Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1895-09-12
DID HOLMES USE TT ?
THEORY THAT THE ALLEGED MUIR
DERER USED NlTRoBENzlNe.

Bodies Placed In This Deadly Chemical
Arc Completely Observation-Disclosures of
Some Notorious NIur,erers WHO We're
Scientific Men.
The mystery which surrounds tho dis
appearance Of some Of the alleged vic
Tins of DIR. II. H. Holmes has set Il
Buffalo chemist to thinking and tleoriz-
ing, and he has produced most novel
theory regarding the method probably
used by Holmes to make away with the
bodies of some Of his victims after all
the little preliminaries in the way of
collecting insurance money and the like
had been concluded.
Holmes is q man of scientific ideas, a
man who has kept abreast with the
march of science i'll all its branches,
aud who has been apparently something
Of pioneer i'll research himself. This
is shown by the discovery in his Chi
cago "castle" Of most mysterious flu
id. composed principally of petroleum,
which, when an acid was added, threw
off q gas which caused death i'll short
time. That much has been discovered.
What the acid was remains to be
learned
This Buffalo chemist, who seems to
have been devoting considerable time to
the matter, has worked out u theory
that Holmes may have used prepara-
tion known rs nitrobcnzine for tho re
moval Of his victims after he had used
them for whatever purpose he had in
view.
The great study of criminals when
they have committed murder is the
disposal Of the body of their victim,
aud, strange as it may seem, the most
educated 1nen, the most scientific, the
most studied thinkers as we'll as the un-
educated and the heavy Drained, all
commit tho fatal error of too great
caution.
There was tho Parkman- Webster mur-
der, one of tho most celebrated in the
history of killing in this country. Pro-
fessor Webster, the denonstrator of anat-
omy at Harvard college. killed Park
man. The professor had handled hun
dreds of cadavcrs i'll his time and was
thoroughly familiar with the disposal
of the remains of bodies after they left
the dissecting room. Yet, with all his
wonderful mind and the opportunities
at his command for the disposal of
body without suspicion, he attempted
to burn Parkman's remains and was
caught.
Every ono who reads the newspapers
at all must remember the great care ex-
ercised by the murderers of DR. Cronin
TO prevent discovery of their crime, and
SO with the murderer of Unger, i'll New
York, some years ago-the man who
killed his friend. August Boiler, and
shipped his body to Baltimore in
trunk. TO prevent identification Le
cut OFF the victims head aud threw it
into the East river as he crossed one
night with the trunk. Yet in the
forethought which he cxercised-and lie
spent two days figuring out his plans
for disposing Of the body With certain
safety to himself-he overlooked IL mark
Of positive identification, IL crooked lit
tie finger and most peculiar scar at
the joint. That identified the body, aud
Unger is now serving a 20 yea,s' sen-
tence. He would have been hanged if
the head could have been found. Had
he cut of the little finger and disposed
pf it he would be free man today.
! Holmes seems to have been more sue
cessful, for up to the present time there
does not seem to be, Judging from what
has been published, very much direct
evidence against him in any Of the
cases. True, bones have been found in
his house, but he has q defense for that
condition Of affairs in the fact that he
was q medical man and had the bones
for study. And through all his case the
question stands out clear and distinct,
."What became Of the bodiesi''
This may be solution Of the aues.
tion-this theory Of the chemist referred
to above
Some time ago in Mulhausen, Alsace,
there was an explosion in a chemical
factory in a room where there was stored
q qnantity Of what is known as nitro
bepzipe. There were several men en-
ployed in the room, and all escaped but
one. The pitrobeuzine Of course flooded
the place, and when the fire was put out
and search made for the body Of the
man the mixture was several feet deep
on the floor. 1t was thought the work
man had escaped, for no trace of him
could be found until part Of one foot
Mas found at the edge of pool of the
attTohopzine.
I, That set tho chemists to thinking, and
they experimental with the bodies Of
animals, with the result that it was
found the stuff destroyed every particle
Of the body, blood, bones, flesh and
teeth. Further experiments showed that
metal even would be destroyed by the
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