The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-07-31
He always told the lie

for policy's sake. In his opinion de-
ception was the best policy and truth
dangerous eXpedient. In this re-
spect Holmes is without precedent, and
| probably will remain without a sue
cessor. In his nature eliminates that
strong elemental quality in the Ameri-
can voiced boastfully by z. I. Barnum
when he said: The American people
like TO be humbugged."
! For Holmes began life with the idea
! that the success and riches were at
tainable if the humbug was intricate
and novel and supported always by
endless lies.
! While medal student at Ann Ar
| Dor he swindled an insurance COM
pany by means Of a cadaver. After
| being educated On his wife's money he
/ fOrsook her. He went to Chicago and
engaged in ali kinds Of swindles. He
built house in that city. He con-
structed queer machine. A stream of
water ran in one end and a copious
flow of gas came out the other end.
y bright fire burned beneath. Holmes
claimed he could make and was MAX
ing gas from water. An expert ex-
amined it, declared it success.
Holmes sold the invention for 50. 600.
Later the gas company discovered that
he had tapped one of their mains and
the stream of water ran into a sewer.
Discovered in this, Holmes tore out
the machine, tapped a water main.
stuck a pipe in the hole under his
house, and announced that he had an
artesian well. The water became very
popular and was sold for 5 cents a
glass until the trick was exposed.
Meanwhile he was conducting three
stores in that curiOusly constructed
building in Chicago. These stores he
would point out to prospective pur-
chaserS, on the appointed day sending
all his clerks and friends there in a
stream to buy goods. which were
stored around the building and re-
turned to the counter and shelves.
when the perspective purchaser had
purchased the business, found that no
one bought and sold it back to Holmes
for little Of nothing. Holmes played
this deception over and over again.
He bought hundreds Of articles on
forged recommendations and never
paid for them, among them an iron
safe and two soda water fountains.
which We're hidden away in the queer
house and could not be replevined.
At the same time he was waging a
deceptive war on insurance companies.
At one time he went to a seaside re-
sort in Rhode Island, registered as ii.
II. Holmes, placed a corpse on the sea
shore, and then went to the hotel and
inquired for his friend III. II. Holmes.
The body was discovered, Holmes iden-
titled it as ii. ii. Holmes. Next he
burned down a building with 100000
insurance on it which the insurance
company refused to pay. Next he was
with Pitzel, who was insured for S1O.-
600, when PitZel died a violent death
in Philadelphia. Next he inyeigled
Mrs. Pitzel to small town in Vermont
and tried to kill her. Next he secured
possession Of her children and killed
them.
While residing in the curious build
ing in Chicago his girl typewriters and
housekeepers disappeared and have
never been heard from There We're
seven of these women.
Now Holmes is in Jail in Philadel-
phia. The police are, in their usual
stumbling over one another
in an effort to discover something and
prove nothing. The lies and lies and |
and intricate frauds that |
Holmes practiced make a tangIe that !
no policeman or detective can unravel. !
The police cannot find one reason why !
Holmes should have murdered those /
seven women and those three children. |
The police simply say he did it and are |
content to find motive later. The |
string of idiotic suggestions given
voice in the newspapers will lead to
the discovery Of no motive 1t is pos
sible that Holmes had no other motive
than to cover up with lie the lie of
The day before.
But whether his mysterious maneu-
Ters are ever solved, Holmes himself
S in Jail, will stand trial, and probably
lang, ending up his atrOcious life with
he lie that he is innocent