Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1905-08-03
MONEY SAVED HOCH
FROM THE GALLONS
CONDEMNED MURDERER AND.
BIGAMIsT RETRIEVED IN
NICK OF TIME.
Gov. Deneen Acts When Assured Case
Will Be Carried to Supreme Court,
and Postpones Hanging Until
August IS.

Chicago, July 29.-GOv. Deneen at
12:40 o'clock Friday granted Johann
Hoch a reprieve until August 25, when
the appeal of his case will be taken to
the state supreme court. Mrs May
Wilson, known for her efforts to keep
Capt. Streeter out of prison, started
the train of events which eventually
brought the governors order for a
stay by appearing at the county jail
and promising to furnish the $500 nee
essary for taking Hoch's case to the SUI
preme court. On this vague promise
Mr.. Deneen made a telephone request
that time set for the hanging be de-
layed an hour or So. Meanwhile At
torney Albert T. Thompson, friend
OF Isadore Plotke, counsel for the big
amist, appeared on the scene in the
role of S'preserver" and gave $500 in
new $40 bills toward the "Hoch de-
tense fund.- The receipt Of this mon
ey, coupled with Plotke's promise to
take his clients case to the supreme
court, led States Attorney Healy to
ask the governor for the reprieve, and
it was granted. 1t was 1850 o'clock
when Jailer Whitman, his face beam
ing with happiness, entered the death
chamber and officially notified Hoch
that he had been granted another
lease of life. Hoch, at that time,
had but 70 minutes more to live &C.
cording to the mandate of the circuit
court. ...-e~s .aa.
f = Five Murders Charged.
Five murders, in addition to the
crime of wholesale bigamy, are attrib-
uted to Johann Hoch. The victims
were his wives, and arsenic was the
agency that ended their lives. Hoch,
according to the police investigation
of his carer, made matrimony his
source of living for nearly ten years,
making speciality of German widows
of the working class, whom he we'd
ded and deserted after obtaining their
savings.
OF the earlier history of Hoch and
the marriages incident thereto little is
known, but he confessed to having
had II wives, six of whom are living.
The wives who died and whom he is
accused of having murdered are:
Huss, Mrs. Jacob-Married in Wheel
ing, w. Va, in 1877; died in three
months, leaving Hoch $4,000
Steinbrecker, Mrs. Julia-Married
in Chicago August 5, 1895; died leav-
ing Roch $4,000. !
4 Bartles, Mrs: Eenry-Married in Gin
cinnati in March, 1897 died shortly,
Becker, Mrs. Mary-Married in st.
Louis in 1903; died after a two days
illness.
Welcker, Mrs. Marie-Married in
Chicago December 10, 1904; died Jan.
uary y, 1905. @
Hoch began his career in Chicago in
1892 In that year he married and
lived under the name Of G. A. Mayer.
His wife, whose name is unknown.
died three weeks after the wedding.
Last Episode Els Undoing.
The particular matrimonial episode
that led to the unmasking Of Hoch as
a "Bluebeard" was his marriage last
December to Mrs. Marie Welcker,
owner Of a candy shop at Willow and
Larrabee streets. After an illness Of
go days the woman died, exhibiting
the symptoms of arsenical poisoning.
A week later Hoch married the sister
of his newly buried wife, and desert
ed her shortly afterward, and the case
then was reported to the police.
January 10 last, the day following
the charges made against Hoch by an.
ether sister of Mrs. Welcker Hoch, he
disappeared with $3.50 which his new
wife had given to him. He was cap
tured in New York January 80