Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-05-08
FEARFUL STORY OF CRIME.

= A~AA-sA ~ ~ ~ WI VI O~s~~"A~~'
A HORRIBLE MURDER CONVICTION OF
THE MURDERER-HE KILLS HIS
KEEPER The DAY BEFORE His Exc
cUTIoN--HIs HANGING.
&C., &C., &c.
AT Hudson, New York, Joseph Waltz
was convicted a few months since of the
murder Of Herman Holcher, German
scissors grinder. After his arrest and
while in Jail he made the following volun-
tary confession of
THE MURDER.
Con May the scissors grinder came to
the house. / was down in the lot. We all
talked in the house in a pleasant manner.
After supper father and mother went to
bed. Holcher went next. Then some very
bad spirit entered into me. 1 went to my
room. | opened my Testament to read
Something seemed to force me to lay it
down. laid on my bed, and the spirit
overcame me. | resisted the spirit, and
the spirit resisted me back again. After
was completely overcome l went out doors
and got a Ratchet. The old man was asleep
when | went to his room. [ think God
whole truth. l went in slyly with a low
lamp and set the lamp on the floor, and
then my conscience fought with all its
might not to do the act, but the evil spirit
was stronger. took up the Ratchet and
struck Holcher on the head He made but
little noise. l struck him first with the
blunt end OF the Ratchet, and then twice
with the blade. Holcher was still then
The man struggled little while and then
gave up the ghost | dropped on the floor
and laid there some time. l then got up
alone, passed the barn to the stone wall. /
then put blankets and stuff over the body.
| left the body there all day. Next night,
when father and mother were abed, plac-
ed the body in a hole which 1 dug, and
prayed over the grave for the repose of his
SOUL / felt better then. [ had to conceal
all could, therefore placed the body in the
ground. cleaned up in the house and the
sofa. The old man, my father, in the morn
ing thought that the scissors grinder had
stolen the missing blanket, and father went
to Catskill and told Charles Ernst of it. |
found in Holcher's pocket a pocket-book
containing sixty or seventy dollars in
paper. one fifty dollar bill, and some silver
coin. took the machine down behind the
fence. locked up his bell in my trunk
Three nights afterward travelled up near
Coxsackie afoot, and then placed the letter
on the telegraph pole, and left part OF the
broken machine. [ wrote the letter the
night before at home. / carried the parts
OF the machine in a bag. intended to go
beyond CoXsackie, but was tired out. Part
of the machine was burned in the woods.
His clothes and boots put under the barn
for SPELL and after that burned them.
The various books 1 had locked up in my
trunk; read as much as 1 could. then
mt inc hnx md n11t of
sight"
The trial of Waltz resulted in his convic-
ton of murder in the first degree, and he
was sentenced to be hanged. His defense
was insanity, and so many were convinced
OF its soundness that the Governor ordered
delay. Finally. Governor Dix's own
commission deciding that he was sane,
Friday was fixed upon us the day for the
execution of the sentence.
THE MURDERER AssAssINATEs HIS
KEEPER.
The following is an account of the cir
cumstances Of the assassination of prison
keeper, Charles Ernst, by Waltz, as given
by the New York tSun'': s'On Thursday
afternoon Waltz grew violent in his CELL
He roared like a beast, threw things
through the window, and ran to and fro
in his CELL UP to a few days before lie had
been heavily chained, but his well-kept
promises to behave secured their removal.
Upon the lounge in the cell Charles Ernst,
a constable and acting keepr, had slept and
watched with the prisoner. Ernst, who
was a massive, muscular, fearless fellow,
weat into the cell while Sheriff Coonles
and the other jailors went to dinner, ex-
pecting no harm. At 2. M, while Ernst
was in the cell with Waltz the sheriff and
several others, sitting i'll the office across
the hall, heard a low groan. The sheriff
ran to the door of the cell, which was
locked Or the inside, and called out, 'Char-
ley !" "Charley p'
There was no answer. 81 guess it's on
ly Joe bowling again. said one Looking
i'll at the grated opening they saw blood
ON the floor. my Cod. Charley is muir
dered ~ cried Jailor Olmstead, and he ran
for bar with which to force open the
door, This was done with a few hard
blows, and the knot of startled men en-
tered. In Il corner, covering to the floor
in his usual groveling attitude, they saw
Waltz mumbling and growing. In anotl-
er corner, out Of sight from the door, lay
Ernst, with great spots OF blood ON and
around him. Pools of blood on the floor
had been covered with newspapers, and
the lounge was smeared The poor fellows
head had been beaten in with a bar of iron
that then lay on the floor. This bar was
about two feet long, two inches wide, and
quite thin. Waltz had pulled it up from
the floor, where it had been screwed down
cross-wise of the boards to keep them more
firmly in place, To give effective weight
he had bent one end double, stuffng slips
of paper under the piece of iron thus bent
down, SO that it would not make noise in
striking by hitting against the handle
piece. Three physicians were brought to
the Jail within a few minutes, and their
first cursory examination convinced them
that Ernst could not live. He had been
hit five times with dreadful force, every
stroke fracturing the skull. He did not
speak after his hurt, but his Submarines
fought off death for d long time. When
Ernst went into the cell he had a revolver
in his pocket. Sheriff Coonley, Tailor
Olmstead, and Harry Edwards opened the
cell door suddenly and seized Waltz, who
had not changed his crouching position
They found the revolver upon him, but he
made no attempt to use it, and only NUT
tered incoherently while they chained him
on his bed, The news of the murder of
Ernst caused an immense throng Of excl
teu pcOplo w SdGIcI III lIoNU VI GIlc jail
door. 1t is an old-fashioned two-story
building. Half of it is fitted in prison
fashion and the other half used by the
jailor fora residence. The mob, under a
fervor of excitement, thronged the steps
and shouted, "Hang him!" 'sBreak down
the door," shouted many, and whilst a
man went to get for that purpose crow
bar, the waiting lynchers showered stones
and mud through the windows into Waltz's
cell. To get a better aim they climbed on
a shed across the narrow street and threw
from there The window was soon free of
its glass, and Waltz's growls and curses
from the inside were answered by bowls
from the impatient throng.
out Gv s'' to '1 me- and III shooSt A the
damned lall-hnund [ kin Mum him