Evening journal., 1896-04-11

Barbarousiy Butchered His Son with n
Surgical Knife.
PHILADELPHIA. April 1l.-Finding that
thero is no possibility OF stay or reprievo,
and that he will certainly go 10 tho scaf
fold on May T. II. H. Holmes has made O
complete confession. The following state
ment is made by a correspondent;
"The confession Of Holmes opens with
the statement. was born with the very
dovil in me.
a. Even now he believes that tho evil
spirit is the guiding genius Of his destiny.
Ho believes that he Is fully under the
spell Of the damned, and despite the as
sertions to the contrary that he is rcceiy-
ing the attentions OF n minister of God.
and is generally becoming imbued with
the spirit Of forgiveness and religion, he
feels that ho Is lost hopelessly. lie even
goes farther lie asserts that ho Is grad
ually changing in appearance, In figure;
that his faco is becoming distorted, and
he sees. whether in the distortion Of his
bloody imagination, which conjures up
hosts Of vengeance calling dead, or not,
his face assuming the look. the eyes the
leer and the very ears the exact similitude
OF the picture OF Satan himself
Yes, was born with the devil in me,
says he in one part Of his confession. II
could not help the fact that I was n mur.
derer no moro than the poet can help the
inspiration TO song, nor the ambition OF
an intellectual man TO be great. i was
born with the evil one standing as my
sponsor beside tho boo where ] was usher
ed into tho world, and ho has boon with
me since
The inclination TO murder camo 70
me as naturally as tho inspiration to do
right comes to tho majority of persons.
Where others' hearts were touched
with pity mino filed with cruelty, and
where In others the feeling was to save life
i reveled in the thought of destroying the
same.
Not only that I was not satisfied In
taking IL IN the ordinary way. / sought
devices strange, fantastical and even gro
tesque. IL pleased my fancy. IL gave me
play to work my murderous WILL and ]
reveled In it with the enthusiasm OF an
alohemist who Is hot on the trail of the
philosophers stone.
"'This inclination, continues Holmes,
came to mo oarly in life. remember
when a more lad my ambition was to
study medicine, that 1 might know the
relative effects OF poisonous gases that
might fully become acquainted with their
uses and learn TO bo an expert, in han
ding them.
"'I am convinced, he declares, that
since my imprisonment / have changed
woefully and grewsomefully from what
formerly was In feature and in figure.
Changed In Appearance.
"'If you look at my picture, when
was first taken into custody In Boston,
nearly two years ago, and look at my face
now, you may begin to observe something
Of what / mean.
mean. in fact that my features are
assuming nothing more OF less than a
pronounced satanical cast; that have be-
oome afnictod with that disease, rare but
terrible, with which physicians are 40.
Quaintod but over which they seem Go
have no control whatever.
"'That disease. said he Is a malform-
alton OF distortion Of tho osseous parts,
causing doformity so marked that in many
cases men are made TO assume likonosscs
20 the inferior animal.
1T began with pains in all tho Joints,
followed by exoruolating symptoms, local
on the head and bones Of tho face.
These / attributed at first to rheu-
matio trouble, until / found that thoy
were gradually causing change to take
place In my whole figure, quite in keeping
with my character.
"'The real nature Of the malady then
began TO dawn, and / recollocted having
studied once about man whose features
had become deformed by this disease IN
such way that he had gradually grown
TO resemble a monkey.
." The horror of the thing did not pail
on me. for IL was quite in keeping with
my nature, and, like n true medical stu.
don't, began to study the now conditions
that had arisen.
From what l can see believe fully
that I am growing TO resemble the devil
that the osseous parts OF my head and
face are gradually assuming that olongat-
ed shape SO pronounced in what Is called
the degenerate head, and that similitude
Is almost completed.
4" In fact, so impressed am / with this
belief, continues Holmes, that am con-
WINGED that / have no longer anything
human in mo.
Holmes confession from this on speaks
OF his early experiences OF his boyhood
days on the farm up in Vermont and the
life he red until he entered college to
study medicine In Michigan.
81 1t was not until after he was gradual
ed, fully equipped with the knowledge OF
simple thread Of life. that Holmes began
his career as n murderer and mutilator.
Took Twenty-scven Lives.
"Whcn he began. he admits himself, he
was ruthless and never onco halted until
ho took % lives
"'And would have committed six 9th
er murders, ho added. had not certain
occurrences INTERVIEWED
Il had planned them and was several
times about to carry them out when some
thing inter~ened.
Possibly one Of the worst most brutal,
revolving and disgusting crimes this arch
mutilator ever committed was one he
speaks of in a chapter devoted to his boy,
tho son Of his first wife, whom he married
In New England while but youth. The
chapter IN question tells a story that 4
hardly credible. coming as &c does from
tho lips OF father. and outrouks for bar
barous cruelty any other SET he ever CON.
mifie6.
The only explanation he oders IS that
he aid il simply 20 crafty his love Of mu.
tilation.
1t was shortly after I was married,