Omaha daily bee., 1895-12-01
HOLMES SENTENCED TO HANG
His Motion for a New Trial Was Promptly
Overruled.
PRISONER HAS LOST HIS CONFIDENT AIR
Presiding Judge Arnold Reviews the
Exceptions X by the Pris-
Oncr's Lawyers and De-
cides Against Them.
PRISONER HAS LOST HIS CONFIDENT AIR

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 30.-In the court
of oyer and terminer today Judge Arnold
refused to grant Herman w. Mudgetts, alias
H. H. Holmes, who was convicted on No
vember 2 of the murder in this city on
September 2, 1894, of B.. F. Pitzel, a new
trial, and sentenced the condemned murderer
to death. Holmes, when he came into court,
looked careworn, and seemed to have lost
that air Of confidence which has chung to
him throughout his ordeal. Court opened
with a brief tilt between Judge Arnold and
Lawyer Rotan, counsel for the defendant.
Judge Arnold charged that Mr.. Rotan had
offered an insult to the court by sending
briefs to Presiding Judge Thayer and Judge
Wilson, who had sat with Judge Arnold
when Holmss had argued for a new trial,
but had neglected to send him a copy. Mr..
Rotan disclaimed any intention OF insulting
Judge Arnold, and pleaded haste as an ex-
cuse for having neglected to send him a
brief.
Judge Arnold then proceeded to read the
courts answer to Holmes c~ounsel's reasons
for a new trial. He took up the fifteen ex-
ceptions to the verdict one at a time and
dwelt at length upon each. The main reasons
for a new trial which were put forth by the
defendants counsel were the admission Of
the testimony of Miss Yoke, who Holmes
uiLlV az III lawful II ne ulslTlCl az
%torney's opening speech to the jury when he
brought the murder Of the children into the
case, and that part of Mrs. Pitzsl's testimony
In which she said ts last time she saw her
children was in "the morgue at Toronto"
In reference to Miss Yoke's eligibility as
a witness the Judge said that 1t was the
opinion Of the court that Holmes was not
only married to the Willamette, H., woman
when he welded Miss Yoke, but that he also
had a wife In Gilman, N. II. Therefore the
marriage to Miss Yoke was null and void and
the evidence was admissible,
The opening speech of the district attorney,
he said, was not open to objection. 1t was the
evident intention of Holmes, said Judge
Arnold, to take off the entire Pitzel family in
order to secure property belonging to the
murdered man. AS to the statement of Mrs.
Pitzel, the Judge instructed the jury not to be
by the woman's statement.
He closed by saying that the court APP
proved the verdict and refused a new trial.
District Attorney Graham then arose and
asked that sentence b. pronounced, Holmes
was ordered to stand up. Judge Arnold said:
Herman w. Mudgetts, have you anything
to say"
Holmes replied in a barely audible voice:
II have nothing to say"
Judge Arnold then pronounced the death
sentence In the usual form, after which
Holmes was taken from the court to prison.
Hastings will fix the day Of Holmes
An appeal to the supreme court
will be taken at once.
HOLMES WAS UNMovED.
When the words that settled his doom were
pronounced in low. impressive tones, Holmes
was unmoyed. During the entire time he
did not finch, but looked the judge squarely
In the eye, and as the last sound died away
he turned to one OF his attorneys and re-
quietly: "Well. that settles ALL"
He was then led from the dock. The
opinion covered about forty pages Of type
copy. All the facts brought out In
the evidence were carefully set forth, and
he varied statements made by the prisoner
regarding the identity OF the body and man
ner Of death were critically analysed. Every
)ne Of the numerous exceptions submitted by
he defendant were oyerruled, and in one