The herald., 1896-05-08
MULTI MURDERER HOLMES
Pays the Last Penalty of His
Crimes
1E IS HANGED BY THE NECK
Ia Vindication Of the Majesty Of the
Law
The Strange Criminal With His Last Breath
SoIemnIy Asserts His Innocence Of
tho Pitzel 1urders
Press Special Wire.

| ThlLADELPtlA, IA, May III. IL.
Holmes was hanged at Moyamensing
prison this morning The drop fell at
| lo:l,. Half an hour later he was pro-
! nounced dead. His neck was broken by
the fall.
Even on the see fold he was probably
the coolest person in the solemn assem-
| blage. In few we'll chosen words he
proclaimed mis- innocence OF any muir
der. including that for which he was
convicted and hanged. He declared the
| only wrong doing in taking human life
for which he could be held responsible
consisted in the death Of two women.
who died as result Of criminal opera
tons by his hands. He did not name
these victims
Holmes spent the greater part of last
night in writing letters At midnight
| he went to bed and slept soundly until
6 o'clock this morning.
Promptly arising, he received visit
from his spiritual advisers, Fathers
| DAILY and MacPeak. of the Church Of
Annunciation. They administered the
| last sacrament and did not leave him
| until nearly 8 o'clock
! At 1902 o'clock the sheriff called. to-
| gether with the official jury, and after
each man answered to his name and
| subscribed to the certificate the march
| to the gallows was begun.
| AS the gathering stood in silence be-
| fore the scaffold murmuring sound
| came from behind a partition erected
| Immediately back. 1t was the dolorous
| chant of two priests accompanying the
| doomed man to the scaffold. They were
| uttering the Psalm Miserere.
| AT 10:0S they mounted the fatal plat
! form. A moment of prayer elapsed. Then
| Holmes stepped to the front of the scat
| fold and. resting his hands on the rail
before him, made his statement Of inno-
| cence. as follows:
HGnntlorvoer =.
| to say. In fact 1 would make no re-
marks at this time, except that by not
| speaking I would appear to acquiesce in
| my execution. I only wish to say that
my wrong doing in taking human life
| consisted in the death of two women,
they having died at my hands as re-
| suit of criminal operation. I wish to
| state here, so there can be no chance of
| Misunderstanding, that am not guilty
| of taking the lives of any Of the Pitzei
| family, three children and Benjamin, the
| father, of whose death I was convicted
| and for which am today to be hanged.
| That is all have to say"
| The statement was received in abso-
lutte silence; then. at silent signal from
| the priests. he bent to his knees his
| eyes fixed on the crucifix clasped in his
thin hands. Until 1912 the prayer corr
| tinued.
| Immediately afterward he rose, shook
y
| in a firm voice he bade them Good
bye" Without an instant's delay his
hands were bound behind him and the
black cap adjusted. Sheriff Clement
adjusted the moose about his neck, and
after an instant of terrible stiffness the
crack of the bolt rang out like pistol
shot and the murderer had fallen to his
doom. Consciousness left him instant
| ly, said the doctors. although his heart
continued a feeble beat fifteen or twenty
minutes.
, Holmes spent his last day or life un-
| eventually. During part of yesterday
Father Daley of the Church OF the An
nunciation visited him and said prayers.
In the afternoon his lawyer, Samuel 2.
Rotan, spent short time with him. The
rest of the day Holmes spent in reading
his Bible and other devotional books.
Father Daley came again early in the
evening and remained until 1915 o'clock.
After he left Holmes wrote letters of
farewell until midnight.
At II o'clock Holmes undressed and
went to bed. He slept like an innocent
babe and at o'clock in the morning it
required two calls to awaken him. At
o'clock Fathers Daley and MacPeak ar
rived Holmes received them silently
and knelt With them while they went
over the communion service. The only
sign of defiance that he made was just
after the priests left.
his hands out to Keeper Weaver. They
were steady as a rock. Meantime a
nervously expectant crowd had gathered
outside the gates of the prison. A rope
| had been stretched across the entrance
| to the passageway leading to the convict
| department, and inside this there were
assembled the sheriff, city officials, jurors
| and reporters who had been admitted to
| witness the execution.
| The party filed into the gates at 3
| o'clock Sheriff's Solicitor Wagrew read
| the list of jurymen in the superinten-
| dents office in the corridor. The sher-
| iff administered the oath and at two
| minutes after 10 o'clock the procession to
! the gallows began. headed by Prison Su-
i perintendent Perkins and Assistant Su-
rerintendent Richardson. Fifty or more
| men, with uncovered heads. made UP the
parade and halted before the scaffold.
The platform, which stood eight feet
| above the level of the floor, was ap-
| preached by fight Of steps.
| The witnesses passed around the
structure and .eed it. Silence followed
| for a moment. Then nlurnlur arose
| from the other side of the scaffold.. 1t
| was the prayers of the priests who were
escorting Holmes to the gallows
A moment later they mounted the
| steps and came into view. The priests,
| arrayed in their secular vestments.
| stood on either side of the condemned
man ana CnanteQ the fSalm MlSerere
! Holmes, his eyes fixed on crucifix,
| which he clasped in his hands, walked
| steadily between them.
| There was a pause as they reached the
! trap, and then Holmes stepped forward
I and delivered his speech. 1t took him
exactly two minutes to utter what every
man there regarded as the last of
series of lies.
During the delivery of his speech the
| voice of the condemned man never quiv-
cred, the hands clasped on the railing of
| the scaffold did not tremble. The nerve
which had all along characterized this
most marvellous of assassins did not de-
sert him in the end After shaking hands
with his lawyer, who then left the scaf-
fold, Holmes turned and bade farewell
to Superintendents Perkins and Rich
ardson and the priests, who were the
other occupants of-the scaffold. Then
he and the clergymen knelt in silent
prayer. They arose at 1912 o'clock. In
another half minute the end had come
Holmes hands were manacled behind
him, the moose and the black cap were
adjusted and the stiffness was broken
by q sound that echoed all along the cor
ridors like the sharp crack Of a pistol