The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-07-16
P|ETZEL CHILDREN FOUND
Slaughtered BY the Insurance Fiend in
Canada.
ANOTHER ACT IN THE TRAGEDY
The Dead bodies Of tho Little Ones
Found Buried In o Ccllar-An.
other Murder Mt tho Door
Of Homes.

Toronto, Ont, July 15.-The bodies Of
Eta. Alice and Nellie Pietzel. the miss
ing daughters Of Benjamin F. Pietzel,
were found by Detective Cuddy. Of To-
ronto, and Grier of Philadelphia. this
afternoon, buried In the cellar Of house
No. l6, st. Vincent street. II. H.
Holmes. now under arrest at Philadel-
phia, Is believed to have deliberately
murdered the two girls after he had
first murdered their father In Philadel-
phia, and their brother In Detroit. In
quiries begun by the police led to the
knowledge that Holmes and the chill
dren lived at the house In question. and
search was made by the two officers
When they reached the cellar II ap-
peared to the detectives That something
had disturbed the cellar floor. and arm
ing themselves with shOvels they began
to dig. A short distance below the sur
face they came across the arm and a
portion of the head Of one Of the mur-
6ered girls, and further work soon re-
vealed the bodies OF the two victims.
They We're both nude and had lain
there. In all probability. since last Oc-
tober.
The bodies were buried three feet be-
low the surface and were In q fair
state Of preservation. Holmes the al
legged murderer Of the girls, Is held In
Philadelphia on charge Of conspiracy.
and nice legal point now presents
itself. The murder having been com
mitted In Canada. the accused must be
tried within its boundaries, but as
Holmes has pleaded guilty to one
charge In the United States he may in
sist on being sentenced for that.
H. H. Holmes, alias Herman w. Mud
gett, alias H. II. Howard. was born
In New Haven, Conn, and attended
a medical school at Burlington, VT, and
later at Ann ArbOr. Mich. He was
married at the latter place. He and a
friend swindled an insurance company
in Chicago out Of $4,000 soon after
graduating. They made another haul
Of $4,000 In similar way.
Career as a SwindIer.
Holmes went into the drug business
and speculated. His wife went home
and he married another woman, with
whom he went to California. Return
Ing in about year he went to house.
keeping with the woman typewriter Of
the company whose acquaintance he
had formed. He tried to cheat d fire
insurance company out Of 100000. but
failed, and learning that his typewriter
and her sister had inherited $50, ,0O0
laid a scheme to get the money. The
sister came to live with them and dis
appeared, while he and Minnie, the type
writer girl, took up their abode at the
Piazza hotel, Chicago.
Holmes next appeared In Terre Haute
Ind, where he bailed b. F. Pietzel out
Of Jail. From there he went to Frank
lin, Ind, where he married Miss Yoke.
and they spent their honeymoon In Den
ver where Holmes made $27. 900 in spec
ulation. At Philadelphia, later on. he
and Pietzel played the last card. Piet-
eel was insured in the Philadelphia Mu-
tual for $4,000. On Sept. 3 he was
found dead in the house. 1916 Callowhill
street, which he had rented under the
name OF B. F. Perry. His body was
badly burned and his face was almost
unrecognizable Holmes, Pietzers wife
and children identified the body as
PietzeIs and the insurance money was
paid over.
Then Train Robber Hedgespath gave
the whole case away to Chief Of Police
Harrison because Lawyer Howe. whom
he had gotten into the conspiracy, had
not paid him the promised reward.
Holmes was traced to Toronto, Burl-
ington and Boston, and in the latter
city was arrested. Meanwhile the
Pietzel children had disappeared. the
boy being traced to Indianapolis and
the two girls to Toronto.