St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-01
VAPOR THAT KILLS.
Experiments With the LIQUID
From Holiness, Vat.

CHICAGO, July 31-Experiments
We're made today with the LIQUID found
IN the bottom of the vat in the cellar
OF Holmes house and it was found
that when mixed with benzine or
Kerosene it would emit vapor so
oeadly that no human being could live
IN It, Whether or not Holmes used
the yapor for suffocating his victims
Is not known, but the police are in
cllned to favor such theory. Work.
men began today to saw away the
cedar vat where it is said Holmes
1 manufactured gas. The police are
trying to see if there is any connection
: between this vat and the big tank that
was uncovered Monday evening. Four
men also spent the day digging in
the cellar near the southwestern cor
ner of the building.
.Wh1le examining today under micro
scope the oil found in the vat the ex-
pert got some of it on his hand, and
later placed two of his fingers on
q an iron plate in the laboratory. A
short time afterwards he noticed that
t't the marks of his fingers were dis
,at1nctly visible on the iron, and all eff
+ forts to rub it off We're futile A test
Tor acid in the oil was then made, but
without result, as no trace could be
! Hound. A finer test on these points is
ito be applied. This discovery will clear
away a good deal of surmise on the
part of the police as to the theory
advanced by the expert, and that is
that Holmes got a small quantity of
this oil in bowl, added either pc
troleum, benZine, gasoline, or even
common kerosene to it, and placed it
in the vault. A deadly gas would be
given off Immediately, and all Holmes
had to do was to lure his victim into the
trap and then shut the door. Death
would soon result. The explanation
of the footprint on the iron of the
door is that one of the alleged victims
in her struggle upset the bowl of oil
and placed her foot in the liquid which
had run over the floor, and then placed
her foot against the door, leaving the
tell-tale mark. In addition to the 9TH
er tests, an effort will be made to see
if the vapor given off by the liquids
will burn, in order to see if the oil was
a part of Holmes gaS-making ma
chine. This was not done today, as it
was feared that the vapor might be
highly explosive, and precautions were
taken.
The police were today informed that
at the time Holmes was first supposed
to have left Chicago, he did not go
any farther than the stockyards dis
trict, where he opened a restaurant
under the name of H. H. Howard. He
employed a number of young women
as mattresses, and is said to have had
a. new force nearly every day. Among
them were two girls who came from
Wisconsin. A few nights after they
began work the neighborhood was
startled by female screams coming
from the Howard restaurant. Several
men ran to the building, and were in
time to meet the two girls as they
ran out of the hallway leading into
the house. They were clad only in
their night clothes, and it was some
minutes before they could be quoted
sufficiently to tell their story. They
said they had been sleeping together,
and had been awakened by a man who
gained an entrance to their room, and
who had placed wet cloth about their
faces. They thought the cloth had
been saturated with chloroform. Neigh
bors took the two girls in and cared
for them, and before the police had an
opportunity of arresting Howard he
disappeared.