The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-09-15
Murdered Girl Was Anna
Aumuller, Aged q
Years
=
PRIEST CONFESSES
TO HER MURDER
Rev. Hans Schmidt Says He
Dismembered the Body
in New York

New York, Sept 15.--In the hope o
branding as an impostor and pseud'
priest Hans Schmidt, assistant rector O.
ST. Josephs Roman Catholic church, al
legged to be the self-confessed slayer o.
Anna Aumuller, the victim of the river
mystery, the church authorities to-day
began sweeping investigation OF
Schmidt's record. In cell at the Tombs
with his coat for pillow, Schmidt slept
soundly throughout the night and arose
this morning to partake of hearty
breakfast.
He had little to add to his alleged
confession Of last night, in which he
is said to have told the police that he
killed the victim as she lay in bed, cut
her body up in bathtub of the apart
ment where he had established her
wrapped it in five bundles and dropped
the bundles in the river from ferry
boat.
81 killed her because | loved her so
much" Schmidt ia alleged to have told
his captors, but the police version of
Young woman was about to become a
mother. He had married her through a
ceremony of his own performing, with
ont witnesses.
According to the police and the dis
trict attorneys office, Schmidt's eonfes-
sion was full and absolute. In it he
is quoted as saying that he killed his
companion with butchers knife and
cut up the body with the knife and
saw The deed was committed, the
police say, while the woman slept, short
ly after midnight on September 2, in an
apartment at 6s Bradhurst avenue,
where the priest had placed her five days
before.
When her heart had ceased beating,
according to the alleged confession,
Schmidt carried the body from the bed
to the bathroom and placing it in the
tub began Immediately his CORY task OF
cutting it up, With the keen knife and
the saw he cut off the head, 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 a bundle to cross the Hud-
son 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 still dis
colored the bathtub when detectives
searched the Bradhurst avenue apart
ment yesterday. Schmidt told the
police he had taken the mattress, on
which she lay when dealt the death
blow, and under cover of darkness to a
vacant lot nearby. and burned it.
The police found in the apartment,
among other things, marriage license
issued in New York last February and
bearing the names of the priest and the
murdered woman. This license had been
used, according to Schmidt's confession.
when he went through marriage cere-
moDy with the girl. In this ceremony,
Schmidt was both priest and BRIDE
groom. There were no witnesses.
The Alleged Confession.
Schmidts confession, according to the
police, is as follows
81 met Anna Aumuller two years ago
at the parish house of st. Boniface
church. She was employed as a servant
there. | became infatuated with her:
! loved her.
Il killed her because | loved her so
much. She was so beautiful, so good,
] could not let her live without me.
a had made up my mind that she
and / could not live together. | wa
a priest and must remain with my
church. l could not let her go away
from, mo CO I oDa,al ho dn.,,. nf
fat. ! awakened her. / told her | had
come to fulfil my threat. Then drew
the knife across her throat.
81 cut the body into six pieces. I
made trips to the Fort Lee ferry, each
time with a part of her precious body in
a bundle. When the ferryboat reached
the middle of the stream | would throw
a piece of it into the water and when
the boat reached the other side of the
river i would return and go back to the
fat.
after l had disposed OF the body,
wanted to destroy all evidence of the
crime | took the mattress on which [
had slain her and carried it to vacant
lot at l44th street and Seventh avenue
and there / burned it.
81 am guilty; that is all | can say.
must pay the penalty. There is nothing
else for me to do. But l loved Anna
Aumuler.
''She wanted me to marry her and
procured a marriage license. She trust
ed me.
81 am a priest and ordained to per-
form the marriage ceremony, so when
she insisted upon a ceremony, | married
mysNf to her. There was no need of
any other priest doing it. Tt was jus.
as absolute as if | had called in an
other person with authority to perform
marriage ceremony. She was my
wife"
Both Natives of Germany.
The priest, according to his sketch OF
his life, was born in Aschaffenburg, Ger
many. in 1881. He was educated there
and at Mainz, Germany, and ordained in
the latter city in December, 1904
Eighteen months later, because of poor
health, he came to America, soon being
assigned to a church at Louisville, Ky.
In 1909 he went to Trenton, y. j., and
in December, 1910, he became assistant
10 Father Braun, rector of st. Boniface's