The Washington herald., 1920-08-01
WEB WHOSE MESHES CANNOT BE BROKEN By liamN Nelson
Marked Violence
viii DaedionHuna Ingenuity Powes When P Against

A A. NJ. appointment at cabaret--
- The roar of a high powered automO-
bile
A CHEEKY call of good night" by an un-
seen man
A varied collection of feminine lin
gerie-
The body of the recognized expert on
auction bridge, with the ugly hole left by a
.45-caliber bullet in the forehead.
These are the principal clues which the
police had to work with in the Elwell muir
der. one of the most mysterious and sensa
tional crimes of the past decade.
But the ElweH affair presented no more
battling incongruities, no more puzzling
twists and unexpected turns than did many
of the other crimes which have been sue
cessfully traced by the police.
The Elwell crime differed very little from
the work of men whose names will live long
in police annals as master murderers-men
who planned every detail well in advance
and followed this original campaign without
the slightest deviation.
THE discovery &C the body of B. F. Perry
l. in his. house r. 1915 CaiIowhiu street
in Philadelphia, did not cause any sensation
at the time-September 1, 1S94-for the
coroner's jury gave a speedy verdict of
death from accidental causes"
There was clear evidence that some sort
Of an explosion had taken place. A shat
tered bottle, which had manifestly contained
some sort of indammabe material; broken
pipe lied with partly burned tobacco and a
charred match lay beside the body An
autopsy showed that Perry had died from
congestion of the lungs. caused by the in
haling of flames or chloroform, the latter
having presumably Termed the contents Of
the broken bottle. So, as there were no
claimants for the body and no estate-so far
as was known at that time-Perry's remains
were inferred at the .,otter's field.
There they would have remained undis-
turbed had it not been for the evidence of
a convict in the st. Louis prison-evidence
which not only indicated that Perry had
been murdered. but that his death was only
one of a series committed by man totally
devoid of conscience or human feeling
Shortly after Perry's death the Philadel-
phia branch of the Fidelity Life Insurance
Co. received letter from Jephtha D. Howe
an attorney in St. Louis. stating that ''B.
+. Perry" was really Benjamin F. Pitezel
who had carried a $4,000 life insurance
with the Fidelity company. The only per
son who could be found to identify the body
was a man named H. H. Holmes. of Will
mette, H.. who willingly came on to PhIa-
delphia to superintPnd the exhuming of the
body. Holmes and Howe met in the Office
of the company. presumably as strangers
and the former clearly identified the body of
the dead man as that of his friend Pitezel.
Satisfied, the insurance company paid the
insurance to Howe. Pitezel's attorney and
reimbursed Holmes for his expenses. Up to
this time there was, of course, not the least
suspicion of a crime.
The details of the case were reported in
the st. Louis newspapers and a few days
later Marion Hedgspeth. a convict serving a
sentence for train robbery, informed the
governor of the prison that he would like
10 give him some very important infOrma-
ton.
IF you will examine the records of the
prison" said Hedgspeth. you will find that
there was a man here last summer by the
name of H. H. Howard. He was in for
fraud. | think but was released on bail.
While he was here Howard asked me if l
knew any lawyer whom could recommend
in connection with a swindliug scheme which
he had in mind-a plan which he said ought
to net him at least $4,000 without any
trouble He promised me $500 for my in
formation. and I gave him the name of a
lawyer who I thought would nit the bill.
TIrr I
''AlI of which" remarked the governor Of
the prison. ''is interesting enough, but why
is it 50 vitality Important"
Don't you read the papers," rctorted
Hcdgspeth The name of the lawyer
recommended to Howard was Jephtha d.
Howe and Howard is undoubtedly the man
who calls himself Holmes-the one who is
mixed up in that insurance case in Phila