The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-08-23
ALFRED KNAPP EXECUTED.
BEFORE DEATH HE CONFESSED
TO FIVE MURDERS.
The Crime fof Which He Paid the
Death Penalty Was the killing OF
His wife-The Electrocutiou Was
Performed Without a Hitch-Knapp
showed Little Fear or Emotion.

Columbus. o., Aug. Is.-Aifred A..
Knapp. convicted Of the murder 81 his
wife. Hannah Goddard Knapp. and
who confessed to Ave murders. WAS
e~lectrocuted in the ut the Ohio
p~enetentiary a few minutes after mid
night. Knapp. who weakened when
he found his last hope for life had
gone, and expressed a fear that he
would have TO be carried 10 the chair.
regained hisnerve and met MS
fate with little show Of FEAR or emo
ton. The el~ectrocution was perform
ed without a hitch. n first shock be-
ing applied at 1909. the second a MN
ute later. and al l2.es he was pronolnc-
ed dead.
Alfred A. Knapp. convicted and cleo
trocuted for the murder OF his third
wife. Hananh Goddard knapp. confess
ed TO having committed five muir
ders, ell Of his victims being women.
Knapp was born at G~recnsourg.
Ind in 1862. and for twenty years lIv-
ed ON a farm. His first criminal act vas
in Chicago where he
a burglary. He served a sentence Ut
Joliet for that offense. Most OF his
offences were against women n
children. and he spent more than half
OF the past twenty-five years behind
prison bars. But for q chance word.
dropped unconscIously. his last crime
would probably never have ~ trac-
ed TO him.
shortly after his release from Joliet
in 1884. he married Emma Stubs at
Terre Haute, Ind. but was divorced
from her within the year. In 1855 he
married Jennie Conners at Lawrence.
Ind. Between 1856 and 1894 knapp was
confined in the p~enitentiaries In Jener-
sonvflle and Michigan City. and short
" after his release, accordinoAto his
story, he murdered Emma Lyttleman
in a lumber yard in Cincinnati. He
claims to have killed May Ecket in CIu-
cinnati In 1894. {,
Later in August of tina year the
body of Jennie nno Knapp was
found in a canal in Cincinnati. the cir
cumstances pointing to suicide and the
verdict was 80 rendered. Knapp
claims he killed. her on August 2.th
and threw the body into the canal.
In 1895 Ida Geppert was murdered In
Indianapolis and Knapp claims to have
killed her. Afterward Knapp returned
to Cincinnati and in 1886 married Han
nah Godard. with whom he lived six
months.
In 1897 he again appeared in Indian
apolis, and was sentenced to the Mich
fgan pen%itentiary for assault on his
cousin, Alice Hill. Two years later
ne WAS SelleilCtu 10 lnt 1OiufIiuuS
penitentiary from Cincinnati for "
years upon a charge of assault.
In 1902 he was released and return
ed to his wife, then living in Hamilton.
o. on December % his wife mystic
riously disappeared. Shortly after
wards Knapp went to Indianapolis.
On February "a, 1903, Mrs. Edward
King. of Cumminsville. near Cincin-
natl. notified the Hamilton police that
Knapp's wife was missing. and that he
a married Anna Gamble at Indianao-
oils. Knapp was arrested there on
April %. 1903.
He was released 10 Hamilton in the
belief that the charge against him was
bigamy. once in the Hamilton jail he
was openly charged with the murder OF
his wife. At first he stoutly denied
il, but he finally made a confession in
which he admitted killing his wife aid
said that he put her body IN a dry
goods box and cast it into the Big
Miami river. subsequently ne made q
written confession, naming the four
ether murders.
He was speedily tried. found guilty
and sentenced to be electrocuted-