The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-09-15
Rev. Hans Schmidt Ad-
mits Murder of Anna
Aumuller.
THREW PARTS OF
BODY IN RIVER
Crime Laid at Door of Young
Curate by Tracing Pillow Slip
in Which Upper Section of
Dismembered Torso Was
Found-Slayer Locked
in Tombs Cell.
tsp.c,a, to Tho T.me.-D,spatch.l ]

INC" oIk, ScpternDer H.
Rev. Hans Schmidt, curate of St.
Joseph's Roman Catholic Church,
in West One Hundred and
Twenty-fifth Street, to-day con-
fessed the murder of Anna Au-
muller. parts of whose dismem-
bered body were found in the
Hudson River, and are now in
the Hoboken morgue.
II killed her because 1 loved
her 60 much. She was SO beau
tiful, so good, I could not let her
live without me. I had made up
my mind that she and could not
live together. l was priest, and
must remain with my church. l
could not let her go away from
me-"
Sobbing out this confession of
his crime, the priest was locked
in a cell in the Tombs prison,
where, instead of collapsing, as
might have been expected, he
calmly went to sleep.
Young German Girl.
The victim OF the most grim and
mysterious tragedy OF two decades
was a beautiful young German girl
of twenty-five years. Up to two
weeks ago she had been employed
as a servant in The parish house of St
pnnifncn'C CnfhnliC (hnrCf
at Forty-seventh Street and Second
Avenue. 1t was there that she met
the man who now faces the electric
chair as the penalty for her brutal
murder. Two weeks ago the girl had
been discharged from the parish
house because OF her physical condi-
ton, the result OF her relations with
the young German curate. who al
that time had been transferred To an
other parish, st. Joseph's, In Har-
lem, but had continued TO meet the
girl clandestincly at various places.
The murder was committed on the
night OF September in a fat which
the priest had rented at 6S Brad
hurst Avenue under the namo OF "A.
Nandyke," and to which he had
brought the girl, introducing her as
his wife.
Killed While Asleep.
According to his own confession
one Of the most amazing documents
in police annals in this city, the
young Clergyman killed the girl
while she lay asleep by drawing a
knife across her throat with such
swift force and unerring skill that
her eyes never opened. Carrying his
unconscious. but still breathing, vic
tim into the bathroom OF the fiat, he
proceeded to dismember the living
body. first slashing through the neck
muscles and vertebrae until the head
had been removed, and then, with
the aid Of a butchers knife and car
penter's saw. cutting through the
middle OF the body. Next he re-
moved the legs and arms, and finally
severed the feet.
All OF these gruesome details were
narrated by the priest murderer as
he stood In custody Of detectives In
the fat in which he had planned
and executed the ghastly crime. After
the first furry Of excitement, when
the man attempted to commit sui
eide by cutting his throat with razor
after he had been arrested In the
rectory Of ST. Joseph's, he was the
CaIQloSL ana uOSl tOllDCScU lleiuDeI
Of the party.
Without a tremor OF voice or
quiver Of lip or eye, he told Of wrap
ping up the dismembered remains in
nine separate packages covered with
wrapping paper purchased In near
by store, and how he then, only n
few hours after cutting the sleeping
victims throat, made five trips back
and forth across the Hudson OH the
Fort Lee ferry, dropping one or two
OF tho bundles into the river on each
trip until he had disposed Of all. He
described his return to the fat and
his efforts to remove evidences of
the butchery, and finally pointed out
tho vacant lot, where he had tried
to burn tho blood-stained mattress,
fragments OF which were still lying
there.
Puzzle to Detectives.
This Jekyll-Hyde in real life was
ain absolute puzzle to the detectives.
Usually, 1t Is the criminal who weak
ems when confronted with details of
his crime. This time it was the de-
tectives who weakened.
The story of ono who, under the
holy shelter Of the church, had crush
cd the happiness, darkened the name.
and finally taken the life Of woman,
gave them no pride of their skilled
triumph when they confronted and
arrested this unusual criminal in the
reotory.
"She was innocont." he said, "and
believed she was my wife. I mar
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