Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-11-22
SWINDLER HOLMES STORY
A Romance of Shrewd Crime
and Intrigue.
.BIGAMIST AS WELL AS A THIEF
Some of His Sharp Insurance
Operations.
Interesting Developments In the Famous
Insurance Conspiracy Holmes Tells the
Story of His Life--A Career of Fraud and
Crime.

Herman Mudgett, alias III. Ii. Holmes,
now prisoner in Boston; Jeptha b.
Howe, the st. Louis lawyer, who col
lected the insurance money on B. Il.
Pitzel's policy for the latter's widow,
and the widow herself. The indictment
reads for conspiracy to cheat and de-
fraud"
Alexander Mcknight, vice-president
of the Fidelity Mutual Co., made the
following statement this afternoon
"While the suspicion has grown until
we are nearly positive that Benjamin F.
Pitzel was murdered, the only charge
made before the grand jury was that of
conspiracy to defraud."
81 am positive that the body found on
September 4th at No. 1915 Callowhill
street, on which an inquest was held
the next day as that of b. f. Perry, is
that Of B. +. PItzel," said Coroner Ash.
bridge to-day. II am not at liberty at
present to disclose my reasons for this
assertion" It was stated this afternoon
that Mrs. Pitzel had been arrested in
Burlington, VT, and made q confession.
In Boston to-day Holmes was re-
moved from the city prison to police
headquarters, where his photograph and
measurements were taken. In private
stenographer for use in Philadelphia.
He was careful not to implicate any one
except himself, and he stated positively
that the body found in the room at
Philadelphia was not that Of p. +.
Pitzel, the insured man, but a corpse
y obtained from medical friend. The
Boston police authorities, is is stated, do
not place credence in Holmes story in
this connection and believe that Pitzel
was murdered.
In st. Louis, Jeptha B. Howe, an at
torney, was arrested on the charge of
conspiracy in connection with the case.
He was released on 900 bail.
PHILADELPHIA, Pa, Nov 20.-Inter-
esting developments continue to- be
made in the alleged conspiracy to
swindle the Fidelity Mutual Life Asso-
citation. III. III. Holmes, who is alleged
to have insured the life of B. f. Pitzel
for $4,000 and attempted to collect the
money by representing that body
found in a house on Callowhill street,
near Broad street, was that of Pitzel,
arrived in this city to-day from Boston,
where he was arrested on Saturday.
Mrs. Pitzel and her son and daughter
and Mrs. Holmes accompanied the party
from Boston. The detective who had
charge of Holmes says the prisoner
offered him brhe of $500 to allow him
to escape by hypnotizng the detective.
The proposition having no effect, the
detective said Holmes entered into gen
eral conversation and then told the story
of his life.
Holmes said he was raised in Burling-
ton, VT, and so well educated in school
Shat 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 a medical
student, who, he said, furnished the
: body in New York in the present case.
He refused to divulge his name. Dur
u Ing vacations they worked on farms to
raise their college expenses, but one
summer they found themselves without
s. means, and it was then that the medical
man suggested the idea of getting a
Z body and beating an insurance company.
This was 12 years ago. The doctor got
bis life insured for $l2,500, they obtained
a body in Chicago, took it East, arranged
rtae details of Identification and success
\ fully got the money, with which they
continued their studies. He refused to
kname the company thus swindled.
NJ They worked the scheme afterward
&ig sums ranging from $4,000 to
100000. Once Holmes got his own
lie insured for $4,000. He went to a
botel in Rhode Island. At that time
<ne wore beard. lie secured corpse
in Chicago, cut off the head and took
ihe body to a lonely spot not far from
#the hotel. Then he shaved off his
beard, returned to the hotel, asked fol
Holmes and engaged room to wait fol
him. He had brought the head with
him and burned it beyond recognition
in the fireplace of the hotel. This
scheme, however, fell through, the
mother Of his wife, when she discovered
lit, threatening to tell the police, and
Holmes fled to the West.
Resuming his story, Holmes said thai
awhile living in Chicago about eighteen
months ago, he fell in with typewriter
girl and furnished house on the out
skirts where they lived together. A
- Younger sister came to visit them, and
the woman grew so Jealous of her tha
in quarrel one day she struck her oyel
the head with a stool and killed her
ITO save the woman with whom he was
Hliving Holmes said he put the body in {
n trunk, loaded it with stones, and sunk i
in the lake. This girl had property il
Texas, and he and Pitzel took it off hel
M hands and sent her abroad. 1t wa
worth, he said, $4,000, and after get
ting it in their hands they went through
MTexas buying car loads Of horses OF
inotes on this property, but as the.
never had legal title to the property TIL
notes were worthless, and it is for thi
affair that they are wanted in For
iWorth. TO save this property, Holme
said, he and PItzel formed the schem
of swindling the Fidelity Company. H
told the detective that for the crimes b
has committed he deserves to be hange
n.dozen times.
Holmes is not lacking for money, a
he himself admitted that at the presen
lime he is supporting nearly two doze
persons, including the typewriter gir
her mother and an lmbecile brother, tw
prphans in Chicago who live in one q
his properties, three separate ailege
wives and their children and his ow
mother and father in Kankakee. II
would not give the names OF the womel
He firmly maintains that Pitzel is aliy
In San Salvador, and that he will hes
trom him through the personal colum
pf a certain New York newspaper.
sf The police say they will make oth'
irrests. They maintain that Mrs. Pitz
was duped, that Mr.. Pitzel was mu
J aered and that the body found was thu
y Pitzel, Dispatches from several cltl'