Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1913-09-15
MURDER MYSTERY SOLVED.
Perpetrator Confesses and Attempts
TO Cut His Throat.

Lne rev. mans oClliHIut' e'''AH'aHt iS1
tor of St. Josephs Roman Catholic
Church. New York, charged with the
murder of Anna Aumuller, 4 domestic
servant, the mystery surrounding the
finding twelve days ago of parts OF
the dismembered body of q girl in the
Hudson river was solved, Schmid:
has confessed, and at the time of his
arrest attempted to commit suicide
by cutting his throat with safety
razor blade.
II killed her because loved her so
much" Schmidt told his captors, but
the police version of the motive for
the crime is that the young woman
was about to become mother. He
had married her through a ceremony
of his own performing, without wit
nesses.
According to the police and the dis
itrict attorneys office, Schmidt has
confessed even to minor details of his
crime He killed his companion with
a butchers knife and cut up the
| body with the knife and a saw. The
deed was committed while the woman
slept, shortly after midnight on Sep
temhcr ?, in an apartment in Brad
hurst avenue, New York, where the
priest hal placed her five days be-
fore.
When her heart had ceased beating,
Schmidt carried the body from the
bed to the bathroom, and, placing it
in the tub, Immediately began his
CORY task 6f cutting it up. With the
keen knife and the saw he cut off her
Thead, arms. and legs. Still fearful! of
detection, he then cut the body in two.
Five bundles, wrapped in bed clothes
and papers, were made of the six
parts. Five times Schmidt left the
apartment house with bundle to,
cross the Hudson river to the Jersey
shore. Five times he leaned over the
stern of the ferryboat in midstream,
and gently gave the river his burden,
Then he returned to his church.
The stains of the girls blood stih
iiscolored the bathtub eu detec--
tives searched the Bradhurst avenue
apartment. Schmidt told the police
lie had taken the mattress on which
she lay when dealt the death blow, un-
der cover Of darkness, to a vacant lot
nearby, and burned it.
In the apartment, among other
things, the police found "a marriage
license issued in New York last Feb
ruary, and bearing the names of the
priest and the murdered woman. This
license had been used.
According to SchmidtS confession,
he went through marriage ceremony
with the girl. In this ceremony,
Schmidt was both priest and bride
groom. There were no witnesses.
a gayly-colored pillow of unusual
pattern leo to Schmidt's apprehension.
This pillow, stained with blood and
soi!ed with the filth Of the river. was
wrapped around portion of the body.
The detectives trace1 the pillow to
its manufacturer; the manufacturer
traced it to the dealer; the dealer
traced it to Schmidt And the po-
lice, tracing Schmidt and the girl,
knew all about both Of them hours
before they arrested him.
Perhaps the most startling feature
of the murder was the reason for his
crime, given by the prisoner to the
Rev. Luke J. Evers. chaplain of the
Tombs, in his cell yesterday after
noon.
ale told me-" Father Evers said,
that he had been directed to commit
| the crime by St. Elizabeth, who was
his patron, and who had ordained him.
He told me that he had received Wis
its ton from st. Elizabeth. to whom
he prayed necessarily, and that the
saint had told him there must be a
sacrifice, which must be consummated
as was the Biblical sacrifice Of Abra-
ham,"
Schmidt said he was ordained in
Mainz. Germany, in 1904 and when
asked him by whom he said, Bishop
kerstein.'
! He also said that he had been or
dained by St. Elizabeth.
He admitted that he had been ac-
cused as an impsster by Bishop kier-
stein, and had been imprisoned in
Munich