Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1905-03-08

Strange as it may seem. no clear cases
OF Johann Hoch's work had come to the
knowledge OF the police anywhere in the
United States until the present dis
closure, although his marriage business,
it is declared. has been carried on ever
since 1881. This fact may be due to the
desire of many sensitive women who
have beer duped by this man to keep
their desert!on from the public.
Worked from Town to Town.
Hoch's policy, it seems, was always
to extract as much money as his intend
ed victim could summon without waste
of time, and, after begging leave of abb
sence on some pretext, would disappear
as if the earth had completely swallowed
him up. Then the tale of wife in I
nearby town, who would pitifully de-
clare that she had given her newly ac-
quired husband all her money, and that
he had not been home for several days
and some accident must have befallen
him. would bring to light the fact that,
in all probability, MIR Hoch was carry
ing en- operations in the neighborhood.
Hoch's method was to advertise in
the daily papers, preferably the German
publications, saying that his loneliness
han forced him to seek life companion
WHO could tend his wants. Some women
answered out of curiosity. others who
felt the same absence of some person
to share their condolences, would CON-
municate with him. Then the German
would select what he considered the best
for his purpose and devote his whole
energies in that direction. Hoch never.
according to reports, sought out those
women whose beauty or other charms
would make them the target for other
mems affections, but women whom, by
his superior will, he might find easy to
persuade. These women, mostly German.
had had little sympathy expressed for
their welfare during their lives, and the
tender passion which Johann Hoch ex
pressed in his letters seldom failed to
execute it's aim.
Samples of His Courtship.
All through his missives to his in
tended victims runs strain of feeling
which would do credit to the most high
ly accomplished Beau Brummel" Of
the old days of chivalry. One repre-
sentative epistle that came to a Chi
cago woman, supposedly from Hoch
when he was in San Francisco, simply
breathed love to the woman who read
it. A portion of it follows:
Dear child, you took my heart by
storm. l can't get over it, my dear Jo-
hanna. How is it with you, dear child.
you like to spend the rest of your life
alone? If you only feel toward me as
feel and could bring one-half your
love to me as to you, how lucky l would
be. If you could wed your heart to mine
for the rest of our days l would be the
luckiest man in the world" The in
tended victim, who had almost sue
cumbed to the tender passion OF Hoch,
when she read letter sent to him in
her care from another one of the fair
sex, ending with love and Kisses" be-
came suspicious and upon Hoch's a7riv-
al in Chicago refused him.
Fourteen Thought Murdered.
Reports state that the following ~
women have been murdered by Hoch in
iurthering his plans:
Mrs. Emily Welker Hoch, 5000 Union
avenue, died suddenly January 10, 1905
Coroner's physician found large guam
tlty of arsenic in her stomach.
Mrs. Julia Steinbrecher, 333 Belmont
avenue, died suddenly.
Mrs. Lena Hoch, died in Milwaukee,
1897.