"the holmes-pitezel case," by f. b. geyer, 1896; "holmes' own story," philadelphia, 1895; and "celebrated criminal cases of america," by t. s. duke, san francisco, are the authorities for this account of the case.
i honour amongst thieves
in the year 1894 mr. smith, a carpenter, of philadelphia, had patented a new saw-set. wishing to make some money out of his invention, mr. smith was attracted by the sign:
b. f. perry patents bought and sold
which he saw stretched across the window of a two-storied house, 1,316 callowhill street. he entered the house and made the acquaintance of mr. perry, a tall, dark, bony man, to whom he explained the merits of his invention. perry listened with interest, and asked for a model. in the meantime he suggested that smith should do some carpenter's work for him in the house. smith agreed, and on august 22, while at work there saw a man enter the house and go up with perry to a room on the second story.
a few days later smith called at callowhill street to ask perry about the sale of the patent. he waited half an hour in the shop below, called out to perry who, he thought, might be in the rooms above, received no answer and went away. next day, september 4, smith returned, found the place just as he had left it the day before; called perry again, but again got no answer. surprised, he went upstairs, and in the back room of the second story the morning sunshine, streaming through the window, showed him the dead body of a man, his face charred beyond recognition, lying with his feet to the window and his head to the door. there was evidence of some sort of explosion: a broken bottle that had contained an inflammable substance, a broken pipe filled with tobacco, and a burnt match lay by the side of the body.
the general appearance of the dead man answered to that of b. f. perry. a medical examination of the body showed that death had been sudden, that there had been paralysis of the involuntary muscles, and that the stomach, besides showing symptoms of alcoholic irritation, emitted a strong odour of chloroform. an inquest was held, and a verdict returned that b. f. perry had died of congestion of the lungs caused by the inhalation of flame or chloroform. after lying in the mortuary for eleven days the body was buried.
in the meantime the philadelphia branch of the fidelity mutual life association had received a letter from one jephtha d. howe, an attorney at st. louis, stating that the deceased b. f. perry was benjamin f. pitezel of that city, who had been insured in their office for a sum of ten thousand dollars. the insurance had been effected in chicago in the november of 1893. mr. howe proposed to come to philadelphia with some members of the pitezel family to identify the remains. referring to their chicago branch, the insurance company found that the only person who would seem to have known pitezel when in that city, was a certain h. h. holmes, living at wilmette, illinois. they got into communication with mr. holmes, and forwarded to him a cutting from a newspaper, which stated erroneously that the death of b. f. perry had taken place in chicago.
on september 18 they received a letter from mr. holmes, in which he offered what assistance he could toward the identification of b. f. perry as b. f. pitezel. he gave the name of a dentist in chicago who would be able to recognise teeth which he had made for pitezel, and himself furnished a description of the man, especially of a malformation of the knee and a warty growth on the back of the neck by which he could be further identified. mr. holmes offered, if his expenses were paid, to come to chicago to view the body. two days later he wrote again saying that he had seen by other papers that perry's death had taken place in philadelphia and not in chicago, and that as he had to be in baltimore in a day or two, he would run over to philadelphia and visit the office of the fidelity life association.
on september 20 the assiduous mr. holmes called at the office of the association in philadelphia, inquired anxiously about the nature and cause of perry's death, gave again a description of him and, on learning that mr. howe, the attorney from st. louis, was about to come to philadelphia to represent the widow, mrs. pitezel, and complete the identification, said that he would return to give the company any further help he could in the matter. the following day mr. jephtha d. howe, attorney of st. louis, arrived in philadelphia, accompanied by alice pitezel, a daughter of the deceased. howe explained that pitezel had taken the name of perry owing to financial difficulties. the company said that they accepted the fact that perry and pitezel were one and the same man, but were not convinced that the body was pitezel's body. the visit of holmes was mentioned. howe said that he did not know mr. holmes, but would be willing to meet him. at this moment holmes arrived at the office. he was introduced to howe as a stranger, and recognised as a friend by alice pitezel, a shy, awkward girl of fourteen or fifteen years of age. it was then arranged that all the parties should meet again next day to identify, if possible, the body, which had been disinterred for that purpose.
the unpleasant duty of identifying the rapidly decomposing remains was greatly curtailed by the readiness of mr. holmes. when the party met on the 22nd at the potter's field, where the body had been disinterred and laid out, the doctor present was unable to find the distinctive marks which would show perry and pitezel to have been the same man. holmes at once stepped into the breach, took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, put on the rubber gloves, and taking a surgeon's knife from his pocket, cut off the wart at the back of the neck, showed the injury to the leg, and revealed also a bruised thumbnail which had been another distinctive mark of pitezel. the body was then covered up all but the teeth; the girl alice was brought in, and she said that the teeth appeared to be like those of her father. the insurance company declared themselves satisfied, and handed to mr. howe a cheque for 9,175 dollars, and to mr. holmes ten dollars for his expenses. smith, the carpenter, had been present at the proceedings at the potter's field. for a moment he thought he detected a likeness in mr. holmes to the man who had visited perry at callowhill street on august 22 and gone upstairs with him, but he did not feel sure enough of the fact to make any mention of it.
in the prison at st. louis there languished in the year 1894 one marion hedgspeth, serving a sentence of twenty years' imprisonment for an audacious train robbery. on the night of november 30, 1891, the 'friscow express from st. louis had been boarded by four ruffians, the express car blown open with dynamite, and 10,000 dollars carried off. hedgspeth and another man were tried for the robbery, and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. on october 9, 1894, hegspeth{sic} made a statement to the governor of the st. louis prison, which he said he wished to be communicated to the fidelity mutual life association. in the previous july hedgspeth said that he had met in the prison a man of the name of h. m. howard, who was charged with fraud, but had been released on bail later in the month. while in prison howard told hedgspeth that he had devised a scheme for swindling an insurance company of 10,000 dollars, and promised hedgspeth that, if he would recommend him a lawyer suitable for such an enterprise, he should have 500 dollars as his share of the proceeds. hedgspeth recommended jephtha d. howe. the latter entered with enthusiasm into the scheme, and told hedgspeth that he thought mr. howard "one of the smoothest and slickest" men he had ever known. a corpse was to be found answering to pitezel's description, and to be so treated as to appear to have been the victim of an accidental explosion, while pitezel himself would disappear to germany. from howe hedgspeth learnt that the swindle had been carried out successfully, but he had never received from howard the 500 dollars promised him. consequently, he had but little compunction in divulging the plot to the authorities.
it was realised at once that h. m. howard and h. h. holmes were the same person, and that jephtha d. howe and mr. holmes were not the strangers to each other that they had affected to be when they met in philadelphia. though somewhat doubtful of the truth of hedgspeth's statement, the insurance company decided to set pinkerton's detectives on the track of mr. h. h. holmes. after more than a month's search he was traced to his father's house at gilmanton, n. h., and arrested in boston on november 17.
inquiry showed that, early in 1894, holmes and pitezel had acquired some real property at fort worth in texas and commenced building operations, but had soon after left texas under a cloud, arising from the theft of a horse and other dubious transactions.
holmes had obtained the property at fort worth from a miss minnie williams, and transferred it to pitezel. pitezel was a drunken "crook," of mean intelligence, a mesmeric subject entirely under the influence of holmes, who claimed to have considerable hypnotic powers. pitezel had a wife living at st. louis and five children, three girls—dessie, alice, and nellie—a boy, howard, and a baby in arms. at the time of holmes' arrest mrs. pitezel, with her eldest daughter, dessie, and her little baby, was living at a house rented by holmes at burlington, vermont. she also was arrested on a charge of complicity in the insurance fraud and brought to boston.
two days after his arrest holmes, who dreaded being sent back to texas on a charge of horse-stealing, for which in that state the punishment is apt to be rough and ready, made a statement to the police, in which he acknowledged the fraud practised by him and pitezel on the insurance company. the body substituted for pitezel had been obtained, said holmes, from a doctor in new york, packed in a trunk and sent to philadelphia, but he declined for the present to give the doctor's name. pitezel, he said, had gone with three of his children—alice, nellie and howard—to south america. this fact, however, holmes had not communicated to mrs. pitezel. when she arrived at boston, the poor woman was in great distress of mind. questioned by the officers, she attempted to deny any complicity in the fraud, but her real anxiety was to get news of her husband and her three children. alice she had not seen since the girl had gone to philadelphia to identify the supposed remains of her father. shortly after this holmes had come to mrs. pitezel at st. louis, and taken away nellie and howard to join alice, who, he said, was in the care of a widow lady at ovington, kentucky. since then mrs. pitezel had seen nothing of the children or her husband. at holmes' direction she had gone to detroit, toronto, ogdensberg and, lastly, to burlington in the hope of meeting either pitezel or the children, but in vain. she believed that her husband had deserted her; her only desire was to recover her children.
on november 20 holmes and mrs. pitezel were transferred from boston to philadelphia, and there, along with benjamin pitezel and jephtha d. howe, were charged with defrauding the fidelity life association of 10,000 dollars. soon after his arrival in philadelphia holmes, who was never averse to talking, was asked by an inspector of the insurance company who it was that had helped him to double up the body sent from new york and pack it into the trunk. he replied that he had done it alone, having learned the trick when studying medicine in michigan. the inspector recollected that the body when removed from callowhill street had been straight and rigid. he asked holmes what trick he had learnt in the course of his medical studies by which it was possible to re-stiffen a body once the rigor mortis had been broken. to this holmes made no reply. but he realised his mistake, and a few weeks later volunteered a second statement. he now said that pitezel, in a fit of depression, aggravated by his drinking habits, had committed suicide on the third story of the house in callowhill street. there holmes had found his body, carried it down on to the floor below, and arranged it in the manner agreed upon for deceiving the insurance company. pitezel, he said, had taken his life by lying on the floor and allowing chloroform to run slowly into his mouth through a rubber tube placed on a chair. the three children, holmes now stated, had gone to england with a friend of his, miss minnie williams.
miss minnie williams was the lady, from whom holmes was said to have acquired the property in texas which he and pitezel had set about developing. there was quite a tragedy, according to holmes, connected with the life of miss williams. she had come to holmes in 1893, as secretary, at a drug store which he was then keeping in chicago. their relations had become more intimate, and later in the year miss williams wrote to her sister, nannie, saying that she was going to be married, and inviting her to the wedding. nannie arrived, but unfortunately a violent quarrel broke out between the two sisters, and holmes came home to find that minnie in her rage had killed her sister. he had helped her out of the trouble by dropping nannie's body into the chicago lake. after such a distressing occurrence miss williams was only too glad of the opportunity of leaving america with the pitezel children. in the meantime holmes, under the name of bond, and pitezel, under that of lyman, had proceeded to deal with miss williams' property in texas.
for women holmes would always appear to have possessed some power of attraction, a power of which he availed himself generously. holmes, whose real name was herman w. mudgett, was thirty-four years of age at the time of his arrest. as a boy he had spent his life farming in vermont, after which he had taken up medicine and acquired some kind of medical degree. in the course of his training holmes and a fellow student, finding a body that bore a striking resemblance to the latter; obtained 1,000 dollars from an insurance company by a fraud similar to that in which holmes had engaged subsequently with pitezel. after spending some time on the staff of a lunatic asylum in pennsylvania, holmes set up as a druggist in chicago. his affairs in this city prospered, and he was enabled to erect, at the corner of wallace and sixty-third streets, the four-storied building known later as "holmes castle." it was a singular structure. the lower part consisted of a shop and offices. holmes occupied the second floor, and had a laboratory on the third. in his office was a vault, air proof and sound proof. in the bathroom a trap-door, covered by a rug, opened on to a secret staircase leading down to the cellar, and a similar staircase connected the cellar with the laboratory. in the cellar was a large grate. to this building miss minnie williams had invited her sister to come for her wedding with holmes, and it was in this building, according to holmes, that the tragedy of nannie's untimely death occurred.
in hoping to become holmes' wife, miss minnie williams was not to enjoy an exclusive privilege. at the time of his arrest holmes had three wives, each ignorant of the others' existence. he had married the first in 1878, under the name of mudgett, and was visiting her at burlington, vermont, when the pinkerton detectives first got on his track. the second he had married at chicago, under the name of howard, and the third at denver as recently as january, 1894, under the name of holmes. the third mrs. holmes had been with him when he came to philadelphia to identify pitezel's body. the appearance of holmes was commonplace, but he was a man of plausible and ingratiating address, apparent candour, and able in case of necessity to "let loose," as he phrased it, "the fount of emotion."
the year 1895 opened to find the much enduring holmes still a prisoner in philadelphia. the authorities seemed in no haste to indict him for fraud; their interest was concentrated rather in endeavouring to find the whereabouts of miss williams and her children, and of one edward hatch, whom holmes had described as helping him in arranging for their departure. the "great humiliation" of being a prisoner was very distressing to holmes.
"i only know the sky has lost its blue,
the days are weary and the night is drear."
these struck him as two beautiful lines very appropriate to his situation. he made a new year's resolve to give up meat during his close confinement. the visits of his third wife brought him some comfort. he was "agreeably surprised" to find that, as an unconvicted prisoner, he could order in his own meals and receive newspapers and periodicals. but he was hurt at an unfriendly suggestion on the part of the authorities that pitezel had not died by his own hand, and that edward hatch was but a figment of his rich imagination. he would like to have been released on bail, but in the same unfriendly spirit was informed that, if he were, he would be detained on a charge of murder. and so the months dragged on. holmes, studious, patient, injured, the authorities puzzled, suspicions, baffled—still no news of miss williams or the three children. it was not until june 3 that holmes was put on his trial for fraud, and the following day pleaded guilty. sentence was postponed.
the same day holmes was sent for to the office of the district attorney, who thus addressed him: "it is strongly suspected, holmes, that you have not only murdered pitezel, but that you have killed the children. the best way to remove this suspicion is to produce the children at once. now, where are they?" unfriendly as was this approach, holmes met it calmly, reiterated his previous statement that the children had gone with miss williams to england, and gave her address in london, 80 veder or vadar street, where, he said, miss williams had opened a massage establishment. he offered to draw up and insert a cipher advertisement in the new york herald, by means of which, he said, miss williams and he had agreed to communicate, and almost tearfully he added, "why should i kill innocent children?"
asked to give the name of any person who had seen miss williams and the children in the course of their journeyings in america, he resented the disbelief implied in such a question, and strong was his manly indignation when one of the gentlemen present expressed his opinion that the story was a lie from beginning to end. this rude estimate of holmes' veracity was, however, in some degree confirmed when a cipher advertisement published in the new york herald according to holmes' directions, produced no reply from miss williams, and inquiry showed that no such street as veder or vadar street was to be found in london.
in spite of these disappointments, holmes' quiet confidence in his own good faith continued unshaken. when the hapless mrs. pitezel was released, he wrote her a long letter. "knowing me as you do," he said, "can you imagine me killing little and innocent children, especially without any motive?" but even mrs. pitezel was not wholly reassured. she recollected how holmes had taken her just before his arrest to a house he had rented at burlington, vermont, how he had written asking her to carry a package of nitro-glycerine from the bottom to the top of the house, and how one day she had found him busily removing the boards in the cellar.
