The Washington times., 1905-02-01
HOCH IS WILLING
To FACE WIVES
Held for Extradition OH
Murder Charge.
DO YOU THINK I'm A MORMON?
Jokes With Detectives-Made Love to
Land1ady-She Became Suspi-
cious and Told Police.
Do YOU THINK I'm A MORMON?

Hoch says he is perfectly willing to re-
turn to Chicago where he is alleged 20
have murdered one wife, and where
many claim him as their husband. He
IS locked up at police headquarters and
pTofessed absolute Indifference TO the
charges against him.
He denied the allegations against him
and said lie had only one living wife.
He was arraigned in the Jefferson Mar
ket police court yesterday afternoon and
vas reTnanded for forty-eisht hours
The detective sergeants who had him
in custody said tha. charges had been
preferred against him IN Chicago Tor
murder and polygamy.
Hoch Talks to Reporters.
Hoeh had nothing to say in RS own
behalf 10 the magistrate, but said TO
reporters;
- am willing to admit that l am the
man that they want in Chicago. l wish
10 say, however, that the charges
against me are absolutely wrong The
only real accusation that can be made
against me is by my sister-in-law in
connection " tn some furniture
Hoeh would not be deemed attractive
by the average woman. He is short
and fat His forehead retreats and his
chin bulges. His jaws are pronounced
with an appearance of determination
While far from handsome. he has, ac-
ccTding to the allegations. won many
women by sto-m and LED them Il the
altar. lie looks every day o. forty !.
and is probably nearly 1ttty years old
Made Love to Landlady.
Hoch showed his confidence in his
ability % win women's hearts right up
to the moment that he was appre-
hended- Knowing that he had been pro-
claimed far and wide by the Chicago
police as a modern "Bluebeard he
wandered about New York and offered
his hand to 4 lodging house keeper
whom he had met twice, and then he
applied TO Mrs. Katherine Kimmerle. a
W3doW, OF 546 West Forty-seventh
street, for lodging, and immediately pro
eeeded 10 demand her hand in marriage
Mrs himmerle was surprised by his
aggressive courtship and paid little at
lentlon to him at the beginning. As he
became more insistent She began TO
recall the newspaper accounts from Chi
caSo OF the short, lat, broad-shouldered
man. with big hands and feet who h3a d
married every woman who had been
wiling to accept him upon short ac-
quaintance.
When Iioch became too insistent Mrs
X iInTnerle notified the police that she
believed he WAS the Chicago marriage
record-breaker
No Record of Indictment.
Although the police in this city had
been notified that Hoch had been sought
for in Chicago on the ground of murder
as well as polygamy, there was no rec
ord here that any indictment had been
obtained against him. The members of
the detective bureau who were called
upon TO look at him before his picture
vas taken for the rogues' gallery were
surprised TO learn that he could not be
nalities could not be complied with I'M
III he was first indicted and then a
FeQuisition obtained from the governor
OF New York. in legal form.
Idoch persisted in his declar9i ton that
a mistake had been made, but that he
would go TO Chicago without making
any difficulty, and would face his ac-
elseFs.
Jokes With Detective.
lie had told Mrs Kir1naerle that his
name was Henry Bartels, and when a
detective asked him if ne was the Hoch
whom the Chicago police wanted he
said:
do you think am a Mormon?
know the stories about me, but look at
me Would I be fat and happy If
had a hundred wives? The published
stories about me as the modern Blue
beard are all foolishness. The only
legal trouble that [ am entitled to is in
connection with 5000 worth of furni-
ture that my wife Mary left. Her sis
Ter wanted more than her proper
share
ssThat is the only occasion fer my
trouble I have had only two wives
and II is absolutely absurd to charge me
with murder, or TO say that | have had
twenty five wives, as the Chicago re-
ports allege."
All of the wives that Hoch has been
charged with having married have been
women he has met within the last
few years in this country. He was
taken upstairs in police headquarters
last night with several other prisoners
and placed in line with Il score of men,
while John SchaPpe, OF Jersey City,
looked over all OF Them.
Schappe had picked out HOch's picture
as that Of Il man whom he had known
IN Germany as johann Schmidt. and
who had 4 wife and family in his native
town While Schappe declared that
there could be no mistake of identity,
Hoch asserted that he had never known
Schappe, and that he had never been
in the section Of Germany from which
Schappes came.