The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1895-08-29
A Statement Written in His Prs-
on Cell at Philadelphia.
ABOUT THE WILLIAMS GIRLS
Graphic Story OF the Death OF Mamie
Williams at the Hands
of Her Sister.


on at Philadelphia, and certified to by
his lawyers, going into the details of
his acquaintance with Minnie Williams,
is printed by the local papers. Holmes
writes that he first met Minnie Will
liams at an intelligence office kept by
one Campbell, on Dearborn street, Chi
cago, in January. 1893, and employed
her as a stenographer. She was in
stalled in his office in the building
which has become known as the
Holmes Castle" and. from March to
May OF that year she occupied rooms
in the building, adjoining the office.
Meals were served in the building and
if any bones We're found in stoves, it
would be found by a microscopic in
vestigation that they were the bones
of meat He continues
1T is certain no human body was
cremated there during my occupancy
of the rooms, my own experience years
ago being quite sufficient to show the
danger of such proceedings on account
of the awful odor If 1 had no other mo-
tive to deter me from such a course"
Holmes says that in April Minnie
Williams knowing him to be in need
of money, gave him a draft for s25O0,
the proceeds of a sale of real estate she
mad held in Texas, and asked him to
use it until she should need 1t. In order
that she should be protected he trans
ferred to her by warranty deed house
and lot at Willamette, ILL.,, valued at
$500. The money was returned to her
in May, 1898, being paid by Isaac R.
Hitt & Co. of Chicago. She desired to
convert her other southern property
into cash or improved northern proper
ty and he advised her to execute a
worthless deed (by having some one
other than herself sign the name), to
fictitious property and offer the proper
ty for sale at a very low price and
years later to demand an additional
sum in exchange for a good deed. This
was done, Clarence A. Phillips forging
the name of Alexander e. Bond upon
the deed so made, which deeds are still
in existence.
MINNIE WILLIAMS TAKEN ILL
About this time Holmes narrates that
Miss Williams was taken i'll, suffering
from acute pneumonia, and was re-
moved to the Presbyterian hospital
being enrolled as Mrs. Williams, as her
ailment was such that 1t was prudent
| for her to pass as married woman
| Her condition was brought about, SO
| Holmes says she told him, by a promi-
| nent Boston business man, head Of a
| firm dealing in musical instruments.
| with whose wife she visited at their
| house in Somerville. This man had ac.
| quired an influence over her which she
| was unable to resist, and betrayed her,
| and she met him frequently at a hotei
| near his place of business, breaking her
| engagement to marry an honest clerk.
| When she grew better and returned
to her house, her sister, Mamie Will
! liams, came from Texas to visit her
] Returning one evening early in July
| from day in the city he was greeted
| by a cry from Minnie Williams in the
| parlor, saying:
| DEATH OF NANNIE.
| "Is that you? My Godl 1 thought you
| would never come. Mamie is dead"
| She was seated upon the floor, hold
| ing her sisters head in her hands, rock
| ing and moaning as a mother would
| over her child. He found that Mamie
had been dead for hours, and laid her
body upon bed in his own room, find
ing no mark of violence but slight dis
coloration on one of her temples.
According to the story written by
| Holmes, Minnie Williams had been
away the preceding night and Holmes
had been also Unexpectedly detained
by business all night. When Minnie
| williams returned that morning she
noticed that his bed had not been oc-
cupied during the night. This is what
| Holmes writes:
KILLED HER SISTER.
"And with only this one thought in
her disordered mind, she had rushed
into an adjoining room where her sister
then sat, and in a voice which only
very few who would have been init
mately acquainted with Miss Williams
can appreciate she said, You devil, you
have stolen my husband from me- Al
the same time she had struck her sister
with a small foot-stool, causing her tC
fall to the floor, where, with hardly 6
struggle, she had ceased to breathe"
Holmes story of what was done fol
lows:
1--WE clothed Mamie in a light dres
that she had liked to wear and took ;
large trunk she had brought with he
from Texas and placed her in it.
went to the stable and obtained a GOV
cred conveyance, and upon my return
, | engaged q man 10 accompany me u
the house and help me place the trunl
in the carriage.
DISPOSING OF THE BODY.
, IT then drove to Lakeside and waite'
until night, then 1 procured a boat an
ulaced the trunk in the craft and pro
ceeded about half a mile from shore
There, in the darkness, l threw tn
f. body out.
Coming toward the shore / though
It wise to deposit the trunk upon an
= | other and more remote portion of tn
; | beach. l did this after returning tn
. boat, drove away and later came bac
: for the trunk. Very shortly thereafte
Hatch took Minnie Williams to Mi
waukee, where she remained in pr
! vate institution until later in, the sun
mer. The cause that produced her III
: sound mental condition had been n
moved. We kept Nannie's things se'
eral weeks until 1 could obtain time
dispose of them, when ! assorted SON
Of them and gave them to Pitzell, tel
, ing him that they were some that Mis-
"a | williams sent to his children. A
r others were burned in large stove
the third-story Office"