Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-12-14
INTEREST N THE
JEkYlL and HYDE
CASE Of HICKEY
Believed He Will Be Found
Insane and Committed to
Asylum for Remainder Of
His Life.

Buffalo, Dec. 14.-Not for many
years has any criminal case aroused
20 much country wide interest among
all classes Of people as the case OF ].
Frank Hickey, the self-confessed muir
derer of boys, whose trial upon the
cliarge Of having murdered the 7-year-
old Joseph Josephs at. Lackawanna.
~. Y, ON Oct. IL. 1911. will come up
before the supreme court In this city
on Monday. For many reasons this
case is one of the most unusual and
interesting in the criminal annals of
this state, If not Of the whole coun-
cry.
Pronounced cases Of a dual person.
lality'a are not common and the psych-
illogical problem which they present
makes them intensely Interesting to
every student Of human nature In Its
abnormal state. 1t has long since been
fkecoEnized that when Robert Louis
stevenson wrote his famous book "Dr.
iJekyll and Mr. Hyde" he did not pre-
sent a psychological impossibility, but
that he gave a mastery presentation
iof clear cut and typical case Of
jdual personality, entirely within the
Aumits of possibility. though perhaps a
krifle more extreme and sensational
than most of the cases which occasion
ally come to public notice.
Dual Personality.
The life history Of ]. Frank Hickey
and the circumstances connected with
His arrest and indictment present many
tpeculiar features. Hickey Is man
or middle age OF good address and from
Ehis appearance nobody would suspect
him of being a man Of abnormal or
lcriminsl character. He received a
Kood education became q pharmacist
land then an expert chemist and filled
various responsible positions to the
soatisfactio Of his employers. In his
normal condition a man of culture,
kind and pleasant in his ways, he be-
icame a fiend filled with the lust Of
murder when the poison Of alcohol
ibenumbed his better self and released
iron Its latest state the sinister part
.cf his personality.
When under the control Of his evil
ego Hickey became filled with the
tansane impulse to kill boys, an Inn
pulse which he could not resist. Ac-
cordinE to his own confession Hickey
tried to commit murder IL times, but
only twice did he succeed One of his
victims was little Joseph Josephs. for
whose murder he IL to be tried next
week, the other was Michael r. Kruck.
q newsboy in New York City. whom
he lured to an unfrequented part of
Central Park, where he strangled him.
Arrested on Suspicion.
In both cases 1t was believed that
the boys had been kidnapped. The
body Of Michael r. Kruck was found
after = while in Central park and
Hickey was arrested on suspicion.
After his arrest In Buffalo he made
q confession but repudiated his state
ments after he had recovered from
his intoxication. AS there were nd
proofs against him he was released by
the police.
Joseph Josephs was the son Of q
wealthy merchant OF Lackawanna and
after his disappearance his father. be-
lieving that the boy had been kid
mapped, instituted country wide
search The boys dismembered and
lecomposed body was not found until
after the police of Lackawanna had
received postal card from Hickey
mailed from Boston, and informing
them that the writer had strangled
the boy and thrown his dismembered
body into a cesspool back of sa-
loon in Lackawanna.
Postal Card Mania.
It was his mania for writing posta
cards to the police authorities of diff
ferent cities, confessing to crimes ant
giving Information as to where thu
bodies of the victims would be found
which led to the capture Of Hickey
Tacsimiles OF the cards were repro
duced In the newspapers and som'
persons, who recognized the similarit,
of the writing with Hickey's chiro
xraphy, Informed the police. An in
yestigation was made which disclosed
that Hickey had been under arrest fol
the murder of the Kruck boy. ant
after some further search Hickey wa
found in an institution for inebri
ates at Whiting, N. j.. arrested ant
charged with the murder Of the 10
sephs boy.
Hickey did not resist arrest and de
elared his willingness to be taken t
Buffalo without formal extraditlor
On the way from New York City t.
Buffalo Hickey made a full confession
Of his crimes. including the murder
of Joseph Josephs and Michael
Kruck. He said that when under tn
influence Of liquor he could not re
sist the desire to kill boys. while h
deeply regretted his crimes when Il
q normal condition. 1t Is believe
that Hickey will probably be found In
Sane and be committed to the Dame
mora asylum for the remainder o
his life.