Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-01-29
CONFESSED.
Fred Anschlag Tells How
He Killed
M. AND MRS. c. B. HITCHCOCK.
Evidence Introduced at the Cor0-
ner's Inquest-The Ex-
animation.

cock at Garden Grove was the primer
nal theme of conversation on the
street yesterday, and in the morning
the announcement that Anschlag had
made q confession the night before
did not startle anybody, as the evi-
dence against him was considered. SO
strong that there was very little doubt
in the minds of all but that he was
the guilty party. On Friday night
about 10 o'clock Jailor Russell entered
Anschlag's cell, where he had been
confined alone since his arrival, and
saw that he retired. After he had
laid down on the iron bed, Mr.. Rus
selltat by his side and, by the assist
snce of Antoine Decker as interpreter,
held conversation with him. This
conversation was kept up until about
IL O'Clock, Deputy Sheriff Cooney also
being present, when the candle with
which the cell was Illuminated died
out. Mr.. Russell noticed that An
schlag appeared anxious to talk,
and sat holding his hand over
the prisoners heart, which beat
very irregularly, and as If
he was struggling to say something.
When the light went out Anschlag
asked him to get another candle, for
which he sent, and then Anschlag
said that if Mr.. Russell would send the
others away he would tell him all
about the murder. Mr.. Russell sent
the others out of the cell and Anschlag
started by saying that he had killed
Mr.. and Mrs. Hitchcock on Tuesday
morning. He sad that on Saturday
Of last week he had met Mr.. Hitch
cock at Santa Ana, and they had
closed the bargain, he paying Mr..
Hitchcock the balance of the
$95 deposit and Mr.. Hitchcock
drawing the deed, which he
was to give on the receipt
of the balance of the $4,000. He went
home with Mr.. Hitchcock on Satur-
day and on Sunday morning went to
church with Mr.. and Mrs. Hitchcock.
On M ,nday Mr.. Hitchcock went away
somewhere, and he stald at the house
and worked about the place. On
Tuesday morning they arose about
half-past four O'Clock with the inten-
ton Of coming to Los Angeles, where
Mr.. Hitchcock was to get the abb
stract and give to him. Before
starting he paid Mr.. Hitchcock the
balance of the $4,000. and about 5
O'Clock he and Mr.. Hitchcock went
out and hitched the team to the
wagon. Mr.. Hitchcock saw some
thing wrong about the bed of the
wagon and procured a hatchet, with
which he fixed it. Mr.. Hitchcock,
after using the hatchet, left it in the
wagon and put some straw in the
wagon bed. Then they all got in the
wagon and sat on the front seat, the
prisoner driving. He drove about
two miles, when he happened to look
around and saw the hatchet lying in
tho wagon. Then he remembered
that Mr.. Hitchcock had $4,000 of his
money, and the thought came to him
that if he killed him he could get his
money back. No sooner did this
thought come to him than he pulled
mp the team, seized the hatchet and
struck Mr.. Hitchcock blow on the
side of the head, knocking him sense
less. Mrs. Hitchcock, seeing what
had been done, Strengthened
herself up and screamed. He
then turned and struck. her.
knocking her senseless. He stopped
the team and noticing that they were
coming to life, finished his work by
striking them again on the head. He
then drove out to the place where he
buried them, and by this time had
recovered his senses enough to be
badly scared by what he had done.
He had nothing with him to dig a
hole, and he could not get them out
of the wagon. He therefore pro-
cured some rope and tied it to
their ankles and then pulled
the bodies out on the ground.
Knowing that he must get them out
of sight somehow, he jumped in the
wagon, and lashing his horses, drove
back to the Hitchcock house and pro-
cured two spades with which he dug
the hole. He then rolled the bodies
in and covered them up, and placed a
keg, which was near, on the mound.
His next move was to hide his overalls
and the watches of the murdered
people. The overalls he hid
In a clump of bushes and
and the shovels he threw away. He
drove back to the house and hid the
watches in the garret. Then he went
to Santa Ana and got Decker after
buying some things which he took
back to the house. He was emphatic
in his statement that Decker had
nothing to do with the murder.
He was positive in his assertions
that he had paid the $4,000 to Mr..
Hitchcock, but said he could not find
it when he searched him after he was
dead. He could not imagine what
had become of the money.
4 SECOND CONFESSION.
Yesterday morning Anschlag made
another confession, which agreed
with the story as told above, except
that he gave a different reason for
striking the fatal blows. His confess
sion of the night before was to the cf-
feet that he killed the Hitchcocks so
that he might recover the $4,000. which
he said he had given Mr.. Hitchc.lS.
In his confession yesterday he stated
that he had never paid Hitchcock the
balance Of the $4,000, and that all the
money that he had paid him was the
.t05. He confessed that he had never
been in possession of $4,000 and that
he had killed Mr.. and Mrs. Hitch
cock in order to obtain possession oi
the deed which he knew Mr.. Hitch.
cock had in his pocket. He thought
that If he obtained the deed to the
property in that manner, he could
remain in its possession. This was
the only material difference between
the two confessions. The explana
fions of the manner in which the
deed was accomplished were the
uome.
This confession was reduced to a
condition for use in the courts, but
was withheld from the papers by in
structions from the, District Attorney.