The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 1

fp, 1 ARE YOU WORKING? You can find the best of employment Immediately through an "1NQU3RER SHALL AD- A REAL ZOETROPE The forerunner of the will be the toy supplement issued with the next SUNDAY INQUIRER VOL. 134. NO. 40 PAGES. PHILADELPHIA, SUNDAY, APEIL 12, 1896 1U COPYRIGHT, 1S93, BY THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER CO.

40 PAGES. FIVE CENTS. CONFESSES MURDERS HOLMES slowly starved him to death. Of this room and its secret gas supply and muffled windows and doors, sufficient has already been printed. Finally, needing Its use for another purpose and because his pleadings had become almost unbearable, I ended his life.

charitable, will, in the words of the District Attorney at my trial, when the of all these many crimes had been collected and placed before him by his trusty assistants, exclaim: "God' hplp such a man!" If uncharitable or only just will he not rather say: "May he be utterly damned," and that it is almost sufficient, to cause one to doubt the wisdom of Providence such a man should have so long been allowed to live. If THE MOST AWFUL STORY OF MODERN TIMES TOLD BY THE FIEND IN HUMAN SHAPE. Every Detail of His Fearful Crimes Told by the Man Who Admits He Is Turning Into the Shape of the Devil. THE TALE OF THE GREATEST CRIMINAL "I is ALIAS H. H.

HOLMES HERMAN MUDGETT, should not return. A few months ago the prosecution, believing from certain letters purporting to have been written by her that she was alive, at once showed me their willingness to me a fair trial by having this publicly known, she being a witness that I could have used to great advantage in the Pitezel case. here. The eighth, ninth and tenth cases are Mrs. Sarah Cook, her unborn child, and Miss Mary Haracamp, of Hamil ton.

Canada. In 1S88 Mr. Frank Cook i IN HISTORY society owes so much for bringing me to justice? The first taking of human life that is attributed to me is in the case of Dr Robert Leacock, of New Baltimore, Mich. a riend" and former school mate. I knew that, his.

life was In sured for a large sum -and after en ticing him to Chicago I killed him by giving him an overwhelming dose of laudanum. My subsequently taking his dead body from place to place In and about Grand Rapids, as has been so often printed heretofore, and the risk and excitement attendant upon the collection of the forty thou sand dollars of Insurance, were very insignificant matters compared with the torturing thought that I had taken human life. This, it will be under stood, was before, by constant, wrongdoing, I had become wholly deaf to the promptings of conscience, for prior to this death, which occurred In 1S86, beg to be believed in stating that I had never sinned so heavily either by thought or deed. Later, like the man- eating tiger of the tropical jungle, whose appetite for blood has once been aroused, I roamed about the world seeking whom I could destroy. Think of the awful list that follows.

Twenty seven lives, men ana women, young girls and Innocent children, blotted out by one monster's hand, and you. my reader of a tender and delicate na ture, will do well to read no further, for I will In no way spare myself, and he who reads to the end, if he be became a tenant in the Castle. He was i pleting the letter only to learn that the engaged to be married to a young lady door would never be again opened unliving at. some distance from Chicago 411 she had ceased to suffer the tor t-who later came there and was married "res of a slow and lingering death, to him in my presence, by the Rev. Dr.

Then follows an unsuccessful at-Taylor, of Englewood, 111. They -kept tempt to commit a triple murder for house in the Castle, and for a time I tire $90 that my agent for disposing boarded with them. Shortly Miss of "stiffs" would have given me for Mary Haracamp, of Hamilton, a niece the bodies of intended victims, of Mrs. Sarah Cook, came to Chicago who were three young women working and entered my employ as a stenog-jih my restaurant, upon Milwaukee rapher. But Mrs.

Cdok and her niece avenue, Chicago. That these women hac acre to all "the rooms by means lived to-tell-of their experience to the of a master key and one evening, while police last summer, is due to my fool-I was busily engaged preparing my ishly trying to chloroform all of them last victim for shipment, the door sud- at one and the.same time. By their denly opened and they stood before me. strength they overpowered It was a time for quick action, rather me.andiran screaming into the street, than for words of explanation upon my only in. their night robes.

I was longer allowed a glass with which to note my rapidly deteriorating condition, though nature, 'ever kind, provides In this, as in the ordinary forms of insanity where the sufferer believes himself always called to my attention, I do not notice my infirmity nor suffer therefrom. The principal defects that, have thus far developed and which are all established signs of degeneracy, are a decided prominence upon one side of my head and a corresponding diminution upon other side; a marked deficiency of one side of my nose and of one together with an abnormal increase of each upon the opposite side; a difference of one and one-half inches in the length of my arms and an equai shortening of one leg from knee to heel; also a most malevolent distortion of one side of my face and of one eye so marked and terrible that in writing of. it for publication. Hall Caine, although I wore a beard at the time to conceal it as best I could, described that side of my face as marked by a deep line of crime and being that of a devi1 so apparent that an expert criminologist in the employ of the United States Government who had never previously seen me said within thirty seconds after entering my cell: "I know you are guilty." Would it not, then, be the height of folly for me to die without speaking, if only for the purpose of justifying these scientific deductions' and ac crediting what is due to those to whom The partial excavation in the walLj of this room found by the police -was caused by Latimer's endeavoring to escape by tearing away the solid brick and mortar with his unalled fingers. The fourtenth case is that of MiEj Anna Betts.

and was caused by my purposely substituting a poisonous drug in a prescription that had been sent to. my drug store to be compounded, believing that it was known that I was a I should be called in to witness her as she lived very near the store. This was not the case, however, as the regular physician was in attendance at the time. The prescription, still on file at the Castle drug etore, should be considered by the authorities If they still are inclined to attribute this death to causes that reflect upon Miss Betts moral character. The death of Miss Gertrude Conner, of Muscatine, Iowa, though not tha next in drder of occurrence, is so similar to the last that a description of one suffices for both, save in, this casa Miss Conner left Chicago immediately, but did not die until she had reached her home at Muscatine.

Perhaps these two cases show more plainly; than any others the light regard I had for the lives of my fellow-beings." The sixteenth murder is that of Miss Kate of Omaha, a young woman owning much valuable real estati in Chicago, where I acted as her agent. This was at the time so graphically i described by a local writer as wheTi IT wa3 nllowpfl tn l-ilrl nrnnprtv nnilpr one name, act as notary public under another and carry on a general business under still another title. I cause3 Miss Kate to believe that a fa- vorable opportunity had come for her to convert her holdings into cash, and, having acomplished this for her, she came to Chicago and I paid her the money, taking a receipt in full for same, and thus protected myself, irt the event of an inquiry at a later date. I asked her to look about my offices and finally to look within the vault', and, having once passed that fatal door, she never. came forth alive.

did not die at once, however, and her anger when first she realized that she was deprived of her liberty, then her offer of the entire forty thousand dollars in'' exchange for same and finally her prayers are something terrible to remember. It was stated that I hacj also killed a sister of Miss Kate but I think this report has already been contradicted. The next death was that of a man named Warner, the originator of tha Warner Glass Bending Company, and here again a very large sum of money was realized, which prior to his death had been deposited in two Chicago banks, nearly all of which I secured by means of two checks, made out and properly signed by him for a small sum each. To these I later added the word thousand, and the necessary ciphers, and by passing them through the. bank where I had a regular open account I promptly, realized the money," save a small amount not covered by the checks in the Park National Bank, northwest corner Dearborn and.

Wash-, ington streets, in that city. It will be remembered that the remains of a large kiln made of fire brick was found in. the Castle basement. It had been; built under Mr. Warner's supervision for the purpose of exhibiting his patents.

It was so arranged that in lees than a minute after turning on a jet of crude oil atomized with steam the entire kiln would be filled with a colorless flame, so intensely hot iron" would be melted therein. It was into this kiln that I induced Mr. Warner to go with me, under pretense of wishing; certain minute explanations th process, and then stepping outside, as he believed to get some tools, I closed the door and turned on both the oil and steam to their full extent. In a short time not even the bones of my victims remained. The coat found outside tha kiln was the one he took off befora going therein.

In 1891 I associated myself In business with a young Englishman, whose name I am more than willing to publish to the world, but I am advised it could not be published on my unsupported statement, who by his own admission, had been guilty of all other forms of wrongdoing, save murder, and presumably of that as well. To manipulate certain real estate securities we held so as to have them secure us a good commercial rating was art easy matter for him and he was equally able to Interest certain English capitalists in patents so that for a time it seemed that in the near future our greatest concern would be how to dispose of the money that seemed about to be showered upon us. "By an unforeseen occurrence our rating was destroyed and it became necessary to at once raise a large sum and this was done by my partner enticing to Chicago a wealthy banker named Rodgers from a North Wisconsin town In. such a manner that he could have left no intelligence with whom his business was to be. To cause him to go to the Castle and within the secret room under the pretense that our patents were there was easily brought about, mora so than to force him to sign checks and drafts for seventy thousand dollars, which we had prepared.

At first he refused to do so, stating that his liberty that we offered him in excharcgo would be useless to him without Ll3 money, that he was too old to again Continued on Pace Ellit. All the Easter Music of the Philadelphia Churches will be repeated daily on the self-playing EOLIAN at C. J. Heppe Son's 1117 Chestnut Street, for visitors during this week. The PNEUMATIC ATTACHMENT can, be placed on Any Upright Piano.

It's the only self-playing device that' dcxs not need care and attention. It's the only self-playing piano that renders, the most difficult music with as Perfect Expression as an accomplished pianist. I invite inspection. J. 4i.

BAMSDELL. 11JU Chestnut Street. nity for pecuniary gain having by others been excluded for me, is the only constant cause, and in advancing it at this time I do not do so with the expectation of a mitigation of public condemnation, or that it wjll in any way react in ray favor. Had this "been my intention I should have considered it at the time of my trial, and had it used as my defense. All criminologists who have examined me here seem to be unanimous In the opinions they have formed, although one Inexplicable condition presents itself, that while committing the crimes these symptoms were not present, but commenced to develop after my arrest.

Ten years ago I was thoroughly examined ty four men of marked ability and them pronounced as being both mentally and physically a normal and healthy" man. To-day I have every attribute of a degenerate a moral idiot. Is it possible that the crimes, instead of being" the result of these abnormal conditions, are in themselves the occasion of the degeneracy? Even at the time of my arrest in 18f4 no defects were noticeable under the searching Bertillon system of i measurements to which I was subjected, but later, and more noticeably within the past few months, these' defects have increased with startling rapidity, as Is made known to me by each succeeding examination until I have become thankful that I am no so I earnestly pray that this condem- natioa and censure may not extend to those whose only crime has been that they knew and trusted, aye in some Instances, loved me, and who today are more deserving the world's compassion han censure. My second victim was Dr. Russell, a tenant in the Chicago building recently renamed "The Castle." During a controversy concerning the non-payment -of rent due me, I struck him to the floor with, a heavy chair when he, with one cry for help, ending in a groan of anguish, ceased to breathe.

This quarrel and death occurred in a small outer office, and as soon as I realized that my blow had been a fatal one -and I had recovered somewhat from the horror of having still another victim's blood upon my hands, I was forced to look about for some safe means of concealing the crime. I locked the doors of the office, and my first intention was to dispose of the body to a Chicago medical college, from one of whose officers I had previously obtained dissecting material, as they believed, but in reality to be used in insurance work. I found it difficult, if not impossible, to dispose of it, and was directed to call upon a party to whom I sold the bodies and whose name I withhold, but I have confessed his name to parties in whom I have confidence. To him I sold this man's body, as well as others at later elates. In short, in this writing.

In each instance when the manner of the disposal of their remains is not otherwise specified, it will be understood that they were turned over to him, he paying me from $2o to $4o for each body, and right easily could he, during the recent Investigations, go from room to room in the building when each was more or less grewsomely familial to It is not necessary for me to add that the efforts of his friends to shield him when it became evident that he had talked too freely for his own safety should not have saved him from being compelled to turn over the remains of these persons for decent burial or to point out the various museums where they were sold. j. The third death was to a certain extend d.ue to a criminal operation. A man and, woman were cognizant of and partially' responsible, for both the operation and the death. The victim was Mrs.

Julia L. Connor. A reference to almost any newspaper of August, lSOo, will give the minute de tails of the horrors of this case, as they were worked out by the detectives, therefore making it unnecessary to repeat it here, save to add that the death of the child Pearl, her little daughter, who is the fourth' victim, was caused by poison, and that the man and woman above referred to were equally responsible with myself for its administration, although it was at my instigation that it was done, as I believed the child was old enough to remember of her mother's sickness and death. They wished, at first, to place the child in the care of their aged parents, who lived south of the city, but were overruled by my opposition. Owing to the suddenness of the third death, a certain note of considerable value, well secured by property south of the Castle.

was uncollectible, and at the time of my death it will be sent; to such of her relatives as It may appear have the greater right to receive it. The fifth murder, that of Rodgers, of "West Morgantown, occurred in 18S8. at which time I was boarding there for a few weeks. Learning that the man had some money I induced him to go upon a fishing trip with me. and, being successful in allaying his suspicions, I finally ended his life by a sudden blow upon the head with an oar.

The body was found about a month thereafter, but I was not suspected until after my trial here, and even then by a fortunate circumstance succeeded in having the report publicly denied, but did not succeed in changing the opinion of fifty or more persons living in the town who had recognized my- picture in the daily papers. The sixth -case is that of 'Charles Cole, a Southern speculator. After considerable correspondence this man came to Chicago, and I enticed him into the Castle, where, while I was engaging him in conversation, a con federate struck him' a most vicious blow upon the head with a piece of gas So heavy was the blow it not only caused his death without a roan and hardly a movement, but it crushed his skull to such an extent that his body, was almost useless to the party who bought the body. This is the first instance in which I knew this confederate had committed murder, though in several other instances he was fully as guilty as myself, and, if possible, more heartless and bloodthirsty, and I have no doubt is still engaged in the same nefarious work, and if so is probably aided by a Chicago business man. A domestic, named Lizzie, was -the seventh victim.

for a time, worked in the Castle restaurant and I soon learned that Quinlan was paying her too close attention and, fearing lest it should progress so far that it would necessitate his leaving my employ I thought it wise to end the life of the girl. This I did by calling ber to my office and suffocating her In the vault of which so much has since been printed, she being the first victim that died Before her death I compelled bef to write letters to her relations and to Quinlan, stating thathe had left Chicago for a JWestern state and. bid me good bye. "While there I asked her to step inside the vault for some papers for me. There I detained her, teljing her that if she would write her husband that at the last moment she had found that it would be impossible to live happily with him and consequently had left Chicago in such a way that search for her would be useless, I would take her to a distant city and live openly with her as my wife.

She was very willing to do this and prepared to leave the vault upon corn- arrested next, day, but was not prosecuted. To this attempt to kill could very justly be added my attempt to take the lives of Mrs. Pitezel and two of her children at a lateV date, -thus making the total number of my victims 33, instead of 27, as it was through no fault of mine that they escaped. My next attempt was carried out with more caution. The victim was a very beautiful young woman named Rosine Van Jassand, whom I induced to come into my fruit and confectionery store, and, once within my power, I compelled her to live with me there for a time, threatening her with death if she appeared before any of my customers.

A little later I killed her by administering ferro-cyanide of potassium. The location of this store was HOUSE, WHERE PITEZEL WAS her remains in the store basement, and from day to day during the recent Investigation at the Castle I expected to hear that excavations had been made there as well. -Robert Latimer, 'a man-who had for recompense meted out to him. I con fined him within "the secret room and. part, and before they had recovered from the horror of the sight, they were within the fatal vault, so lately tenanted" by the dead body, and then, after writing a letter at my dictation to Mr.

Cook that they had tired of their life with him and had gone away not expecting to return, their lives were sacrificed instead of giving them their liberty in exchange for their promise to at once and forever leave Chicago, which had been promised them in return for writing the letter. These were particularly sad deaths, both on account of the victims being exceptionally upright and virtuous women and because Mrs. Sarah Cook, had she lived, would have soon become a mother. Soon after this Miss Emmeline Cigrand, of Dwight, 111.,, was sent to me by a Chicago typewriter firm to THE CALLOW HILL STREET' ii i.i, in i hi ITi'nJ 0 afaSl A iilf life: I DlBBii mmm Copyright. 1R96.

by W. R. Hearst and James Elverson, Jr.) During the past few months the desire has been repeatedly expressed that I make a detailed confes sion of all the graver crimes that have, with' such' marvelous skill been traced out and brought home to me. have been tried for murder, convicted, sentenced, and the first step of my execution upon May seventh, namely, the reading of my death war- ant, has been carried out, and It now eems a fitting time, if ever, to make known the details of the twenty-seven murders, of which it would be use-ess to longer say I am not guilty, in face of the overwhelming amount )f proof that has been brought together, not only in one but in each and every case; and because in this confession I speak only of cases that have keen thU3 investigated and of no oth- rs, I trust it will not give rise to a upposition that I am still guilty of Jther murders which I am withhold ing. To those inclined to think thus, I will pay that the detectives have gone over my entire life, hardly a day or an act has escaped their closest scrutiny, land to judge that I am guilty ot more than these cases which they (have traced out is to cast discredit up on their work.

So marvelous has been the success of these men into whose kT.s tho nrnvlnc of ETUilt was iiaiiuo Wiven, that as I look back upon their ear's work It seems almost impossi ble that men gifted wnn omy human intelligence could have been Eo skillful, and I feel that I can here all attention to what the prosecution the close of my trial was denied the toleasure of s'tating, concerning their kbillty, though no words of mine can ittingly express what the world at arge owes to these impartial and un tiring representatives, and more espe cially to Assistant District Attorney Barlow and Detective Frank Geyer to O. La Forrest Perry, of the Fi- Jelity Mutual Life Association of Phil adelphia; 'for it is principally owing their unerring judgment, skill and erseverence that in a few days I am be forever placed beyond the power fcf committing other, and, pernaps, if possible, more horrid wrongs. Surely ustlce, if attended by such servants these could no longer, in the sense bf making -mistakes, be appropnately bortrayed as being blind. I am moved to make this confession for a variety of reasons, but among hem are not those of bravado or a flasire to parade my wrongdoings be fore the public gaze, and he who reads Lie following lines will, I beg, make distinction between such motives nd a determination upon my part to nter plainly and minutely Into the Retails of each case without favor wards myself. And having done so have chosen to make it public by ublishing it in THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER.

A word as to the motives or causes hat have led to the commission of hese many crimes and I will proceed the most difficult and distasteful ask of my life, the setting forth in 11 Its horrid nakedness the. recital the premeditated killing of twenty- even human beings and the unsuc-essful attempts to take the lives of others, thus branding myself as tie most detestable criminal ot mod- rn times a task so hard and dis- isteful that beside it the certainty tiat in a few days I am to be hanged the neck until I am dead seems but pastime. Acquired homicidal mania, all other a uses, save the occasional opportu-l ---ft MURDERED- fill the vacancy of stenographer. She such that It would have been hazard-had formerly been" employed at Dwight ous to have sent out a large box con-where she had become acquainted with i tainfng a body, and I therefore buried a man who her from time to time while she was in my employ. She was finally engaged to him and the day set for their This attachment was particularly, obnoxious to me, both because Miss Cigrand had become almost indispensable in my of-j some years been in my employ, as jan-flce work, and because she had become Itor, my.

next, victim. Several my mistress ajs well stenographer, years previous, before I had ever tak-I endeavored upon several, occasions Jen human life, he had known of cer-to take the life, of the young man and tain insurance work I had engaged In, failing In this I finally resolved that I and when, in after years, he sought would kill her Instead, and upon the to extort money from me, his own day of their wedding, even after cards i death and the sale of Tiis body was the HOLMES WRITING HIS CONFESSION had been sent out announcing that ILl had occurred, she came to my office to.