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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_ 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