The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-04-17
HOLMES CONFESSION.


MutilatiOn of His Own SON
pbi,aaa dioilmes, alias Nludgett. to be hanged n
B"''f"T pie.ia MAY for the murder o
ss uit,n swindlc, has made full con m
lesion OF his crimes, which was pubisbe,
n many Oh me sunday papers. 1t is perhaps the
If tclis or ~ story OF all criminal annals
~ WIS VI - murders committed and six NOR,
aHtsinpleu, anu all beginning with the mutilaiiof
o. ms own boy. Holmes has been during Mi hi,
h liz stcn q consummate and habitual lar Thai
ms prison keepers do not believe that he is now
ttiiihg the truth. They think he has written +,
icy money to live iuNuriously, as can be done iy
mn, mi;,tae'rnia prison, for the few weeks re
men ang e. LISA mG says MS purpose is to provide
science with data for,studying criminalogy liz
writes OF MS blood. curdling atrocities with The
s NJ. ihuinerence he showed during his trial
MI one gram 01 renlorse seems to enter into thT
tDc construction oil that document and onIv
twice, IN speaking of his boy and Of his mui
Her go, mistress, does he exhibit any sentiment
~ the - murders to which he confesses more on
less proof had been found of 49, but some of The
otners were never suspected, and in two or
tnrec cases such investigation as has been made
since furnishes no vcriication.
Holmes asserts that he IL gradually cbanpiap
IN appearance, In figure, that his face Ia bec0m
ing distorted, and he sees, whether in the dis
,0rf h OF ms bloody Imagination, which conures
up hosts OF vengeance calling dead or not. hi $
race assuming the look, the eyes the leer and the
very ears the exact similtudc of the pictures OF
satan himself.
To-day have every attribute of degenerate
y moral IDIOT 1t is possible that sthe crimes
instead OF being the result of the abnormal con,
ditions, are in themselves the occasion Of the de.
g genera Even at the time of my arrest, in
1884, no defects were noticeable under fhr
searching Bcrtiilion system of measurement to
which l was subjected, but later, and moro
noticeably within the last few months, those de.
iects nave increased with startling rapidly, as
Is made known to me by each succeeding exam.
nation The principal defects that have thus
far developed, and which are al! established
signs OF degcneraey, are decided prominence
upon one side of my head and n corresponding
diminution upon the other side: n marked de,
flciency of one side of my nose and one ear; to.
gether with an abnormal increase OF each upon
the opposite side; n difference of IL inches in
the length OF my arms, and an equal shortcom.
ing of one leg from knee to heel; also most
! maleyoent distortion of one side of my face and
one eye, so marked and terrible that, in writing
of it for publication Paul Cathie, the novelist
although wore a beard at the time to conceal il
as best could, described that side of my face
rs marked by deep line of crime and being
! that of a devil"
'Yes, was born with the devil N me, he
says in his confession 81 could not help the fact
that was murderer no more than the poet
can heip the inspirationto song, or the ambition
of an intellectual man 10 be great. | was born
with the evil one standing as my sponsor, be.
| side the bed where WAS ushered into the world
and he has been with me since. Where other
hearts were touched with pity, mine was filled
with cruelty, and where i'll others the feeling
was to save life, reyeiIed in the thought OF dc
! stroying the same. Not only that was not sat
istied in taking 1t in the ordinary way, l sought
| devices strange fantastica and even grotesque."
''This inclination continues Holmes, "came
| to me carly in life. ! remember when mere
lad my ambition was to study medicine, that
might know the relative effects of poisonous
| gases; that | might fully become acquainted
with their uses and learn to be an expert in
handling them"
! Holmes speaks of the experience of his boy.
/ hoo a m, tbn En-, in and ha 4 "a
! he led until he entered college TO study mcdi-
cine, first at Bennington and then at Ann Ar.
Dor, Mich, where, with chum, he committed
his first crime on an Insurance company with
dead body.
| In chapter devoted to his boy, the son of his
first wife, whom he married in New England
while youth, he tells a story that's hardly cred.
| ible. and the only explanation he offers is that
| he did II simply TO crafty his love of mutiaton
sit was shortly after was married" he says
land our boy was then but younsster, playing
about with other lads of his own age, that was
! seized with wild desire to destroy.
81 called him in from the road where he was
frolcking about like an innocent with lot of
other lads, and took him out to 4 rear barn.
~ don't knowiwhat possessed me, but took
surgical knife along with me. IT was not the
sudden impulse nor the maddening desire OF
father seeing his child about to grow up and en-
ter world of sorrow and sin that led me 20
| the deed. No. 1t was not that. IL was simply
craving of the murder within me that inspired
me to make Il subject of my little one.
II nOtlCtu tilht tlleTc was iooh VI
on the little fellows face, as took him into the
| barn, and he trembled as l took the knife and
told him to undress. | have often rhought since
thatsit was ike the look OF the scared rao9it nay
search about him and see them all intent only on
| the anticipated incision."
HI o lines then tells how his own ilesh ana plooa
was made to submit to the barbaIous blade.
Then lie goes on in detail TO tell of his q muir
ders and of his castle in Chicago bu't for pnr.
poses of murder. "The first taking of human HE
! ! hn mn 10
stood, was before my constant wrong doing;
Later like the man.eating tiger the froPcal
| iungles, whose appetite for blood mas once pceh
aroused, roamcd about the woriu secking
whom could destroy. Think of the Hst that
follows men and women, Young girls ana lnno-
cent children, bloted out by one monster
nanl. Some of the crimes were coMhStcu loi
money, others chieflyto grailfN inst lor uur
der and still others 10 get Conicderatcs ana peo-
pie who knew too much out OF the way; MANY
OF the bodies were sold to medical colleges otil
still others cut to pieces and burned in stoves.
Mrs Julia Connor died as the result OF Il trIhl.
nal operation, and then he made way WIN ler
little daughter Pearl for fear she Woulu fchcli-
her and tell of her mothers sickness. Anna
Van Tassand he induced TO come 10 WORK IN ms
fruit and confectionery store, then C9mpelie,l
ner to live with him and then poisoned ler WIZ, WIN
ferrocyaulde of potassium anu buried inc bouS
i'm his cellar Robert Latimer. for sin years his
ianjtor and who knew of some OF MS insurance
crookedncss and soughtto eNtort money lof II,
he confined within secret room III We 'as, ,ie
and slowly starved him 10 death. Niss Ahha
Rcrh he Killed by substituting a poison IN pre-
scription compounded IN his aruS STORE; pecaus s
he wanted to see how 1t would work me sh lne
was done with Gertrude 'ohi'oi' "''' '"o' WV
home TO die. ,,, Wa
The next death was that of a man named war
nor the originator of the Warmers GLASS beho-
ing Company, INC celiar oi , ny mnder Mr.
tafned large kiln made OF iire DITCH un"tl ~
Warmers supcryision Tor the purpose OF eNhip-
ting his patents. at was so arranged tnat IN
less than minute after turh, ,h e an Mn
crude OIL atomiZed with steam, the ehtre Mn
yould he filed with a c0lorless name SO lhtehse
IL hot that iron would be melied therein, !, was
into This Kiln that ! induced Mr. :" arher W ~
,ritb me under the pretense !of wishing certain
minnie explanations of the process, ana then,
stepping outside, as lie DellcNeu 70 &c. , 1o III
tools | closed the door and turned on po''i tle
oiI and steam TO their iull extent; IN snol'
80 NOT even the bones of my victim renamed
The coat found underneath the Kiln was the oiic
he took off before going therein. rio,, 'n nt
murder Holmes realized iarSo IN " NV" small
cheeks Warner had given him. seventy llou
sand dollars more was naue py eh.ieS 81
wealthy Wisconsin capitalist ny tne l,,,n HIN, u.
pogers ia the castle, getting nm 10 sign o,ei DC
cnritie % and then cbloroforning nm. holtheS
saws he had a young Englshinan ioi mcco'r.
nlicr in this The next case was III ipe''.S 49,
other man whose name Is ,o i fIlv the story Of
Minnie Williams and her sister, OF VIII. -, so
much has before been told, an" ne sas him
Minnie was pure woman mn, ~, a,radu,tc of
She was beautiful and talented, grandl'S ws q.
the Boston Conservatory OF m,,Ic She be-
known f and at his solicitation left the
stage and bacane his housckeeper h in ~, money
cago establishment After ge aE nsr 10 tavern
anu w uv Th;caro and poisoned and buried her.
He had previously got her sister TO CONT 10 ,d
house for visit while Minnie was AND snd mnr
t,,ad her Later he went to Denver anu 'n''t
h si "a, brother for insurance money
He tells OF the murder of two men WIN" on,s
70 Chicago during the Exposition WHO'S , ,,se
he has even forgotten AS 10 .ne trnn The he
he says his purpose waI 'ras drink he first