The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-09-15
PRIEST SLAYS GIRL
To FULFILL VISION
DEMANDING CRIME
New York Rector Drinks the
Blood of Victim of
Mad Love.
is BELIEVED INSANE
Marries Girl Himself, and
Commits Deed in FASH
iOnable Flat.
Is BELIEVED INSANE
CNatlonal News Association

I
NEW YORK. Sept. l5.-The Rev.
Hans Schmidt. assistant pastor of ST.
Josephs Roman Catholic church at
| One Hundred and Twenty fifth and
| Morningside avenue. self-confessed
murderer OF Anna Aumuller. the young
Hungarian girl. whose dismembered
body was picked up in the Hudson
river last week. is a prisoner in the
Tombs. his first night, according to
the attendants. being passed in sound
| sleep.
He was up early and looked amply
strengthened for the great ordeal OF
this afternoon. the conformation OF
the parts of the beautiful girl whom
he slew TO hide his guilt. This step is
necessary for purposes of idenIifica-
tion and at its conclusion Coroner
| keinberg will confer with Assistant
District Attorney Murphy regarding
the date OF the inquest
| New York Stirred.
The horror of the crime has stirred
New York as no other murder in
years. That this man. exercising the
| functions OF a priest OF the church.
should steal into the fat he had ap-
parently rented solely for the purpose
of killing the girl. whom he had mar
ried. performing the ceremony him.
self. and put to death the beautiful
young Hungarian girl, soon to become
a mother. and then, while her body
| was yet warm. cut il into nine pieces.
drain the blood into a bathtub and
carry the body piecemeal through one
of the principal streets TO a ferry.
where he consigned IL to the river.
passes the comprehension of the po-
lice and detectives engaged on the
case, and caused them. Injured as they
are to all sorts of crimes. to shudder
as the priest willingly recited all the
gruesome details.
Murdered In Flat.
The pretentious apartment house at
6S Broadhurst avenue, not far from
the church, was the scene of the muir
der and il is remarkable comment
airy on the selfishness and lving-to-
self life of New York, that the girl
was murdered and cut TO pieces with
out any person OF the twenty-four fam
lilies living in the building having an
inkling of the tragedy. II was on the
third floor of this building, in a rear
4-room fat, that the crime was COM
mitted on the night of August 81.
There the detectives. headed by In
spector Joseph Faurot, head OF the
New York bureau Of detectives. found
a butchers knife, with its ten-inch
blade as keen as a razor, and a car
penter's saw. the implements with
which Schmidt confessed he slew and
dismembered Anna Aumuller, as well
as photographs and tell-tale letters
which the priest had failed to take
away when he cleaned up the fat az
ter the butchery. Through these. the
police were led to St Boniface's rec
l ~
tion of Father Braun, the parish priest
to ST Joseph's in Harlem, where the
capture of the murdererpriest was &C
complished.
Priest Confesses.
Schmidt's collapse and confession
came the instant he recognized the
picture of his victim which the police
exhibited to him and realized the
meaning of the detectives presence
in the rectory.
The tale of horror and bloodshed
that the priest told, held even the vet
eran detectives spellbound and
aghast More than once they were
on the point of refusing to believe
that the priest was telling the truth.
but the evidence he offered against
himself was too convincing to be de-
MED
When he had finished the young
curate-he is only 32 years old-took
his captors to a vacant lot at One Hun
dread and Forty-fourth street, between
Seventh and Eighth avenues. where he
had burned the blood-soaked mattress
on which Miss Aumuller had been
murdered. and showed them the char
red remains of the excelsior and cot
ton ticking Just as ne had left them.
Held for Murder.
hafr hn
motored to police headquarters. and
= there the grilling of the curate was
resumed. AS soon as Faurot had sat
isfied himself that Schmidt had told
4 the last detail he turned him over to
Assistant District Attorney Deacon
Murphy. whose stenographer took a
transcript of Schmidt's confession. BY
that time Coroner Feinberg had ar
rived and after brief hearing in In
, spector Faurot's room. the priest was
: held without bail on the charge OF
Z murder.
The statement made by Father
Z Schmidt to Father Luke Eyers. the
! I chaplain of the Tombs prison, leads
many TO the belief that the murderer
+ is unbalanced mentally.
Pierce His Past.
While Schmidt sits calmly in his
= cell. announcing in a matter of fact
e way that he is ready to pay the PEN
u atty for his crime. the distinguished
: members of the Catholic clergy here.
lpiecing together Schmidt's rather dis
connected story of his past, are max
l. ing efforts to life the hidden pages Of
S Schmidt's early history in an effort to
e prove that not OILY is the man insane.
T but that he was thrown into Jail in
!: Europe as an imposter and that he
q never was ordained as a priest
Through as clever a bit of detective
work as the police department here
has ever experienced, the police sus-
d picion finally directed itself upon
l. Schmidt. The officers could hardly
l. credit their conclusions and were
Il placed in a delicate position as to how
d to approach the priest. Finally, how
e ever, they went TO the rectory after