Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-05-08


After the body had been viewed by
the physicians and the manner OF death
determined the stretcher was wheeled
out OF the corridor into the jail-yard.
Here II was placed IN an ordinary, cheap.
pine coffin. one noticeable thing about
the coffin was thnt Il was wide enough
and deep enough TO have held two men
Of Holiness size. The coffin was put
aboard an undertaker's wagon and con-
veyed 10 the Roman Catholic Cemetery
OF the Holy Cross. The only persons at
the cemetery were the undertaken and
his assistants, two grave-diggers. two
watchmen. and a couple OF newspaper
men. This little company acted as pail
bearers. and carried the coffin to the re-
ceiying vault.
A sHROCD OF CEMENT.
When the vault was reached the object
OF the extra size Of the coffin was dis
closed. Holiness dread Of an autopsy
haunted him constantly, and almost his
last thought was TO provide against such
a thing being attempted. The last act
in the receiving-Sault was performed at
Holiness express command. The lid CT
the coffin was taken or and the body
was lifted out and laid on the ground.
Then tho bottom Of the coffin was filed
with cement. The body was thea re-
placed In the coffin, and completely COW
cred with cement II was Holiness idea
that this cement would harden around
his body. and prevent any attempt at
grave-robbery. The coffin was left in the
receiving-vault under the guarf OF two
watchmen. who wlll remain on duty all
night Tomorrow afternoon the body
will be inferred.
Holmes made no viii. and left no con-
fession This is according 10 Mr.. Rotan.
lie says he knows Holmes made no VIII,
and while tho murderer gave him this
morning a big bundle Of papers, the law
yer insists he f. confident that these
papers relate only to private business
matters A. yet. Mr.. Rotan has had no
opportunity to examine them.
HOLINESS CRIMES.
Herman W. Mudgett, better known as
H. H. Holmes. was one Of the most con-
Epicuous criminals Of modern times, ana
il the murder confessions" which he has
written can only partially be believed, he
was without peer as a blood-thirsty de-
mon. His recent confession" wherein
he claimed 10 have killed twenty-seven
persons. was dlsproved, partly at least.
by the appearance Of several OF the so
called victims: but Holiness object In
making the confession" was realized
the obtaining OF q sum, said TO be 1880,
and which amount is said TO have been
settled upon the criminals lS-year-old
son.
while the Confessions" have served to
increase the sensationalism Of the case,
the only capital crime for which Holmes
had to answer was the killing in this
city, on September 2, 1894 Of Benjamin f.
Pitezel. his fellow conspirator The muir
der was committed in the dwelling No.
1916 Callowhill street Holiness convc-
ton of murder I'm the first degree, the
affirmation by. the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court Of the verdict, and the recent re-
fusal of Governor Hastings TO grant a
respite, are so well known that MARIA
ton Of these facts is unnecessary.
Holmes was captured in Boston, Mass,
i'm the latter part OF 1894. by owen Han
soon. the Deputy Superintendent Of Po-
lice. upon the strength Of telegram from
Fort Worth. Tex, where he was wanted
for horse-stealing and for other charges
OF larceny. At that time officials OF the
Fidelity Mutual Life Association OF Phil
adeiphia, were hot on Holiness trail for
defraudlng the concern out Of $1,000 in
connection with Pitezels death, the lat
ter being insured for this amount. and
as the accused believed horse-stealing to
be a high crime I'm Texas, he voluntarily
confessed to superintendent Han
scom the insurance fraud. He did not.
for a moment. dream that he was then
suspected of the murder of Pitezel. and
he came to Philadelphia without requisi-
ton papers. He expressed a willingness
to be tried here on the conspiracy charge
I'm preference TO that of horse-stealing at
Fort Worth. Before leaving Boston
Holmes made this confession TO Mr.
Hanscom:
CONFESSION NO. /.
when concluded IL was time to carry
out our scheme 10 defraud the insurance
company, l secured a stiff I'm New York
and shipped Il in trunk to Philadelphia
/ turned the check for the trunk over to
Pitezel on the Sunday nearest the LIST OF
September. ] instructed him how to pre-
pare the body, and in three hours we
were on our way 20 New York. Some
days after the payment Of the money I
saw PiteZel in Cincinnati l took the
three children TO that city. where the
father saw them. Pitezel agreed 10 20
South, and he took one child. Howard.
took the two girls TO Chicago because l
had business there. We all met again in
Detroit Pitezel took the children and
went 10 South America. During all this
time Mrs. PiteZel knew her husband was
alive but she did not know he had the
children. II she was aware Of that she
would insist that the crooked business
be wound up right away In order TO
keep Mrs. PiteZel away from her hus-
band l had TO tell her he was here and
there. travelling from one city to an
other"
This was the first Of number of al
legged admissions that Holmes subsequent
ly made In fact he acquired a penchant
for making confessions" that surprised
the authorities.
L.. fl.f. 4
for believing Holmes had murdered Pite-
eel and the three children. so when the
prisoner arrived in Philadelphia he was
urged to make another confession" and
he did so without any hesitation, but II
varied somewhat from the one he made
in Boston. IT graphically narrated how
the body was substituted for Pitezers in
the Callowhill-street house, and It's iden-
tifcation by Alice pitezel as that OF her
father a week afterward. Holmes also re-
lated how the money was received from
the insurance company. and its subse-
quent division between Mrs Pitezel. Jep-
tina -. Howe. the ST. Louis lawyer and
himself. 1t was in this confession" that
Holmes accused Howe of receiving $500
for his share i'm the transaction. Howe
was indicted for conspiracy but recently
the case against him was dropped.
CONFESSIONS 2 AND 3.
Soon after Holmes was brought to Phil
adelphia Detective Geyer visited him in
the county prison in relation 10 the find
ing the body al 1915 Callowhill street on
September 4, 1894 After an hours con-
versation with the willy Holmes the detec-
tive emerged from the prison with "con-
fesslon," in which the accused said that
the body was not that Of Pitezel, but was
one substituted to defraud the Insurance
company.
week later Holmes honored Geyer
g. In,