The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-28
KNOWS NOT
 HIS MOTIVE Knapp Merely Likes to Murdere / -zF TELLS OF sS CRIMES
 7sP- Even Whp s aeep He Tried
 /s slay. Says Several Times His Last Wife Awoke to Find His Fingers on Her Throat, He Being
 Unconscious.

| O.s p GU. Gt-ldTe. octAlc " cuS~ | gel, who came here last night to see her i brother, Alfred Knapp. the self-confessed | multi-murderer, had a long talk with the prisoner in the presence of Sheriff Bis dorf. His sister had previously written him about marrying his fourth wife, An l na May Gambell, at Indianapolis, about | a month after the disappearance of Han | nah Goddard Knapp, his third wife, and | in referring to the wife at Indianapolis. Mrs. Wentzel said: Ally, do you love this woman who is now your wife?'
 "Oh, guess I love her about as much as I am capable of loving any woman"
 What do you mean by that?''
 T mean that do not know what love means.''
 Ally. it Is said that have Hannah's s earrings, and ring, and I want you. in the presence of the sheriff, to exonerate me on that score"
 "Hannah's ring will be found on her finger
 How about the earrings?" If she had earrings. they will be found in her ears."
 Had not you been arrested, would you have killed the wife whom you now have in Indianapolis?" was asked Knapp. A Remarkable Answer.
 That is hard to tell" was the remark able answer.
 The question did not seem to disconcert Knapp, but seemed to arouse in him a speculative sense that caused him to go into an explanation of his answer. T know that she woke up several times since we were married and found my hands on her neck when I was asleep, too. She would wake when I grabbed her, and wake me and ask me what I meant Axy% %ot rfr,cw hoId ofh har hot nd I would not tell her why, because I was asleep and did not know had done it.
 Just last week she woke up just in time or she might never have awoke at all. l grabbed her so tight and was choking her so that she was near gone when she came to and woke me up. can't see what makes me do that"
 More Revolting Confession.
 After hia confession yesterday Knapp admitted he had repeatedly assaulted wo- men criminally and killed some of them. He said he met the Littleman child in the lumber yard and assaulted her, and choked her to death when she made an outcry.
 II went into the room with the Eckert girl, sat down with her and assaulted her She cried. and I strangled her with & towel and hurried from the house.
 T was mad at my wife, Jennie Con ners Knapp, when I killed her. We were walking along Liberty Street when I got her down under the bridge on pretext and choked her to death. I deny that I poisoned her. I never told any one I did. After she was dead I threw the body into the canal.
 Ida Gebhard, I killed, but fny memory Is not clear as to what 1 did 1t for.
 T cannot tell what made me kill these people. 1 could not help it. Some kind of a desire to kill took hold of me and I could not resist the temptation to kill. l am sorry for my crimes but now I hope they will be easy with me"
 After the confessions, a formal charge Of murder in the first degree was filed.
 Knapp talks much of the Pearl Bryan murder and is afraid of being lynched He does not want to be taken from the County jail.
 Unless prevented by his attorneys it is expected that Knapp will make further confessions. He is now suspected of strangling three women at Evansville Ind, and to have assaulted and killed women elsewhere. He was in the Gin cinnati House of Refuge when 1T years old and new records are being discovered almost hourly. {
 Killing of First Wife.
 The uTSL eNluGuCe llldI AIDcll hiIdpp killed his first wife as well as his second and third Is contained in a statement made by Charles Jones. who was prls- oner in the Marion County jail and the Michigan City penttentiary with Knapp. The only reference in the statemet of ones to Knapp's first wife is this:
 Knapp told me he killed his first wife to get hls seconl and his second to get his thirdp."
 Knapp's first wife was Emma Stubbs of Terre Haute He married her In the eighties and she has since disappeared.
 Jones says in his statement that Knapp told him he had killed the Gebhardt enid in West Indianapolis in July. 1905.
 Jones said Knapp told him about the killing of his second wife. He took her to the Liberty Street Bridge in Cincin- natl and threw her off into the canal af- ter choking her.
 Then he said he went down to where she was. She was not dead, and he f1n- ished her by choking her. After he had killed her he went back to town and re- ported that his wife was missing. The police authorities did not find her until the next day. Another reason for killing his second wife was that she had accused him of killing Mary Eckert She said she was going 10 expose nm. lie told Jones he killed Mary Eckert for 75 cents and that his wife had accused him of it. He said he killed Mary Eckert and assaulted her
 Knapp also told Jones of killing a girl in Cincinnati. He said he was lying on a stack of lumber. He threw a piece of timber down on the little girls head. He thought some one had seen him and went down to examine the girl. She was not quite dead and he was afraid she would survive and expose him so he finished her by hitting her with plank.
 He hid her in a stack of lumber and left her there. Knapp told Jones that there were other crimes that could be charged to him that would break his neck three or four times
 A Peculiar Feature.
 One of the peculiar things about the case is that the confession made while he was in the penitentiary was never made public and no attempt was made