The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1895-09-14


The details which arc coning 70 light
regarding the career Of 81. II. Holnss,
the murderer, have 10 parallel since tho
times Of 0illes Dc Rsts better Known -
Blubeard-or the Marqulss do Brinvil-
liers. Holmes i supposed, on evidence
which il coming to the police, to hsvs
murdered man named Peitsel and his
children, Emelie Cigrand, Minnie Wilt
iams, Pearl Conner and perhaps score
Of Others. He operated al over the coun-
try, in Canada, in Philadelphia, In Miss
issippi, but above oil in Chicago; DO y
now in Jail in Philadelphia, awaiting .
trial. His motive for committing his
crime was generally money; be had in
sured the lives of his victims before he
killed them. But a. several of the miss
ing persons whom he is supposed to have
put out Of the way were young and hand
some girls, it may be suspected that he
was actuated by other motives ~ we'll.
In the case of Bluebeard de Retz, who
was man of rank and wealth, lust was
the sole motive; Madame de Brinvilliers
sometimes poisoned her victims to get
their money but many of her crimes
seem to have been insti2ated by pure
devilishment.
Holmes is supposed to have decoyed
his victims into his ''castle" at Chicago, q
place on Sixty third street, built by him
self. On the ground floor he had drug
store; above there is labyrinth of dark
rooms, winding passages, hidden recesses,
concealed stairwsys and strange trap
doors. 1t reminds the visitor of death
trap. On the floor above the drugstore
is laboratory which was found to contain
poisons enough to kill whole city.
Near this is an Office containing q tall
cylindrical stove to which cling faint
odors of burned flesh. On the other side
are bathrooms, in ono of which there is a
movable panel in the floor; when raised
it reveals secret stairway to the cellar.
The walls of these rooms are loosely con-
structed Of lath and plaster, deadened
with sheets of mica. From the roof to
the cellars runs Q narrow chute through
which heavy bodies could be lowered ;
another chute with q concealed stairway
behind it leads from the third floor to the
laboratory. In every direction are traps
and hiding places, of some of which it
was difficult to find the entrance.
The cellar is the browning triumph of
this curious edifice. It is divided with
loosely constructed cells or compartments
resting on soil of sand aud mud, which
is supposed to have been Holmes GENE
terry. Human bones have been found
there. One compartment contains gas
tank in which the gas which Holmes is
supposed to have used was generated /;
another is filled with vat where bodies
are said to have been decomposed in
quick lime. There was no regular en-
trance to the cellar; it was reached by q
series of secret stairways and chutes of
which Holmes only had the secret.
How Holmes put his victims to death
the police have not made up their minds.
In some cases, as in that of the stenogrs.
pher, Minnie Williams, he is supposed to
have let them go to bed in their rooms,
while he entered as soon as they were as.
leep through secret panel; he then
turned on the gas and left them to as
phyxiate. The police have been puzzled
by the appearance of dummy vaults
which seem to have been constructed fol
no possible purpose except to smother
people in. In secret room heavy
bench was found, stained with blood; this
would seem to imply that some at leas
of the victims were dubbed or stabbed t6
death on the bench. When life was ex.
tinct the bodies seem to have been shot
down one of the chutes into the cellar
where they were plunged into the quick
lime vat and left there until the flesh wa
consumed. The bones would then b.
placed in the cylindrical stone and an at
tempt made to burn them; those which
escaped the fire were buried in the eartl
of the cellar floor. Holmes was an exper
in dlsposing of bodies, but he could no
destroy all traces of their existence.
If the evidence on the trial confirms tn
present theories of the police, the case
almost unprecedented. It far outdoe
that of the Benders in Kansas in all tn
elements Of horror. The man Holme
was we'll known in Chicago, and his dru,
store was constantly visited by resident
of Sixty third and Wallace streets. TIL
druggist filed prescriptions with smil
ing face, which bore no sign of the dea'
body which was sizzling in the lime va
on the floor below. His story beggal
such feats of the Imagination a. d,
Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde.
Nay Be Petri6ed
Thomas Holmes Of south street an
Marcy avenue, Brooklyn, an expert o
the subject of embalming fluids, claim
to have perfected process by which th
human body can be petrlded. He calls
the anticeptic gas process of embalmine