The morning call., 1894-11-21
PRINCE OF THUGS.
Holmes Tells His Life
History.
MURDER HIS AMUSEMENT
And Beating Insurance Com
panies His Profession.
HE DESERVES TO BE HANGED,
Which Fact He Has Himself Ad-
mitted to Pinkerton De-
tectiVe Officer.

SpIaGOT II. ii. dOIneS, accompanied Dy |
Mrs. PitZel and a pretty woman who calls |
herself Mrs. Holmes, arrived in this city |
to-day. in the custody of Detective Craw-
ford and Special Agent Perry of the |
Fidelity Mutual Life Association. Mrs. |
Pitzeps 16-year-old daughter Media and her
1-year-old boy were also with the party. |
Mrs. Holmes disappeared soon after her
arrival aud no cew to her whereabouts !
could be obtained. 1t is thought she is
stopping at a hotel in The neighborhOod of
the police headquarters.
After the arrival the party was closeted
with Superintendent of Police Linden
until late in the afternoon. When the
conference was over Detective Crawford
detailed the story of the trip, the most i'm
portant feature of which was the relation
made to him by Holmes of the story of his
whole life. 1t reads like the most sensa-
tional of romances. Holmes sat beside
the detective with handouts on and the
train had scarcely emerged from the
Boston depot before the prisoner tried TO
bribe his captor. He offered the detective
$500 If he would allow him to escape. He
said he ha6 frequently hypnotiZed persons,
having acquired the art from a college
professor in the West. He said he could
get the money from his wife and Mrs. Pitzel.
When he saw that his words had no effect
he en- tered into general conversation and
told the story of his life. He said be was
raised in Burlington. VT, and so we'll edu-
Gated in the schools there that at Is he was
teacher. For some time afterward he
went to college there and later in Detroit,
Mich. Here he formed the acquaintance
of medical student who, he said, fur
nished the body in New York in the pres
ent case. He refused to divulge the name
of the student. During vacations they
worked on farms TO raise their college ex-
penses, but one summer they found them
selves without means, and then the medi-
cal man suggested the idea of getting a
body and beating an insurance company.
This was twelve years ago. The doctor
got his life insured for $12, 900, and they
Obtained body in Chicago, took i East,
arranged the details of Identification and
successfully got the money, with which
they continued their studies lie refused
to name the company thus swindled.
They worked the scheme afterWard with
success, obtaining sums ranging from
$4,000 to $50, 600. Once Holmes got his
life insured for $4,000 He went to a
hotel in Rhode Island. At that time he
wore beard. He secured a corpse in
Chicago, cut off the head and TOOK the
body to lonely spot not far from the ho-
tel. Then he shaved off his beard, returned
to the hotel, asked for Holmes and en-
gagged a room to wait for him. lie had
brought the head with him and burned 1t
beyond recognition in the fireplace of the
hotel. This scheme. however. fell through,
the mother of his wife when she dscoy-
cred the scheme threatening to tell the po-
lice, and Holmes fed to the West.
Resuming his story he said that while
living in Chicago abou; eighteen months
ago he fell in with Typewriter girl and
furnished house on the outskirts, where
they lived together A young sister came
to visit them and the woman grew so
jealous Of her that in quarrel one day
she struck her over the head with stool
and killed her. To save the woman with
whom he lived, Holmes said he put the
body in a trunk, loaded it with stones and
sunk it In the lake.
The girl had property in Texas and he
and PitZel took it off her hands and sent
| her abroad. 1t was worth, he said, $40
900. and after getting it in their hands
they went through Texas, buying carloads
of horses on notes on this property, but as
they never had legal title to the prop
erty, the notes were worthless and it is
tor this affair that they are wanted in Fort
| Worth. To save this property, Holmes
said he and PitZel formed the scheme of
swindling the Fidelity Company. He told
the detective that for the crimes he COM
mitted he deserved to be hanged dozen
| times.
Holmes is not lacking for money, as he
himself admitted that at the present time
| he is supporting nearly two dozen persons.
including the girl murderer. her mother
and an imbecile brother. two orphans in
Chicago, who live in one of his properties,
three separate alleged wives and their
children and bis own mother and father
in Kankakee. He would not give the
names of the women. He firmly main
tained that Pizel is alive in San Salvador
and that he will hear from him through
the personal column of a certain news
paper. Mr.. Perry said that as a result of
the interview it had been decided to arrest
a number of other persons whose names
would not yet be given out.
Mr.. Perry related in detail the story of
Holmes arrest in Boston and the manner
in which Mrs. Pilzel was decoyed from
conference to-day nothing had been said
that would in the least degree refute his
original theory that Pitzel had been mur-
dered.
When In the West he saw the parents of
Mrs. Pitzel. and they told him that their
daughter had complained of the exorbi-
tant fee charged by the st. Louis lawyer
s25o0. In corroboration Of his murder
theory Mr.. Perry said that be had from
Mrs. Ptzel an exact description of her
husband, agreeing in every respect with
that of the corpse found in the Callowhill-
street house. Mrs. Pitze, he continued.
was perfectly innocent of any completely
in the whole affair. She told Perry last
night that she had received only $4,000 In
cash. Size said Holmes had taken $4,000 of
the money and put it in a speculation in
Fort Worth, In which PiiZel was also in
erested. Holmes told Perry that this was