St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-03
MURDER OF BENJAMIN PIETZEL
BROUGHT HOME TO
( HOLMES.
CHICAGO POLICE REJOICE.
LONG LABORS AT LAST MEETING
WITH SUBSTANTIAL RE- a
SUITS.
aUINLAN AND WIFE WEAKEN.
Partial Story of the Crime Ex.
tOrted on Promise of Im-
munity.

CHICAGO Aug. 2.-The police have
at last obtained a partial confession
from Pat Quinlan, the janitor of
Holmes "castle," and have, they be-
ieve, positive evidence that Ben
jamin F. PietZel was murdered in
this city by Holmes and the corpse
sent to Philadelphia. The confession
was Wormed out of the Quinlans by
means of tip given the local Off
GERS by Detective Geyer, of Phila-
delphia, who arrived in this city to-
day. The exact nature of the story
told by the Quinlans the police will
not reveal, and in fact Chief Bade-
noch and Inspector Fitzpatrick
have both denied that Quinlan or
his wife made any confession at all.
Notwithstanding the denial of the
police, however, it is positively known
that Quinlan made and signed con-
feSsion, because it was left where
Quinlan's signature on the document
could be seen, although the subject
matter under which he wrote his
name could not be ascertained. To-
night, however, it was learned that
a confession was made covering all
the details of the murder of Pietzel,
with the exception of the actual
place in which the crime was COM
mitted. This, the police declare, they
+ will have tomorrow, and they de-
clare that by sunset on Aug. 5 they
will have indisputable evidence that
Pietzel came to his end through the
direct agency of H. H. Holmes. The
confession was obtained from the
Quinlans only after the hardest kind
of work, and at the price of a prom
ise of immunity from punishment for
all part the Quinlans may have
borne in the murder of Pietzel or
other crimes committed by Holmes.
MRS. QUINLAN'S EVIDENCE.
Mrs. Pat Quinlan knew of the disap-
Holmes castle, and saw the body of
the woman after she was dead. She
further knew, and has admitted, that
Pearl Conner disappeared in the castle
farm at Lake Michigan Mrs. Con-
ner's body was disposed of by burial
within the castle, somewhere close to
the spot where Pearls supposed body
L
have also admitted partially that a
business in receiving and disposing
of dead bodies stolen from country
graveyardS was carried on in the cas-
tie under the direction of Holmes.
Graves in the western part of Mich
igan, at Grand Haven, Holland, st.
Joseph and other places, were de-
spoiled of bodies.
Chief Badenoch took Mrs. Quinlan
and her husband to the castle today,
with Inspector Fitzpatrick and Detec-.
tives Fitzpatrick and Norton. The obs
ject of this trip was more for the pur-
pose of letting Quinlsp and his wife
meet than any other. They We're
closeted together alone for an hour i'll
the room in which the Julia Conner
carpet lies, and the chair belonging to
the murdered woman stands. What
took place between them no one knows,
but Chief Badenoch and the detectives
are nearer the solution Of the Holmes
mystery than they ever were before.
They now have positive proof that Mrs.
Conner and her daughter Julia or
Cora Quinlan, were murdered in the
building while the mother was in his
employ. New witnesses have also
been located. Jasper Richardson, the
eXpessman, wanted to back up the
testimony of M c. Chapel, Holmes
''bone rigger," is not dead, as re-
ported. He corroborates ChappeFs
story, and has told the police just how
much work Holmes 81 done in the
years 1891 to 1893, and where the pack
q eyeS'' he ba nd1e6 wore 6elivered