The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-05-13
SWUNG INTO ETERNITY.
HOLMES PAYS THE PENALTY FOR HIS
BLOODYWORK.

BlOODYWORk.
Meets Death Calmly-History OF His Many
Crimes-A Mama For Confession-The
Most Prominent of Modern Criminals.
PHILADELPHIA, May 7.-Murderel
Herman w. Mudgett alias Il. 81.
Holmes. was hanged this morning in
the county prison for the killing OF
Benz. f. Pitezel. The. drop fell al
1O.12 o'clock and 30 minutes later he
was pronounced dead by the prison Of
ficiafs. DR.. Sharp and DIR. Butcher.
The execution was in every way en-.
tirely devoid of any sensational feat
ures. To the last he was self.possess,
ed and cool, even to the extent of Civ
ing a word of advice to Assistant Su,
perintendent Richardson as the latter
was arranging the final details.
He died as he had lived. unconcern-
ed and thoughtless apparently of the
future, even with the recollection still
vividly before him of the recent con-
fession in which he admitted the kill
ing of a score of persons of both SEX
{ es and in all parts of the country. He
refused everything and almost his last
3 words were a point blank denial of
any crimes committed except the
Z death of two women at his hands by
malpractice. Of the murder of sever
( al members of the Pitezel family he
denied all completely, particular ly of
the father, for whose death he stated
he was suffering the penalty. Then,
with the prayer of the spiritual atten,,
dants still sounding in his ears and
with a few low spoken words to those
about, the trap swung, and beyond a
few incidental post mortemI details,
the execution which eliminated one
of the worst criminal stories known to
criminology was ended.
Herman W. Mudgett, better known
as 81. 81. Holmes, was one OF the most
conspicuous 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 demon. His recent in
penious confession" wherein he
claimed to have killed 81 persons was
disapproved, partly at least, by the ap:
pearance of several of the so-called
victims; but Holmes object in making
the confession" was realized-the OBJ
tanning of sum said to be 81, 500 and
which amount is said to have been
settled upon the criminals 1S-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 fel-
! low-conspirator. The murder was
committed in the dwelling, No. 1916
Callowhiu street Holmes conviction
of murder in the first degree, the affir-
nation 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 nara
ton of these facts is unnecessary.
: Holmes was captured in Boston,
Mass, in the latter part of 1894,
by Owen Hanscom, the deputy super
intendent of police, upon the strength
of telegram from Fort Worth, Tex,
where he was wanted for horse steal
ing and for other charges of larceny.
At that time officials of the Fidelity
Mutual Life association, of Philadel-
phia, were hot on Holmes trail for de-
frauding the concern out of SIC, 900 in
connection with Pitezel's death, the
latter being insured for this amount,
and as the accused believed horse
stealing to be high crime in Texas.
he voluntarily confessed to Deputy
Superintendent Hanscom to the insur-
ance fraud. He did not, for moment
dream that he was then suspected of
the murder of Pitezel, and he came to
Philadelphia without requisition pa
pers. He expressed a willingness to
be tried here on the conspiracy charge
in preference to that of horse stealing
at Fort Worth. Before leaving Bos-
ton, Holmes made this confession to
Mr.. Hanscom:
"When I concluded it was time to
carry out our scheme to defraud the
insurance company, I secured stiff
in New York and shipped itin trunk
to Philadelphia. I turned the check
for the trunk over to Pitezel on the
Sunday nearest the 1st of September.
I instructed him how to prepare the
body, ano in three hours we were on
our way to New York. Two days af
ter the payment of the money saw
Pitezel in Cincinnati. I took the
three children to that city, where the
father saw them. Pitezel agreed to 60
south, and he took one child, Howard.
took the two girls to Chicago be-
cause had business there. We all
met again in Detroit. Pitezel took the
children and went to South America.
During all this time Mrs. Pitezel
knew her husband was alive, but she
did not know he had the children. If
sh. was aware of that she would insist
that the crecked business be wound up
right away. In order to keep Mrs.
Pitezel away from her husband had
to tell her that he was here and there,
travelling from one city to another"
This was the first of a number of al
legged admissions that Holmes subse-
quently made. In fact he acquired
penchant for making confession"
that surprised the authorities. The
insurance officials had good ground
for believing Holmes had murdered
Pitezel and the three children, so when
the prisoner arrived in Philadelphia
he was urged to make another 'con-
fession." And he did so without any
hesitation, but it varied somewhat
from the one hs made in Boston. 1t
graphically narrated how the body
was substituted for Pitezel in the CAL