The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-08
HERMAN W. MUDGETT HANGED.
CONTINUED from First Page)

limbs. that continued for about ten min
utes- But he suffered none after the
drop said Dr. Scott. the prison physi-
The trap was sprung at precisely l0.l2is.
ana ntteen minutes later Holmes was pro-
nounced dead, though the body was not
cut down until l.45 O'Clock
After the body had been lowered from
the ScamOld and placed upon the Stretcher
and the stiffened knot finally loOsened,
and the moose removed. the black cap was
taken of. The face was but little dis
JorJed- 1t was slightly discOlOred and the
eyes were half open. The lips We're drawn
back and the teeth prOruded. A bruise
and an abrasion around the neck where
The rope had frightened was visible above
the coat collar.
After the body had been viewed by the
physicians and the manner Of death de-
termined, the stretcher was wheeled out
OF the corridor into the jail yard Here
Il was placed in an ordinary cheap pine
Goffin.
one noticeable thing about the coffin
was that IL was wide enough and deep
enough TO have held TWO men of Holmes
size. The coffin was put aboard an I'M
ucrtakerS wagon and conveyed 10 Inc
Roman Catholic cemetery OF the Holy
Cross. The only persons al the cemetery
We're the undertaken and his assistants,
two grave diggers two watchmen and
couple Of newspaper men. This little com
pany acted as pall-bearers and carried
the coffin TO the receiving vault. When
the vault was reached the object or the
extra SIZE OF the coffin was disclosed.
Holmes dread of an autOpy haunted him
constantly and almost his last thought
was 10 provide against such thing be-
ing attempted.
The last act in the receiving vault was
performed at Holmes express command.
The lid of the coffin was taken OF ana
the body was lifted out and laid on the
ground. Then the bottom of the coffin
was filled with cement; the body was
then replaced in the coffin and complete
" covered with the cement. II was
Holmes idea that this cement would hard
en- around his body and prevent any at
tempt at grave robbery. The coffin was
lett in the receiving vault under the
guard of two watchmen, who will remain
on duty all night.
Tomorrow afternoon the body will be
Inferred in a grave in the cemetery, and
II is probable al that time religious ser
vices will be conducted by Father Daley.
Holmes made no will and left no con-
tession. This is according to Mr.. ROlan.
He says he knows Holmes made no Will
and, while the murderer gave him this
morning big bundle of papers, the law
Yer says that he is confident that these
papers relate only to private business
matters. As yet Mr.. ROlan has had no
opportunity TO examine them.
Herman w. Mudgett, better known as
H.. ii. Holmes, was one of the most con-
splcuOuS criminals of modern times and
if the murder confessions" which he has
written can only partially be believed, he
was without peer as a blOOd-thirsty de-
mon. His recent ingenious Confession -
wherein he claimed to have killed twenty
seven persons was disproved, partly al
least, by the appearance of several of the
sO-called victims; but Holmes object in
making the confession was realized
the obtaining of a sum said to be 81 500.
and which amount is said to have been
settled upon the criminal l8-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 Sept. 2, 1894, of Benjamin F. Pitezel, his
fellow cOnspirator. The murder was com
mitted in the dwelling, No. 1876 Callow-
Hill street. Holmes conviction of muir
by the Pennsylvania supreme court of the
verdict and the recent refusal of Gov.
| Hastings to grant a respite are so well
known that narration of those facts is
Holmes was captured in Boston. Mass,
in the latter part of 1894, by owen Hans
com, the deputy superintendent of police,
upon the strength OF a 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
adelpha were hot on Holmes trail for
defrauding the concern out OF $4,000 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 in Texas, he volun-
tarily confessed to Deputy superintendent
Hanson to 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 re-
QUESTION papers. He expressed a willing
ness to be tried here on the conspiracy
charge in preference to that of horse
stealing at Fort Worth Before leaving
Boston, Holmes made this confession to
MIR. HanScOm:
when 1 concluded it was time to carry
out our scheme to defraud the insurance
company, / secured a stiff in New York
and shipped ii in a trunk to Philadelphia.
I turned the check for the trunk over 10
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 to New York Two days
after the payment of the money l saw
Pitezel in Cincinnati. l took the three
children to that city. where the father saw
them. Pitezel agreed to go south, and he
took one child, Howard. l took the two
girls to Chicago, because had business
there. We all met again in Detroit. Pit
eel took the children and went to South
America. During all this time Mrs. Pit
eel knew her husband was alive, but she
she was aware of that she would insist
that the crooked business be wound up
right away. In order 70 keep Mrs Pit
eZel away from her husband / had to tell
her he was here and there, travelling from
one city to another"
This was the first of a number of al
legged admissions that Holmes subsequent
~ made. In fact, he acquired a penchant
for making confessions" that surprised
the authorities.
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 it
varied somewhat from the one he made
in Boston 1t graphically narrated how
the body was substituted for Pitezel in the
Callowhill street house, and its identif-
cation by Alice Pitezel as that of her IA
Their 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 D. Howe, the St Louis lawyer, and
himself. 1t was in this confession" that
Holmes accused Howe of receiving $500
for his share in the transaction.
W f,r-+
recently the case against him was dropped
Soon after Holmes was brought to Phil
adelphia, Detective Geyer visited him in
the county prison in relation TO the finding
of the body at 1,3l6 Callowhill street on
Sept. I, 1894 After an hours conversa-
tion with the willy Holmes the detective
emerged from the prison with a "confes-
sion" in which the accused said that the
body was not that of Pitezel, but was one
substituted to defraud the insurance com
pany.
A week later Holmes honored Geyer
with another confession" Mr.. Geyer.''
he said, that story I told you about the
substituted body is not true. II is the