The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-05-08

the accused believed horse-steal!ng TO be
a high crime in Texas. he voluntarily con-
fossed to Deputy Superintendent Hans
com to the insurance fraud. lie did no;.
for q moment, dream that he was then
suspected of the murder Of Pitezel, and
he came to Philadelphia without requisi-
tion papers. Tie expressed Willingness
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 Mr..
Hanscom:
when concluded IL was time to carry
out our scheme to defiaud the insurance
company, / secured stiff In New York
and shipped II in trunk TO Philadelphia.
l turned the check for the trunk to Pise-
eel on the Sunday nearest the first OF
September. | instructed him how to pre-
pare the body. and in three hours We Were
on oar way to New York. Ten days after
the payment of the money | saw Pitezsl
in Cincinnati ! took the three children to
that city, where the father saw them.
! lte2el agreed to 20 south, ana he took
one child, Howard. took the two girls to
/ Chicago because mad business there. We
all met again ia Detroit. Pittzel took The
/ During all this time Mrs. Pite2ei knew
/ her husband was alive, but she Iin not
know he had the children. IL she WAS
aware of that she would insist that the
I crooked business be wound up right away.
I In order to keep Airs Pilezel away from
| her husband had 10 tell her he was here
| and there, travelling froia one city to an
other"
FIRST ADMISSION
I This was the first of a number of alleged
admissions that Holmes subsequently
Z made. In fact he acquired d penchant for
making confessions that surprised the
| a.thorites.
| The insurance officials had good ground
| for believing Holmes had murdered pitS-
zel 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 made In
! Boston. 1t graphically narrated how the
body was substituted for Pitezel in the
! Callowhill street house. and its Identifies
ton by Alice Pitezel as that of her father
week afterward. Holmes also rell ed
| now the money was received from the m
surdnce company and its subsequent ~
! vision between Mrs. Pitezel, Jeptha L.
! Howe, the st. Louis lawyer, and himself
| II was In this confession" that Holmes
! accused Howe of receiving 500 for his
/ share in the transaction.
Howe was indicted for conspiracy. bl.
/ recently the case against him was dropped
! Soon after Holmes was brought TO Phil
adelohia, Detective Geyer visited him an
the county prison in relation to the finding
OF tine body III 1916 Callowhill street IN
with the willy Holmes the detective
emerged from the prison with "confes.
sion" in which the accused said the body
was not that of Pitezel but was one sub
stltuted to defraud the insurance com
pany.
week later Holmes honorcd Geyer with
another confession" "Mr. Geyer," he
said that story told you about the sub
stituted @ body is not true. It is the body
or or h1nJam;n hin, +; P'tsSsl, but did not mur-
morning, Sept. 2 | found Pitezel dead
In the third story of the Callowhill street
house. ] found "A note in Il bottle telling
me that he was tired of life and had final
| ly decided to commit suicide. He request
ell me to look after the insurance money
and take care of his wife and family. i
then fixed up the body in the position 1t
| was found. These children you speak Of
are al right. They are with Minnie VIII
Jams, in London. gave Howard to Mini
ME Williams in Detroit and l sent Alice
| and Nellie TO her from Toronto. They met
| Miss Williams in Niagara Fails and sailed
for Europe from New York"
Between this time and his trial for con-
| spiracy to defraud the insurance com-
pany, to which he pleaded suilty,-Holmes
made many other confessions" but they
differed very little from those already
given. Each time he pretended 20 tell Tho
truth. but he seduously avoided doing so.
Nobody believed what Holmes said about
PiteZei, and he would not say anything
about the children, except that they were
all right.
III MS many lnleTNleWS With l)lStl1cl Al
torney Graham, Holmes persisted that the
three missing Pitezel children were with
Minnie Williams in London. He even per-
suaded Mr.. Graham to have an advertise
ment In the shape of a cipher puzzle in
serted in u New York paper. for the pur-
pose of bringing Minnie Williams and the
little Pitezels back from Europe. The dis
trict attorney placed little faith in wha,
Holmes had told him, but the 'ad' was pub.
l.shcd as Il sort of last and hopeless effort
| Whom tho lDl'pS Of Npllia lina "a.
eel were unearthed in Toronto, Holmes de.
MED having killed them. When Howard's
charred bones were located in superaru.
ated stove in lrvington, Ind, Holmes
calmly denied any knowledge of the lads
death. When the murders of Minnie Will
| Jams and her sister were discovered
Holmes said Minnie killed Nanny in 81
jealous frenzy, and he buried the body II
Lake Michigan. He vigorously denied
having put Minnie to death so as to e
cure her property. The disappearance Ct
Emily Cygrand was traced to Hoimes
but the criminal said he knew nothing o
the girls fate. The partially consumed
bones that We're found in the Chicago Gas
tie are known 10 be those of some OF
Holmes victims. About the last time tha
Holmes was taken 10 the district attor
ncy's Office to confess" Mr. Graham los
patience with him. Holmes gave a repc
titlon of his picturesque falsehoods. II,
actually gave the district attorney a YER
liable Jolly" about the Pitezel famil,
and Minnie Williams being still alive m,
scene that ensued was extremely drama
tic. Mr. Graham said:
Holmes, you are a murderer will hans
you in Philadelphia for the murder of Ben
jamin PiteZel.'
REMARKABLE NERVE.
Holmes nerve was still with him an,
he said: 81 defy you. You have no evi
dence to prove me guilty" Mr. Graham
locked with disgust and determination Il
Holmes. and said: you will surely han.
in Philadelphia for numbering Benjamin
l'itezel."
The trial and conviction followed, TIL
district attorney endeSvoring to prov
during the trial. through Detective Geyr"
that Holmes also killed the PiteZel chill
| dren. but Judge Arnold; before whom IN
case was tried, declared this to be irrele
| want Geyer had unearthed the murde
of the children. after prolonged invas
| tigation and the commonwealth was pre-
pared to prove that Holmes also commit
! | ted these crimes.
= Holmes embraced the Catholic faitl
when 1t became evident to him that n
must hang and Rev. Father DALEY min
, istered to his spiritual wants. Throughou
his trial and subsequent Imprisonment
this arch-criminal maintained Il non
| chalancc that was remarkable.
Herman Webster Mudsett was borl
at Glmonton. N. H.. May 49,. 1890. O
July =. ISIS. he married Clara A. Lover
under the name of Harry Howard Holmes
l he committed bigamy by marrying Myrt
$ Belknap. A few weeks thereafte
Z Holmes applied In Chicago for a divorce
: and the suit was pending until June .
1891. when the court dismissed 1t OWN
= to the nOn-appcarance of the complain
t ant. Holmes continued his bigamous ca
c reer by marrying Georgianna Yoke, /
= Ing the name of Henry Mansfield Howar
70 on this occasion. A son was born to tn