The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-08-19

r ANGL ER
IS DEAD
story oF4A LIFE FILLED With
picE AND cRiME-A MOST
sREMARkABLE& RECORD.
srsLEREDSA. KNAPP, THE STRANG-
s-ER oFSTWo WIVES AND TWO
SsCHIEDREN, PAID THEPE
aas AETY OF HIS GRIMES.


ATTY OFEHIs CRIMES.
COLUMBUS%O.. Aug. 19.-Alfred A
Knapp. of Hamilton, O., stranger OF
two wives and two children, was elec
trocuted IN the Ohio penitentiary an,
mex this morning at.12.09 o'clock. The
-eIectrocution was one of the most sue
Ssscessful in the history of electrocutions.
Only one charge of the fluid was
necessary TO carry out the mandate
sof the law, but inorder to make the
event wholly successful Warden Her
sshey turned on full current after he
reduced it, as usual, from 1,750 volts,
to 500 volts, Knapp was declared dead
six minutes after the current was
sturned on.
5Esg In spite of the fear of his friends
that he would break down, Knapp was
declared the most composed man who
was placed in the chair in recent
years. The execution was wholly de-
void of sensationalism, as the victim
himself had prophesied. 1t lacked
every phase of dramatic or spectacu-
1ar&electrocution, and instead of dying
=as aviIla1n his end was quiet and
peaceful.
When the warden asked him if he
had anything to say, he responded:
Nothing.
The strang1er met death bravely.
Knapp had been wholly composed
1hroughout the night, and less than
haitian hour before he was conducted
seto the chair he played ssThereII Be a
ssHof Time" on an accordion, on which
instrument he was an unusually good
uIayers EsarlierEin the evening he en-
stsr1ained his cell mates with I" "Iiawat
an Where Is My Wandering
sBoy To-Night.'s
- When he was being prepared for
the chair in his cell he wanted his
guards to make it known that he was
mot breaking down. Knapp said be-
fore he died
80 81 do not deny any Of the crimes
with which I have been charged. It
would be useless. to deny them now"
He also made an additional written
confession, in which he said he at
lacked the Matter children in Hamll
ton September 16, 1902. Joseph Ro'ii
was arrested for this crime and ac
quilted.
Knapp said he made the confession
10 clear Roth's name.
Knapp was electrocuted for the MUIR
der of his third wife, Hannah Goddard
Knapp, on Dec. 21, 1902. The woman
was last seen alive at her home in
Hamilton, o. Later it developed that
Knapp had strangled her on the night
uf Dec. %, placed her body in a box.
-crated it to the Miami river and
threw it in. The next day after Mrs.
knapp disappeared Knapp spent sew
ssraI days in Cincinnati, visiting his
sister, Mrs. Ed king and announced
that he was looking for his wife, who
had disappeared.
a He then returned to Hamilton and
later left for indianapolis, where on
-Jan-2 1908, he met Anna May Gam
bIe, and married her on the 4th of the
following February.
On Feb. %, 1908, at Hamilton, Ed
King of Cincinnati, Knapp's brother
EIn-law, began an investigation of the
disappearance of Hannah Goddard
Knapp. Suspicion was directed to
knapp, and on Feb. % he was arrested
IN BIndianapolis on the charge of MUIR
Hamilton and made full confession.
ne ndOg StIduSleu Ills VIE :
while she was asleep and threw the
body in the river. On the next day, il
the Hamilton jail, he made another
confession, stating that he had muir :
dered five women. including his sec
aond wife. The murders to which he :
Gonfessed follow:
Emma Lippleman, killed in a lumber
yard at Cincinnati, June 21, 1894.
Mary Eckert, killed on Walnut ST
Cincinnati, Aug I, 1904.
Jennie Connors Knapp. his second
wife, killed on Liberty street, Cincin- ,
nati, Aug. II, 1894. :
Ida Gebhart, child. died in Indian
apoIis In July, 1896.
Hannah Goddard Knapp, his third
wife; killed at Hamilton, O.. Dec. 22,
1902.
a AN OF these we're strangled to death. J.
On March 2, 1908, the nude body OF
Hannah Goddard Knapp was found A
near New Albany Ind. below the Ohio +.