MIUmiE WILLIAMS. ADELE OOVELLE.
ALDINE WiLNDA.— AplbenRuB ub CBBe E
\j lObU PRB«B ABfiuctt PCAeUeBu RubwFR Alao^
^ I*: PKftaAB i^bepBa. Address GEOEGE S. ^BA- ^
X HAM, CSIj Hall, PMladeli)hJa, Penn., U. S. A,
THB BXfXlUOT ATTOBN£T AJTD MATOS
OF FMIIJU;>£I<PHIA«
The
Holmes -Pite^el
HISTORY
OF THE
Greatest Crime of the fentury
AND OF THE
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING
PITEZEL CHILDREN
BY
DETECTIVE FRANK P. QEYER
OF THE BUREAU OF POLICE, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY,
OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
A TRUB DBTECTIV^ STORY
By permission of the District Attorney and Mayor of the
City of Philadelphia
FULLY ILLUSTRATED
PUBLISHERS' UNION
1896
COPYEIGHT 1896
BY
FRANK P. GEYER
eHltA^ELPJilA
eeORGC^S. GRAHAM,
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^k4MZZtcyfli^;i^.^y c^^viJ^M^i^
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ya...<y^ y.
_ PHILAPELPHIA
PREFACE.
It is not possible to find in the annals of crim-
inal jurisprudence, a more deliberate and cold
blooded villain than the central figure in this story,
nor would the most careful research among the
records of the prominent murder trials that have
absorbed public attention during the past century,
disclose the careful planning that made possible the
apprehension of Holmes, the prosecution to an
almost miraculous ending of the search for the
missing children, or the equal of the forensic skill
and cunning that wove the close web in which this
man of many names and many murders was en-
tangled.
That Holmes committed four murders has
been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt, and
that his timely arrest prevented three more mur-
ders is ecLually sure. If the Chicago "Castle"
could give up its guilty secrets, there is more than
a strong suspicion that the list of Holmes crimes
would be materially lengthened. We do know that
fraud, deliberately planned and coolly executed, the
blackest treachery toward his associates, a long term
of brutal cruelty toward the helpless woman and her
children who were in his clutches, and the marvel-
ous duplicity and falsehood practiced upon the
three women who each believed herself to be his
lawful wife, are to be added to the list.
A remarkable thing about a murderer who has
ackieved the notoriety of Holmes, is the fact that
no flowers nor gifts were sent to him by morbid
sympathizers. The story of the search for the
missing children reads like a romance, and its
almost miraculous conclusion is another proof that
detective acumen and tireless patience will find the
unguarded spot which always exists in the armor
of the most wily criminal. The reader will echo
the remarks of the learned judge, who, in charging
the jury that convicted Holmes, said: "Truth is
Stranger than Fiction, and if Mrs. Pitezel's Story
is true— (and it was proven to be true)— it is the
Most Wonderful Exhibition of the Power of Mind
Over Mind I Have Ever Seen, and Stranger than
any Novel I Have Ever Read."
It is fitting that this true story that outrivals
fiction should be published. The tone of the narra-
tive is wholesome. Even youth may profit by it.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. PAGE
Who was Perry ? 13
CHAPTER II.
lusurance Money Claimed . . . . . 23
CHAPTER III.
The Insurance Co, Suspicious .... 43
CHAPTER IV.
The Clang of the Cell-Door .... 53
CHAPTER V.
The Wages of Sin 99
CHAPTER YI.
In the Toils 138
CHAPTER VII.
' ' A Slippery and Subtle Knave " . . 145
CHAPTER VIII.
The Pitezel Children 155
CHAPTER IX.
On the Trail 173
CHAPTER X.
The Untiring Pursuit . . . . . . 183
CHAPTER XI.
An Expert in Crime 203
CHAPTER XII.
The Search Rewarded 215
CHAPTER Xni. PAGE
Forging the Links ...... 237
CHAPTER XIV.
How to Find the Boy 255
CHAPTER XV.
The Detective Puzzled 267
CHAPTER XVI.
The Beginning of the End 281
CHAPTER XVII.
"When He Came" 289
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Chain Complete 299
CHAPTER XIX.
Justice Cried " Amen " 305
CHAPTER XX.
Looking Backward 317
CHAPTER XXI.
A Triple Alliance 325
CHAPTER XXII.
A Friend in Kced 333
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Excluded Testimony 337
CHAPTER XXrV\
Chronology 346
APPENDIX I.
Speech of Hon. George S. Graham ... 371
APPENDIX II.
Motion for New Trial 406
APPENDIX III.
The Decision of the Supreme Court , . . 489
List of Illustrations^
PAGE
No. 131'' /'allowhill St., Philadelphia, Pa. , . 19
Alice Pitezel 38
Benjamin F. Pitezel 55
RearofNo. 1316CallowhillSt 74
Holmes' " Castle " at Chicago, Ills. ... 91
Poplar Street House, Cincinnati, Ohio . . . 110
No 26 Winooski Ave., Burlington, Vt. . . .127
Fac-simile of Holmes' Letter to District Attorney
Graham 149
Fac-simileof the Worthless Promissory Note . .160
Detective Frank P. Geyer 182
Nellie Pitezel 199
Howard Pitezel . ... . . . 218
No. 241 Forest Ave., Detroit, Mich. . . .235
Rear of No, 241 Forest Ave 254
Fac-simile of Alice' s Letter to Her Grandparents 264, 265
No 16 St. Vincent St., Toronto, Canada . . . 275
Spade Used by Holmes in Burying Alice and Nellie 294
Little Teeth of Howard Pitezel . . . .311
Cottage at Irviugton, Ind 362
Rear of Cottage at Irvington, Ind 379
Fac-simile of Letter from "Jim'' to Holmes . . 398
Fac-simile of the "Ritual" Letter. . . . 415
"Foul Deeds will rise,
though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes."
" Let guilty men remember, their black deeds.
Do lean on crutches made of slender reeds."
THE HOLMES-PITEZEL CASE.
CHAPTER I.
WHO WAS PERRY?
Meeting of Eugeue Smith and B. F. Perry — Smith sees
Holmes — Perry disappears — Discovery of a Corpse — Con-
dition of the Corpse — Coroner's Inquest — Identification as
Perry,
I^r the latter part of August, 1894, Eugene
Smith, a house carpenter, was passing along Cal-
lowhill Street, between Thirteenth and Broad
Streets, in the city of Philadelphia, when his at-
tention was attracted by a somewhat conspicuous
sign in the bulk window of the house numbered
1316. The house was one of a row of red brick,
two and a half stories high, and immediately op-
posite the old abandoned station of the Philadel-
phia & Reading Railroad. The sign was made
out of a sheet of muslin stretched across the win-
dow, and on it was printed in black and red let-
ters, " B. F. Perry, Patents Bought and Sold."
(13)
14 SMITH SEES HOLMES.
Smith was an inventor and had recently pat-
ented an ingenious device for a saw sett which he
was very desirous of turning into money. So
stopping a moment, he decided to seek the advice
and assistance of Perrj-, wlio was in tlie business
of buying and selling patents.
When Smith walked into the store, he was
greeted by a tall, raw-boned man, witli a some-
what sharp countenance, who announced himself
as the proprietor Perry, and who readily listened
to Smith's explanation of the merits of his new
saw sett. Perry requested Smith to furnish him
with a model of his invention, which the latter
promised to do.
The next day Smith called again, taking with
him the model, the merits of which he explained
more fully and in greater detail. In the course
of the conversation, Smith informed Perry that
he was a carpenter by trade and was anxious to
secure work, whereupon Perry employed him to
construct a rough counter required for business
purposes, in the first floor storeroom of the
house. It was while working at this counter,
that Smith saw a man enter, give a sign to Perry,
and pass up the stairway in the rear of the front
room, into the upper or second story of the house.
WHO WAS PERRY? 15
Perry followed this man upstairs and shortly re-
turned to the first floor and resumed his conversa-
tion with Smith. Smith never saw this man at
the house but once, but he afterwards identified
him as H. H. Holmes.
In the afternoon of Monday, September 3d,
Smith called at No. 1316 to see Perry again, and
to ascertain if any progress had been made in the
sale of the patent. As he stepped into the store,
he discovered it was vacant, and observed also
that there was no one in the rear room of the first
floor. Thinking that Perry was in the upper
floor, or was temporarily absent upon an errand
in the immediate neighborhood, Smith took a
seat, and had an opportunity of observing the
contents of the store. On a nail were hanging a
hat and a pair of cuffs, and on the counter were
several bottles and a few other articles of incon-
siderable value, which appeared to make up the
stock in trade of the patent dealer. After wait-
ing a short time. Smith halloed at tlie top of his
voice, but received no answer. He then went
out and asked a neighbor if she had seen Perry
about. She told him that very often Mr. Perry
went around the corner to a saloon and would
probably return shortly. Smith remained for
16 PERRY DISAPPEARS.
half an hour, and then as Peiry did not letuni, he
departed, closing the door ufier him. Saiilli \\as
annoyed at Ids i'ailure to see Peny, and also be-
cause the place had been left (^pen and aj piaently
uuprotected, and he made it a point to re'aun
early the next morning, Tuesday the -1th in.st.
He found the door shut, but not locked, just as
he had left it. The chair in which he had si.t the
day before, was in the same place he had left it,
and apparently had not been moved. The hat
and cuffs still hung upon the nail. He hallooed;
"Perry" several times, but received no answer.
He then walked up the stairs leading to the
second floor, and looking towards the front room,
observed a cot, but it was unoccupied. He then
turned to the left and looking into the back room,
his gaze met a sight that chilled his blood. Ly-
ing prostrate on the floor, with his feet towards
the window, and his head to the door, was a man,
dead, — the face disfigured beyond recognition by
decomposition and burning, and surrounded ap-
parently by evidences of an explosion. The sun
was shining brightly through the window, and
directly on the upper part of the body, and it
needed no second glance from Smith to convince
him of his duty to summon the police.
WHO WAS PERRY f 17
Leaving the house without delay, he hurried to
the nearest station house and returned with two
officers, who on their way, stopped for Dr. Scott,
the nearest physician.
The upper part of the body was found to be
much decomposed. The left arm was extended
along and close to the left side, the right arm
across the breast, — altogether a very peaceful
posture. He was rigid and straight as if lie
had been ceremoniously laid out in death. The
left side of the shirt and the left brenst had
been burned, and the nuistailie on one side and
the forelock of hair was singed. The body under
the arm was not burned at all. From the mouth
had flowed a consideiable quantity of fluid,
slightly tinged with blood, which stained tlie floor
for a foot or two alongside the bod}-.
By reason of decomposition and the burns, it
seemed impossible to identify the body lo a cer-
tainity, as that of Perry, although the clothing
was the same which Smith had seen Perry wear.
The color of the hair and the length of tlie body,
and the general appearance was the san:ie as
Perry. At the side of the body lay the fragments
of a large brcken bottle, a pipe filled with tobacco
and a burnt match. The tobacco in the pipe had
18 CONDITION OF THE CORPSE.
been but slightly charred. The outside window
shutters were bowed, the window was up, and the
fireboard at the chimney near which the body lay
was open at an angle of about eight inches.
The body was at once removed to the city
morgue, ivhich is in the immediate rear of No. 1316
Callowhill Street., and on the same day the cor-
oner's physician made an autops3^ The brain
was normal, the body well nourished, the lungs
were congested, the heart empty and normal and
free from clots, indicating that death had been
very rapid with him. The stomach exhibited
alcoholic irritation and emitted a strong odor of
chloroform. Whatever caused death, caused pa-
ralysis of the involuntary muscles, as the bladder
had emptied and regurgitation took place from
the mouth, where the body lay.
The burns on the body as described, were also
noted by the coroner's physician. An inquest by
the coroner quickly followed and a verdict of
death from congestion of the lungs, caused by the
inhalation of flame, or of chloroform or other poi-
sonous drug was rendered ; although the coroner's
physician testified that he believed death was due
to chloroform poisoning. The police and the few
neighbors of the vicinity discussed the case in a
No. 1316 Callowhill St., PHrLADELPHiA, Pa.
( Where Holmes murdered B. F Pitezel )
WHO WAS PERRY? 21
desultory sort of a way for some days. The cor-
oner's jury had found the body to be that of B.
F. Perry, and the question of the identification of
the body as Perry appeared to be established.
But who was Perry? From whence had he
come? Was he murdered or had he committed
suicide ? Or was he killed by the explosion of an
inflammable substance in the bottle which was
found broken at his side? He appeared to have
just lighted his pipe. Was this the act which
ignited the flame that destroyed his life ? If so,
how came his body to recline in sucli a peaceful
attitude? But the lungs were found to be con-
gested, and the stomach when opened, gave forth
a distinct odor of chloroform. Could lie, in com-
mitting suicide, have caused the explosion when
dying? If he had inhaled chloroform, how came
this drug in the stomach ? These and a thousand
other questions were propounded, only to be un-
answered. It was a mystery, and the solution did
not appear to be in sight.
CHAPTER II.
INSURANCE MONEY CLAIMED.
Letters from Jeptha D. Howe — Cashier Cass Calls on Mrs.
Holmes — Holmes Writes to Cass — Holmes Calls on Presi-
dent Foiise — Howe Presents Letter of Attorney from Mrs.
Pitezel — Perry and Pitezel tlie Same — President Fouso
Talks with Alice — Holmes Meets Howe — Marks of Identi-
fication—The Body Disinterred— Howe Paid $9,715.85
Insurance Money — Affidavits of Alice Pitezel aud H. H.
Holmfes — Smith Fails to Recognize Holmes.
In all great cities, unclaimed bodies are held at
the morgue for a certain length of time, to await
identification and a claimant. Perry's body lay in
the Philadelphia Morgue for eleven days, and
was then buried in the Potters Field.
Before the burial, however, two letters were re-
ceived in Philadelphia, one by the coroner, and
the other by the officers of the Fidelity Mutual Life
Association. These letters came from Jeptha D.
Howe, a young attorney of St. Louis, Missouri.
He stated that he. represented Mrs. Carrie A.
Pitezel, the wife of Benjamin F. Pitezel. That
Pitezel was insured in the Fidelity Company
(22)
84 CASHIER CASS CALLS OX MRS. HOLMES.
for Ten Thousand Dollars and that his wife was
the beneficiary named in the policy. That the
man who was found dead at No. 1316 Callow-
hill Street, and who was known as B. F.
Perry, was Benjamin F. Pitezel, and tliat he
(Howe) would shortly visit Philadelphia with a
member of the Pitezel family for the purpose of
identifying the body, and claiming the insurance
money.
The books of the company showed that a
policy had been issued on the life of Benjamin
F. Pitezel on November 9th, 1893, and that
the insurance had been effected through the
branch office of the company in Chicago,
Illinois.
A communication was at once forwarded by
the company to its manager in Chicago, instruct-
ing him to learn all that was possible concerning
Pitezel, and particularly to ascertain the names
of persons who had known Pitezel in Chicago.
The situation as presented to the officers of the
company at this time, aroused their suspicions,
and they proceeded with caution.
The company then received word from Mr.
Cass, the cashier of the Chicago office, that
the only man who knew Pitezel well, was H.
iXtiUEAJS'CE MONEY CLAIMED. 25
H. Holmes, who lived at Wiliiiette, Illinois.
Mr. Cass was instructed to go to Wilmette and
interview Holmes. He found that Holmes was
away, but he saw Mrs. Hohnes, who offered to
communicate with her liusband. She said her
husband was moving about all the time anil was
not at home, but that she would communicate
anything to him the agent had to say. She
would not tell the agent tvhere her husband was,
although she admitted slie heard from him every
day or so. Mr. Cass gave the woman a clipping
from a Chicago paper, which stated that Perry
had been found in Chicago^ and she promised to
send it to her husband.
On September 18th, tlie Chicago manager of
the company received a letter from Holmes,
dated Columbus, Oliio, September 17th, and the
next day a second letter, dated Cincinnati, Sep-
tember 19th.
These two letters here given in full, exhibit the
enormous capacity of Mr. Holmes for duplicity
and deceit. In view of the subsequent develop-
ments of the case, they portray his niaiiy resour-
ces for meeting an occasion, and a sagacity,
which would have served him well, had he chosen
to earn an honest living.
'26 SOLMES WRITES fO CASS.
Columbus, Ohio,
Sept. 17, 1894.
E. H. Cass, Esq.,
R. 46,-115 Dearborn,
Chicago,
Dear Sir : —
I am iu receipt of a letter from my
wife, stating that you called on her in regard to
Mr. Pitezel. She also enclosed me clipping from
paper, which I presume j^ou gave her. Tlie ad-
dress given in same is wrong. It should be Madi-
son St. or Avenue on the south side of the city, and
if I remember correctly, it is No. 6343, as stated
in the clipping. At all events it is very near the
63rd Street entrance to the World's Fair grounds,
in some hotel that was formerly used as a flat
building and on E. side of Street.
Following tlie question asked, I would say, that
I do not know who did his dental work, thougli I
do not think he took ver}^ good care of his teeth
and may have had none done.
I remember that seven or eight years ago when
working for me, he had to give up work for some
time on account of neuralgia in his teeth. Mr.
Fay should be able to identify him readily, as he
knew him quite well, as I remember Chat when
Mr. Fay and I occupied an office on Dearborn
Street, Mr. Pitezel was there almost daily, he
having a patent coal bin on exhibition there. In
a general why I should describe Ijim a man nearly
INSURANCE MONk^ CLAIMED. 21
six feet high, (at least five feet ten inches) always
thin in flesh and weighing from one hundred and
forty-five to one hundred and fiftj'-five fbs., hav-
ing very black and somewhat coarse hair, very
thick, with no tendency towards baldness ; his
mustache was a much lighter color and I think of
a red tinge, though 1 have seen him have it col-
ored black at times, which gave him quite a dif-
ferent appearance. I remember also that he had
some trouble with his knees, causing them to be-
come enlarged directly below or in front of same,
as a result of floor laying when he was in the con-
tracting business, but wliether this was a tempor-
ary or permanent affair, I am unable to state.
He also Ijad some sort of a warty growth on tlie
back or side of his neck, which prevented him
from wearing a collar when working. Aside from
these points, I can think of nothing to distinguish
liim from other men, unless it be that his forehead
was lower than the average and crown of head
higher, causing one to notice same. I do remem-
ber, however, that he had, or at least had late in
1893 a boy about twelve years of age who looked
so much like him, that if compared with body
supposed to be his father would show the identity
I should think, and if he is still unburied, there
are plenty of people there who have known him
intimately, among them being a Mr. Heywood,
near 69th and Peoria or Paulina Streets, who
is, I think, a relative ; also a Mr. William Coyler
28 HOLMES WRITES TO CASS.
or Collier living on West side, who was with him
a great deal. If the identity is not cleared up by
the time you receive this letter and you wish me
to, I will go to Chicago any time after Wednesday
next, provided you will pay my transportation
tlieie and return. I should want same extended
several days, however, so that I could stay a
short time while there. I feel sure that Mr.
Fay and myself could pick him out among a
hundred. I would be willing to go without pay
in ordinary times, but can hardly afford to do so
now.
Mr. Pitezel is owing me One hundred and eighty
Dollars, and if he is in reality dead, I should be
glad to have that amount retained from the sum
payable on his policy and apply same on my own,
as I very much need it. I sent you a check from
Indian Territory early in the spring to partially
cover my insurance and incidentally directed it to
Montreal, instead of Fidelity and it was returned
to me at a time when I needed money very much
to complete a trade, and used it then hoping to
replace it soon.
My affairs are not in a good condition and I
need insurance more than at any time. I have
done a good deal for his family within the past
eight years and I think if need be, I could get an
order from his wife, authorizing you to retain the
amount due me.
If you see fit to wire me, please do so by Western
J.S'SUlLiXCE MOS'EV CLAIMED. 29
tJiiion and I will act in accordance with your
suggestions.
Yours Respectfully,
H. H. Holmes.
Holmes, of course, knew when he wrote this
letter, that Pitezel's body was not in Chicngo
awaiting identification. He knew that it was in
Philadelphia, and yet how cleverly he uses the
niis statement in the Chicago pa])er, to his advan-
tage, and as a cover for himself! But he was
anxious to be on the ground when the final act in
the scheme of fraud, intrigue and deception,
should be performed, and so two days later, he
addresses Mr. Cass again as follows :
Grand Hotel,
C:incinnati, Sept. 19, 1894.
E. H. Cass, Esq.,
115 Deaiborn St., Chicago.
Dear Sir : —
Since writing to you yesterday, I
have seen from a file of Philadelphia papers, that
the supposed body of Pitezel is in the hands of
the coroner there instead of in Chicago, as per
clipping you sent me. I shall be in Baltimore in
a day or two, and I will take an afternoon train
to Philadelphia and call on your office there, and
if they wish me to do so, I will go with some rep-
30 tiOLJ^ES WRITES tO CAS^.
resentative of theirs to the coroner's, and I think
I can tell if the man there is Pitezel ; — from what
I read here, I cannot see anything to lead me to
think tliat the person killed was other than a man
by the name of Perry.
Yours Respectfully,
H. H. Holmes.
Will you kindly ask Mr. Fay to write me at
Columbus, Ohio, if he will, I shall return there
about Saturday.
To these letters, a polite response was sent to
Holmes from Mr. Cass, stating in substance that
the officers of the company were grateful to him
for the information which he had so kindly fur-
nished, and that after Mr. Holmes had finished his
business in Baltimore, he would oblige them still
further by coming to Philadelphia, examining the
body and giving the company his views as to its
identity. He was also assured that his expenses
to and from Baltimore would be defrayed.
After reading this story of crime to the end,
the reader is requested to turn back to these two
letters and re-read them. One may then ask, if
this great criminal has not proved himself to be as
expert and as audacious in deceit and fabrication,
as he has been bold and heartless in murder, —
veril}' an artist in roguery.
tNSVMi^CE MONEY CLAIMED. 3i
On September 20th, Holmes culled at the office
of the company in Philadelphia, No. 914 Walnut
Street. He saw Mr. Fouse, president of the com-
pany, and told him the correspondence he had had
with the Chicago manager, of which, of course,
j\lr. Fouse had knowledge.
Holmes asked Mr. Fouse about the circumstances
of the death, which were related to him very briefly.
Holmes said it was a peculiar case and asked Mr.
Fouse the cause of death, and the verdict of the
coroner's jury was communicated to him. He
was then asked to give a description of Fitezel
which he did.
Mr. Fouse told Holmes that Mrs. Pitezel's at-
torney, Jeptha D. Howe, had telegraphed him that
he was coming to Pliiladelphia with a member of
the family, and the body which had been interred
in the Potter's Field, would no doubt, be taken up.
Mr. Fouse said he did not know precisely the time
Howe would arrive and that Holmes had better
leave his address, so in case the body was taken
up, he could secure his (Holmes') opinion of its
identity. Holmes replied that he had business in
Nicetown, (a suburb of Philadelphia) and if he
went away the next day he would leave word
with the company, where he could be found. He
32 ffOWE PRESENTS LETTER OP ATTORNEY.
also promised, if possible, to call at the office the
next niorning. The next day, September 21st,
Jeptha D. Howe called at the office of the com-
pany and presented to President Fuuse a letter
from R. J. Linden, Supeiintendent of Police of
Philadelpliia, introducing him. This letter was
accepted as a sufficient voucher for Mr. Howe. It
had been obtained from the superintendent on the
strength of a letter presented to him by Howe,
and from a friend of the superintendent's in St.
Louis. The letter was given to Howe to identify
him, and for no other purpose. Howe produced a
letter of attorney from Mrs. Pitezel, and also
quite a number of letters which Mrs. Pitezel had
received from her husband, while lie was living as
B. F. Perry at No. 1316 Callowhill Street. He said
that Pitezel had assumed the name of Perry, be-
cause he had some financial transactions in Ten-
nessee, which for the time embarrassed him and
made it advisable for him to change his name and
his location. Howe did not go into this matter
very minutely. Mr. Fouse told Howe that the
company had become quite convinced that Perry
and Pitezel were one and the same, but they were
not convinced that the dead man found was Pite-
zel^ the man whom they had insured, Howe ex-
INSURANCE MONEY CLAIMED. 33
pressed astonishment at this, whereupon Mr,
Fouse asked him to give a description of Pitezel,
which he did. This description tallied in all re-
spects with the description furnished.
This conversation took place in the forenoon of
September 21st, and Howe informed the president
that Pitezel's daughter, Alice, had come with him
from St. Louis; that Mrs. Pitezel was ill from
nervous prostration and was unable to make such
a long journey. He was asked to bring Alice to
the office after dinner. Mr. Fouse talked with
Alice when Huwe brought her in the afternoon.
She was a girl fourteen or fifteen years of age,
very reticent, embarrassed and stupid. She cor-
roborated tlie descriptions given of Pitezel by
Howe and Plolmes. Mr. Fouse then informed
Howe of the visit of a Mr. Holmes, a gentleman
who claimed to be an old friend of Pitezel's, nnd
who had been his employer in years past. He
asked Howe if he knew Holmes. Howe replied
he did not. At this juncture, word was received
by Mr. Fouse that Holmes had returned and was
in the building. Mr. Fouse so informed Howe
and asked him whether he would like to meet
Holmes. He said he would. Holmes was then
conducted into the room, and Mr. Fouse intro-
34 PBESIDENT FOUSE TALKS WITH ALICE.
duced Howe to Holmes. They both accepted the
introduction^ and met ajyparently as strangers.
They both shook hands. Holmes, hoAvever, at once
recognized Alice, and told her he supposed she
recognized him, and she said she did. She had
been carefully instructed in the part she was to
play in the performance, and she did it well.
Holmes had evidently told her that her papa
\\as really dead, and the company would never
l»ay the insurance money if they discovered that
Holmes and her papa had been so intimate. Mr.
Fouse then took up the statements that had been
made by the three persons, Holmes, Howe, and
Alice Pitezel, and then said, as they intended to
disinter the body, marks of identification had
better be prepared to which thej^ all could sub-
scribe. Before assenting to this, Hoive straightened
himself vp and said : (j-ef erring to Holmes') Who is
this mail ? Why is he here? What is his purpose ?
Mr. Fouse at once proceeded to fully and frankly
explain to Howe how Holmes had come there,
and referred to the letters the company had re-
ceived from the Chicago manager. Howe said
that this was satisfactory.
The marks of identification, — a wart on the
neck, a cut on the leg, and a bruised nail of the
INSURANCE 3I0NEY CLAIMED. 35
thumb, together with certain peculiarities of the
teeth were then agreed upon, and an engagement
was made for all parties to report at the coroner's
office the following day, Saturday, September
22d, and with the coroner's physician proceed to
the Potters Field, disinter the body and look for
the marks of identification. The next day the
party, consisting of the deputy coroner, his physi-
cian. Inspector Perry, Howe, Holmes, Alice Pite-
zel, Eugene Smith, and President Fouse, all went
to the Potters Field. When the party arrived,
they discovered that the body had been disin-
terred by order of the coroner, and was in the
dead house. The sight was terrifying, as the
corpse was greatly decomposed.
The coroner's physician put on his rubber
gloves, tore away the garments at places where
the marks were supposed to be, but he was un-
able to find them. At this moment. Holmes
pulled off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, took a
surgeon's knife from his pocket, put on the rubber
gloves, turned the body over, cut aAvay the gar-
ments, washed off the skin at the back of the
neck, and pointed out the wart, which he re-
moved. He also showed the cut on the leg and
the bruised nail of the thumb, which he also re-
36 MBS. FITEZEL PAID $9,715.85.
moved and handing them to the coroner's physi-
cian, he requested that he preserve them in alco-
hol. Alice Pitezel was not permitted to witness
this scene, but after Holmes liad finished his self-
imposed task, and after all portions of the body
had been covered up, save the mouth, she was led
sobbing to the table, and after looking at the
teeth, said they appeared to be like her papa's.
The party then left the field and Howe asked
Mr. Fouse for his opinion, and if he was satisfied.
Mr. Fouse said he would hold the matter under
consideration. On the following Monday, Sep-
tember 24th, the ofiicers of the company held a
conference and concluded that the identification
was satisfactory and complete and so informed
Howe. Howe then represented Mrs. Pitezel as
being very poor and sick and greatly in need of
money ; that her husband had left her nothing,
and he wanted to know how soon the claim could
be paid. After some little consideration, the
officers of the company decided to pay the claim
at once, provided the expenses to which this com-
pany had been put in the effort to identify the
body were deducted. To this Howe reluctantly
assented, and thereupon a check to his order as
attorney in fact for Mrs. Pitezel for $9715.85 was
Alice Pitj:zel.
INSURANCE MONEY CLAI3IED. 39
drawn and delivered to him, and the policy of in-
surance was surrendered. The company also
paid Holmes ten dollars to defray his expenses
incurred in coming from Uiillimore. The com-
pany within the next two weeks received letters
from Mrs. Pitezel, Alice Pitezel, Holmes and
Howe, expressing their appreciation of tlie prompt
manner in which the claim had been settled.
On Sunday, September 23d, 1894, in response
to the urgent request of Holmes, wlio said he de-
sired to leave the city as soon as possible, the cor-
oner permitted him and Alice Pitezel to subscribe
to affidavits, in which they certify to the indentity
of the body as that of B. F. Pitezel. The folio-
ing are copies of these statements.
Benjamin F. Pitezel,
1316 Callowhill Street.
E. Alice Pitezel.
I live at No. 6343 Michigan Avenue, St. Louis,
Mo. I am in my 15th year. Benjamin F. Pitezel
was my father. He was 37 years old this year. My
mother is living. There are five children. My
father came East July 20th. He first went from
St. Louis to New York, and left there August
11th. We learned of his death through the
papers. I came on with Mr. Howe to see the
body on Saturday, September 22d. I saw a body
3
40 AFFIDAVITS OF ALICE PITEZEL AND HOLMES.
at the city burying ground, and fully recognized
the body as that of my father by his teeth. I am
fully satisfied that it is he.
Signed,
E. Alice Pitezel.
Witnesses,
Jeptha D. Howe.
O. LaF. Perry.
Sept. 23d, 1894.
H. H. Holmes,
701 63rd Street, Chicago, 111.
I knew Benjamin F. Pitezel 8 years in Chicago.
Had business with him much of that time. More
recently he had desk room in our office. I received
a letter from E. H. Cass, agent of the Fidclitj-
Co. about Benjamin F. Pitezel, sending a clipping.
I came to Philadelpliia and saw the body on Sat-
urday, September 22d, at the city burial ground.
I recollect the mole on the back of the neck, and
low growth of hair on the forehead, and general
shape of the head and teeth. His daughter had
described a scar on tlie right leg below the knee,
front. I found this on the body as described by
Alice. I have no doubt whatsoever but what it is
the body of Benjamin F. Pitezel, who was buried
as B. F. Perry. I last saw him in November,
1893, in Chicago. I heard he used an assumed
name recently. I never knew him to use any
INSURANCE MONEV CLADIED. 41
other name but his own. I found him an honest,
honorable man in all dealings.
Signed,
Harry H. Holmes,
Witnesses,
O. LaF. Perry.
Jeptha D. Howe.
Eugene Smith was present at this disinterment
and examination in Potters Field. He had seen
Holmes once at No. 1316 Callowhill Street, but
failed to recognize him at the exhumation of the
body. Had he done so, the scheme of fraud and
murder would have been disclosed then and there,
and the lives of the three children saved. He
says now that he had a suspicion that the man he
saw at the Potters Field was the man whom he
had seen at No. 1316 Callowhill Street, and that
he was more than once on the point of speaking
of it to Mr. Fouse, but feared making a mistake
and so remained silent.
In this instance at least, silence was not the
" eloquence of discretion."
CHAPTER III.
THE INSURANCE COMPANY SUSPICIOUS.
Inspector Gary not Satisfied — Gary Visits Major Harrigan
at St. Louis. — Letter from a Train Robber — Gary Visits
Hedgepeth — Search for Holmes — Pinkerton Aid Secured —
Holmes Arrested in Boston — Holmes True Name Herman
Webster Mndgett— Mrs. Pitezel Decoyed to Boston and Ar-
rested — Holmes' Several Wives — Holmes Regrets His Con-
fidence in Hedgepeth.
The Fidelity Mutual Life Association, has a
detective department of its own. It is under the
direction of Inspector W. E. Gary, a very shrewd,
painstaking and capable ofiicets who has had a
long experience in investigations relating to life
insurance risks.
Mr. Gary not only questioned the proof of the
identity of the body as that of Pitezel, but he
was dissatisfied with the conclusion then reached,
that the man found, dead, had died as the result
of an accident, as the appearances of the body
with the broken bottle and pipe and the dead
match at its side, seemed to prove.
The officers of the company, however, had paid
the claim, and the matter was soon forgotten in
(43)
U GABy VISITS 3IAJ0B HARRIGAN AT ST. LOUIS.
the multiplicity of duties incident to the business
of a great insurance company.
Early in October, about two weeks after Jeptha
D. Howe departed with the check for $9,715.85,
business of importance, having no relation what-
ever to the Pitezel case, called Inspector Gary to
St. Louis, Missouri.
On October 9th, while sitting in the branch of-
fice of the company in St. Louis, a messenger
called with a letter from Major Lawrence Har-
rigan, Chief of the St. Louis Police, stating that
he, (Harrigan) had received a communication
from a prisoner in the city prison, about an insur-
ance case which the Fidelity Mutual Life Associa-
tion had investigated, and suggesting that some
officer of the company should at once call upon
him.
This message caused Inspector Gary to visit the
chiefs office without delay, and there Major Har-
rigan handed him a letter he had received from
Marion C. Hedgepeth, a prisoner who was tiwait-
ing sentence for train robbing. This letter which
is here given in full will be more fully understood
when the reader is informed, that Mudgett (or
Holmes) was known in St. Louis, Missouri, as H.
M. Howard, and that in July of 1894 he had been
THE INSURANCE COMPANY SUSPICIOUS. 45
incarcerated in the city prison under that name
on a charge of swindling in connection with the
purchase and sale of a drug store.
" St. Louis, Mo.,
Tuesday, October 9th, 1894.
Major Lawrence Harrigan,
Chief of Police.
Dear Sir : —
When H. M. Howard was in here
some two months ago, he came to me and told me
he would like to talk to me, as he had read a great
deal of me, etc.; also after we got well acquainted,
he told me he had a scheme by which he could
make $10,000, and he needed some lawyer who
could be trusted, and said if I could, he would see
that I got $500 for it. I then told him that J. D.
Howe could be trusted, and he then went on and
told me that B. F. Pitezel's life was insured for
$10,000, and that Pitezel and him were going to
work the insurance company for the $10,000, and
just how they were going to do it ; even going
into minute details ; that he was an expert at it,
as he had worked it before, and that being a drug-
gist, he could easily deceive the insurance com-
pany by having Pitezel fix himself up according
to his directions and appear that he was mortally
wounded by an explosion, and then put a corpse
in place of Pitezel's body, etc., and then have it
identified as that of Pitezel. I did not take much
Jfi LETTER FROM A TRAIN-ROBBER.
stock in what he told me, until after he went out
on bond, which was in a few days, when J. D.
Howe came to me and told me that that man
Howard, tliat I had recommended him to, had
come and told him that I had recommended Howe
to him and had laid the whole plot open to him,
and Howe told me that he never heard of a finer
or smoother piece of work, and that it was sure
to work, and that Howard was one of the smooth-
est and slickest men that he ever heard tell of, etc.,
and Plowe told me that he would see that I got
$500 if it worked, and that Howard was going on
East to attend to it at once. (At this time I did
not know what insurance company was to be
worked, and am not sure yet as to which one it is,
but Howe told me that it was the Fidelity Mutual
of Philadelphia, whose office is, according to the
city directory, at No. 520 Olive Street.) Howe
came down and told me every two or three days,
that everything was working smoothly and when
notice appeared in the Globe Democrat and
Chronicle of the death of B. F. Pitezel, Howe
came down at once and told me that it was a
matter of a few days until we would have the
money, and that the only thing tliat might keep
the company from paying it at once, was the fact
that Howard and Pitezel were so hard up for
money, that they could not pay the dues on the
policy until a day or two before it was due, and
then had to send it by telegram, and that the
THE mSUMANCE COiMPANV SUtiPIClOUS. 47
company might claim that they did not get the
money until after the lapse of the policy ; but
they did not, and so Howe and a little girl (I
think Pitezel's daughter) went back to Philadel-
phia and succeeded in identifying and having the
body recognized as that of B. F. Pitezel. Howard
told me that Pitezel's wife was privy to the whole
thing. Howe tells me now that Howard would
not let Mrs. Pitezel go back to identify the sup-
posed body of her husband, and that he feels al-
most positive and certain that Howard deceived
Pitezel and that Pitezel in following out Holme's
instructions, was killed and that it was really
the body of Pitezel.
The policy was made out to the wife and when
the money was put in the bank, then Howard
stepped out and left the wife to settle with Howe
for his services. She was willing to pay him
il,000, but he wants 82,500 and so -12,500 of
the money is held until they get over squabbling
about it. Howard is now on his way to Germany,
and Pitezel's wife is here in the city yet, and
where Pitezel is or whether that is Pitezel's body
I can't tell, but I don't believe it is Pitezel's body,
but believe that he is alive and well and probably
in Germany, where Howard is now on his way. It
is hardly worth while to say that I never got the
8500 that Howard held out to me for me to intro-
duce him to Mr. Howe. Please excuse this poor
writing as I have written this in a hurry and have
48 GABY VISITS HEDGEPETB.
to write on a book placed on my knee. This and
a lot more I am willing to swear to. I wish you
would see the Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance
Company and see if they are the ones who have
been made the victim of this swindle, and if so,
tell them that I want to see them. I never asked
what company it was until to-day, and it was after
we had some words about the matter, and so
Howe may not have told the proper company, but
you can find out what companj^ it is by asking or
telephoning to the different companies. When I
asked Mrs. Pitezel's address he waited a long time
and finally said it was No. 6342 S. Michigan Ave.
Please send an agent of the company to see me if
you please.
Yours Resp., etc.,
Marion C. Hedgepeth.
It was in compliance with this request that In-
spector Gary, accompanied by a stenographer,
visited Hedgepeth in the city prison and obtained
from him a sworn statement, which was in effect a
reiteration of the declarations made in the letter,
except that in addition to all that had been dis-
closed by Howe after his return from Philadel-
phia, he told Hedgepeth that he verily believed
that the body was really Pitezel's, and that
Holmes had either murdered him, or Pitezel had
THE INSURANCE C03IPANY SUSPICIOUS. 49
been killed in the explosion when setting up the
job of substitution.
With a cop3' of this letter and the statement
Inspector Gary returned at once to Philadelphia
and promptly reported the new revelation to the
officers of the company. These gentlemen con-
sidered the story to be a fake, — a tale manufac-
tured by a wily criminal for selfish purposes, and
they refused to believe it or attach any importance
to it whatever. Not so, however, with Inspector
Gary. He believed the statement to be true.
He pointed out matters referred to in Hedgepeth's
letter, which could not have been known to
Hedgepeth, and must have been communicated by
either Howe or Howard, and precisely as he had
related them. Hedgepeth states that the premium
on the policy was sent by a telegram from New
York, as indeed it was, and on the very day it tvas
due, August 9th. How could he have known that
fact? It was known onlj' to the officers of tlie
company and the conspirators. Gary finally
persuaded the officers of the company to permit
him to make a search for Holmes, and as the work
progressed, proofs that the company had been
made the victim of a swindle, multiplied. The
aid of the Piukeiton Detective force was now
50 H0L3TES A K RESTED IN BOSTON.
secured. Holmes was first searched for in Kings-
ton, Canada, and then in Detroit, but without re-
sult. He was finally traced to Burlington, Ver-
mont, thence to Tilton and Gilmanton, N. H.
At the last named place it was found that Holmes
or Howard, two of his aliases, was really Herman
Webster Mudgett ; that his father's home was in
Gilmanton, and that he was visiting his old home
while under the surveillance of detectives. He
was kept under a close shadow and followed to
Boston, where on November 17, 1894, he was
arrested and taken to the police station.
Strange to say, his arrest was effected not on
the charge of swindling the insurance company,
but on a telegram from Fort Worth, Texas, charg-
ing him with horse stealing, — another of his
criminal operations. At the time of the arrest,
Mr. Perry, one of the officers of the company,
(who had seen Mudgett at the company's office in
Philadelphia, and in the Potters Field at the ex-
humation of the body) went to Boston. Upon
seeing Mr. Perry at the city police station, Mud-
gett or Holmes, as we shall call him, threw up
his hands and said he guessed he was wanted in
Philadelphia by the Fidelity, and not in Fort
Worth for the horse business. In fact he ex-
THE INSURANCE COMPANY SUSPICIOUS. 51
pressed a decided disinclination to revisit Fort
Worth, Texas, as he knew that horse thieves and
swindlers are liable to receive much more per-
emptory attention from the populace in that sec-
tion than in the north.
Holmes had rented a house in Burlington, Ver-
mont, for Mrs. Pitezel, who had with her, her
baby and eldest daughter, Dessie, about sixteen
years of age. She was brought to Boston by a
decoy letter, devised by the Pinkertons and writ-
ten by Holmes, and was arrested and placed iu
the city police station. When arrested. Holmes
was found in the company of Miss Georgiana
Yoke, whom he had married under the name of
Henry Mansfield Howard. This lady soon
proved herself to be an estimable and an honest
woman. She had been cruelly and heartlessly
deceived, and soon learned that she was one of
several victims, for he had not only a lawful wife
living near his old home in New Hampshire, but
he had married at least one other woman, who
honestly believed herself to be his wife.
His confidence in Hedgepeth can only be ex-
plained by his evident admiration for a man who
had achieved great notoriety as a train robber.
It was a weakness, which Holmes has many times
55 SIBS. PITEZEL DECOYED TO BOSTON.
regretted. He has just as much deplored the
other mistake he made, in omitting to pay Hedge-
peth his promised reward and share of the money,
for it is quite evident that while Hedgepeth told
the truth in his letter to the chief of police and
in his statement to Inspector Gary, his expose was
in revenge for the chagrin he suffered, when he
realized he was forgotten at the time of the dis-
tribution of the proceeds of the robbery.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR.
Holmes' First Confession — Admits Conspiracy to Defraud —
Substitution of a Corpse — A Plausible Statement — Details
of the Conspiracy.
The eclio of the clang of the cell door through
the corridor of the police station in Boston, had
scarcely died away, before Holmes inaugurated a
system of fabrications, the chief object of which was
to deceive and mislead the police authorities and the
officers of the company he had robbed. He admitted
that a fraud had been perpetrated, and that he was
one of a band of conspirators, who had successfully
imposed upon a life insurance company, and had
secured upwards of ten thousand dollars, by the
substitution of a corpse, for the supposed dead
body of the insured. He said the cadaver had
been obtained from a medical friend of his in New
York, whose name he refused to disclose. Holmes
is greatly given to lying with a sort of florid
ornamentation, and all of his stories are decorated
with flamboyant draperies, intended by him to
^53)
64 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION.
strengthen the plausibility of his statenienLs. li\
talking, he has the appearance of cunclor, be-
comes pathetic at times when pathos will serve
him best, uttering his words with a quaver in his
voice, often accompanied by a moistened eye, then
turning quickly with a determined and forceful
method of speech, as if indignation or resolution
had sprung out of tender memories that had
touched his heart.
Here is his first confession, made November
19th, 1894, to O. M. Hanscom, Deputy Superin-
tendent of Police, Massachusetts, and John Corn-
ish, Superintendent of the Pinkerton Detective
Agency of Boston, Massachusetts.
Boston, Mass.,
November 19, 1894.
Q. (By Mr. Hanscom.) What is Pitezel's
name?
A. B. F., I think Benjamin Fuller.
Q. When did you last see Pitezel ?
A. I cannot give the day. I will leave a blank
and fill it in.
Q. State it in your own way.
A. Well, I saw him last in Detroit and it was
Benjamin' F. Pitkzei.
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOB. 67
in the neigliborliood of three weeks ago, but I can
give the exact date by consulting my wife.
Q. Do you know where he was stopping in
Detroit ?
A. No, I don't know. He had been there
several days before waiting for me to come
there.
Q. When was the last time before that that
you saw him ?
A. Well I had not seen him but once since this
Philadelphia occurrence and that was in Cin-
cinnati, probably two weeks before that.
Q. You went from New York with the trunk
and body ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And turned the check over to him ?
A. That was on Sunday.
Q. You know what date?
A. No, it was the Sunday nearest the first of
September.
Q. After turning over to him the check for
the trunk when did you see hini next?
A. About ten days or two weeks, I should
say, in Cincinnati.
Q. Then you gave him your instructions as ti>
how to proceed with the body?
58 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION.
A. He had tJiose before.
Q. Those had been given to him some time
before ?
A. Ves, sir.
Q. So that you did not see him after turning
over to him the checks until you next met liim in
Cincinnati ?
A. No, sir. I think there must have been two
weeks. It must have been more, because it was
three weeks before I went on to Philadelphia.
It must have been at least ten days or two weeks
after the payment of the money.
Q. You had no occasion to meet him in Phila-
delphia during the interim between giving him
the check and the finding of the body ?
A. He went right away, or was to go to New
York.
Q. As soon as he prepared the body his in-
structions were to go to New York ?
A. Yes, sir, and I went that night really
within three hours after the body had landed in
Philadelphia.
Q. You next saw him in Cincinnati?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Some two weeks?
A. Well, it must have been nearer five weeks,
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 59
about ten clays or so after the payment of the
money. I have no means of knowing just how
many clays between.
Q. How did he get possession of the tlireo
children ?
A. Well, one he got in Cincinnati and the
other in Detroit. The boy he '^ook there.
Q. Did you see the child with him in Cincin-
nati.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. By whom was it turned over to him ?
A. The three children,— or rather to be more
explicit, after we came to Philadelphia to identify
the body, the little child Alice, who was there
with Mr. Perry about the identification, went as
far as Indianapolis with me and I left her there
and "went further on to St. Louis where the
mother was, and as soon as the money was paid
over to the attorney and given to this .woman,
why a portion of it I took and the other two
children and went to Cincinnati calling for this
one in Indianapolis.
Q. By " this woman " you mean his wife?
A. Yes, sir. Now, when I landed in Cincin-
nati I had three children ; two I took at St.
Louis, boy and girl, and one from Philadelphia
60 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION.
that I Lad jnst stepped off the train at Indian-
apolis and took from there where she had been at
the Stebbins Hotel.
Q. In whose charge at the Stebbins Hotel was
this child ?
A. She was hardly with any one, she was four-
teen or fifteen years old.
Q. Was she stopping under her own name?
A. No, under the name of Canning.
Q. You took three children and went to Cin-
cinnati ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where you met the father ?
A. The father, and then it was arranged, — the
mother wanted to see him if she could without
the children knowing he was alive.
Q. Was the mother with you ?
A. No, not then, but she was to follow. I was
to go to Cincinnati and get a house and have
them go there and stay for the winter, all the
whole family, and it was arranged that he should
see her fur a few days and then he was going
South where he used to be in the lumber business,
but he had been drinking and before I knew it
he went in where the children were stopping and
saw those three, and the mother had threatened in
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. n
case that they knew that he was alive she would
not go any further in it, because she thought it
would all come out. He is a man that drinks
some. So we compromised there by his taking
enough to go there and keep these three chil-
dren away from tlie mother, so he took one of
them and I took the other two to Chicago, be-
cause I had business there, thinking that it would
not call anyone's attention so quick if he travelled
with the boy alone as if there were three. Then
I took them to Detroit and he was already there
and took the other two, dressed the smallest girl
as a boy, but this girl Alice is dressed, I suppose
now, as a girl and there are two boys and one girl.
Q. The two boys, would that mean the eldest
and the next to the eldest?
A. No, there is only one boy really.
Q. Which other one was dressed as a boy ?
A. The youngest girl.
Q. How old is she ?
A. Not over 11 years old.
Q. Did you get a suit of clothes in Detroit?
A. He got them.
Q. How long did you remain with him in De-
troit ?
A. Oh, I think 1 got in there Saturday and he
62 nuUIES' FIRST CONFEtSSION.
went away Monday, I think. Anyway, we had
intended to get the children there and let the
mother know that they were there, but still he
■wanted to see her very bad.
Q. He did not succeed in seeing his wife iu
Detroit?
A. No.
Q. She did not join him there ?
A. No.
Q. Did you see him leave Detroit?
A. No, I did not. I kept away wholly from
him ; that is, he met me. I can't think of the
street, it is a street they have been repairing.
We went out on the street cars.
Q. It is not really clear to my mind now why
the family should be broken up, why the three
children should go one way and she with the two
children the other way.
A. The first intention was to have them all
go to Cincinnati and stay there for the winter,
get a furnished house and have her stay there un-
til any noise might blow over, and he was going
into the South on lumber business and I about my
general business. When I got down there I met
him. I had the three children and he had been
waiting there some days and 1 stayed there with
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 63
him that uight, and the next day instead of doing
as he agreed, he had been drinking a little and he
went and saw the children which he agreed nut
to do under any circumstances.
Q. That, of course, gave it away that he was
alive ?
A. Of course, we could not get them away in
a moment.
Q. Your theory was that it was necessary for
the three children to accompany him for the
safety of the scheme?
A. Well, if the mother knew that they knew
then she would immediately throw it over as she
said, and I think she will tell you so herself.
Q. At the same time I suppose there was
some fear that they might in some way, betray
the fact that he was still alive ?
A. Well, they could not all be together and
go to school ; you could nut depend upon 10
or 11 year old children to keep the fact : keep
them from speaking among themselves or before
strangers, neither could 3'ou get them to go
under another name and carry it out at that
age.
Q. Do you know what his next point was ?
A. He was going to New York and then if he
64 H0L3IES' FIRST CONFESSION.
could get through on the boats, if thej had not al-
ready been taken off he was going tliat way, and
if they had he was going to go down by land as
far as Key West I think, some very southern
point. He knows the South, which I don't. I
have been on the Eastern coast more. He had
some lumber business there. And I think tlie
safest way is to go to the railroad brokers to see
if he went by boat, because he always buys these
scalpers tickets when he can.
Q. About what date then do you place him in
New York ; according to your reckoning, what
dates should he have been tliere ?
A. I am thoroughly honest in saying that I
cannot say what day, but if you will leave it I
can get it. It was about a month ago.
Q. Under what name was he travelling at that
time?
A. Well, T. H., or anyway it was made out
of the name he used in the South, only he turned
it round about. He was there under the name
of Benton T. Lyman, and I think it was L. T. or
L. B. Benton. Benton was the name which was
agreed upon quite a while before.
Q. That is the name under which he corres-
ponded with you ?
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 65
A. I was going to address him through either
Chicago or New York Personals.
Q. Had you any cipher code that he under-
stood ?
A. Yes sir, but that was only fur his writing
to me, because of his going from place to place, to
places where the mails did not go ; very often I
hardly thought it was safe. After I got his letter,
anything of importance I was to put in either the
Chicago Tribune, or the New York Herald in the
way of a personal letter. We have done that a
few times in years past.
Q. Was it agreed what the '' ad " should be ?
A. No, it would be in shape so that he would
understand all well, or if anything new that came
up should cause him to move again, it would be
taken through them.
Q. Then you believe that he and the children
are all alive and well ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You have every reason to believe that?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Would there be anything about his effects
that would in any way serve to give notice if any-
thing had occurred to him ?
A. No, I am sure of that because I was in a
66 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION.
little difficulty in St. Louit> last suimuer, and so
we talked over at that time all the names aud
everything. I had a good many pa[)er6 on me at
that time. He had allowed his beard to grow and
he has new teeth. He had them all extracted.
He said he was going to have them the first thing
when he got to New York. He has not nearly
as many as the body and that can be easily estab-
lished. In fact, it is easily proven also, that I
left Philadelphia also on Sundav night before the
time when lie was last seen by the coroner's
witnesses, — outsiders saw him after I left Phila-
delphia. My wife and I went through on a Pull-
man.
Q. If you were obliged to establish the fact,
can you show any meetings with him after leaving
him in Philadelphia at the time you gave him the
check for the trunk ?
A. Yes, sir, I think I can. While they were
made as secret as they could be, we sat for a good
hour in the hotel. I took the children to a cer-
tain hotel in Cincinnati and kept them upstairs,
and I sat down for a good length of time in their
writing room, and I was writing and they knew
me well by sight there, and I think I can estab-
lish that fact.
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 67
Q. Was he there ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You sat there with him ?
A. Yes, sir. No, it was at the other hotel.
Q. What hotel ?
A. Well, I would have to see a Cincinnati
directory. I could pick them out.
Q. Now at any other point? How about
Detroit ?
A. He slipped in there where the girls stayed
and I happened to be in there at the time once.
We kept as far apart as we could there and I
took him out of Detroit, that is, from the centre
part out where the children met him, in a big
trunk.
Q. The same as you had shipped his body
before.
A. Yes, sir. We had a scare there. I got
some word from Chicago, but it pertained to this
Fort Worth matter, that officers had been there,
looking for us, and I knew if they obtained a clue,
they could easily trace me to Detroit, so I came
out from his place there and took him outside the
city almost, and took the children out in a buggy
to where he was. The children were apparently
with me. They knew me as their uncle.
68 HOLMES' F1U6T CONFESSION.
Q. You were known to the " children as their
uncle ?
A. They knew different, but in the houbc
where they stayed, I was known as such.
Q. That was in Detroit ?
A. Yes, sir. By getting a plan of Detroit, I
could tell where it was, the streets where th^ girls
stayed, if it became necessary to substantiate my
statements, and I go there, they would know me
also as being there.
Q. (By Mr. Cornish.) Where did you take
the trunks from ?
A. I took it more than two miles and let him
out.
Q. In a house or in the woods ?
A. Way outside of the city. I went to a
stable and got a horse and wagon there.
Q. (By Mr. Hanscom.) Did you drive the
wagon ?•
A. Yes.
Q. It must have been an express ?
A. No, it was a buggy with sort of heavy
back. I tried to get an express wagon and they
had not anything except a very large one, so the
trunk went on behind by tying it on. I don't
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 69
think he went more than a mile in tliat way, a
mile or two.
Q, (By Mr. Cornish.) Who helped you to
put the trunk in the buggy?
A. I put in the trunk.
Q. Did you put it in alone ?
A. I put it in alone.
Q. Did you take it nut alone ?
A. No, all I liad to do was to put the lid back
when he got out.
Q. Was that on the roadway ?
A. Yes, sir. Well, it was outside of the city,
about two miles from the centre of the town.
The occasion of it was that I thought that officers
were then watching him, but not me.
Q. Did you see him after that?
A. Yes, just long enough to drive out with the
children in the buggy.
Q. The children did not go with you on this
first trip ?
A. Oh no, I took him in a light buggy, and he
waited there for the children.
Q. That same day did you drive out with the
children?
A. Yes, sir.
70 HOLMES' FIRST COXFESSIOX.
Q. (By Mr, Hansconi.) Wliat was the object
of going out there that way?
A. I had got word from Chicago tliat officers
from Fort Worth were there. I thought then
it was on this matter, and said they liad got
track of both of us. He was at Fort Worth with
me.
Q. Then the last time you met was when you
took the children out there to see him. The last
time that you actually saw him ?
A. Yes. It was somewhere about 4 o'clock in
the afternoon of the day that I carried him out in
the trunk. He had gone across from there, from
a certain place where I left him, over to another
place of meeting.
Q. Did you go across the bridge ?
A. No, I did not go over with him. I did not
go for a C'luplo of days. I had to wait to get
them. I cariied the children out to him. He
W!is to send in a boy for the satchel. I did not
take it away because I feai-ed the officers were
watcliiiig and we were only going out to ride.
Q. From that j)oint he started ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Towards Canada?
A. No, I don't think so. It was spoken of
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 71
that he would go to Detrnit after Toronto, aiid
wait there until I could get the wife and the other
two children, and he hated to go aw.ay without see
ing them.
Q. Have you heard from him since ?
A. No, sir.
Q. All you know about New York and about
his taking a steamer for any point in tlie South or
for South America is what had been previously
agreed upon ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you have not heard yet?
A. No, sir, it is hardly time.
Q. Under what name was he to address you ?
A. Well, I can't tell you that, any more
than he asked me particularly what name, and I
said it was safe enough to address me as Howard
at Room 30, No. 69 Dearborn St., Chicago.
Q. Under the name of Howard or Holmes?
Q. Yes, almost any strange name to them,
either those two, or some name that did not be-
long in the office.
Q. Was this correspondence to be sent in any
care ?
A. In care of Mr. Frank Blackman.
Q. Who is Frank Blackman ?
72 HOLMES' FIEST CONFESSION.
A. A real estate dealer, and during my ab-
sence from the city he was liaving charge of my
money affairs there.
Q. How many weeks ago or days ago, was
this final and last meeting with him in Detroit?
A. As near as I can guess it was three weeks
ago.
Q. About three weeks ago that you left De-
troit ?
A. Possibly a little more. I can give those
dates by referring to others, that is, my wife.
Q. Have you any reason to believe that there
is any mail waiting for you at this Chicago, Dear-
born St. office ?
A. We got some this morning. It comes as
fast as it is received.
Q. Since delivering the children to him on the
outskirts of Detroit, you have not seen or heard
from him directly or indirectly?
A. No, sir.
Q. Has his wife been in search of him lately?
A. Oh no, because after this break that he
made in regard to seeing the children, I have had
to tell her while I could get her in shape to send
her to him, that he was here and there and put
her off.
Eeau of No. 1316 Callowhill St., Philadelphia, Pa.
THE CLANG OF THE <OELL DOOR. 75
Q. You have put her off by telling her that
her husband was at different points about the
country ?
A. Yes, sir, I acted under him.
Q. Such is the fact ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And she has been to Toronto in pursuit of
them ?
A. Yes, sir, and Ogdensburg and Burlington,
Vt. I have expected every day to get w^ord
where he was, and that was my idea of getting
her here, so to ship her and the children from
here.
Q. I want to know whether or not you have
taken her from point to point with the under-
standing that she was to see her husband ?
A. She was to have met him at Detroit. In
fact, she was to meet him in Cincinnati.
Q. She was to have met him in Cincinnati and
then she went from Cincinnati to Detroit ?
A. No, sir, she went to Galva, her old home,
and was to wait there until I telegraphed her and
got their homes in Cincinnati.
Q. Did she do it ?
A. No, sir, because when he saw the children
I sent word then for her to go to Chicago and
76 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION.
from there to Detroit. It broke her plans com-
pletely up when he saw the children. He begged
of me not to let her know it, because he wanted
to see her and I agreed to go as far as Detroit
and take a house there and see her alone,
and then let the children go and tell her after-
wards.
Q. But he did not see her in Detroit ?
A. No. When he was sober he saw the diffi-
culty of having the children stay with her after
he had seen them on account of their talking.
Q. (By Mr. Cornish.) You said that your
wife could fill out certain blanks that you have
left?
A. She remembers everything for a year past.
Q. Have you remembered where you stopped
in Philadelphia?
A. Yes, it is near
Q. Was it 13th Street at the house of a Mrs.
Dr. Alcott ?
A. That is the name, but it is on 11th Street,
unless I am very much mistaken, near No. 1900 on
11th Street. Dr. Howell is the name that I went
under. The doctor s name is Alcott. (Alcorn.)
Q. At the time that you went to Detroit, your
wife was in Indianapolis ?
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 11
A. Well, which time ?
Q. The time that you were going to meet
Pitezel. Your wife left Indianapolis on October
12th, and joined you somewhere near Peru ?
A. I think it was near Peru, it was an adjoin-
ing place on the road.
Q. Then you arrived in Detroit, Friday, Oc-
tober the 12th ?
A. I will not say as to the date.
Q. That is from your wife's memorandum ?
A. I think you can depend upon her.
Q. Do you remember where you stopped in
Detroit ? Was it Park Place ?
A. Well, we first went to a hotel.
Q. No. 40 Park Place ?
A. I can't tell as to numbers. It was near
what they call, — yes. Park Place.
Q. And you took your meals at the Cadillac ?
A. Yes, mostly.
Q. Do you know when you left Detroit to go
to Toronto ?
A. I think we were there just a week and two
days, in Detroit.
Q. You arrived in Toronto on October 18th
in the evening ?
A. I don't think those dates will corres-
78 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION.
pond, because I think we were at this house a
week.
Q. This is taken from a memorandum book in
your wife's hand. " Arrived at Toronto October
18th and went to the Walker House."
A. Then you can depend upon it.
Q. On Saturday the 20th you went to Niagara
and stopped at the Imperial Hotel on the Canada
side?
A. Yes, sir, that is right.
Q. On Sunday the 21st you returned to To-
ronto and went to the Palmer House ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. October 25th you went to Prescott and
stopped at the Imperial Hotel ?
A. I don't think that was the name of the
house.
Q. On October 27th you crossed to Ogdens-
burg. New York ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. On the 31st went to Burlington, Vermont,
and took up your residence at No. 19 George
Street ?
A. Yes, sir. In all the places, in Ogdensburg
I tried to get a suitable place to leave the family.
I did not want to keep them around.
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 79
Q. Did Mrs. Pitezel go to all these places with
you?
A. Well, she left Toronto the day before we
did and went to Ogdensburg direct.
Q. She did not touch Prescott or Niagara, that
is, only through Prescott to Ogdensburg.
A. That is all.
Q. On November 5th, did you obtain any money
from your wife in Burlington ?
A. She was carrying a thousand dollars for me,
and, without being explicit as to date, she gave it to
me.
Q. What did you tell her you were going to
do with it ?
A. I told her I was going East to meet some-
one from Chicago.
Q. You stated where East?
A. Kingston, and in fact I used it to pay bills
in the East that I was owing years ago for my edu-
cation in Gilmanton, N. H. where my father and
mother live.
Q. So that it was expended at Tilton and
Gilmanton ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. On that same day on arrival in Tilton you
went to the Adams Express Office ?
80 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION.
A. States Express, I think it was.
Q. And got a box about four feet long, two
and a half feet wide, and one and a half feet
thick, what did that contain ?
A. That was filled with blankets and things
from my buildings in Chicago, new ones, blankets
and spreads.
Q. To whom did you take the box ?
A. Well, I gave my part of them, in fact I
guess all of them went to Gilmanton to my mother
and one of my brothers.
Q. During all the time that you were at Til-
ton, Franklin and Gilmanton, your wife thought
you were witli this lawyer in Kingston ?
A. Yes, sir, she did not know that I had any
relatives ; and I will say, that she has not known
that this woman or any of the family has been go-
ing from place to place. I had to send her ahead
or to follow.
Q. That is, Mrs. Pitezel ?
A. Yes, sir. My wife has known nothing of
the insurance matter in any way, shape or form.
Q. When did Mrs. Pitezel first become ac-
quainted with this scheme?
A. Well, it is pretty hard to tell, because I
found out a week or two ago here, that her oldest
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 81
daughter had known of it in the summer ; that her
father had told her if anything happened to him
not to be worried ; that he wauld not be dead, and
whether it was the same case with Mrs. Pitezel or
not, I cannot tell, but my object in leaving Phila-
delphia a little ahead of when it should come out
in the papers, was so to get there, to sort of break
it to her, tell her if she saw it in the papers it was
not a fact. Now, to the best of my knowledge
and belief that was when she first knew of it.
Q. Did she know from the papers, anything
about the finding of the body of Perry before you
saw her ?
A. They found it out in the morning in the
papers, that is, the family, the entire family read
it and naturally supposed it to be true.
Q. (By Mr. Hanscom.) Did it seem to be gen-
uine grief on their part ?
A. Yes, sir, the doctor even was called.
Q. Then really you believe that was the first
they knew ?
A. Yes, this oldest daughter was taking on just
as bad as any and I know now that she knew or
supposed it was not really death.
Q. The mother is rather an illiterate, plain
person ?
82 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION.
A. Yes.
Q. (By Mr. Cornish.) Then you saw her the
day she read this in the paper ?
A. The night.
Q. What conversation did you have with her
then?
A. I told her then that she need not worry.
Q. Did you on that evening tell her that her
husband was alive ?
A. Yes, I am sure of that.
Q. Then if you told her that her husband was
alive, there must have been some conversation that
you had with her in regard to the job that was put
up in Philadelphia ?
A. Oh yes, I spoke to her the next day. That
is why I hastened there. In fact, I told him to
hold on, not to leave the house, not prepare this
body until Monday some time, but the evidence
seems to show that he got scared or something
and did not want to stay with it over night.
Q. Before calling on Mrs. Pitezel did you see
Jeptha D. Howe ?
A. I did not see him until the next morning.
I remember that I got in on the six something
train and went to the office to see him and he had
gone, and I saw him the following morning. I
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 83
had seen him previously about the arrange-
ment.
Q. Did you tell him of your interview with
Mrs. Pitezel ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did he then see her ?
A. I think it was the next day.
Q. Were you with him at the time ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. At her house or his office ?
A. At his office.
Q. Did she go alone to his office or did you
take her there ?
A. I think I took her the first time and intro-
duced her. Oh, I remember she was there in the
morning waiting and we were both there waiting
when Mr. Howe ciime on the landing there.
Q. Was there anybody at the interview or
conference, except yourself, Howe and Mrs. Pite-
zel?
A. I don't think there was, unless a young
lady that sat there, a stenograplier. I am almost
sure a stenographer was there.
Q. Was she engaged in taking dmvn this con-
versation ?
A. No, I don't tliink so.
84 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION,
Q. When was the next conference, and where ?
A. I think she went there the next day at Mr.
Howe's office and was there before I got there ; in
fact, I don't think I saw her much that date only
as she came out of there just for a minute or two,
on the landing to talk.
Q. Did she object very strenuously to carrying
out this sclieme ?
A. No, not then after I explained it. She said
she ivas in it and would do her best to carry it
out.
Q. What inducements did you hold ovit to her
to carry on this scheme ?
A. It was the money.
Q. Was she promised any amount of money?
A. No, it was agreed that this money sliould
be used to protect the property in Fort Worth,
that her husband and I were both interested in.
Q. At that time was there anytliing stated to
Howe, or by Howe, as to what his fees were to
be?
A. It was spoken of and he said it would be
all right, he would not set a price, but really the
object he had in going to take hold of the case
was to get money to liberate his other client who
was in jail. (Marion Hedgepeth.)
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 85
Q. How many interviews did you have alto-
gether with Howe, when Mrs. Pitezel was pres-
ent?
A. Oh, perhaps half a dozen.
Q. Running over how many days?
A. Well, perhaps ten days, because in the
meantime I went away to Franklin, I know, and
then there was an interview after I got back, after
he got the money.
Q. In each of these interviews in which Mrs.
Pitezel was present, she knew, or was led to be-
lieve that her husband was still alive ?
A. Oh yes, she did. And one thing, it was
agreed between Howe and myself, that Mrs. Pite-
zel should not know but what he thought it was a
genuine death.
Q. What was that ?
A. It was agreed between Howe, the attorney,
and myself, that Mrs. Pitezel did not know that
he was acting in an underhand way.
Q. (By Mr. Hanscom.) Has Mrs. Pitezel re-
ceived any letters from her husband since she was
in Detroit ?
A. I think it was since then, one in a sort of
cipher. I have been in the habit for years of
using cipher and they fixed one up, a simple de-
86 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION.
vice, using figures instead of letters. Aside from
this there was none.
Q. She has received one ?
A. Yes, sir, she read part of it to me.
Q. Where was it from ?
A. Well, it was written, I know, in Detroit.
He had me keep it so if she got anxious and wor-
ried to say he was all right.
Q. He wrote a cipher letter to his wife and
that was entrusted to your custody ?
A. Yes, sir. I think it was given to her in
Ogdensburg, at some point on my travels since.
She might not recall it, it was all in figures.
Q. (By Mr. Cornish.) You stated that there
was to be some arrangements made so that you
could communicate through the New York Htrald
or Chicago Tribune ; did you have any such com-
munication ?
A. No, sir, that was after he got away. There
was no occasion then. But instead of my writing
him, I was to communicate with him there and
my mail was to have come from Chicago, I was
not to have it direct.
Q. Now, I am going to ask you a question.
From whom did you get the body in New York ?
A. Well, I have refused thus far to state. I
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 87
told Mr. Perry I thought I would, but if Pitezel
comes up in a few days I would rather not tell
that, because I was concerned years ago with this
doctor, in something not exactly of this nature,
but so intimately that in the position he is in, it
would hurt him very much. Of course, I will if
it comes right down to saving myself.
Q. I think that while you are telling this thing,
you should tell the whole truth right as it is. It
is a matter that must come out in time and now
is as good a time as any other.
A. I think you will agree with me, that I have
tried since I told Inspector Watts that I would
not tell anything but the truth, that I would try
to make it plain, but it is more than that. He is
a man now well enough to do, so that if my wife
becomes penniless, if I am shut up for a term of
years, I think I can call upon him for help.
Q. Then you understand that the party who
furnished you the body had no guilty knowledge ?
A. They did, they knew well enough while it
was being talked over ; they knew from our past
connection well enough, from the receipts that we
got from the insurance company, he knew what
the body was going to be used for. The very
fact that I wanted one with a wart on the neck.
88 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION.
Q. Was the body placed in the trunk in the
house there ?
A. I'd rather not answer that. I don't want
to antagonize you in the least, but for the time be-
ing I'd rather wait.
Q. Where was the trunk purchased?
A. It was a trunk that we had back and forth.
It had been tliere in his house, an old trunk pur-
posely, so as not to draw attention to it. I can-
not tell where it was purchased, years old. The
trunk belonged to him.
Q. How much money did Mrs. Pitezel give
you? You said that she gave you -11,800 to be
given to Pitezel ?
A. It came in a lump sum. I can give you
a rough guess within a few hundred dollars that
was paid by the insurance company and I cannot
tell. (Figures it up). In the neighborhood of
$7,000.
Q. That is what she gave you ?
A. I can put it in this way, that Howe gave
Mrs. Pitezel just about $7,000 and she gave me
^5,000 something odd.
Q. Tliat is, that Howe gave Mrs. Pitezel
$7,000 about and Mrs. Pitezel gave you $5,000 ?
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 89
A. Yes, and before that to pay a certain bill
there.
Q. What was the bill, a bill to Becker?
A. Yes, and |400 that I was owing, attorne3''s
fees on another matter, so directly and indi-
rectly she caused to come into my hands about
$7,000.
Q. What disposition was made of that ?
A. Well, to make it clear I will have to ex-
plain the business in the South to a certain ex-
tent. We took of a party by the name of Will-
iams, a certain piece of property to build upon,
agreed to pay her $10,000 for it, and last spring
from time to time we paid her $2,500. This we
sent to her, and the receipt was in the shape of
several pieces of paper, notes, and quite a con-
siderable amount was sent to take them up. I
forget how much, less than $5,000.
Q. Do you remember one night in Indianapo-
lis telling your wife that you had sold certain
Fort Worth property for $35,000, $10,000 to be
paid in cash, and the balance in bonds and mort-
gages ?
A. Yes, sir, this very piece of property she
supposed.
Q. Now then you took a roll of bills out of
90 HOLBIES' FIRST CONFESSION.
your pocket, was that supposed to be part of the
$10,000 ?
A. I think she has got the two dates con-
founded, because I went to Detroit to consum-
mate this sale that she was so anxious to have
made.
Q. This took place in Detroit?
A. Yes, the last time.
Q. And you told her that Blackman had
$5,000?
A. The question was naturally where was the
$10,000. I told her that |5,000 I sent to Chicago.
I don't think I said to Blackman, though she was
led to think that.
Q. Part of it you entrusted to her ?
A. I gave her a thousand dollars.
Q. In Cincinnati how much did you give Pite-
zel?
A. In Cincinnati only a very little, a couple of
hundred dollars.
Q. In Detroit ?
A. I think it was $1,825, or twenty odd dol-
lars, making the two sums $2,000 with what I had
given him in Cincinnati.
Q. That is the amount that Pitezel got out of
the whole affair?
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOB. 93
A. Hardly, because he profited out of what
was got out of this Fort Worth. Tliat was all in
cash.
Q. How much had Mrs. Pitezel ?
A. Oh, very little, a few hundred dollars. His
orders were to give it to her from time to time.
Q. How much was allowed to Jeptha D. Howe?
A. He took $2,500.
Q. Do you remember how many times you saw
Pitezel in Philadelphia after or before j^ou had
taken the house on Callowhill Street?
A. Once or twice I guess before and perhaps
three times, very few times publicly. I would try
to meet him perhaps on the street cars or corners,
I kept away purposely from his place of business.
Q. How many times did you visit the house on
Callowhill Street?
A. I think three times.
Q. You ivent zvith him to buy the furniture ?
A. I think I was with him when he bought
the first of the furniture, but he went one way
and I another, to hunt up furniture houses, and I
think it was at one of those places that we had
found what we bought.
Q. Who paid for it ?
A. He paid for it.
94 H0L3IES' FIEST CONFESSION.
Q. Do you remember the name ?
A. No, I can go to it readily. It seems as
though it was on 13tli Street.
Q. Do you remember the man from whom you
purcliased it ?
A. I could tell him by sight.
Q. Did you have an invoice of what you
bought ?
A. No, he paid. I don't think there was any
bill. It was sent down the next day, and then he
told me he went back again and bought some
other things.
Q. Were you with him in any other store in
Philadelphia, outside of this furniture store ?
A. It don't seem to me as though I was.
Q. Prior to that?
A. Yes, prior, I think we went into one or two
places together to see about furniture.
Q. Prior to his securing the house on Callow-
hill Street, where did he room ?
A. It seems to me it was on Arch Street. It
was near 11th. I know I had to come down from
where I was rooming and go a little ways on Arch,
where it said " boarding house," on Arch or Vine
Street. ^
Q. Did you visit him in his room there ?
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 95
A. Yes, I think once or twice.
Q. Had you any correspondence or made any
arrangement with this party in New York in re-
gard to securing this body ?
A. I saw him personally when I was in New
York just before going to Philadelphia, and then
after that I went up once, I guess the Thursday
before I got it on Sunday.
Q. What was the occasion of your going to
New York from Philadelphia ?
A. Why we found afterwards we were right in
front of the morgue, but we did not know it then,
and I know this man there and I had no other
place to go for it.
Q. Then your purpose for visiting New York
was simply to see this man in regard to getting
the body ?
A. Yes, I don't think there was any other
business transacted there, though he sent from
there some of his insurance premiums, but that
was before we had gone to Philadelphia, that was
paying the six months' premium or the balance, I
don't know how much.
Q. That was telegraphed to Chicago?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you furnish the money ?
96 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION.
A. Yes, in a sense, on account of his drinking
some, I generally carried the money.
Q. It was sent by him ?
A. I cannot tell that particular money,
whether is was through him or me, but between
us we furnished the money.
Q. It was telegraphed ?
A. Yes, I had nothing to do with the sending
of it. He went on himself to see about it.
Q. Where did you meet this party in New
York about the body ?
A. It was at the house — I would rather leave
that out.
Q. I tell you again, that unless Pitezel is pro-
duced alive we must consider Pitezel dead.
A. I understand it and that is why I say that,
which I can prove in Philadelphia to the contrary.
I don't care how soon Pitezel is brought to the
front now. I have almost got to do it to protect
myself. It is not that I wish to go back on him
by any means.
Q. (By Mr. Hanscom.) You expect in any
event that there will be imprisonment go with it ?
A. I certainly do. I told my wife, I begged
her to go away and drop it because I expected a
term at the penitentiary.
THE CLANG OF THE CELL DOOR. 97
Q. Of course, it is desirable for you not to be
held for the greater offence ?
A. I certainly don't want to be held for mur-
der. While I am bad enough on smaller things, I
am not guilty of that and I certainly can prove in
Philadelphia by records, etc., they would remem-
ber because I was sick at the time, fees to por-
ters, etc., prove that I was out of Philadelphia ;
that he was seen alive after that, if I am allowed
a chance to do it.
Q. (By Mr. Cornish.) I understand you to
say, that you had previously had connections with
his doctor in New York ?
A. Yes, that is the greatest reason why at this
time
Q. Of a criminal nature ?
A. Well, I cannot be expected to answer that,
I don't think. It was not an insurance arrange-
ment hardly, but any way, we both profited by it.
This statement it will be observed, leaves ob-
scure the whereabouts of the three children. He
places them in South America with their father,
and describes one of the girls as being dressed as
a boy. The main purpose of the interview was to
ascertain, whether Pitezel was alive or dead, and
98 HOLMES' FIRST CONFESSION.
if alive, how the substitution of a dead body, ob-
tained in New York, had been effected. The fate
of the children was overlooked for the time.
That they had been murdered was not dreamed
of ; in fact, the case was too fresh, and oppor-
tunity had not yet arrived for either the police or
the detectives of the company to verify or disprove
the statements of the prisoner. The authoritie
were yet groping in the dark.
CHAPTER V,
] THE WAGES OF SIN.
Mrs. Pitezel Questioned by the Police— Her Pitiable Condi-
tion — Complicity in the Plot — Tries to Shield Her Hus-
band — Prepared for His Disappearance — Believed Him
Alive— Gives Holmes $7,000— Had Parted with Three
Children — Other Details of the Examination — The Pris-
oners Taken to Philadelphia — Holmes Tries to Bribe De-
tective Crawford — Committed for Trial — Howe Brought
from St. Louis — H. H. Holmes, Benjamin F. Pitezel,
Carrie A. Pitezel and Jeptha D. Howe Formally Indicted
by the Grand Jury.
Poor Mrs. Pitezel ! What a wretched plight
she was in ! Her husband had disappeared ;
Alice, Nellie and Howard were in unknown
hands, her other two children, Dessie, her eldest
daughter, and her year old infant, were witliout a
protector, and she was in prison, under suspicion
of having been a party to a conspiracy to cheat
and defraud an insurance company.
After Messrs. Hanscom & Cornish had obtained
the statement from Holmes, given in full in the
previous chapter, they turned their attention to
Mrs. Pitezel. She occupied a cell in the same
(m
100 3IES. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE.
police station in which Holmes was detained, and
her grief and surprise over her arrest and incar-
ceration were so great, that the hearts of the
officers were moved to pity.
It is to be regretted, that in this interview,
Mrs. Pitezel was not as truthful and as frank as
she subsequently became with the authorities in
Philadelphia. She was evidently inspired by a
desire to shield her husband, whom she then be-
lieved to be alive, notwithstanding her statement
to the contrary. Her denial of her complicity in
the scheme to cheat and defraud the insurance
company by the substitution of a body, was un-
true.
She had been informed of the scheme from its
inception, both by Holmes and her husband, and
although at first she earnestly and sincerely ad-
vised against it and pleaded with her husband
not to join Holmes in such a nefarious piece of
business, she ultimately acquiesced in it, and was
quite prepared for the disappearance of her hus-
band for a time, in accordance with an under-
standing between them. When Howe paid to
her, her share of the money, about 17200, she be-
lieved the plot had been successfully carried out ;
that her husband was alive, and would ultimately
THE WAGES OF SIN. 101
disclose his whereabouts to her and would, when
prudent, return to his home.
This much may be said for her. She was lead-
ing a miserable existence in poverty, with a large
family of five children. She was in ill health, and
tied by marriage to a crook, a man whose instincts
were low and criminal, — much given to drinking
alcoholic stimulants excessively, and who had
been for j^ears a close associate and companion of
Holmes'. Her participation in the crime, how-
ever, was without excuse, and she was properly
apprehended and charged with conspiracy. It
was her plain duty to have prevented the con-
summation of the scheme at all hazard, — even if a
bold stand for truth and honor had caused a sep-
aration from her husband.
Her punishment, however, has been severe,
much more dreadful than any that could have
been inflicted by the law, and while some may
condemn her, many will not hesitate to pity one,
who now carries with her such a weight of woe.
Upon being questioned by the officers, she an-
swered as follows :
Q. (By Mr. Hanscom.) Where is your home ?
A. My home is in Galva, 111.
Q. Now this matter about the death of your
102 3IBS. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE.
husband and the identification of the body, the
collection of the insurance, etc., when was the
matter first brought to your attention?
A. Why, I saw it in the paper first.
Q. You saw that a death had occurred?
A. Yes.
Q. The death of whom ?
A. B. F. Perry.
Q. And did you understand at the time that
your husband was living in Philadelphia under
the name of Perry ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you know what street and number he
had located on ?
A. No. 1316, I think, Callowhill Street.
Q. Before the time that you got this news
from the press or in some other way, had you
known anything about this scheme ?
A
Q
A
Q
you'
A
Q
A
No, they did not tell me anything about it.
Nothing had been said to you about it ?
No, they did not tell me anything about it.
Have you one of your daughters here with
Yes, sir.
Is she the eldest daughter?
Yes.
THE WAGES OF SIN. 103
Q. Is she the one that went to identify her
father ?
A. No, slie is not the one.
Q. After seeing the death in the paper, who
was the first to speak to you about it'^
A. Mr. Becker was tlie first one that I spoke to.
He saw tlie account in the paper, of course, and he
was our groceryman and I talked to liim about it.
Q. Where were you living then?
A. In St. Louis.
Q. What street and number?
A. It is Carondelet; it is a part of St. Louis.
Q. How long had you been living there?
A. Oh, we moved there in May ; about the
first of May. Well^ maybe it was the middle of
May.
Q. Did 3Ir. Holmes come to your Jiouse soon
after the annou7icem('nt of the death to see you ?
A. J think it was a week after.
Q. Now what did he say to you about it ? He
then told you the scheme, did he, tliat 3'our hus-
band was not dead?
A. Why, I told him that I saw something in
the paper in regard to my husband and I wanted
to know if that was my husband and if it was
true, and he said, " You need not worry about it,
104 3IES. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE.
there is no use in worrying about that," and he
would not say much more about it. He went and
talked with the children and only stayed a little
while that evening and went away.
Q. Up to that time had you mourned your
husband as dead ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you believe he was dead ?
A. Yes, I believed he was dead.
Q. Had you taken any steps in the matter?
A. I spoke to Mr. Becker and he went down
to the police, and then there had been one or
two reporters out.
Q. But a week had elapsed ?
A. I think it was about a week, I won't be
positive about that.
Q. Had you sent any word to Philadelphia?
A. No, I had not.
Q. Had you written ?
A. No, I did not try it, I did not know what
to do.
Q. What did Mr. Becker tell you to do ?
A. He thought I had better employ an attor-
ney and have it attended to.
Q. Did you employ an attorney ?
A. I did not just then, not right that day.
THE WAGES OF SIN. 105
Q. Did you make any arrangements to recover
the body ?
A. No, I did not.
Q. Had you received a telegram or any word
from Holmes before he called upon you ?
A. No, I did not.
Q. Had it been talked over w^ith you that such
an occurrence might take place, that is, that your
husband might absent himself and let the report
go out that he was deacl? Had such a report
ever reached you ?
A. No, not up to this time.
Q. Never had been talked over with you ?
A. No.
Q. Had you no intimation, not the slightest
sign that it had been talked over ?
A. Not before that, I had no knowledge of
what was to be done.
Q. Had you any money by you at the time
this occurred ?
A. No, I did not have but little.
Q. How much did you have ?
A. Five or six dollars, I think.
Q. He had not sent you much money ?
A. No.
Q. Well, on this first visit that Holmes, or
106 3IBS. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE.
Howard, whoever he is, made to you, did he tell
you before lie went out that your husband was
living, that you need not worry about it?
A. Well, he spoke to that effect, I don't know
as those were the exact words.
Q. Did he ease your mind regarding the death
of your husband befoi'e he went away, telling you
that your husband was not dead?
A. Yes.
Q. Did he go into tke story that your husband
was insured ?
A. No, he did not go into the story then.
Q. Did you know that your husband had an
insurance on his life ?
A. I knew he had an insurance on his life,
but I did not know whether it was all paid or not.
It was not paid up, and I did not know even
when I heard of the death, whether it was all
paid up.
Q. Did you know the amount of the insur-
ance ?
A. I did at the time he insured.
Q. How much?
A. $10,000.
Q. Who collected that money?
A. Mr. Howe.
777^ WAGES OF SIN. 107
Q. As your attornej ?
A. Yes.
Q. Did he turn that money over to you?
A. Well, most of it was turned over to me.
Q. What did you do with it ?
A. Well, Mr. Howard had some of it.
Q. How much did Mr. Howard have of the
110,000?
A. I don't know exactly that.
Q. You understood they paid the full amount,
110,000?
A. Yes,
Q. After Mr. Howe had made the payments
then you turned over a large portion of that
money? This is not an}^ effort to entrap you.
We simply want to get at the facts.
A. Well, I understand you, and am trying to
give you the facts as well as I can.
Q. How much of that $10,000 did you turn
over to Howard, (Holmes) ?
A. I don't know as I can tell you the exact
amount.
Q. Can you remember ?
A. No, I can't.
Q. Was it 17,000?
A. It must have been pretty well on to that.
108 3IES. riTEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE.
Q. He States it was about $7,000.
A. Well, that is correct, I think.
Q. Did you turn over that money to any other
person than him ?
A. No, no person only what the attorney and
the expenses were, that was all.
Q. How much did that amount to, the attor-
neys and the expenses? Can you remember that ?
A. No, I can't. They made out a memoran-
dum of it, Mr. Howe did. He just made it out,
and I don't know, they got into a kind of fussing
about it, and, by the way, they did not give me
the statement of it.
Q. You did not get that ?
A. No, I have no statement of it at all.
Q. After having paid the expense and $7,000
more or less that 3^ou gave Howard, what portion
of the $10,000 had you left ?
A. Well, I guess about $500.
Q. You had really about $500 out of the
whole business?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know how much of it your hus-
band had?
A. No, that is something I can't answer, for I
don't know.
The Poplar Street House, Cincinnati, Ohio.
( Wliere Holmes intended to murder the children.)
THE WAGES OF SIN. Ill
Q. When did you last see your husband ?
A. I saw him last the 9th day of July, and I
have not seen him since.
Q. The 9th day ?
A. It was either tlie 8th or 9th of July that
he left home in the evening, and I went down to
the Union Depot and that was the last.
Q. In St. Louis?
A. Yes.
Q. Did he correspond with you after that ?
A. Up to the time that I saw it in the paper
he did, but I have never heard from him since,
only just what Mr. Howard says, that is all.
Q. Now, what has Mr. Howard said to you
about the whereabouts of your husband since that
time ?
A. Well, the only place that I know of where
he has been, is Montreal and Toronto.
Q. How do you know that he was in Mon-
treal ?
A. I don't know for a certainty, I could not
swear only as I have heard it.
Q. From whom ?
A. From Mr. Howard.
Q. That he was in Toronto and Montreal ?
A. Yes.
7
112 MRS. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE.
Q. Has he told you that you would meet him
at any other place ?
A. He said I might see him at Detroit, or
Toronto, or Burlington, but I have never seen
him.
Q. Then you had hopes when you went to
Burlington, that you might meet him ?
A. Yes.
Q. And failing to find him in Burlington,
where did you expect then to see him ?
A. Well, I don't know. I gave up all hopes
of seeing him.
Q. He has kept you moving, hasn't he ?
A. Yes.
Q. I wish to ask you one question direct. Do
you believe now that your husband is alive ?
A. Well, there must be something in it. I am
sure I could not swear to it for I don't know for a
fact that he is alive. All I know is, what you
have been telling me, and what he has been telling
me, and that is all I know.
Q. But he has kept you moving from point to
point ; I would like to have you tell it in your own
way.
A. Well, I have been moving from one point
THE WAGES OF SIN. 113
to another. I have been just heartbroken, that is
all there is about it.
Q. Yes, I know, we are sorry for you. Can
you tell me the points in the order of them,
how you have been moving about since you left
home ?
A. I went to my parents, from there to
Chicago, from Chicago to Detroit, and from there
to Toronto, from there to Ogdensburg, from there
to Burlington.
Q. And that is where you were yesterday ?
A. Yes, Burlington.
Q. Have you had confidence in Howard all the
way through, that he would finally take you to
your husband ?
A. Why, I thought so.
Q. Has your confidence ever been shaken ?
A. Well, sometimes I thought maybe he was
fooling me or something.
Q. By the way, did you have a cipher, any-
thing in the shape of a cipher, by which your
husband could communicate with you privately,
any system of communication, numbers, char-
acters ?
A. Oh no, we do not write that way.
Q. You never wrote that way ?
114 3IRS. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY TEE POLICE.
A. No.
Q. Did you ever expect to get any such letter
from your husband, written in any mysterious way,
ciphers of any kind?
A. No.
Q. Did Holmes ever read to you at any time
since the money was collected, say at the time you
were in Detroit, did he ever read anything to you,
purporting to be a letter from your husband writ-
ten in cipher, did you receive something of that
kind?
A. Well, I think he did have something of
that kind that was written in that way, and said
it was from him. That is all I know.
Q. Was it in any envelope ?
A. No, I guess not.
Q. Did you see the paper that he had ?
A. Why, it was just a small piece of paper.
Q. He read something to you from that
paper ?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you have the paper in your hand ?
A. No.
Q. What did it say ?
A. Why, just said that he was well and all
right and I need not be worrying all the time.
THE WAGES OF SIN. 115
Q. You went to Detroit, expecting to meet
your husband there?
A. Yes.
Q. When he read that letter to you, do you
remember where you were then ?
A. In Toronto, I think.
Q. You went to Detroit and from Detroit to
Toronto ?
A. Yes.
Q. In Detroit did you expect to meet your
husband there ?
A. I thought I would see him, he said I
would.
Q. How many of the children had you with
you ? Just had the little girl and the babe ?
A. Yes.
Qo And the other three children were with
whom, so far as you know ?
A. They were at Covington.
Q. With whom ?
A. I don't know who they were with. I
asked him the name and he simply told me who
they were with, said she was a widow, a nice
woman.
Q. Now, how long ago was it that you parted
with these three children ?
116 3fRS. PITEHEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE.
A. I have nut seen Alice for two months, and
have not seen the others for
Q. Alice went awa}- first ?
A. Yes sir.
Q. She went to identify the body of her
father ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you have not seen her since ?
A. No.
Q. In whose keeping was she, into whose
charge did you give her at the time she went on
to view the body ?
A. Mr. Howe took her.
Q. Who is he ?
A. He is the lawyer, the attorney.
Q. That was acting for you ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. A St. Louis man ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know where his office is in St.
Louis ?
A. Well, it is in the Commercial Building.
Q. Into his keeping you placed the girl?
A, Yes, they wanted me to go, but I was very
.Mck at the time.
Q. And Alice went on with him?
THE WAGES OF SIX Hi
A. Yes. Well, he turned Alice over to Mr.
Holmes then, and he brought her on to Coving-
ton.
Q. Did you see her in Covington ?
A. No, sir, I was not in Covington at all.
Q. Have you some friends in Covington ?
A. No, sir.
Q. You have not seen her since she went on
to view the body ?
A. No, sir, I have not seen her since.
Q. Into whose custody did you place the
other two ?
A. He took the other two, that is, Holmes,
took them from St. Louis to Covington, where
Alice was.
Q. You don't know whether they actually
went to Covington or not ?
A. No, I am just telling you.
Q. That is right. What was his reason fur
taking them ? What reason did he give ?
A. The only reason was he said he would take
them there and I could go home and make my
parents a visit, and not to be bothered with them,
because my parents were getting along in j^ears,
and he would take the children and then I could
go over there when I got through visiting.
118 3IES. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE.
Q. He was going to take them to meet Alice ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And that they would all be stopping M'ith
some widow lady.
A. Yes.
Q. Did he give the name ?
A. No, sir, I told you he did not.
Q. Did he say anything about that they were
going to Covington to meet their father ?
A. No, sir, he did not say that.
Q. Has he ever told you since then, that they
were with the father?
A. No sir.
Q. Then you still believe that they are in
Covington ?
A. No, sir, he told me he took them to To-
ronto, that is all I know about it. I don't know
where they are. All I know is that he said he
would take them from Covington to Toronto.
Q. You understood from him that they are
there ?
A. At Toronto.
Q. With friends of his, or whom do you be-
lieve them to be with, your husband ?
A. No, he said he would give them to some
friends there. I don't know whether he has.
THE WAGES OF SIN. 119
Q. We believe this man to be a very bad man,
and we want to get at all the truth.
A. Well, that is as far as I know. I can't
tell you anything more, because I don't know.
Q. You did not understand then that these
children were going to join their father?
A. No, sir.
Q. Has he ever told you about dressing one of
the girls in boy's clothing ?
A. No, sir.
Q. He never told you about those things?
A. Well, I have one boy.
Q. There is a boy and two girls ?
A. Whoever told you that ?
Q. We have been talking with him. We are
not doing anything to undertake to make you feel
bad, we are trying to get at the matter and sift it.
He has kept you moving about the country from
point to point, and you look as tliough you had
been through a good deal and we want to get all
the light we can. We don't believe in this man
very much. That is why we are asking you these
questions.
A. Do you know where the children are ?
Q. No, that is one of the things we want to
find out. We want to find them as much for your
i20 iMHs. pitezeL quEsrtoMt) bT the PottcE.
sake, as well as for any other reason in the world.
In fact, we may say that all these questions that
are being asked you now regarding these children
are in your behalf. Holmes is locked up in this
very building, and we have been talking with him.
A. / thought maybe I ivould see the children
here.
Q. Holmes is locked up, you knew that, didn't
you?
A. I didn't know it until I came up here.
Q. He has not given you to understand that
the children were with their father ?
A. No.
Q. Is there anything else that you can think
of that he has said about the whereabouts of the
children ?
A. That is the last that I know about it.
Q. You have met him a number of times at
these different points ?
A. Yes.
Q. He has kept you moving on ?
A. Yes.
Q. (By Mr. Cornish.) Have you heard from
Alice since she has been away ?
A. I have not heard from her from Covington
since I was home.
THE WAGES OF SIK liJl
Q. Have you received a letter from her from
Covington ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Had she written it herself ?
A. Yes, sir, she and Nellie had written it
themselves.
Q. Did you keep the letter ?
A. No, I did not keep the letter.
Q. Do you remember what they said ?
A. Well, they said they were well and the
woman was real good to them, said she was an
awful kind lady, that they would like to see
mama, and wanted to know how the baby was, if
it could talk yet and how grandma and grandpa
were and they hoped they would see mama soon.
I think that is about the extent of it.
Q. That was sent where, to Galva ?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you receive any letters from them from
any other point except Covington ?
A. No, I think not.
Q. Did you get any from them from Toronto?
A. No, sir.
Q. The only correspondence you had from
them was in Covington ?
A." Yes, sir.
122 MRS. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE.
Q. And that was during the time you were in
Galva ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you ever write to your children ?
A. Wh}', certainly.
Q. How often ?
A. Well, I wrote them several letters while I
was home in Galva.
Q. (By Mr. Hanscom.) But you only heard
from them once ?
A. Well, I think I got two letters.
Q. (By Mr. Cornish.) How did you direct your
letters ?
A. Directed them to Alice Pitezel, Covington,
Ky.
Q. Did you mail it yourself?
A. My father mailed it.
Q. Have you written to them since at Coving-
ton or Toronto ?
A. Why, yes, I have sent them several letters.
Q. Who did you send them by, mail them
yourself ?
A. No, I did not mail them myself.
Q. Who mailed them ?
A. Holmes mailed them, I suppose. I had
given them to him to mail.
THE WAGES OF SIN. 123
Q. Did you write to your father and mother at
Galva ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you mail any of them ?
A. I mailed one from Chicago.
Q. Have you written to them since ? When
you were in Toronto and Detroit and those other
places ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you mail those ?
A. No, sir.
Q. Who did?
A. I gave them to Mr. Holmes to mail.
Q. Who suggested that you should employ Jeptha
D. Howe as counsel?
A. Mr. Howard. {Holmes).
Q. The first time that he called upon you in
St. Louis did he suggest that you employ Mr.
Howe?
A. No, not that night.
Q. The next day ?
A. I don't remember that I saw him the next
day, I think it was two days after that.
Q. Then he suggested that you should employ
Mr. Howe ?
124 3IRS. FITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE.
A. Yes, I think it was a couple of days, I can't
give it exactly.
Q. You went by the name of Adams in Detroit,
Toronto and Ogdenshurg ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And by the name of Cook in Burlington
A. Yes, that is right.
Q. Did Mr. Holmes tell you to use those
names ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where were you stopping in Burlington?
A. Winooski Avenue, No. 26, I think.
Q. How many times did you see Holmes in
Burlington?
A. Well, that is kind of a hard question to
answer, I don't remember, four or five times.
Q. Did he call at the house ?
A. Yes sir, but he never stayed any length of
time.
Q. Did he give you any money there ?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you receive a package from him last
Saturday by express ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What did that contain ?
A. It contained two tickets, railroad tickets.
THE WAGES OF SIN. 125
Q. And a letter ?
A. A short letter in it.
Q, What did the letter contain ?
A. Just for me to pick up my things and come
to Lowell Sunday night, and then Sunday morn-
ing this Mr. Lane came and gave me another let-
ter from him, that just stated for me to come
straight on to Boston, that he would see me
through.
Q. You have told all you know about this
matter ?
A. Yes, I have told about all I can remember,
it is mixed up anyway.
Q. Did you make an}' attempt to find the chil-
dren there in Toronto ?
A. They were not there when I was there.
Q. After you had left, lie told you that tliey
were there ?
A. That was when I was in Burlington, he
said tliey were there.
Q. That was the first that you knew of the
children being in Toronto ?
A. That was the first I knew that they were
there, and this letter came for me to come on down
here, and, of course, that ended it.
Q. How did he explair .o yon tliat the chil-
126 3IRS. PITEZEL QUESTIONED BY THE POLICE.
dren had left Covington for Toronto ? Why did
he change their location ?
A. Well, he said he thought it would be bet-
ter to have them up there, and I could go and see
them there, that they would be closer to me. I
thought, of course, I should go there to see them.
Q. Where were you, when he told that they
were in Toronto ?
A. I was in Burlington. It is just lately.
Q. He did not tell you where they were in
Toronto ?
A. No, sir.
Q. Whether they were in school or at a pri-
vate house ?
A. No, sir, I could not find them if it was a
case of life and death.
Q. When your husband went away from St.
Louis, did he tell you that he was going to Phila-
delphia or Chicago ?
A. He went to Chicago. He told me that he
was going there to dispose of some lumber. He
did not say he was going to Philadelphia when
he went away.
Q. And then you heard from him in Chicago
that he was going to Philadelphia ?
A. Yes, sir.
THE WAGES OF SIN, 129
Q, That was under the name of Pitezel ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did he tell you in that letter from Chi-
cago, that he was going by the name of Perry ?
A. No, sir.
Q. In the letter'after that ?
A. Yes, sir.
On Monday, November 19, 1894, Thomas
Crawford, one of the detectives of the Bureau of
Police of Philadelphia arrived in Boston, with
warrants for the arrest of Holmes and Mrs. Pite-
zel, both of whom, however, consented to go to
Philadelphia without the formality of a requisi-
tion from the Governor of Pennsylvania. The
party consisted of Detective Crawford, Inspector
Perry of the Insurance company, H. H. Holmes,
Miss Yoke, whom he had married under the name
of Howard, Mrs. Pitezel and her infant and
Dessie Pitezel. On the journey, Holmes reiter-
ated his statement that Pitezel was alive, and in
South America, and that the children w^ere with
him. That he had given Pitezel $1,600 and had
sewed $400 in Alice's dress or chemise. He said
he left Alice in Indianapolis, (after taking her to
Philadelphia) and then got the other two children
and bronght them to her. He then took them all
8
130 THE PRISONERS TAKEN TO PHILADELPHIA.
to Detroit, where they met Pitezel, and then the lat-
ter and the three children sailed for South
America. He said he and Pitezel were to keep
track of each other through the personal column
of the New York Herald.
He said to Dessie Pitezel : " Don't worry Des-
sie, you and your father will meet before long, and
you will see your sisters and 3^our brother." He
told her she might expect to see her father in
Philadelphia. He reiterated to Crawford his
story of the manner in which the corpse had been
obtained in New York, and laughed at the bun-
gling manner in which Pitezel had left tlie body ;
that he had particularly instructed Pitezel how to
place the body, to put the chloroform in its mouth
and to press the sides, so as to work it down the
throat ; that Pitezel had left the body with its
hand across the breast, looking as if it had died a
peaceful death, whereas the man was supposed to
have died a horrible death. He said he instructed
Pitezel how to fix the bottle and the pipe, so as to
have it appear as if in lighting the pipe the ben-
zine had exploded and killed the man. On the
train Holmes asked Crawford, if he believed in
hypnotism. Crawford said " No." He said he
could hypnotize people very easily, and wanted to
THE WAGES OF SIN. 131
try his powers on Crawford, but the invitation
was declined. The sort of hypnotism Holmes
was most proficient in was best exhibited when he
offered to give Crawford |500 dollars for a pur-
pose not stated, but quite well understood. That
bait was also declined.
On Tuesday, November 20th, 1894, the party
arrived at the Central Station, City Hall, Phila-
delphia. Holmes and Mrs. Pitezel were given a
hearing and were at once committed to prison to
await trial. Dessie Pitezel and the baby, were
placed in the kind care of Benjamin Crew, Esq.,
Secretary of the Society to Protect Children
from Cruelty. Within the next few days, Jeptha
D. Howe was brought on from St. Louis, on the
charge of conspiracy and was held in $2,500 bail
to answer at court. In due time the case reached
the office of George S. Graham, Esq., District At-
torney. In this office an indictment was pre-
pared, charging H. H. Holmes, Benjamin F. Pite-
zel, Carrie A. Pitezel, and Jeptha D. Howe with
having fraudulently and wilfully conspired to
cheat and defraud the Fidelity Mutual Life
Association, out of the sum of 110,000 dollars,
by means of the substitution of a body for
that of Benjamin F. Pitezel. This indictment
132 INDICTED BY THE GRAND JURY.
Wits formally presented to the Grand Jury and a
true bill was found, and tlie matter rested in
that shape until Holmes created another sensa-
tion by making a second so-called confession.
CHAPTER VI.
IN THE TOILS.
The Insurance Company Not Idle — Efiforts to Locate Pitezel—
Holmes in His Cell — The Arch-Scoundrel Changes Hie
Base — Sends for the Superintendent of Police — Admits
Lying — Pitezel Dead and the Children in London — Holmes'
Second Confession in Detail — Efforts to Verify or Disprove
It — The Children Still Missing — Groping in the Dark —
Thomas W. Barlow, Esq., Retained for the Insurance Com-
pany — A new Indictment — The Trial — Holmes Happy —
Sentence Deferred.
Between the arrest of these parties and their
indictment, the officers of the Insurance Company
were not idle. Mrs. Pitezel soon learned the
wisd(nn of sincerity and truthfulness, and became
communicative, and day by day the history of the
crime was laid bare. Every effort was made to
locate Pitezel and to find the children, and no ex-
pense was spared in running out all sorts of clues.
While this was going on, Holmes was occupying
his solitary cell in the county prison. He had
been for years a very busy man and never before
had such an opportunity for reflection and self-ex-
amination. As time passed, the probability that
C133)
134 SENDS FOR THE SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE.
Pitezel was not only not alive, but had been mur-
dered at No. 1316 Callowhill Street, pressed itself
upon the officers of the Company, and the District
Attorney as well, and this impression soon found
its way to Holmes in his prison cell. He now dis-
covered that a change of base was necessary. He
remembered a conversation that had taken place
between him and Inspector Perry, after his arrival
in Philadelphia. In this interview, Mr. Perry
a-ked him this question : Who helped you to
double up the body in New York City and put it
in a trunk? Holmes said: "I did it alone. It
is a trick I learned at Ann Arbor, Michigan, while
studying medicine there."
Mr. Perry knew that when the body which had
been found at No. 1316 Callowhill Street, was re-
moved to the morgue, it was straight and rigid
and two men had carried it, one at the head and
the other at the feet, — so another question was
asked Holmes : " Can you tell me where I can
find a medical man or a medical authority, which
will instruct me how to re-stiffen a body after
rigor mortis has once been broken ? " To this
inquiry. Holmes made no answer.
On December 27th, 1894, Holmes sent for R.
J. Linden, Esq., Superintendent of Police of the
IN THE TOILS. 135
Department of Public Safety of Philadelphia. He
told the superintendent that he was very sorry
he had been so untruthful in his former state-
ments, when he had declared that Pitezel was
alive, and was in South America, and that the
children were with him. He said he was now pre-
pared to tell the truth, the whole truth and noth-
ing but the truth ; that Pitezel was not alive, but
dead, and that it was really Pitezel's body which
had been identified in the Potters Field; that the
children were not with their father, but with Miss
Williams, who had taken them to London, where
they could easily be found. He then dictated to
a stenographer, the following statement, which is
called by the police. Confession No. 2.
Statement.
I contemplated defrauding the insurance com-
pany in August or September, 1893, in connection
with Benjamin F. Pitezel. No one else was in the
plot until July, 1894. Mrs. Pitezel was then in-
formed of it by Pitezel. About August 1st, on
my release from jail in St. Louis, I outlined the
conspiracy to Howe and showed him how L in-
tended raising money to liberate Hedgepeth from
jail, I having told Hedgepeth of it while in jail
136 HOLMES' SECOND CONFESSION.
and agreed to raise $300 to help him out. Howe
at that time had no idea of joining in the con-
spiracy. I went from St. Louis to Chicago to
raise some money there, and went to New York
where I got $600 from Minnie Williams. I then
arranged with Pitezel that he should provide a re-
treat to stop at after the conspiracy was consum-
mated and also to get his teeth altered. Leav-
ing him in New York, I came to Philadelphia to
look for a house. I took part of No. 1905 I'iorth
lltii Street. Three days later Pitezel caiue and
took the house No. 1316 Callowhill Stree^*., which
he furnished partially with chemicals and bottles
to represent a patent dealer. 1 visited this house
I think four times besides the day on which he
died. I visited the house about the last of August
and stayed five or six hours. At that time Pite-
zel was despondent. I found he had been drink-
ing and took him to task for it. He remarked
tliat he guessed he had better drink enough to kill
him and have done with it. He borrowed %\b from
me and I left about 4 o'clock. To the best of my
knowledge I next saw him on the following Sat-
urday, September 1st, at the Mercantile Library,
and quite late that evening he came to my house
on North 11th Street and said he had received a
TX THE TOILS. 137
telegram that his baby was sick and he had to go
home. I said we had better arrange how his busi-
ness should be run and he told me he could get a
party to come to the place. I raised no objection
to his going. When we got the arrangements all
made he said : " You will have to let me have
some money to go with."
I asked him where the $150 were that he told
me he had a few days ago. He said : " Well I
haven't got it." T could not give him any at that
time. This was about 9 o'clock in the evening.
I promised to go down in the morning, but before
leaving we arranged that I should go in his place
and take care of the sick baby and start the body
there. The next morning, Sunday, about 10:30, 1
went to his house. I had been provided with a
key to go in with. I found no one there either on
the first or the second floor, where his slee[)ing
apartment was. He had a cot there which I do
not think he ever made up. I went over to the
Mercantile Library and stayed there about an
hour, and then went up on Broad Street where I
had a private mail box, but did not get any mail,
bought a morning paper and went back to the
Callowhill Street house. I found no one there and
knew that no one had been there while I was
138 HOLMES' SECOND CONFESSION.
away. T went upstairs and laid down on the cot
and read the paper. It was probably about 12
o'clock when I got back. After reading the paper for
about a half hour, I went to his desk to write some
letters, and found there a scrap of paper with a
figure cipher on it that we used, and it said :
" Get letter out bottle in cupboard." I kept that
piece of paper until in Toronto, where I used it in
sending a cipher to Mrs. Pitezel and tried to
imitate his figures. I got the letter and it told
me that he was going to get out of it, and that I
should find him upstairs, if he could manage to
kill himself. I went upstairs and looked in the
clothes press on the second floor, which was the
only place I had not been on that floor. Not find-
ing him there I ran up to the third story, opened
the door, and saw him lying on the fioor appar-
ently dead. I felt his pulse and laid my hand on
his and found it was cold. His eyes were partially
closed. I then had to leave the room on account
of the fumes of chloroform being so strong. I
went and opened the window in the other room
and came back and started to go in again, but had
to give it up, and went to the second floor again.
As soon as I could, I did go in again and found
that he was lying on his back with his left hand
IN TEE TOILS. 139
folded over his abdomen and his right hand lying at
his side. I did not keep the letter which was in
the bottle, but destroyed it with other papers the
next day on the train going from Philadelphia to
St. Louis. I removed the furniture from the third
story room and took it to the second storj^ leaving
the body until the last. Then I brought the body
down into the second story, and arranged it in
the way it was found. This was about 3 o'clock.
I had arranged with Pitezel, that when he should
place the substitute body, a bottle should be
broken which it was supposed that he had in his
hand when the explosion occurred, and that the
fragments should be scattered around the room.
I held the bottle up and broke it with a blow of
the hammer upon the side. That bottle con-
tained benzine, chloroform and ammonia, which
was to be used for burning the floor to indicate that
an explosion had occurred. I took some of this
fluid and put it upon his right hand and side, and
on the right side of his face and set fire to it. I
then arranged the articles that he had taken from
his pocket putting them back again, and hung his
vest in the second story bedroom, and the coat in
the first story where he had been in the habit of
keeping it. I gathered together the rubber tube,
140 HOLMES' SECOND CONFESSION.
towel, and a bottle of chloroform and left the
house as soon as I could, about a quarter of four.
I then went to Broad Street station and found
that the train for the west would leave in thirty
minutes, and another at 10:25 P. M. I went im-
mediately to No. 1905 North llth Street and
packed my things, and started for St. Louis that
night. I found a letter to Mrs. Pitezel in liis
clothing, which I took with me and put with the
other papers in my inside vest pocket. I think I
threw away the key to the house, which I had and
put back the regular key where lie usually kept it,
and instead of locking the door, I left it open a
few inches. I got to my house about 5 o'clock.
M}^ wife was not well, and I went to work and
straightened things and got the packing done
before it was dark. When I found the body, the
pockets of the pants were turned out, and his
knife and the key of the house were lying on a
chair. Up to this time, Howe was in the con-
spiracy. The following Wednesday night I got
to St. Louis, and on that day I had seen in a St.
Louis paper, a report that the body had been
found. I went immediately to Howe's office,
having made up my mind, that as he knew of it, I
had better let him settle up the insurance. He
JN THE TOILS. 141
was not there. I went to Mrs. Pitezel's and
found that they had also seen the report. The
children were greatly worried, but Mrs. Pitezel
was not, as she believed that the scheme had
been carried out. We talked the matter over a
couple of hours, and I came back that night and
saw Howe and explained what had been done, not
telling him that it was Pitezel, but leaving him to
believe that the plan of placing a substitute had
been carried out, and retained him on behalf of
Mrs. Pitezel to procure the money from the Com-
pany, He suggested that she have some of her
neighbors write first, inasmuch as it would not
look well for her to immediately run off and get
a lawyer ; this was done. At the time of the dis-
covery of the body, a towel was over his face.
The tube was fastened to the bottle by a cork with
a quill ; then he had tied around a string to keep
the chloroform from running too fast. I think the
rubber tube was four or five feet long. I took the
tube with me. His wife asked me what that was
for. I think I took the cork and quill out of the
house also.
(In answer to questions) : It did not occur to
me when I found that Pitezel was drinking, to
142 A NEW INDICT3IENT.
give him a little chloroform. I had nothing to do
with his taking the chloroform.
This statement Holmes reiterated to the officers
of the company and efforts to verify or disprove
it were renewed with vigor. January, February,
March and April of 1895, came and went, and yet
the most earnest work failed to discover the chil-
dren, or obtain any clue of them, after tliey had
disappeared from Toronto on October 25th, 1894,
to which place they had been traced. Furtlier-
raore if it was Pitezel's body that was found in
the Callowhill Street house, there was no substi-
tution, and an indictment charging the conspira-
tors with having substituted a body, would not
meet the case.
At this juncture, the officers of the Company,
under the advice of District Attorney'' Graham,
retained Thomas W. Barlow, Esq., a member of
the Philadelphia bar. The District Attorney had
associated Mr. Barlow with him in many cases in
previous 3'ears, and they were in thorough accord.
A brief of all the facts of the case was carefully
prepared and eventually a new indictment was
found, charging H. H. Holmes, Marion C. Hedge-
peth, and Jeptha D. Howe, with having conspired
to cheat the Insurance Company, by alleging that
IN THE TOILS. 143
one B. F. Pitezel, who had been insured in said
company had died as the result of an accident.
This indictment was ingeniously constructed to
meet the facts of the case, within the grasp of the
Commonwealtli. If a body had been substituted
and Pitezel was alive, it was good ; if the body
found was really Pitezel's and he was dead and
had committed suicide, it was equally good, as a
clause in the policy made it null and void, in case
of self destruction. It was then determined to
hold any further investigation of the case in abey-
ance, until a trial should be had under this new
bill, the prisoner convicted, and remanded to
prison to await sentence.
On June 3d, 1895, the prisoner was called for
trial on the new bill. He was defended by able
counsel, who presented a bold front on behalf of
their client on the first day of the trial. On the
second day they weakened and advised their cli-
ent to plead guilty. This he did with alacrity, as
he thought the end of his troubles was in sight.
He was informed by his counsel, that the maxi-
mum term of imprisonment in Pennsylvania for
conspiracy, was two years, and if he pleaded
guilty he might possibly get less. The prisoner
hastened to take advantage of such a comfortable
144 THE TRIAL.
means of retreat. He really looked happy when
the Judge said he would not sentence him then,
but would consider his case at a later day.
In the Court Room closely observing the pris-
oner, was Detective Frank P. Geyer, of the
Bureau of Police of Philadelphia. Mr. Geyer
had been requested to be present by the District
Attorney and Mr. Barlow. A few days later, Mr.
Barlow was made Special Assistant District Attor-
ney, and the great work of uncovering one of the
greatest criminals of modern times immediately
commenced.
CHAPTER Vir.
" A SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE KMAVE."
Holmes' Interview with the District Attorney — The Human-
ity of Justice — Holmes Urged to Produce the Pitezel
Children — His Apparent Candor — Disposition of the Chil-
dren — Four Hundred Dollars Pinned in Alice's Dress —
Nellie Disguised as a Boy — The Loudon Address — Holmes
and Miss Williams Agree upon a Cipher — The New York
Sunday Herald — Correspondence with Scotland Yard.
Holmes was removed from the couit room to
an apartment in the City Hall, designated as the
cell room, where prisoners are detained after trial,
or while waiting their conve3ance to the county
prison. As Holmes sat cheerfully chatting with
one of his counsel, a message reached them from
the District Attorney, requesting a conference at
once, touching the whereabouts of the children.
This meeting took i)lace in ]\Ir. Graham's (>ffice.
In the middle of the office was a long table.
Holmes and his counsel sat on one side of this
table, and Mr. Graham and Mr. Barlow on the
other. The District Attorney opened the confer-
ence by informing Holmes, that the cfficers of the
(145)
146 INTERVIEW WITH THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
Commonwealth were very anxious to find the
Pitezel children and restore them to their mother ;
that he had decided to abandon the case against
Mrs. Pitezel, as she had suffered quite enough for
any part she had reluctantly taken in the perpe-
tration of the fraud on the Insurance Company,
and that he intended to set her at liberty without
delay ; that the uncertainty of the fate of Alice,
Nellie, and Howard, coupled with the death of her
husband, (of which she and all parties were now
quite convinced), had almost dethroned her rea-
son, and that every instinct of humanity dictated
a pressing necessity for haste in any effort which
could be made to bring her children to her, and
that the immediate recovery of the children would
remove a growing suspicion that they had been
foully dealt with.
" It is strongly suspected, Holmes," said Dis-
trict Attorney Graham, " that j^ou have not only
murdered Pitezel, but that you have killed the
children. The best way to remove this suspicion,
is to produce the children at once. Now where
are they? Where can I find them ? Tell me and
I will use every means in my power to secure their
early recovery. It is due to Mrs. Pitezel and to
yourself, that the children should be found. You
"4 SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE KNAVE.'' 147
were arrested in November last and j-ou said the
cliildren were with their father in South America.
It is now May, and we have heard nothing of
them. We know your November statement to be
untrue, because I am quite convinced that their
father died on the second day of September last, at
No. 1316 Callowhill Street. You subsequently said
tliat Pitezel was dead and that you gave the children
to Miss Williams in Detroit, and you have further-
more given several variations from this last state-
ment. I am almost persuaded that your word can-
not be depended upon, yet I am not averse to giv-
ing you an opportunity to assist me in clearing u})
the mystery which surrounds their disappearance
and their present abode, and I now ask you to an-
swer frankly and truthfully. Where are the chil-
dren ? "
While Mr. Graham was talking. Holmes listened
quietly and attentively, and made no response un-
til he was sure that the District Attorney had
paused for a reply. He then said with every ap-
pearance of candor, that he was very glad of the
opportunity thus afforded him to assist in the
restoration of the children to their mother.
" The last time I saw Howard," he said, " was
in Detroit, Michigan. There I gave him to Miss
148 DISPOSITION OF THE CHILDREN.
Williams, who took him to Buffalo, New York,
from which point she proceeded to Niagara Falls,
After the departure of Howard, in Miss Williams'
care, I took Alice and Nellie to Toronto, Canada,
where they remained for several days. At Tor-
onto I purchased railroad tickets for them for
Niagara Falls, put them on the train, and rode
out of Toronto with them a few miles, so that
they would be assured that they were on the right
train. Before their departure, I prepared a tele-
gram which they should send me from the Falls,
if they failed to meet Miss Williams and Howard,
and I also carefully pinned in the dress of Alice,
four hundred dollars in large bills, so Miss Will-
iams would be in funds to defray their expenses.
" They joined Miss Williams and Howard at
Niagara Falls, from which point they went to
New York City. At the latter place. Miss Will-
iams dressed Nellie as a boy, and took a steamer
for Liverpool, whence they went to London. If
you search among the steamship offices in New
York, you must search for a woman and a girl and
two boys, and not a woman and two girls and a
boy. This was all done to throw the detectives
off the track, who were after me for the insurance
fraud. Miss Williams opened a massage estab-
4;^5<A.<^ /^.^^^•:>-t^,*-:::^^.^.^ ^:^ c^^v^ c^^ ^z.^^ ^ ^A-^ ^— "^
j ^ 4ii!3u, .<;;fc^ ^ 0<i^ju-^ (i./w-_^ -7^«-. — -Tt---^ ^^ 2^-o ^7^-Ji, ^l^yi-t.
Fac-Simile of Holmes' Lettek to District Attorney Graham.
"A SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE KNAVEJ' 151
lishmeiit at No. 80 Veder or Vadar Street, Lon-
don. I luive no doubt the clnldren are with her
now, and veiy likely at that place."
Holmes said further that he and Miss Williauis
had agreed upon a ci[)her, which they were to use
in counnuuicating with each other in the personal
colunni of the New York Herald, and that if an
advertisement were prepared in accordance with
this cipher, very doubtless she would be heard
from in a very short time, and the children re-
covered.
He further denied with great emphasis, that he
had killed Pitezel, or had harmed the children and
became almost tearful when he exclaimed to the
District Attorne}", " Why shonld I kill innocent
children ? "
The conversation then became general, during
which time Holmes exhibited no embarrassment
whatever until he was asked by Mr. Bailow :
"Please give me the "name of one respectable
person to whom I can go, either in Detroit, Buf-
falo, Toronto, Niagara Falls, or New York, who
will say that they saw Miss Williams and the
tliree children together." This question staggered
him for a moment, but he ({uickly recoveixl him-
self and said in an injured tone, that the question
152 THE NEW YORK SUNDAY HERALD.
implied a disbelief in his statement. He was
promptly told that it certainly did, and further-
more, that the speaker believed his entire story to
be a lie from beginning to end. This drew a
vehement protest from Holmes and he declared
his readiness to furnish the cipher, with which an
advertisement in the Herald should be made up,
and by means of which the children would be re-
covered.
He Avas told to prepare the cipher and he said
he would send it to the District Attorney from the
prison.
A day or two later, this letter was received by
District Attorney Graham, from Holmes :
May 29, '95.
District Attorney Graham.
Dear Sir : —
The adv. should appear in the Neiv
York Sunday Herald and if some comment upon
the case can also be put in body of paper stating
absence of children and that adv. concerning ap-
pears in this paper, etc., it would be an advantage.
Any word you may see fit to use in adv. will do
and if a long one, only one sentence need be in
cipher as she will know by this that it must come
from me as no one else, unless I told them, could
have same.
"J SLIPPERY AND SUBTLE KNAVE.' 153
Perhaps the first sentence should be — Impor-
tant to liear before 10th. Cable. Also write
to Mr. Massie. Aplbcnliun — iib — CBRc — etc.
The Xetv York Herald is (or was a year ago) to
be found at only a few places regularly in London.
Very Respectfully,
H. H. Holmes.
REPUBLICAN republican ^,, ^^epBc
ABCDEFGHIJ klmnopqrst uvwxyz. holmes
The suggestions contained in this letter were
strictly complied with. The Philadelphia corres-
pondent of the Neio York Hrald, was taken into
the confidence of the District Attorney's office,
and an article was prepared, commenting upon
the case and published in the same edition, Sun-
day, June 2d, 1895, in which the following ad-
vertisement in the personal column appeared :
" MINNIE WILLIAMS, ADELE COVELLE. GEK-
ALDINE WANDA.-AplbeuRun nb CBKc EBLbvB
lOtli PREeB ABnucu PCAeUcBu RubuPB. Also write
pk PRaaAB cbepBa. Address, GEORGE S. GRA-
HAM, City Hall, Philadelphia, Penn., U. S. A."
This cipher would have conveyed to Miss Will-
iams, the following message :
IMPORTANT TO HEAR BEFORE 10th
CABLE RETURN CHILDREN AT ONCE.
ALSO AplbcnRun nb CBRc EBLbiB 10th
154 CORRESPONDENCE WITH SCOTLAND YARD.
PREeB ABiuicu PCAeUcBu Ru buPB. Also
WRITE MR. xMASSIE. HOLMES.
write pk PRaaAB. CbepBa.
Address, etc.
It was determined to open a correspondence
with the Scotland Yard offices in London, and ask
their aid in searching for the childi'en. It was
soon discovered, however, that there was no Veder
or Vadar Street in London and a request for the
assistance of the police authorities in that city
was abandoned for the present.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PITEZEL CHILDREN.
Holmes' Story not Credited — Nettie aud Miuuie Williams —
Holmes Declares Sliuuie Murdered Her Sister — Tlie Search
lor the Children Decided upon. The Route Proposed —
Holmes' Cunuing — Iniportaut Clues— Release of Mrs.
Pitezel — Mrs. Pitezel's Statement — Nitro-Glyceriue —
Holmes' Letter to Mrs. Pitezel — Detective Geyer.
No one in the District Attorney's office be-
lieved a word of the story that Hohnes had told
about the children, and it was determined to
make a patient and persistent search among tlic
cities in the West for information or clues which
would lead to their recovery if alive, or the
discovery of their bodies if dead. It was a gigan-
tic task and almost a hopeless one, but neither its
great size nor the strong improbability of success,
was permitted to interfere with the plans which
were then perfected.
Rumors of the remarkable disappearance of
two sisters, Nettie and Minnie Williams, had be-
come current. They had been last seen in the
jompany and under the protection of Holmes,
(155)
156 SEARCH FOR THE CHILDREN DECIDED UPON.
and a piece of real estate in Fort Worth, Texas,
of which they were owners, was found to have
been conveyed to Benton T. Lyman, (which was an
alias of Benjamin F. Pitezel) and into the pos-
session and control of Holmes. Holmes had ad-
mitted his intimacy with these women and told a
startling story of the Holmes type, describing
his return one night to the home of the Williams
sisters, of his discovery that Minnie in a moment of
rage had killed Nettie and how he had shielded
the former, by taking Nettie's body out on the
lake at Chicago and quietly sinking it. This story,
as untruthful and as improbable as any he ever
told, had left an impression upon the minds of the
officers of the Insurance Company and of leading
police officials. They reasoned, and with some
force, that while they were quite ready to believe
that Holmes had killed the little Pitezel children,
they did not think it possible that such an astute
and wily criminal, had left a trace behind him,
and that most probably the bodies of the children
had been sunk in some lake or river, just as
Nettie Williams had been. They further reminded
the District Attorne}' and his Assistant, that the
children had disappeared in October, 1894, and it
was then June, 1895, and it was hardly to be ex-
THE PITEZEL CHILDEEX. 15'^
pected that after such a hipse of time a clue which
would lead to the discovery of their bodies or the
means adopted in disposing of them, could be dis-
covered.
The proposition therefore, to go over the route
taken by Holmes, in company with the children,
starting from Cincinnati, thence to Indianapolis,
Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, and Burlington (Ver-
mont) savored very much of a wild goose chase, and
■would be moreover a waste of time and mone3^
After Holmes had been arrested in Boston, the
detectives of the insurance company had
traced the children to Cincinnati and thence to
the cities above named, until Detroit was reached,
ivhen Howard disaj^jjeared. The two girls with
Holmes, were then traced to Toronto, whe7i they
disappeared, and so it looked very much as if the
story Holmes had told of having given Howard to
Miss Williams in Detroit, and then sent the girls to
her from Toronto, was true.
Holmes however did not tell this story nntil
after he knew that the insurance detectives had dis-
covered the houses he liad rented in Detroit and
Burlington and so he adjusted himself to the sit-
uation from time to time as it arose.
The newspapers were regularly served to
158 ntPORTANT CLUES.
Holmes in the county prison and he employed
his time in keeping pace with the news as it came
to him.
A few important clues had, moreover, been
overlooked. When he was arrested, a tin box con-
taining title and other papers and private memo-
randa, were found. Among the papers Avere ten or
twelve letters from Alice and Nellie, written to
their mother and grandparents from Cincinnati,
Indianapolis, and Detroit, and which they had
evidently given to Holmes to mail. A number of
letters written by Mrs. Pitezel in Detroit and
Toronto, were also found in the box. She said
she had given them to Holmes to mail and was
surprised when informed that they had been found
in his box. These letters constituted a ver}^ im-
portant clue and they will be given in their proper
place in this narrative. The other clue was a
small bunch of keys, found by Miss Yoke (Mrs.
Howard) in her truidc and surrendered b}- her to
the officers.
District Attorney Graham and his Assistant,
Mr. Barlow, were not affected by any pessimistic
view of the situation. They did not believe that
a man could kill three children and escape dis-
covery. They believed that the children were
r$
\
^
#^-!s-
THE PITEZEL CHILDREN. 161
alive or in hiding, or if they had been murdered
all previous efforts to find them had been unskill-
fully made, and they resolved to undertake a care-
ful and patient search for the blunder which a
criminal always makes between the inception and
the consummation of his crime.
About tiiis time the District Attorney, as already
stated, determined upon the release of Mrs. Pite-
zel. She had given a full, frank and truthful
statement of all she knew of the case. She stated
she had given Holmes about !i!^6,700 of the 87,200
she had received from Howe, and Holmes had
given her a note drawn to the order of B. B.
Samuels for 'llGiOOO. Here is an exact copy of
this note.
There was no endorsement on the back of this
note.
That after she had given Howard and Nellie to
Holmes, to take to Cincinnati, to join Alice, she
had gone to the home of her parents in Galva,
Illinois. That in response to a letter from Holmes,
she went on October 13th, 1894, to Deivoxt, ivliere
he said she ivonld meet her hnnhand.
That upon her arrival in Detroit, Holmes met
her and said, that V>q\\ had found it impossible to
remain in Detroit, and had gone to Toronto. That
162 3IES. PITEZEL'S STATEMENT.
on October 18th she went to Toronto, where
Holmes told her, that Ben got frightened because
of his belief that the detectives were after him,
and had gone to Montreal. He showed her a note
written in cipher, which he said Pitezel had sent
to her. That under the advice and direction of
Holmes, she journeyed with her children wearied
and worn out with travel and anxiety, to Pres-
cott, thence to Ogdensburg, and finally to Bur-
lington, Vermont, where Holmes rented a house
for her, — he giving her name as Mrs. Cook, and his
own as Judson, and alleging that she was his
sister ; that while in Burlington, Holmes, brought
a package of nitro-glycerine to the house and
placed it in the cellar. That he wrote her a note^
requesting her to carry the packaye to one of the
%ipppr floors^ which she did not do. That while in
the Burlington house. Holmes came there and
went into the cellar, and after a while she followed
him and found him removing some boards on the
cellar floor. She says he exhibited much con-
fusion when he found her observing him, and
shortl}' after left the house.
On June 19, 1894, Mrs. Pitezel entered lier own
recognizance to appear when wanted, and was at
once set at liberty.
THE PITEZEL CHILDREN. 163
On the day of her discharge, she received the
following remarkable letter from Holmes:
Philadelphia, June 17th, '95.
Mrs. Carrie A. Pitezel.
Dear INIadam : —
I have been exceedingly anxious
during the last mouths to communicate with you,
but have been completely headed off in every
direction. I learn that you will shortly be set
at liberty, and I shall take this letter to City
Hall with me and then give it to my attorneys
to be sent to you, as the prison regulations do
not prohibit my doing so. I have been re-
peatedly called cruel and heartless during the
past six montlis, and by those who were at tlie
very time doing more than I, that was both cruel
and heartless towards you. Within ten days
after you came here arrangements were made
with my attorney to furnish bail for you and a
house to live in. We were refused permission
to see you, although you remember coming here
from Boston, it was promised I should see you.
Later I offered to make arrangements with your
lawyer for tlie same. jNIr. Barlow of the District
Attorney's ofQce, told me I could do nothing and
that I need not worry myself about you as you
are being cared for. Within three days after you
came here you had been made to believe so much
from others that you forgot that for years I had
164 HOLMES' LETTER TO SIRS. PITEZEL.
done all 1 could do for you and yours and that it
was hardly likely that all at ouce I should turn
and do all I could against you.
Facts you should know are as follows : Ben
lived West, and while drunk at Ft. Worth, Texas
married a disreputable woman by the name of
Mrs. Martin. (Write E. Otto, also Boarding
House bet. Houston and Throckmorton Sts., on
1st St., where they lived as Mr. and Mrs. Lyman.)
When he became sober and found what he had
done, he threatened to kill himself and her, and I
had him watched by one of the other men until
he went home. When we straightened up the
bank account, he had fooled awaj^ or been robbed
by her of over $850 of the money we needed there
so much. Later he wanted to carry out the in-
surance work down in Mississippi, where he was
acquainted, and I ^^•ent there with him, and when
I found out what kind of a place it was, would
not go any further with it thei'e and told Jiim so,
and he said if I did not, he would kill himself and
get money for you, etc. To get him out of the
notion. I told him I would go to Mobile and if I
could get what was wanted would do so, if nut, I
would go to St. Louis and write for him to come.
I did not go to Mohile. Was never there in my
life. When I reached St. Louis I wrote him, and
in the letter he left me after he died, he said he
tried to kill himself with laudanum there, and
later I found out this was so. (Henry Rogers,
THE PITEZEL CHILDREN. IGS
Prop, of Hotel at Perkinsville, Ala.) Where lie
was very sick. He also wrote you he was sick
there, I think you told nie. Here in Phila. \^e
were not ready. He got word baby was sick and
he had to own to me he had drank up the $35.00
I gave him extra in N. Y., and then I told him I
would settle up everything, as if we carried it
out, he might get to drinking and tell of it. He
begged me not to do it, and at last I concluded to
try again, but thought it best to have him think
for a week or two that I was not going on with it,
so lie would sober up and be himself. I blame
myself for this and always shall, for the next day
when I went to his store I found him as I have
described, and Perry or the detectives have got
the cipher slip he left me, or at all events, it was
in the tin box they took. He asked me to get
you a house in Cincinnati, on ac. of good schools,
etc., and I did so, but did not dare take you tliere
after Howe and McD. threatened my arrest, and
so made arrangements with Miss W. to live with
you. She took Ploward with her from Detroit be-
cause he would quarrel with the girls if no grown
person was with them, and he wanted his father's
watch and Alice wanted to keep it, and so I took
it, telling them I wanted to show it to you and
Dessa, and bought all three of them each a cheap
watch. When I found the conditions in Toronto
were not as Miss W. thouglit they were, and I
was getting word from Chicago every day that I
10
166 HOLMES' LETTER TO MRS. PITEZEL,
was being followed, I thought best to go out of
the country altogether, and the Ins. Co. know
the children A. and E. were at their hotel at 1
o'clock the afternoon you left Toronto, and be-
tween then and when I saw you at 4 o'clock at
the store where I was buying some things for
them, I had been to my wife's hotel twice and
was with you again at 6:30, and had meantime
started the children to J\Jiss W. and eaten my
supper. From that time until my anest in Bos-
ton, if I could now be allowed to sit down with
you and my wife, I could show where every half
hour was spent. In Boston I recvd. letter
from Miss W. that the}^ would leave there in a
few days, and if the detectives would now go, as
I beg of them, they could trace out the N. Y. end
of the matter and stop all the unnecessary delay
and expense. This would spoil their theories and
would not be a sufficiently bloodthirsty ending of
the case to satisfy them it seems. As soon as
they got a house and were settled, they w^ere to
send word and you were to then go to them, and
this was why I wished you to take a furnished
hduse so you could get rested and not be at ho-
tels. I made arrangements for Miss W, to tell
3'ou all, when you Avere settled. If you had
known they were following you, you would have
been worried, and I think you will remember I
tried to do all I could to keep you from it, and
we had to get rid of the old trunks and get the
TEE PITEZEL CHILDREN. 167
things into bundles, so there would be no check-
ing. There is a bundle of yours now at the Bur-
lington Depot marked with the name you Avent
by there, which I have forgotten. I was as care-
ful of the children as if they were my own, and
you know me well enough to judge me better
than strangers here can do. Ben would not have
done anything against me, or I against him, any
quicker than brothers. We neve?- quarrelled.
Again, he was worth too much to me for me to
have killed him, if I had no other reason not to.
As to the children, I never will believe, until you
tell me so yourself, that you think they are dead
or that 1 did anything to put them out of the
way. Knowing me as you do, can you imagine
me killing little and innocent children, especially
without any motive ? Why, if I was preparing
to put them out of life was I (within an hour be-
fore I must have done it if ever) buying them
things to wear and make them comfortable, even
underwear for them to take to Miss W. for How-
ard, (which I can prove I bought in Toronto,) if
as they would have you believe, Pat had taken
him and killed him weeks before. Don't you
know that if I had offered Pat a million dollars,
he would not have done a thing like this. I
made a mistake in having it known that Miss W.
killed her sister, as it tends to make her more
careful about her movements, but I could hardly
do otherwise, when I was accused of killing them
168 HOLMES' LETTER TO MRS. PITEZEL.
both. Now after they get ck~)ne trying to make
the case worse than it is, you will fiiul that they
will trace the children to N. Y. and to the steamer
there. Next to you, I have snffered most about
them, and a few days ago gave the District Attor-
ney all facts I could, and if nothing comes of it
soon, I hardly expect anything new to occur until
I can be taken to Ft. Worth and arrange the
property so Mr. Massie, her old guardian, can take
lier part of the money to her in London. By ad-
vertising, if she knows there is mone}" for her,
and it conies through Mr. Massie safely, she will
find some way, (probably through her Boston
friend,) to get it. As long as there is nothing to
gain, she will hardly come out openly and lay
herself liable to arrest. I dislike fearfully to go
to Ft. Worth to serve a term, as the prisons there
are terrible. I had rather be here five years than
there one, and in going, there is no better way to
have you know I am still willing to do all 1 can
for you and yours. I blame tlie Company here for
keeping you shut up six months in this den, for
worrying yon about your children not being alive
and for their trying to separate my wife from me,
for these things do not concern them, but 1 have
never blamed them for otherwise making me all
the trouble they can. I would do the same with
another if the tables were turned. As matters
now stand, I have got here, in Illinois and in
Texas, between fifteen and twenty years of im-
The riTEZEL children. im
prisonnient a\^■aiting nie. If the children can be
found, 1 want to finish here and in lilinois first.,
hoping by that time the Texas matters may blow
over or that I may die ; l)ut if they are not found
before my sentence expires liere, if any arrange-
ment can be made so papers can be filed in Texas
to bring me back here or to Illinois, after I have
served tliis first small charge in Texas, so I do n(»t
have to stay and serve the others there until after
my northern term is served, I will go and dm all I
can to both get the property straightened there,
so you can liave a small income and arrange for
recovery of the children. Hen's death was genu-
ine and you were entitled to the money, and if it
had not been for H. and McD., you would to-day
have been in Cincinnati with all the children.
About the money — Ben asked me to use most
of it to pay debts and ari-ange so some steady in-
come should come to you from the South. The
note you got in St. Louis was made by him in the
spring and some money was due on it. We were
f)wing Miss W. about 15,000. T gave -$1,000 to
her in Detroit (also S400 to Alice in Toronto)
and you have no reason to think I was not intend-
ing to take care of you then, more than in years
before, and now if I can get to Ft. Worth with-
out running risk of staying there more than one
year, I will soon straigliten so as to get you
money while I am there in jail. Mr. Shoemaker
went there two weeks last winter and started mat-
170 HOLMES' LETTER TO MRS. PITEZEL.
ters, but until I can go there and be taken into
court, nothing more can be clone I fear. There
are some letters at the City Hall that I promised
Alice I would save for her, as I did not dare let her
carry them with her, and if after they get through
with them, you can get them, I wish you would do
so, also Ben's watch. Howard has the other things.
I don't know what you will do meantime, if you
gain your liberty here, but rest assured I will do
all I can at the earliest possible moment. So far
as the children's bodily health is concerned, I feel
sure I can say to you the}- are as well to-daj' as
though with you, also that they will not be turned
adrift among strangers, for two reasons. First,
Miss W., although quick tempered, is too soft
hearted to do so; second, if among others where
their letters could not be looked over and de-
tained, the}^ would write to their grandparents,
(not to 3'ou, as I instructed Miss W. from Boston
in answer to her letter to me. if she heard of my
or our arrest, to have children think we were lost
crossing to London.) They have no doubt writ-
ten letters which Miss W., for her own safety, has
withheld.
If there are any questions you wish to ask me,
make a list of them and send to one of my attor-
neys. I have refrained from asking you anj^lest
you would think that the object of my letter. I
have no desire to do anything to cause your
lawyer or the prosecution any unnecessary work
The pitezel children. i7i
or annoyance, and if you write me, shall isimply
answer questions asked. Shall not advise or ques-
tion you, nor would 1 have done so if allowed to
have seen you during past months, though it
would liave saved them much unnecessary delay
and expense to have had us eliminate some of
the features of the case by comparing memories.
I, at least, hope your suffering here is nearly
ended.
Yours Trul3^
H. H. Holmes.
The foregoing narrative substantially presents
the case, known to, and considered by the District
Attorne3''s office at the time arrangements were
perfected, which permitted of the release of Mr.
Geyer from his routine duties in the Police De-
[)artment. He had been for twenty years an
esteemed and trusted member of the Philadelphia
Detective Bureau. He had had a vast experience in
detective work, and more particularly in murder
cases and justly enjoyed the friendship and confi-
dence of the District Attorney, and his assistant,
as much because of his high personal character, as
his skill and dexterity in his profession. Funds to
defray the expenses of the search were readily fur-
nished by the officers uf the Insurance Company,
notwithstanding their belief that little more could
172 DETECTIVE GEYER.
be accoinplislied than threshing over old straw.
On the evening of June 26th, 1895, full of hope
and courage Detective Geyer started on his
journey. But we will let him tell his own story.
DETECTIVE GEYER'S NARRATIVE.
CHAPTER IX.
ON THE Til AIL.
Defective Geyer Uudeitakes the Seaicli — Arrival at Ciucin-
nati — Searching Hotel Registers — Holmes Located at two
Hotels under Two Aliases — Hotel Clerk Reoogviizes Photo-
graphs of Holmes and the Children — Holmes Rents a
House under Another Alias — Holmes gives Away a Stove
—Geyer Starts for Indianapolis.
About the time of tlie trial and conviction of
Holmes, I was sent for by Mr. Barlow, to call
upon liim at the District Attorney's office. On
my arrival there, 1 was informed that Mr. Graham
liad decided to send me West to make a search for
the missing Pitezel children. Arrangements were
then made with the snperintendent of police to
detail me for the task, and preparations were com-
pleted for the start. Several conferences were
held with the officers of the insurance company,
and the District Attorney and his assistant, and I
soon became familiar witli every point of the case.
Eight months having elapsed since the children
liad been heard from, it did not look like a very
encouraging task to undertake, and it was the
{17V
m ARRIVAL AT CINCINNATI.
general belief of all interested, that the children
would never be found. The District Attorney
believed, however, that another final effort to find
the children should be made, for the sake of the
stricken mother, if for nothing else. I was not
placed under any restrictions, but was told to go
and exercise my own judgment in the matter, and
to follow wherever the clues led me. I was well
piovided with money, and with a Godspeed and
well wishes from all Avho weie interested, I started
on my journey.
I left Philadelphia on Wednesday evening,
June 2Gth, 1895, for Cincinnati, Ohio, arriving
there on the 27th at 7.30 P. ^[., registered at the
Palace Hotel, and after partaking of some lunch,
I proceeded to police headquarters, where T met
ni}- old friend, Detective John Schnooks. I ex-
plained to him the nature of my visit to Cincin-
nati, and he requested me to call in the morning
and have a conference with Superintendent Philip
Dietsch. An hour or two was spent with
Schnooks rehearsing some of our old stories, after
which I returned to the hotel for a good night's
rest. Bright and early the next morning, I arose
and after eating a hearty breakfast, I started for
the city hall, where I met Superintendent
O.V THE TRAIL. l?o
Dietsch. One half hour or more was spent
with him going over the case and givhig liim my
reasons for believing that Holmes had had the
children in Cincinnati, Ohio. Reaching his hand
under his desk, his finger was placed on a touch
button that summoned a messenger from the
detective department, who was instructed to send
Detective Schnooks into the office. A moment
or two later Schnooks made his appearance, and
the superintendent instructed him to render me
all the assistance in his power, in the effort to
locate the children. Bidding the superintendent
good da}-, Schnooks and I left the office and com-
menced the greatest search I have ever had in my
twenty years' experience in the detective business.
When I left Philadelphia, I was provided with
photographs of Holmes, Pitezel, Alice, Nellie, and
Howard Pitezel, Mrs. Pitezel, Dessie and the
baby, also of Mrs. Pitezel's trunk, (the one
Holmes borrowed from her in Detroit, Michigan,
saying that he wanted it for the purpose of get-
ting Ben out of the town, as the detectives were
onto him), a photograph of a missing trunk which
belonged to the children ; also of a trunk belong-
ing to Mrs. Howard. As I knew that Holmes
had left St. Louis on September 28th with the
176 SEARCHING HOTEL REGISTERS.
two children, Nellie and Howard, I suggested to
Schnooks, that we first search the hotels around
the depots to see if a man registered there on
that da\-, who had three children with hiui, a boy
and two girls. We called at a number of hotels,
but niet ^^•ith no success. We finally struck a
cheap hotel at Xo. 164^ Central Avenue, known
as the Atlantic House, and upon examining the
register, we discovered that on Friday, Sejjtember
28th, 1894, there aj^peared tlie name of Alex. E.
Cook and three chihlren. The photographs of
Holmes and the three children were shown to the
clerk, who could not s;iy [)Ositively that they were
the photographs of the people wh(; had sto})ped
there, but thought they resembled them very
much. Recalling to my mind that Holmes had
Mrs. Pitezel living in Burlington under the name
of Mrs. A. E. Cook, I felt convinced that I was on
the right track. The clerk informed us that these
l)arties only remained over night, leaving the fol-
lowing morning. Tiianking the clerk for his kind
attention, we left the hotel and continued our
search among such hotels as we had not visited,
and when we arrived at the Hotel Bristol, corner
of 6th and Vine Streets, we discovered that on
Saturday, September 29th, 1894, there appeared
ON THE TRAIL. 177
on tlie register the name of A. E. Cook and three
childieii, Clevehuid. They were assigned to room
No. 103, a room whicli contained two beds. Mr.
W. L. Bain, a clerk at tlie liotel, recognized tlie
photographs of Holmes and the children, as the
party who registered there under that name. The
register showed that they left the Bristol on Sun-
day, September 30th.
Knowing that Holmes was in the habit of rent-
ing houses in most every city he visited, I deter-
mined to give up the search among the hotels and
make some inquiry among the real estate agents
and ascertain whether he had rented a house in
Cincinnati. After visiting quite a number of
them,, we called at the office of J. C. Thomas, No.
15 East 3d Street. His clerk informed us that
Mr. Thomas had gone to his home in Cnmmins-
ville, a suburban town about five miles from Cin-
cinnati. A photograph of Holmes was siiown the
clerk, who had a distinct recollection of having
seen the original in the office with a small boy.
The photograph of Howard was then produced
and he identified it as the boy who was with
Holmes. The clerk was unable to give us any
further information in regard to the renting of the
houses, as the books were locked up, and Mi'.
178 HOLMES RENTS A HOUSE.
Thomas Lad tlie keys. We then delermiued to go
to Cumminsville and find Mr. Thomas, so off we
started, and when we reached Cumminsville, we
were unable to locate our man, — nobody appeared
to know him, and in consulting the directory his
name did not appear in it, ([)robably he had not
lived there long enough.) We returned to Cin-
cinnati somewliat disappointed, and as it was after
business hours, we were cum2)elled to give np the
search.
The next morning we were at the real estate
office of Mr. Thomas again, and as soon as he
arrived, we lost no time in consulting him. We
showed him the pictures of Holmes and Howard
Titeze], which lie immediately recognized as that
of a man who had a small boy v.ith him, and who
rented a house from him at No. 305 Poplar Street,
on Friday, September 28th, 1894, paying $15 in
advance for it and giving the name of A. C. Hayes.
Mr. Thomas informed us that his tenant had only
remained in the house about two daj^s, when he
left for parts unknowji, but suggested tliat we call
on Miss Hill, who lived at No. 303 Poplar Street,
(next door), as he thought she would be able to
give us some information concerning him. We
immediately left for No. 303 Poplar Street, where
ON THE TRAIL. 179
we met Miss Hill, whom we found to be very will-
ing to tell us all she knew about the strange ten-
ant. She said there was really very little to tell.
The first she noticed of him was on Saturday
morning, September 29th, when a furniture wagon
was driven in front of No. 305 Poplar Street and
a man and small boy alighted. The man took a
key out of his pocket, and after opening the door
of No. 305, a large, iron cylinder stove, such as is
used in barrooms or a large hall, was taken out of
the wagon and carried into the house. As there
was no other furniture taken in, it aroused her
curiosity and she spoke of it to several of her
neighbors. She was doubtless observed by Holmes
doing this, for on tlie next morning, September
30th, (Sunday) he rang her bell, and told her he
was not going to occupy the liouse and that she
could have the stove.
Having located Holmes and the children at
two hotels in Cincinnati, and discovered the two
false names he assumed. Cook and Hayes, I felt
justified in believing that I had taken firm hold
of the end of the string which was to lead me ul-
timately to the consummation of my difficult mis-
sion. I was not able to appreciate the intense
significance of tlie renting of the Poplar Street
iBb ON THE TRAIL.
house and the delivery of a stove of such immense
size there, but I felt sure I was on the right track
and so started for Indianapolis, from Avhich point
several of tlie cliildren's letters found in Holmes'
tin box had been dated.
^I^Z'C-^t.^^
CHAPTER X.
THE UNTIRING PURSUIT.
The Search iu ludiauapolis — Holmes Took Alice Pitezel to
Cincinnati — The Three Canning Children Identified as the
Pitezel Children — Mrs. Holmes Registered as Mrs. Georgia
Howard — Represents Her Husband as Wealthy — Holmes
as an Uncle — Holmes' Schemes to Get Rid of Howard —
The Children Homesick — Chicago — The Search for a Trunk
— Geyer Calls on Pliimmer — Plnmmer Admits Knowing
Holmes, bnt Denies Ever Seeing the Children— A German
Chambermaid Recognizes Photographs of the Children —
How the Children Passed Their Time— The Picture of the
Trunk Identified— Holmes as Harry Gordon — Mrs. Gordon
— Interview with a Janitor — The Williams Girls Again —
Search for a Bricklayer.
Saturday evening, June 29t]i, at 7:30 o'clock,
I arrived at Indianapolis, Indiana, registering at
the Spencer House. After partaking of a lunch,
I started out in search of police headquarters,
which I found to be located on Alabama Street,
south of Washington Street. Entering the build-
ing, I met Captain Splann, who is in charge of the
detective corps. Introducing myself, I told liim
what my business was in Indianapolis and he re-
quested me to see Superintendent Powell. About
this time a report came in that a man had been
Id4 HOLMES TOOK ALICE PITEZEL TO CINCINNATI.
shot and killed in the Jiorthern part of the city,
and that the murderer had escaped. The captain
was compelled to start for the scene of the mur-
der, and invited me to accompany him, which I
did. On our arrival at the house, we learned that
the man was not dead, but was suffering from the
result of a pistol shot wound in the neck. The
usual preliminaries were gone througli with, and
after obtaining an accurate description of the
would-be murderer, we left the house in search of
Superintendent Powelb and while looking for
him, I met several of the city detectives. Cap-
tain Splann gave them a description of the man
who was wanted, and requested tiiem to make
search for him at once. Shortly after we met the
superintendent, who advised me to call at police
headquarters the next morning, telling me that he
would detail a good man to aid me, and that he
would render me all the assistance in his power.
Sunday morning, bright and early, I called at
police headquarters, where I met Superintendent
Powell, who introduced me to Detective David
Richards and informed me that he had assigned
him to assist me in my investigation in Indianap-
olis. Richards and I retired to a private room
and after explaining the case to him we left head-
THE VNTIEINO PURSUIT. Ih",
quarters to continue the searcli for the missing-
children.
I suggested to Richards that we first make in-
quiry among the hotels near the Union Depot and
on going to tlie Stubbins House and examining
the register, we found that on September 24th,
1894, was an entry in tlie name of Etta Pit-
sel, St. Louis, Mo., and that the hotel records
showed she left on the morning of September
28th. Further inquiry elicited the fact that the
girl was brought there b}- a man known to Mr.
Robert Sweeney, the clerk, as Mr. Howard, and
that on Friday morning, September 28th, he had
received a telegram from Mr. Howard, dated St.
Louis, requesting him to have Etta Pitsel at the
Union Depot to meet St. Louis train for Cincin-
nati, Ohio. This was the day Holmes left St. Louis
with Nellie and Howard Pitezel, telling their
mother that he was going to take them to Indian-
apolis, where they would be taken care of b}- a
kind old lady. Mr. Sweeney full}^ identified the
picture of Alice Pitezel, as the girl who stopped
at the Stubbins House ; also that of Holmes, as
the man whom he knew as Howard and to whom
he had given Alice Pitezel on the St. Louis train
for Cincinnati, Ohio.
18(i THE THREE CAAXfX(; CHILDhEN.
Feeling confident that Holmes had returned to
Indianapolis, 1 continued to search among the
hotels. The register of a number of hotels was
examined in the neighborhood of the depot, but
we failed to get any further information regard-
ing the children. We then went to the place
known as the Circl'3, where there are severat
liotels. We called upon the proprietor of the
Hotel English, and asked permission to examine
his register of Septem!)er, 1894. Turning to Sep-
tember 30th, we discovered on the register tUe
three Canning children, Galva, Illinois, room No
79. i\Ir. Duncan, the clerk was shown the pic-
tures of the children who were registered there
under the name of Canning, and positively identi-
fied, them. He also identified the picture of
Holmes, as that of the man who had brought
them there and who took them away on the next
morning, Monda}^ October 1st. Knowing that
tiie children's grandparents' name Avas Canning
and that they lived at Galva, Illinois, I was con-
vinced that I was on tlie riglit track, and with re-
newed energy, I determined to find out where
they were taken to ou Monday morning, October
1st. Every hotel and lodging house in Indian
apolis was searched, but no record could be found
THE VXTIRING PURSUIT. 187
of where the chiklreu had stopped. Finally it
dawned upon Kicliaids, that in September, 18*.'4,
there had been on Meridian Street within fifty
feet of the Circle, a small hotel known as the
Circle House. This hotel had been closed for a
long time, but we determined to find the proprie-
tor, a Mr. Merman Ackelow. Inquiry around the
Circle as to where we could find him, brought
fortli the information that he had moved to West
Indianapolis, but that we could find his clerk,
a ]\Ir. Reisner, near the Union depot. Off we
started at once to find the clerk and located him
in a hotel south of the depot, and ascertained
from him that the register and all the records be-
longing to the Circle House, were in charge of
an attorney named Everett. We then made ar-
rangements with Mr. Reisner to meet us at the
lawyer's office the following morning, ^londay,
July 1st, 1895. According to promise, Richards
and I were at lawyer Everett's office at 9 A. M. on
Monday, where we met clerk Reisner. The reg-
ister was produced, and turning over to October
1st, found a similar entry to that in the Hotel
English, three Canning children, Galva, Illinois,
room -No. 24. ^Ir. Reisner in looking over tlie
cash account, informed us that thev had left there
188 3IRS. UOUIES REGISTERED AS MRS. HOWARD.
October 6tli. It was easily observed that the
books of the Circle House were kept without
much system, cuusequently we had to rely ou
dates giveu us by Reisuer as being accurate.
In making my search among the hotels, I dis-
covered that Holmes had his wife registered at
the Circle Park Hotel under the name of Mrs.
Georgia Howard. The entry was made Septem-
ber 18th, and slie remained there until September
2-lth. This was tlie time when Holmes, with
Howe and Alice Pitezel was in Philadelphia for
the purpose of identifying Pitezel's body. While
at the Circle Park Hotel, Mrs. Howard became
very intimate with the proprietress, a IVIrs. Rodius.
She informed her that her husband was a very
wealthy man, and that he owned real estate and
cattle ranches in Texas; also had considerable
real estate in Berlin, Germany, wJiere they in-
tended to go as soon as her husband could gel Ijis
business affairs into shape to leave.
The Circle Park Hotel is also situated in the
phice known as the circle and is within one hun-
dred feet of the Circle House, where Holmes had
the children. September 30th, Mrs. Howard's
name re appears on the Circle Park Hotel register
and she remains there until October 4th, showing
THE UNTIRING PURSUIT. 189
that she was almost within speaking distance of
the Pitezel children, yet she was in absolute
ignorance of it.
I suggested that we go to West Indianapolis
and have an interview with Mr. Herman Ackelow,
the former proprietor of the Circle House, to see
if he could throw any light upon the whereabouts
of the children. When we reached West Indian-
apolis, we found that Mr. Ackelow was running a
beer saloon. It did not require a great deal of
ceremony to introduce ourselves, after which I
spoke to him about the children. He had a dis-
tinct recollection of them and recognized the pho-
tograph of Holmes as the man who brought them
and took them away from his hotel. Holmes
represented to INIr. Ackelow, that he was their
uncle, — their mother, who was a widow, Avas his
sister, and that she would be with them in a few
days. Holmes said that Howard was a very bad
boy and that he was trying to place him in some
institution, or bind him out to some farmer, as he
wanted to get rid of the res]3onsibility of looking
after him.
Mr. Ackelow also informed me, that on numer-
ous occasions he had sent his oldest boy up to the
children's room to call them for their meals. His
190 THE SEARCH FOR A TRUNK.
son Avould return to liini and tell liini tlitit he
found the children crjing, — evidently heart-
broken and homesick to see their mothei", or liear
from iier.
From the fact that Holmes had told Mr. vVcke-
low that he wanted to get rid of Howard, I came
to the conclusion at once that he had murdered
him, but where, up to this time, I was unable to
deternjine.
]n an interview I had with Mrs. Pitezel in the
Moyamensing Prison, Philadelphia, she told me
that the trunk the children had with them when
they left her at St. Louis, Mo., was missing. 1
then interviewed Holmes, as to what he had done
with it, and he informed me that lie had left it in
a hotel on West Madison Street, about lift}- feet
from the corner of Ashland Avenue, Chicago,
Illinois.
Information had also been sent me by the
Fidelity Company, that their general manager in
Detroit, Michigan had positive informat^ion that
Holmes and the boy were seen in Detroit, Michi-
gan, where Holmes had rented a house.
While I felt somewhat reluctant to leave In-
dianapolis, as something seemed to tell me that
Howard never left there alive, I decided I would
THE UNTIRING PURSUIT. 191
abandon the searcli there for the time being, and
go to Chicago, Illinois and see it" 1 could verify
the trunk story. At 11:40 A. M., July 1st, ISUl,
I left Indianapolis, Indiana, l\)r Chicago, 111., ar-
riving there at 5:30 P. M., and registei'ed at tlic
Imperial Hotel. After supper I went to Police
Headquarters, and after going through the usual
preliminaries of introducing myself, I informed
the ("aptain in charge of Detective Headquarters,
why I was in Chicago. He listened with much
interest to my story and requested me to call early
in the A. M., when he would introduce me to In-
spector Fitzpatrick.
Tuesday morning, July 2d, I called at Police
Headquarters, and learned that the Inspector had
been detained on some business and would not be
at the office for some time. I was then introduced
to Detective Sergeant John C. McGinn, and was
informed that he was assigned to assist me in my
investigation in Chicago.
llie story of the finding of the body at No.
1316 Callowhill Street, and the mysterious disap-
pearance of the children was all told to i\Ic(iinn.
We then left Police Headquarters, and I suggested
tliat we call on Wliarton Plunnner in room No.
1218 Chamber of Commerce Puilding. Plummer
192 GEY Ell CALLS ON PLUMMER.
was Holmes' attorney and had represented him in
S(;me of his business ventures. Holmes had in-
formed me prior to leaving Philadelphia, that
Plummer had taken dinner with him at the hotel
where tlie children were stopping on West Madi-
son Street, and that he (Plummer) had seen the
girls. Entering the office, I handed m}^ card to
Mr. Plummer, who requested ns to be seated. I
then opened up a conversation with him regard-
ing Holmes and the missing children. He ad-
mitted having seen Holmes in Cliicago about the
time referred to and said that he met him on the
North side, and thought it was on Division Street,
and that they went into a restaurant and had some
lunch. Pie positively denied having been at
the hotel where Holmes stopped, and declared
most emphatically that he had never seen the
children.
Having learned in Indianapolis, that the cham-
bermaid, Caroline Klausmann, who had charge of
the room in the Circle House, which the children
occupied, had moved to Chicago, I determined to
locate her if possible. We learned that she was
stopping at No. 223 West Clark Street and upon
making inquiry at the above number, we ascer-
tained that she was employed at the Swiss Hotel,
THE UNTIEING PURSUIT. 193
on Wells Street between Ohio and Indiana
Avenues. We then proeeeded to the Swiss Hotel
where we met Miss Klausmann, whom I found to
be a middle aged German woman, unable to speak
English. As I was familiar with the German
language, I explained wh}^ I came to see her and
showed her the photograplis of the children.
She recognized them at once, and with tears in
her eyes described to me how they would employ
their time while she was at tlie hotel in Indian-
apolis. She said that the children were always
drawing pictures of houses, or engaged in writ-
ing, and that she frequently went into their room
and found them crying. Observing that they
were alone at the hotel, she naturally believed
they were orphan children, and when she found
them crying, she thought they Avere crying over
the loss of their father and mother. She said it
grieved her very much to think she was unable to
speak English, so that she might have sympatliized
with them. She identified the picture of the
missing trunk, as the one the children had with
them at the Circle House. After leaving Miss
Klausmann, we concluded we would go to the
West side and endeavor to locate the hotel where
Holmes claimed to have left the missino- trunk.
UM HOLMES AS HARRY GORDON.
We went to West Madison Street and Ashland
Avenue, but were unable to locate any hotel as
described by Holmes. However, we made a
search of the register of every hotel within a mile
of where Holmes had said the children had
stopped, but were unable to h)cate them. We
returned to the City Hall, and after a half hour
consultation, we agreed to return to Ashland
Avenue and West Madison Street and make an-
other search for the hotel. We did not find a
hotel, but succeeded in finding a lodging house,
about fifty feet from the corner of Ashland
Avenue on West Madison Street, just as described
by Holmes. This house had beeu occupied at that
time by a Miss Jennie Irons, whom we found about
five blocks further west on West Madison Street.
The photographs of Holmes and the children
were then shown to Miss Irons, but she failed to
identify the children, but thought she had seen
the man. Subsequent developments have proved
that Holmes, under the name of Harry Gordon,
occupied apartments with ]\Iiss Irons in 1893,
having witli him a woman who was known as
Mrs. Gordon, and has been since identified as
jNIiss Emily Cigrand, a wonuin who mysteriously
disappeared from No. 701 Sixty-Third Street,
THE rxrrnrxa rrn.'^rFr. i!tr.
Chicago, tlie lioiise that lias since hecoiue famous
as " The Castle."
As Holmes had lived with INIiss Irons, he had
no difficulty in describing the place to me. How-
ever, neither the children, nor the tiamk had been
there.
As there was nothing to be learned from Miss
Irons, I concluded that my next move would bo
to visit Pat Quinlan, Holmes' janitor at the
block, Sixty-third and Wallace Streets, opposite
Englewood Station. So getting on a cable car,
we started for Quinlan's home, and on our arrival
there we discovered there was only one entrance
to the upstairs of the big building. Going up a
dark winding stairway, we reached the second
story, and knocking at the door, we Avere re-
quested to come in. Quinlan is a man about five
feet, eight or nine inches, slim build, light curly
hair, sandy mustache, and looks to be about
thirty-eight j-ears old. I presented my card to
hiui and he requested me to be seated, after
which I began my conversation about Holmes
and the missing Pitezel children, trying to im-
press Quinlan all the while, that I believed he
knew all about them. Quinlan told me the last
time he saw Holmes, was in the fall of 1894, on
196 INTERVIEW VnrH A JANITOR.
the North side in Chicago. He was with another
man, whom Qiiinhm says he did not know.
Quinlan spoke to Holmes and said: "Hello,
where did you come from?" Holmes answered
and said : " I have just come from home." Quin-
lan thought he meant Wilmette. I questioned
Quinlan closely in regard to the Pitezel children.
He admitted that he knew them very well, but
positively denied knowing anything whatever of
their whereabouts, and that if he did know he
would be only too willing to render all the assist-
ance he could to locate them. He expressed liis
belief, that if the body found at No. 131G Callow-
hill Street was that of Pitezel, that Holmes had
murdered him, and subseqnently murdered the
cliildren, and if such were the case. Holmes
should be liung for it, and that he, (Quhilan)
would only be too willing to spring the trap.
Quinlan said from what he had read of Holmes
since the case has gained publicity, he sincerely
believed that Holmes set fire to the block and in-
tended to destroy him and his famil}'.
During my last interview with Holmes in Moy-
amensing Prison, he told me he had given the
children to a man named Edward Hatch, who
was formerly a bricklayer and had done odd
THE UNTIRINQ PURSUIT. 197
chores around the block in Chicago. He said
that QuinLin and Dr. Robinson were well ac-
quainted with him, so while at Quinlan's, 1
thought I would take advantage of the oppor-
tunit}', and question Pat as to wliat he knew
about Hatch. He informed me tJiat he knew a
bricklayer by that name, who had done some
work for Holmes, and that he was a hardworking,
industrious man. I then told him about what
Holmes had said about giving Hatch the children.
Quinlan denounced Holmes as a dirty, lying
scoundrel and said that Hatch would not be
guilty of doing anything tliat was Avrong. I also
interviewed Qainlan in regard to the Williams
girls, who were formerly at tlie Castle. He said
he knew Minnie and had met her at the block.
No. 701 West Sixty-third Street, and that Holmes
introduced her to him and his wife, as his cousin,
and also introduced her to Mrs. Holmes as his
cousin. He said positively, that he never saw
Nettie Williams after this case was made public.
I next interviewed Dr. Robinson, the proprie-
tor of the drug store on the first floor in the
Castle. He had no recollection of knowing a
man named Hatch, but said he had seen both
Minnie and Nettie Williams tosrether at the block
198 SEARCH FOR A BRTCKLAYER.
ill June, 1804, and saw iMinnie tliere alone about
one month later. The Doctor's opinion of
Holmes was not a very good one.
The story Holmes gave me about Hatch and
the children, was his very latest, and was told
immediately after he learned that I was about to
make a new search for the children. He had al-
ways stuck to his romance about giving them to
Minnie Williams, but he was evidently anticipat-
ing tlie possibility of just what followed, so he
rigged up the Hatch tale and arranged it to suit
possible future developments.
The next move we made was to try and locate
Hatch. We found by consulting a directory, that
a man by the name of Edward Hatch, a brick-
layer by trade, lived at No. 6248 Sangamon
Street. This is about six blocks from the Castle,
so we concluded to go there at once and see if
we could find him. On our arrival at the house,
we found that it was occupied by a colored fam-
ily and that Hatch had moved out about ten
months before. Inquir}' was made in the neigh-
borhood, but no one appeared to know where he
had gone. We then visited a Mr. Glenister, who
resides on Union Street above Twenty-eighth
Street, who is the Secretary of the Bricklayers'
Nellie Pite/el.
THE UNTTIilNa PrnSUTT. 201
Union and tried to ascertain from him if there
was such a person connected with their Union as
Hatch. Mr. Glenister searclied the records for
ns, but ^^•as unable to find the name. We then
went to a number of buildings in course of erec-
tion and made inquiry among the brickhayers, but
no one appeared to know a man b}' that name,
wlio followed the trade of a bricklayer.
I then decided to leave the search for Hatch in
tlie hands of Detective McGinn, and to go to
Detroit.
12
CHAPTER XT.
AN EXPERT IN CRIME.
Detroit — Holmes Rents a House — Howard with Him — Alice
jind Nellie at the New Western Hotel — Holmes as G.
Howell — Search iu Holmes' House — Alice and Nellie
Again Identified — Picture of the Trunk Again Recog-
nized — Mrs. Pitezel at Geis' Hotel — Under Great ]\[ental
. Strain — Mrs. Pilezel and Her Children but a Few Blocks
Apart — Holmes' Skillful plotting.
On Wednesday morning, July 4th, I left Chi-
cago for Detroit, Michigan, arriving there at G
P. M. and registered at the Hotel Normaiidie. I
Avent at once to police headquarters, where I met
Detective Thomas Meyler, an old personal friend
of mine, to whom I explained the nature of my
visit. I was then introduced to the captain in
charge and repeated my story of the missing chil-
dren. He requested me to call in the morning
and see Superintendent Starkweather.
Early on the morning of the 5th, I was at
police headquarters, where I met the superin-
tendent who assigned Detective Tuttle to assist
me in my search in Detroit. The same old story
was told to him and off we started.
(203)
•?0t HOUTES PxENTS A HOUSE.
The first jilace at wliicli we called was at the
ciffice of the Fidelity j\Iutual Life Insurance Com-
pany, where we met Mr. Frank R Alderman, the
general manager for JNJicliigan. After obtaining
from liim the name of the real estate agent who
rented a house to Holmes, we left the office and
went to No. 60 Monroe Street, where we met a
Mr. Bonninghausen, the agent referred to. Hand-
ing him my card, I requested a private interview
which he granted, and after propounding several
questions to him, I learned that on or about the
13th of October, 1894, a gentleman called at his
office, representing that he wanted to rent a liouse
for a widowed sister who had three children. lie
said he desired a house that was on the outskirts
of the city, if it were possible to get one.
This just suited the agent, as he had a house at
No. 241 E. Forest Avenue in wdiich he had a per-
sonal interest, and which had been without a ten-
ant for a long time. The agent identified the pho-
tograph of Holmes, as that of the man ^^ho in-
quired for the house and said that Holmes took
tlie number and was informed tliat he would find
the kej's at Mr. McAllister's drug store on Forest
Avenue, which is just a few doors below No. 241.
About two hours later Holmes returned to Mr.
AX EXPERT IX CRIME. 2iir,
BdiHifiigliauseiis office and inforiued liiui tljat tlie
lioiibe was just what he wanted. He paid five
dollars in advance, and said that when his sister
arrived, which would be in tliree or four days, he
would return and pay six months' rent in advance,
as he did not intend living with her, and wanted
to see that she was properly provided for. Mr.
Ijonninghausen said he was under the ini[)ression
that Holmes had a small boy with him when he
rented the house, describing him as a boy about
nine or ten years old. A Mr. Moore, who was in
the office at the time Holmes rented the house,
and who by the wa}' is the present occupant, cor-
roborated Mr. Bonninghausen as to Holmes hav-
ing the boy Howard with him while in Detroit.
Leaving the real estate office, I was somewhat
impressed with the belief that my theory, that
Howard had never left Indianapolis alive, was
wrong. However, I decided to make a search
among the hotels, and see if I could locate the
children, suggesting to Tuttle that we first visit
those near the depot. The first few we visited
failed to give us any further information, but
when Ave examined the register of the New West-
ern Hotel. P. W. Cutter, proprietor, we discovered
the name of Etta and Xellie Canning, St. Louis,
20G ALICE AXD NELLIE AT THE GREAT WESTERN.
Mo., room No. 5, made October 12th, and evidently
about midnight. The photographs were shown
Mr. Cotter, who positively identified the girls as
having stopped there, and that of Holmes as the
man who had brought them there, registered their
names, and who called tlie next day and took them
away. Mr. Cotter was quite positive that there
were but two children and that they had no trunk
with them. The register of the Circle House in
Indianapolis, showed that the children had left
that hotel on the 6th of October, and they ap-
peared to have arrived in Detroit, ^Michigan, Oc-
tober 12th. Tliis was a matter for serious consid-
eration, as it made an interval of six days to be
accounted for between Indianapolis and Detroit.
Having satisfied myself that the two girls had
been in Detroit, I determined to try and locate
Holmes, and ascertain if the boy had stopped with
him, so we continued our search among the hotels,
and on the register of the Normandie, I found an
entry October 12th, 1894, " G. Howell and wife,
Adrian." Having become thoroughly familiar
witli Holmes' handwriting and knowing that the
name " G. Howell " was one of his many aliases, I
felt convinced that it M^as his registry. The pho-
tographs of Holmes and his wife were shown the
AX EXPERT IX CRIME. 207
Clerk, who was not positive as to Holmes, but was
sure that tlie woman liad stopped at the hotel
about that time. The record of the hotel proved
that Holmes and his wife left there October 13th
after supper.
After leaving the Normandie, I decided to visit
the house No. 241 East Forest Avenue. On
arriving there we were met by Mrs. INIoore, who
very kindly admitted us to the house and gave us
the privilege of examining the cellar. I found
that it was divided into three parts. The front
which extended across the entire width of the
house, had a cemented floor and contained a wood
and coal bin, and a large portable heater about
four feet in diameter. The part in the rear to the
west side of the house, was used as a wash room,
having a large stationary washtub in it and a
board floor. The part to the east side was used
for storage purposes, and it also had a cement
floor and cellar steps leading to kitchen on first
floor. A careful examination of both the cement
and board floor, proved that they had not been
tampered with.
There was a dijor opening out of the wash room
to a stairway, which leads to the back yard, and
is covered with a cellar door. The stairway w^as
208 SEAKVJf IX HOLMES' HOUSE.
encased by a brick wall, which served as a foun-
dation for a rear porch. Tlds foundation is about
three feet six inches above the cellar floor and it
was tliscovered after Holmes left the house, that
a hole had been dug back of the wall facing the
cellar steps, about four feet long, three feet wide,
and three feet six inches deep.
Mr. Boninghausen and INIr. Moore having in-
formed me that they had seen a bt)y with Holmes
when he rented the house, Detective Tuttle and
I searched every spot of ground adjacent to the
premises to see if the earth had been disturbed,
but we could find no evidence of it. We then
made an examination of tiie cellar heater and dis-
covered the door to be thirteen inches wide and
eight inches high, and the cylinder about four feet
in diameter, but there was no evidence, nor had
there been, that the furnace had been used for
any improper or unusual ])urpose, so JNlr. i\loore
said. I called on Dr. McAllister who had posses-
sion of the keys. I showed him the picture of
Holmes, and he identified it at once as that of a
man to whom he had delivered the keys. We
then returned to Police Headquarters, and after a
short consultation, we decided to keep up the
hunt for Alice and Nellie, and also to locate
AN EXPERT IN CRDIE. 209
Holmes and liis wife. 1 had a iiieiuoraiiduin of
the address given by Aliee in her letter written
in Detroit, October 14th, 1894, at No. 91 Congress
Street. This house was ke[)t by Mrs. Iviieinda
Burns. She distinctly lemembered having ac-
commodated two little girls, who came thei'e on
October 13th and left October 19th. She said u
gentleman had called on her on tiie morning of
tlie 13th of October, rented the room and paid
one week's rent in advance, after which lie left
and returned again in less than an hour, bringing
the little girls with him. He introduced them to
j\Irs. Burns as Miss Annie and Miss Amy.
jNlrs. Burns said the children were never out of
their room and occupied their entire time reading
and drawing. They had no trunk w ith them, but
each carried a small satchel. They were very
<j[uiet and reserved, and at no time did tliey reveal
their identit}-.
When shown the pictures of Holmes, and Nellie
and Alice Pitezel, she identified the girls at once
as the children who had stopped with her, and
Holmes as the man who had rented the room for
them.
Not having been able to trace Hulmes to any
other hotel, we concluded to try the boarding
210 ALICE AXD NELLIE AGAIN IDENTIFIED.
houses, so away we journeyed, and the reader can
imagine the task in going to many, many houses,
ringing the bells, showing the pictures and telling
the story to every person who came to the doors.
We finally located a house at No. 54 Park Place
kept by a Mrs. May Ralston, who when shown the
pictures of Holmes and his wife, identified them
as a couple who had come there in October, 189-1,
paid the rent for a room for one week, but onlj^
remained four or five days. While at Ralston's
they were known as Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, and he
represented that they were members of the
theatrical profession. The pictures of the trunks
were shown Mrs. Ralston and she picked out
the picture of Mrs. Howard's canvas covered
trunk as the one the couple had in use at her
house.
The disappearance of the children"s trunk was
the source of much annoyance to me, and I de-
termined, if possible to locate it. Several days
were spent among expressmen, freight depots,
omnibus companies, express offices, hackmen, and
liver^mien, but we could get no clue to it.
Mrs. Pitezel having informed me that she liad
stopped at Geis's Hotel while in Detroit, I deter-
mined to go there and interview the jiroprietor
AX EXPERT IX CRIME. 211
and others connected with the hotel, from whom
I might obtain information which would be of serv-
ice to me in the effort to locate the children. I
found in looking over the register, that the only
party who had stupj)ed there, and who would an-
swer the description of Mrs. Pitezel, Dessie and
the baby, had registered on October 14th, 18iJ4, m
the name of Mrs. C. A. Adams, and daughter,
Chicago, room No. 33. Miss Minnie Mulholland,
the housekeeper, identified the picture of Mi-s.
Pitezel, Dessie and the baby as the parties who
had registered there in October under the name of
Adams, and had occupied No. 33, having with
them two trunks, one a large top flat trunk, and
the other very small. Miss Mulholland identified
the picture of the flat top trunk I showed her, as
one similar to that which Mrs. Pitezel had with
her while at the hotel.
Miss Mulholland in describing Mrs. Pitezel, alias
Adams, says she looked like a woman who was
bowed down with trouble. She was never out of
her room, and was apparently suffering great men-
tal anxiety. She occupied a back room, but as
Miss Mulholland had a room facing the street, she
consented to allow her the use of it during the
da}'. When Mrs. Pitezel said she was going to
•212 LWDER a BEAT MENTAL STRAIN.
leave, Miss Mulholland told her she would send
for the omnibus company to move her trunk for
her. Mrs. Pitezel objected to this, and said thai
she would look after that herself, and went out
and emploj^ed an ordinary car man. This was
evidently done so that the detectives could not
trace her baggage through the express office. In
doing this, she was acting under instructions from
Holmes, who never transferred his baggage by ex-
press, but always secured a man on the street to
do it.
Geis's Hotel is not more than three or four
blocks from Mrs. Burns' house at Xo. 01 Congress
Street.
The children, Alice and Nellie had arrived at
the last named place on October 13th, and Mrs.
Pitezel and Dessie and the baby had registered at
(ieis's on the 14th, so it become perfectly evident
that the mother, Alice and' Nellie were in Detroit
at the same time, and but a i(i\\ blocks apart, the
former supposing her children to be in Indian-
apolis, and the latter led to believe by Holmes
that their mother was in Galva, Illinois. At this
very tin^e the children wrote a letter from No.
91 Congress Street to their grandparents at Galva,
in which thev sent a messaoe to their mother. In
AX F.xrEur IX crime. 213
botli })laces I learned tliat the travellers 011 this
sad journey kept close within their rooms.
What falsehoods, what fabrications were made
up hy this accomplished liar, to induce or loice
tlie little girls to keep in doors may never he
told, Tuiless he for once sjjeaks the truth. To
Mrs Pitezel, of course, he held up the terrible
possibility of Ben being traced by tile detectives
through her movements, hence the necessity for
seclusion.
I found that Mrs. Pitezel and the two children
who were travelling witli her, Dessie and the
baby, had left Geis"s Hotel on October 18th, and
Alice and Nellie from No. 91 Congi'ess Street on
October 19th, and that Holmes and his wife from
No. 54 Park Place on October 18th.
It must have taken very careful management to
have moved these three separate parties from De-
troit to Toronto, without either of the three dis-
covering either of the others, but this great ex-
pert in crime did it, and did it successfully. His
wife (or j\Irs. Howard, who supposed she was his
wife) was in total ignorance of the whole scheme.
She was not only unaware of the proximity of
Alice and Nellie, and of Mrs. Pitezel and her
other two children, but she did not know them
214 HOLMES' SKILLFUL PLOTTING.
and liad never seen them, and supposed that her
husband (Holmes) was travelling from city to city
selling leases upon an alleged patent copier, or col-
lecting mone3'S from corporations and merchants
using such copiers. This was his story to her,
and it is the only bright spot in this entire story.
It might be said to the credit of Holmes, that al-
though he had deceived and betraj^ed this woman
into marrying him, when he had a lawful wife
(and still another wcmian who called herself liis
wife) living, he never permitted Miss Yoke to dis-
cover that he was a swindler or worse. He evi-
dently desired to hold her respect for him until
tlie very last.
I concluded my search in Detroit on Sunday,
July 7th, and in tlie evening of that day, took the
train for Toronto, at wliich place I arrived the
next morning at half past nine o'clock.
CHAPTER XII.
THE SEAKCH REWARDED.
Arrival at Toronto — The Telltale Register — G. Howell aud
Wife Again — The Children in Toronto — H. Howell and
Wife — Gej'er Plans a Campaign — Meets the Newspaper
Men — The Aid of the Press Invoked — A Disheartening
Search — The House in a Field — The Pile of Loose Dirt —
Sales of Half-tickets — Geyer Visits Prescott and Niagara
Falls— Back in Toronto— Holmes Traced to No. 16 St.
Vincent Street — Spades are Trumps — The Search in the
Cellar — Finding the Bodies of Alice and Nellie Pitezel —
Disposition of the Remains — The St. Vincent House Be-
sieged by Reporters and Sketch Artists.
I WAS not a stranger in Toronto. M^- business
had previously called me to that city on several
occasions, and so when I arrived at the station, I
directed the cabman to take me to the Rossin
House, where I had stopped before. After break-
fast and a short rest from ni}^ long and tiresome
ride, I gathered up my bundle of papers and
photographs and proceeded to the police head-
quarters.
On entering the detective department, I met
another old friend, Alf. Cuddj^ and after shaking
hands with all the boys, whom I had met before.
21 (J a. HOWELL AND WIFE AGAIN.
I was t;ikeu into tlie office of the ever kind, affa-
ble and courteous inspectoi-, Mr. Stark, to whom
I told the oft repeated story. He listened to nie
very attentively, and then took nie into the room
of Chief Constable Grassett, whom I had not had
the pleasure of meeting before. To him 1 pre-
sented my letter of introduction from the super-
intendent of police of Philadelphia, and recounted
to him the object of my errand. The chief as-
sured me that his department would do every-
thing in their power to assist me, and sent a mes-
senger for Inspector Stark to come into the room.
He instructed the inspector to detail a man to
work with me as long as he was needed. Tliank-
ing the chief for his courtesy and attention, I re-
turned with the inspector to the detective de-
partment, where my old friend Cuddy ^-as as-
signed to help me out in Toronto. Tliis suited
me very well, as I knew Cuddy to be an energetic
fellow and not afraid of work, and willing to
keep on until every clue liad been run out, and
the investigation either a success or a failure.
Into a private room we went, and I narrated the
entire story to Cuddy, so that lie would know
what lie was doing.
Proceeding as I did before, I thouglit it wise to
Howard Pitezel.
THE SEARCH REWARDED. 219
examine the registers in the hotels around the
Grand Trunk Depot, and we first wended our
way to the Walker House and asked permission
to see the register of 1894. We were informed
that it had been packed away in the storeroom,
but if it was important they would send a bell
boy to get it. We told the clerk we would con-
sider it a great favor if he would do so, and in a
few minutes we had the register iu our possession.
Turning over the leaves until we came to October
18th, we found that " G. Howell and wife, Co-
lumbus," had registered for supper that day and
left after dinner on the 20th, occupying room
No. 14.
Our next visit was to the Union House. There
the same request was made and complied with,
and on the 18th of October we found the name of
" Mrs. C. A. Adams and daughter, Columbus."
Having located Holmes and Mrs. Pitezel, the next
thing to do was to locate the girls, so we contin-
ued our search among the hotels, until we reached
the Albion, and upon examining the register there
found the names of " Alice and Nellie Canning,
Detroit." This registry was made October 19th
and had evidently been written by one of the
girls.
220 THE CHILDREN IN TORONTO.
The photographs of the girls were then shown
to Mr. Herbert Jones, the chief clerk of the hotel,
who positively identified them as the pictures of
the children who were brought to the hotel by
their porter, George Dennis, on Friday evening,
October 19th. Mr. Jones also informed us that
on the morning following their arrival, a gentle-
man called to see them and was there on almost
every succeeding day during their stay at the ho-
tel, with the exception of Sunday. The picture
of Holmes was shown Mr. Jones. He recognized
it as the man who called at the hotel for the chil-
dren in the mornings of the days they stopped at
the hotel. He said this man took the children
away with him for the day, but they usually re-
turned alone in the evening for supper. On the
morning of the 25th of October, this same man
called as usual at the hotel, paid the children's
board bill, took them away with him, and that is
the last time they were seen by him or any one in
the hotel.
Holmes having left the Walker House on the
afternoon of October 20th, and knowing that he
was in Toronto as late as the 25th, I determined
to discover whether he had registered and re-
mained in another hotel, — so I continued my
THE SEARCH REWARDED. 221
search until we arrived at the Palmer House, and
there, under date of October 21st, we found him
registered under the name of " H. Howell and
wife, Columbus," room No. 32.
So thoroughly convinced was I that Holmes had
rented a house in Toronto, Ontario, that after
hearing Mr. Jones' story, I wrote in my report to
the Superintendent of Police in Philadelphia,
dated at Toronto, July 9th, 1895, the following :
^'It is my impression that Holmes rented a
house in Toronto the same as he did in Cincin-
nati, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan, and that on
the 25th of October he murdered the girls and
disposed of their bodies by either burying them
in tlie cellar, or some convenient place, or burning
them in the heater. I intend to go to all the real
estate agents and see if they can recollect having
rented a house about that time to a man who only
occupied it for a few days, and who represented
that he wanted it for a widowed sister."
Inspired by the belief that perseverance and
energy would bring forth some good result, I de-
termined to get a Toronto directory and prepare
a list of real estate agents, and interview each
and every one of them, — so on Wednesday morn-
ing, July 10th, I went to Police Headquarters,
222 GEYEB PLANS A CAMPAIGN.
where I met Cuddy and suggested my idea to
him. It was a big task, yet it had to be done, so
in we started upon the directory, — Cuddy reading
off the names while I copied them. It took some
time to prepare the list, and when finished we
started, first going to those who were in the busi-
ness portion of the city. It took considerable
time to impress each agent with the importance
of making a careful search for us, and before we
knew it, night was upon us and the real estate
offices were closed. Seriously meditating as to
the best method to pursue to arouse the citizens
of Toronto, I then determined to meet the news-
paper men, give them my views of the case and
explain to them my theories, so that the matter
would be brought before the public, and the story
of the disappearance of the children read in every
household in the city. That night I was besieged
by a number of reporters who called at my room
in the Rossin House. I gave them the whole
story, and told them I was prepared to let them
have the photographs of Holmes and the children,
and would esteem it a favor if they would publish
them. I also requested them to call the attention
of real estate agents and private renters to the
matter, so that if any person had rented a house
THE SEARCH REWARDED. 223
under such circumstances as I described, I would
be glad to have them communicate with me. The
next morning every newspaper published in Tor-
onto, devoted several columns to the story of the
disappearance of the children, and requested all
good citizens to forward any information they
might have to Police Headquarters, or to me at
the Rossin House.
Thursday morning, July 11th, Detective Cuddy
and I continued our search among the real estate
agents. We found a majority of them prepared
to meet us, for they had read the morning papers
and our task was thus facilitated very much. In
the afternoon, we decided to visit several suburban
towns, known as Mimico and North and South
Parkdale, so away we went singing the same old
story to each and every agent we came across.
However, we kept fighting on, hoping against
hope, with no word or sign of encouragement.
Another day went by and there was not the slight-
est clue to give us a grain of comfort. On our
return to Police Headquarters, we received word
that a man giving the name of Holmes had rented
a house on the outskirts of the city, — a house that
stood in the middle of a field, and was surrounded
by a board fence six feet high. This house was
224 THE HOUSE IN A FIELD.
situated at Perth and Bloor Streets. We wanted
nothing more, and away we journeyed. We found
the house situated as already described, and occu-
pied by an aged couple with a son about twenty
years old. After introducing ourselves as officers,
we ascertained from the old gentleman, that they
had only lived there a few months, and did not
know who occupied the house tlie previous Octo-
ber. We explained to them our suspicions and
said that we believed that Holmes had murdered
the children, and had buried them somewhere
under the house. " That accounts for that pile of
loose dirt under the main building," said the old
man. " Get a shovel " was Cuddy's suggestion,
so the old man led the way to show us how we
could get under the house, while the young man
went in search of a shovel. He soon returned,
and taking off our coats, we crawled into a small
hole and were soon underneath the floor of the
main building. The floor was not more than two
feet above the earth, and it did not take us long
to discover what the old gentleman meant by the
pile of loose dirt. As it was getting dark, we le-
quested that some light be furnished. The boy
crawled out from under the floor and in a short
time we had several coal oil lamps burning and
THE SEARCH REWARDED, 225
commenced digging, feeling positive that we
would unearth the children. A hole was dug
about four feet square, when it was decided to
give it up for the night and return the next morn-
ing. Friday morning, July 12th, I called at Police
Headquarters and met Cuddy, and proposed to
him that we go and see the agent who rented the
house Perth and Bloor, and see if he could iden-
tif}^ tlie photograph of Holmes as the man who
had rented the house. The agent was not a very
early riser, consequently our patience was taxed
in waiting for him. However, when he came and
looked at the picture, he said that it was not the
man. Again were we disappointed, and the bal-
ance of the day was spent at the Grand Trunk
Depot, in trying to ascertain if there had been
any half tickets sold on the morning of the 25th
of October from Toronto to Suspension Bridge.
The ticket agent treated us very courteously, and
examined his records and found that on that day,
there had been only one whole ticket sold for
Niagara Falls, or Suspension Bridge. In answer
to a question, whether a conductor would take a
whole ticket for two children, he said he would,
so we were unable to say positively that Holmes
had not sent the girls to the Suspension Bridge to
m
226 GEYEB VISITS FBESCOTT AND NIAGARA FALLS.
meet Minnie Williams, as he claimed to have
done, — he going as far as Parkdale. We then
endeavored to learn through the freight office,
what amount of baggage was shipped to Prescott,
Canada, on the night of the 25th of October and
the morning of the 26th. We learned that two
pieces had been sent there on the night of the
25th, and one piece on the morning of the 26th.
This corresponded with the amount of baggage
carried by Holmes and Mrs. Pitezel, and con-
vinced me that Prescott was the place they had
gone to, and in the event of not meeting with suc-
cess in Toronto, I determined that Prescott would
be my next stopping place. As Flolmes had left
the Walker House on the afternoon of October
20th, and his whereabouts from that time until
the afternoon of the 21st not being known, I was
impressed with the belief that he had taken his
wife to Niagara Falls ; so on Saturday morning,
July ]3th, I concluded that I would go tliere and
see if I could locate them, and if so, ascertain
whether the}^ had the children with them. Tak-
ing the boat to Lewistown, and from there the
trolley cars, I arrived at Niagara Falls, (Canada
side) about eleven A. M., and began a search
among the hotels, and in a short time my labor
THE SEARCH REWARDED. 227
was rewarded bj locating them at King's Imperial
Hotel, where they arrived on the afternoon of the
20th, and left on the afternoon of the 21st. There
were no children with them, and they had evi-
dently gone there simply to view the Falls. I re-
turned to Toronto and visited a number of the
newspaper offices for the purpose of examining
their files, and made a list of private renters who
advertised their houses to rent, as I intended to
call upon every one of them in person. I was so
positive that Holmes had disposed of the children
in Toronto, that I could not think of leaving,
until I had made a more extended search. Tliat
evening I met Cuddy, and we discussed our plans
for Monday morning.
Sunday, July 14th, was devoted to writing home
and to meditating over the case, and the probable
chances of success.
Monday morning, July 15th, I went to Police
Headquarters and joined Cuddy, He appeared to
be somewhat more cheerful than usual, and when
I suggested that we would start out and search
among the private renters, he informed me that
they had received another report about a man
who had rented a house on St. Vincent Street,
whose description corresponded with that of
228 BACK IN TORONTO.
Holmes, and he suggested that we run this clue
out before doing anything else. Notwithstanding
his fine spirits, he remarked that he guessed it
would prove to be a wild goose chase, similar to
the many that we had already enjoyed. In look-
ing over the newspaper files, I discovered that
there was a house to rent at No. 16 St. Vincent
Street and to inquire of Mrs. Frank Nudel, at No.
54 Henry Street. Detective Cuddy was person-
ally acquainted with Mr. Frank Nudel, who is
connected with the Educational Department of
Toronto, and he suggested that we stop and see
him before going to the St. Vincent Street house.
We found Mr. Nudel, who told us that his wife
was the owner of the house No. 16 St. Vincent
Street and that she had rented it to a man some
time last October, who only occupied it for about
one week. Thanking him for this information,
we started for the St. Vincent Street house, but
instead of going to No. 16, we called at No. 18 to
see an old Scotchman named Thomas William
Ryves, who had notified one of the inspectors of
police that a man answering Holmes' description,
and whose picture with the Pitezel girls he had
seen in the Toronto papers, had occupied the
house No. 16, next to him, and had told him he
THE SEARCH REWARDED. 229
had rented it for a widowed sister, who was at
Hamilton, Ontario, and that he expected lier there
in a few days. We found Mr. Rj^ves a very
pleasant old man to talk to, and after propound-
ing the usual questions to him, lie immediately
recognized the photograph of Alice, but he was
not positively sure of Holmes. He said he never
got a good look at Nellie and could not say
whether or not it was her picture. He told us
that the man asked him to loan him a spade, as
he wanted to arrange a place in his cellar for his
sister to put potatoes in. He said that the only
furniture that was brought to the house was an
old bed and mattress, and a big trunk. The
trunk was taken away from the house, but the bed
and mattress were left there. By this time we
had heard sufficient to convince us that we were
on the right track, and bidding the old gentleman
good day, we requested him to meet us again at
his house in one hour. We lost no time in going
to Mrs. Nudel's house, and ringing the bell the
summons was answered by her daughter. We
asked if Mrs. Nudel was at home and received an
answer in the affirmative ; " Tell her," I said,
" we want to see her at once, it is very impor-
tant." We were requested to take a seat in the
230 SPADES ARE TRU3IP.
parlor, and in a few minutes Mrs. Nuclei made her
appearance, and without giving her a cliance to
say much, I produced the pliotograph of Holmes,
and asked her if she had ever seen the original of
that picture. Mother and daughter both looked
at it at the same time, and answered together,
" Why, yes, that is the man who rented the St.
Vincent Street house last October and only occu-
pied it for a few days." Mrs. Nudel said the
man represented that he wanted it for a widowed
sister, who was coming on from Detroit, Michi-
gan. This seemed too good to be true, and our
anxiety to examine the house was so great, that
we hurriedly thanked her and left. We at once
returned to No. 18 St. Vincent Street where we
met Mr. Ryves anxiously awaiting for our return.
Requesting him to loan us a shovel, he went into
the house and came out with the same spade he
had loaned to Holmes. We rang the bell at No.
16 St. Vincent Street. The door was opened by
the lady of the house, a Mrs. J. Armbrust. Mr.
Ryves introduced us and told her we would like
to go into the cellar. She kindly consented and
ushered us back into the kitchen. Lifting a large
piece of oilcloth from the floor, we discovered a
small trap door, possibly two feet square in about
THE SEARCH REWARDED. 231
the centre of the room. Raising this, I discovered
that the celhir was not very deep but it was very
dark, so I asked Mrs. Armbrnst to kindly provide
us with some himps. In a short time she had
them ready, and down into the cellar we went.
The cellar was very small, about ten feet square,
and not more than four and a half feet in depth.
A set of steps almost perpendicular lead to it
from tlie old-fashioned trap door in the middle of
the kitchen floor.
Taking the spade and pushing it into the earth,
so as to determine whether it had been lately dug
up, we finally discovered a soft spot in the south-
west corner. Forcing the spade into the earth,
we found it easy digging, and after going down
about one foot, a horrible stench arose. This con-
vinced us that we were on the right spot, and our
coats were thrown off, and with renewed confi-
dence, we continued our digging. The deeper we
dug, the more horrible the odor became, and
when we reached the depth of three feet, we dis-
covered what appeared to be the bone of the fore-
arm of a human being. Throwing some dirt into
the hole, in order to keep down the stench as
much as possible, we left the cellar and went into
the kitchen, where I had a conference with Cuddy
232 FINDING THE BODIES OF ALICE AND NELLIE.
and advised him to communicate with Inspector
Stark and tell him of our discovery and have him
suggest over the telephone what undertaker we
should employ to remove the bodies. Cuddy ac-
quiesced in what I said, and we started for the
nearest telephone, which we found in a telegraph
office on Yonge Street, a short distance from the
St. Vincent Street house. Cuddy called up the
inspector, told him of our discovery, and re-
quested him to recommend an undertaker to take
charge of the bodies. The inspector after con-
gratulating us, told us to go to B. D. Humphrey,
an undertaker on Yonge Street, and make any
proper arrangements with him. We found Mr.
Humphrey at his establishment, and requested
him to assist us in the exhumation of the bodies.
I suggested to him to take several pairs of rubber
gloves with him, as the bodies were in such a state
of putrification, it would be impossible to lift them
out of the hole without them. We then returned
to the St Vincent Street house, accompanied by
Mr. Humphrey and into the cellar we went again.
Mr. Humphrey after preparing himself for the
task, jumped into the hole already made by Cuddy
and myself and assisted us in the work. In a
THE SEARCH REWARDED. 233
short time we unearthed the remains of the two
little girls, Alice and Nellie Pitezel.
Alice was found lying on her side, with her
hand to the west. Nellie was found lying on her
face, with her head to the south, her plaited hair
hanging neatly down her back. While we were
making preparations to lift them out of the hole,
a messenger was dispatched to Humphrey's under-
taking establishment to send two coffins to No. 16
St. Vincent Street. In a short *»te the wagon
arrived and the coffins were taken into the
kitchen, and we proceeded to lift the remains out
of the hole. As Nellie's limbs were found rest-
ing on Alice's, we first began with her. We
lifted her as gently as possible, but owing to the
decomposed state of the body, the weight of her
plaited hair hanging down her back, pulled the
scalp from off her head. A sheet had been spread
in which to lay the remains, and after we suc-
ceeded in getting it out of the hole, it was placed
in the sheet, taken upstairs, and deposited in the
coffin.
Again we returned to the cellar, and gently
lifting what remained of poor Alice, we placed
her in another sheet, took her upstairs, and placed
her in a coffin by the side of her sister. The
234 THE ST. VINCENT HOUSE BESIEGED.
bodies were immediately removed to Mr. Humph-
rey's establishment, after which they were sent
to the nioigue. By this time Toronto was wild
with excitement. The news had spread to every
part of the city. The St. Vincent Street house
was besieged with newspaper men, sketch artists,
and others. Everybody seemed to be pleased
with our success, and congratulations, mingled
with expressions of horror over the discovery
were heard everywhere.
I then telegraphed the first result of my search
to District Attorney Graham and to superintend-
ent of the Philadelphia police, and thus it was
proved that little children cannot be murdered in
this day and generation, beyond the possibility
of discovery.
CHAPTER XIII.
FORGING THE LINKS.
iSO. IG St. Vinceut Street — Fair Without, a Charnel House
Witluu— Tlie Little Wooden Egg— Clothing Identified—
Great Excitement in Toronto — Mrs. Pitezel Summoned
from Galva, Illinois — The Preliminary Inquest — Arrival
of Mrs. Pitezel — A Mother's Anguish — Mrs. Pitezel Iden-
tifies the Bodies — Mrs. Pitezel's Testimony — Testimony
of Mr. Ryves — The Burial — Mrs. Pitezel in Kind Hands,
The house where the children were found, is a
quaint little two-story cottage of an old and sim-
ple style of architecture. It stands back a few
feet from the sidewalk, — the narrow plot of lawn
in front being enclosed with a wire net fence five
feet high and beautified with a few blossoming
flowers. A veranda tastefully decorated Avith a
clinging clematis, adds much to the homelike ap-
pearance of the place. The front doorway opens
into a hallway, which divides the house in half
and continues to the kitchen. The cottage con-
tains six medium sized rooms, below, including a
kitchen and a pantry, three on either side of the
hall, and there are four small rooms above. A
(237)
238 THE LITTLE WOODEN EGG.
single gable window looks from the upper stor}- to
the street. At each end of the house are three
small windows, none of them much larger than
the window in the front. The back yard is
small, and is reached from the kitchen by a short
set of steps.
Feeling somewhat fatigued over the day's work,
I determined to spend the evening at the Rossin
House in writing to my superintendent and others,
and to map out a plan for the next day, as our
work was not completed. As the bodies were
badly decomposed, personal identification might be
difficult and I determined if possible to find some
evidence which would aid in establishing tlieir
identity, — so I concluded to learn if possible, who
had occupied the house after Holmes had left it.
The next day, after meeting Cuddy at police
headquarters, we started off to find the tenant
who succeeded Holmes in the St. Vincent Street
house. We were not long in ascertaining, that
after Holmes had left, the house had been occupied
by a family named MacDunald, who only re-
mained a very short time, but no one was able to
tell us where they had moved to. However, hy
diligent search we located them at No. 17 Russell
Street. We called at their home, where we met
FORGING THE LINKS, 239
Mrs. MacDonald and after introducing ourselves,
told her the object of our visit. She said that all
she had found at the house No. 16 St. Vincent
Street, was an old bedstead and mattress. I
then questioned her as to whether she had any
children, and she informed me that she had a boy
about sixteen years old whc was not at home at
that time. I requested her to send him to police
headquarters as soon as he arrived home, and
bring with him anything he had found in the St.
Vincent Street house. Bright and early the next
morning young MacDonald, appeared at police
headquarters with a little wooden egg, which
when parted in the middle, would disclose a
snake, which would spring oat. He said he had
found this egg in a small leather caba, in one of
the closets on the second floor. I had been sup-
plied with a list of the playthings the children had
with them, and one can imagine my surprise and
elation when I found in this list, a description of
just such an egg as the MacDonald boy found.
It was one of the links which contributed to mak-
ing the identification sure. Another link in this
chain was supplied by Mrs. Armboust. The
children were found buried in a nude condition,
and the manner in which their clothing had beao
240 CLOTHING IDENTIFIED.
disposed of was one of the points of my inquiries.
A part of a waist, and wliat appeared to be a
piece of ribbon were found when the children
were exhumed. When Mrs. Armbrust was clean-
ing the house after moving in, she noticed some
rags and straw hanging from the chimney in the
north front room. These she pulled down and
found a part of a striped waist of a graj^ish color,
a piece of a woolen garment of brownish red, and
a part of a dress of bluish color. The straw had
been lit but had not burned, as the clothing had
been shoved into the chimney too tightly. A
pair of girl's button boots were found in the wood
box ; also one odd boot and other parts of the
clothing of a female. All this had been thrown
away by Mr. Armbrust, but they answered the
description of the clothing worn by the Pitezel
girls, given by their mother.
The missing trunk had not been forgotten dur-
ing all this time, and it was frequently spoken of
by Cuddy and myself. After having heard from
Mr. Ryves, that a large trunk had been brought
to the house, the idea suggested itself to us, that
possibly Holmes might have murdered the boy in
Detroit, placed him in the trunk, and shipped
him to the St. Vincent Street house to dispose of
FORGING THE LINKS. 241
the body. I determined if such were the case,
not to leave Toronto until I had satisfied myself
on this point, — consequently we employed sev-
eral men to dig. up every inch of the entire cellar
and we thoroughly examined the barn and out-
houses, but without result.
The finding of the bodies, as I have said before,
caused great excitement in Toronto, and if the
good people of that city had been furnished with
an opportunity, I am sure they would have made
sliort shrift of Holmes. Preparations were made
for the inquest, which was to be conducted by
Coroner Johnston, and in the meantime I was re-
ceiving dispatches from District Attorney Gra-
ham, of Philadelphia, regarding Mrs. Pitezel, who
was at Chicago, Illinois, and whom he had in-
structed to go to Toronto, Canada, to meet me,
and if possible identify the children.
On Tuesday morning, July 16th, Coroner Johns-
ton summoned a number of jurors to be present
at the morgue that evening at half-past seven
o'clock, also requesting my attendance there at
the same hour. This was to be the preliminary
inquest to view the bodies.
7:30 P. M. we all appeared at the morgue, and
Coroner Johnston opened the inquest, after which
242 GREAT EXCITEMENT IX TOROXTO.
the jury was sworn. Then the superintendent
of the morgue was sent for and everything being
ready, the coroner directed the jury to examine
the bodies. In the dead house they went, but I
assure you that their stay was a very limited one,
as the odor from the decomposed remains was un-
bearable, and Coroner Johnston adjourned the in-
quest until Wednesday evening, July 17th, to be
held in the Police Court, City Hall. On Wednes-
day evening I attended the inquest and was re-
quested to recite the story of Holmes, and the in-
surance swindle, and the disappearance and the
finding of the children. I was kept on the wit-
ness stand about two hours and a half, and then
after hearing several other witnesses, the investi-
gation was adjourned to await the arrival of Mrs.
Pitezel. Thursday morning, July 18th, I re-
ceived a dispatch from her, stating that she had
left Chicago and was on her way to Toronto. I
watched all incoming trains during the day, and
at 7:30 P. M. I again went to the Grand Trunk
Depot, and was surprised to see so many people
there. This was due, however, to the fact that
Mrs. Pitezel had been interviewed by a number
of newspaper men before leaving Chicago, and
they had wired her time of departure for Toronto
FORGING THE LINKS. 243
to the Toronto papers. Shortly after my arrival
at the station, the Canadian Pacific train from
Chicago came in, and I observed Mrs. Pitezel
getting off the car. I had a difficult task to make
my way through the crowd to reach her, but as
quickly as possible I placed her in a carriage and
took her to the Rossin House, where I had made
arrangements to have her placed in a room oppo-
site my own, and I requested that no one should
disturb her. Mrs. Pitezel reached her room in an
absolutely prostrated condition. The cliamber-
raaid had very kindly volunteered to render her
such assistance as was possible, and after apply-
ing restoratives, she soon revived sufficiently to
talk to me. Amid her tears and moans, she said,
" Oh, Mr. Geyer, is it true that you have found
Alice and Nellie buried in a cellar ? " I did all I
could to calm her, and told her to prepare for the
worst. She told me that she would try to bear
up with it and would do the best she could. I
then told her as gently as possible, that I had
found the children, but did not describe to her
their horrible condition, nor under what circum-
stances they were discovered. After remaining
with her a short time, I asked several of the
ladies connected with the hotel to visit her room
244 A 3I0THER'S ANGUISH.
and say a comforting word to her, which they did,
and it seemed to have a good effect upon her.
Frida}^ morning, July 19th, I knocked at Mrs.
PitezeVs door, and I found that she had improved.
She said she had not slept very well, but felt
somewhat rested. I then left her and told her
I would go out and make arrangements for tak-
ing her to the morgue during the day to look at
the children. I then went to Police Headquarters
and met Cuddy, after which we called at Coroner
Johnston's house. He informed us that he would
have the bodies so arranged that we could bring
the mother to look at them at four o'clock that
afternoon. Cuddy and I then returned to the
hotel, where every care that human forethought
could suggest, had been taken to prepare Mrs.
Pitezel for the awful task necessity imposed upon
her. I told her that; it would be absolutely im-
possible for her to see anything but Alice's teeth
and hair, and only the hair belonging to Nellie.
This had a paralyzing effect upon her and she al-
most fainted. At -i P. M. we had a carriage at
the Rossin House, and I informed her that we
were ready to proceed to the morgue. In a few
minutes she was ready, and after supplying our-
selves with brandy and smelling salts, we started
FORGING TEE LINKS. 245
for the morgue, where we found a number of cu-
rious people on the outside awaiting our arrival.
Mrs. Pitezel was seated in the waiting room,
while I went into the dead house to see that
everything was in readiness, before we conducted
her in.
I found that Coroner Johnston, Dr. Caven and
several of his assistants, had removed the putrid
flesh from the skull of Alice ; the teeth had been
nicely cleaned and the bodies covered with can-
vas. The head of Alice was covered with paper,
and a hole sufficiently large had been cut in it,
so that Mrs. Pitezel could see the teeth. The
hair of both children had been carefully washed
and laid on the canvas sheet which was covering
Alice. Coroner Johnston said that we could now
bring Mrs. Pitezel in. I entered the waiting
room and told her we were ready, and with Cuddy
on one side of her, and I on the other, we
entered and led her up to the slab, upon which
was lying all that remained of poor Alice. In an
instant she recognized the teeth and hair as that
of her daughter, Alice. Then turning around to
me she said, "Where is Nellie?" about this time
she noticed the long black plait of hair belonging
to Nellie lying in the canvas. She could stand it
246 3rRS. PITEZEL IDENTIFIES THE BODIES.
no longei", and the shrieks of that poor forlorn
creature are still ringing in my ears. Tears were
trickling down the cheeks of strong men who
stood about us. The sufferings of the stricken
mother were beyond description. We gently led
her out of the room, and into the carriage. She
returned to the Rossin House completely over-
come with grief and despair, and had one fainting
spell after another. The ladies in the hotel visited
her in her room and spoke kindly to her, and ex-
pressed their sympathy with her in her sad be-
reavement and this seemed in a measure to ease
her mind. At 7 P. M., I received word from
Coroner Johnston, that if it were possible, he
would like to have Mrs. Pitezel attend the in-
quest that evening and give her testimony.
While I did not think she was in a fit condition
to leave the hotel, I communicated to her what
Dr. Johnston had said, and she said she thought
she would be able to go and get through with it.
About 7:30 P. M. I called a carriage and we started
for the City Hall, where I gave Mrs. Pitezel in
charge of the matron and then went into the
court room and informed Coroner Johnston that
Mrs. Pitezel was ready to testify. He requested
me to bring lier into the room, whereupon Detect-
FORGING THE LINKS. 247
ive Cuddy and I led her in and placed her on a
seat beside the Coroner, and in a few moments,
after taking the necessary oath, she began her
story. For two hours and a half this poor woman
was kept on the stand and prodded with all kinds
of questions. So weak did she become, that at
times her voice was inaudible, and several times
we feared she would totally collapse. Finally the
Crown's Assistant Attorney thought he had heard
enough and consented to allow her to leave the
stand. She was returned to the matron's j'oom
and was scarcely there, when she became hyster-
ical, and her shrieks for Alice, Nellie and How-
ard, could have been heard a block away. Sev-
eral doctors present at the inquest immediately
prescribed for her, and after working with her
about one hour, we got her in a condition to move
her to a hole.. The matron at the City Hall was a
professional nurse, and volunteered to accompany
Mrs. Pitezel to the hotel and remain with her
during the night, if I so desired it. I was only
too willing to have her join us and render the
poor woman all the assistance and sympathy pos-
sible. I sent for a carriage and we returned to
the hotel, where Mrs. Pitezel spent a terrible
night.
248 TESTIMONY OF MR. EWES.
The story as revealed by the witnesses at the in-
quest was very clear, after it had been unravelled.
Holmes and his wife had left Detroit on October
18th, arriving in Toronto the same day, register-
ing at the Walker House as G. Howell and wife,
Columbus. Mrs. Pitezel and Dessie and the baby,
left Detroit the same day, but two hours later,
registering at the Union House under the name of
Mrs. C. A. Adams and daughter.
Alice and Nellie left Detroit the following day,
October 19th. Holmes met them at the Grand
Trunk Station and turned them over to George
Dennis, a hotel porter, who took them by direc-
tion of Holmes to the Albion Hotel, where they
remained until the morning of October 25th.
Holmes called for the girls on the morning of the
20th and returned them to the hotel about six
o'clock in the evening of the same day, and this
he repeated every morning and evening except
Sunday until the morning of the 25th, when he
took them away finally, for they did not return.
He paid for their board every morning and the
last payment was made on the 25th.
On October 20th Holmes rented the house No.
16 St. Vincent Street of Mrs. Christiana Niidel,
and said he wanted it for his widowed sister, who
FORGING THE LINKS. 249
was coming from Detroit. He rented the house
for six months, at ten dollars for the first month,
and twelve dollars per month for the remainder of
the term. He took the key and went awa}^
Mrs. Nudel heard nothing more until nearly the
end of the month, when she learned that the house
was empty, and that the key liad been left with
Mr. Ryves, the next door neighbor.
Mr. Ryves saw the little girls on the veranda of
the house and once in the yard. He saw Holmes
there. Holmes told him different stories. The
first day he met him he said he was renting the
house for a sister who was coming from Hamilton.
He said she had a family of four children, and
that he would board with them as he had secured
a situation in Toronto. He brought a trunk with
him first, and later on a mattress and bedstead
Avere brought and remained on tlie veranda for
two days. Tiie day Ryves saw the girls in the
yard, Holmes came over and borrowed a spade
from him, saying that lie was going to fix a place
ill the cellar to hold potatoes. He borrowed the
spade about four or five o'clock in the afternoon
and returned it between eight and ten o'clock
the next morning, handing it over the fence to
Mr. Ryves. Mr. Ryves never saw the girls again
250 TESTBIONY OF 3IB. EYVE8.
after seeing them in the yard. The day after
Holmes returned the spade, he came to the house
and removed the trunk, and left the key with Mr.
Ryves. The latter went into the house the next
day and into the cellar to look where the potatoes
were to go and he found fresh earth scattered
around the bottom of the cellar and some loose
boards lying on top. Mrs. Pitezel identified the
little wooden egg as a trinket which Alice had,
and which she used to carry in a little leather
caba.
Nothing could be more surprising than the ap-
parent ease with which Holmes murdered the two
little girls in the very centre of the city of To-
ronto, without arousing the least suspicion of a
single person there. It startles one to realize how
such a hideous crime could be committed and de-
tection avoided. Surely if the investigation and
search for the children had not been made by
the Philadelphia authorities, these murders would
never have been discovered, and Mrs. Pitezel
would have gone to her grave without knowing
whether her children were alive or dead. This
was the one consolation she had in the very dark-
est hour of her life. She knew the fate of her
unfortunate daughters— the mystery of their dis-
FORGING THE LINKS. 251
appearance had been solved, and the only remain-
ing problem was the discovery of her little son,
Howard. She could not believe he was dead, and
clung fondly to the hope that he would ultimately
be found alive.
Holmes was successful in maintaining the same
conditions in Toronto, as he had in Detroit. Mrs.
Pitezel was at the Union Hotel, and Alice and
Nellie at the Albion, although each party was ig-
norant of the proximity of the other.
On the afternoon of July 19th, 1895, the re-
mains of the little girls were buried in St. James'
cemetery, the expense being borne by the author-
ities of Toronto. It was a sad scene. In the
meantime I received orders from District Attor-
ney Graham to return to Detroit and resume my
search for the boy Howard. I left Toronto, Sun-
day, July 20th, (in company with Mrs. Pitezel)
and arrived in Detroit on the afternoon of the
same day. Mrs. Pitezel did not stop in Detroit,
but continued on to Chicago in charge of some
good women, of a Christian Endeavor Society,
who volunteered to see to her.
I had finished a part of my task, and the ful-
fillment of the other part now confronted me.
Where was the boy Howard? Had he been
252 FORGING THE LINKS.
placed in some institution, as Holmes had inti-
mated his intention of doing, or was he hidden in
some obscure i)lace beyond reach or discovery ?
Was he alive or dead? I was puzzled, non-
plussed, and groping in the dark. I could not
turn back, — I was directed to go on, and I deter-
mined to do so, hoping that patience and persist-
ent hard work might finally lead me to the light.
CHAPTER XIV.
HOW TO FIND THE BOY.
Geyer Agaia iu Detroit — Where is Howard Pitezel ?— Did He
Leave Detroit Alive? — Reviewing the Evidence — Another
Search at No. 241 E, Forest Avenue — Geyer Does Some Hard
Thinking — Review of Holmes' Movements — Copy of Letter
From Alice to Her Grandparents, Found iu the Possession
of Holmes — Its Pitiable Tale — Holmes' Fiendish Treat-
ment of Both Mother and Children — A Friend Warns
Holmes to Leave Detroit — The Murder of the Children
Postponed — The Furnace Theory.
About 5 P. M. I went to the Detroit Police
Headquarters, where I met Detective Meyler, who,
after congratulating me upon my success in To-
ronto, informed me that the Superintendent would
not be in his office until the following morning.
That Sunday evening I spent in recounting to
Meyler the story of finding the girls, after which
I retired for the night.
Monday morning, July 22d, I reported at Police
Headquarters and met Superintendent Stark-
weather, who agaiu detailed Detective Tuttle to
assist me in Detroit. I decided to go over with
greater care, the evidence which proved Howard
to have been seen in Detroit, and called with
Tuttle on Mr. Frank R. Alderman, the manager
15 (255)
256 REVIEWING THE EVIDENCE.
of the Fidelity Mutual Life Association for Mich-
igan. When the case was first investigated by
the detectives of the insurance company, Mr.
Boninghausen, the real estate agent who rented
No. 2-11 E. Forest Avenue to Holmes, said that
the latter was accompanied by a small boy, but
when I called upon him again, in company with
Mr. Alderman, he declared that he had no abso-
lutely positive recollection of the matter, but that
Mr. Moore, who subsequently rented the same
house, had said that he had noticed a boy with
Holmes. This knocked out one of the supports of
the Detroit theory, and we then sought out Mr.
Moore and found him at No. 241 E. Forest Avenue.
Mr. Moore said that he had never been positive
about the presence of the boy with Holmes. Sev-
eral persons with children were in Mr. Boning-
hausen's office at the time, and he said he tliovght
one of them, a small boy, was with Holmes, but
he was not sure.
At this time we made, with Mr. Moore's per-
mission, another thorough search of the premises,
No. 241 E. Forest Avenue, including the barn, out-
houses and yard, and I felt fully convinced that
if the boy had been murdered there, his body had
been consumed in the large furnace of the house.
HOW TO FIND TEE BOY. 257
We then went to the Wabash railroad station
to ascertain the number of half tickets, which ar-
rived from Chicago at 11:15 P. M., on October
12th, 1894. An effort was made to find the can-
celled tickets of this date and train, but they had
all been destroyed. I was still very much at sea
about Howard, and I did some very hard thinking
on the subject. Time and time again I reviewed
the facts known to me. Holmes arrived in
Detroit on the evening of October 12th. He sent
the girls into the station and told them to remain
there and wait for him. He then rejoined his
wife, (who was also with him, but ignorant of the
presence of the children) and took her to the
hotel. He then left his wife and returned to the
station and took the girls to the New Western
Hotel, where they were registered as Etta and
Nellie Canning. The next day, the 13th, he
moved them to a boarding house kept by Mrs.
Lucinda Burns, No. 91 Congress Street. At this
house Alice wrote a letter to her grandparents,
which she gave to Holmes to post, and which he,
as usual, omitted to do. This was one of the let-
ters found in the possession of Holmes when he
was arrested.
258 H0L3IES' TREATMENT OF MOTHER AND CHILD.
This letter was unsigned, but it was written by
Alice, because it is in her handwriting and she re-
fers to her sister Nell. The letter enclosed two
pages of note paper, on which the children had
made rude drawings of houses, one of which bore
the caption " Uncle Tom's Cabin." This was
copied from a picture in Mrs. Stowe's book, which
the girls had. Under the drawing of the cabin
was written, "All these pictures was drawn at
No. 91 Congress Street, Detroit, Mich."
This letter is dated October 14th, 1894, just
two days subsequent to their arrival in Detroit,
and on the very day their mother, (Mrs. Pitezel),
their sister Dessie, and the little baby, Wharton,
ariived in Detroit, where they were to meet Pite-
zel, so Holmes said. This little party registered
at Geis's Hotel, as Mrs. C. E. Adams and daugh-
ter. Geis's Hotel is not over five blocks from No.
91 Congress Street, so when this poor child Alice,
was writing to her grandparents to Galva, Illinois,
complaining of the cold, sending a message to her
mother, asking for heavier and more comfortable
clothing, wishing for little Wharton, the baby
who would help them to pass away the time, —
while this wearied, lonely, homesick child was
writing this letter, her mother and her sister and
sow TO FIND THE BOY. 259
the much wished for Wharton, ivere ivithin ten
minutes ivalk of her^ and continued there for the
next five days. More than that, — this unparalleled
villain who had robbed the Insurance Company of
Ten Thousand Dollars, and in turn fraudulently
secured Sixty-Seven Hundred Dollars of the swag
from Mrs. Pitezel, was at that very moment mak-
ing arrangements to kill the girls and bury them
at No. 241 East Forest Avenue. The hole wliich
he had dug, (which he admitted he had dug to
bury therein, he said, a tin box containing valu-
able papers, — a hole four feet long, three and a
half feet deep and three feet wide) was intended
as a grave for the little girls. This was the rea-
son he did not purchase them any warmer cloth-
ing, notwithstanding it was coming winter. It
was unnecessary to spend any money for clothing,
when they were to die so soon.
The reason this plan was not executed in De-
troit, was because of a notice he received from
one of his Chicago friends, wlio knew of the in-
surance swindle and from whom he received a
friendly tip, warning him that detectives were on
his track. This notice came to him by telegram
and caused him to move his field of operations to
Toronto.
260 A FRIEND WARNS IIOUIES TO LEAVE DETROIT.
To me the significant part of this letter was the
expression, " Howard is not with us now." Why
did not Alice say to her grandpaients where tliey
had separated from Howard? A simple phrase or
sentence would have told the story. I believe
these children, after leaving Indianapolis and
reaching Detroit, the city to which Holmes had
brought her mother, and sister and her little
brother, were kept in a state of fear or apprehen-
sion. The evident design of Holmes was to keep
the children in ignorance of the proximity of
their mother and he quite likely told them that if
their identity were discovered, their father, wlio
was being hunted by detectives, would be appre-
hended. They gave their name as Canning, (the
name of their grandparents) at his suggestion,
and kept close indoors just as he advised. The
proposed boat ride the}' speak of in their letter,
and which was not taken because the weather was
too cold, was deferred most likely by their sup-
posed friend.
In one of his numerous statements made in
prison to various persons, and to District Attorney
Graham, Holmes said he had given Howard to
Miss Williams in Detroit, who had taken him tu
Buffalo. I did not believe a word of the Wil-
HOW TO FIND THE BOY. 261
liams part of this statement, but still my suspi-
cion of Mr. Holmes' character for truth and verac-
ity did not assist me in clearing up the veil of
mystery which surrounded the disappearance of
the little boy.
The hole in the cellar of the Forest Avenue
house, and the great size of the cellar furnace, the
expression in the letter I have quoted, and the
uncertainty of Mr. Moore's memory as to the
presence of a boy in Boninghausen's office, be-
came the basis of numerous theories. One idea
clui]g to me tenaciously. I could readily imagine
Howard separated from his sisters the night of
the arrival of the party in Detroit : of Holmes
taking him to a quiet place until he was wanted ;
of the renting of the Forest Avenue house and
the digging of the hole ; of the discovery by
Holmes of the great size of the cellar furnace,
which caused him to change his proposed means
of disposing of the body ; of the murder and in-
cineration of the corpse by the method so readily
at hand.
Nothing had ever been discovered in the fur-
nace by the new tenant, Mr. Moore, which indi-
cated that a body had been consumed therein, — so
after the fullest consideration of all that the most
262 THE FURNACE THEORY.
persistent search could reveal, I finally concluded
that the separation from Howard had taken place
prior to the arrival of Alice and Nellie i)i Detroit,
and not after, and I decided to search for him else-
where, and wired to Philadelphia my purpose to
return to Indianapolis.
-^^^— c-—^^ ^:X^ -^vo---t^-^
Fac Simile of Letter from Alice to her Grandparents.
(Found in Holmes' Posession when Akricsted.)
CHAPTER XV.
THE DETECTIVE PUZZLED.
Once More in Indianapolis — Days of Fruitless Work — Every-
body Willing to Aid — Scores of People Suggest Clues-
Has the Clever Criminal Outvpitted the Detective? —
Copies of the Children's Letters — Keen Analysis of their
Contents — The Evidence of an Envelope — Geyer Ordered
to Chicago — Chicago Police Dig up the Skeleton of a
Child — The Skeleton is not Hovrard's — Geyer Goes to
Philadelphia for Consultation and Rest.
I LEFT Detroit on the afternoon of July 23d,
and arrived in Indianapolis the next morning,
having been delayed on the route at Peru, In-
diana. I again registered at the Spencer House
and lost no time in going to police headquarters,
where I met Superintendent of Police Powell, to
whom I confided my purpose of resuming my
search for the Pitezel boy in Indianapolis. De-
tective Richards was again detailed to assist me,
and we at once mapped out a plan of operations.
We procured a directory of the city and made a
list of every real estate agent in Indianapolis and
vicinity and commenced to interview every one of
them with the hope of finding a house that had
(267;
2{i8 SCOEES OF PEOPLE SUGGEST CLUES.
been rented early in October of 1894, to ii man
who wanted it for a widowed sister, and wlio oc-
cnpied it but a short time. Holmes had given
this " widowed sister " story in Cincinnati, De-
troit, and Toronto, and I believed he had told the
same falsehood in Indianapolis.
Our search continued in this manner for days,
yet I learned nothing which gave me the least as-
sistance in obtaining the clue for which I was so
anxiously seeking. The newspapers had published
columns of the Toronto story and my return to
Indianapolis was heralded abroad in conspicuous
head lines. All of the papers published pictures
of Holmes and Howard Pitezel, and it seemed as
though every man, woman and child in Indiana
was alert and watchful, and aiding me in the work
of finding the missing child.
Scores of citizens called upon me at the Spencer
House, making suggestions and giving me many
supposed clues, all of which were faithfully run
out. The number of mysterious persons who had
rented houses in and about Indianapolis multi-
plied from day to day, and Detective Richards
and I were not permitted to rest a moment.
Days came and passed, but I continued to be as
much in the dark as ever, and it began to look as
THE DETECTIVE PUZZLED. 269
though the bold but clever criminal, had out-
witted the detectives, professional and amateur,
and that the disappearance of Howard Pitezel
would pass into history as an unsolved mystery.
About this time I received a communication
from Assistant District Attorney Barlow, who
was holding up the Philadelphia end of the line
with great hopefulness and patience. He sent me
an anal3^sis of three of the children's letters writ-
ten from Indianapolis, which threw more light
upon the matter, and brought me more closely to
the track of the destroyer of innocent children.
These three letters now given, are exact copies of
the originals.
" Indianapolis, Ind ,
October 6, 1894.
Dear Mamma, Geandma and Grandpa : —
We are all well here. It is a little warmer
to-day. There is so many buggies go by that you
cant hear yourself think. I first wrote you a let-
ter with a crystal pen, but I made some mistakes
and then I am in a hustle because Mr. H. has to
go at 3 o'clock I don't know where. It is all glass
so I hafto be careful or else it will break, it was
only five cents. Mr. H. went to T. H. Indiana
last night again. Their was a poor boy arrested
270 COPIES OF THE CHILDREN'S LETTERS.
yesterday for stealing a shirt he said he had no
home the policeman said he would buy him a suit
of clothes and then send him to a reform school.
The patrols are lots different here than they are
in St. Louis & Chicago, they couldnt get away
if they wanted to. We hafto get up early if we
get breakfast. We have awful good dinners
pie fruit and sometimes cake at supper and this
aint half. They are all men that eat at the tables
we do not eat with them we have a room to our-
selves. They are dutch but they can cook awful
nice. Their is more bicycles go by her in one day
than goes by in a month in St. Louis. I saw two
great big ostriges alive and we felt of their
feathers they are awful smooth | they are black
with white tails they are as big as a horse. Why
have buffaloes got big rings in their noses for I
want Grandma and grandpa to write to me. Is
the baby well and does he like coco I want you to
all write why dont you write mama. I will close
for this time goodby wiite
Yours truly,
Nellie Pitezel
over
Alices ej-es hurts so she wont write this time.
Indianapolis Ind.
Oct. 6th 1894.
Dear Mamma.
We are all well except I have got
a bad cold and I have read so much in Uncle
THE DETECTIVE PUZZLED. 271
Tom's book that I could not see to write yester-
day when Nell and Howard did. I am wearing
my new (ders) dress today because it is warmer to
day. Nell Howard and I have all got a crystal pen
all made of glass five cents a piece and I am writing
with it now. I expect Grandma and Grandpa
was awftd glad to see you. The hotel we are stay-
ing at faces right on a big wide bulvard and there
is more safties and bugies passing than a little bit
and how I wish I had a safty. Last Sunday we was
at the Zoological Garden in Cincinnati, O. And I
expect this Sunday will pass away slower than I
dont know what and Howard is two dirty to be seen
out on the street to-day. Why dont you write to
me. I have not got a letter from you since I have
been away and it will be three weeks day after
tomorrow. It is raining out now quite hard.
Nell is drawing now. The hotel is just a block
from Washington Street and that is where all the
big stores are. There is a shoe store there And
there has been a man painting every day this
week. They give these genuine oil painting away
with every $1.00 purchas of shoes with small
extra charge for frames. You cant get the
pictures with out the frames though I wish I
could get one you dont know how pretty they
are. We go there every day and watch him
paint. He can paint a picture in IJ minutes aint
that quick. Nell keeps joring the stand so I can
hardly write I mad half a dozen mistakes on the
272 COPIES OF THE CHILDREX'S LETTERS.
other side just because she made me. This letter
is for you all because I cant write to so many of
you I guess I have told all the news so good bye
love to all and kisses
Your loving daughter
E. Alice Pitezel.
P. O. Write soon Howard got a box of col-
lars and took one out and lost box and all the
contents.
Monday morning.
Do Mamma
J ust got a letter from you say-
ing that the babe was cross and Dessa and
Grandma was sick. How is Grandpa I hope you
will all feel better I thought you would not be
home sick at all when you got there but it seems
as though you are awful homesick Who met you
at the depot did you get there Satarday or Sun-
day. I dont like to tell you but you ask me so I
will have to. H. wont mind me at all He wanted
a book and I got life of Gen. Sheridan and it is
awful nice but now he dont read it at all hardly.
One morning. Mr. H. told me to tell him to stay
in the next morning that he wanted him and he
would come and get him and take him out and I
told him and he would not stay in at all he was
out when he came. We have written two or
three letters to you and I guess you will begin to
get them now I will send this with my letter that
THE DETECTIVE PUZZLED. 273
I wrote yesterday and didnt send off Hope you
will all keep well
continued
I have just finished Uncle Tom's Cabin and it
is a nice book. I wish I could see you all. This
is another cold day. We pay $12.00 a week for
our room and board and I think that is pretty
cheap for the good meals we have Yesterday we
had mashed potatoes, grapes, chicken glass of
milk each ice cream each a big sauce disli full
awful good too lemon pie cake dont you think
that is pretty good. They are Germans. I guess
I will have to close so good bye, love to all and
kisses. Write soon keep well
Yours Truly
E. Alice Pitezel.
In Mr. Barlow's view, these letters negatived
the statement made by Mr. Ackelow, the proprie-
tor of the Circle House, that the children had
left that hotel on October 6th. The first letter
written by Nellie, is dated October 6th. The next
letter written by Alice, is also dated October 6th,
but it was evidently written the day after Nellie
had written her letter and should have been dated
the 7th.
"•Alice's eyes hurts," writes Nellie, "so she
won't write this time." " I have read so much in
274 KEEN ANALYSIS OF THEIR CONTENTS.
Uncle Tom's book," writes Alice, "that I could
not see to write yesterday when Nell and Howard
did."
October 6th was on Saturday, the next day,
was of course, Sunday, the 7th. It is quite evi-
dent, that Alice wrote on Sunday, the 7th, be-
cause she speaks of wearing her new dress ; that
slie expects " this Sunday to pass away slower
than I don't know what," that " Howard is too
dirty to be seen out on the street to da}-, etc."
If there is an}^ doubt that this letter was written
on Sunday, October 7th, it is completely dispelled
by the third letter with its simple heading,
" Monday morning," without any date affixed in
which she sjDcaks of having written tivo or three
letttrs to her mother, and "I will send this with
my letter I wrote yesterday and didn't send off,"
and that they had ice cream and an extra good
dinner the day before. This letter was evidently
written, Monday, October Sth, and the children
had evidently continued at the same hotel, the
Circle House, and had not left it on October 6th.
I again interviewed Mr. Ackelow the Circle
House proprietor, and examined the books of the
hotel with greater care and soon discovered, that
the last payment of their board was made on Octo-
THE DETECTIVE PUZZLED. 277
her lOtli, on which day they had left., and not on
October Glh, ;is first stated. As I had ascertained
to a certainty tliat the 'cliildren liad arrived in
Detroit on tlie evening of October 12th, I found I
was hot on the track, and with only forty-eight
hours to be accounted for. Howard had disap-
peared in the forty eight hours, and either in
Indianapolis, or between that city and Detroit.
The Monday morning letter was of great signifi-
cance in its relation of Howard's alleged misbe-
havior. " One morning Mr. H. told me to tell
him to stay in the next morning, that he wanted
him and would come and get him and take him out
and I told him and he would not stay in at all, he
"vas out when he came.''^ '
This is precisely what Holmes did at the Albion
Hotel in Toronto; he called for the gi7'ls and took
them out on the morning of October 26th, and they
never returned. Poor little Howard, if he had
known the fate that was in store for him, he
would have continued to stay out " when he
came."
Mr. Ackelow told me that Holmes spoke of
Howard as a mischievous boy and hard to con-
trol, and said he intended placing him in some in-
stitution or in some good home on a farm.
16
278 THE EVIDENCE OF AN ENVELOPE.
Holmes told this story so that when Howard
was separated from his sisters, his disappearance
would arouse neither curiosity nor suspicion. It
worked well too, because neither Mr. Ackelow
nor any attache of the hotel was able to say,
whether Howard left before or at the same time the
girls left.
Mr. Barlow further informed me, that the en-
velope which had enclosed a letter written by
Alice to the Fidelity IMutual Life Insurance Asso-
ciation, thanking them for the prompt payment of
the insurance policy had been mailed on October
11th, and was postmarked " Chic. Richmond &
Cin. R. P. O.," — a government post route between
Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Detroit.
Thus it appeared reasonably certain, that the
party were on a train somewhere between these
cities on October 11th.
Thursday morning, August 1st, I received a
telegram from District Attorney Graham, direct-
ing me to go to Chicago and have an interview
with the police authorities in the city, who were
reported to have dug up the skeleton of a child at
Holmes' Block, No. 701 West 63rd Street, Chi-
cago. That evening I left Indianapolis and
reached Chicago the next morning (Friday). At
THE DETECTIVE PUZZLED. 279
police headquarters, I met Chief Brandenaugh
and Inspector Fitzpatrick, with whom I had a
conference lasting several hours. I heard enough
to convince me that they had not found the re-
mains of Howard.
Another telegram then reached me from Mr.
Graham, requesting me to return to Philadelphia
for a consultation, and I immediately left on the
Pennsylvania Limited, arriving home the next
day at 4:17 P. M.
I went direct to the District Attorney's office
in the City Hall, where I was warmly greeted by
Mr. Barlow, who informed me that I had been
summoned home for a few days rest and for con-
sultation, and that I was to resume work in the
case again as soon as the preparations for a fresh
start were completed.
Mr. Barlow's confidence in our ability to find
Howard never faltered. The mere fact that I had
searched every real estate office in Indianapolis,
and had for days run out every supposed clue
presented, and had failed to find even a trace of
the boy, had no effect upon him. He believed
that skill and patience would yet win, and said,
that when Mr. Graham and he and I met on Mon-
day, we would consider further plans for search-
280 GEYER GOES TO PHILADELPHIA.
ing in Indianapolis and vicinity, and if not success-
ful there, then among the junction towns between
Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Detroit.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
Consultation in the District Attorney's Ofl&ce — Holmes
Again Questioned — The Monumental Liar Repudiates
His Former Statement — Introduces the Mysterious Hatch
— A Fresh Start — W. E. Gary Associated with Geyer —
Chicago Again — The Janitor of the "Castle" and His
"Wife Interviewed — Outlying Towns Searched for Clues —
Third Return to Indianapolis — Kindness of Authorities
and Citizens — Nine Hundred Clues Run Out— Irvington,
Ind.— The Veil About to Lift.
Monday morning, August 3d, I met the Dis-
trict Attorney and his assistant in their office in
the city hall, and remained in consultation with
them the greater part of the day. After Alice
and Nellie had been found in Toronto, Holmes
had been brought to the city hall in Philadelphia
and vigorously examined in the hope of securing
from him some admission which would assist me
in finding Howard, but not a word did he say,
which threw a particle of light upon the matter.
His former statement in which he had given with
great detail, the particulars of his meeting with
Miss Williams, and how he had given Howard
(281)
28:3 OUTLYING TOWNS SEARCHED FOR CLUES.
into her care in Detroit, whence she had taken
him to Buffalo, he repudiated, and he now intro-
duced the mysterious Hatch. According to
Hohnes, Hatch was the miscreant who had prob-
ably shed the blood of innocent childhood, and
not he, and he was willing, he said, to do all in
his power to ascertain what this bad man Hatch
had done with Howard.
This examination, which had been conducted
by Mr. Barlow, was fully related to me, but we
obtained not a grain of comfort from anything
that this king of fabricators had said.
The officers of the insurance company now
took a new grip on the case, and expressed their
determination to hold on until the mystery which
shrouded the disappearance of the little boy was
cleared up,^so the preparations for a fresh start
included the assignment of Mr. W. E. Gary, the
chief inspector of the company, to accompany me
on the journey. This was agreeable news to me,
because Mr. Gary was not only a pleasant com-
panion, but he was able and skillful in detective
work, and possessed a large stock of patience, —
an absolutely essential element in such a case as
we had in charge.
On Wednesday evening, August 7th, we left
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 283
Philadelphia and went direct to Chicago, arriving
the next afternoon. In company witii Inspector
Fitzpatrick, we w^ent to the Harrison Street Sta-
tion and had an interview with Mr. and Mrs.
Patrick Quinlan, who were under arrest on suspi-
cion of having been associated with Holmes in
alleged crimes committed in the Sixty -third Street
house, known as the " Castle." Our object was
to ascertain if Holmes had taken the children to
Chicago, after leaving the Circle House in Indi-
anapolis on October 10th. Both Quinlan and his
wife stoutly maintained their ignorance of any
knowledge of the children, and I am bound to
say I believed them.
On Sunday, August 11th, Mr. Gary and I left
Chicago for Logansport. From Logansport we
went to Peru, Indiana, thence on following days
to Montpelier Junction, Ohio, and Adrian, Mich-
igan. In each of these towns we spent days in
searching among hotels and boarding houses and
in interviewing real estate agents, but all to no
purpose, and we finally concluded to return to
Indianapolis and settle there and search until
District Attorney Graham and his assistant, Mr.
Barlow, told us to stop, or until we had found the
boy. I must <3onfess that I returned to Indian-
284 KINDNESS OF A UTHOBITIES AND CITIZENS.
apolis in no cheerful frame of mind, and the large
jtock of hope which I had gathered up in the
District Attorney's office in the Philadelphia City
Hall was fast dwindling away. There was noth-
ing to do, however, but to go at it again, so head-
quarters at the Spencer House was once more
established. My confidence in our ultimate suc-
cess, was sustained at all times by my continued
faith in the Indianapolis theory. I believed the
boy had been murdered in Indianapolis, or in some
nearby town, but my ill success in locating the
house, after so much effort and such wide pub-
licity, greatly annoyed and puzzled me. The
mystery seemed to be impenetrable.
The desire on the part of the police authorities
of Indianapolis to assist me in the search, never
wavered. On this, my third return to that city,
I was greeted with the same kindness and un-
varying courtesy I had enjoyed on the previous
occasions. In fact, this can truthfully be said
of the police authorities in all the citi'es embraced
within the circuit, from Cincinnati to Toronto,
where my mission had taken me. Everywhere I
found kind hearts and willing hands, ready to
assist me in running to earth one of the most ac-
complished villains of modern times, and if ancient
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 285
times produced his equal, I have yet to read of
him.
The Indianapolis newspapers, published an-
nouncements of the renewal of the search in that
city, and reports from many kind and well dis-
posed persons, of mysterious people who rented
houses for a short time and then disappeared,
came pouring in again. Not a single suggestion
was unheeded and every report was carefully and
patiently investigated. The advertisements of
private houses for rent early in October of 1894
were listed and each one visited and examined.
No less than nine hundred supposed clues were
run out. We then commenced a search of the
small towns just beyond the city of Indianapolis,
and finally finished the work in all, except Irving-
ton. About this time I wrote a letter to District
Attorney Graham, repeating to him all that I had
reported almost daily to Superintendent of Police
Linden, and concluded by saying : " By Monday
we will have searched every outlying town, ex-
cept Irvington, and another day will conclude
that. After Irvington, I scarcely know where we
shall go." On Tuesday morning, August 27th,
we took the trolley line for Irvington, a most
beautiful town, about six miles from Indianapolis.
286 NINE HUNDRED CLUES RUN OUT.
As there are no hotels in the town, we decided to
look up the real estate agents. A short distance
from wliere the cars stop, I noticed a sign of a
real estate office, and in we went. Opening up a
package of papers and photographs which I had
carried, and which I had untied and tied over a
thousand times, until it had become soiled and
ragged from wear, I asked a pleasant faced old
gentleman who greeted us as we entered the
office, if he knew of a house in his town, which
had been rented for a short time in October of
1894, by a man who said he wanted it for a wid-
owed sister. I then handed him a photograph of
H. II. Holmes. The old gentleman who proved to
be Mr. Brown quietly listened, and then adjusting
his glasses took a long look at the photograph.
" Yes," said he, " I remember a man who rented
a house under such circumstances in October of
1894, and this picture looks like him very much.
I did not have the renting of the house, but I had
the keys, and one day last fall, this man came into
my office and in a very abrupt way said, I want
the keys for that house. I remember the man
very well, because I did not like his manner, and
I felt that he should have had more respect for
my gray hairs."
THE BEGINNING OF TEE END. 287
While the good old man was talking, Mr. Gary
and I stood still. When he had finished, we
looked at each other and sat down. We had
found the clue at last.
All the toil ; all the weary days and weeks of
travel, — toil and travel in the hottest months of
the year, alternating between faith and hope, and
discouragement and despair, all were recompensed
in that one moment, when I saw the veil about to
lift, and realized that we were soon to learn where
the poor little boy had gone with Holmes, " when
he came."
" Truth, like the sun, submits to be obscured
but like the sun, only for a time."
CHAPTER XVII.
"WHEN HE CAME."
A Warm Trail— The One and a Half Story Cottage— Search-
ing the Cellar — Broken Trunk Under the Piazza — A Strip
of Blue Calico — Amateur Detectives — Finding the Charred
Eemains — The Boy's Coat — Geyer Has a Good Night's
Eest.
Mk. Gary and I did not remain seated very-
long. Mr. Brown offered to take us to Dr.
Thompson, the former owner of the house, and we
thankfully accepted his invitation. Dr. Thomp-
son's office was near by and when we entered,
Mr. Brown introduced us as two detectives from
Philadelphia in search of one of the Pitezel chil-
dren. The doctor at once recognized the photo-
graph of Holmes and identified him as the man
who had rented the house he formerly occupied.
He said further that a boy in his employ, named
Elvet Moorman, had seen Holmes and a little boy
he had with him at the time. A messenger was
dispatched for Elvet, and the instant he saw
Holmes' photograph he said : " Why tliat is the
man who lived in our house, and who had the small
(289)
290 SEARCHING THE CELLAR.
boy with him." He also recognized Howard's
picture as that of the boy whom he had seen at
the house with Hohnes. Our anxiety to get to
the house and to search the premises can be im-
agined. We asked the doctor to show us the
way. On our arrival at the house, I found it to
be a one and a half story cottage, standing some
little distance from Union Avenue, in the extreme
eastern part of the town. Across the street is a
Methodist church and two hundred yards to the
south are the Pennsylvania railroad tracks. The
house stands in a secluded place, and there are no
other houses in the immediate neighborhood. To
the west is a small grove of young catalpa trees,
and to the east is a large common. There are two
roads leading to the street cars which run into In-
dianapolis.
On entering the house, we searched the cellar
first. I found it divided into two apartments, —
the rear having a cement floor and evidently in-
tended for a wash room and the front having a
clay floor, but as hard as flint. It was quite evi-
dent that there had been no disturbance of the
floor in the cellar, and so we decided to make a
search on the outside. To the right wing of the
house is attached a small piazza, with open lattice
" WHEN HE CA3IE." 201
work under the floor. In looking through this
lattice work, I discovered the broken remains of a
trunk. It took but a moment to remove the
steps leading up to the piazza floor, and crawling
under I brought out what proved to be a strong
piece of evidence against the distinguished crim-
inal who was sitting in his cell in the Philadelphia
County prison, and wondering how near I had set
my feet on his tracks. When I brought out the
piece of the trunk, I discovered that a strip of
blue calico had been pasted along the side seam
and evidently intended to repair and cover it.
The calico was about two inches wide, and had
printed on it the figure of a white flower. I felt
sure that I had found at least a portion of one of
the trunks that had given me so much anxiety,
and I was very careful to see that it was deposited
in a safe place for future use as evidence. I ob-
served, under the piazza, that the earth had been
disturbed, and procuring a shovel dug very deeply
to ascertain if a body had been buried there, but
no evidence of that nature was discovered. We
then turned our attention to the barn and other
outhouses. In the barn I found a large coal
stove, called the " Peninsular Oak," and some
other articles of furniture.
292 A STRIP OF BLUE CALICO.
The stove was three and a half feet high, and
about twenty-two inches in diameter, — the entire
top working upon a pivot. On the top I found
what appeared to be blood stains. We then ex-
amined the floor of the barn and the grounds
about the house, and wherever we discovered a
soft spot in the earth, we dug deeply to see if a
body was buried there.
By this time, several hundred people had gath-
ered about the house, seriously interfering with
our operations, but all expressing great sympathy
with us in our work, and as it was almost evening
I decided to defer a further search until the fol-
lowing day. I ascertained also that the house
had been rented by an agent in Indianapolis by
the name of J. S. Grouse and I wanted to see him
before the sun went down. Mr. Gary and I then
took the trolley car into Indianapolis and called
at once upon Mr. Grouse. I learned that the
house had been rented to a man who wanted it
for his widowed sister by the name of Mrs. A. E.
Gook, who intended to open a boarding house.
He paid one month's rent in advance, and was
never seen again. When I produced the plioto-
graph of H. H. Holmes, it was promptly identi-
fied as that of the man who had rented the house.
The Spade with which Holmes Buried Alice and Nellie
JN the Cellar
" WHEN HE came:' 295
As Holmes had registered at the Hotel Bristol in
Cincinnati as A. E. Cook and three children, I
felt certain that I was working in the right direc-
tion.
After leaving the real estate office, I sent the
following telegram to Mrs. Pitezel, Galva, Illi-
nois:
" Did missing trunk have a strip of blue calico,
white figure over seam on the bottom." To this
telegram I received the following reply :
" Yes, missing trunk had a strip of blue calico
white figure on the bottom."
Cakrie a. Pitezel.
While I was at the telegraph office, I received
a telephone from the Indianapolis Evening News
Office, requesting me to call there without delay.
At the news office I met Mr. Brown, their city
editor, who told me that Dr. Barnhill the partner
of Dr. Thompson was on his way from Irvington
and that he had something of importance to com-
municate to me, and that I should wait for him.
The doctor arrived in a few moments and opened
a small package containing several pieces of
charred bone, which he declared were a portion of
the femur and skull of a child between eight and
twelve years old. The piece of the skull showed
17
296 AMATEUR DETECTIVES.
the sutures plainly. Dr. Barnhill then explained
that after Mr. Gary and I had left the Irvington
house, he and Dr. Thompson had continued the
search. They were accompanied by two boys,
Walter Jenny and Oscar Kettenbach. One of
the boys suggested that they should play detective
and they went together into the part of the cellar
having a cemented floor, and in which there was
a chimney which extended above the roof of the
house. In the chimney was a pipe hole about
three feet six inches from the floor. Young
Jenny put his arm in the opening and pulled out
a handful of ashes, among which was one of the
pieces of bone, which Dr. Barnhill brought to me.
The boys continued to bring out ashes and pieces
of bone and then ran and called the doctors, who
soon determined the character of the discovery.
This information induced me to return to the
house that evening, and upon our arrival, we
found the entire neighborhood assembled there.
I requested the Marshall of Police who was pres-
ent to clear the house, which he did in short or-
der. The doctors and several members of the
Press were then admitted, and we. proceeded to
the cellar, and with hammer and chisel I took
down the lower part of the chimney. I then took
"WBEN HE came:' 297
an old fly screen which I found in the house, and
used it as a sieve, and as the ashes and soot were
taken from the chimney, I passed it through the
screen and found an ahiiost complete set of teeth
and a piece of the jaw, which I turned over to
Dr. John Quiucy Byram, a dentist, for examina-
tion. At the bottom of the chimney was found
quite a large charred mass, which upon being cut,
disclosed a portion of the stomach, liver and
spleen, baked quite hard. The pelvis of tlie body
Avas also found. All this was handed to Dr.
Barnhill for examination.
In tlie chimney we also found some of the iron
fastenings which belonged to the trunk, some
buttons, a small scarf pin, and a crochet needle.
Upon searching for outside evidence, we found a
boy's coat in possession of a grocer in Irvington.
The grocer said that early in October, of 1894 a
man called at his store and left the coat with him,
saying that a boy would call for it the next morn-
ing, but the boy never came. Thoroughly con-
vinced that we had found all that remained of lit-
tle Howard Pitezel, we returned to Indianapolis
and at once repaired to the City Hall where we
had a consultation with Superintendent of Police
Powell.
298 GEYER HAS A GOOD NIGHT'S BEST.
The superintendent advised us to see the cor-
oner, Dr. Castor, a suggestion which we acted
upon the next day.
That night I enjoj-ed the best night's sleep I
had had in two months. I was sure that my work
was complete, and as I fell into an easy slumber,
I thought that after all, the business of searching
for the truth was not the meanest occupation of
man. It is the manner in which it is searched
for that sometimes makes it ignoble.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE CHAIN COMPLETE.
A Coroner's Inquest Again — Mrs. Pitezel Summoned from
Galva, 111.— Identifies the Piece of Trunk— Identifies the
Clothing and Toys — Moorman's Testimony — Other Perti-
nent Testimony— Surgical Instruments Sharpened— Thanks
for Generous Aid — Return to Philadelphia — This Monster
Must be Punished.
The day following our discoveries at the Ir-
vington house, we were requested by the Sheriff
of the county in which Irvington is situated, to
appear before the Grand Jury. This request we
complied with, and we recited the whole Holmes -
Pitezel story to that body.
The coroner, Dr. Hiram A. Castor, held an in-
quest. To this sad scene, Mrs. Pitezel was jigaiii
summoned. She had hoped to the last that her
little son had been placed in some institution, or
in the care of some person in a secluded part of
the country.
It will be remembered that Holmes declared
this to be his purpose to Mr. Ackelow, the pro-
prietor of the Circle House, and Mrs. Pitezel al-
(299)
300 MOORMAN'S TESTIMONY.
ways clung to the hope that Howard would ulti
mately be found alive. The Irvington revelation
came to her, therefore, with all the force of a
dreadful shock and it was a great tax on her
strength to leave Galva again and make another
sad journey to Irvington.
She identified the overcoat found at the
grocer's, as Howard's. She had repaired it in a
number of places and sewed a new pocket in it,
and had no difficulty in proving the identification.
The piece of trunk was easily recognized, because
of the strip of calico which her father had pasted
along the bottom. A little spinning top and a tin
man, which Pitezel had bought for Howard at the
World's Fair and which I had found in the house,
were also identified. Mrs. Pitezel had placed
them in the trunk herself at the time of the de-
parture of Holmes with Nellie and Howard from
St. Louis. A little scarf-pin and a pair of shoes
she also identified as Howard's, and a crochet
needle that belonged to her daughter Alice.
These had all been found in the Irvington house.
Elvet Moorman testified that he went over to
the house one afternoon early in October of 1894
and saw a transfer wagon with furniture unload-
ing, and a man and a boy assisting in transferring
THE CHAIN C03IPLETE. 301
the articles to the house. Later in the afternoon
of the same day he went over to milk a cow that
was kept in the barn, connected with the house.
While he was milking, the man who was with the
boy, came to him and asked him to assist him in
putting up a stove, which he did. Moorman
asked the man why he did not make a gas connection
(for natural gas) and use a gas stove, and the man
said that he did not think gas ivas healthy for chil-
dren. A photograph of Holmes was shown the
witness and he identified it as the man whom he
had assisted in putting up the stove. He also
said that the photograph of Howard Pitezel shown
him, was that of the boy he had seen with
Holmes, and who was present when the stove was put
up. He also said that after Holmes and the boy
disappeared, he had examined the house and
found a lot of corn rubbish on the floor that
seemed to indicate that a fire had been made with
corn cobs.
Dr. Byram, a dentist, identified the teeth and
portion of the jaw as those of a child between the
ages of eight and eleven years, and Dr. Barnhill
declared the bones found to be portions of a
skeleton of a child between the ages of seven and
ten years. The large portion of charred remains
302 SURGICAL INSTBU2IENTS SHARPENED.
found, contained the liver, the stomach and por-
tions of the intestines.
Albert Schiffling testified that he keeps a repair
shop at No. 48 Virginia Avenue, Indianapolis.
On the 3d of October, a man, whom he identified
as Holmes, came into his shop accompanied by a
small boy. Holmes had two cases of surgical in-
struments, which he wanted sharpened. He re-
turned for the instruments on October 8th, paid
for the repairs and took them away. Other testi-
mony and identifications of Holmes and Howard
were heard, but all in corroboration of the evi-
dence which I have briefly stated. Dr. Byram,
the dentist, very cleverly and skillfully mounted
the teeth on wax jaws, which exhibited their
character and their age most admirably, and Doc-
tors Barnliill and Thompson, made a very exhaus-
tive and scientific report of the other contents of
the chimney which had been found, and the
coroner's jury had no difficulty in finding tjjat lit-
tle Howard Pitezel had come to his death at the
hands of H. H. Holmes.
Our work being done, we visited the City Hall
and thanked Superintendent Powell and his as-
sistants for their kind and courteous treatment
during our stay in Indianapolis. In fact we were
THE CHAIN C03IPLETE. 303
grateful to everybody, for we had received from
all citizens the most generous and unselfish aid in
tlie performance of our task, — so bidding farewell
to our many friends, we left for Philadelphia, ar-
riving home Saturday, September 1st.
The District Attorney and his Assistant, Mr.
Barlow and I had a happy meeting. They, like
myself, had been giving to the case, the days and
weeks of a summer of almost unprecedented heat
and we all rejoiced over the success and end of the
search.
Much remained, however, to be done. The
greatest of criminals had yet to be brought to an-
swer for his foul deeds. All that had been un-
earthed, would count for but little, if this wretch
were permitted to elude the firm grasp of the law
or to avoid a punishment, not such as he deserved,
but that which is provided under the orderly
forms of legal procedure, and we then and there
fully and freely consecrated the best that was in
us, to the consummation of that great end.
CHAPTER XIX.
JUSTICE CRIED "AMEN."
The Trial — Desperate Fight for Postponement — Application
for Postponement Refused — Holmes Dismisses his Coun-
sel — Holmes Conducts His Own Case — Holmes' Shrewd-
ness — Playing for Sympathy — Holmes' Lawyers Re-enter
the Case — Mrs. Pitezel's Heart Breaking Narrative — The
Murderer Unmoved — Testimony of Miss Yoke — Holmes
Cross-examines the Woman He had Foully Wronged — Ad-
missions of Prisoner's Counsel — Testimony of Physicians
— The Worthless Note — How Holmes Deluded Mrs.
Pitezel — All Doubts Dispelled — Murder in the First De-
gree — Press and People Congratulate Prosecutors and
Detective.
Herman W. Mudgett, alias H. H. Holmes,
was indicted on the day of September, 1895,
by the grand jury of Philadelphia County, for the
murder of Benjamin F. Pitezel on September 2,
1894. On September 1895, the prisoner
was arraigned and entered a plea of "not guilty,"
and in answer to the question propounded to him
by the crier of the court, " Pleading not guilty, —
How will you be tried ? " He answered, " By
God and my country."
Upon this occasion he was represented by two
(305)
30G DESPERATE FIGHT FOR P0STP0NE3IENT.
young attorneys, who had been advising him
since his incarceration in the county prison in
November of 1894, and one of whom assisted in
his trial for conspiracy in June of 1895. They
had visited him in prison, scores of times and were
familiar with every point and detail of his case.
The officers of the commonv\^ealth had been grop-
ing in the dark, following this clue and then that,
but his own attorneys were, or should have been
in the broad light of knowledge of all that Holmes
knew concerning Pitezel and his fate, and the de-
struction of the children. After the entry of the
plea of " not guilty " by the prisoner, and issue
had been joined between him and the Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania, the District Attorney
asked the court to fix a day for the trial. He
suggested that a time be set so remote, that ample
opportunity should be given for the prisoner, as
well as for the commonwealth to 23repare for the
great contest which should decide the guilt or in-
nocence of the accused. The court then stated
to all parties, that the trial should take place on
Monday, October, 28th, five weeks distant, and
gave notice to both sides to be prepared. In spite
of this notice, when the day fixed arrived, Octo-
ber 28th, the prisoner and his counsel made one
JUSTICE CRIED ''A3IEN." 307
of the most desperate fights for postponement
ever witnessed in a criminal trial.
One of the city newspapers said : " It was not
that the struggle was long, or conducted with any-
fine display of legal generalship, but it was fierce,
painful and impressive while it lasted, suggesting
the wild mad cries and writhings of a murderer,
already condemned and battling with inexorable
jailers on the way to the scaffold."
The application for a postponement was refused,
thereupon counsel asked permission to withdraw
from the case. This was also refused, — the Court
reminding counsel, that they had represented the
prisoner for many months, and had ample time
for the preparation of the trial. Counsel then
had a consultation with the prisoner, and returned
to the bar of the court with the astounding state-
ment that the prisoner had dismissed them from
the case, and that he had declared it to be his
purpose to conduct his own defense. The court
then warned counsel not to leave the case, even
in the face of a dismissal by the prisoner, and
directed them to proceed and defend their client.
This the attorneys refused to do, and they left
the court room. The Hon. Michael Arnold, who
presided at this trial, is not only a good lawyer
308 HOLMES CONDUCTS HIS OWN CASE.
and a wise judge, but lie is conspicuous for his
abundant stock of good common sense, so not-
withstanding the desertion of the attorneys for
the defence, he directed the case to proceed.
Then followed one of the most remarkable scenes
ever witnessed in a court room. The prisoner, on
trial for his life, cross- questioned each juror as he
appeared for examination on his voire dire, and
with an ability and shrewdness which astonished
every person within hearing. It soon became
quite evident, that the wily criminal was playing
for sympathy, but he did it all too well, for not a
few among the spectators in the court room
quickly determined that Holmes was quite as able
as his counsel, and that their absence was no loss
to him. Apart from this, amid the examination
and challenging of the jurors, both the Court and
District Attorney were careful to see that a fair
and impartial jury was empanelled, — not a man
being accepted who exhibited any prejudice or
bias against the prisoner. The American love of
fair play, even to one so base and vile as Holmes,
protected the prisoner in his rights, and nothing
was permitted to enter the case which would jus-
tify the slightest criticism. When the examina-
tion of witnesses commenced, the Court repeatedly
JUSTICE CRIED '' AMEN.'' 309
instructed tlie prisoner as to his rights, and when
sustaining or overruling his objections, explained
to him the reason for so doing.
On the second day of the trial, the young law-
yers, who had departed with such dramatic effect
the day before, returned, and the trial proceeded
in an orderly manner to the end.
The trial was distinguished by a dignity and
decorum, which was maintained at all times, de-
spite the sensational and dramatic disclosures
which came naturally from the testimony, or the
characteristic behavior of the prisoner, as he
squirmed in tlie net in which he was caught.
When the entire audience was dissolved in
tears at the pitiful, lieart-breaking narrative of
Mrs. Pitezel, the prisoner sat unmoved in the
dock, scribbling notes and occasionally glancing
at the woman, whose husband and children he had
so cruelly murdered.
When Miss Yoke, the young woman whom he
had so grievously wronged, appeared upon the
stand, the prisoner suddenly began to weep, and
industriously applied his handkerchief to the tears
which came or appeared to come from his eyes.
At the close of lier examination in chief, Holmes
insisted upon conducting the cross-examination
310 3IRS. PITEZEUS HEARTBREAKING NARRATIVE.
himself, iii the face of the protest of liis counsel
and he did his best to catch her eye and to break
the face of the terrible disclosures she had made.
The character of the prisoner's grief may be
better understood, when a remark he made to his
counsel, just before he arose to cross-examine Miss
Yoke, is known. He was overheard to say : " I
will now let loose the fount of emotion." Who
has ever seen or heard of his equal ?
The details of the trial have been widely pub-
lished. Whatever doubt existed as to the death
of Pitezel was dispelled by the admission of the
prisoner's counsel at the trial, who said that the
body found at No. 1316 Callowhill Street on the
second day of September, 1894, was Benjamin F.
Pitezel, and therefore the testimony of the more
or less numerous citizen, who had declared that
he had seen Pitezel alive in St. Louis, Mobile,
Chicago and other places a week or so before the
trial and who was so evidently drawing upon his
imagination, was not required in evidence-
Prisoner's counsel also admitted that Holmes
was present at No. 1316 Callowhill Street on Sep-
tember 2d, but contended that Pitezel had been
found dead, — that he had committed suicide.
Three physicians, one of them an eminent expert
JUSTICE CRIED ''AMEN.'' 313
in toxicology, Dr. Henry Leffman, all testified
that the condition of the body wlien found ex-
cluded the possibility of suicide, and that the man
had been killed by chloroform poisoning. His
robbery of Mrs. Pitezel of the insurance money,
his repeated assurances to her that her husbaiid
was alive, the manner in which he had taken her
from Galva to Detroit, " to meet Ben," then from
Detroit to meet him " because Ben was followed
by detectives," on to Toronto to meet him there,
then upon her arrival in Toronto, his declaration
that Ben had gone to Montreal, their subsequent
trip to Burlington, Vermont, and his many, man}'
lies to her were all recited in pitiful tones by the
distressed and grief-stricken widow ani mother.
One of the hardest blows received by the pris-
oner, was from the testimony of Sidney L. Sam-
uels, Esq., a member of the bar of Fort Worth,
Texas, an accomplished lawyer and gentleman,
who when upon the stand referred to Holmes,
(much to his disgust) as " the individual sitting
in the cage." Mr. Samuels came all the way
from liis home in Texas to Philadelphia, to prove
that the note which Holmes gave to Mrs. Pitezel
was worthless. Mr. Samuels had written the
body of the note himself and gave it to Holmes to
314 THE WORTHLESS NOTE.
have it signed by Benton T. Lyuuin, who was no
other than Titezel himself, who in Jiinuary and
February of 1894 was in P^ort Worth assisting
Holmes in the perpetration of one of his Minnie
Williams schemes. When Holmes returned, he
produced another note, and told Mr. Samuels
that he had lost the first note. This note he gave
Mrs. Pitezel. It was not endorsed on the back,
and had never been negotiated, and it Avas a
worthless piece of paper. The note he alleged he
had lost, he pahned off on the poor deluded
woman, taking from hev all but five hundred dol-
lars of the seven;y-two hundred dollars she had
received from Howe.
Miss Yoke was with Holmes in Philadelphia at
the timie of the murder. She said that in the
evening of September 1st, a man called at No.
1905 TTorth 11th Street, where she and the man
slie s apposed ivas her husband were stopping.
The /isitor, Hjlmes told her, was a me.ssenger
from an official of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Coripany, who had advised him that this gentle-
man would meet him the next morning at Nice-
town, a suburb of Philadelphia. (He afterwards
admitted to her that this man who called, was
Pitezel.) She said that Holmes left the house on
JUSTICE CRIED ''AMEN." 315
the morning of September 2d at ten or ten-thirty
o'clock, and returned about four o'clock. He
then said he. had seen the Pennsylvania Railroad
man but had not completed the business matter
with him and might return, and that he would
like to leave for the West that evening. He told
her to tell Dr. Alcorn, that they were going to
Harrisburg, Pa., and not to let her know that
their destination was Indianapolis. This was the
time he said he went to No. 1316 Callowhill
Street and found Pitezel dead in the third story
of the house, discovering that he had committed
suicide.
His presence at the house at the time of death,
his concealment of the death both from the au-
thorities and from Mrs. Pitezel, the proof that the
man had not died from chloroform self-adminis-
tered, his robbery of Mrs. Pitezel and the insur-
ance swindle, mingled with his audacious fabrica-
tions, made up one of the strongest cases of cir-
cumstantial evidence ever presented in a criminal
court, and when the jury returned a verdict of
murder in the first degree, in the language of Mr.
Samuels, Justice cried " Amen " to the verdict,
and the people and press poured in their congrat-
ulations upon the District Attorney and his As-
316 MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE.
sistant and the able and faithful detective, Mr.
Geyer, whose noble work, revealed the bloody
tracks of a human monster, whose like we hope
never to see again.
CHAPTER XX.
LOOKING BACKWARDS.
The Motive For the Murders— Pi tezel Knew too Much — The
Entire Family in the Way of The Arch Plotter— The In-
surance Fraud the Means to the End — Separating the
Family — A Grave Dug for Alice and Nellie — Chloroform
Found in the Burlington House — Mrs. Pitezel's Suspicious
Aroused — The "Eye That Never Sleeps" — Holmes'
Arrest Prevents Three More Murders.
What was the motive for these murders?
Why did he kill Benjamin F. Pitezel? And after
committing that foul deed, why was it necessary
to remove Pitezel's family? That he fully in-
tended to murder Mrs. Pitezel and Dessie and
the baby, Wharton, is too evident for contradic-
tion. Apart from his suspicious behavior at Bur-
lington, recited by Mrs. Pitezel in her testimony
at the trial, the commonwealth had further evi-
dence on this point which it was not permitted to
disclose.
The cellar of the Burlington house was never
searched until the week of the murder trial in
Philadelphia, when a thorough investigation of
(317)
318 THE 5I0TIVE FOR THE 3IURDERS.
the premises was made by request of District At-
torney Graham. Jerome Dumas, the Burlington
cliief of police ordered every part of the cellar to
be carefully examined, with the result of finding
in a little recess back of a joist in the cellar
and under the first floor, a bottle containing eight
or ten ounces of chloroform. As every step of
Mephistopheles is marked by a track of fire, so do
the devious paths of Herman Webster Mudgett,
alias Holmes, bear tlie scent of the deadly chloro-
form. Holmes found that it was a more difficult
task to dispose of Mrs. Pitezel and her eighteen
months' old baby and her daughter Dessie, a vigor-
ous girl of sixteen years, than it had been to de-
stroy the younger children, so he deferred that
part of his scheme until it was too late, and hence
the discovery of the bottle of chloroform just
where he had placed it. He was arrested before
he was able to return to Burlington, Vermont,
after his visit to Gilmanton, New Hampshire. In
fact he knew he was being shadowed by detect-
ives while he was visiting Gilmanton, and jour-
neyed to Boston, where he believed his chances
for escape were greater.
But we have asked what was the motive for
these murders? The reader will remember a
LOOKING BACKWARDS. 'M
statement Holmes makes in liis letter to Mrs.
Pitezel just before she was released from the
Philadelphia county prison. He said " VVe never
quarreled," alluding to the relations which h.id
existed between Pitezel and himself. This was a
base falsehood ; — they had quarrelled. They had
a dispute in Chicago in June or July of 1894.
The subject of the dispute was the interest wliich
Pitezel claimed to own in the Castle property in
Chicago, and the Williams real estate in Fort
Worth, Texas. He told Holmes that he was tired
of scheming and wanted to return to his home,
(which was in St. Louis) and lead a quiet and
peaceful life with his family. He declared that he
was part owner of the Chicago real estate, and
that the title to the Fort Worth property was in
his alias, Benton T. Lyman, and he wanted to be
paid the value of his interest and play quits.
Pitezel drank heavily and while under the in-
fluence of liquor, talked a good deal. It is im-
possible to say just how much of the past life of
Holmes, Pitezel knew ; what secrets of the Castle
he carried in his breast and whether if he opened
his lips he could have sent Holmes to prison or
the scaffold. He certainly knew enough to make
him in his cups a dangerous associate.
320 HTEZEL KNEW TOO MUCH.
Holmes quieted Pitezel, by suggesting that they
should work out one more scheme together and
that should end their relations. That scheme was
to cheat and defraud the Fidelity Mutual Life As-
sociation of Philadelphia, in the perpetration of
which, Holmes saw the opportunity to rid him-
self of every person, Pitezel, his wife and his
cliihlren, who could lay claim to a dollar of the
value of the real estate. Incidentally he proposed
to reap every dollar of benefit from the insurance
swindle.
Proceeding to carry out his scheme, he directed
Pitezel to lease a house in Philadelphia, to which
he Si! id he would bring the body which was to be
substituted for Pitezel's. Pitezel advertised him-
self as a dealer in patents, but Holmes showed him
a splendid recipe for a solution for cleaning
clothes, containing chloroform., benzine, and am-
monia and which they should manufacture and
sell. Thus chloroform was introduced into the
house in an unspicious manner. While poor
Pitezel was waiting for the cadaver which Holmes
assured him he was arranging to obtain. Holmes
murdered him. He went to St. Louis and saw
Mrs. Pitezel. He did not dare to tell her that her
husband was dead. No tale of suicide would have
LOOKING BACKWARDS. 321
been accepted by Mrs. Pitezel, who had been re-
ceiving cheerful letters from her husband., and mure-
over he wanted to dispose of her eventually and
the opportunity to do that would present itself,
when he led her from city to city to meet her
husband. He told her that Ben was alive, and
suggested that some member of the family should
return with him to Philadelphia to identify the
body. This was the first move he made in sepa-
rating the family. Alice Pitezel went to Philadel-
phia and after identifying the body as that of her
father, he took her to Indianapolis where he left
her in the Hotel English. Holmes went back to
St. Louis again. By this time the insurance
money was paid. He then robbed the poor woman
of most of the $7,200 she had received from her
attorney Howe, and holding up to her the horror
of discovery of her husband by detectives, said the
family should separate. " The Insurance Company
knows that you have five children, and you must
separate," said Holmes. Nellie and Howard were
then handed over to his tender care and they went
with him to Cincinnati, "where Alice was under
the care of such a good woman, and where they
could go to school until all the clouds had rolled
by."
322 SUPABATING the FAMILY.
He moved the tliree children October 1st, 1894,
to Indianapolis and on the 10th of that month
killed Huward in the house at Irvington. Thus
two of his victims had been disposed of, the father
and the son.
He now moved Alice and Nellie to Detroit and
hired the Forest Avenue house where he intended
to kill them and bury them in the hole he had
dug. To Detroit he also invited Mrs. Pitezel and
Dessie and the baby, " where Ben was Avaiting to
see her."
Some hitch occurred in Detroit, and he moved
his three parties to Toronto, where on October
25th, two other members of this obnoxious family
were disposed of. He wasgetting along very well.
He had killed four people in three different places,
and without arousing the interest or any inquiry
from anyone. The promise to see Benin Toronto
was not fulfilled. Ben was in Montreal, so he re-
moved the remainder of his company to Burling-
ton, Vermont, where he thought he would be able
to clean up the job, by removing Mrs. Pitezel and
her youngest and eldest child.
He found the task a hard one. Mrs. Pitezel's
suspicions w^hich had been dormant so long, were
now aroused and she was on the alert. To give
LOOKING BACKWARDS. 323
himself an opportunity to think over the matter
more carefully, he concluded to visit his old home
in Gilmauton, New Hampshire, where for the first
time tlie " eye that never sleeps " rested upon liim.
No one more quickly discovered tliis than Holmes
himself, and he went hurriedly to Boston, but only
to walk into tlie cell of tlie felon. His scheme
had failed after all. He was quite content to
stand the punishment of imprisonment for the in-
surance fraud, but he was awfully afraid of the
gallows. He used all tlie cunning for which he
lias become famous, in avoiding an issue which
might end in death to him. He who had dealt de-
struction to others, was afraid of it himself, and so
followed his confessions and statements and
counter statements as he squirmed and struggled
in the net.
The destruction of Pitezel and his. family with-
out detection, would have left Holmes the sole
and undisputed owner of the real estate, they
jointly held, as well as of the money received
from the Insurance Company.
CHAPTER XXI.
A TRIPLE ALLIANCE.
Holmes' Desperate Fight to Exclude Miss Yoke's Testimony —
Declared Her to Be His Lawful Wife — His Unexampled
Duplicity With Women — Mrs. Herman Webster Mudgett
— Mrs. Harry Howard Holmes — Mrs. Henry Mansfield
Howard — He Lies About His Parents When the Truth
Would Have Done as Well— He Tells to His Sister Ihe
Greatest Lies He Ever Told.
There is just one clean, bright spot in the
career of Mudgett, alias Holmes, alias Howard,
alias etc., etc., for which he should have some
credit, and that is, the care he exercised in keep-
ing from the women whom he had deceived, his
various schemes and crimes, and especially is this
true of Miss Yoke. He told her that his name
was Holmes, but that his uncle, Henry Mansfield
Howard, of Denver, Colorado, had devised prop-
erty to him, provided he would assume his name
and thus he married Miss Yoke in Denver under
the name of Howard.
From the time of their meeting, during their
engagement, and after the marriage ceremony
that followed, Miss Yoke was taught to believe
(32.5)
326 A TRIPLE AUJAKCE.
that her supposed husband was engaged prin-
cipally iu the business of selling or leasing a new
and improved patent copier, and had acquired
considerable property by devise from his Denver
uncle. Their journey to Texas was made for the
alleged purpose of taking possession of a ranch,
which his uncle had willed to him. Upon arriving
at Fort Worth, he told her, that squatters were
in possession of the ranch and as squatters' rights
received more seiious recognition in the South
than in the North, and as he was afraid he might
be in personal danger if he announced himself or
ajipeared as the owner of the ranch, Henry ]\Ians-
field Howard, they had better, for the time being,
take the name of Pratt. Thus he appeared in
Fort Worth with Pitezel as D. T. Pratt, and
Pitezel, who was also there at the time, took the
name of Benton T. Lyman.
Miss Yoke never knew that Lyman was Pitezel,
until Holmes was arrested in Boston. Although
she had accompanied Holmes on the tour from
Detroit to Burlington, she never knew that Mrs.
Pitezel and her children were travelling from city
to city, under the care of her supposed husband ;
nor had she the slightest knowledge of the scheme
to defraud the insurance company, or of the ficti-
A TRIPLE ALLIANCE. 327
tious names lie was giving, or of the hideous crimes
Holmes had committed on the way. Nor did Mrs.
Pitezel know that Holmes was travelling with
Miss Yoke, nor had she ever heard of her and
never knew of her until the arrest in Boston.
Upon the trial, Judge Arnold in charging the
jury said: "Truth is stranger than fiction, and if
Mrs. Pitezel's story is true it is the most wonder-
ful exhibition of the power of mind over mind I
have ever seen and stranger than any novel I ever
read."
The claim made by Holmes at the trial, that
Miss Yoke was his lawful wife, is entirely in keep-
ing with his record for deceit and audacity. He
was married to Clara A. Lovering on July 4th,
1878, and this woman is now living in Tilton,
New Hampshire. He was married to Myrta Z.
Belknap on January 28th, 1887, under the name
of Hariy Howard Holmes.
On February 14th, 1887, a little over two u<eeks
after his marriage to Miss Belknap, he filed in the
Supreme Court of Cook County, Illinois, in the
city of Chicago, a petition praying for a divorce
from Clara A. 3Iuclgett nee Lovering on the ground
of infidelity. On June 4th, 1891, this petition
was dismissed for failure of prosecution and hence
328 A TRIPLE ALLIANCE.
it clearly appears that his lawful wife is Mrs.
Clara A. Mudgett, who now resides at Tiltoii,
New Hampshire.
On September 19th, 1893, he made application
to the Fidelit}' Mutual Life Association for a
ilO,000 policy of insurance and named therein
in his own handwriting as beneficiary, "My wife,
Myrta Z. Holmes." At this very time, Septembei",
1893, he was engaged to be married to Miss Yoke
and in fact married lier in Denver in the following
January, 1894.
It need cause no surprise therefore, to learn
that when Miss Yoke was called to the witness
stand at the trial, she gave her maiden name.
She had become familiar with the marriage record
of her supposed husband, and was fully convinced
that she was not his lawful wife and had been
grossly and cruell}^ deceived.
When arrested in Boston, Miss Yoke met the
sister and brother of Holmes, and her eyes were
opened and her real position made clear. Holmes
had told her that he was the last of his race and
that his parents and brothers and sisters had long
since departed this life. This lie he had evidently
told also to Miss Belknap, for in his application
for insurance in September, 1893, he declared
A TRIPLE ALLIANCE. 329
that his mother had died at the age of fifty-eight
years of a disease he did not remember, and his
father at the age of sixty-two from injur}- to his
foot.
One may readily imagine Miss Yoke's amaze-
ment when she learned of the existence of Mrs.
Mudgett, at Tilton, New Hampshire, and of the
further shock she experienced when she learned
that upon leaving her at Burlington, New Hamp-
shire, "to go on a business trip," he had revisited
his real wife at Tilton, resumed his relations with
her, took her to the house of his parents who were
living and in good health at Gilmanton, and re-
mained with her and them at the homestead for
two or three days, and upon leaving promised his
wife to return the following April, and never
desert her again.
This is the position in which Holmes found
himself at the homestead : — a wdfe at Wilmette,
Illinois, another waiting for his return at Bur-
lington, New Hampshire, and his real wife, taking
him back and receiving him with a loving and
forgiving spirit,— notwithstanding his petition for
divorce for alleged infidelity, a charge which was
doubtless as false and as wicked as his own de-
praved heart,
19
330 A TRIPLE ALLIANCE.
His situation was one fraught with peril, so he
concluded to open up a line of retreat. He told
one or more members of his family, that he had
had a remarkable experience. (His introduction
to this story was certainly true.) He said he had
been in a railroad collision in the West and had
teen severely injured. When he awakened out
of the unconscious condition caused by the injury,
he found he was in a hospital. He further dis-
covered to his amazement that all memory of his
former self had been blotted out. Who he was,
his name, his occupation, his home, his parents,
his friends, — the memory of all had fled. On tha
night of the accident a curtain had dropped be-
tween him and his past, and all idea or knowledge
of his former self had been swept into oblivion.
To the hospital in which he was treated, came a
beautiful woman, who brought flowers to the sick
and read to them from good books, and with her
gentle voice sought to bring cheer into the dull
hospital wards. This sweet woman brought
flowers and read to him, and finallj' fell in love
with him and he with her. Upon his convales-
cence they were married. This good woman was
very rich and was deejily touched when she ob-
served the suffering he constantly endured, as he
A TRIPLE ALLIANCE. 331
in vain endeavored to regain the threads of
memory of his past. Finally, through her in-
fluence and wealth, she secured the assistance of
a great surgeon who performed a wonderful oper-
ation upon his head. When he came out of ether,
to his amazement his memory had like a flood
come back upon him and to his unspeakable
horror he realized what a wrong he had committed
in marrying the sweet woman who had adminis-
tered to him as lie lay helpless and sick in the
hospital. Pie remembered then that he was a
married man and that his real wife, Carrie
Mudgett, was living.
He further said to his family that he had not
told this lovely woman that she was not his wife,
and betrayed to them the deep grief and distress
from which he was suffering in the unusual situa-
tion in which he found himself and for which he
was really not responsible.
This alleged patroness of the hospital and reader
to the sick was Miss Yoke, for this he told his
sister.
It is scarcely necessary to say that there was
not a word of truth in this story, from beginning
to end. Miss Yoke was not the patroness of a
hospital, nor had she visited or read to the sick,
332 A TRIPLE ALLIANCE.
nor had she met him in such an institution, nor
was she wealthy.
What a wonderful meeting it would be, between
these three women, — Mrs. Mudgett, Mrs. Holmes,
and Mrs. Howard. If each would tell the other
the tales he had told, what an *' infinite and end-
less liar " they would prove him to be.
CHAPTER XXII.
A FEIEND IN NEED.
Geyer Receives a Cipher Letter, with the Key Attached — Was
It an Efifort to Divert the Detective from His Pursuit? —
Letters from the Insane — Holmes Taught Ciphers to His
Friends.
Holmes was never so much in need of his
friends as he was in the summer of 1895. The
hunt for the missing children, was known to the
uttermost ends of the country, and if the District
Attorney's office received suggestions of all sorts
and kinds, anonymous and otherwise, so did Mr.
Holmes. That he had sympathizing friends out-
side, friends who would have been helpful to him
had opportunity offered, cannot be questioned.
These friends were aware that all mail sent to
Holmes to the Philadelphia County prison was
inspected before delivery to the prisoner, and
some of it for proper public reasons, never reached
the prisoner. One of these friends undertook by
a device to divert Detective Geyer from the pur-
suit of the track of Holmes, just as he was leav-
ing Indianapolis after his second visit. The de-
ism)
334 A FRIEND IN NEED.
tective received at the Spencer House an anony-
mous letter in cipher, ivith the key attached, advis-
ing him that an important letter had been sent to
Holmes to Philadelphia ; that the writer was ad-
vising the detective at great personal risk and
that the letter should be opened and inspected
before delivery to the prisoner. The letter came
in due course and a copy of it is given elsewhere.
This letter tells Holmes not " to worry about
the boy ; he is safe and sound," and at first it gave
the impression, that Holmes had in some way con-
veyed to an outside party the place where the re-
mains of the boy had been buried, and that the
boy's remains had been removed from the place of
concealment.
After careful deliberation, the District Attor-
ney's office concluded that it was a trick or device
for a purpose not very clear and it was totally dis-
regarded, and the search subsequently continued
with the result already narrated. This is one of
the many letters, some in cipher which were re-
ceived and are now among the great mass of
manuscript which have accumulated in the case.
Newspapers evidently make their way into lunatic
asylums, for letters from the insane came in by
the score. The name of Holmes also seemed to
A FRIEND IN NEED. 335
become as common as Brown or Smith, for many
letters referring to this person and that person by
the name of Holmes and requesting infoimation
as to comparisons of points of identity with the
prisoner were received.
One of the letters received in cipher is given
below. This letter is very easily read by drop-
ping every other sentence, separated by commas.
'Aug. 2d, 1895.
Friend H. H. H :—
I, and Jim, will not, saw and,
split, the wood. They, can't and, don't, want to,
know, whether there is, anything, around or,
about, the, conservatory or, green house, I, think,
will leave, the dog, for, Mrs. John, Cleveland, at
Bleak House, to-morrow. Will, join him under,
cover, and fix, all, circus board, signs, there.
Same, time I will, sigh for, Ponto's fate and yours
in his misfortune.
R. I. T. U. A. L. Friend,
L. S. Page.
" Friend H. H. H :—
I will not split. They don't
know anything about conservatory. I will leave
for Cleveland to-morrow. Will cover all signs.
Same cipher."
336 A FRIEND IN NEED.
This letter was apparently written by some one
familiar with the famous Chicago " Castle," and
referred to a place, a " conservatory " not known
to the police. As it had no relevancy to the
Philadelphia case, it created little or no comment
and is given simply to illustrate how the habit of
writing ciphers into which this great criminal had
drifted, had been taught to his friends and was
made a method of communication between them.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE EXCLUDED TESTIMONY.
Witnesses liom Six States and the Domiuion of Canada —
Thirty-five Witnesses Positively Identify Holmes — Holmes
Grows a Beard — "The Individual in the Cage " — The Dis-
trict Attorney Thanks Officials and Witnesses — Devoted
Services of the Officers of the Insurance Company.
Thirty-five witnesses, who were not citizens
of the state of Pennsylvania and who were not
subject to the subpoena or process of the Phila-
delphia court, responded to the request of the Dis-
trict Attorney to appear at the trial. These wit-
nesses were from Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Irving-
ton, Detroit, Toronto, Burlington (Vermont),
Boston and Fort Worth, Texas.
At the proper time after Mrs. Pitezel had told
her sad story, District Attorney Graham offered
to prove that Holmes had murdered Howard Pite-
zel at Irvington, Indiana, and Alice and Nellie
Pitezel at Toronto, Canada. This offer was made
to show what the prisoner had done during his
flight from Philadelphia around the circuit of the
cities he made until he reached Boston, where he
(337)
338 THE EXCLUDED TESTIMONY.
was arrested. Tliat the murder of Pitezel and
the murder of the children were really paits of
one transaction, with one design, to wit, the ex-
termination of the Pitezel family, and the evidence
was admissible in proving the motive and purpose
of the prisoner. The Trial Judge sustained the
objection of the defence to this offer and the case
went to the jury on the testimony produced by
the commonwealth, which related simply and
solely to the murder of Pitezel at No. 1316 Cal-
lowhill Street.
The witnesses, produced with so much labor
and expense, were, in consequence of this decision
of the Court, not called, and what they would
have said on the witness stand was not given to
the public.
It will be, therefore, of much interest to note
that they each and all identified the prisoner.
Holmes had permitted his beard to grow during
his confinement, but his active participation in the
examination of jurors and witnesses as the trial
proceeded, together with large and finely executed
pliotograplis of the prisoner as he appeared with-
out a beard at the time of his arrest, enabled every
witness to identify him at once and beyond a
question or shadow of doubt. He was identified
THE EXCLUDED TESTIMONY. 339
by W. L. Bain, clerk of the Hotel Bristol, Cincin-
nati, as the man who brought the three Pitezel
children to that hotel on Saturday, September
29th, and registered as " A. E. Cook and three
children " ; by J. C. Thomas as the person who
rented No. 305 Poplar Street, Cincinnati, under
the name of " A. C. Hayes " ; by Miss Etta Hill
as the person whom she saw take a large stove
into the Poplar Street house and who the follow-
ing day came to her, said he had concluded not to
keep the house, presented her with the stove and
departed.
Of the Indianapolis witnesses, Wm. Sherman
Welch, of the Stubbins House, said Holmes whom
iie saw in court, was the man who brought Alice
Pitezel to that hotel on September 24th, registered
her as " Etta Pitsel," and took her away four days
later. He was also identified by Herman Acke-
low, proprietor of the Circle House, as the person
who brought the three children, Alice, Nellie and
Howard, to his hotel on October 1st and took
them away on the 10th ; also by J. C. Wands as
the man who rented the Irvington house " for his
sister, Mrs. A. E. Cook;" by Dr. J. L. Thomp-
son, who saw him at the house at Irvington, after
he had taken possession, and by Elvet Moorman
340 THE EXCLUDED TESTDIONY.
who assisted hira in putting up the stove, while
Howard Pitezel, the little hoy, stood hy looking on.
The Detroit witnesses were equally positive as
to the identification.
Peter Cotter, of the New Western Hotel, iden-
tified the prisoner as the man who brought Alice
and Nellie to his hotel and registered them as
"Etta and Nellie Canning." Mrs. Lucinda Burns
was positive he was the man who brought Alice
and Nellie to her boarding house. No. 91 Congress
Street. It was from tliis house that Alice wrote
her last letter, in which she complained of " al-
most freezing in that thin jacket," and said,
" Howard is not with us now." No one can read
that letter without the conviction that Holmes
had cautioned the children about speaking of
when and where Howard had left them. It is in-
conceivable that Alice would have written a let-
ter to the home folks, simply saying that Howard
was no longer wath them, and no more, unless she
had been following the instructions of the arch-
fiend who was waiting for his opportunity to put
them to death, and who had already made an end
of the boy.
George Dennis, runner for the Albion Hotel,
Toronto, said Holmes was the man who placed
THE EXCLUDED TESTIMONY. 341
Alice and Nellie in his care on the evening of
October 19th, and instructed him to take them to
his hotel. Herbert Jones, clerk of the Albion,
identified Holmes as the man wiio called for the
little girls every morning, returning them ev^ny
evening, until the morning of October 25th, when
he paid their board in full, and took them away.
They never returned.
Mrs. Nudel and her daughter, Miss Minnie,
said Holmes was the man who rented the house
No. 16 St. Vincent Street, for "his widowed sis-
ter."
Thomas W. Ryves of No. 18 St. Vincent
Street, identified the prisoner as the man who on
October 24th, borrowed his spade, " to dig a pit
for potatoes," in the cellar of No. 16 St. Vincent
Street, and who returned it the next day, the
25th. He told Mr. Ryves that his widowed sister
and her children were to occupy the house.
W. B. McKillip, said Holmes was the man who
rented the house in Burlington, Vermont, gave
his name as Judson and said he wanted the house
" for his widowed sister, Mrs. A. E. Cook."
Sydney L. Samuels Esq., a lawyer of Fort
Worth, Texas, at the request of District Attorney
Graham, journeyed all the way from his home to
34'J THE EXCLUDED TESTDTONV.
the city of Philiideli)hui, to testify :is to his
knowledge of the fraiululeut and bogus note wliieli
Holmes used in robbing Mrs. Pitezel. Mr.
Samuels came North on this long and tiresome
journey, to assist the law officers of the Common-
wealth in administering public justice, and. re-
fused the compensation which he could have
properly claimed for such a protracted absence
from his professional duties and business at home.
His identification of the prisoner. Holmes, as
"the individual in tlie cage," (meaning the
prisoner's dock) will never be forgotten by those
who witnessed it. The tone of contempt with
which Mr. Samuels used the expression, drew the
hot blood to the prisoner's cheek, and he threw a
quick glance at the lawyer-witness, full of
malevolence and which boded ill for him, had the
prisoner been free, and a bottle of chloroform
handy.
The reader will not fail to observe how plainly
marked was the track of the prisoner, once it was
discovered. He used the same names repeatedly
and rented a house in each of the cities, Cincin-
nati, Indianapolis, Detroit, Toronto and Burling-
ton, and told practically the same falsehood in
each instance.
THE EXriA'DED TESTLWONY. 3VZ
The detection of tliis great eriniiiial and tlie
preparations for tlie trial, was a work of great
labor, but the burden was made easier by officials
and citizens in all the cities and towns where
Holmes and his victims had been traced.
After the trial had ended, District Attorney
Graham sent to each of the police officials of Cin-
cinnati, Indianapolis, Detroit, Toronto, Burling-
ton and Boston, and to all the witnesses who had
attended the trial from distant parts, the follow-
ing official communication :
Nov. 6th, 1895.
I desire to express to you my warm
appreciation of the manner in which you so kindly
aided the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the
recent trial of Hermann W. Mudgett, alias H.
H. Holmes charged with Homicide.
Your loyalty and fidelity, and your willingness
to so cheerfully assist in dispensing justice, deserve
my highest commendation.
The result of the trial will be of benefit, not
only to Pennsylvania, but to all communities
wherever justice is vigorously and impartially
administered through the orderly procedure and
under the forms and protection of Law.
Sincerely Yours,
George S. Graham.
344 THE EXCLUDED TESTI310NY.
In this connection and as a conclusion to this
story of unparalleled crime, it is proper to speak
of the unselfish and devoted services of the of-
ficers of the Fidelity Mutual Life Association.
Mr. L. G. Fouse, the distinguished President of
the Company and his associates furnished the of-
ficials of the county, charged with the prosecu-
tion, with every possible aid and assistance,
measured neither by what it cost in money nor in
effort, and prompted by the highest considerations
of humanity and the demands of public justice.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHRONOLOGY.
1800. Herman Webster jNIudgett born at
ifinu teth. Gilmanton, New Hampshire.
1S7S. He is married to Clara A. Loveriiig
July -ith. at Alton, New Hampsliire, by John
W. Canrrier, Justice of the Peace.
1SS7. He is married to Myrta Z. Belknap
Jan. 2sth. under the name of Harry Howard
Holmes.
tsst. He files in the Superior Court of
Feh. 14th. Cook county, Illinois, a libel in di-
vorce against his wife, Clara A. Lev-
ering Mudgett, praying that their
marriage may be dissolved.
isoi. The said court orders this suit to be
j-ii«e 4th. dismissed for default of appearance
of complainant.
1S03. He meets Miss Georgiana Yoke in
March Chicago.
1S93. He makes application for a twenty
Sept. Moth. year optional insurance for 110,000
in the Fidelity Mutual Life Associa-
(345)
CHRONOLOGY.
isoa,
Xoi'. Oth.
Snuie Slottth.
ISO-t.
Jan. iifh.
Sun,
feb.
April.
Ajiril.
tiou in wliich lie avers: ^'^ Mother died
at oS, doiit remember tlie disease, tio
acute disease. Father died at 62 from
ivjary to Ids foot.'"
Fidelity Mutual Life Association in-
sures Benjamin F. Pitezel in the sum
of 'tl 0,000.
Holmes is engaged to be married to
Miss Yoke under the name of Henrj'
Mansfield Howard.
He is married to Miss Yoke in Den-
ver, Colorado, by the Rev. Mr. Wil-
cox, and the}' journey on their honey-
moon to Fort Worth, Texas.
Mudgett and Pitezel, (the former
under the name of D. T. Pratt and
the latter under the name of Benton
T. Lyman) in Fort Worth, Texas,
where they engage in building a
store property on land formerly
owned by Minnie Williams.
Pitezel leaves Fort Worth and goes
to Chicago.
Mudgett and Miss Yoke leave Fort
Worth and journey to Denver, Col-
orado.
CHRONOLOGY
?A1
June Sfh.
June lath.
July tOth.
July 3Stti.
July 29th.
July 3l8t.
Tliej- make their appearance in St.
Louis.
About this date Holmes (Mudgett)
and Pitezel go to Memphis, Tennes-
see. In this vicinity they first con-
sider the location of tlie place Avhere
they propose to execute the insurance
fraud.
Holmes and wife return to St. Louis.
Holmes purchases a drug store in St.
Louis, Missouri, under the name of
Howard, upon which he gave a mort-
gage.
Holmes is arrested in St. Louis by
the Merrill Drug Company and sent
to prison under a charge of fraud and
for selling mortgaged property. The
man " Brown," to whom he sold it is
supposed to have been Pitezel., Dur-
ing his imprisonment in the St. Louis
jail, he meets Marion C. Hedgepeth.
He is released on bail.
He is rearrested and again committed
to prison.
He is again released on bail furnished
by Miss Yoke.
348 CHRONOLOGY.
Anattut 9. He is in New York and Philadel-
3 atiii s. pliia.
Aua. 4th. Miss Yoke (Mrs. Howard) leaves
Lake Bluff, Illinois, where she was
visiting, and journeys to Philadel-
phia.
1S04. Sunday. Holmes meets Miss Yoke
Aug. 3th. at Broad Street Station, Philadelphia,
and takes her to a boarding honse,
No. 1905 N. 11th Street (Mrs. Dr.
Alcorn's.) He tells Miss Yoke he is
selling a patent letter copier.
Aug. 9th. Holmes telegraphs $157.50, (the half
yearly premium on the Pitezel policy),
to the Chicago office of the Fidelity
Mutual Life Association.
Aug. 17th. Pitezel, under the name of B. F.
Perry, rents No. 1316 Callowhill
Street and pays |10 on account of
the rent to Walter W. Shedaker,
Agent.
Aug. mn. Holmes and Pitezel purchase second
hand furniture of John F. Hughes,
No. 1037 Buttonwood Street, which
was sent to No. 1316 Callowhill
Street.
CHRONOLOGY.
Aug. tsth.
Aug. ana.
Aug. 22a
to Sept, 1st.
Sept. 1st.
Sept. Xd.
Pitezel calls at the furinciire store
alone and purchases a cot and some
old matting.
Eugene Smith calls upon Pitezel and
sees Holmes pass into the house and
go upstairs.
Pitezel is seen in and about No. 1316
Callowhill Street by a large number
of persons.
Evening. Pitezel calls upon Holmes
at No. 1905 North Eleventh Street.
Holmes leaves No. 1905 N. 11th
Street at about 10.80 A. M. He re-
turns about 4 P. M. He tells his
wife (Miss Yoke) that the man who
called the evening before, was a mes-
senger from the Pennsylvania Rail-
road Company and that he could
have an interview with a Pennsyl-
vania Railroad official the next day
at Nicetown. This Sunday morning
he said he was going out to Nice-
town to see the official and that if
he was successful, and as their week
was up, they would probably start
West that night.
350 CHRONOLOGY.
Sept.
3rt.
Sept.
4th.
Sept.
4th.
Sept.
6th.
Sept.
5th.
Evening. Holmes and Miss Yoke
leave Philadelphia on the 10.25 train
and went direct to Indianapolis.
They arrive in Indianapolis and reg-
ister at the Stubbins House.
They take boarding at No. 488 North
Illinois Street, Indianapolis.
Pitezel's body found at No. 1316
Callowhill Street by Eugene Smith.
Coroner holds first inquest.
Holmes goes to St. Louis, calls upon
Mrs. Pitezel and tells her to go to
Howe with the papers, meaning in-
surance policy, etc. She takes papers
to Howe. Holmes told her that a
body had been substituted for her
husband and that " Ben was alive
and all right," and not to worry.
Fidelity Mutual receives a telegraphic
dispatch from George B. Stadden,
Manager for Missouri, at St. Louis,
stating that " B. F. Perry, found
dead in Philadelphia, is claimed to be
B. F. Pitezel, who is insured on
044145. Investigate before remains
leave there."
CHRONOLOGY.
351
About this time Howe writes to the
company in Philadelphia, stating that
he was counsel for Mrs. Pitezel, the
beneficiary under the policy and
would come on with a member of the
family to identify the body, etc.
Sept. 13th. Pitezel's body buried as B. F. Perry
in Potters Field, Philadelphia.
Sept. oth Holmes was with Miss Yoke at her
to Sept. 10th. mother's home in Franklin, Indiana,
leaving her he said to go to St. Louis
again or to Cincinnati, and then to
Indianapolis. At this time Holmes
was occasionally with his other wife
at Wilmette, Illinois. He was likely
with her on September 11th. At
Indianapolis he tells Miss Yoke that
he had heard from the Pennsylvania
Railroad ofBcial in Philadelphia about
the copier and they were ready to
pay over the money, and they had
directed him to come on at once. He
left her at the Circle Park Hotel, In-
dianapolis, and went to Philadelphia.
Sept. inh. He writes a letter to Mr. Cass, Chi-
cago Cashier of the Fidelity, stating
352 CHBONOLOOY.
that his wife (Wilmette wife) had
told him that information was wanted
of B. F. Pitezel, who was found in
Chicago as B. F. Perry.
Sept. istit. He writes another letter to Cass, say-
ijig that he overhears the body was iu
Philadelphia and not in Chicago, and
that he would go to Philadelphia if
his expenses were paid.
See these letters. Pages 26 and 29.
Sept. ioth. Holmes leaves Indianapolis for Phila-
delphia. He again stops at No. 1905
North 11th Street ; Mrs. Alcorn's.
Sept. zoth. He calls at the office of the company
in Philadelphia, No. 914, Walnut
Street. He tells Mr. Fouse, Presi-
dent of the Company that he had
corresponded with Cass. He asks
Fouse about the circumstances of the
death, which Fouse relates briefly.
Holmes said it was a very peculiar
case, and asked INIr. Fouse the cause
of death, etc.
Bept. 20th. Alice writes her first letter to the
home folks.
CHRONOLOGY. 353
Philadelphia, Pa.,
Cor. Filbert & llth sts., Sept. 20, 1894.
Dear Mamma and the rest :
Just arrived in Phila-
delphia this morning and 1 wrote you yesterday
of this. Mr. Howe and I have each a room at the
above address. I am going to the Morgue after
awhile. We stopped off at Washington, Md.,
this morning, and that made it six times that we
transferred to different cars. Yesterday we got
on the C. and O. Pullman car and it was crowded
so I had to sit with some one Mr. Howe sit with
some man we sit there quite awhile and pretty
soon some one came and shook hands with me. I
looked up and here it was Mr. Howard. He did
not know my jacket, but he said he thouglit it
was his girl's face so he went to see and it was me.
I don't like him to call me babe and child and
dear and all such trash. When I got on the car
Tuesday night Mr. Howe ask me if I had any
money and I told him 5 cents so he gave me a
dollar How I wish I could see j^ou all and hug
the baby. I hope you are better. Mr. H. says
that I will have a ride on the ocean. I wish you
could see what I have seen. I have seen more
scenery than I have seen since I was born I
don't know what I saw before. This is all the
paper I have so I will have to close & write
again. You had better not write to me here
for Mr. H. says that I may be off to-morrow.
354 CHRONOLOGY.
If you are worse wire me good-bye kisses to
all and two big ones for you and babe. Love
to all.
E. Alice Pitezel.
Sept. atat. Howe and Alice Pitezel called at In-
surance Office. Holmes calls same
time. Tliey meet as strangers, al-
though they had travelled together
from some point in Ohio to Washing-
ton, D. C. Howe and Alice got off at
Washington and Holmes took train
for Philadelphia. Howe and Alice
came to Philadelphia on later train.
That day Holmes took Alice out to
see the sights of the city and then
to Mrs. Alcorn's that night, stating
that she (Alice) was his little sister.
Alice slept in the 3d story next to
Holmes' room which communicated
with it. Alice had stopped with
Howe at the Imperial Hotel, 11th
and Filbert Streets, from which place
she wrote two letters. Following are
copies :
CHRONOLOGY. 355
Imperial Hotel,
Eleventh, above Market Street,
Hendricks & Scott, Propr's.,
Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 21, 1894.
Dear Mamma and Babe :
I have to write all the
time to pass away the time.
Mr. Howe has been away all morning. Mamma
have you ever seen or tasted a red banana? I
have had three. They are so big that I can just
reach around it and have my thumb and next
finger just tutch. I have not got any shoes yet
and I have to go a hobbling around all the time.
Have you gotten 4 letters from me besides this?
Are you sick in bed yet or are you up ? I wish
that I could hear from you but I don't know
whether I would get it or not. Mr. Howe tele-
graphed to Mr. Beckert and he said that he would
write to you toniglit. I have not got but two
clean garments and that is a shirt and my white
skirt. I saw some of the largest solid rocks that
I bet you never saw. I crossed the Patomac
Itiver. I guess that I have told all the news; So
good bye Kisses to you and babe.
Yours loving daughter,
Miss E. A. Pitezel.
If you are worse telegraph to the above address.
Imperial Hotel,
Eleventh above Market Street.
856 CHRONOLOGY.
.'.mperial Hotel,
Eleventh above Market Street,
Hendricks & Scott, Propr's.,
Philadelahia, 189-.
Dear Dessa :
I thought T would write you a little
letter and when I get to Mass. you must all
write to me. Well this is a warm day here how
is it there. Did you get your big washing done
if I was there you would have a bigger one for I
have a whole satchel full of dirty clothes. I bet
that I have more fruit than all of you. Dessa I
guess you are without shoes for I guess they don't
intend to get me any. H. has come now so I
guess I have to go to dinner.
Dessa take good care of mama. I will close
your letter and write a little to Nell and Howard
next time so good bye love to you with a kiss.
Dear Mama :
I was over to the insurance office
this afternoon and Mr. Howe thinks there will be
no trouble about getting it. They asked me
almost a thousand questions, of course not (;[uite
so many. Is his nose broken or has he a Roman
nose. I said it was broken. I will have to close
and write more tomorrow so good bye love to all
with kisses to all. Your loving daughter,
E. Alice Pitezel.
CHRONOLOGY. 357
Sept. 21st. At the conference at the company's
office on tliis day, the marks of iden-
tification were agreed upon.
Sept. S2d. Pitezel's body exhumed at Potters
Field. Holmes finds wart on neck
and other marks of identification, and
says the body is that of B. F. Pitezel.
Alice recognizes teeth of her father.
He takes Alice to No. 1904 North
11th Street.
Sept. 23€i. Holmes and Alice make affidavits be-
fore Coroner Ashbridge that the body
found as B. F. Perry at No. 1316
Callowhill Street was that of Benja-
min F. Pitezel. That evening Holmes
and Alice leave for Indianapolis.
Sept. 24th. They arrive in Indianapolis. He
registers Alice as Utta Pitsel in his
handwriting.
Sept. 24th. Insurance Company pays Howe <f9-
715.85, face of insurance policy, less
expenses.
Sept. 24ih. Alice writes another letter home.
The person alluded to in these letters
as 4, 18, 8, is the children's cipher
for Holmes.
358 crrRoxoLonv.
Stubbins' Euro[)ean Hotel,
One square north of Union Depot on Illinois
Street.
Indiana POL rs, Ind.,
Sep. 24, 1894.
Dear Ones at Home,
I am glad to hear that yon
are all well and that you are up. I guess you
will not have any trouble in getting the money.
4, 18, 8 is going to get two of you and fetch you
here with me and then I won't be so lonesome
at the above address. I am not going to Miss
Williams until I see wliere 3'ou are going to live
and then see you all again because 4, 18, 8 is
afraid that I will get two lonesome then he will
send me on and go to school. I have a pair of
shoes now if I could see you I would have a nough
to talk to you all day but I cannot very well write
it 1 will see you all before long though don't you
worr}'. This is a cool day. jNIr. Perry said that
if you did not get the insurance all right through
the lawyers to rite to Mr. F'oust or Mr. Perry. I
wish I had a silk dress. I have seen more since I
liave been away than I ever saw before in my
life. I have another picture for your album. I
will have to close for this time now so good bye
love and kisses and squesses to all.
Yours daughter,
Etta Pitezel.
P. O. I go by Etta here 4, 18, 8 told me to O
CHRONOLOGY.
359
Howard O Dessa, O Nell O Mamma, O Baby.
Nell you & Howard will come with 4, 18, 8, &'
Mamma and Dessa later on won't you or as
Mamma says.
Etta Pitezel.
Sept. atth.
Sept. ftSth.
Holmes goes to St. Louis and re-
mained there until the 28th.
Holmes gets $6,700 of the insurance
money out of the S7,200 received by
Mrs. Pitezel from Howe. He gives
her the bogus note.
Holmes takes Nellie and Howard
from Mrs. Pitezel at St. Louis. Alice
joins them at Lidianapolis and she
goes with Holmes, Nellie and Howard
to Cincinnati, where Holmes registers
at the Atlantic House under the
name of Alexander E. Cook and
three children.
He rents No. 305 Poplar Street from
Mr. J. C. Thomas and takes a large
stove to this house. Over night of 28th
he remains at Atlantic House and on
the 29th he takes them to Hotel Bris-
tol, registers there as A. E. Cook and
three children, and remains there un-
360 CHRONOLOGY.
til Sunday, September 30th when he
left with the children for Indianapolis
and registers them at Hotel English
as " Three Canning children."
Oct. 1st. Mrs. Pitezel left St. Louis for Galva,
Motuuiii. Illinois with Dessie and the baby.
Galva was the home of her parents.
Holmes takes the children to the Cir-
cle House, Indianapolis (registers as
"Three Canning children") where
they remained until October 10th.
oet. 1st. Alice and Nellie write letters as fol-
lows :
Indianapolis, Ind.,
Oct. 1st, 1894.
Dear Mamma.
We was in Cincinnati yesterday
and we got here last night getting that telegram
from Mr. Howe yesterday afternoon.
Mr. H. is going to-night for you and he will
take this letter. We went us three over to the
Zoological Garden in Cincinnati yesterday after-
noon and we saw all the different kinds of animals.
We saw the ostrich it is about a head taller than
I am so you know about how high it is. And the
giraffe you have to look up in the sky to see it.
I like it lots better here than in Cincinnati. It is
such a dirty town Cin.
CHRONOLOGY. 363
There is a monument right in front of the hotel
where we are at and I should judge that it is
about 3 times the liight of a five story building.
I guess I have told all the news so good bye love
to all & kisses. Hope you are all well.
Your loving daughter,
Etta Pitezel.
Indianapolis, Ind.,
Oct. 1st, 1894.
Deae Mamma, Baby and D.
We are all well here.
Mr. H. is going on a late train to-night. He is
not here now I just saw him go by the Hotel He
went some place I don't know where I think he
went to get his ticket.
We are staying in another hotel in Indianapolis
it is a pretty nice one we came here last night
from C.
I like it here lots better than in C. It is quite
worm here and I haveto wear this warm dress
becaus my close an't ironet. We ate dinner
over to the Stibbins Hotel where Alice staid and
they knew her to. We are not staying there we
are at the English H.
We have a room right in front of a monument
and I think it was A. Lincolns. Come as soon as
you can because I want to see you and baby to.
It is awful nice place where we are staying I don't
21
364
CHRONOLOGY.
think you would like it in Cincinnati either but
Mr. H. sais he likes it there.
Good bye your dau.
Nellie Pitezel.
Oct. 5th. Holmes rents the house at Irvington
from Mr. Grouse (J. C. Wand's
clerk.) He said he wanted it for his
sister, Mrs. A. E. Cook and her chil-
dren, and that she intended using it
as a boarding house.
Oct. eth, 7th, Children write letters home.
Oct. loth. Howard disappears on this day.
Same day. Holmcs takes Alicc and Nellie from
the Circle House.
Oct. lath. Evening. Holmes arrives in Detroit.
Himself and Miss Yoke in one party ;
Alice and Nellie in another. He
registers the children at the New
Western Hotel as Etta and Nellie
Canning, St. Louis, Mo. He regis-
ters himself and Miss Yoke at the
Hotel Normandie " G. Howell and
wife, Adrian."
Oct. lath. Mrs. Pitezel, Dessie and the baby
leave Galva, Illinois for Detroit, stop-
CHRONOLOGY.
Oct. 15th.
Oct. ISth.
ping in Chicago. Holmes has writ-
ten to her that " Ben " was waiting
to see her in Detroit.
Holmes and Miss Yoke remove from
Hotel Normandie to No. 54 Park
Place. He gave their names as Mr.
and Mrs. Holmes.
Mrs. Pitezel, Dessie and the baby ar-
rive in Detroit, and register as C. A.
Adams and daughter at Geis's
Hotel.
Alice writes her last letter.
Holmes takes Alice and Nellie to
boarding house of Lucinda Burns at
No. 91 Congress Street.
About this date, Holmes rents of Mr.
Boninghausen the house No. 241 E.
Forest Avenue. Mr. Boninghausen
does not remember name Holmes
gave. In the rear of cellar under
porch of the house, Holmes digs a
hole four feet long, three and a half
feet wide, three feet six inches deep.
Holmes and Miss Yoke leave Detroit
for Toronto, Canada. He tells Mrs.
Pitezel that Ben had gone to Toronto.
CHBONOLOGY.
At Toronto Holmes registers at
Walker House as Geo. H. Howell
and wife, Columbus. Some day Mrs.
Pitezel, Dessie and the baby left
Geis's Hotel, Detroit for Toronto ;
were met at Grand Trunk depot by
Holmes and taken to the Union
House, where they register under
the name of C. A. Adams and
daughter.
Alice and Nellie leave Detroit for
Toronto ; arrive in the evening about
8 o'clock ; were met by Holmes who
turned them over to George Dennis,
a hotel porter, for the Albion Hotel,
and they were registered as Etta and
Nellie Canning, Detroit.
Holmes rented house No. 16 St. Vin-
cent Street of Mrs. Nudel. Said his
name was Howard and that he
wanted it for his sister.
Same day Holmes and Miss Yoke
went to Niagara Falls.
They returned and registered at the
Palmer House under the name of
Howell.
CHRONOLOGY. 367
Oct. 24th. Holmes borrows a spade from Mr.
Ryves, No. 18 St. Vincent Street to
dig a hole in the cellar, " for the
storage of potatoes." While in
Toronto, Holmes called at Albion
Hotel for Alice and Nellie every
morning, returning them in the even-
ing.
Oct. 25th. On the morning of this day, he takes
Alice and Nellie from the Albion
Hotel, paying their account for board
in full. The children disappear.
Oct. 2sth. He requests Mrs. Pitezel to go to
Ogdensberg. He tells her Ben is in
Montreal. He said that he had
rented a house in Toronto, but that
two detectives on bicycles were
watching it, and it would not be safe
for Ben to visit h-er there.
Oct. 2eth. Holmes and Miss Yoke leave Toronto
and go to Prescott, Canada ; remained
there over night.
Oct. 3ist. He is found at Burlington at the Bur-
lington House ; registered as G. D.
Hale, Columbus, Ohio. He moved
to rooms at Mr. Aherns, where he
CHRONOLOGY.
Xov. leth.
Nov. 17th.
gave the names of himself and Miss
Yoke as " Mr. Hall and wife."
He rents a house No. 26 Winooski
Avenue of W. B. McKillip under the
name of J. A. Judson, for his sister
Mrs. Cook.
Between these dates visited his par-
ents at his old home in Gilmanton,
New Hampsliire ; resumes his rela-
tions with his real wife, Mrs. Mud-
gett. He tells a romantic story ac-
counting for his absence from home.
He is arrested in Boston.
He makes his first confession. He
says Pitezel is alive in South
America, or on his way there, and
that the children were with him. He
said Pitezel was bound for San Salva-
dor. That their means of communi-
cation was to be in the personal
column of the New York Herald.
Mrs. Pitezel is arrested on the same
day.
Holmes and Mrs. Pitezel brought to
Philadelphia; committed to county
prison.
CHRONOLOGY.
369
nee. iSth.
nee. 17th.
Mrs. Pitezel makes a full statement to
Mr, Fouse and Mr. Perry of the
Fidelity Mutual Life Association.
Holmes now says Pitezel is dead, and
that the children were given to Miss
Williams, who took them to Europe.
Makes another confession, declaring
that Pitezel was dead and that he
had committed suicide.
1S9S. Holmes is tried for conspiracy to
June 3€j. cheat and defraud the Insurance Com-
pany, and on the second day of the
trial, pleads guilty.
June filth. Detective Geyer leaves Philadelphia
and commences his search for the
children.
July 15th. Geyer finds the bodies of Alice and
Nellie in the cellar of the Toronto
House, No. 16 St. Vincent Street.
Aug. 27th. Geyer finds the remains of Howard
in the house at Irvington, a few miles
from Indianapolis.
Sept. 12th. Holmes is indicted in Philadelphia
for the murder of Benjamin F.
Pitezel.
Sept. 23d. He pleads not guilty. The Court
370 CHRONOLOGY.
fixes the day of the trial to be
October 28th.
Oct. xsth. Motion for continuance denied. Trial
commences, and continues until
November 2d. Jury render a ver-
dict : " Guilty of murder in the first
degree."
Nov. isth. Motion for a new trial argued.
Nov. 3oth. Motion for new trial overruled.
Holmes sentenced to be hung.
APPENDIX I.
SPEECH OF HON. GEO. S. GRAHAM, DISTRICT AT-
TORNEY.
With submission to your Honor ; Gentlemen of
the Jury : I am quite sure that it is with a feel-
ing of relief that you see the end of this trial rap-
idly approaching, and that you, who have been
taken from your homes, your places of business,
and practically imprisoned during the whole
length of these proceedings, are now to be re-
leased and permitted to return and resume your
usual places and duties in society. I know, also,
that you feel relieved, because the speaking at the
conclusion of the case is to be somewhat limited.
Instead of the three speeches that were contem-
plated yesterday afternoon, in view of the illness
of Mr. Shoemaker, T have voluntarily waived that
which is the right of the Commonwealth— to
close ; the right of the Commonwealth is not only
to open or sum up, but to close the argument in
this case.
I propose, therefore, to ask you now, to join
with me in reasoning for a little while about the
372 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
evidence which you have heard — the testimony in
this case. I am going to ask you to give me your
best attention, and your best thought, while I try
to refresh your recollection, and aid your reason
in reaching right conclusions from the evidence.
After which I propose to leave the final argument
to my young friend who represents the prisoner
at the Bar. I ask you to listen to him, and the
reasons he may assign, and if they are consistent
with the evidence in the case, and in your judg-
ment more nearly accord with the truth, as you
see it, adopt them ; and if the firm finger of duty
points you in that direction, acquit this prisoner
and set him free.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the
prosecutor in this case. You will take up this
Bill of Indictment and read, "The Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, against Herman W. Mudgett,
alias H. H. Holmes." The Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania wants no victim. The Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania does not ask for the con-
viction of this man, though he may be covered
with the evidences of guilt in other matters, un-
less in this specific case now on trial, the testi-
mony that you have heard points indubitably to
his guilt and authorizes his conviction. I ask
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 373
your attention to the evidence, because I propose
to say to you that, after a careful perusal of it,
my mind is forced to the conclusion that I must
press upon you the discharge of a great, and per-
haps to you, a trying duty. I believe that I can
take up the testimony in this case just as it stands
to-day, and lead you through it by a straight path
to but one conclusion, and that conclusion abso-
lutely inconsistent with the innocence of the pris-
oner at the Bar. If it were not so, it would be
my duty to abandon this case. If it were not so,
or if, in that review, my mind would hesitate in
reaching a conclusion, because of the weakness of
the evidence or any defect in the proof, then it
would be my duty to say that there is a doubt of
this prisoner's guilt and he is entitled to the ben-
efit of that doubt, and upon that doubt he ought
to be acquitted.
The task laid before me is this : I must point
out from this evidence the facts which prove con-
clusively that this prisoner at the Bar murdered
Benjamin F. Pitezel, at No. 1316 Callowhill Street,
on the 2d day of September, 1894, — so conclu-
sively that there will not be a single doubt left
lurking in your minds — so positively that you will
feel under your oaths as jurors that there is but
374 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
one course left open for you, and that is to find
the verdict pointed out to you in the opening of
this case — the higliest known to the law — a ver-
dict of murder in the first degree.
It is true, as my friend on the other side has
said, this case has consumed five days. It is true
that a large amount of testimony has been pro-
duced; that a great number of witnesses have
been called to the stand for the purpose of estab-
lishing the Commonwealth's case ; but that ought
not to be a subject of complaint from the defend-
ant — that care has been taken ; that the testimony
has been carefully selected ; that it has been mar-
shalled in court ; that it has been presented to
you, with all the time necessary for its inspection
and consideration — that ought not to be a subject
of complaint from the prisoner; for the Common-
wealth is bound to prove its case from the initial
step, down to the very last syllable of testimony
requisite to make it complete.
The Commonwealth has done so in this case.
The Commonwealth has proved by testimony
every step in this important proceeding, out of the
lips of thirty-five witnesses who have been ex-
amined before you. We have endeavored to es-
tablish it link by link, one by one, each one sepa-
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 375
rate and distinct from the others, but together
making the chain complete and perfect.
May I recall to your attention, without attempt-
ing to read this mass of testimony, but with a
word here and a suggestion there, what we have
listened to during these past five days ?
I am sure there is not a man in that jury-box,
but will be grateful to me for redirecting his at-
tention to that which must be the basis of his ac-
tion — to wit, the evidence in the case. I am sure
you want to know it ; I am sure you want to re-
member it ; I am sure you want to act intelli-
gently upon it : and I am firmly convinced that
you wish to reach a right conclusion from it.
The testimony began with the calling of Miss
Jeannette Pitezel to the stand. You remember
her. That was her first appearance in the case.
She has been called quite a number of times since.
She was called then but for one single purpose.
This picture (liolding up picture of Benjamin F.
Pitezel) was shown to her, and she was asked the
question, *' Whose picture is that ? " That wit-
ness identified this picture, used so frequently
during the trial — the picture of the dead man.
" That's the picture of my father, Benjamin F.
Pitezel." That was her identification.
376 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
The next witness called was a young man from
the Detective Bureau, who established the iden-
tity of two other pictures that you and I have
used so often in this case. These are the pictures
of the prisoner (holding up two pictures of
Holmes). We feared, since the prisoner during
his imprisonment had chosen to cultivate a beard
upon his face, that when the witnesses would be
called into this court room during the trial, there
might be difficulty in identifying him, and the
Commonwealth's case might be imperilled for lack
of identification, and so, as a precautionary meas-
ure, we procured these pictures of him as he was
when these witnesses saw him, in order that we
might have them here, in this enlarged form, for
the use of the witnesses in identifying him, and so
that they might not be puzzled in so doing by his
changed appearance. When he entered the prison
cell, his face was like that (holding up the picture
of the prisoner without a beard). He has not
shaved since that time and this beard has grown.
Why ? Of course, I do not know ; but it was my
duty — and that of my colleague, Mr. Barlow, who
attended to these arrangements — it was our duty
to see that no injury should come to the Common-
wealth's case by reason of any change in his ap-
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 377
pearance while in the prison cell, and that our
witnesses might be aided in their identification by
this counterfeit presentment of what he was at
the time of these occurrences.
The next witness you listened to was Mr. Eu-
gene Smith. I am not going to read the testi-
mony he gave you, but simply ask your attention
to it again. He came in here and told you the
story of the finding of the bodyo He knew No.
1316 Callowhill Street. He had visited the place
on business several times. He went into the store
or office on this Monday afternoon, the 3d of Sep-
tember, and he saw no sign of Pitezel, everything
was in place there, but no man was there ; the
door closed, but not locked. He found articles of
clothing hanging in the room. After waiting
some time and unable to wait any longer, he
passed out, but returned again the next morning.
He found the room precisely as he had seen it on
Monday afternoon — no change in appearance;
even the articles of clothing that were hanging in
the room were in the same place. It looked sus-
picious to him ; it immediately excited his atten-
tion, and he commenced to look through the house.
He tells you how he went through that office or
store part of the building, back to the entrance to
378 ABGmiENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
the stairway, and passed on up to the head of the
stairs, or the landing on the second floor. He
tells you how the door to his left on this landing
opened into the back room, and that along the
entry way in front of him there was another door
leading into the front room. Hastily glancing
from where he stood into that front room, he saw
a cot, but it was empty ; no one seemed to be
there. Then turning, he looked into the open
door at his side, when, lo ! there upon the floor he
discovered the body of a man. Looking in hast-
ily, and supposing that the man had probably
been killed or shot, he did not enter. Instantly
descending the stairs, he summoned two police
officers ; and they, in turn, summoned Dr. Scott,
who lived in the neighborhood. All of them re-
turned to the house, and he tells you what they
saw ; the position of the body lying perfectly
straight on its back on the floor, the right arm
laid across the breast, the left hand down at the
side, the limbs straight out from the body, the
heels together, the feet in position, the whole in-
dicating all absence of struggle and a condition
of perfect tranquility and repose.
Smith was examined and questioned on this
matter with a wonderful amount of insistance,
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 381
where it v/as wholly unnecessary, about a little
incident which occurred and which he related of
the prisoner. Of course, the Commonwealth
wanted to show that the prisoner had been there ;
that he knew this house ; that he was in the habit
of visiting it ; that he was not a stranger to Pite-
zel. This was one of the steps in that direction,
and therefore Mr. Smith was asked to relate what
occurred on the occasion of one of his visits to
this store. He had visited this store before the
Monday and Tuesday to which I have called your
attention. He says, " I went in there ; I had some
business with Mr. Pitezel. While I was there,
this prisoner came into the room and, with some
sign or motion, that called Pitezel's attention, he
passed directly on." He seemed to be familiar
with the place — to be no stranger there. He
knew where to go ; that house was no un-
known place to him. Pitezel was his tool, his
creature, and with a wink, or a nod, or a beck, or
whatever it might be called, he silently sum-
moned him to attend him, and then passed, as the
witness said, through this door (indicating on the
plan of the house) up the stairs. He was asked
by the prisoner, " Well, did you see me pass up
the stairs?" Of course he did not. The wit-
22
382 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
ness said what any witness would say under those
circumstances, — " I saw him — that door being
open, and the stairs being there and starting at
the door, and my chair being down near the front
of the room with a direct view to the door — I saw
him pass and turn in that direction." Of course,
that meant, speaking about such an event as you
or I or any other person would, that he saw him
pass upstairs. That is what he meant. There
was no other exit in that direction, but to go up-
stairs. But the prisoner, with insistance, thought
he had made a point upon Mr. Smith that might
effect his credibility and said, " Did you see me go
upstairs? How could you see me go upstairs
when the stairs are not in view from where you
sat?" Why it was perfectly plain. He saw him
turn in that direction, and possibly step upon the
first step ; that would be within the line of his
vision, and therefore he would say, I saw you go-
ing upstairs to the upper story.
But, gentlemen, that is only a little incident in
the case, and is of very minor importance ;
whether or not they went up in the second story,
or whether they went out into the back yard,
does not matter at all, so far as the Common-
wealth's case is concerned. The fact that this
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 383
man Holmes was there — the fact that he was on
terms of intimate acquaintance with the pro-
prietor of that place, and had knowledge of the
place itself as shown in his leading the way after
beckoning the deceased to follow — these are the
facts that rise out of this little circumstance, and
are important as showing how completely he was
at home in Pitezel's house. That was the testi-
mony of Smith.
Then you will remember that the prisoner, who
had been conducting his own case, interrupted the
examination of Smith and said that he would like
to have a plan of the house. We complied with
his request and called Marshall Pugh, who was
employed in the Board of Surveys, one of the City
Departments, and proved the making of this plan,
and that it had been correctly made. The exam-
ination of Mr. Smith was then proceeded with to
its end.
Our next step was to call Mr. Ran, the photog-
rapher, who presented for our better understand-
ing of the situation, two pictures, one picture of
the front of the house No. 1316 Callowhill Street,
where the body was found, and the other a picture
showing the rear of the same house and for our
information the double window, in the second-
384 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
story room, with its large white shutters. These
photographs were then offered in evidence.
We then proceeded with the facts of the case,
and called Dr. Scott, whom you will all remember
— a clear, bright, intelligent witness ; crisp, plain,
and strong in his talk. He came to the stand and
told you what he saw when he went into No. 1316
Callowhill Street, when summoned by the officers.
We have the advantage in Dr. Scott of not simply
an ordinary witness. We have an intelligent phy-
sician ; an observing man, who looks closely and
scans everything in that room ; who takes partic-
ular note of the body, who pays particular atten-
tion to everything there. He corroborates Smith
in all the details with relation to the position of
the body, and the position of the man's arm, and
the burning of the body, the singeing of the mous-
tache, the singeing of the hair on his head, and
how the skin was taken off his hands, how the
clothing over the chest was burned through to the
flesh, and the flesh underneath burned ; how, in
the position in which the arm was placed, the un-
der side of the arm being against the body, it was
absolutely protected from the flame, so that not one
particle of fire touched the under side of that arm ;
and demonstrating that it was burned while lying
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 385
in that position upon the body, and also described
the skin hanging off the hand where the fire and
flame had blistered it. He tells you about these
points. He goes into minute description of the
clothing — how it was tucked down into the
trousers, with nothing disturbed — everything as a
man fixes his own clothing when about to start
out upon the highway, or go about his business.
He gives you all these details, and tells you how
reposefuUy and how tranquilly the body was ar-
ranged. There it lay. I want you to remember
in this connection, gentlemen, another circum-
stance that may be of some importance to you in
arriving at the truth. When we take up the
story of this prisoner, as told in his confession, it
may be important to remember another thing
stated by the Doctor. There was a discharge
from the mouth. There was a fecal discharge, and
the bladder also was empty. These were the re-
sults of a condition that comes on when death is
imminent — the relaxation of the involuntary
muscles of the body, so that what a man could do
in health to prevent these discharges could not be
done in that condition, and the contents of his
bowels and bladder flowed from him. That, gen-
tlemen of the jury, was the condition of this body
386 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
on the second floor of this house — the flow from
the mouth, and the other discharges from his per-
son, occurred on that floor. The dead man died
there. There was no trace of any discharge on
the tliird-story floor.
Dr. Scott not only testified to what took place
at No. 1316 Callowhill Street, but he also testified
to what took place at the post mortem examina-
tion. You will remember his testimony. You
will recall that he covered two points — what was
found in the room No. 1316 Callowhill Street and
what Dr. Mattern found in the body at the time
he made the post mortem examination of it. He
told you about the congested condition of the
lungs. He told you about the empty condition
of the heart, indicating speedy death — paralysis
of the heart — that the man died instantly, quickly.
He told you about the condition of the stomach,
the kidneys, and tlie liver, these all denoting an
alcoholic condition, showing that the man was a
heavy drinker of alcoholic stimulants, and that
irritation of the stomach due to alcohol was also
present, but that there was no irritation there due
to the action of chloroform, although he told you
another thing, — that there were about two ounces
of chloroform found in the stomach. The doctors
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 387
both told you the smell was strong, and could not
be mistaken. Otherwise the stomach was what
they call an empty stomach. That does not
mean literally void of every particle of food, but
practically an empty stomach. There was mucus
there, but remember he testified that that chloro-
form in the stomach had not produced any irrita-
tion of the membrane or lining of the stomach —
not a particle. That chloroform in the stomach
had never produced the slightest effect upon the
dead man. That was Dr. Scott's testimony.
Maintaining the order of proof, we next call
Dr. Mattern : Dr. Mattern told you very much
the same things that Dr. Scott did. He repeated
to you the story of the post mortem examination
of the body of Pitezel. He told you of the con-
gested condition of the lungs. He told you of
the condition of the heart, the condition of the
stomach, the liver, the kidneys, and all the vis-
cera. The result of the examination of the body
of this man was to enable these doctors to say to
you, as a positive fact in this case, and one that
is not disputed, for there is no one to contradict
the statements that they make, (and that is one
of the things it is important for you to remember)
— that this man died from chloroform poisoning.
388 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
That you have an undisputed fact in this case.
He was poisoned with chloroform ; there is no
doubt about the cause of his death. That is a
fact that stands before you undisputed. This
man died from the effects of chloroform. It was
chloroform poisoning that took away his life, so
that, although you may find in the description
given by Dr. Scott, and by Mr. Smith, that there
was an attempt to create an appearance in the
room where the body was found whicb would lead
one into the belief that an explosion had taken
place in that building, you are freed from the fur-
ther consideration of all idea of an explosion hav-
ing taken place. Indeed it is admitted that no
explosion killed this man. While it is true that
the flames touched his clothing, and partially con-
sumed it, and burned and blistered his flesh, — yet
they did not kill him. While the broken jar, and
the other evidences of that explosion were pres-
ent, they were artificially produced by somebody
with the intention to mislead and deceive. There
was no explosion. Holmes now admits that he
himself broke this jar, and Doctor Scott demon-
strated the fact that it had not exploded. Even
the smartest, even the brightest, even the keenest
criminal will make mistakes, and when Holmes
AEGU3IENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 389
broke that jar, he broke it leaving the glass par-
ticles or fragments lying inside the bottle, whereas
an explosion would have scattered them all about
the room. I want you to remember, therefore,
gentlemen, at this stage of the argument, that the
Commonwealth has established one fact beyond
contradiction, which is that this dead man was
killed by the use of chloroform poisoning. Two
witnesses have sworn to this fact — no one has
contradicted them — and the defence admits that
this was the cause of death.
The next witness was a very important wit-
ness in this case. I will now simply call your
attention to what he testified to, and to the sub-
ject upon which he testified, for I do not propose
to discuss the effect of his testimony at this point.
I refer to the testimony of Dr. Henry Leffman,
one of the most distinguished analytical chemists
perhaps in this country — a man of fine scientific
attainments, of splendid intelligence and culture.
He comes upon the stand and gives to you his
story as an expert upon the subject of chloroform,
and states certain facts to you, to which I will
advert in a short time, and by the help of which
I will discover to you, not only that this man was
poisoned with chloroform poison, but that that
390 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY
chloroform poison was not self-administered. In
other words that the deceased did not commit
suicide.
After Dr. Leffman, comes Samuel H. Ash-
bridge, the Coroner. You will remember, of
course, that he did not testify to any facts from
his own knowledge. That was not the object in
calling him. The Commonwealth was talking a
second step in the progress of this case. It had pro-
duced the evidence of the finding of a dead man,
and that this dead man had been poisoned. It
had shown by the aid of Dr. Leffman, and the
circumstances of the finding of the body and the
post mortem examination, that he was not self
poisoned. Now the Commonwealth must proceed
to show you, for we can assume nothing, that that
dead man was Benjamin F. Pitezel, the man
named in this indictment as the subject of this
murder. We called Coroner Ashbridge ; why ?
We could not call Alice Pitezel, the child who
identified him before the Coroner ; we could not
call her to prove that that stiff and disfigured
corpse, upon which her young eyes gazed at the
Potter's field, was the body of her dead father.
We could not produce her for that purpose, for
the mother had told us that the last she saw of
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 391
her was her dead body in the morgue in the
city of Toronto, in a foreign jurisdiction. No,
that piece of evidence the Commonwealth could
not produce, but the Commonwealth proceeds
formally, and in an orderly manner, to establish
to your satisfaction that this body was the body
of Benjamin F. Pitezel. Is it not strong proof to
take the prisoner's own statement for it? Is it
not beginning at a good point to ask the Coroner
to identify the prisoner's own affidavit, in which
he swore that that was the body of Benjamin F.
Pitezel that lay in that upper room ? Fortunately
for us, for the prisoner was the man who handed
it to the Coroner, and so made it evidence against
him, we were able to get Alice Pitezel's affidavit
on that point, as delivered by him to the Coroner.
By Coroner Ashbridge we begin to establish the
second point, and take the second important step
by proving the identity of this corpse.
But, gentlemen, we did not stop with the two
affidavits, one made by this prisoner, and the
other by Alice Pitezel. The Commonwealth had
abundant evidence, I think, to prove that this was
Benjamin F. Pitezel. We determined to do it
thoroughly, for we did not know how much of an
attack would be made by the defence upon the
392 ARGU3IENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
question of identity. We had no knowledge
where the attack might be made, and as this
seemed to be one of the points threatened, we
marshalled one bit of evidence after another,
until there can be no doubt in the mind of any-
one about the body of Benjamin F. Pitezel. That
it was his body cannot be gainsaid. Let me say
to you once more gentlemen, and let it be said so
as to set at rest this question forever, the man
who was sent from time into eternity in that sec-
ond-story room at No. 1316 Callowhill Street was
Benjamin F. Pitezel, the companion, the friend,
the colleague of the prisoner who sits in the dock,
and he knows it as well as I, for he identified him
to the Coroner, and he took the dead man's little
daughter there to swear that it was her father's
body.
We next went into the neighborhood ; we pro-
duced William Moebins, a bar tender in Mr.
Richards' saloon. He waited upon Perry, as
Pitezel was called while living in Callowhill
Street, the Saturday night before his body was
found. He had seen him before. He had seen
him in there, talking with Mr, Richards, the
saloon keeper, and he knew Mr. Perry — Mr. B.
F. Perry. Now, of course, it would have done us
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 393
very little good to have simply stopped there, and
proved that this was B. F. Perry, who lived in
that house, but we go a step further, and we hand
this picture to him, and ask him, " Is this the
picture of the man that you knew as B. F.
Perry ? " (handing to the witness the picture of
Pitezel.) He said, "Yes, that is the picture of
the man I knew as B. F. Perry." So we estab-
lished clearly that that man who lived in No. 1316
Callowhill Street as B. F. Perry was B. F. Pitezel.
We called the last witness's employer, the sa-
loon keeper himself, Mr. Richards. Mr. Richards
had changed two ten dollar bills for him that day,
the Saturday before the murder, the Saturday be-
fore this body was found, and he says he knew
Benjamin F. Perry. He was asked, " Is that the
picture of the man you knew as Benjamin F.
Perry ? " and he replied, " It is." That is Pite-
zel's picture. Another witness says Pitezel and
Perry are one.
We also called Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Lampen,
and they established that this picture was the pic-
ture of Perry. Well, now, all that, gentlemen, is
persuasive, but it only goes part of the way in es-
tablishing the identity of the corpse, for I want to
discuss this testimony with you frankly, and as I
394 ARGmiENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
would with my own self, trying to ascertain only
the truth. We prove but a single fact, to wit, that
B. F. Perry and B. F. Pitezel are the same. You
understand that that proves the identity of one
person under these two names, which is corrobo-
rative only, of the identity of the body that was
found there. But we went further, and now,
abandoning for an instant the order of proof, I
wish to call your attention to this fact. Not only
were these five or six neighbors called to prove
that Perry was Pitezel, but we produced the
patrol sergeant of police. And here came in a
new kind of testimony. The other witnesses had
looked on the living man called B. F. Perry, and
then they had looked upon this picture, and said,
" The man who was living was the same man
whose picture you present to us." But Police
Sergeant Sauer comes upon the stand, and he is
asked the question, " Were you in that room that
day ? " He says, " Yes." He was asked, " Did
you see the man that lay stretched out on the
floor ? " He says, " Yes, the body was beginning
to decompose ; it was considerably discolored,"
and all that. He was asked further, " But are you
able to identify that picture?" Why, you re-
member gentlemen how that man told you he was
ABGmiENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 395
standing or sitting over there in this court room
among the witnesses for the Commonwealth, when
he happened to see this picture, as it was handled
before you and identified by the witnesses, and
subsequently placed by me standing upright on
that desk and facing where he sat, and identified
it as the likeness of the dead man from that distant
point. " Why, that is a picture of the man I saw
lying on the floor at No. 1316 Callowhill Street,"
he stated to you when placed on the witness stand.
That is identification. That picture of B. F.
Pitezel is the picture of the man who was killed
by the use of chloroform poison in No. 1316 Callow-
hill Street.
But, gentlemen, we did not stop even there in
our efforts at identification. Not only has Holmes
or Mudgett identified him ; not only has Alice
Pitezel identified him ; not only have these half
dozen people said Perry and Pitezel were the
same ; not only has the police sergeant told you
that that picture was the picture of the man who
was poisoned ; but we go out to the grave itself,
and from its dark recesses, we bring forth silent
but persuasive testimony on the question of iden-
tity. Pieces of the clothing that was around the
dead body were taken from it by the Doctor.
396 ARGU3IENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
Here is a piece of the shirt that this man wore ;
poor Mrs. Pitezel was called back again to that
stand, and you may remember the broken sobs
with which slie exclaimed, " Oh, that's Benny's
shirt that he took with him Avhen he left St. Louis
for Philadelphia." That burned fragment is
part of the clothing that the wife identifies as
that of her husband's, buried with the body, deep
down in that dark grave, it comes forth to the liv-
ing light to proclaim that the body resting there
was not the " stiff " gotten from New York, but
was the body of Holmes' friend, Benjamin F.
Pitezel.
Look at this necktie ; the necktie of a poor
man. This has been disfigured by being in the
grave, for it was taken from his dead body. Mrs.
Pitezel said it was Benny's. Dessie, the daugh-
ter, comes upon the stand, and tells you a little
incident that must have impressed you with its
truthfulness. One part of the necktie is better
than the rest, you observe, and she says, " I asked
papa before he left, one day, if he wouldn't let me
take that lower portion to put into a crazy quilt."
What more natural than for a girl to do that very
thing ? That piece of silk that was fresh and
clean, because it had been covered by the vest
f/'
Fac-Simile of Letter from "Jim" to Holmes.
■X
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 399
and the coat when worn and was thus protected
and preserved — she wanted to cut off that portion
to make up into a crazy quilt, just as girls will
do. She says, " That's my father's necktie."
Does anyone doubt it ?
The trousers were identified in the same way.
So that, gentlemen of the jury, out of the very
tomb comes the voice of identification, confirming
what all these living witnesses have said, and what
the police sergeant has so emphatically said " This
is Pitezel." Pitezel's identification is complete.
So the Commonwealth has taken the second
step in this trial. It has reached another point of
advance. It has proved to your satisfaction that
this man was killed by chloroform poison. It has
proved, in addition, that the man who was thus
killed was Benjamin F. Pitezel, the friend of this
prisoner. Before finally leaving the question of
identity, I simply, in a word, call your attention
to what took place in the Potter's Field; you
will remember that the body was exhumed in the
presence of Dr. Mattern, Mr. Fouse, Mr. Perry,
the prisoner, Jeptha D. Howe, of St. Louis, and
Alice Pitezel, whom, the prisoner had taken from
her mother, and sent in company with Howe to
Philadelphia, and whom he had with him up at
23
400 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTBIOi ATTORNEY.
No. 1905 N. 11th Street at that boarding house.
He had taken her out to the Potter's Field. This
body was identified by the marks upon it, the
wart upon the back of the neck, the mark across
the bone below the knee, the bruised finger, the
color of the hair and of the mustache. It was
there identified as the body of Pitezel again.
Now after this testimony had been offered, the
next witness was Dr. Alcorn. You will recall
Mrs. Alcorn ; she kept a boarding house at No.
1905 N. 11th Street, at which Holmes boarded
with Miss Yoke, under the name of Mr. and Mrs.
Howell. She came upon the stand to prove that
he was there, and to prove that Miss Yoke was
there as Mrs. Howell, as she honestly believed
herself to be; to prove the length of time that he
was there, from the beginning of August — about
the first week in August — down to that fateful
second day of September, and to prove that he
left this city hurriedly, quickly, on that second
da}' of September 1894, although his wife was
sick, and part of the time confined to bed, unable
to be up and about — not in a fit condition to take
a long journey — yet on that Sunday night, that
fateful Sunday night, when this man was killed
in No. 1316 Callowhill Street, Holmes in company
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 401
with his wife practically fled from the city of
Philadelphia, and went out to the West. Think
of the circumstances under which he left! Not
those of an honest man, travelling in the ordinary
way. You or I would have said to Mrs. Alcorn,
" It's none of your business, Madam, if we did
not wish to tell her where we were going"; but
that is not the characteristic of this man ; wher-
ever a lie could serve the purpose, he preferred it
to the truth. But he had a reason for concealing,
if possible, where he was going, fearing subse-
quent inquiry as to what his destination would
be, so he told Miss Yoke to say so, and he himself
told Mrs. Alcorn, " We are going to Harrisburg,"
when in point of fact, they were not, but took the
10:25 train for Indianapolis.
Why did he go away hastily? Why did he
conceal the place of his destination ? Was it be-
cause all that transpired on that Sunday in No.
1316 Callowhill Street was haunting him and pur-
suing him ? As lie tells you, he came into Miss
Yoke in an excited condition ; he helped to pack
her trunk ; he hastened to catch the 10:25 train,
and left Philadelphia leaving a lie behind him at
the boarding house, as to where he v/as going.
That was Mrs. Alcorn's testimony.
402 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
The next witness called was John Grammar.
You will remember that he lived in the same
house ; that he was one of the boarders in Mrs.
Alcorn's house, and he corroborates what she says
as to their residence there, and their time of leav-
ing.
Then came three witnesses upon the question
of identification. I have already adverted to what
their testimony was. One witness procured Perry
or Pitezel his boarding house. Mrs. Harley, with
whom he boarded, identified his picture. Miss
Alice Pierce, who kept the cigar store, testified as
to how he came in to buy cigars, identifying him.
We then took up another branch of the case —
the insurance conspiracy. Mr. Perry was called.
He began to tell the story of the insurance con-
spiracy ; the policy of insurance was identified ; a
policy issued on the life of B. F. Pitezel ; the re-
ceipt was also identified, showing the settlement
that was made, and how, by reason of this con-
spiracy, nearly 110,000 were taken out of the
treasury of that company. This is only an inci-
dent. The insurance matter, except as it plays the
part of being the beginning of these occurrences,
each connected with tlie death of Pitezel, and
sheds light on the motive of the prisoner, is prac-
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 403
tically uniiuportant. The insurance company it-
self is not a factor in this case. The Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania is the prosecutor. The
insurance company has nuthing whatever to do
with it, beyond having been the victim of the con-
spiracy and having paid its money upon the policy
of insurance, on Pitezel's life.
The money was paid. The conspiracy had been
successful appaiently. Holmes was profiting by
the result. Pitezel was dead, and out of the way,
and very soon his widow and children were taken
on a curious journey, and the effort is made by
the prisoner to conceal everything pertaining to
the family.
Mr. Gary comes upon the stand, and gives us
an inkling as to how the conspiracy was first dis-
covered awa}^ out in the St. Louis jail. Hedge -
peth, a fellow prisoner with this man, to wliom
part of the proceeds had been promised, tells the
Cliief of Police of St. Louis that he and Pitezel
and others had perpetrated a fraud upon the insur-
ance company. Gary interviews him. What was
said in that interview is not given in evidence to
you, but in consequence of that interview, search
is made for this man, the prisoner, and an earnest
effort was made to find him, only, at that time, be-
404 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
cause it was supposed tliat he was guilty of a
fraud and a cheat, and that he had succeeded in
cheating the insurance company out of money.
The search for him led through the States, up into
Canada, back into the States again, and finally n[)
to Boston, where he was arrested and brought
back to Pliiladelphia. Then it was that we
proved that part of our case to which Mr. Hans-
corn, the Deputy Superintendent, from Boston,
has testified. Holmes was not arrested in Boston
upon this charge of cheatii]g the insurance com-
pany, but was arrested npon another charge — that
of being a horse thief. He was accused of being a
horse thief, who was wanted in Texas. He was
wanted in Texas to be dealt with according to
their law, upon the information that he was a
horse thief. He was arrested in Boston, held
there until he voluntarily said to the Chief, fear-
ing the kind of Southern justice that is meted out
to horse thieves, for they do not stand in high fa-
vor in the South, or among the rural populations,
the prisoner bethought himself, " Well, all they
have got on me in Philadelphia is the charge of
conspiracy, for which I will get two years' impris-
onment at the outside; I will- be comfortably
housed and fed and taken care of, and at the end
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 405
of two years, I'll get out again, and probably es-
cape this pending accusation down at Fort Worth,
Texas," and so — shrewd, skillful fellow that he is,
he says to the Chief of Police, " I'll volunteer to
go to Philadelphia." It speaks well for the hospi-
tality of our City. He preferred it to Texas.
He was willing to go to Philadelphia. It did not
need any warrant to bring him here. He was not
waiting for any requisition from the Governor of •
Pennsylvania upon the Governor of Massachu-
setts, asking for the return of Hermann W. Mud-
gett, alias H. H. Holmes. These formalities were
dispensed with. Ho said, *' I'll go to Philadel-
phia," and Detective Crawford brought him to
Philadelphia. Before he left the city of Boston,
he made a statement to Mr. Perry. He confessed
the fraud that had been perpetrated upon the in-
surance company, and voluntarily and of his own
free will and accord, told Mr. Perry about this
cheat and this fraud. You remember, I am sure,
what Mr. Perry related as his statement to him.
It was to the effect that himself and Pitezel, and
Jeptha Howe, of St. Louis, and Hedgepeth, who
was in jail, had joined in a conspiracy to cheat
the insurance company, and he said that they had
sent to New York to procure a dead body that
406 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
would look as much like Pitezel a^i possible, and
that they were going to use that dead body, and
that they did use it, and tliat Pitezel himself, you
Avill remember, was living and in South America
at that time, and had the boy, little Howard, with
him. That is his first story. I want you to listen
to these statements. They are marvellous produc-
tions in the line of fiction ; they are wonderful
statements, with scarcely an element of truth in
them. The facility with which this man could
utter one falsehood after another must be appar-
ent to you in your observation of this testimony,
and from the statements that you have heard, not
only from the officials, but from the lips of this
pure, good woman, whom he called his wife, Miss
Yoke. Think of it ! Think of it ! Think of tlie
deception and the falsehood ! Think of his deceit
to her I He meets her in St. Louis. He is gohig
to engage her as his wife. He then tells her the
story of a fictitious uncle, with his millions, or
whatever the estate may have been, and who had
requested that he, H. H. Holmes, should take the
name of Henrj^ Mansfield Howard, and thence-
forth be known as his heir. He enters into one
of the most sacred relations in life with deception
and deceit upun him. He marries her as Henry
ARGmiENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 407
Mansfield Howard. Then he goes down to Fort
Worth masquerading as Pratt. " Why," said
he to this confiding woman, "I have been out
to one of tlie ranches that my uncle left ; " — one
of those ranches of this fictitious uncle — a ficti-
tious ranch, — " and fonnd squatters down there,
and you know the people of the South favor
squatters more than the people of the North do ;
so it wouldn't be safe for me to be known as Mr.
Henry Mansfield Howard, the heir of my uncle,
and the claimant of this ranch ; oh, no ! " Then
he masquerades as Pratt. In the line of this
story, during all his journeys, he never once places
his own name upon the register of a hotel, and
never once places upon the register the real name
of anyone that is with him. Lies supply the place
of the truth at every point, and false registry is
the order of his journey at every hotel. Upon
every step, from point to point, as we go through
this evidence, we find Mudgett, alias Holmes, a
fabricator and a falsifier.
But this is a degression, so I ask your attention
to his statement again. He tells you that a body
was substituted. Was there a body substituted ?
Don't you believe with me that that man (point-
ing to Pitezel's picture) was the man who was
408 ARGUME\*r OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEV.
buried in Potter's Field? Don't you think with
nie that that man was the man whose body was
fijund in tliat second story room ? Lie No. 1.
But he says, "B. F. Pitezel is down in South
America, and he has little Howard with him."
Oh, gentlemen, that is an awful, a frightful state-
ment. What fearful twisting and destruction of
the truth! Pitezel in South America ! He had
seen his body taken up out of the Potter's Field,
and made little Alice testify that it was the body
of her father — down in South America ! It is a
wonder that the lie did not scorch his lips, as the
flames scorched the dead body of Pitezel and con-
sumed the flesh. Little Howard with his father
in South America ! Gentlemen, think of it, and
then recall in that connection the broken utter-
ances of that poor woman, Mrs. Pitezel, as she was
about to leave the stand, when she said, in answer
to the question where did you see Howard last ?
" I last saw little Howaid's belongings in the cor-
oner's office in Indianapolis." Little Howard in
South America with his father ! God help such a
liar!
But he is not done yet. I now call attention
to his statement to Mr. Hanscom. I am not
going to repeat all this statement of his to Mr.
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 409
Hanscom. I do not want to weary you, but I do
feel obliged to go over the testimony at some
length in the performance of what I conceive to
be a solemn duty. Therefore 1 ask you j^atiently
to listen to me while I call your attention to a
few more of the things which this man has said.
A statement was made by him in Boston, and
was taken down at that city. Mr, Hanscom, the
police official, who came upon this stand, told you
how it was taken by Miss Annie Rtjbbins, a ste-
nographer, word for word. We do not depend
upon the frailt}^ of human memory to recall what
this man said in this instance. It comes to us
with all the strength and power of a written
statement, taken down question and answer, just
as it transpired in that office in Boston, where he
poured out new fabrications for the purpose of
misleading and deceiving. He was examined as
follows : By Mr. Hanscom : " Q. What is Pite-
zel's name? A. B. F., I think — Benjamin Fuller.
Q. When did you last see him ? A. I can't give
you the da3^ I'll leave a blank and fill it in."
Oh, how sly and sharp he is — how skillful in
fencing in his answers ! Mr. Hanscom says :
" State it in your own way. A. Well, I saw liim
last in Detroit. It was in the neighborhood of
410 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
three weeks ago, but I can give you the exact
date by consulting my wife." The alleged wife
who was with him then was Mrs. Howard. She
has been on tlie stand. Did he consult her as to
that date, when he had seen Mr. Pitezel alive in
the city of Detroit ? Did he make any effort to
find out the date? Not a single one. Why, gen-
tlemen, no effort was made solely because he
knew that Pitezel was then rotting in his grave,
and was not in Detroit. He could gain nothing
by consulting or questioning tliis woman. She
had not seen him in Detroit. He had never seen
him in Detroit; that was a falsehood told to mis-
lead the authorities. He was then asked, " Do
you know where he was stop[)ing in Detroit ? "
'* A. No, I don't know ; he had been there several
days waiting for me to come there." Would he
not have known where he was stopping? Why
did he not name some hotel and thus seem candid
in his answer? He was afraid the officers might
send to the hotel to find out. He is covering it
up. " Q. When was the last time before tliat
that you saw him ? " " A. Well, I had not seen
him but once since this Philadelphia occurrence."
(Quoting further from the statements made in
Boston.)
ARGUMENT OF TEE DISTRICT ATTORNEY, 411
He told Mr. Hanscom that he had seen Pitezel
in Philadelphia, and having procured a corpse in
New York, had packed it in a trunk, and that he
put that trunk on the express, and had given the
check for it to Pitezel. Of course, he made it
near the first Sunday in September. He was
telling a falsehood for the purpose of misleading
the officer, and yet it was with relation to the
frauds that he had confessed.
Gentlemen, there is one point in this connec-
tion that has always been a subject of thought with
me, and I conceive it to be a strong argument
against this man and his defence in this case.
Will you follow me a moment, while I point it
out. Remember that he had confessed to the
story about the fraudulent insurance. There
was nothing in that to be concealed, because he
had confessed that he was guilty. He had
cheated this company. He had confessed, and he
was going back to go into prison for it. Wh}-,
under those circumstances, was it necessary for
him to lie ? The truth would have been sufficient
then. It cannot be said that it was to get the
money from the insurance company, for that was
already secured, and was in his pockets. It was
not for that purpose. Why did he lie? What
412 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
was his motive ? What was he concealing by these
falsehoods about Pitezel living? The insurance
fraud was exploded ; he had confessed his guilt in
cheating the company. The money had been re-
ceived ; nothing was to be gained either in the
way of money or freedom from imprisonment, for
he had admitted his crime, and he was going back
to Philadelphia to go to jail. Gentlemen, there
is only one thing that explains that falsehood, ut-
tered by the prisoner to Mr. Hanscom. When he
said he saw Pitezel alive, he knew that Pitezel
was dead, murdered by him. He feared prosecu-
tion for that murder. There is no other explana-
tion — no other reason. The cheating of the in-
surance company had been confessed ; the money
secured upon the policy had been divided, yet he
lied about Pitezel and about the children. To
Perry, he said, " Pitezel is in South America, and
Howard is with him." To Mr. Hanscom, he said,
" Pitezel was in Detroit three weeks ago," and
then subsequently he said, " I saw him in Cincin-
nati." Then he tells about the use of a dead
body. That it was not Pitezel, but merely some
corpse that was used to stand for his body, and
goes through the long story of the cheat and fraud
upon the insurance company, with which you are
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 413
familiar and with vvhicli I will not now weary
yoii.
While we were on the line of proving these
confessions of his, we proved another, which was
taken after he came to Philadelphia. The first
confession was simply taken by question and an-
swer. This one is in a more solemn form. We
now come to an oath bound statement. I wonder
if, when he has taken the solemn obligation of an
oath, he will tell the truth. I wonder if now,
when he is sworn, he will tell us really what has
taken place ; let us see. Being first duly sworn,
he says, " That while incarcerated in jail in St.
Louis, Missouri, he met one Hedgepeth." — Well,
then, it was true that Hedgepeth was with this
man out in the St. Louis jail, and was his com-
panion in the conspiracy — " who said that for
$400, he could secure his release from imprison-
ment." (Quoting further therefrom.)
Think of the audacitj^ of the man, afterwards,
in Mr. Fouse's office, after these occurrences that
he is speaking about, but before this confession
was made. After the insurance was claimed by
Jeptha D. Howe. When Jeptha D. Howe came
into the office, Mr. Holmes was announced. Mr.
Holmes was in waiting outside. ]\Ir. Holmes
414 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
walked in. Mr. Howe Wcas sitting there. He pre-
tended he did not know Mr. Howe — not he. An-
other deception ; another fraud ! He does not
know Mr. Howe ! JMr. Fouse has to turn and say,
"Why, INIr. Howe, let me present Mr. Holmes,"
and Mr. Holmes bows and shakes hands with
Mr. Howe, and makes a new acquaintance.
Think of it, and remember he lias known him
out there in St. Louis for some time. Howe had
been sent for by Hedgepeth, and as Miss Yoke
said, was brought to the jail to act as this prison-
er's counsel, and saw him in the jail and talked
with him in the jail. Oh, how deceit and decep-
tion and fraud run all through every statement,
from beginning to end I
Then he goes on telling about the relation of
Howe to the conspiracy ; that Howe was in it
How he got word while in Philadelphia, that they
had a body which could not be used, and that he
sent to New York and got another body which
had a small wart on the neck ; that he then con-
cluded not to take any more chances to carry out
the scheme, and that he brought that body to
Philadelphia and left it in the care of Pitezel.
This "stiff" that he procured in New York, and
brought to Philadelphia, he left with Pitezel, who
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ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 417
was to carry out the details of the scheme at that
place. He then left Philadelphia at 10:30, in
company with his wife, and she was taken sick,
as lie says. But no, that is not true for she was
sick when he took her away. The truth is that
he hurried her away while she was sick. Then
he stopped off at Indianapolis, and stayed there
one night, reaching St. Louis on Tuesday night,
when he went directly to the office of McDon-
ald & Howe ; that he afterwards went to Pite-
zel's house, in St. Louis, and found his wife and
children very much excited about the news which
they had seen in the paper ; that he then went
about 9 o'clock the next morning to Howe's of-
fice, and asked him to help out in the matter, etc.
He then goes on with the story of the identifica-
tion, and tells the story of the fraud. He then
tells about the meeting in St. Louis, when they
met to divide the plunder at INIcDonald &
Howe's office. Mrs. Pitezel was there present.
The spoils were divided ; Mrs. Pitezel got her lit-
tle share out of the proceeds of the money from
her husband's death. Ten thousand dollars were
paid, but how much of it went to poor Mrs. Pite-
zel? She was a party to the conspiracy, as the}^
say, but she was in the hands of a sharper. Five
418 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
thousand dollais were taken on one pretext, and
with reference to how it was taken, departing
again, slightlj-, from the order of testimony, I ask
that you will remember Mrs. Pitezel's testimony
on that subject. She tells you that Holmes said,
" Now, we'll go to the bank and pay a note there
that your husband owes,"' and he took her to the
bank. They went inside, and there Holmes ob-
tains from this woman, out of her satchel, -15,000.
He then walks around in the bank to another
window, and pietends to be paying this note. I
say " pretends," because the evidence in this case
shows conclusively the falsity and deception of
the man beyond question, and that he was literall}-
and absolutely deceiviug her in what he said and
did. Fortunately, we have this note. Here it is,
and we have also a picture of it, which we can
handle with more safety. You ^^ill notice that
the note is for $16,000, dated May 16th, 1894, and
due September 16th, 1894, drawn to the order of
Mr. Samuels. You will notice on the original note
that it bears no endorsement. Mr. Samuels never
endorsed that note. Y'ou can see, therefore, that
it was not negotiable. It could not pass from one
man to anotlier. That simply says that Mr.
Lyman owes Mr. Samuels this money. If it had
AROUMEKT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 410
been deposited in Lank for collection, upon the
back would have been found the words "de-
posited for collection," and the signature of Mr.
Samuels, and his signature would have given the
bank the right to collect it. But no, this note
has never been negotiated. In point of fact, no
note was at that bank. There was nothing to be
paid there, and a fraud was being perpetrated
upon Mrs. Pitezel.
But if we had any doubt before, I am sure that
doubt is absolutely removed when we hear Mr.
Samuels on the stand. You remember him, the
lawyer from Fort Worth — his clear-cut, plain, and
frank answers. He had no trouble in telling you
the story of that false note. " Why," says he,
"the body of that note is in my handwriting, I
filled that in for this man," or " for that individ-
ual there," for that is the way he designated him,
if you may remember^" I filled it in for that in-
dividual ; he came to negotiate a loan from my
brother ; the note was drawn for $16,000, and he
took the note away to get it signed by his partner,
Benton F. Lyman," that being the name used by
Pitezel. He was to take the note away and get
Pitezel to sign it, and then bring it back. What
did he do? He came back to Mr. Samuels, and
420 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
lie said, " Oh, I mislaid that note or lost it ; T
doiTt know where it is, but I iiave had this new
note made to take its place," and the new note is
handed over to Mr. Samuels, and upon it he loans
this man $2,500, and that new note — that real
note is in the hands of these gentlemen in Fort
Worth, Texas, and this dead man stands debtor
to them upon it to-day, unpaid, uncancelled, while
this note written by Mr. Samuels in his own hand-
writing is fraudulently concealed by Holmes, and
fraudulently produced to Mrs. Pitezel as if it
were a living debt, though it is nothing more than
a piece of paper, and does not stand for a single
dollar. So the story goes. The money is divided
and Holmes gets this $5,000. He has matle his
profit by the transaction. He is the man who re-
ceived the proceeds from the insurance on the
life of Pitezel, and he starts away.
Then c ^mes the story of Mrs. Pitezel. Gentle-
men, you remember that story; I am not going to
weary you by its repetition. In all the fifteen years
of my service in this office, I do not remember a
story that stirred my heart or moved my sensibili-
ties like the broken sentences of that womnn,
when, Avith evident suffering in every line and
jnark upon her face, in the supreme effort that she
AllGUMEXT OF THE DISTRTCT ATTORNEr. 421
made to control herself, and to avoid breaking-
down, she told that pitiful, yet uiurvellous story,
of how this man led her from place to place in
the pursuit of her husband. I do not see, for the
life of me, how he coukl sit there in the dock un-
moved and look her in the face, conscious, as lie
must be, of the awful wrong that he has perpe-
trated upon her — how he could sit there and look
her in the face, and listen to the harrowing tale of
suffering and agon}-, without wincing, without
changing a muscle — he is a man of steel 5 with a
heart of stone, and remains utterly unmoved.
Gentlemen, there was once during the course of
this trial that tears seemed to come to his eyes,
and he appeared to be moved when Miss Yoke
came upon the wituess stand the first day. But
it was a subject of such universal comment that
you must have noticed it as well as I, and others
that when she was recalled to the stand the sec-
ond day, no tear dimmed his eye. The questions
of his lawyers showed that the tears of the first
day were summoned to influence her-, to excite
her pity for him so that in telling her story she
might be induced to favor him. But on the sec-
ond day, when his lawyer's shafts were dipped in
malice, and question upon question was thrust
422 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
at her regardless of liow tlie}^ placed lier before
the world or the coiiimuiiity, he sat as stony, as
immovable, as when jMrs. Pitezel told her pitiful
story from the witness box.
That was a strange stor^-, gentlemen ; if you
and I had read it in fiction, we would say perhaps
that the novelist had overdrawn or overstated
the facts ; that he had overdrawn the story, and
made it stronger than our imagination or fancy
could tolerate.
Now, let us return to that story. After Alice
was taken to Phikidelphia to identify the father,
she was taken back to Indianapolis. He went to
St. Louis, and saw tlie mother, and took from her
the other two children. There are now three
children started upon the journey in one group.
In a few days, he starts the mother upon lier
travels, and with her are Dessa and the baby,
forming a second group. In a little while after
that, Miss Yoke proceeds with him. They are
travelling in three detachments, each utterly ig-
norant of the location and proximity of the other.
Mrs. Pitezel does not know where the three chil-
dren are located : Miss Yoke does not know that
Mrs. Pitezel is travelling with Dessa and the
babv, and that the three children are also under
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 4J:i
his control. Another exhibition of the marvellous
ingenuity, craft, cunning, and power of this man.
Travelling in three separate detachments, and in
the city of Detroit, stopping within a few blocks
of each other. The hotels have been named at
which they stopped, within a few blocks,— the
mother yearning to see her children, and yet ig-
norant of their whereabouts, and kept from com-
municating with them; the children pleading to
communicate with their mother, and yet, kept
from communication with her ; within four blocks
of each other in the same city, and kept apart.
Poor Mrs. Pitezel ! The will o'the wisp, the
hope of meeting Benny, held out, and held out to
her day after day! " Oh," said he, "Benny will
be in Detroit." She is at Galva, Illinois, with her
parents. He tells her to come in the middle of
the week, but no, her eagerness to meet her hus-
band prompts her to start early, and she leaves
for Detroit from her home on the 13th of October.
" Where is Ben ? " " Well, well find Ben in To-
ronto." They go to Toronto. You remember
the days they spent there. "Oh, he'll come over
here and see you when I get a house; he wanted
to come and see you without the children being
present ; it'll never do to permit the children to
424 JEGUiVEXT OP THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
know that lie is living; he can't show himself in
the presence of the children." That is Holmes'
story. Gentlemen, right in that connection, let
me call your attention to something he said to
Mr. ITanscom. In that statement to Mr. Hanscom,
\\v tells this remarkable story. Said he, "Pitezel
\\ ;is in Detroit, and of course I was keeping hira
<!!i! (jf the sight of the children, but one day he
gii; to drinking while in Detroit, and before I
knew it, he walked right in to the children, where
tin' three children were, and they all saw him,
;iii.l they all knew him, and he was there with the
chiUlren, and I permitted him then to take the
cliiMren away with him." That is what he told
[{.ijiscom. Let us now see how that fits with
what he told Mrs. Pitezel. "Oh," says he to
Mrs. Pitezel, " wait until I get a house; it will
never do to have Mr. Pitezel come and visit you,
and have your children see him." Why he told
Hanscom that he had called on those three chil-
dren in. that hotel in Detroit, and that the chil-
dren knew all about his being alive. — " Oh, wait
until I can get a house for you, and then with the
children away, he can come into the house and
see you, and the children will not know it." A
man has to be a good liar, with a strong memory.
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 425
if he wants to make all the stories that he tells fit
each other. His story told to Haiiscom is vitally
different from his story told to Mrs. Pitezel.
Poor Mrs. Pitezel, however, was lured on and on
and on, and finally is taken to Prescott, in Canada,
thence to Ogdensburg, New York ; thence to Bur-
lington, Vermont, and at last to Boston to be ar-
rested. He brings her to Boston to be arrested.
What talent he displays! Here are the three de-
tachments travelling separately, each kept in ig-
norance of the existence of the others, with this
prisoner the postmaster for Mrs. Pitezel and the
children ; with orders to collect her letters at
every post-office upon their route; this postmaster
for these innocent little children, who wanted to
write letters to Dear Mamma — every letter inter-
cepted, and those letters found in his tin box,
identified in broken sentences by Mrs. Pitezel on
the witness stand when she exclaimed in anguish ;
" Oh, that's Alice's " ; " That's Nellie's " ; " That
was done by Alice " ; " That's my letter." Was
ever power over a family more complete than this
man's power over these people ? Every letter in-
tercepted — no communication between them. Not
one syllable from child to mother ; not one sylla-
ble from mother to child. Did I speak wrong-
426 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
fully, geiitleiiien, or was I cruel in making the
statement when I said that this man was a man of
steel, with a heart of stone ? Anyone that would
take tliese children's letters addressed to their
mother, and hide and conceal them, may justly be
charged with being heartless, and with being
cruel beyond comparison. He is the jailor of the
family. He suppresses and destroys their mail.
No, lie does not destroy it ; for in almost eveiy
case of villainy, and criminality, somehow or
other, whether it be Providential for the detection
and punishment of the rascal or not, I cannot
tell, but somehow the villain overreaches himself
in his efforts at concealment, and here and there a
telltale fact comes to light and points the uner^
ring finger of accusation at him, saying " That's
the guilty man." Yes, this is a marvellous story,
and tlie conclusion of it is not less marvellous
than the rest.
Mrs. Pitezel and Dessa have appeared before
you. Mrs. Pitezel was asked, " When did you
see those children again?" and her heartrending
answer some of us may remember for many, many
years to come ; it was pitiful, it was infinitely sad
coming from a heart broken with grief — " Oh, I
didn't see them acfain until I saw Alice and
ARGU3IENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 427
Nellie in the morgue in Toronto, and the last be-
longings of little Howard in the Coroner's office
in Indianapolis." What a tale of horror and of
woe is infolded in tliat harrowing sentence. How
this woman's pitiable plight should have moved
ever}' man of us to treat her with the^ utmost
consideration and kindness, yet I say to you,
gentlemen, that my blood boiled with indignation
yesterday when counsel, with mistaken zeal, at-
tempted to harrow up that poor woman's soul,
and attempted to press her with questions under
disguise, for the purpose of making her appear a
party to the conspiracy in this case. Wliy, of
course, she knew what her husband was going to
do ; she was particeps crhimiis to the extent that
she concealed that fact to protect her husband,
and that is all that they can charge against her.
The counsel for the prisoner was compelled to
probe with questions, and he said, "Weren't 3-ou
arrested in Boston ? "' " Weren't you brought back
under arrest? " " Weren't you put in the county
prison ? " " Weren't you indicted for conspiracy ? "
In the name of justice, has there not been enough
done ? Yes, they think this is necessary. One
nnn-e burden must be added. This man wants to
make her appear to have been as black as he in the
428 ARGVMENT op the DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
conspiracy. That was the object — to aigiie against
her credibilit}^ — to make her appear to be a co-con-
spirator with him, and therefore not worth}^ of be-
lief. But every step of that journey was coriub-
orated practically by Dessa ; everything that oc-
curred in it was corroborated by her. Think of tiie
cipher letters that he prepared ! What a disingen-
uous, uncandid, and villainous man it is who would
prepare a cipher letter to bring into that mother's
presence, and read to her as if coming from her
little children. Those children whose voices she
could never hear again were to be misrepresented
by that cipher letter as if speaking to her. Think
also of the other cipher letter, purporting to have
come from her husband. \\''ell might they be in
cipher. Well might he attempt to disguise them
in some form, pretending that one came from the
children, (then dead,) and that one came from
Benjamin F. Pitezel, (who was mouldering in his
grave,) telling her of his whereabouts in Montreal.
Was there ever a case of moi-e wicked and inex-
cusable deceit than this ? Why did he adopt all
this duplicity? Why was he guilty of all this
subterfuge ? Why was it that he deceived every-
body with these stories ? Gentlemen, there is but
one answer, and it is that in the room on the
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 429
second story of No. 1316 Callowhill Street, he
took the life of Benjamin F. Pitezel. Now why
do I say that? I say it because this evidence
shows it, and I am going to demonstrate to you
that fact out of this testimony — demonstrate to
you the fact that this man did destroy Benjamin
Pitezel in No. 1316 Callowhill Street. He was
telling these malicious lies to cover up a horrible
murder. In the first place, there is no doubt that
it was Pitezel, whose body was found as described.
There is no doubt that he came to his death from
chloroform poisoning. That is an unquestioned,
uncontradicted fact in this case. There is no
duubt that he was seen alive up until about ten
o'clock on Saturday night, out buying his whiskey
to take his dilnk — buying his cigars at the cigar
store to smoke. He had written to his wife a
few days before that he expected to go home and
see her, and he had told her that if he could
succeed, he was going to bring her and the chil-
dren on to Philadelphia. Nothing in the whole
case, from beginning to end, to indicate a suicidal
intent or purpose on his part — not a particle of
evidence produced for the purpose of showing that
he ever attempted to commit suicide. Not one
word from the wife ; not one word from his
430 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
letters; not one word IVdm liis neighbors, but
what indicated u hopeful outlook on the future —
a building up of plans a« to what he was going to
do in that future. He saj'S, " I am going to visit
St. Louis ; but if I can succeed in establishing a
business here, I'm going to bring you and the
children on to Philadelphia." That was the out-
look of the man. He was buying his whiskey; —
he was a free drinker; he was buying his cigars;
he was a smoker, laying in a stock for that
Sunday — not laying in death for himself — he
was going to live ; he was going to drink his
whiskey, and since he could not, under the Excise
laws, get it on Sunday, he was laying in a stock
on the Saturday night before, so that everything
indicated a purpose of life, and not a purpose of
suicide.
Now, then, we see him alive and well, and ap-
parently all right at that time. There is no
doubt, gentlemen, in this case, for it is proved
out of this man's own lips, (pointing to the pris
oner) and out of the lips of ]Miss Yoke, that on
that fateful Sunday, he, the prisoner, spent the
greater part of the day at No. 1316 Callowhill
Street ; in other words the day that Pitezel was
done to deatli, Holmes was ni that house ; he is
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 431
fixed in that house by liis own statements made
more than once, and by the testimony of his al-
leged wife, Miss Yoke. Remember that what she
says is very significant.
" Somebody came on Saturday night to his
house, and sent a message upstairs; the man,
wlioever it was, would not come upstairs, so
Holmes went down to see him, and came back
and told her " — and there again comes in the old
deception — "it is a man from the Pennsylvania
Railroad Company, with whom I am about to
close a deal, and I am going out to Nicetown to-
morrow to see him." This was not true for
afterwards in Philadelphia, he told Miss Yoke
that the man who called on that Saturday night
was Benjamin F. Pitezel. Benjamin F. Pitezel
called on that Saturday night. The man with
whom he had an engagement the next day was
Benjamin F. Pitezel ; and I asked Miss Yoke tlie
question whether Holmes was at home the next
day. The answer was : " No, he went out about
ten or half past ten in tlie morning, and did not
come back until the afternoon, about half past
three or four o'clock." All of those intervening
hours he spent in No. 1316 Callowhill Street, on
the day of the murder. Here, then, we find Pite-
43-3 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
zel was alive and well on Saturday night, at Ox
about ten o'clock. His body is found on Tuesday
morning in a state indicating that he had been
dead fur probably two days. On Monday, no
living person was about tliere; Smith came in on
Tuesday and found the deceased. On Sunday,
Pitezel was killed; on Sunday Holmes was in the
house with him ; on Sunday he spent several
hours in that house. He is the man who was
present when Pitezel died. Benjamin F. Pitezel
and Herman H. Mudgett, in No. 1316 Callowhill
Street met on that Sunday. Now we can under-
stand why he tells these stories about Pitezel
being alive. If this was a substituted cor])se,
then he cannot be convicted of murder. He has
confessed the insurance fraud. He has got the
money for the insurance. No motive or induce-
ment to lie on that account; but because back of
that is the crime of murder, therefore he denies
these stories, explaining that Pitezel lives, and
tliat a substituted body has been put in that
place, and he tells you himself that he was there.
He tells you, by his questions to the witnesses on
the stand, that he was there. You remember
M'hat he said to Miss Yoke. He did it with one
purpose, but I argue to you a totally different
AE0U3IENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 43;i
effect. He said, "Miss Yoke, did you notice my
appearance when I came in on thai Sunday after-
noon, between hali past three and four?" She
said "Yes." He aslced, "V/asn't I excited?"
Now this man, with liis story of Pitezel's suicide
discovered by liim, wants to make us believe that
he came in excited, because of that discovery, but
I will tell you the secret of his excitement. Miss
Yoke said to him, '' No, you looked worried, and
you were hot," Why, of course, lie was worried,
and had reason to be worried, because those hours
were spent in doing a fellow-being to death —
worried — yes. It was worriment that made him
start for the West that night with his wife ; it was
fear that made him get away from this city before
the body was discovered. He had cause to be
worried that night ; there is no doubt of that.
He was excited. I suppose such a thing would
make him excited. I do not know of much else
that would. You have seen him ; you have a
right to observe him, not only as he sits here
now, but as he stood there and conducted his own
case. Y^ou observed him as he addressed physi-
cians, as a physician, a skillful man, addressing
them upon scientific subjects. You observed him,
the man whose very life is at stake, in this awful
25
4;m AnavMFXT or the Disriurr attorney.
ordeal, displaying more calmness than even I
could, conducting the examination of the wit-
nesses, one after the other, and manifesting an
absolute want of all fear, nervousness, or fright.
Yet I think there is one thing that Avould make
him nervous; I think there is one thing that
would make him \vorried, and that was what took
place at No. 1316 Callowhill Street on that day,
not the discovery of a suicide, but the recollection
of a murder.
Now let us consider all his stories of what took
place there. We have put in evidence his confes-
sion or statement to Captain Linden. Months
have elapsed since the murder before this state-
ment is made. These stories that he has told about
the substitute body — about Pitezel living and the
children have been discounted and disbelieved ;
everybody who has come in contact with him has
told him that they did not believe them. He tliinks
it is necessary to frame a new story, as he sits down
in Moyamensing Prison, with nothing else to do
but to coin narratives to exculpate himself. He
fashions a new statement which is to be palmed off
upon the authorities, and upon the public. Now,
what is that statement? That statement admits
that it is Pitezel who is dead ; no longer are we
ARGUMENT OF THE DTSTRICT ATTORXEY. 435
sent roaming- into Soutli America, or off to De-
troit or up to Montreal, in Canada, to find Pitezel.
He now admits that Pitezel is dead, and that this
was Pitezel. It has become evident that the
story of a substituted corpse has been so much
discredited and is so generally disbelieved that it
is now necessary to bow to the inevitable and ad-
mit the body to be that of Pitezel. " Oh," he
says, " but I did not kill him ; he died from sui-
cide." This man who was out the night before,
apparently happy, and making provision for his
comfort for the next day, not intending to die,
but intending to live, and intending to have some
of those things that he considered necessar}' fur
his comfort tlie next day — Holmes claims has
committed suicide — that this man who was writ-
ing to his wife, " I am coming out to see you, and
if I can make arrangements to conduct business in
J'hiladelphia, I am going to bring you and the
children and the baby " — and that baby seemed
to be very dear to him — " I am going to bring
you to Philadelphia, and we'll live here " — this
man, Holmes says, committed suicide. All the
surroundings in this case deny that he thought of
suicide ; the evidence springing from the finding
of the body denies that he committed suicide, and
AM] ARGUMENT OF THE DISTHTCT ATTORNEY.
the story that Holmes tells of how the suicide
which lie alleges was committed is absolutely im-
pof^sil)lt\ and is rebutted by the testimony in this
case, and I will show you, I believe, as clearly as
mathematical demonstration, that Pitezel was not
self-destroyed, but that he was destroyed by a sec-
ond person in that house, and in that room. Why
do I say that? I say it because the evidence war-
rants it. Holmes tells you that when he went in
there, and I want to direct your attention specially
to this remarkable story — " When I went into that
room, I found Pitezel lying on the floor dead."
Then lie constructs a remarkable story telling of
a wonderful arrangement, all coined in the mint
of his own fancy, intended to explain how Pitezel
had committed suicide, Avhich you can readily see
is wortliy of his keen mind and thought, and
which never came from the mind, or from the
thought of Pitezel, — an ignorant man, as he calls
him in one of his confessions. Why, up there on
the till id floor, he says, Pitezel had arranged a
mpchnnical contrivance that would do justice to
the ingenuity of a Holmes — to the skill of a IMud
gptt. On a chair, according to his story, is a gal-
lon bottle — a bottle that would hold a gallon of
chloroform — an enormous quantity — put on a
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 4:J7
chair; underneath the bottle on the seat of the
chair on each side is a block holding up the bot-
tom of the bottle so that as the bottle reclines on
the chair, the bottom is higher than the neck.
There is carefully inserted through the cork, which
cork is fastened tightly into the mouth of the bot-
tle, — a quill, and then over the quill is fixed a
rubber tube, which leads down fioni the chair,
down to a towel that is spread over the face of the
deceased, the rubber tube, using his own language,
being " constricted at the center." The tube was
tied at the center so as to i)revent the fluid from
flowing rapidly down, and he says that, in that
condition, this man came to liis death. That he
found him there — that he found him there in that
third-story room, and that he took those things
away from this man, and took this man himself —
this slight, slim built, thin man, Holmes, took
Pitezel, weigliing 175 or 180 pounds, who must
have been then a stiff, rigid corpse, and dragged
him—he did not attempt to carry him across — but
dragged him down the stairs from the third-storv
room to the second-story room, and there placed
him in the position of repose in which he was
found lying, and he tells you that that condition
of repose in which he was found on the second-
AoS ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
story floor was precisely the same as that in which
he was found on the third-story floor, describing
him in precisely the same position down there.
Was he describing a real scene or a fancied one?
Where is that gallon bottle ? Where is that tube?
Where is any part of this strange suicidal device!
Nothing of it found, not a trace of it anywhere
Why has it so mysteriously disappeared ? Gentle
men, it never had an existence except in the fab
ricated story of this prisoner. The first question
I ask is why, in the name of common sense, did he
not leave him on the third-story floor? What ne-
cessity was there for bringing him down to the
second-stor}^ ? Could he not just as well have
burned and disfigured him up there on the third-
story floor, as he could on the second-story, and
would not his deception have been as successfully
practiced on the third floor as on the second floor?
Gentlemen, that body was never on the tliird-
story floor. The relaxation of the invokintary
muscles, and the involuntary discharges from the
person took place at or immediately before disso-
lution. These discharges were found on the sec-
ond-story floor, not on the third-story floor, clearly
indicating that death took place where the body
was found. This is a very significant fact.
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 439
The next tliiiig to which I ask your attention is
this. When that body was found down on the
second-story floor, it was in perfect order. The
perfect order in which everything was showed
that it had never been dragged down those stairs
by a second person. The clothing was not dis-
arranged. Dr. Scott is careful to tell you that
the shirt and underwear were carefully tucked
down into the trousers, with everything in their
perfect place, just as a man would fix himself, and
just as no one else could do it for him, and any-
body who knows anything about the preparation
of a corpse for burial, will readily understand
why. A corpse is not dressed in clothing, as a
rule, but covered, because of the difficulty of
dressing the corpse, and a second person not being
able to adjust the clothing in nice order all over
the person. This man's body showed tliat he had
never been dragged down those stairs. It was
not disordered.
Now gentlemen, unless he had found him be-
fore rigor mortis set in — that is, the stiffening of
the corpse — he could not have fixed him in that
position on the second floor ; he could not have
done it; it would have been perfectly impossible
for him. Yet the very period that he fixes — the
no ARGUMENT OF THE DTSTEICT ATTORNEY.
very time that he fixes as the time of his visit to
that place is after that corpse is stiff and cold ;
after it is dead and rigor mortis has set in.
I now ask your attention to another thing. He
said that the body was lying upon its back and
flat. I wish one of you would tr}', when you go
to your room — I do not want to do it here, for it
might appear like an effort after theatrical effect
— to lie down upon the flat of 3^our back, with
your head on the floor, and the head turned to one
side, and see whether any fluid, in order to go
through that tube called the oesophagus, into the
stomach, would ni^t have to run up hill. Put your-
self in that position, and see if it is not so. Ac-
cording to the prisoner's story the chloroform
passed from the bottle down the tube to the
towel, thence into the mouth and then into the
stomach. Gentlemen that chloroform did not
run up hill.
Now, the prisoner must account for this fluid or
chloroform in the stomach. Do you remember
what Detective Geyer said he told him ? He said
he told him that, as part of what lie had informed
Fitezel to do — he had told Pitezel to take this
stiff, as they called it — this dead body that was to
be substituted and to put chloroform in its
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 441
st.)mach. He said to put it in the mouth of the
dead corpse, and then work the body like a bel-
hnvs, so as to force it down into the stomach.
That is what he said. And I argue to you that
that is the way he passed the chloroform into
Pitezel's stomach. This man who told Pitezel
how to do it knew how to do it himself, and the
chloroform which was found in that body, that
had never irritated the walls and surface or lining
of the stomach, was put in there after death, and
the testimony of two physicians positively shows
that it never flowed into that stomach, as Holmes
says.
Now let me call your attention to another
point. In his questions to Dr. Leffman, and to
Dr. Scott, he tried to create the impression that if
this bottle was eighth-tenths full, would not
chloroform flow down that pipe, and on to the
towel, into the man's throat, filling up the throat
and forcing itself through into the stomach. Now
there are two difficulties about that theory that he
did not anticipate, and I could see when Dr.
Leffman made his answer to him, what the effect
was. It was like a stunning blow in the face.
When Dr. Leffman answered him, "Why," said
he, " it couldn't flow hardly faster than it would
442 ARGUMENT OF THE DTSTRWT ATTORNEY.
evaporate in the condition in which you put it."
Now think of that. Here is a bottle corked
tightly, a quill drawn through the cork, a pipe
leading from that quill down to the towel ; not one
particle of air can get into that bottle, and unless
the air can get into the bottle, the fluid will not
flow out. The fluid will not flow faster than the
air can pass it in the passage wnj of that pipe,
and that pipe was tied in the center so as to con-
strict it. You and I have seen it illustrated.
When a barrel of liquid of any kind is opened,
they knock the bung out in the top or bore a
hole through to let the air in, or the contents will
not flow out freely at the spigot. They bore a
hole in a barrel, when they put the spigot in, so
that the air may get in and cause the liquid to
flow out. Dr. Leffman says, in speaking of this,
" It would not flow out faster than it would
evaporate." Gentlemen, if it would not flow out
faster than it would evaporate, how in the name
of common sense could it collect in the throat in
such quantity that it would force itself down into
the stomach after death? Again, another diffi-
culty. The Doctor has said to you, and that is
uncontradicted here, that a dead oesophagus will
not pass any liquid. With the beginning of every
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 443
act of swallowing, there is a voluntary act on your
part. The will transfers food beyond the point
of the tongue, and you start it upon its way down
to the stomach. After that, it is involuntary, by
the closing of the oesophagus behind, and the
opening of it in front, pressing the food down to
its place. A dead cesophagus or a dead tube
leading to the stomach will not pass any liquid in
that way. There must be artificial aid, or there
must be a second person. A second person stand-
ing in his position could do it. He would take
the body and make a bellows of it, and create a
vacuum, and draw the liquid down. That is what
he would do, and that is what he did do. But the
dead oesophagus is another difficulty in the way
of his story.
Now gentlemen, you are to try this case accord-
ing to the evidence — not according to anything
else, but according to the evidence. It is the duty
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to make
out this case beyond a reasonable doubt. It is to
be decided according to the evidence that you
have heard, the testimony that is before you, and
the only testimony before you is the testimony of
these witnesses to whom I have referred. It is
444 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
from their testimony, standing uncontradicted,
that this man's fate must be determined.
Let me now read you a few important answers
from Dr. Leffman's testimony. This is very im-
portant, and it is testimony to which I ask your
careful attention. He testified as follows:
" Q. You are a graduate of what school ?
A Jefferson Medical College.
Q. Are you an analytical chemist?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You have taught chemistry, I believe?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You are a professor of that branch ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Are you connected with any institutions ? '"
(He then goes on and tells what institutions he is
connected with.)
" Q. Are you familiar with the effects and use
of chloroform ?
A. I have seen chloroform administered a great
many times in the course of my attendance in
college, and I have administered it a great many
times to small animals. I have never seen a death
from chloroform in my experience.
Q. What are the immediate effects of the iii-
lialation of chloroform ?
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 445
A. The first effect of the mhahitioii of chloro-
form is some excitement and stimulation, \vhirh
varies a great deal in different individuals, and
also varies with regard to the administrator. Ex-
pert operators can administer chloroform so as to
produce very little disturbance. It is not exactly
a spasmodic condition ; it is rather one of intox-
icating excitement, which is soon followed by a
condition of relaxation and insensibility. In
animals the effect is usually violent, in the nature
of a fright, but the effect soon becomes that of in-
sensibility."
So that the tendency of a person under the in-
fluence of chloroform would be to move restlessly,
there being an inclination to motion, and a man
could not compose himself and lie down, saying,
" I will put this towel over my face, and I'll have
this tube come down and feed the towel with
chloroform, and I'll just go to sleep." He couldn't
do it. It is physically impossible for him to do so.
There would be a spasm; there would be con-
tortion ; there would be motion of the body that
would displace that pre-arranged condition. And
why? Because he cannot control himself in ap-
proaching unconsciousness. I think a man at the
beginning might say, " I'll do this," yet the chloro-
41(i ARGUMKXT OF TlfF DIsTUICT ATTORNEV.
form takes away liis Ihought and his reason, so
that he is unable to do it, and becomes uncon-
scious in the very act of struggling. If any of
you gentlemen have ever taken any anesthetic
preparatory to having a tooth extracted, yon may
remember that while you breathed the gas, you
found it grew harder, and that suddenly, with a
gasp and a struggle, you passed into unconscious-
ness. Well, you could not arrange yourself after
that, because the next thing you know is when
the dentist taps you on the chin or on the head,
and says, " Sit up ; it's all right." You have been
unconscious all that time, absolutely ignorant of
what was done to you, with no power to place
yourself in any position. Now Dr. Leffman was
furtlier examined :
"■ Q. Is there any struggle before insensibility
takes place ?
A. There very often is a struggle by the pa-
tient being apparently not exactl}- aware of the
character of the struggle. It is rather an involun-
tary struggle, or at least, a semi-conscious con-
dition.
Q. An effort of nature, is it not, to resist the
effects ?
A. To resist the effects. Also it is probably
ARGU3IENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 447
connected with the dh"ect intoxicating effect of
the drug.
Q. The description given us in this case by
those who found the body describe it as being
found lying upon the back with one arm placed
thus (indicating) across the bod}-, the right arm,
and the left arm close to the side, the feet stretched
out, heels together, in a composed condition, lying
on the back. I want to ask you whether or not it
is possible for a man to administer chloroform to
himself and then compose himself into such a po-
sition as that?
A. I think not."
Now this is the only testimony you have on that
subject, and his answer is, " I think not." That
is his opinion as an expert — that it cannot be
done.
'' Q. Why ?
A. No one is aware of the time when con-
sciousness ceases. Judging from my own expe-
rience, I have been four times under the influence
of anesthetics, there is a condition of confusion
before true insensibility comes on, and it would
be, I think, impossible for anyone to arrange the
body in a perfectly composed condition like that
entirely by the person's own act. It would not, I
448 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
think, be a natural position into which the body
would come by a person administering chh)roform
to liimself."
A man would be apt, if he had had it put to
his lace, to have fallen forward on the floor, or
caused a struggle, and have thrown down and
displaced that tube. He could not have been
found as this man describes him, in that composed
condition, if the chloroform was self-administered.
Dr. Leffman said that it could be administered
in sleep without awaking a person. This man
Holmes did not have to ring the doorbell to enter
this house. He had a key. The testimony has
shown you that, and he could enter it when he
pleased. If the man happened to be in a drunken
sleep, if he had a pint of whiskey, and was in an
intoxicated sleep, then how easy the task to ad-
minister chloroform to him, and then compose
him, while the body was still fresh and warm, and
put him in this position — how easily that could
be done ! Holmes could enter with his key ; he
had access to the house — access to the man —
knowledge of the condition around the house —
ability to use the chloroform — everything in his
favor ; it was no trouble to him.
Dr. Leffman was further examined as follows ;
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTBTCT ATTORNEY. 449
" Q. Is chloroform easy to swallow ?
A. It is rather objectionable ; the taste. It is
an irritable substance, and its taste is of a disa-
greeable sweet character, so that it is even diffi-
cult for persons to swallow it in small amounts."
He illustrated by a few drops in water.
This question was then put to him :
" Q. If a person was lying on his back, flat on
the floor, with a tube leading from a bottle con-
taining chloroform to the mouth, could there be
any of that pass into the stomach in that posi-
tion ? "
Now this is the testimony of a competent ex-
pert on the subject, a man of keen, clear judg-
ment ; it is the uncontradicted testimony in the
case, and there has been no effort to conti'adict it
— not one word said against it by anybody. It
is the absolutely uncontradicted testimony, and
counsel accepted it on the other side as a true
statement. The answer was :
"A. If it ran into the mouth in considerable
quantity it would produce a choking effect which
would cause the prisoner to move about and dis-
turb the condition. I do not tliink it could flow
quietly without disturbing the individual, from
the tube down into the stomach.
26
450 ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
Q. State whether or not the direction would
be rather up hill than down hill, to flow into tlie
stomach through the oesophagus ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. If lying on the back> it would have to flow
uphill?
A. Rather up hill, a little higher level.
Q. How about the bronchii and the lung cav-
ity connecting with it in that position ?
A. They are always distended. The bronchii
are stiff walled and there would be some possibil-
ity of the chloroform, probably of some of it get-
ting into the bronchii. It is a volatile vapor, and
some of the vapor would pass in there also. At
the temperature of the body it is decidedly vola-
tile.
Q. The absence of chloroform in the bronchii
would indicate what, under those circumstances?"
You will remember that there was none found
in the bronchii. His answer was : " A. It
would indicate that there was no very great
quantity in the mouth." So that the physical
conditions in this dead man's case deny the piis-
oner's theory. His theory and his story is that it
flowed down in such quanlllios that it forced it-
self down into the stoinaeh, but none was found
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTEWT ATTORNEY. 451
in the bronchii ; none was found to have pene-
trated there, and I said to him, " Doctor, wliat
does the absence of it there indicate ? " He said,
" It indicates that there was never very much in
tlie mouth." There could not have been. There-
fore, there was not this quantity that Avould have
forced it into the stomach, and the very physical
condition of this corpse denies the story of the
other side, that was artfully pahned off upon the
officials, to explain the death of Benjamin F. Pite-
zel.
Dr. Leffman further testified :
" Q. Could the chloroform pass a dead oesoph-
agus without outside aid of a living person ?
A. I think not. The oesophagus is collapsed
in its active condition, and I do not think a dead
oesophagus could swallow any appreciable amount
of chloroform.
Q. Explain to the jury what the oesophagus is?
A. It is the tube leading from the mouth to
the stomach. It is the tube through which the
food passes. It is a muscular tube which the
food is passed down by a sort of contraction, the
tube contracting after the food and expanding be-
fore it, so that the food is quickly passed on into
the stomach. The bronchii, or trachea, which are
452 ABQUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
the bronchial divisions of trachea, are the tubes
leading to the lungs. They are stiff walled, al-
waj's open, and rather larger than the oesoiDhagus.
At the upper part, at least. They divide and
sub-divide, becoming very small, penetrating all
parts of the lungs.
Q. Does or does not the act of swallowing re-
quire an effort of the will ?
A. It requires an effort of certain muscles.
Not exactly of the will.
Q. A voluntary act ?
A. It requires 'the act of certain muscles, of
living tissue. It is really involuntary in the sense
that when the food once starts we cannot control
it. After it starts we cannot control it. The
first part of the act is voluntary, but back of tlie
back part of the tongue the food goes without our
control. It requires the action of living tissue.
It is a reflex effect ; that is, it requires an irrita-
tion of tlie surface of the mouth and swallowing
tube, which is returned by a nerve current back
to the muscles that perform the act.
Q. Would tliere be any effect upon the lining
of the stomach visible in a post mortem examina-
tion due to the taking of chloroform in the
stomach in life ?
AMUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 453
A. I would expect to see tlie stomach irri-
tated — the lining membrane irritated as by an
ordinar}^ irritant.
Q. Would the absence of that irritation indi-
cate that the chloroform had been inserted in life
or after death ?
A. The absence of the irritation would indi-
cate that the chloroform had not been in the
stomach long enough to produce any of its effects.
It would indicate at least an introduction of the
chloroform very near to death.
Q. After death would it produce an irrita-
tion ?
A. It would produce no irritation after death.
Q. So that if it were inserted after death, you
would not find the irritation ?
A. No, sir."
Now both doctors are positive that an examina-
tion upon the post mortem disclosed no irritation
of the walls of the stomach due to chloroform.
Q. So that if it were inserted after death,
you would not find the irritation ?
A. No, sir.
■ Q. If it were inserted in life, you would ex-
pect to find that as one of the natural conse-
quences?
454 ARGmiENT OF THE DISTlilCT ATTOKNEY,
A. Yes, sir."
Now I ask your atteutioii to this question:
" Q. Taking the history of this case as I have
given it to you, could you say whether or not, in
your opinion as an expert, the chloroform in this
case was self-administered or administered by a
second person ?
"The Prisoner: 1 object to that question,
for this reason, that I think it should be stated
distinctly as to wliat the District Attorney means
by ' as this case has been stated.' "
The District Attorney then stated :
" I will repeat it, I have stated to you. Doc-
tor, that this body was found lying upon its back
upon the floor, with one hand laid across the body
in this wise (illustrating), and the other lying
close to the side, both limbs stretched out, heels
together, and the whole body in a condition or
pose of repose, and there was congestion of the
lungs, and empty heart, and while there was an
alcoholic condition of the stomach, there was no
irritation of the lining, but there was chloroform
in the stomach, a pipe filled with tobacco lying at
the side, a burned match beside it. Those are
the conditions as I intended to describe them.'*
That is the answer to the statement of this
ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 455
man ; the very condition physically and other-
wise of this body indicate that it could not have
been self-administered. That man did not die by
his own hand. If he did not die by his own hand
then it was by the defendant's hand, for he was
the only person who was with him at the time.
"Q. It could not have been self -ad ministered
under those conditions ?
.\. No, sir."
Now you are to try this case according to the
evidence, and that is the uncontradicted evidence
in this case ; the evidence that this could not
have been self-administered, the finding of that
body, the place where it was, the surrounding
conditions all clearly indicate that this man was
not self-poisoned, but was poisoned by a second
person.
See how far in our progress we have come. We
have established that this is Benjamin F. Pitezel,
we have established that he has died of chloro-
form poisoning, we have established that that was
not self-administered, but administered by a sec-
ond person ; we have shown that he was there in
that house on that fateful Sunday alone with the
dead man , we have' shown that every story told
by him to explain his presence was false , we have
4r>(J ARGUMENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY.
shown lliut his theory and therefore his allegation
of suicide was false; we have shown the effort at
concealment when there was no other object unless
it be that the defendant knew he had committed a
murder and was telling these falsehoods one after
the other to conceal it. Upon no other hypoth-
esis can his conduct be explained than that lie
was concealing the crime of murder. That is
what made him flee from city to city, that is what
made him take this wife with him upon this won-
derful journey, that is what made him take even
the children along, that is what made him conceal
the letters and that is w^hat made him shut off
communication between the different members of
that household. This man was fleeing from the
shadow of murder ; that was the crime he was
seeking to avoid, that was what he was fleeing
from. It w'as the menace of pursuit and detec-
tion that made him take this journey which, if it
had not been interrupted at Boston, would only
have terminated when he reached Berlin with his
alleged wife. Miss Yoke.
I have now occupied joxxv time a great. deal
longer than I expected, and I trust you will at-
tribute it only to the desire I have to fully aid you
by every thought I can present on this testimony.
ARGmiENT OF THE DISTRICT ATTOENEY. 457
You are to listen to counsel upon the otlier
side. I do not know what they will say, I do not
know what their line of defence will be. You
must remember that the Commonwealth is
obliged to grope in the dark ; we have not the
aid of an opening speech from my friend to in-
di' "^e the line of defence, so I am left completely
\n the dark as to what course the argument on
the other side is going to take. But I want
to call your attention to the limitation put upon
it by the evidence. Under this evidence there
is only one thing the counsel can argue to you,
which is that Pitezel committed suicide and was
not murdered. There is nothing else in this case
but that narrow question, and it is in the line
of that thought I have called your attention to
the facts and circumstances, and the testimony of
the experts which exclude the theory of suicide.
It is in that connection I have called your atten-
tion to Pitezel's own declaration and what he said
and did, indicating his hopeful outlook on the
future, and shown that there is not a scintilla of
evidence here to indicate any intention upon his
part to commit suicide, and I ask you if it is pos-
sible upon the statements of this man concerning
the mechanical contrivance of a bottle, a tube
458 A Rd CM EST OF THK DL'^TRlCr ATTORNEY.
and a towel ; the condition in which the deceased
was [ihiced and the circumstances under whicli
the body was found, you are going to set aside the
weight of this mass* of testimony pointing to
a guilty crime and say that this subterfuge, this
tricky statement shall work an acquittal of the
prisoner, when the charge is so thoroughly and
completely brought home to him by the evidence
in this case ; such evidence as that of Dr. Leff-
man, who says it would be impossible for the
chloroform to be self-administered, the untenable
description of the contrivance ftir the alleged self-
adminstration in which, the Doctor says, there is
no provision made for an air vent so that the air
might enter and the liquid flow out of the bottle.
The story of the explanation of how suicide was
committed will not stand the test of criticism, and
how the defence of suicide is going to be sup[)orted
by any reasonable argument I am at a loss to un-
derstand. I ask you to confine yourselves to the
testimony concerning the facts in this case : not
the statements of counsel, not the things outside
of the case, but to the evidence as you have heard
it and as I have endeavored to review it and re-
call it to your memory so that you ma}^ be able to
be guided by it in reaching a proper result.
ABGUMEXT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY. 459
Now this btrange trial is drawing rapidly tu a
close. It has been dramatic in its incidents, but
those incidents have nothing to do with the case.
The fact that this man appears without counsel
and then with counsel has nothing to do with the
question of his guilt or innocence. The simple
question is, Has the Commonwealth of Pennsyl-
vania, as it is bound to do, made out its case
beyond a fair and reasonable doubt ? If you
believe it has, then your duty is to find a ver-
dict of murder of the first degree against this
man.
I told you in the opening that, while iu this
bill of indictment there were several degrees of
guilt which you might find in your verdict, and
that you might also find a verdict of not guilty,
yet the evidence would point indubitably to one
result ; this man is either innocent and ought to
be acquitted, or is guilty of murder in the first de-
gree. There is no middle ground in this case. It
is the highest crime known to the law under the
circumstances surrounding the deceased, fur he
was poisoned to death, and the poisoning itself
indicates a clear intent to kill. If this man were
poisoned then there was the purpose to kill, and
it was a wilful, premeditated and deliberate mur-
-16(1 ARai'MKXT OF THE DISTRICT ATTOKNEr.
der, and lliis prisoner is responsible in the highest
form of verdict you can render.
I know it is not a pleasant or agreeable duty to
be called upon as you are, taken from your ordi-
nary pursuits and selected to sit here and as part
of the administration of criminal justice, to sit in
judgment upon the life of a fellow man. You
doubtless find it repugnant and disagreeable, ai.d
I can readily understand how you might shrink
from finding such a verdict as the one I ask in-
volving the consequences it does; so as my con-
cluding thought I appeal to your manhood and
sense of right and ask you to do what the crier of
the court has asked you to do, " Stand together,
good men and true."
You have hearkened to the evidence. I ask
you to complete the work Avhich the law has cast
upon you by fearlessly, manfully and honestlj' de-
claring your judgment upon this evidence, no
matter what that judgment may involve to this
man ; no matter what its consequences may be to
the Commonwealth. It requires courage to dis-
charge one's duty in times of peace ; in the tem-
ple of justice, as part of the administration of the
criminal law, just as it does upon the field of bat-
tle in its flame and smoke. The man who faces
ARGUMENT OF THE DISrRTCT ATTORNEY. 4G1
the cannon's month, the man who faces the charg-
ing legiment, has no greater or higlier conrage
tlian tlie man who sits calmly in the place of a
juror, rising in his majesty, might and strength as
an individnal man to discharge fearlessly a great
and solemn duty. I ask you to stand as men, and
if you believe this man is guilty, aye, though it
consign him to punishment that involves death, he
true to your conscience, be true to your oaths,
discharge that duty fearlessly in the sight of God
and man, and remember you are not responsible
for his fate. That was sealed in the silence of
that Sunday in No. 1316 Callowhill Street. He
wrouglit the facts and fashioned the circumstances
that brought him here. You are not responsible
for his being here or for his trial upon this charge ;
you are only respojisible as good men and true for
the finding of a righteous, an honest, and a just
verdict.
I ask you, therefore, while guarding against
prejudice, while guarding against any false ap-
peal, not to be afraid to do your duty like men
and not to cower in the presence of that duty
though it involves things upon your part whicii
are repugnant, things that are repellant, things
that you would far rather shift away from you and
4(1.! ARGUMKXT OF THE DISTBICT ATTOllXEY.
uvoicl encountering. I ask you to Tace the duly
raid acquit j-ourselves like men. I \iwo\\ that
great stress will be laid upon " A i easonable
doubt." "If you have a doubt this man is enti-
tled to the benefit of it." So he is, but it must
not be a doubt suggested by the desire to avoid
tlie performance of an unpleasant duty. If the
evidence fails to make the case out he is entitled
to his acquittal, but you are asked to perform no
higher function here than in your own home or
office or place of business. If this evidence would
convince you as men outside of this Court of this
man's guilt it ought to convince you equally in
the jury box.
There are no tuo standards of judgment, there
are no two standards by which to reach the result.
Your minds must operate siin])ly and only as plain
lioiiest men. Isecause 3"0u are sworn as jurors;
you are given no higlier [lOwer of discrimination,
no greater judgment ; you are asked sini[i]y io ae-
([liit yourselves as in the everyday affairs of life.
If this testimony convinces you of his guilt you
must say so ; if it convinces you of his innocence
lionestly then yt)U should acquit.
I ask 3'ou to remember this testimony, I ask
you to remember that it is uncontradicted, that
ARGUMENT OF THE DTSTniC'T ATTOUNEY. MX:.
there is not one scintilla of evidence to attack tlie
statement of Dr. Leffnian, that there is not one
scintilla of evidence to attack the statement of
Dr. Scott or of Dr. Mattern ; those statements
stand before you unchallenged. Nay, I go further
and say they stand before you admitted. They
are admitted in this case. In the face of this evi-
dence and his statements ; in the face of his flight
far away, there can be but one conclusion in your
minds I am sure, and that is that the man in the
dock is guilty in the manner and form in which
lie stands indicted of this ciime.
I thank you for your patience and earnest atten-
tion. I iiave been talking to you for nearly two
liours and a half, very much longer than I ex-
pected, and although perhaps uninteresting and
rather prosaic and full of detail, you have given
me your earnest attention from beginning to end.
I ask you to give it now to my adversary and then
to the Court and to the end, and with your ver-
dict whatever it may be conscientiously reached I
will be satisfied.
APPENDIX II.
Commonwealth 1 Court of Oyer & Terminer
vs. I Philadelphia County.
Herman W. Mudgett, alias ( Sept. Sessions, 1895.
H. H. Holmes. J No. 466.
motion for new trial,
Arnold, J. The first three reasons assigned for a
new trial, to wit, that the verdict is against the evi-
dence and the law, render necessary a statement of the
facts, a? +,hey were developed by the evidence at the
trial.
The defendant aud Benjamin F. Pitezel,the deceased,
were engaged in a conspiracy to cheat and defraud the
Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadel-
phia. In pursuance of their scheme, Pitezel obtained
a policy of insurance on his life, dated November 9th,
1893, for $10,000, payable to Carrie A. Pitezel, his wife.
Pitezel lived in St. Louis, and the defendant at Wil-
mette, a town about fourteen miles from Chicago.
Pitezel left St. Louis to come to Philadelphia on July
29th, 1894, rented and occupied the house No. 1316 Cal-
lowhill Street, assumed the name of B. F. Perry, and
held himself out as a dealer in patents. The defendant
appears to have come to Philadel[)hia shortly there-
after, and took board for himself and putative wife on
August 5th, 1894, at No. 1905 N. 11th Street, a distance
of nearly two miles from the house in which Pitezel
lived. On Tuesday, September 4th, 1894, Pitezel was
found dead in his house ; his body was lying on the
27 (465)
466 MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL.
floor, composed in position, but decomposed in condi-
tion ; his right arm was laid across his breast; his left
arm was lying by his side ; his breast was burned, ex-
cept that part of it which was covered by his arm ; his
face was black from decomposition, and there was a
strench arising from his body, which indicated that he
had been dead for several days. Beside him was a
pipe, filled with tobacco, but not smoked ; also a burnt
match. There was also a broken bottle, containing a
mixture of benzine, chloroform and probably ammonia,
near to his side, so that the appearance of things indi-
cated that there had been an explosion. Pieces of the
bottle, however, were not scattered about the floor, nor
sticking in the side of Pitezel, as might have been ex-
pected in case of an explosion, but they were all on the
inside of the bottle.
Pitezel was last seen alive by several witnesses on
Saturday, September 1st, 1894, on the evening of which
day he purchased a pint of whiskey, and took it home
with him. Subsequent developments proved that Pite-
zel came to his death on Sunday, September 2d, 1894,
and that his body lay unseen by any witness, so far as
knuwn, until Tuesday, September 4th, 1894, when it was
discovered by a man named Eugene Smith, who had
called to see Pitezel on the day before, but not finding
Pitezel, and getting no response to his call for Pitezel,
went away and returned the following day, Tuesday,
and upon going to the second story, saw Pitezel's body
lying on the floor. Smith went immediately to the
police station, obtained two officers, and also a neigh-
boring doctor, with all of whom he returned to the
house, and found the body in the condition above de-
scribed. The coroner's physician was also sent for,
and upon an examination of the organs and vital parts
of the deceased, the conclusion of the coroner's physi-
cian, and Dr. Scott, who took part in the examination,
was that Pitezel had been killed by chloroform poison-
ing, and that the chloroform was not self-administered.
MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL. 467
His lungs were congested ; his heart was empty, which
indicated sudden death ; there was very little food in
his stomach; his kidneys were alcoholic and so was his
stomach. The doctors found half an ounce or more of
chloroform in the stomach, but as the stomach was not
irritated, their conclusion was that the chloroform was
put in after death. On the night of September 2d,
1894, the defendant suddenly and hurriedly left Phila-
delphia, giving a false destination to his landlady. He
had been away from his boarding house from 10:30 A.
M. to 4 P. M. that day, and when he returned he was
excited, nervous and worried, and his underclothing
was wet with perspiration. Pitezel was buried, under
the name of Porry, as a pauper in the Potter's Field.
Several days thereafter, the officers of the life insur-
ance company received word from the defendant that
the man who was buried under the name of B. F.
Perry, was the person who was insured in their com-
pany under the name of Benjamin F. Pitezel, and he
offered to furnish proof of identification of the body.
The agent of the company went to see the defendant at
his house at Wilmette, but did not find him. He
found, however, a lady who said she was the defend-
ant's wife. Shortly thereafter, a letter was received
from the defendant, stating that he had heard, through
his wife, that he was wanted, and in due course the
defendant came to Philadelphia after having arranged
that Alice Pitezel, the daughter of the dead man,
should also come here for the purpose of identify-
ing the body. Accordingly the body was exhumed on
September 22d, 1894, and was fully identified by the
defendant and by Alice Pitezel as the body of B. F.
Pitezel. On that identification, the insurance com-
pany paid the amount of the policy, on September
24th, 1894, to one Jeptha D. Howe, attorney in fact for
Carrie A. PitezeL After the money was obtained, it
was taken to St. Louis, where Howe retained $2,500 for
a fee ; $5,000 was obtained from Mrs. Pitezel by the de-
468 3I0TI0N FOR NEW TRIAL.
fendaat, upon his statement that her husband owed
that amount on a note; and the balance was used in
paying sundry expenses, Mrs. Pitezel retaining only
$500 of the money. The note which the defendant
stated he paid with the $5,000 was not a valid note;
nothing had ever been advanced on it; nothing was
due upon it ; and nothing was actually paid upon it, the
defendant, in fact, keeping the money. After the
money was received, the defendant deceived Mrs. Pite-
zel by telling her that her husband was not dead ; that
he would return to her as soon as possible, coming to
her by way of Puget Sound. He also obtained from
her the custody of her two children, Howard and
Nellie, taking them to Indianapolis, as he said, to meet
their sister Alice, where the family were to be reunited.
He also induced Mrs. Pitezel to leave her home, taking
her remaining daughter and a babe with her, and going
to Detroit, upon the promise of the defendant that he
would produce her husband in that city. There he
registered her under a false name, kept her two or
three weeks without producing her husband, giving
her, among his excuses for not doing so, his assertion
that Pitezel was being watched by detectives. From
Detroit, he led her to Toronto ; thence to Prescott,
Canada; thence to Ogdensburg, New York; and thence
to Burlington, Vermont, all the while promising to
produce her husband to her, and her children also. In
some of these places, he rented furnished houses for
her to live in, and set her to housekeeping. In Bur-
lington, Vermont, he put dynamite in the cellar among
the potatoes, telling her to take the dynamite from the
cellar and carry it to the top of the house. She did
take it from the cellar, but did not take it to the top of
the house, for the reason, as she said, that it might ex-
plode, and do damage to the things stored there. From
Burlington, Vermont, Mrs. Pitezel, and the two chil-
dren she had with her, went with a messenger sent l-.y
the defendant, to Boston, where the defendant and
MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL. 469
Mrs. Pitezel were arrested about November 19th, 1894,
aud held to await requibitiou. The defeudant was
wanted by the authorities iu Texas upon a charge of
horse stealing, aud also by the authorities in Peuusyl-
vania to answer for cheating aud defrauding the life
insurance company, or any offense which miglit be
alleged against him During all the journey in search
of her husband aud children, the defendant told Mrs.
Pitezel that ho was in correspondence with her chil-
dren, and had seen her husband, and would produce
him and them at the various places to which he took
her; but all this was a deception and a falsehood, for
she never saw her husband, and all she saw of her chil-
dren were the dead bodies of two of them at the morgue
in Indianapolis. After the defendant was brought to
Philadelphia, he was indicted upon the charge of con-
spiracy to cheat and defraud the life insurance com-
pany, by palming off a spurious body as that of Pitezel,
and on that indictment, pleaded guilty, and sentence
was suspended awaiting further investigation by the
authorities. Mrs. Pitezel was confined iu prison seven
months aud then discharged. In consequence of
further investigation, an indictment was found by the
Grand Jury on September 12th, 1895, charging the de-
feudant with the murder of B. F. Pitezel on September
2d, 1894. At the tiial, it was proved by several wit-
nesses, and admitted by the defendant's counsel, that
B. F. Pitezel was dead. It was also proved by the
statement of the defendant to the superintendent of
police, and one of the detectives of Philadelphia, as
well as admitted by defendant's counsel, that the de-
fendant was in Pitezpl's house on Sundaj^ September
2d, 1894, the day on which, according to the evidence,
Pitezel was killed. The theory of the defendant's
counsel, for no evidence was offered by him to sub-
stantiate the theory, was that it was a case of self-
murder; and that the defendant, fearing that the
policy of insurance would be vitiated by the suicide of
470 MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL.
Pitezel arranged the body in the manner in which it
was found, set fire to and burned it, and placed tlie
broken bottles alongside of it, for the i)urpose of mak-
ing it appear that Pitezel had died an accidental death,
caused by the explosion.
Three questions were submitted to the jury to de-
termine. First, was Benjamin F. Pitezel dead. Sec-
ond, did he die a violent death ; and third, if he died a
violent death, did he commit suicide or did the defend-
ant kill him. An answer to either one of these ques-
tions in favor of the defendant would have entitled
him to an acquittal. The jury resolved them all
against the defendant, and found him guilty of murder
of the first degree. Upon the hearing of the motion
for a new trial, I had the valuable aid of my colleagues,
Judges Thayer and Willson. The evidence was le-
hearsed and it is our unanimous opinion that the ver-
dict of guilty of murder of the first degree is fully jus-
tified by the evidence, and upon the facts of the case,
there is no ground shown for a new trial.
The fourth reason assigned is new matter discovered
since the trial. At the argument it was developed that
this so-called after-discovered evidence was manufac-
tured for the purpose and is utterly unworthy of belief,
and we will not notice it farther.
The fifth and sixth reasons assigned are that the
District Attorney, in his opening speech, made state-
ments which were not proven, and which related to
other crimes which could not be part of the evidence;
and that the Court erred in not allowing an affidavit to
be filed, and an exception to the statements made in
the District Attorney's opening speech. These rea-
sons, no doubt, are based upon a recent ruling of the
Supreme Court, in Holden vs. The Penna. E. E. Co.,
1G9 Pa., 1, in which that Court granted a new trial be-
cause of the remarks of counsel in summing up the
evidence ; abuse of witnesses, and other outrageous
misconduct, which the Supreme Court properly re-
BIOTION FOR NEW TRIAL. 471
buked, by granting a new trial. A similar decision
was niade in Waldron vs. Waldron, 156 U. S. 360 and
cases cited, ''t is manifest that there is a difference
between opening speeches and summing up. In sum-
ming up a case, counsel can be and should be kept
strictly within the evidence given at the trial, and
abuse of witnesses without cause, and without decency,
should be promptly checked, and if repeated, should
militate against a verdict obtained by such means. In
the opening, however, counsel often state matters
which they expect to prove, but fail to prove^ either
from want of witnesses, or by reason of the evidence
being excluded by the Judge, who cannot be expected
to know in advance whether the case outlined by coun-
sel will be permitted to be proven. As to the exception,
it must be noticed that an exception is always pre-
ceded by an objection, and the exception is then taken
to the act of the Judge in sustaining or overruling the
objection. In this case, no objection whatever was
made, and consequently an exception has nothing
upon which it can be based. An exception, like an ob-
jection, must be taken at the time the objectionable
act is done, either in offering evidence; or in remarks
to the jury. The District Attorney's opening speech
was made on Monday, October 28th, and no exception
thereto was asked for until November 1st, or four days
thereafter.
The remarks of Judge Dean in Commonwealth vs.
Welier, 167 Penna., 164, are so apropos in this connec-
tion, that we quote them verbatim : " The attitude of
defendant's counsel, as exhibited by the record, is in
substance this: Counsel for the Commonwealth erred
in the matter of his addressing the jury. I erred by
remaining silent when I should have promptly brought
his error to the notice of the Court by objection ; the
Court committed no error, but its judgment should be
reversed because I did not perform my duty." This
illustrates the dilemma in which counsel are placed by
472 MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL.
their own conduct. According to all law and reason,
the exception was- asked fur too late, even if it had
been preceded hy an objection made in time.
If it be said that the defendant was at this time
without counsel, the answer is that it was his volun-
tary and deliberate choice. He was indicted Septem-
ber 12th, 1895. On September 23d, he was arraigned.
The record shows that his two counsel were present
with him at the arraignment. October 28th, or five
weeks thereafter, was fixed for his trial. Counsel
stated at the arraignment that they would not be
ready, and when the case was called for trial moved
for a continuance, which being refused, they first
threatened to withdraw from the case, and on being
told that they could not wiilidiaw without leave of the
Court, tliey entered upon the trial by questioning the
talesmen, as they were called to serve as jurors.
After being thus engaged for some time they held a
consultation with their client, and the defendant then
announced that he had dismissed his counsel and
would thereafter conduct the case himself. Other
counsel were assigned him, but he rejected their serv-
ices.
The Constitution of Pennsylvania as well as of the
United States, secures to persons accused the right to
have counsel to assist them at their trial, but it does
not attempt to force counsel upon them. The right of
ever}' man to plead his own cause is a natural inherent
right. The right to have counsel is given by the Con-
stitution, and no man can be deprived of the right to
defend himself or be compelled to have the services of
counsel.
The Constitution also secures to the defendant the
right to a speedy public trial. This was given in re-
turn for the right which the Commonwealth possesses
to a like speedy public trial, and it is not within the
power of persons accused to say when they will be
willing to be tried, or to defeat a trial by dilatory mo-
3I0TI0N FOR NEW TRIAL. 473
tions and practices such as were resorted to in tliis
case. Nor was the defendant without counsel, for dur-
ing the recesses of Court and in the morning before
the openiog of Court he was in consultation with the
same counsel whom he had dischai'ged, and on the
evening of the second da3^ the counsel determined to
return and take part in the trial, but [permitted the de-
fendant to make another dilatory motion, which was
overruled, and the counsel immediately returned to
the conduct of the case.
The opening speech ot" the District Attorney con-
tained no statement not induced and justified by the
remarks of the counsel for the defendant at the very
beginning of the trial, when they asked for a continu-
ance, because, as they said, there were to be three
cases of murder tried, two of which were alleged t<j
have been committed out of the jurisdiction of this
Court.
In Commonwealth vs. Hanlon, 8 Philadelphia Ee-
ports, 423, it was decided by Judge Ludlow, that refer-
ence in opening by the prosecuting attorney to the fact
that the prisoner had been guilty of other crimes is not
a reason for a new trial. The Court very properly con-
sidered an opening speech like an offer of evidence
which is rejected. An offer of evidence, which is re-
jected, does not furnish a reason for the release of a
prisoner charged with murder or to annul the verdict
and require a new trial. Com. vs. Crossmire, 156 Pa.,
310.
In the summing up of the District Attorney, no
allusion was made to these extra-territorial murders,
evidence of which had been excluded, for the reason
that no such connection between them was shown, as
was required in Shaffner vs. The Commonwealth, 72
Pa. 60, another case of murder by poisoning in order
to obtain insurance money; although there are c;ises
in which evidence of two murders at the same time
may be given on the trial of one, as in Brown vs. The
474 MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL.
Commonwealth, 76 Pa. 319; or cases in which an in-
heiitauce is secured by the killing of two persons at
different times, as in Goerson vs. The Commonwealth,
99 Pa. 388, and 106 Pa. 477.
In charging the jury I was careful to instruct them
that it was their duty to lay aside all impressions, and
not be influenced by anything which they heard of
other cases than the one on trial and decide the case
only on the evidence given at the trial. Here I am
tempted to say that the offer by the District Attorney
of evidence of the murder of other members of Pite-
zel's family might well have been admitted to show the
defendant's purpose to kill them all in order to rid
himself of their claims for the money he had illegally
obtained horn Mrs. Pitezel, and therefore the opening
speech of the District Attorney was not open to ob-
jection. The violent death of at least four members of
the family after they were within the defendant's toils,
woidd justify the belief that they were murdered by
the defendant, and that the murders were all part of
one common design, and included the entire Pitezel
household. The dynamite placed in the Burlington
house by the defendant with his directions to Mrs.
Pitezel to remove it, looks as if he intended to take her
off by an explosion.
The seventh reason is that the District Attorney, in
his closing speech, mentioned the death of the children,
and the finding of their dead bodies in the morgue.
In all cases of crime, especially cases of alleged mur-
der, we naturally want to know what was the motive
for the killing, although absence of proof of motive is
not fatal to the prosecution. Commonwealth vs. Buc-
cieni, 153 Pa. 525. The motive alleged for the killing
in this case was a desire to obtain the insurance upon
the life of Pitezel. The insurance money was payable to
his wife. When she received the money, the defendant
obtained from her at least $5,000 of it, in payment of
an alleged debt which Pitezel did not owe. It became
MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL. 475
necessary i'or him to induce Mrs. Pitezel to believe
that tiie money was obtained by fraud, and tlierefore
did not belong to her; that her husband was still alive,
and the defendant promised to produce Pitezel to his
wife in the several cities to which he took her. He
also obtained possession of three of her children, and
lured her through the several cities in the vain search
for her children, as well as her husband. As his
motive was thus to obtain her money by deceiving her,
it was necessary to receive her evidence of the decep-
tion practiced upon her in the several cities to which
he took her, and having entered upon the story of her
travels with him it was impossible, as well as improper,
to receive only part of that story, and not hear all of
it to its conclusion, which was that she did not find her
husband, and that she never saw her childien until she
saw their dead bodies in the morgue. No evidence was
received as to the manner of the death of the children,
or who caused their death, if they had been killed, but
a simple statement completing the story of his decep-
tion and falsehood practiced upon her, without in any
way whatever incriminating him in their murder, if
they were killed.
Eighth, ninth, and tenth reasons. Much of what
has been said under the seventh reason applies to
these reasons. As Mrs. Pitezel's story was clearly
competent evidence in the case, it could not be broken
up into pieces and only part of it given. The effort of
the defendant to drag into the case troubles which
Pitezel had in Terre Haute, Indiana, had nothing
whatever to do with the case, and we think the evi-
dence was properly rejected.
Eleventh reason, (a) Puling that defendant's wife
was a competent witness. A lady named Georgiana
Yoke, who was married to the defendant under the
name of Howard, on January 17th 1894, was called as a
witness to testify against the defendant. It was
alleged that, at that time, he had a wife living at
476 MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL.
"Wilinette, Illinois, to whom tlie agent of the insurance
Company went when he was looking for the defendant.
The agent of the company obtained from the lady who
answered to the name of Mrs. Holmes a photograph of
herself, with a babe in her arms, which ai)pears to be
from three to six months old. Shortly thereafter, the
agent of the company received a letter from the de-
fendant, stating that he wrote it in consequence of the
message left with his wife. In another letter from the
defendant he alluded to his marriage to this lady in
Illinois. Upon these statements made by the defend-
ant in writing, it was considered that tlie marriage
with Miss Yoke was null and void ; that she was not his
wife; and consequently she was permitted to testify
against him. When the testimony was offered, I was
inclined to believe that the jury were to pass upon the
question of his previous marriage, in order to deter-
mine the competency of the witness, but subsequent
reflection, led me to the opinion that, as the Judge is
the trier of the competency of the witnesses (Lyon vs.
Daniels, 12 Pa. 197) the matter should not be referred
to the jury, and consequently it was not in my charge;
but I quoted her testimony to the jury and treated it
as competent, upon my judgment that the marriage
between the defendant and Miss Yoke was absolutely
null and void. Second marriages, where there is a
former husband or wife living, are not only voidable,
but they are absolutely void ah initio. Thomas vs.
Thomas, 124 Pa. 646. Divorces are not granted in such
cases, but decrees of nullity of marriage may be ob-
tained, according to the forms of procedure followed
in divorce cases. But a decree of nullity is not es-
sential, the only object of obtaining a decree being to
make certain, positive, and record evidence of the
nullity of the marriage.
In 1st Greenleaf on evidence, Section 339, it is said
that, " On a trial for polygamy, the first marriage be-
ing proved and not controverted, the woman with whom
MOTION FOB NEW TRIAL. 477
the second marriage is had is a competent witness, for
the second marriage is void." . . . "It seems,
however, that a reputed or supposed wife may be ex-
amined on her voir dire, as to facts showing the in-
validity of the marriage." * * * "Where the parties
had lived together as man and wife, believing them-
selves lawfully married, but had separated on discover-
ing that a prior husband supposed to be dead, was still
living, the woman was held a competent witness
against the second husband, even as to facts communi-
cated to her by him during her cohabitation."
In this state, it was decided by Judge Pearson, of the
Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County, that a
party to a second marriage is a competent witness to
prove its illegality. Shaak's Estate, 4 Brewster, 305.
In the present case. Miss Yoke testified that, after
her marriage, the defendant talked with her about his
first wife, who lived in Gilmanton, New Hampshire,
and told her that he had received word that the woman
in Gilmanton was dead. At the argument, the District
Attorney produced a certified copy of the record of a
proceeding in divorce in Cook County, Illinois, by Her-
man W. Mudgett against Clara A. Mudgett, and in his
petition sworn to December 11th, 1886, the present de-
fendant swore that he was married to Clara A. Mudgett
on July 4th, 1878, at Alton, New Hampshire. The case
was dismissed by the court on June 4th, 1891, for want
of prosecution. As the competency of this witness was
a question for the court, the production of this record
satisfies me that he was not only married to the lady
in Wilmette, Illinois, but that he had a former wife liv-
ing in New Hampshire at the time he married Miss
Yoke, and consequently the marriage with her was null
and void.
Proof of the ceremony of marriage in such cases is
not necessary. No better evidence is required than a
man's declaration against himself in a question involv-
ing the competency of a putative wife to testify against
478 3I0TI0N FOB NEW TRIAL.
him. This is called direct proof, and is as effective as
proof of a ceremony. Heffner vs. Heffuer, 23 Penna.
104; Greeuawalt vs. McEnelley, 85 Penna. 352; even in
criminal cases arit^iug out of marriage ; Commonwealth
vs. Wyman, 3 P>rewster, 338; 2 Greenleaf on Evidence,
section 461, and note.
In Forney vs. Hallaeher, 8 Sergeant & Eawle, page
159, Judge Gibson decided : —
That, "to support an action for criminal conversation
there must be an actual marriage, but it is quite an-
other thing to say that such marriage shall be proved
only by the oath of an eyewitness to the marriage
ceremony. We at once feel the good sense of the rule
that excludes the mere reputation of marriage which
always arises fi'om the declarations or ads of the plain-
tiff himself. But how a defendant's unqualified and
positive acknowledgment of the marriage in fact can
be excluded on any principle or rule of evidence I am
at a loss to discover."
Inasmuch as the defendant had in writing admitted
that the lady in Wilmette was his wife, and also written
about his marriage to her, I have no doubt whatever
that his declaration against himself justified me in con-
sidering him a married man at the time he entered into
the contract with Miss Yoke, and therefore that she
was not his lawful wife. Consequently she was a com-
petent witness against him, and as such she was prop-
erly admitted.
Eleven, (b) Allowing evidence of the whereabouts
of the children and finding their dead bodies in To-
ronto. This has been sufficiently answered in the con-
sideration of the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth rea-
sons.
Eleven, (c) Permitting jurors to enter the box who
upon their voir dire stated that they had formed or ex-
pressed an opinion regarding the guilt or innocence of
the defendant. The question raised by this reason has
MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL. 479
been so often considered by the Supreme Court of this
State, and decided in favor of the competency of such
jurors, that it would be a work of supererogation to
cite all the authorities in support thereof.
I refer to Commonwealth vs. Crossmire, 156 Penna.
304, as probably the latest decision on the subject. No
more can be required of persons called as jurors than
their oath that they can decide the case according to
the evidence, laying aside any impression they may
have or opinions they have formed. That evidence
may be required to change their opinion does not mili-
tate against them as jurors, for it is manifest that with
jurors as well as judges evidence is required to change
impressions or opinions. There was no talesman re-
ceived as a juror who did not come clearly within the
rule laid down, and was not entirely competent to serve
as a juror according to all the law on that subject. The
jury was an uncommonly intelligent jury, selected by
the prisoner himself, who seemed disposed to reject all
who were untidy and unintelligent in appearance. The
defendant certainly had twelve intelligent and thought-
ful men to decide his case. They were selected by him-
self, with discretion and judgment. They were un-
biased by fixed immovable opinions, listened atten-
tively to the evidence, and rendered a verdict accord-
ing to their oaths on the evidence only.
The twelfth reason is that the court erred in charg-
ing the jury by giving undue prominence to the evi-
dence given by the Commonwealth, and not sufficient
prominence to the evidence favorable to the prisoner.
The statement upon which this reason is based is not
true. There was no evidence given by the defense,
and, therefore, nothing of that character for the judge
to call to the attention of the jury.
In the argument it was alleged that the cross-ex-
amination furnished the prisoner's defense. As before
said, there was a theory advanced that Pitezel com-
mitted suicide ; that he arranged a bottle containing
480 3I0TI0N FOR NEW TRIAL.
chloroform and attached it to a rubber tube with a
quill outlet; that he put the bottle on a chair beside
him, and that the chloroform ran down through the
tube into or upon a cloth on his mouth, and thus pro-
duced his death, but there was no evidence that such a
bottle or tube was found in the house.
Detective Geyer stated that the defendand told him
that the body found at No. 1316 Callowhill Street was
a substituted body which he had procured from a
medical friend in New York, and brought to Phila-
delphia in a trunk; that he met Pitezel in Philadelphia
and gave him the check for the trunk, and then left for
the West, and the next place he saw Pitezel was in
Detroit, Michigan. He stated that he told Pitezel how
to prepare the substituted body, by laying it on the
floor, placing an arm across its breast, pouriug a liquid
iuto the stomach and then setting fire to it.
Geyer testified in a subsequent interview, that the
defendant told him that the story about there being a
substituted body in No. 1316 Callowhill Street was not
true, and that the body found there was really the body
of Benjamin F. Pitezel. He also told the detective that
when he went to the house on Sunday, September 2,
1894, he found Pitezel dead on the third story, lying on
the floor, with his arm across his breast, with a bottle
of chloroform on a chair with a gum hose and quill at-
tached to it, so arranged that the chloroform would fall
on a piece of cloth across Pitezel's mouth; that he
found a note which told him to look in a bottle in a
closet, that he broke the bottle and found a note in
cipher from Pitezel, which told him that Pitezel was
tired of life and had committed suicide ; that he found
the body in the third story and dragged it to the second
story back room and placed it in the position in which
it was found, taking a bottle of liquid and placing it
alongside the head, breaking it, lighting a pipe, throw-
ing the pipe on the floor, lighting matches and throw-
ing them down, to make it appear as though an ex-
MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL. 481
plosion had taken place there. He told Captain Linden,
superintendent of police, the same stories, retracting
the first before telling him the second. The testimony
of Detective Geyer and of Captain Linden on this sub-
ject was read in the charge to the jury.
Tliat the first story, to wit, that there had been a
substituted body placed in the house, was false, is
proved by the defendant's own admissions. In an affi-
davit made before the Coroner on September 23, 1894,
the defendant swore that he learned of Pitezel's death
through the newspapers, and saw and identified the
body at the City Burial Ground. He also swore that
the last time he saw Pitezel alive was in November,
1893, in Chicago, which was another deliberate false-
hood. The truthfulness of tiie second assertion, to
wit, that Pitezel had committed suicide, was submitted
to the jury with as much emphasis as any other part of
the case. A repetition in detail of these inconsistent
stories would only tend to bring out in a stronger light
the untruthfulness of the defendant, and his utter un-
reliability. To dwell on these inconsistent stories
would only bear so much the harder upon the defend-
ant. The condition of the body when found, to wit, a
discharge of the bowels and the bladder, which the
physicians testified generally accompany death, and
which takes place at or immediately before dissolution,
showed that Pitezel was not killed on the third floor,
but on the second floor, where he was found.
There was evidence in the case which proved that
the defendant was furnishing money to support Pite-
zel, that Pitezel was addicted to the use of liquor to
excess, and that he had purchased a pint of whiskey
the night before the day on which he was killed. It is
not a violent presumption to infer that the defendant
found Pitezel under the influence of liquor and then
resolved upon killing him in order to get rid of the
burden of supporting him and to obtain the money
from ihe insurance company. Confiimation of this
28
482 MOTION FOB NEW TRIAL.
may be found in a question put by the defendant to
Dr. Mattern in Avhich the defendant aslced the doctor
whether he was prepared to give a professional opinion
as to the effect that one-half hour before Pitezel died
or at the time of his death, he was not in an insensible
condition from the excessive use of alcohol. This sug-
gestive question, like several other questions put by
the defendant to witnesses, indicates his knowledge of
Pitezel's condition, and justified the inference of the
jury that the defendant administered the chloroform
to Pitezel.
Under our code of criminal procedure it is not neces-
sary to set forth in the indictment or prove in detail
the exact manner in which a murder has been com-
mitted. If it were it would be impossible in many
cases to furnish such proof, and therefore many guilty
persons would escape.
In Twitchell's case, 1 Brewster's Eep., page 551, the
defendant was convicted on the theory tliat he killed
his mother-iu-law by striking her on the temple with
the angle of a poker. After Twitchell's death it be-
came generally known that he had killed his victim
with a sluDg-shot.
In Bell's case, 164 Penna. 517, the defendant was
convicted of killing his victim by choking her. This
was inferred from well defined thumb and finger
marks on the neck of the deceased.
In The Commonwealth vs. Johnson, 162 Pa. 63, the
defendant was convicted of killing his own child by
drowning it. There were no marks of violence on the
body, which was not found until six days after the
last day the child was seen alive.
In Crossmire's case, 156 Penna. 305, the defendant
was convicted of strangling the deceased, which was
the opinion of a medical expert, and there was no di-
rect proof as to the manner of killing.
In Gray vs. The Commonwealth, ini Pa. 380, the de-
ceased was last seen alive on February 20th, 1877. On
MOTION FOB NEW TRIAL. 483
April 4th, 1878, or nearly fifteen months thereafter, a
human skull and jawbone were found in the river near
by. The skull was identified as the skull of the de-
ceased. There were wounds on it which it was testi-
fied were sufficient to produce death. The defendajit
while in prison for another ofTence, admitted to a fel-
low prisoner that he had murdered the deceased with a
hatchet. The defendant was convicted and executed,
yet there were no eyewitnesses to the murder.
The present case is not singular by any means.
There is much similarity between it and Udderzook vs.
The Commonwealth, 76 Penna. 340, in which Chief
Justice Agnew commenced his opinion with this
phrase : " This is indeed a strange case, a combina-
tion of two to cheat insurance companies, and a mur-
der of one by the other to reap the fruit of the fraud."
In that case the murdered man was supposed to
have been burned in his shop on February 2d, 1872.
On July 1st, 1873, which was seventeen months after-
wards, the prisoner and the man who was supposed to
have been burned were seen together. On July 9th,
1873, a man travelling on the turnpike observed buz-
zards in the woods, and smelled a very unpleasant
odor. Obtaining aid, he uncovered the earth and
leaves around the place, and found the body of a man,
with the legs and arms cut off, and hidden sixty-five
feet away. This body was subsequently identified as
the man who was supposed to have been burned. The
defendant was indicted, convicted and executed upon
circumstantial evidence. There was no proof as to the
manner of killing. The deceased, like Pitezel, had an
alias name, was in the habit of drinking to excess, and
his clothing was found burned in the woods like Pite-
zel 's was in the house.
In the present case, as in the cases above referred to
as examples of kindred cases, there was no eyewitness
to the crime. The defendant was convicted on what is
called circumstantial evidence; that is to say, a sue-
484 MOTION FOB NEW TRIAL.
cession of circumstances tending irresistibly to the
conclusion that the defendant killed and murdered the
deceased, as charged in the bill of indict uient. That
condition of his victim, that is, whether he was aslerp
or under the influence of liquor, is a matter not only
difficult of proof, but entirely unnecessary. The maiu
question was whether Pitezel had been killed, and, if
killed, whether by himself or the defendant. The jury
found that the defendant killed Pitezel, on evidence
which was as convincing as human evidence can be
made.
The thirteenth reason is that the Court erred in
charging the jury as follows: "You will notice by the
testimony which w-as read to you that the doctors who
examined him say his death was caused by chloroform
poisoning, and that it could not have been self-admin-
istered. Now if it was not self-administered who w;is
it administered the poison to him ? Who poisoned
him and who took his life ? "
Exactly what error appears in this reason I confess
myself unable to see. It was simply a submission to
the jury of the question they were sworn to try, which
was whether the defendant killed Pitezel, without in any
manner whatever indicating any opinion on the subject.
The fourteenth reason is that the court erred in
charging the jury as follows: "If you are not fairly
satisfied with the evidence of his guilt he is entitled
to the benefit of the doubt."
It has been so often said that it is not necessary to
cite authorities to prove it, that a charge is to be con-
sidered as a whole and not by selecting sentences and
criticising them by themselves. If it is not proper to
select sentences apart from the entire context, how
much more important is it that parts of sentences
should not be separated and alleged as error.
The sentence from which the above is taken is to be
found in that part of my charge in which I was treat-
ing of the question of doubt, wJiich was fully and era-
MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL. 485
phatically laid before the jurj\ The entire sentence
as found iu the charge is as follows :
"If, after considering the testimony, you are unable
to come to the conclusion that he is guilty, there is
a doubt about it and you hesitate, or, iu other words,
if you are not fairly satisfied by the evidence, of his
guilt, he is entitled to the benefit of the doubt and
should be acquitted for that reason."
The counsel for defendant omitted the first, as well
as the last and most important part of this sentence,
to wit: "That if the jury are not fairly satisfied by
the evidence of the guilt, he is entitled to the benefit of
the doubt and should be acquitted." The word
" fairly," when used in connection with the measure of
proof required as a defense has been held by the Su-
preme Court to be the proper word to use in such cases.
Commonwealth vs. Bezek, 168 Pa. 603, is the last case on
this subject. It is true that the word was used in con-
nection with the proof offered by the defendant as to
his insanity, and the Supreme Court said that the de-
fendant was bound to satisfy the jury by fairly pre-
ponderating evidence, while to hold him to proof by
clearly preponderating evidence was to hold him to too
strict a burden ; in other words, that the rule is that
the defendant's proof should, like the Commonwealth's
proof, be of a character that will fairly satisfy the jury
of the matters attempted to be proved.
The word "fairly" was not the only word used in
this connection. In the next sentence, the jtiry were
told that if upon a consideration of the entire evidence,
they were firmly convinced of the defendant's guilt,
then it is a case of murder as charged ; and in answer
to defendant's fifth point, the jury were told that un-
less they were thoroughly satisfied with the evidence
that the defendant is guilty, he cannot be convicted.
In Turney vs. The Commonwealth, 86 Pa. 54, it was
held that, "A conviction can be had only after the
jury have been convinced beyond a reasonable doubt
486 3I0TI0N FOR NEW TRIAL.
of the defendant's guilt." There no qualifying adverb
WHS used. The jury must be convinced or satisfied
by the evidence.
Having in view the decisions of the Supreme Court
in which this subject has been considered of late years,
I used the word " fairly " because it is the jjroper
adverb to be used in that connection.
The fifteenth reason is that the court erred in not
affirming points No. 3 and No. 6 submitted by the de-
fendant.
These points were based upon the theory that Pitezel
committed suicide, and asked the Judge to decide as a
matter of law that the evidence does not establish beyond
a reasonable doubt the commission of the crime alleged.
These points were refused, and the question was sub-
mitted to the jury upon the evidence to find whether
Pitezel had been murdered by the defendant or com-
mitted suicide.
As to the question of doubt, that is a condition of the
minds of the jurors after they have heard the testimony.
It is not for the Judge to say that there cannot be a
conviction for murder, because it was possible that
Pitezel killed himself. In every case of murder such
possibilities may exist. A man who is shot may have
died from heart disease caused by the fright of being
chased by another with a pistol in his hand. A man
who is struck with a club may not receive his death in
consequence of that blow, but may strike his head
upon a stone and thereby come to his death. But in
all cases, and especially in a case like the present,
where the evidence tended unmistakably to prove the
willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing by the de-
fendant, the mere theory of his counsel that the de-
ceased committed suicide, without any evidence what-
ever to sustain the theory, does not create a legal
doubt, such as to require the Judge to decide the
question as one of law. The case is for the jury, and
to the jury it was submitted.
MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL. 487
If a mere theory without evidence is to prevail over
facts alleged by the commonwealth and proved by evi-
dence, tending irrisistibl}' to but one conclusion, then
it will be impossible to convict anyone of crime except
by the proof of eyewitnesses ; and not even then if cun-
ning devices such as were resorted to in this case shall
be set up as probable truths and accepted as positive
facts, to be declared and enforced by the Judge, to the
exclusion of every other possibility.
Upon the whole case, we are convinced that the com-
monwealth proved such a chain of circumstances as
lead irrislstibly to the conclusion that the defendant
did kill and murder Benjamin F. Pitezel on September
2d, 1894, as charged in the bill of indictment; that Pite-
zel was killed by chloroform poisoning administered by
the defendant ; and whether Pitezel was asleep or under
the influence of liquor at the time the chloroform was
administered is not important. The theory advanced
by the defendant, and argued by his counsel to the
jury, that Pitezel committed suicide, and that the
defendant arranged his body in such a manner as
to make the death appear to have been the con-
sequence of an explosion, has no substantial evi-
dence upon which it can be based. An act of that
kind would require coolness and deliberation, whereas
the testimony shows that the defendant, immedi-
ately after he had left Pitezel, was excited, nervous
and worried, and his underclothing was wet with per-
spiration. This was the condition of a man who had
committed a great crime, rather than one who was try-
ing to conceal the evidence of a suicide. The defend-
ant's flight must not be overlooked in this case. If
Pitezel had committed suicide, and the defendant
simply tried to conceal the suicide, it is not probable
that he would have fled from the city. Flight is the
act of a guilty man, and not the act of a cunning man.
Being firmly convinced of the guilt of the defendant,
we approve the verdict and refuse a new trial.
APPENDIX III.
THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT.
This is a voluminous record. An examination of it
shows tliat the trial of the defendant furnished some
unloolied for situations and dramatic incidents, but no
one of them seems to have been the result of anything
irregular or sensational in the manner or rulings of the
learned trial Judge. On the other hand, it is apparent
that they were due to the extraordinary character of
the circumstances with which the defendant had sur-
rounded himself, and to his interference with the usual
methods of trial. Indeed, the assignments of error,
although thirteen in number, have been intended to
raise no questions except such as may be characterized
as general questions of law, and they have been pre-
sented in this Court and discussed in the oral argu-
ment in a thoroughly lawyer-like manner and with de-
cided ability. We proceed to consider them in their
order.
The first, second, third and fourth assignments re-
late to the admissibility of the testimony of Georgianna
Yoke who was called as a witness by the Common-
wealth and whom the defendant alleged to be his law-
ful wife. At the time this witness was called there was
evidence before the Court showing that the defendant
had an establishment of some sort at Willmette in the
State of Illinois which was known, at least to some of
his acquaintances, as his home, where as H. H. Holmes
he lived with a woman who was understood to be his
wife. The evidence further showed that a letter which
had been left at this establishment with this woman in
his absence by the witness Cass, had been promptly
(489)
490 THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT.
replied to by H. H. Holmes; and that in the answer he
referred to this woman as his wife saying, "I am in
receipt of a letter from mj' wife stating that you called
on her in regard to Mr. Pitezel. She also enclosed me
clipping from paper which I presume you gave her."
All this evidence tending to show that the prisoner
was a married man, and that his wife lived in Illinois
and was known as Mrs. Holmes, wtis before the Court
when Georgianua Yoke was called. There was noth-
ing in the name of the witness and there was nothing
in her testimony when she was first on the stand to
suggest that she was the wife of the prisoner, or to
throw any doubt upon his being, as he appeared to be
at that stage of the evidence, the husband of the
woman of whom he had written as his wife.
An objection to her competency taken when she was
first called and examined would have had nothing on
which to rest. At a later stage of the trial she was re-
called by the defendant and examined upon this sub-
ject. She then stated that she had been married to
the prisoner by a clergyman in the city of Denver in
January, 1894: ; that his name was then Howard, and
that she was married to him by that name. She stated
further that, during much of the time between January
and the following November, she had lived with him
as his wife supposing that she occupied that position
towards him, but that she had learned before his ar-
rest that he had been married some time previously to
a woman living in Gilmanton, N. H., whom she under-
stood to be still living. She had heard still earlier of
the woman at Willmette, but did not understand that
Howard had been lawfully married to her. She had
talked with him about the woman at Gilmanton while
they were at Boston, not long before his arrest. His
sister had told her that the prisoner had accounted for
having married her while his wife was living at Gil-
manton by telling his father's family that he had been
seriously injured in a railroad wreck; that she (Miss
THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT. 491
Yoke) had nursed him and had been instrumental in
saving his mind, but had married him before he linew
where he was or what he was doing. This story she
told the prisoner. He did not deny or explain the
story, but said in his own defence that when he mar-
ried lier he had been told that the woman at Gil man-
ton was dead. The witness was apparently satisfied
that her marriage was not valid, and she had resumed
the use of her maiden name.
As she was competent, prime facie, when called and
examined, the burden of showing her incompetency
was on the prisoner who alleged it. The testimony of
Miss Yoke, to which we have just referred, was given
for that purpose, and it was all the evidence upon that
subject. The fair effect of it was to show that no legal
marriage had taken place, that Miss Yoke had been
cruelly deceived, and that the legal wife of the prisoner
lived at Gilmauton, N. H. Let us grant that if the de-
fendant had been on trial for bigamy the testimony of
Miss Yoke might not have been sufficiently definite as
to the fact of the first marriage to justify a conviction
of the <lefendant, yet we must remember that, so far as
the competency of the witness was concerned, the bur-
den of proof was not on the Commonwealth. She was
apparently competent. The burden of establishing
her incompetency by proof of a lawful marriage be-
tween himself and her was on him who alleged it. The
learned Judge would have been justified in doing
what the prisoner's counsel complain that he did not,
viz: treat this question of competency as a question
of law, and overrule the objection to her testimony at
once. What he did was more favorable to the prisoner
than he had a right to ask. He submitted the ques-
tion of the legality of the marriage to the jury, in-
structing them that, if they found it to be valid, they
should reject the testimony of the witness altogether.
We do not see how the prisoner can expect success-
fully to complain of a ruling that gave him one more
492 THE DECISION OF THE SUPKE3IE COURT.
chance for a favorable decision upon tlie question of
the competency of tlie witness than he had a right to
aslf.
The fifth and sixth assignments are in effect but a
different mode of raising the question we have just con-
sidered. They complain of the submission of the testi-
mony of Miss Yoke to the jury. She had been exam-
ined very fully as to the movements of the prisoner on
that Sunday on which he had stated to Mr. Linden,
Superintendent of Police, that ho saw and arranged the
dead body of Pitezel in the Callowhill Street house.
This evidence the learned Judge referred to and sub-
mitted to the jury. It is not suggested that her evi-
dence is not fairly repeated, nor that any statement is
attributed by the Court to her that she did not make.
The burden of the assignment of error must therefore
be that the testimony was treated by the learned Judge
as competent and as properly before the jury. This
was not an error for the reasons given when treating
of the question of the competency of the witness, and
we do not see that it was inconsistent with the action
of the learned Judge in submitting that question to the
jury, since it was necessary, at least provisionally, to
call their attention to the effect of the testimony and
the questions to which it was related. These assign-
ments are therefore overruled.
The thirteenth assignment should be considered in
this connection, as it is directed against the action of
the Court in submitting to the jury the question of the
existence of a legal marriage between the prisoner and
Miss Yoke at the time she was called as a witness, and
the direction to them to consider, or to exclude from
consideration, her testimony as they might find upon
that question. We have already said that while the
submission 'of the question might not have been neces-
sary, we cannot see that it did the prisoner any harm.
The verdict undoubtedly shows that the jury decided
this question against the prisoner, but so we think the-
THE DECISION OF THE SUPRE3IE COURT. 493
learned Judge should have done if he had undertuken
to pronounce upon the effect of Miss Yoke's testimony
iu regard to the legality of her marriage to the pris-
oner. The prisoner cannot complain that he should be
taken at his word upon this question ; and the story
told by him to his father's family, which Miss Yoke
afterwards called to his attention and his excuse made
to her for marrying her while he had a wife living at
Gilmanton, are enough to discredit the alleged mar-
riage. We do not see how the jury or the Court could
have done otherwise than say that the prisoner had not
successfully shown the witness to be incompetent; and
whether the Court had disposed of the question in the
first instance by an instruction, or allowed the jury to
dispose of it without any controlling direction upon the
subject, the prisoner had no ground for complaint.
The twelfth assignment is to the refusal by the learned
Judge to allow an exception to the opening address of
the District Attorney, As we understand the situation,
the objection to the opening address was not made at
the time of its delirery, but several days later, near the
close of the trial. The District Attorney had in his
opening stated the case of the Commonwealth. He had
detailed in their order the incidents connecting the
prisoner with Pitezel, with the procurement of the policy
of insurance on his life, with his subsequent death, the
identification of the body, the absorption of the insur-
ance money by the prisoner and his subsequent move-
ments. He called attention to the part taken by Alice
iu the identification of her father's body, and to the
fact that she was kept thereafter from a meeting with
her mother whom the prisoner had led to believe that
her husband was still alive. He then spoke of the re-
markable journeys upon which Alice and her brother
and sister were moved in one group, Mrs, Pitezel
and her other children in another, and Georgianna
Yoke by herself or in company with the^prisoner in a
third. He told how they went from place to place, near
494 THE DECISION OF THE 8UFBE3IE COURT.
to each other, were housed at the same time in the same
city, but always without meeting, until one by one the
three members of one group disappeared. He then
spoke of the finding of their remains, and of the power-
ful array of circumstances connecting the prisoner with
their death, and the disposition of their bodies.
The theory of the Commonwealth was that the motive
for the killing of Pitezel was to secure the insurance
money; and the killing of Alice and the two children
who were with him grew out of his desire to prevent
Mrs. Pitezel from knowing of the death of her husband,
and of her consequent right to the insurance money.
The several homicides were thus alleged to be con-
nected, to have a common motive and to form parts of
one general plan. In opening his case it was natural
for the District Attorney to state, indeed it was his duty
towards the prisoner, to state fully what he intended
to offer for the consideration of the jury bearing upon
his guilt. This he did do, and, so far as we are advised,
without objection from the Court or the prisonei*.
The trial proceeded upon the lines indicated in the
opening, until the subject of the disappearance and
murder of the children was reached. An objection was
interposed by the prisoner's counsel on the ground that
the evidence offered was intended to show the commis-
sion of an independent crime not charged in the indict-
ment. After some consideration the objection was sus-
tained by the learned Judge and the evidence excluded.
Then, as we understand the course of the trial, and
not until then, the application was made for leave to
except to so much of the opening address of the Dis-
trict Attorney as related to the excluded evidence.
The learned Judge well said, in answer to this request,
that there was no method by which an exception could
be sealed by the Court to statements in the address of
an attorney, days after they had been made ; and that,
if any statement made by the District Attorney had
been deemed objectionable, the attention of the Court
THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT. 495
should have been called to it at the time when it was
made, and when its correction was possible. To this
we are disposed to add another consideration — viz,
that such a practice would require the trial Judge to
anticipate the course of the trial and decide upon the
admissibility of evidence in advance of its being of-
fered.
We have no doubt of the power, nor in a proper case
of the duty, of the Court to supervise the addresses of
counsel so far as may be necessary to protect prisoners
or parties litigant from injurious misrepresentations
and unfair attack, and the jury from being misled.
When this power should be exercised must be left to
the sound discretion of tlie Judge, and he should not
hesitate to act where the fair administration of justice
requires him to do so.
But there was nothing in the addiess of the District
Attorney in the opening of the case of the Common-
wealth that either the defendant's counsel or the Court
seemed at the time to think required the exercise of
this discretionary power. The subsequent action of
the Court in rejecting a part of the case of the Com-
monwealth did not have a retroactive effect upon the
opening address.
It is probable that the learned Judge entertained
some doubt about the admissibility of this evidence
and gave, as he should always do, the benefit of his
doubt to the prisoner. But if he had admitted it, we
are not prepared to say it would have been error. As-
suming the correctness of the theory of the Common-
wealth, the evidence was admissible under the author-
ity of a line of cases, among which are Turner vs. the
Commonwealth, 8G Pa. 54; Kramer vs. the Common-
wealth, 87 Pa. 299; Commonwealth vs. Goerson, 99 Pa.
398, and the Commonwealth vs. Bell, 166 Pa. 405. But
the decision of this question is not necessarily involved.
It is enough for the purposes of this case to dispose of
the question raised by the assignment and hold that
496 THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT.
there was no error in refusing the request for an ex-
ception to the address of the District Attorney made
several days after the address liad been completed.
Tlie next question, following the natural order of the
assignments, is that raised by the eighth. It relates
to the admission of the story told by Mrs. Pitezel
about the manner in which she saw and recognized the
remains of three of her children within a few weeks
after the death of her husband. This was part of the
general story of her search after her husband, whom
she supposed to be still alive, and the three children,
who were kept just a little ways ahead of her until, one
by one, they had disappeared. The search was made
under the control and direction of the prisoner. She
followed on where he promised her husband would
come and her children would meet her. During all
this time he knew her husband was sleeping in the
Potter's Field. He knew that first the boy and then
Alice and her sister had gone out of sight while under
his general care and their bodies had been mutilated
or concealed. She saw them, or their remains, at last.
When and how she saw them she was allowed to state,
and to that extent, at least, it was competent for her to
speak of her children regardless of the question raised
by the assignment of error last considered. The whole
story of Mrs. Pitezel has a unity of character, and its
incidents are so affected by the prisoner's acts and dec-
larations in regard to her husband and his where-
abouts, that we do not see any reason for rejecting as
irrelevant any portion of it. We think also that it had
a direct bearing upon the question of motive. At
least it was for the jury to say from it whether the per-
sistent concealment of Pitezel's death from his wife
and his representations to her that the insurance
money had been obtained by fraud were not induced
by his desire to escape litigation over the money and
to avoid the suspicion of murder being started against
him in her mind.
THE DECISION OF THE SUPBE3IE COURT. 497
The ninth assignment is directed towards a state-
ment made by the learned Judge in his charge to the
jury. Speaking of the death of Pitezel, he said : " You
will notice by the testimony which was read to you
that the doctors who examined him say his death was
caused by chloroform poisoning, and that it could not
have been self-administered." This, it is alleged, was
wholly unwarranted by the evidence. As to the first
part of this statement there could be no complaint, for
the fact that the deceased came to his death by chloro-
form poisoning was practically conceded by the pris-
oner. The contest was over the question whether the
poison from which he died was self-administered and
his death was due to suicide, or was feloniously ad-
ministered by the prisoner and his death due to mur-
der.
In the interview which was testified to by E. J. Lin-
den, Superintendent of Police, the prisoner gave his
own account of Pitezel's death. He found him, as he
alleged, on the floor of a third-story room in the Cal-
lowhill Street house, dead. He said he was led to the
third floor by a note left for him on the table in the
front room on the first floor, directing him to search
for a letter in a bottle in a closet opening off the same
room. In the bottle, he says, he found a long letter
telling of the purpose of the writer to commit suicide,
and that his body would be found on the third floor.
Going to that floor he alleges he found Pitezel, dead.
A large bottle with the chloroform stood near by, and
leading from it to the dead man's mouth was a tube
with a quill inserted in it so as to reduce the aperture
for the flow of the fluid.
He says he felt that the appearances of suicide should
be removed or a defence might be made to the policy
upon that ground. To do this he dragged the body
down to the second floor, broke the bottle, scattered
some inflammable liquid over the face and beard of the
dead man and set it on fire to give to the body and the
2^
498 THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT.
room the appearance of an explosion and the happen-
ing of death by accident.
The theory of the defence included, therefore, the
idea that Pitezel's death was due to chloroform poison-
ing, and the objection must relate, therefore, only to
the statement that the doctors had testified that the
poison could not have been self-administered. The
post mortem examination had disclosed the presence
of an ounce and a half of chloroform in the stomach at
that time. How did it get there ? As the story of the
prisoner indicated, by a slow process of self-adminis-
tration by means of the tube, or in some other manner?
Upon this subject medical experts were called. They
explained the effects of the drug upon the nerves and
brain, and upon the lining of a living stomach. They
gave two reasons why the chloroform could not have
been self-administered in the manner alleged by the
prisoner. In the first the intoxicating quality of the
drug would cause such semi-conscious or purely invol-
untary motions of the muscles, and changes in the po-
sition of head and body, as would break the connec-
tion between the bottle and the mouth by means of the
alleged tube. In the next place the chloroform had
not affected the lining of the stomach, in other words,
it had been introduced into the stomach after death.
This testimony fully justified the statement of the
learned Judge now complained of, and the assignment
of error is overruled.
The eleventh assignment alleges error in the answer
to a point submitted on behalf of the prisoner. The
instruction asked by the point was somewhat involved.
It was in substance a request for an instruction that,
if the jury should believe the deceased died from
chloroform poisoning, and that it was possible for him
to have administered it to himself, and that this theory
was as consistent with the facts in the case, as that it
was administered with criminal intent by the prisoner,
then the verdict should be not guilty. This was an-
THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT 499
other way of saying that if the theory of suicide was as
consistent with the facts as the theory of murder, then
tlie prisoner should be acquitted, and it might have
been affirmed without more. The answer, though not
categorical, was in effect an affirmance. It was, "If
you believe he (the deceased) did it himself, why of
course the prisoner is not guilty." When to this is
added the general instruction that the burden of prov-
ing the guilt of the prisoner beyond a reasonable
doubt remains upon the Commonwealth from the be-
ginning to the end of the trial.
If, therefore, the jury adopted the theory of suicide,
or if, being unable to adopt it, they were yet unable to
accept beyond a reasonable doubt the theory of mur-
der, in either event they were told the verdict should
be not guilty. This fully guarded the rights of the
prisoner, even if it be conceded that a categorical
affirmance of the point would have been in better form.
This brings us naturally to the tenth assignment of
error which denies tlie clearness and adequacy of the
exposition by the learned Judge of the doctrine of the
reasonable doubt. The passage from the charge em-
bodied in the assignment of error is the least important
part of the instruction given to the jury upon this sub-
ject, and does not fairly represent the learned Judge.
He said in immediate connection with the passage
complained of : " In all criminal cases, gentlemen, it is
essential that the defendant shall be convicted by evi-
dence which persuades the jury of the guilt of the
prisoner beyond a reasonable doubt. By a reasonable
doubt I do not mean an obstinacy or a resolution not
to consider the testimony of the witnesses carefully.
But it is that condition of the mind in which hesitancy
arises after having given the evidence a fair consider-
ation, and you find yourself unable to come to a con-
clusion as to the guilt of the prisoner." This was a
full and adequate presentation of the subject. Take
the passage embodied in the assignment in connection
500 THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT.
with that we have just given (and they stand in imme-
diate connection in the charge) and it is apparent that
the prisoner has no just ground of complaint because
the doctrine of the reasonable doubt was not fully
stated and brought into sufficient prominence.
The remaining assignment is to the whole charge,
which, it is insisted, was wanting in clearness, was not
impartial, but was calculated to prejudice the minds
of the jurors against the prisoner by giving undue
prominence to such circumstances and considerations
as were hurtful to him. It must be borne in mind that
the defendant called no witnesses. The evidence be-
fore the Court and jury was only that of the Common-
wealth, which had been gathered together for the pur-
pose of clearing up the mystery surrounding the death
of Pitezel and fixing responsibility for it upon the
prisoner. His real reliance was upon the reasonable
doubt. The web of circumstantial evidence that had
been woven about him consisted of many threads, but
the web taken as a whole was strong.
It was impossible for the learned trial Judge to pre-
sent the case to the jury in an intelligent manner with-
out the strength of the circumstantial evidence being
felt. This was not due to the rhetoric of the learned
Judge, for he indulged in none. It was due to the
convincing character of the facts and circumstances
themselves, and to the completeness with which an
adroitly arranged and badly executed scheme had
been unravelled by the Commonwealth, and its detail
laid before the Court and jury.
"We have examined this charge as a whole carefully,
and with a view to the question raised by this assign-
ment, and we cannot agree that it is inadequate or that
it is wanting in fairness of spirit. The evidence was
reviewed, for the benefit of the jury, with reference to
its bearing upon the great questions submitted to them
for final determination. These were stated in their
proper order :
THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT. 501
First. Was the body that was found in the Callow-
hill Street house the body of B. F. Pitezel? This
seemed to be quite clear of any difficulty.
Second. If the body was that of Pitezel, did his death
result from chloroform poisoning ? This was asserted
as a fact by the medical witnesses, and was assumed
by the prisoner in his statement to Superintendent
Linden.
Third. If Pitezel died from chloroform poisoning,
was the poison self-administered, with suicidal intent,
or was it feloniously administered by the prisoner?
This was the only real point of controversy.
Finally, was there upon the whole case a reasonable
doubt of the prisoner's guilt of the murder charged in
the indictment ?
This review was not elaborate, but it was adequate.
It presented the questions of fact clearly, and laid down
the legal rules by which the jury should be guided in
investigating and determining them. "We are satisfied
that this assignment is without merit and that it should
be overruled.
The defendant had a fair trial, and that is all he has
a right to demand. At one stage of the trial he was
placed perhaps at a disadvantage for a short time by
his own conduct in dismissing his counsel and assum-
ing the responsibility of conducting his own defence;
but the Court was in no sense responsible for this.
The prisoner and his counsel were; and the learned
Judge did all that could reasonably be done to protect
him from himself, as well as to secure to him a fair
trial, upon evidence restricted to circumstances of the
admissibility of which there was no reasonable doubt.
In no respect has any just ground of complaint been
made to appear, and the judgment must be affirmed.
It may be well before concluding this case to say that
the object of a trial before a jury is to ascertain with
as much certainty as can be attained in a human tri-
bunal the guilt or innocence of one charged with crime.
502 THE DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT.
When, as the result of such a trial, a verdict has been
reudered against the prisoner, it ought not to be set
aside by the trial Judge, or by proceedings in a Court
of Error, unless in some essential particular the trial
has been erroneous. No merely technical or formal
objection not affecting the result should be listened to.
It is neither for the credit of the Courts, for the inter-
ests of society, nor does it tend towards the repression
of mob violence or the preservation of good order, that
the course of justice should be blocked or turned aside
by technical objections which, however valuable they
may once have been, are now, and long have been,
empty shells; or by verbal distinctions that in this age
mark no real differences. The prisoner has been found
guilty of murder in the first degree by a jury after a
protracted and a fair trial. No substantial error in that
trial has been pointed out. The evidence fully sustains
the verdict and we are not disposed to disturb it. All
the assignments of error are overruled and the judg-
ment appealed from is affirmed.
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