I think the problem is that Tomcat 4.1.2 already includes a version of Xerces in $TOMCAT_HOME/common/endorsed/. If you followed the instructions from the Axis user guide, you probably installed another (different) version in $TOMCAT_HOME/webapps/axis/WEB-INF/lib/.
Just remove the Xerces Jars that you installed and everything should work. Best regards, Stephan Bublava
