as this cover from February 1935.

Now it might not be the case here that our sadistic villain is necessarily aiming for the damsel’s legs, even if her dress has been hiked up to a great expanse of thigh, and even if he is holding a butcher’s cleaver, rather than some more obvious weapon. He might be aiming a blow at our apparent hero, who appears to be emerging from a shallow grave possibly dug for the damsel.

In case the earlier issue was too subtle, the August 1937 cover, drawn by Graves Gladney, removes all doubt as to what is supposed to be going on.

The would-be victim seems surprisingly calm under the circumstances, in spite of there being no avenging hero anywhere in sight.