The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-07-31

| employees about the building TO make
various sized purchases, all OF which
was stored away in an upstairs room
| Jones bought the store. In the trade
he turned in some real estate and Mr..
! Holmes had traded some Of his. In
the final settlement it was found thai
| the titles to the realty on botn sides
! was cloudy and lawsuit followed
| The result was that Holmes gained po-
| session Of the store and held II until
he got cash customer soon after.
| Holmes bought a big safe for one 81
his unfinished buildings. md when the
| collector came for his money ne refused
| to pay it., and told him 10 take the
| safe. The men went after i, but they
| found there was neither door nor win
dow in the room large enough for the
| safe TO pass through. Holmes told
them to take the safe but warned them
not TO mar the building. The safe e
still there. Another characteristic
| deal Of Holmes was the sale of his res
| taurant to Clarence a. Phillips. Phil
/ lips traded house and lot in Aurora
/ and some cash for the property. After
| he had been in possession for while
! he found that all the fixtures had been
! bought on credit and never paid for by
! Holmes, and one by one the articles
necessary 10 conduct a restaurant were
taken away from him. Phillips loss
was about $1,000.
| Among other purchases which Holmes
made on credit was a large quantity
| of furniture. Finding they could get
| no money the furniture company de-
! ter1nined to take back the goods, but it
could not find them. Holmes had stored
| the furniture in a room in his curious
/ ~ constructed house, and walled up the
| door. Subsequently the hiding place
was revealed for a consideration of
t So by a colored man employed by
| Holmes, and the goods were recovered.
/ Holmes transactions Of this kind were
| too numerous TO be recorded.
HIS INSURANCE SWINDLES.
| 1t was in insurance frauds that his
| peculiar genius was best shown, but he
| was not always successful on one
| occasion ne took a cadaver of about
| his own size to a seaside resort in
Rhode Island and registered at a hotel
as II. II. Holmes. He burned the head
I off the corpse and took it down by the
| seasbore. Then he shaved off his
beard and made other alterations in
his appearance, went back TO the hotel
registered under another name, and in
quired for his friend Holmes. The
body was found on the beach. Holmes
recognized ii as the body of Holmes and
attempted to collect an Insurance poll
cy for $4,000, but the insurance COM
pany suspected fraud and refused to
pay it,
/ Under the alleged ownership of the
Campbell-Yates Manufacturing compa-
ny Holmes insured the building on
Sixty-third street, Chicago, for $50 900
One night it mysteriously took fire
and was burned out. The insurance
company refused to pay the loss, and
| for three months tried TO arrest Holmes
who lodged about from point to point
! in Chicago until December Is. 1893,
/ when he disappeared along with Minnie
Williams and Benjamin f. PietZel.
HOldmes was next heard of in con-
nection with the PitZel affair, appear
ing in Philadelphia, accompanied by
| PitZel, who was sailing under the name
| of Il. +. Perry. Perry took out a pol
| icy on his life for 900 from the Fidel-
ity Mutual Life Insurance company of
Philadelphia. He took a room at No,
1916 Callowhill street, opening a patent
agency there. September last there
was a fire in that room. The next
morning the charred remains of a man
was found with the face completely
diSfigured by fire. A short time after
ward a letter was received from St
Louis saying that the dead man was
really Il. +. PitZel and the name Perry
| had been assumed by him on account of
| financial troubles. Identification of the
! body was made by Pitzers daughter
/ Alice, and Holmes collected the $4,000
| policy.
When the fraud was discovered off
Gals of the Fidelity company loca ted
+ Holmes in Boston, where he and Mrs.
| PitZcl were arrested Nov. II. Mrs. Pit
| eel was cogniZant of the fraud against
| the Insurance company, but was led by
| Holmes to believe her husband was
| still alive and that another body had
been substituted. When the insurance
| money was paid Mrs. Pitzel was i'll in
| St. Louis. Holmes advised Mrs. Pit
| Eel to take two of her children and go
| to the home of her parents in Galva,
| Ills, to recover her health. He said
| he would relieve her of the care of
Alice, Nellie and Howard and send
| them to school. Mrs. PitZel consented
| TO the arrangement. Holmes took
| charge Of the three children and went
| away with them. It IS known that
| for a while they We're in indianapolis
which is the last place the boy Howard
| was ever seen. Detective Geyer of Phil
adelphia is now in that city looking for
| his body. The bodies of the girls were
! dug up in the basement of house in
/ Toronto which Holmes rented last WIN
/ ter and where he is known 10 have ia
| ken them. When Mrs. PitZel recovered
| her health she became anxious 20 see
| her children. The last place she stop
| ped before her arrest was in a house
| in Burlington. Vt. which Holmes had
! digging hole in the cellar. He SEEM
ed greatly disturbed at the interrupt
! ton and said he was making the eX-
! caVatiOnS to hide a tin box i'm. In the
/ light OF the latter developments Mrs.
| Pitzel thinks he was digging a grave
| for her.
MYSTERY OF MINNIE WILLIAMS
! whether Holmes ever married Min
ME Williams IS not known. She wrote
| 10 her friends that she had married a.
! man named Harry Gordon. II is more
/ IMAM probable that Gordon was Holmes
but If this view is taken IL is difficult
/ to believe Miss Williams an innocent
! victim, Tor she was present when he
| married Miss Georgia Yoke in Denver
1 under the name of Howard. The dis
! appearance Of Minnie Williams and her
! sister Mamie Is o complete there is
| little doubt both We're murdered by
| Holmes. Minnie Williams. Southern
| girl. came u Chicago - find work as
! a Steno%rapher. She was possessad Of
| property in Fort Worth valued at $50
| coo and she fell into the hands Of this
! man Holmes, who always had an eve
/ out Tor pretty girls and money. Minnie
! sent Tor her sister Mamie - make her
/ a visit Mamie came away from home
| hurrjedly and left instructions II she
! uld not return Al certain time u send
/ her trunk after her Her trunk was
| shipped 10 Chicago. but was never taxi
| en- out or the express office here. Holmes
| says Mamie became attached 70 him
I which aroused Minnie's jealousy and
/ that Minnie killed her sister. Mamie
/ Williams disappeared in July 1928.
Minnie was seen a late as December
I 1855. Holmes got possession of her
/ Fort Worth property.
Emline Cisrani Is another girl whom
/ Holmes Is supposed 10 have murdered
/ She was formerly EMPLOYED in ne Of
/ nee Of the Kelley institute az Dwight.
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