The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-05-13
SWUNG INTO ETERNITY.
HOLMES PAYS THE PENALTY FOR HIS
BtOOOYWORK.

BLOOOYWORK.
Meets Death Calmly History of His Man,
Crimes-A Mama For Confession-Tht
Most Prominent of Modern Criminals.
PHILADELPHIA, May 7.-Murderel
Herman w. Mudgett alias H. II
Holmes, was hanged this morning in
the county prison for the killing oi
Benz. T. Pitezel. The drop fell al
1912 O'Clock and 20 minutes later he
was pronounced dead by the prison Of
fcials, DR.. Sharp and DR.. 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 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
words We're a point blank denial OF
any crimes committed except the
death Of two women az his hands by
malpractice Of the murder of sever
al members of the Pitezel family he
denied all completely, particularly of
the father. for whose death he stated
he was suffering the penalty. Then,
with the prayer Of the spiritual atten-
dauts still sounding IN his ears and
with few low spoken words to those
about, the trap swung, and beyond a
few incidental post mortem details,
the execution which eliminated one
of the worst criminal stories known to
criminology was enued.
Herman W. Mudgett, better known
as H. b. Holmes, was one Of the most
conspicuous criminals ofmodern times
and if the murder confessions which
he has written can only partially be
believed, be was without peer as a
blood thirsty demon. His recent in
genious confession" whereia he
claimed to have killed 81 persons was
disapproved, partly at least, by the ap
pearance of several OF the so-calied
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 is 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 3,
1894, of Benjamin F. Pitezel, his fel-
low-conspirator. The murder was
committed in the dwelling, No. 1916
Callowhill street. Holmes conviction
of murder in the first degree, the atfir-
nation by the Pennsylvania supreme
court OF the verdict and the recent re-
fusal OF Governor Hastings to grant
respite are so wellknown 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 $4,000 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 theinsur-
ance fraud. He did not, for a moment
dream that he was then suspected of
the murder Of Pitezel, and he came to
Philadelphia without requisition pa
pers. He expressed 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 truuk
to Philadelphia 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. took the
three children to that city, where the
father saw them Pitezel agreed to go
south, and he took one child, Howard.
took the two girls to Chicago oe5:
cause I 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
she 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 number Of al
legged admissions that Holmes subse-
quently made. In fact he acquired a
penchant for making confessions"
that surprised the authorities. The
insurance officials had good ground
for believing Holmes had murdered
Pitezel and the three children, so when
tne prisoner arrived in Philadelphia
be was urged to make another con
fession." And he did SO without any
hesitation, but it varied somewhat
from the one he made in Boston. 1t
narrated how the body
was su ostituted for Pitezel in the Cal
Iowhill street house, aud its identified
ton by Alice Pitezel as that Of her
father week afterward Holmes also
related how the money was received
from the insurance company and It's
subsequent division between Mrs. Pite
zel, Jeptha D. Howe, the St. Louis
LAWYER and himself. It was in this |