Albuquerque evening citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1905-07-28

Chicago. July 2S.-Hoch has been
reprieved until the middle of Septem-
ber.
If Johann Hoch were guilty of half
the crimes charged against him, he
truly deserves to be called the mod
ern "Bluebeard." The only case af-
fording anything like a parallel in the
police records of late years was that
of knapp, the Cincinnati murderer,
who was executed at Columbus a
couple OF years ago, convicted of the
murder of one of his wives, and sus-
pected of killing several other women
and young girls.
Hoch married Mrs. Mary Hendrick-
son, under the name OF Schmidt, in
1903. He left her shortly afterward
and married a Mrs. Walker. Both
women lived in Chicago. Mrs. wal
ker died about month after her mar
riage, and it was charged that Hoch
poisoned her in order that he might
marry her sister, Mrs. Emile Fischer.
1t was Mrs. Fischer who proved to be
Hoch's Nemesis. His long career of
marital duplicity was halted by TINS
German woman, who had accumulated
by years of frugality, the small sum
of $3.50. Mrs. Fischer married Hoch
words of promise and kindness, eight
days after her sister, Mrs. Walker
Hoch. had died a sudden and mys-
terious death. The day after the
wedding Hoch decamped with all her
savings.
The last Mrs. Hoch complained to
the police, and an investigation was
at once set on foot. Steps were taken
to apprehend the fugitive should he
undertake to return to Germany. The
progress of the investigation devel
oped many startling discoveries tend
ing to connect Hoch with similar op-
erations with many women. The po-
lice declared that he had had at least
fifteen wives in ten years, and among
that number it was said that at least
six of them had died under circum-
stances which were regarded as sus-
picious. Three of the women died in
Chicago, while the others disappeared
mysteriously from Milwaukee, st.
Louis, and 'one or two other cities
where Hoch lived. Mrs. Mary Becker
Hoch was said to have died mysteri-
ously in st. Louis in 1902, Mis-. Mary
Schultz-Hoch disappeared from Argus,
Ind, in 1900, and Mrs. Lena Hoch died
in Milwaukee about two years ago.
Hoch was positively identified as the
husband of all these women, as well
as of three or four which he married
in Chicago. His purpose appears to
have been in all cases to obtain the
money which his wives had saved,
and in the case of Mrs. Mary Stein
brecker, who died mysteriously in
Chicago a short time after her mar
riage to Hoch, it is known that he
obtained at least $4,000.
Hoch's methods with such of his
wives as he did not find it necessary
to otherwise dispose of, was illustrat-
ed in the case of Mrs. Anna Schmidt
Hendrickson-Hoch, one of the women
he deserted. He married this woman
in Hammond, Ind, in 1903 Two days
later, he fed with $500 which she had
saved. The day after the marriage
he went to her and told her he was
heir to an estate in Germany. few
hours later he hurried in with fake
cablegram, which read Father is
dead. Your brother, William"
He told his wife that $21 900 was
coming to him from his fathers es-
tate. and that she must prepare to
leave for Germany with him the next
night. He said he had no money for
the voyage and succeeded in obtaining
from her the $500 she had in the
bank. AS soon as he had secured the
money, he left Hammond, and his
wife did not see or hear of him again
until his arrest
Hoch's arrest was brought about in
an odd way. After his disappearance
from Chicago the newspapers of the
country were flooded with his pic
lures and accounts of his alleged
crimes. Within a week a woman
called at a police station in New
York city and told the officer in charge
that a man whom she believed, from
the picture, to be the missing Hoch,
had engaged a room at her house. An
officer accompanied her home, and at
once recognized the fugitive. The
woman said that within two days of
his arrival Hoch had learned that she
had little money saved up, and had
Immediately proposed marriage to her.
HoGh was returned to Chicago,