November 12, 2023 • 42 mins
A Litany of Horror
Episode 12 is a reading of the chilling confession of Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as H.H. Holmes, one of the most remarkable serial killers in American History. The whole nation was shocked and outraged in the waning years of the nineteenth century by the gruesome deeds of one Herman Mudgett, the arch fiend who took on the pseudonym H.H. Holmes as he prepared his famous "Castle of Death" in downtown Chicago. He was arrested for an insurance fraud in November 1894, but his string of murders, perhaps 200 in all, were soon revealed. He was convicted of one capital crime in Philadelphia, and while he awaited execution, he penned a confession detailing 27 murders that was published in newspapers across the country. He would recant this confession before he hanged, but really, you can't make this stuff up.
Ad free Patreon edition with subscription
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
Episode 12 is a reading of the chilling confession of Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as H.H. Holmes, one of the most remarkable serial killers in American History. The whole nation was shocked and outraged in the waning years of the nineteenth century by the gruesome deeds of one Herman Mudgett, the arch fiend who took on the pseudonym H.H. Holmes as he prepared his famous "Castle of Death" in downtown Chicago. He was arrested for an insurance fraud in November 1894, but his string of murders, perhaps 200 in all, were soon revealed. He was convicted of one capital crime in Philadelphia, and while he awaited execution, he penned a confession detailing 27 murders that was published in newspapers across the country. He would recant this confession before he hanged, but really, you can't make this stuff up.
Ad free Patreon edition with subscription
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
All the other true crime historian presentsyesterday's news serial Killer Clips Edition, a
(00:23):
reading of America's historic newspapers from thegolden age of yellow journalism. The entire
nation was shocked and outraged in thewaning years of the nineteenth century by the
gruesome deeds of one Hermann Mudget,the arch fiend who took on the pseudonym
H. H. Holmes as heprepared his famous castle of death in downtown
(00:44):
Chicago. He was arrested for aninsurance fraud in November eighteen ninety four,
but his string of murders, perhapstwo hundred in all, were soon revealed.
He was convicted of one capital crimein Philadelphia, and while he awaited
execution, he pinned a confession detailingtwenty seven murders that was published in newspapers
(01:04):
across the country. He would recantthis confession before he hanged, but really,
you can't make this stuff up.I'm true crime historian Richard O.
Jones, and I call this episodeof Serial Killer Clips the Confession of H.
H. Holmes, a litany ofhorror. Philadelphia County Prison, April
(01:30):
eighth, eighteen ninety six. Thefirst taking of human life was a torturing
thought. This, it will beunderstood, was before my constant wrongdoing,
I had become holy deaf to thepromptings of conscience. For prior to this
I begged to be believed in statingthat I had never sinned so heavily,
(01:53):
either by thought or deed. Later, like the man eating tiger of the
tropics, whose appetite for blood hasonce been aroused, I roamed about the
world seeking whom I could destroy.The killing of Miss Julia Connor was to
a certain extent due to a criminaloperation performed by parties who were cognizant of
(02:15):
and partly responsible for both the operationand the death. A reference to almost
any newspaper of August eighteen ninety fivewill give the minute details. The horrors
of this case were worked out bythe detectives, therefore making it unnecessary to
repeat it here. The death ofPearl, her little daughter was caused by
(02:37):
poison. The parties I mentioned wereequally responsible for its administration, Although it
was at my instigation that it wasdone. I believed the child was old
enough to remember her mother's sickness anddeath. The other parties wished at first
to place the child in the careof their aged parents, who lived south
of the city, but were overruledby my opposition. Owing to the suddenness
(03:00):
of Missus Connor's death. A certainnote of considerable value, well secured by
property south of the castle, wasuncollectable, and at the time of my
death it will be sent to suchrelatives as may appear to have the greatest
right to receive it. The nextcase is that of Charles Coal, a
(03:23):
Southern speculator. After considerable correspondence,this man came to Chicago, and I
enticed him into the castle, where, while I was engaging him in conversation,
my associate struck a most vicious blowon the head with a piece of
gas pipe. So heavy was theblow that it not only caused his death
(03:44):
without a groan and hardly a movement, but it crushed his skull to such
an extent that his body was almostuseless. This was the first instance in
which I know of this confederate havingcommitted murder, though in several other instances
he was fully as guilty as myself, and if possible, more heartless and
bloodthirsty. And I have no doubthe is still engaged in the same nefarious
(04:06):
work. A domestic named Lizzie wasthe seventh victim. She for a time
worked in the Castle restaurant, andI soon learned that another of my employees
was paying her too close attention,and, fearing lest it should progress so
far that it would necessitate his leavingmy employ I thought it wise to end
(04:28):
the life of the girl. ThisI did by calling her to my office
and suffocating her in a vault ofwhich so much has since been printed.
She was the first victim that diedthere. Before her death, I compelled
her to write letters to her relativesand to state that she had left Chicago
for a western state and should notreturn. A few months ago, the
(04:49):
prosecution, believing from certain letters purportingto have been written by her that she
was still alive, showed me itswillingness to give me a fair trial.
By having this public life known,she being a witness, that I could
have used a great advantage in thepencil case. Soon after this, Miss
Emmeline Segrand was sent to me byChicago firm to fill the vacancy of a
(05:13):
stenographer. She had been previously employedat Dwight, Illinois, where she had
become acquainted with a man who visitedher from time to time while she was
in my employ She was finally engagedto him, and the day was set
for their wedding. This attachment wasparticularly obnoxious to me, both because Miss
Segrand had become almost indispensable to mein my office work, and because she
(05:38):
had become my mistress as well asstenographer. I endeavored upon several occasions to
take the life of the young man, and failing, I finally resolved that
I would kill her instead, andupon the day of their wedding, even
after the cards had been sent outannouncing that it had occurred, she came
to my office to bid me goodbye. While there I asked her to
(06:00):
step inside the vault for some papersfor me. There I detained her,
telling her that if she would writeher husband that at that last moment she
had known it would be impossible tolive happily with him, and consequently had
left Chicago in such a way thatsearch for her would be useless. I
would take her to a distant cityand live openly with her as my wife.
(06:20):
She was very willing to do this, and prepared to leave the vault
on completing the letter, only tofind that the door would never again be
opened until she had ceased to sufferthe torture of a slow and lingering death.
Here follows an unsuccessful attempt to commita triple murder for ninety dollars that
would have been given me for thebodies of the intended victims, who were
(06:44):
three young women working in my restaurantupon Milwaukee Avenue. That these women lived
to tell of their experience to thepolice last summer is due to my foolishly
trying to chloroform all of them atone and the same time. By their
combined strength, they overpowered me inand screaming into the street, clad only
in their night robes. To thisattempt to kill could very justly be added
(07:06):
my attempt to take the lives ofMissus Pitzel and two of her children at
a later date, thus increasing thetotal of my victims. As it was
no fault of mine that they escaped. My next attempt was carried out with
more caution. The victim was avery beautiful young woman named Anna van Tassau,
(07:27):
whom I induced to come into myfruit and confectionery store, and when
she was once with me, Icompelled her to live there for a time,
threatening her with death if she appearedbefore my customers. A little later,
I killed her by administering pharaocyanide ofpotassium. The location of this store
was such that it would have beenhazardous to have sent out a large box
(07:47):
containing a body, and I thereforebury her remains in the store basement,
and from day to day during theinvestigations at the castle, I expected to
hear that excavations had been made there. Robert Latimer, a man who had
for some years been in my employeeas a janitor, was my next victim.
(08:09):
Several years previous, before I hadever taken a human life, he
had known of certain insurance work Ihad engaged in, and when in recent
years he sought to extort money fromme, his own death and the sale
of his body was the recompense meetedout to him. I confined him within
the secret room and slowly starved himto death. Finally needing its use for
(08:31):
another victim, and because his pleadingshad become almost unbearable, I ended his
life. The partial excavation of thewalls of this room found by the police,
was caused by Latimer's endeavoring to escapeby tearing away the solid brick and
mortar with his unaided fingers. Thesucceeding case was that of Miss Annabett's,
(08:56):
and was caused by my purposely substitutinga poisonous drug prescription that had been sent
to my drug store to be compounded. I believe that, as it was
known that I was a physician,I should be called to witness her death,
as she lived very near the store. This was not the case,
however, as the regular physician wasin attendance at the time. The prescription
(09:18):
still on file at the Castle drugStore should be considered by the authorities if
they are still inclined to attribute thisdeath to causes that reflect on Miss Betts's
moral character. The death of MissGertrude Connor of Muscatine, Iowa, though
not the next in order of occurrence, is so similar to the last that
the description of one suffices for both. Save in this respect. Miss Connor
(09:41):
left Chicago immediately, but did notdie until she had reached her home in
Muscatine. Perhaps these two cases showmore plainly than any other of the light
regard I had for the lives ofmy fellow beings. The next death was
that of a man named Warner,the originator of the Warner's glass bending company.
(10:03):
And there again I realized a verylarge sum of money, which,
prior to his death had been depositedin two Chicago banks, nearly all of
which I secured by means of twochecks made out and properly signed by him
for a small sum each. Tothese I later added the word thousand and
the necessary ciphers, and by passingthem through the bank where I had a
(10:24):
regular open account, I promptly realizedthe money, save a small amount not
covered by the checks, in thePark National Bank. It will be remembered
that the remains of a large kilnmade a fire brick were found in a
basement. It had been built undermister Warner's supervision for the purpose of exhibiting
his patents. It was so arrangedthat in less than a minute, after
(10:46):
turning on a jet of crude oilatomized with steam, the entire kiln would
be filled with a colorless flame sointensely hot that iron would be melted therein.
It was in two this kiln thatI induced mister Warner to go with
me, under the pretense of mywishing certain minute explanations of the process,
(11:07):
and then stepping outside, as hebelieved to get some tools. I closed
the door and turned on both theoil and steam to their full extent.
In a short time, not eventhe bones of my victim remained. The
coat found underneath the kiln was theone he took off before going Therein in
(11:28):
eighteen ninety one, I associated myselfin business with a young Englishman who,
by his own admission, had beenguilty of all other forms of wrongdoing save
murder, and presumably of that aswell, to manipulate certain real estate securities
we held, so as to havethem secure us a good commercial rating.
It was an easy matter for him, and he was equally able to interest
(11:50):
certain English capitalists in certain patents,so that it seemed that in the near
future our greatest concern would be howto dispose of the money that seemed to
be showered upon us. By anunfortunate occurrence, our rating was destroyed,
and it became necessary to at onceraise a large sum, and this was
done by enticing a wealthy Chicago bankernamed Rogers from a Wisconsin town in such
(12:13):
a manner that he could have leftno intelligence with whom his business was to
be to bring him to the castleand into the secret room under the pretense
that our patents were there. Waseasy, much more so than to force
him to sign checks and drafts forseventy thousand dollars, which he had prepared.
At first, he refused to doso, stating that his liberty that
(12:33):
we offered him in exchange would beuseless to him without his money, and
that he was too old to hopeto make another fortune. Finally, by
alternately starving him and nauseating him withthe gas, I made him sign the
securities, all of which were convertedinto money, and by the Englishman's skill
as a forger, in such amanner as to leave no trace of their
(12:56):
having been passed through our hands.I waited with much curiosity to see what
proposition my colleague would advance for thedisposal of our prisoner, as I well
knew that he no more than Icontemplated giving him his liberty. Evidently,
the Englishman waited with equal expectancy forme to suggest what should be done,
and I finally made preparations to allowRogers to leave the building, thus forcing
(13:20):
the Englishman to suggest that he bekilled. I would consent to this only
upon the condition that he should administerthe chloroform and leave me to dispose of
the body as part of the work. That evening, the large sum of
money was divided between us. Thenext case is that of a woman whose
(13:41):
name has passed from my memory,who came to the Castle restaurant to board.
The person who was conducting the restaurantat the time immediately became very much
infatuated with a woman who he heardwas a widow and wealthy. The manager
was married, and his wife occasionallycame to the restaurant when this boarder was
there, which did not tend todecrease the family quarrel, which for quite
(14:01):
a time had threatened the family withdisruption. Finally he came to me for
advice, and I was very willingto have him in my power that I
could later use him if need be. I suggested that he lived with the
woman in the castle for a time, and later, if this life became
unpleasant to him, we would killher and divide her wealth. Although this
(14:22):
man showed no disposition to spare mein the recent investigations, and also deserved
death for this and other crimes,it is but fair to say that at
first he was not willing to enterinto this arrangement, and would probably today
not be guilty of murder, butfor my influence. As I had anticipated,
he soon tired of the castle lifeand suggested that it was time to
(14:45):
take his companion's life. This wasdone by my administering chloroform while he controlled
her violent struggles. It was thebody of this woman within the long coffin
shaped box that was taken into thecastle in late eighteen nine twenty three,
of which the man told the police. Is it to be wondered at that
he should have remembered her name?In order that the deaths of the Williams
(15:24):
sisters may be more fully understood.It is necessary for me to state that
what has been said by Miss Williams'ssouthern relatives regarding her pure and Christian life
should be believed. Also that priorto her meeting me in eighteen ninety three,
she was a virtuous woman, thusrendering truthful the statements of Charles Goldthwaite
of Boston that he had never knownher otherwise than as an intimate friend of
(15:46):
his wife's, and that in Juneeighteen ninety three he did not wire her
a considerable money to Chicago. Inresponse to a demand for the same from
her, That she was not temporarilyinsane at a hotel opposite the Pullman Building
in Chicago from May twentieth to twentythird, eighteen ninety three, was not
a little later secluded in the BaptistHospital in Chicago under the name of missus
(16:07):
Williams, was not still later inretreat at Milwaukee, And that she did
not kill her sister and threaten tokill her nurse who had her in charge
at number twelve twenty Rightwood Avenue,Chicago. All these statements, it gives
me certain amount of satisfaction to retractthereby undoing so far as I can,
these additional wrongs I have heaped uponher name. I first met miss Williams
(16:33):
in Chicago in eighteen eighty eight,where she knew me as Edward Hatch,
and later under the same name inDenver, as has been testified by certain
young women who recognized my photograph.Early in eighteen ninety three, I was
introduced to her as H. H. Holmes. She had applied for a
position as a stenographer. Soon afterentering my employ I induced her to give
(16:56):
me two thousand, five hundred dollarsin money and to transfer to me by
d much southern real estate, anda little later to live with me as
my wife, all this being easilyaccomplished owing to her innocent and childlike nature,
she hardly knowing right from wrong insuch matters. Thereafter I succeeded in
securing two checks from her for twentyfive dollars each, and I also learned
(17:19):
that she had a sister, Nannyin Texas, who was heir to some
property. I induced Miss Williams tohave her come to Chicago on a visit.
Upon her arrival, I met herat the depot and took her to
the castle, telling her Miss Williamswas there. It was an easy matter
to force her to assign me allshe possessed. After that, she was
immediately killed in ordered that no onein her about the castle should know or
(17:42):
having known of her being there.It was the footprint of Nanny Williams,
as was later demonstrated by that mostastute lawyer and detective mister Capps of Fort
Worth, that was found upon thepainted surface of the vault door, who
was made during her violent struggle beforeher death. It was also easy to
give Miss Williams a delayed letter statingthat her sister's proposed visit had been given
(18:03):
up, and also by intercepting laterletters and substituting others to keep her from
learning that her sister had left theSouth. Having secured all the money and
property Miss Williams had. It wastime that she was killed. Owing to
a fire that occurred in the castle, I was unable to resort to the
usual method of taking her life,and after some delay, I took her
(18:25):
to Moment's, Illinois about November fifteenth, eighteen ninety two, registering at a
hotel near the post office under anassumed name as man and wife. My
intention was to quickly kill her insome manner, but a freight wreck that
occurred on the outskirts of town theday following my arrival there, which out
of my curiosity I visited, broughtme into contact with a passenger conductor,
(18:51):
Peck, who knew me, andI therefore abandoned my plans, but later
returned and took the girl eight mileseast of Moments on her freight line.
Little used into her life with poisonand buried her body in the basement of
the house spoken about at the timeof the Irvington discoveries in eighteen ninety five.
It was a great wonder that thebody was not found at that time.
If the detectives in reality went tothat location. Nothing would at the
(19:15):
present time give me so much satisfactionas to know that her body had been
properly buried. I would be willingto give up the few remaining days I
have to live, if by sodoing this would be accomplished. Because of
her spotless life before she knew me, because of the large amount of money
I do frauded her of, becauseI killed her sister and her brother,
and because, not being satisfied withall this, I endeavored, after my
(19:38):
arrest to blacken her good name bycharging her with the death of her sister,
and later with the instigation of themurder of the two Pizel children,
endeavoring to have it believed that hermotive for so doing was to afford the
avenue of escape for herself if sheshould ever be apprehended for her sister's death,
by pointing to me as a wholesalemurderer, and therefore presumably guilty of
(19:59):
her sister death as well. Forall these reasons, this is, without
exception, the saddest and most heinousof my crimes. A man who came
to Chicago to attend the Columbian Exposition, but whose name I cannot recall,
was my next victim. I determinedto use this man in my various business
(20:21):
dealings, and did so for atime, until I found that he had
not the ability I at first thoughthe was possessed of. I therefore decided
to kill him. This was doneafter Miss Williams's death, I found among
her papers an insurance policy made inher favor by her brother, Baldwin Williams
(20:44):
of Leadville, Colorado. I thereforewent to that city in eighteen ninety four.
A little later the assignment of thepolicy to which I had forged Miss
Williams's name, to John Maxwell ofLeadville, the administrator of the Williams estate,
was honored, and the money waspaid. Both in this instance and
in that of the thousand dollars checkgiven by D. Tolman and checks aggregating
(21:04):
two thy five hundred dollars by JR. Hitt and Company of Chicago. Inasmuch
as the endorsements are forgeries, theWilliams heirs can now recover these amounts,
although it will be an undeserved hardshipon those who have once advanced the money
upon them. So much has alreadybeen printed regarding the case of Benjamin F.
(21:29):
Pizel, that there is little forme to tell save the actual manner
in which his death was brought about. It will be understood that from the
first hour of our acquaintance, evenbefore I knew he had family who would
later afford me additional victims. Forthe gratification of my bloodthirstiness, I intended
to kill him. In all mysubsequent care of him, as well as
my apparent trust in him by placingin his name large amounts of property,
(21:52):
was simply to gain the confidence ofhim and his family, so that when
the time was ripe, they wouldthe more readily fall into mine hands.
It seems almost incredible, now asI look back, that I expected to
have experienced sufficient satisfaction in witnessing theirdeath to pay me for even the physical
exertion that I had put forth intheir behalf during those seven long years,
(22:14):
to say nothing of the amount ofmoney I had expended for their welfare over
and above what I could have expectedto receive from his comparatively small life insurance.
Yet so it is, and itfurnishes a very striking illustration of the
vegaries in which this human mind will, under certain circumstances, indulge vagaries in
comparison with which the seeking of buriedtreasure at the rainbow's end, the delusions
(22:37):
of the exponent of perpetual motion,or the dreams of the Hashish fiend,
are sanity itself. Pittzel left hishome for the last time in late July
eighteen ninety four. We journeyed togetherto New York and later to Philadelphia,
where the fatal house on coll StreetHill, in which he met a hiss
(23:00):
death in September, was hired.Then came my writing to him, the
discouraging letters purporting to be from hiswife, causing him to resort to drink.
Then the waiting from day to dayuntil I should be sure to find
him in a drunken stupor at midday. This was an easy matter, as
I was well acquainted with his habits, and so sure was I of finding
(23:21):
him. Thus incapacitated that when theday came on which it was convenient for
me to kill him, even beforeI went to his room, I packed
my trunk and made other arrangements toleave Philadelphia in a hurried flight immediately after
his death. After thus preparing,I went to the house, quietly,
unlocked the door, and stole noiselesslywithin. In the second story room.
(23:44):
I found him insensibly drunk, asI expected, even with him in this
condition. The question made be asked, had I no fear that he might
only be naturally asleep or partially insensible, and therefore likely at any moment to
come to himself and defend himself.I am answer no. Only one difficulty
presented itself. It was necessary forme to kill him in such a manner
(24:06):
that no struggle or movement of hisbody should occur. Otherwise his clothing be
in any way displaced, it wouldhave been impossible to put him again in
a normal position. I overcame thisdifficulty by first binding him hand and foot,
and having done this, I proceededto burn him alive, saturating his
clothing in his face with benzene andigniting it with a match. So horrible
(24:29):
was this torture that, in writingit I have been tempted to attribute his
death to some more humane means,not with a wish to spare myself,
but because I fear that it willnot be believed that no one should be
so heartless and depraved. But sucha course would be useless. The authorities
have determined for me that this deathcould have occurred only in this manner,
(24:49):
no blows or bruises upon the body, and no drugs administered save chloroform,
which was not placed in his stomachuntil at least thirty minutes after his death.
And make a misstatement of the factsnow would serve only to draw out
additional criticism from them. The leastI can do is to spare my readers
the victims cry for mercy, hisprayers, and finally his plea for more
(25:11):
speedy termination of his sufferings, allof which, upon me had no effect.
Finally, when he was dead,I removed the strips and ropes that
bound him and extinguished the flames,and a little later poured into his stomach
one and a half ounces of chloroform. It has been asked why I did
(25:33):
this after I knew he was dead. What possible use could it have served.
My answer is that I placed itthere so at the time of the
post mortem examination, which I knewwould be held. The coroner's physicians would
be warranted in reporting that the deathwas accidental and due to cleansing flood composed
of benzene and chloroform, and thatthe chloroform had at the time of the
explosions passed into his stomach. Onthe receipt of such intelligence, I believed
(25:57):
the insurance company would at once paythe full amount of the claim. Chloroform
did more than this, however,It developed a condition of his body which,
in my limited medical experience I havenever seen or heard of, and
I mention it here as a factof scientific interest that I believe is not
generally known. It drove from hisentire body tissue, brains, and viscera,
(26:18):
all evidence of recent intoxication, tosuch an extent that the physicians who
examined the body after death were warrantedin stating under oath that there was no
evidence of alcohol, and that theydid not believe the man was drunk at
the time of his death or withintwelve hours thereafter. That they were wrong
in making such deductions is proven bythe well known fact that all the testimony
(26:41):
and circumstances of my trial tended toshow that he must have been insensible from
liquor, and that only in thiscondition could I have killed him, a
fact so strongly brought out that thelearned trial judge and his argument commented upon
it. At some length after hisdeath, I gathered together various assignments of
(27:02):
patents and deeds to property he hadheld for me that I had been careful
to have him sign over days before, so that I should not suffer pecuniary
loss. I also wrote the ciphermessage found by the insurance company among my
papers after my arrest, imitating hishandwriting, and after placing the body in
such a position that, by acunning arrangement of a window shutter upon the
(27:22):
south side of the building, thesun would be reflected upon his face the
entire day. I left the housewithout the slightest feeling of remorse for my
terrible acts. For one month andsix days thereafter, I took no human
life, although about three weeks afterPittzel's death, I was afforded an opportunity
(27:44):
to gratify my lust for blood bygoing to the graveyard where his corpse had
been taken, and, under thepretense of securing certain portions of his body
for examination, removed the saying witha knife and a heartless manner in which
I did this, and the evidentgratify occasion it afforded me, have been
most forcibly told by mister Smith uponthe witness stand as an instance of the
(28:06):
infallibility of justice, as a triumphof right over wrong, and of the
general safety of condemning to death uponcircumstantial evidence alone. This case is destined
to remain long prominent as a warningto those viciously inclined, and as a
warning that their only safe course isto avoid even the appearance of evil.
(28:30):
Two questions I have often been askedthat I will answer, why did I
make no defense at my trial whenby so doing I lose nothing and possibly
could have gained. I answer that, after Detective Guyer's Western investigations, which
we could not at that time inany way refute, and in the face
of doctor Leffman's learned statements, itwould have been but a waste of my
(28:51):
counsel's energy and of my own totry to convince the most impartial of juries
that it was a case of suicideand not murder. Is it to be
wondered at that I I hesitated beforeplacing the defense of suicide before a jury
composed of men who had, withthree exceptions, stated under oath before being
passed upon by the courts as competent, that they had already formed opinions prejudicial
(29:11):
to my interests. The second questionis, did Pitzel, during his eight
years acquaintance and almost constant association withme, know that I was a multi
murderer, And if he did know, was he a party to such crimes?
I answered that he neither knew ofnor was a party to the taking
of any human life, and Iearnestly beg that this statement may be believed
(29:33):
both in justice to his memory andon account of the surviving members of his
family. The worst acts he everparticipated in were dishonesties regarding properties and unlawful
acts of trade in which he aidedme freely. In support of my statement
that he was not cognizant of anyof the given crimes, which I so
freely confess. Here in, Iwill mention one of the many instances already
(29:55):
known to the authorities vis a visthat for six months previous to his death,
he had planned open with his wifethat their daughter, Alice, should
spend a year at a school hebelieved Miss Williams intended to open near Boston,
and their plan was of such anature that missus Pitzel knew he was
not deceiving her, he would nothave made the arrangement, and there would
have been no occasion for him tohave deceived her or his family if he
(30:17):
believed Miss Williams was not alive.On the first day of October eighteen ninety
four, I took the three Pitzelchildren to Circle House at Indianapolis, where
I engaged permanent board for them untilsuch a time as I could kill one
(30:37):
or more of them. On theevening of that day, I went to
Saint Louis, where I remained untilOctober fourth, busily engaged in settling up
the insurance matter with MacDonald and Howell, the attorneys. During this time I
also called upon the agent or ownerof the Irvington or Indianapolis house. This
was my first incautious step and waslater destined to fasten the crime upon me.
(30:59):
For later, when detectives learned thatI had made this call upon the
date they knew the insurance settlement hadtaken place, they no longer hesitated in
stating that I and I alone couldhave murdered the boy. On October fifth,
the rent of the house was paid, and about nine o'clock October sixth
I called upon doctor Thompson at Irvingtonfor the keys, he having been the
former occupant. At five o'clock uponthe same day, I called upon mister
(31:22):
Brown at Irvington to engage him tomake some repairs upon the house, and
upon his appearing indifferent, I becamevery angry with him. And my only
wonder now is that I did notentice him to the house and kill him.
This small circumstance aided in bringing thecrime home to me when it was
made known to the detectives, andwas considered by them in connection with many
other complaints of my violence and ungovernabletemper that had come to their knowledge.
(31:51):
On October seven, I called atthe Irvington drug store early in the evening
and purchased the drugs I needed tokill the boy, and the following evening
I again went to the same storeand bought an additional supply, as I
found that I had not obtained sufficientquantity on my first visit. The next
step was to secure the furniture ofthe house. This was done on October
eighth, late in the afternoon,at such an hour that made it impossible
(32:14):
for the store owners to deliver them, and as I had wished to stay
at Irvington that night, I hireda conveyance and started the goods to the
house myself, keeping the horse thereuntil the next day. It was also
October eighth, early in the afternoonthat I went to the repair shop for
the long knives I had previously leftthere to be sharpened. Early in the
afternoon of October tenth, I hadthe boy's trunk and the stove I had
(32:37):
bought taken to the depot, andthey arrived at the Irvington house at about
six o'clock PM, at which timemister Mormon was the last person who saw
the boy alive, for almost immediatelyI called him into the house and insisted
that he go to bed at once, first giving him the fatal dose of
medicine. As soon as he hadceased to breathe, I cut his box
(33:00):
into pieces that would pass through thedoor of the stove, and by the
combined use of gas and corn cobs, proceeded to burn it with as little
feeling as if it had been someinanimate article. If I could now recall
one circumstance, a dollar of moneyto be gained, a disagreeable act or
(33:22):
word on his part, and justificationof this horrid crime, it would be
a satisfaction to me. But tothink that I committed this and other crimes
for the pleasure of killing my fellowbeings, to hear their cries for mercy
and please to be allowed even sufficienttime to pray and prepare for death.
All this is now too horrible foreven me, hardened criminal, that I
(33:45):
am to again live over without ashudder. Is it to be wondered at
that, since my arrest, mydays have been those of self reproaching torture,
and my knights those of sleepless fear, Or that even before my death
I have committed to assume the formand features of the evil one himself.
After I had finished the creation ofmy victim, I made the excavations in
(34:08):
which the few remaining portions were foundat the time the horror was brought to
light, which, together with thestove and other evidences of my wrongdoing,
were brought here to Philadelphia at thetime of my trial to mock me and
my efforts to save my life.Then, after I had removed the blood
and other evidences of the crime,and had buried the contents of the trunk
(34:29):
and part of the trunk itself,I went to the office of Powell and
Harder at Indianapolis for my mail.From there to the hotel of the other
two children, whom I took atonce to Chicago. I immediately returned to
the Irvington house, and was seenthere by mister Armstrong, a teamster,
at such an hour as to makeit a foolish act for me to persist
(34:50):
in saying it was some other personwhom he saw my identification. In Chicago,
by a woman with whom the childrenboarded, and by the station agent
at Milwaukee and later at Adrian,Michigan, all showed the uselessness of trying
to escape from one's self or fromthe responsibility of one's wrong act. In
Detroit, I hired a house andmade an excavation in the basement, where
(35:12):
I left a note in my ownhandwriting, all of which I hastened to
tell the detectives as soon as Iwas arrested, so that by their going
to the house and finding both theexcavation in the note, they would not
be inclined to make a similar searchin Toronto or other places. I now,
with much reluctance, come to thediscussion of the murders of Alice and
(35:37):
Nellie Pitzel, whose deaths will seemto many to be the saddest of all,
both on account of the terribly heartlessmanner in which they were accomplished,
and because, in one instance,that of Alice, the oldest of these
children, her death was the leastof the wrong suffered of my hands.
Here again I am tempted either topass the matter by without speaking of it,
(36:00):
or to deny it altogether. Butto what purpose? It was publicly
known and freely commented upon at mytrial, And to deny it now would
only serve the double purpose of breakingmy resolution to hold nothing in reserve,
and of causing many who are somewhatfamiliar with the details of different cases to
disbelieve me in other matters. Moreover, the testimony already given by missus Adleiah
(36:22):
Alacombe, and the opinion of CoronerAshbridge and mister Perry, who knew the
mental condition of the child upon thefollowing day, would, if called for,
be sufficient to decide the matter.These children, after boarding in Detroit
for about one week, reached Torontoand were taken to the Albion Hotel,
where they boarded until they were killed. On October twentieth, I hired the
(36:44):
Vincent Street house, having the leastmade in the name of H. M.
Howard, in order to avert suspicionsas much as possible in case an
investigation should follow. Between five andsix p m. On the same day,
I took a large empty trunk tothe house, and then passed the
following day at Niagara Falls. Onthe twenty third, I bought and took
to the house the furniture, stoveand bedding, and the children went to
(37:05):
the house for a few hours.The twenty fourth was passed in other parts
of the city, but on thetwenty fifth, the day of their death,
the children were seen at the houseat one o'clock PM, and a
little later they accompanied me to someclothing stores. Finally, at four o'clock
PM, while they were in arestaurant near by, I entered a large
store in which I believed I shouldmeet Missus Pitzell. Holding my hands some
(37:28):
heavy winter underclothing, which I boughtfor the little boy already dead. At
Indianapolis. Speaking of this meeting,missus Pitzell has since said, I believe
my children were at that time inthe store with me. I immediately took
the children to the Vincent Street houseand compelled them both to get within the
large trunk, through the cover ofwhich I made an opening. There,
(37:50):
I left them until I should return, and at my leisure killed them.
At five o'clock PM, I borroweda spade of a neighbor, and later
I called on missus Pitzel at herhotel. I then returned to my hotel
and ate my dinner, and atseven o'clock PM went again to missus Pitzel's
hotel and aided her in leaving Torontofor Ogdensburg, New York. Later than
(38:12):
eight PM, I again went tothe house in which the children were imprisoned
and ended their lives by connecting thegas pipes with the trunk. Then came
the opening of the trunk and theviewing of their little, blackened and distorted
faces. Then the digging of thetwo shallow graves in the basement of the
house, the ruthless stripping of theirclothing, and their burial without a particle
(38:35):
of clothing, but the cold earthwhich I heaped upon them, These little,
innocent, helpless children, the oldestbeing only thirteen years of age,
a puny and sickly child whom,to look at one would believe much younger.
Consider that for eight years before theirdeath I had been almost as much
a father to them as if theyhad been my own children, thus giving
them a right to look at mefor care and protection. And in your
(38:59):
righteous judgment, let your bitterest cursesfall upon me. But again I pray
upon me alone. There is littlemore to tell. The next day was
past and burning the children's clothing,and in resting from my terrible night's work.
And upon the twenty seventh, Icalled an expressman and had the trunk
(39:20):
removed from the house. After givingthe keys to a neighbor, I went
away, never to return. FromToronto, I went to Ogdensburg, and
from there to Burlington, Vermont,where I hired a furnished room for missus
Pitzel's use, and a few daysprior to my arrest in Boston, I
wrote her a letter in which Idirected her to carry a bottle of dynamite
(39:44):
that I had previously left in thebasement, so arranged that in taking it
to the third story of the house, it would fall from her hands and
not only destroy her life, butthat of her two remaining children, whom
I knew would be with her atthe time. This was my last crime,
happily did not have a fatal termination. The eighteen intervening months I have
(40:08):
passed in solitary confinement, and afew days I am to be led forth
to my death. It would nowseem a very fitting time for me to
express regret or remorse in this whichI intend to be my last public utterance
for irreparable shortcomings. I do sowithout the expectation that even one person who
(40:28):
has read this confession to the endwill believe that in my depraved nature there
is room for such feelings. Ifear to expect more than would be granted,
and I can and do refrain fromcalling forth such criticism by openly inviting
it. Signed H. Holmes.This has been the Confession of H.
(41:14):
H. Holmes. A litany ofhorror presented by true crime historian Richard O.
Jones. The descriptions and quotes usedin this production have been called from
the pages of the Chicago inter Oceanand other newspapers of the day before he
was hanged in the Philadelphia County Prisonon May seventh, eighteen ninety six.
(41:34):
Holmes recanted his confession, but thedetails are so specific that most historians believe
this to be at least a semblanceof the truth of what happened in the
murder Castle of H. H.Holmes musical direction by Chuck Wiggins. This
is true crime. Historian Richard O. Jones signing off for now all unity
All the other true crime historian presentsyesterday's news serial Killer Clips Edition, a
(00:23):
reading of America's historic newspapers from thegolden age of yellow journalism. The entire
nation was shocked and outraged in thewaning years of the nineteenth century by the
gruesome deeds of one Hermann Mudget,the arch fiend who took on the pseudonym
H. H. Holmes as heprepared his famous castle of death in downtown
(00:44):
Chicago. He was arrested for aninsurance fraud in November eighteen ninety four,
but his string of murders, perhapstwo hundred in all, were soon revealed.
He was convicted of one capital crimein Philadelphia, and while he awaited
execution, he pinned a confession detailingtwenty seven murders that was published in newspapers
(01:04):
across the country. He would recantthis confession before he hanged, but really,
you can't make this stuff up.I'm true crime historian Richard O.
Jones, and I call this episodeof Serial Killer Clips the Confession of H.
H. Holmes, a litany ofhorror. Philadelphia County Prison, April
(01:30):
eighth, eighteen ninety six. Thefirst taking of human life was a torturing
thought. This, it will beunderstood, was before my constant wrongdoing,
I had become holy deaf to thepromptings of conscience. For prior to this
I begged to be believed in statingthat I had never sinned so heavily,
(01:53):
either by thought or deed. Later, like the man eating tiger of the
tropics, whose appetite for blood hasonce been aroused, I roamed about the
world seeking whom I could destroy.The killing of Miss Julia Connor was to
a certain extent due to a criminaloperation performed by parties who were cognizant of
(02:15):
and partly responsible for both the operationand the death. A reference to almost
any newspaper of August eighteen ninety fivewill give the minute details. The horrors
of this case were worked out bythe detectives, therefore making it unnecessary to
repeat it here. The death ofPearl, her little daughter was caused by
(02:37):
poison. The parties I mentioned wereequally responsible for its administration, Although it
was at my instigation that it wasdone. I believed the child was old
enough to remember her mother's sickness anddeath. The other parties wished at first
to place the child in the careof their aged parents, who lived south
of the city, but were overruledby my opposition. Owing to the suddenness
(03:00):
of Missus Connor's death. A certainnote of considerable value, well secured by
property south of the castle, wasuncollectable, and at the time of my
death it will be sent to suchrelatives as may appear to have the greatest
right to receive it. The nextcase is that of Charles Coal, a
(03:23):
Southern speculator. After considerable correspondence,this man came to Chicago, and I
enticed him into the castle, where, while I was engaging him in conversation,
my associate struck a most vicious blowon the head with a piece of
gas pipe. So heavy was theblow that it not only caused his death
(03:44):
without a groan and hardly a movement, but it crushed his skull to such
an extent that his body was almostuseless. This was the first instance in
which I know of this confederate havingcommitted murder, though in several other instances
he was fully as guilty as myself, and if possible, more heartless and
bloodthirsty. And I have no doubthe is still engaged in the same nefarious
(04:06):
work. A domestic named Lizzie wasthe seventh victim. She for a time
worked in the Castle restaurant, andI soon learned that another of my employees
was paying her too close attention,and, fearing lest it should progress so
far that it would necessitate his leavingmy employ I thought it wise to end
(04:28):
the life of the girl. ThisI did by calling her to my office
and suffocating her in a vault ofwhich so much has since been printed.
She was the first victim that diedthere. Before her death, I compelled
her to write letters to her relativesand to state that she had left Chicago
for a western state and should notreturn. A few months ago, the
(04:49):
prosecution, believing from certain letters purportingto have been written by her that she
was still alive, showed me itswillingness to give me a fair trial.
By having this public life known,she being a witness, that I could
have used a great advantage in thepencil case. Soon after this, Miss
Emmeline Segrand was sent to me byChicago firm to fill the vacancy of a
(05:13):
stenographer. She had been previously employedat Dwight, Illinois, where she had
become acquainted with a man who visitedher from time to time while she was
in my employ She was finally engagedto him, and the day was set
for their wedding. This attachment wasparticularly obnoxious to me, both because Miss
Segrand had become almost indispensable to mein my office work, and because she
(05:38):
had become my mistress as well asstenographer. I endeavored upon several occasions to
take the life of the young man, and failing, I finally resolved that
I would kill her instead, andupon the day of their wedding, even
after the cards had been sent outannouncing that it had occurred, she came
to my office to bid me goodbye. While there I asked her to
(06:00):
step inside the vault for some papersfor me. There I detained her,
telling her that if she would writeher husband that at that last moment she
had known it would be impossible tolive happily with him, and consequently had
left Chicago in such a way thatsearch for her would be useless. I
would take her to a distant cityand live openly with her as my wife.
(06:20):
She was very willing to do this, and prepared to leave the vault
on completing the letter, only tofind that the door would never again be
opened until she had ceased to sufferthe torture of a slow and lingering death.
Here follows an unsuccessful attempt to commita triple murder for ninety dollars that
would have been given me for thebodies of the intended victims, who were
(06:44):
three young women working in my restaurantupon Milwaukee Avenue. That these women lived
to tell of their experience to thepolice last summer is due to my foolishly
trying to chloroform all of them atone and the same time. By their
combined strength, they overpowered me inand screaming into the street, clad only
in their night robes. To thisattempt to kill could very justly be added
(07:06):
my attempt to take the lives ofMissus Pitzel and two of her children at
a later date, thus increasing thetotal of my victims. As it was
no fault of mine that they escaped. My next attempt was carried out with
more caution. The victim was avery beautiful young woman named Anna van Tassau,
(07:27):
whom I induced to come into myfruit and confectionery store, and when
she was once with me, Icompelled her to live there for a time,
threatening her with death if she appearedbefore my customers. A little later,
I killed her by administering pharaocyanide ofpotassium. The location of this store
was such that it would have beenhazardous to have sent out a large box
(07:47):
containing a body, and I thereforebury her remains in the store basement,
and from day to day during theinvestigations at the castle, I expected to
hear that excavations had been made there. Robert Latimer, a man who had
for some years been in my employeeas a janitor, was my next victim.
(08:09):
Several years previous, before I hadever taken a human life, he
had known of certain insurance work Ihad engaged in, and when in recent
years he sought to extort money fromme, his own death and the sale
of his body was the recompense meetedout to him. I confined him within
the secret room and slowly starved himto death. Finally needing its use for
(08:31):
another victim, and because his pleadingshad become almost unbearable, I ended his
life. The partial excavation of thewalls of this room found by the police,
was caused by Latimer's endeavoring to escapeby tearing away the solid brick and
mortar with his unaided fingers. Thesucceeding case was that of Miss Annabett's,
(08:56):
and was caused by my purposely substitutinga poisonous drug prescription that had been sent
to my drug store to be compounded. I believe that, as it was
known that I was a physician,I should be called to witness her death,
as she lived very near the store. This was not the case,
however, as the regular physician wasin attendance at the time. The prescription
(09:18):
still on file at the Castle drugStore should be considered by the authorities if
they are still inclined to attribute thisdeath to causes that reflect on Miss Betts's
moral character. The death of MissGertrude Connor of Muscatine, Iowa, though
not the next in order of occurrence, is so similar to the last that
the description of one suffices for both. Save in this respect. Miss Connor
(09:41):
left Chicago immediately, but did notdie until she had reached her home in
Muscatine. Perhaps these two cases showmore plainly than any other of the light
regard I had for the lives ofmy fellow beings. The next death was
that of a man named Warner,the originator of the Warner's glass bending company.
(10:03):
And there again I realized a verylarge sum of money, which,
prior to his death had been depositedin two Chicago banks, nearly all of
which I secured by means of twochecks made out and properly signed by him
for a small sum each. Tothese I later added the word thousand and
the necessary ciphers, and by passingthem through the bank where I had a
(10:24):
regular open account, I promptly realizedthe money, save a small amount not
covered by the checks, in thePark National Bank. It will be remembered
that the remains of a large kilnmade a fire brick were found in a
basement. It had been built undermister Warner's supervision for the purpose of exhibiting
his patents. It was so arrangedthat in less than a minute, after
(10:46):
turning on a jet of crude oilatomized with steam, the entire kiln would
be filled with a colorless flame sointensely hot that iron would be melted therein.
It was in two this kiln thatI induced mister Warner to go with
me, under the pretense of mywishing certain minute explanations of the process,
(11:07):
and then stepping outside, as hebelieved to get some tools. I closed
the door and turned on both theoil and steam to their full extent.
In a short time, not eventhe bones of my victim remained. The
coat found underneath the kiln was theone he took off before going Therein in
(11:28):
eighteen ninety one, I associated myselfin business with a young Englishman who,
by his own admission, had beenguilty of all other forms of wrongdoing save
murder, and presumably of that aswell, to manipulate certain real estate securities
we held, so as to havethem secure us a good commercial rating.
It was an easy matter for him, and he was equally able to interest
(11:50):
certain English capitalists in certain patents,so that it seemed that in the near
future our greatest concern would be howto dispose of the money that seemed to
be showered upon us. By anunfortunate occurrence, our rating was destroyed,
and it became necessary to at onceraise a large sum, and this was
done by enticing a wealthy Chicago bankernamed Rogers from a Wisconsin town in such
(12:13):
a manner that he could have leftno intelligence with whom his business was to
be to bring him to the castleand into the secret room under the pretense
that our patents were there. Waseasy, much more so than to force
him to sign checks and drafts forseventy thousand dollars, which he had prepared.
At first, he refused to doso, stating that his liberty that
(12:33):
we offered him in exchange would beuseless to him without his money, and
that he was too old to hopeto make another fortune. Finally, by
alternately starving him and nauseating him withthe gas, I made him sign the
securities, all of which were convertedinto money, and by the Englishman's skill
as a forger, in such amanner as to leave no trace of their
(12:56):
having been passed through our hands.I waited with much curiosity to see what
proposition my colleague would advance for thedisposal of our prisoner, as I well
knew that he no more than Icontemplated giving him his liberty. Evidently,
the Englishman waited with equal expectancy forme to suggest what should be done,
and I finally made preparations to allowRogers to leave the building, thus forcing
(13:20):
the Englishman to suggest that he bekilled. I would consent to this only
upon the condition that he should administerthe chloroform and leave me to dispose of
the body as part of the work. That evening, the large sum of
money was divided between us. Thenext case is that of a woman whose
(13:41):
name has passed from my memory,who came to the Castle restaurant to board.
The person who was conducting the restaurantat the time immediately became very much
infatuated with a woman who he heardwas a widow and wealthy. The manager
was married, and his wife occasionallycame to the restaurant when this boarder was
there, which did not tend todecrease the family quarrel, which for quite
(14:01):
a time had threatened the family withdisruption. Finally he came to me for
advice, and I was very willingto have him in my power that I
could later use him if need be. I suggested that he lived with the
woman in the castle for a time, and later, if this life became
unpleasant to him, we would killher and divide her wealth. Although this
(14:22):
man showed no disposition to spare mein the recent investigations, and also deserved
death for this and other crimes,it is but fair to say that at
first he was not willing to enterinto this arrangement, and would probably today
not be guilty of murder, butfor my influence. As I had anticipated,
he soon tired of the castle lifeand suggested that it was time to
(14:45):
take his companion's life. This wasdone by my administering chloroform while he controlled
her violent struggles. It was thebody of this woman within the long coffin
shaped box that was taken into thecastle in late eighteen nine twenty three,
of which the man told the police. Is it to be wondered at that
he should have remembered her name?In order that the deaths of the Williams
(15:24):
sisters may be more fully understood.It is necessary for me to state that
what has been said by Miss Williams'ssouthern relatives regarding her pure and Christian life
should be believed. Also that priorto her meeting me in eighteen ninety three,
she was a virtuous woman, thusrendering truthful the statements of Charles Goldthwaite
of Boston that he had never knownher otherwise than as an intimate friend of
(15:46):
his wife's, and that in Juneeighteen ninety three he did not wire her
a considerable money to Chicago. Inresponse to a demand for the same from
her, That she was not temporarilyinsane at a hotel opposite the Pullman Building
in Chicago from May twentieth to twentythird, eighteen ninety three, was not
a little later secluded in the BaptistHospital in Chicago under the name of missus
(16:07):
Williams, was not still later inretreat at Milwaukee, And that she did
not kill her sister and threaten tokill her nurse who had her in charge
at number twelve twenty Rightwood Avenue,Chicago. All these statements, it gives
me certain amount of satisfaction to retractthereby undoing so far as I can,
these additional wrongs I have heaped uponher name. I first met miss Williams
(16:33):
in Chicago in eighteen eighty eight,where she knew me as Edward Hatch,
and later under the same name inDenver, as has been testified by certain
young women who recognized my photograph.Early in eighteen ninety three, I was
introduced to her as H. H. Holmes. She had applied for a
position as a stenographer. Soon afterentering my employ I induced her to give
(16:56):
me two thousand, five hundred dollarsin money and to transfer to me by
d much southern real estate, anda little later to live with me as
my wife, all this being easilyaccomplished owing to her innocent and childlike nature,
she hardly knowing right from wrong insuch matters. Thereafter I succeeded in
securing two checks from her for twentyfive dollars each, and I also learned
(17:19):
that she had a sister, Nannyin Texas, who was heir to some
property. I induced Miss Williams tohave her come to Chicago on a visit.
Upon her arrival, I met herat the depot and took her to
the castle, telling her Miss Williamswas there. It was an easy matter
to force her to assign me allshe possessed. After that, she was
immediately killed in ordered that no onein her about the castle should know or
(17:42):
having known of her being there.It was the footprint of Nanny Williams,
as was later demonstrated by that mostastute lawyer and detective mister Capps of Fort
Worth, that was found upon thepainted surface of the vault door, who
was made during her violent struggle beforeher death. It was also easy to
give Miss Williams a delayed letter statingthat her sister's proposed visit had been given
(18:03):
up, and also by intercepting laterletters and substituting others to keep her from
learning that her sister had left theSouth. Having secured all the money and
property Miss Williams had. It wastime that she was killed. Owing to
a fire that occurred in the castle, I was unable to resort to the
usual method of taking her life,and after some delay, I took her
(18:25):
to Moment's, Illinois about November fifteenth, eighteen ninety two, registering at a
hotel near the post office under anassumed name as man and wife. My
intention was to quickly kill her insome manner, but a freight wreck that
occurred on the outskirts of town theday following my arrival there, which out
of my curiosity I visited, broughtme into contact with a passenger conductor,
(18:51):
Peck, who knew me, andI therefore abandoned my plans, but later
returned and took the girl eight mileseast of Moments on her freight line.
Little used into her life with poisonand buried her body in the basement of
the house spoken about at the timeof the Irvington discoveries in eighteen ninety five.
It was a great wonder that thebody was not found at that time.
If the detectives in reality went tothat location. Nothing would at the
(19:15):
present time give me so much satisfactionas to know that her body had been
properly buried. I would be willingto give up the few remaining days I
have to live, if by sodoing this would be accomplished. Because of
her spotless life before she knew me, because of the large amount of money
I do frauded her of, becauseI killed her sister and her brother,
and because, not being satisfied withall this, I endeavored, after my
(19:38):
arrest to blacken her good name bycharging her with the death of her sister,
and later with the instigation of themurder of the two Pizel children,
endeavoring to have it believed that hermotive for so doing was to afford the
avenue of escape for herself if sheshould ever be apprehended for her sister's death,
by pointing to me as a wholesalemurderer, and therefore presumably guilty of
(19:59):
her sister death as well. Forall these reasons, this is, without
exception, the saddest and most heinousof my crimes. A man who came
to Chicago to attend the Columbian Exposition, but whose name I cannot recall,
was my next victim. I determinedto use this man in my various business
(20:21):
dealings, and did so for atime, until I found that he had
not the ability I at first thoughthe was possessed of. I therefore decided
to kill him. This was doneafter Miss Williams's death, I found among
her papers an insurance policy made inher favor by her brother, Baldwin Williams
(20:44):
of Leadville, Colorado. I thereforewent to that city in eighteen ninety four.
A little later the assignment of thepolicy to which I had forged Miss
Williams's name, to John Maxwell ofLeadville, the administrator of the Williams estate,
was honored, and the money waspaid. Both in this instance and
in that of the thousand dollars checkgiven by D. Tolman and checks aggregating
(21:04):
two thy five hundred dollars by JR. Hitt and Company of Chicago. Inasmuch
as the endorsements are forgeries, theWilliams heirs can now recover these amounts,
although it will be an undeserved hardshipon those who have once advanced the money
upon them. So much has alreadybeen printed regarding the case of Benjamin F.
(21:29):
Pizel, that there is little forme to tell save the actual manner
in which his death was brought about. It will be understood that from the
first hour of our acquaintance, evenbefore I knew he had family who would
later afford me additional victims. Forthe gratification of my bloodthirstiness, I intended
to kill him. In all mysubsequent care of him, as well as
my apparent trust in him by placingin his name large amounts of property,
(21:52):
was simply to gain the confidence ofhim and his family, so that when
the time was ripe, they wouldthe more readily fall into mine hands.
It seems almost incredible, now asI look back, that I expected to
have experienced sufficient satisfaction in witnessing theirdeath to pay me for even the physical
exertion that I had put forth intheir behalf during those seven long years,
(22:14):
to say nothing of the amount ofmoney I had expended for their welfare over
and above what I could have expectedto receive from his comparatively small life insurance.
Yet so it is, and itfurnishes a very striking illustration of the
vegaries in which this human mind will, under certain circumstances, indulge vagaries in
comparison with which the seeking of buriedtreasure at the rainbow's end, the delusions
(22:37):
of the exponent of perpetual motion,or the dreams of the Hashish fiend,
are sanity itself. Pittzel left hishome for the last time in late July
eighteen ninety four. We journeyed togetherto New York and later to Philadelphia,
where the fatal house on coll StreetHill, in which he met a hiss
(23:00):
death in September, was hired.Then came my writing to him, the
discouraging letters purporting to be from hiswife, causing him to resort to drink.
Then the waiting from day to dayuntil I should be sure to find
him in a drunken stupor at midday. This was an easy matter, as
I was well acquainted with his habits, and so sure was I of finding
(23:21):
him. Thus incapacitated that when theday came on which it was convenient for
me to kill him, even beforeI went to his room, I packed
my trunk and made other arrangements toleave Philadelphia in a hurried flight immediately after
his death. After thus preparing,I went to the house, quietly,
unlocked the door, and stole noiselesslywithin. In the second story room.
(23:44):
I found him insensibly drunk, asI expected, even with him in this
condition. The question made be asked, had I no fear that he might
only be naturally asleep or partially insensible, and therefore likely at any moment to
come to himself and defend himself.I am answer no. Only one difficulty
presented itself. It was necessary forme to kill him in such a manner
(24:06):
that no struggle or movement of hisbody should occur. Otherwise his clothing be
in any way displaced, it wouldhave been impossible to put him again in
a normal position. I overcame thisdifficulty by first binding him hand and foot,
and having done this, I proceededto burn him alive, saturating his
clothing in his face with benzene andigniting it with a match. So horrible
(24:29):
was this torture that, in writingit I have been tempted to attribute his
death to some more humane means,not with a wish to spare myself,
but because I fear that it willnot be believed that no one should be
so heartless and depraved. But sucha course would be useless. The authorities
have determined for me that this deathcould have occurred only in this manner,
(24:49):
no blows or bruises upon the body, and no drugs administered save chloroform,
which was not placed in his stomachuntil at least thirty minutes after his death.
And make a misstatement of the factsnow would serve only to draw out
additional criticism from them. The leastI can do is to spare my readers
the victims cry for mercy, hisprayers, and finally his plea for more
(25:11):
speedy termination of his sufferings, allof which, upon me had no effect.
Finally, when he was dead,I removed the strips and ropes that
bound him and extinguished the flames,and a little later poured into his stomach
one and a half ounces of chloroform. It has been asked why I did
(25:33):
this after I knew he was dead. What possible use could it have served.
My answer is that I placed itthere so at the time of the
post mortem examination, which I knewwould be held. The coroner's physicians would
be warranted in reporting that the deathwas accidental and due to cleansing flood composed
of benzene and chloroform, and thatthe chloroform had at the time of the
explosions passed into his stomach. Onthe receipt of such intelligence, I believed
(25:57):
the insurance company would at once paythe full amount of the claim. Chloroform
did more than this, however,It developed a condition of his body which,
in my limited medical experience I havenever seen or heard of, and
I mention it here as a factof scientific interest that I believe is not
generally known. It drove from hisentire body tissue, brains, and viscera,
(26:18):
all evidence of recent intoxication, tosuch an extent that the physicians who
examined the body after death were warrantedin stating under oath that there was no
evidence of alcohol, and that theydid not believe the man was drunk at
the time of his death or withintwelve hours thereafter. That they were wrong
in making such deductions is proven bythe well known fact that all the testimony
(26:41):
and circumstances of my trial tended toshow that he must have been insensible from
liquor, and that only in thiscondition could I have killed him, a
fact so strongly brought out that thelearned trial judge and his argument commented upon
it. At some length after hisdeath, I gathered together various assignments of
(27:02):
patents and deeds to property he hadheld for me that I had been careful
to have him sign over days before, so that I should not suffer pecuniary
loss. I also wrote the ciphermessage found by the insurance company among my
papers after my arrest, imitating hishandwriting, and after placing the body in
such a position that, by acunning arrangement of a window shutter upon the
(27:22):
south side of the building, thesun would be reflected upon his face the
entire day. I left the housewithout the slightest feeling of remorse for my
terrible acts. For one month andsix days thereafter, I took no human
life, although about three weeks afterPittzel's death, I was afforded an opportunity
(27:44):
to gratify my lust for blood bygoing to the graveyard where his corpse had
been taken, and, under thepretense of securing certain portions of his body
for examination, removed the saying witha knife and a heartless manner in which
I did this, and the evidentgratify occasion it afforded me, have been
most forcibly told by mister Smith uponthe witness stand as an instance of the
(28:06):
infallibility of justice, as a triumphof right over wrong, and of the
general safety of condemning to death uponcircumstantial evidence alone. This case is destined
to remain long prominent as a warningto those viciously inclined, and as a
warning that their only safe course isto avoid even the appearance of evil.
(28:30):
Two questions I have often been askedthat I will answer, why did I
make no defense at my trial whenby so doing I lose nothing and possibly
could have gained. I answer that, after Detective Guyer's Western investigations, which
we could not at that time inany way refute, and in the face
of doctor Leffman's learned statements, itwould have been but a waste of my
(28:51):
counsel's energy and of my own totry to convince the most impartial of juries
that it was a case of suicideand not murder. Is it to be
wondered at that I I hesitated beforeplacing the defense of suicide before a jury
composed of men who had, withthree exceptions, stated under oath before being
passed upon by the courts as competent, that they had already formed opinions prejudicial
(29:11):
to my interests. The second questionis, did Pitzel, during his eight
years acquaintance and almost constant association withme, know that I was a multi
murderer, And if he did know, was he a party to such crimes?
I answered that he neither knew ofnor was a party to the taking
of any human life, and Iearnestly beg that this statement may be believed
(29:33):
both in justice to his memory andon account of the surviving members of his
family. The worst acts he everparticipated in were dishonesties regarding properties and unlawful
acts of trade in which he aidedme freely. In support of my statement
that he was not cognizant of anyof the given crimes, which I so
freely confess. Here in, Iwill mention one of the many instances already
(29:55):
known to the authorities vis a visthat for six months previous to his death,
he had planned open with his wifethat their daughter, Alice, should
spend a year at a school hebelieved Miss Williams intended to open near Boston,
and their plan was of such anature that missus Pitzel knew he was
not deceiving her, he would nothave made the arrangement, and there would
have been no occasion for him tohave deceived her or his family if he
(30:17):
believed Miss Williams was not alive.On the first day of October eighteen ninety
four, I took the three Pitzelchildren to Circle House at Indianapolis, where
I engaged permanent board for them untilsuch a time as I could kill one
(30:37):
or more of them. On theevening of that day, I went to
Saint Louis, where I remained untilOctober fourth, busily engaged in settling up
the insurance matter with MacDonald and Howell, the attorneys. During this time I
also called upon the agent or ownerof the Irvington or Indianapolis house. This
was my first incautious step and waslater destined to fasten the crime upon me.
(30:59):
For later, when detectives learned thatI had made this call upon the
date they knew the insurance settlement hadtaken place, they no longer hesitated in
stating that I and I alone couldhave murdered the boy. On October fifth,
the rent of the house was paid, and about nine o'clock October sixth
I called upon doctor Thompson at Irvingtonfor the keys, he having been the
former occupant. At five o'clock uponthe same day, I called upon mister
(31:22):
Brown at Irvington to engage him tomake some repairs upon the house, and
upon his appearing indifferent, I becamevery angry with him. And my only
wonder now is that I did notentice him to the house and kill him.
This small circumstance aided in bringing thecrime home to me when it was
made known to the detectives, andwas considered by them in connection with many
other complaints of my violence and ungovernabletemper that had come to their knowledge.
(31:51):
On October seven, I called atthe Irvington drug store early in the evening
and purchased the drugs I needed tokill the boy, and the following evening
I again went to the same storeand bought an additional supply, as I
found that I had not obtained sufficientquantity on my first visit. The next
step was to secure the furniture ofthe house. This was done on October
eighth, late in the afternoon,at such an hour that made it impossible
(32:14):
for the store owners to deliver them, and as I had wished to stay
at Irvington that night, I hireda conveyance and started the goods to the
house myself, keeping the horse thereuntil the next day. It was also
October eighth, early in the afternoonthat I went to the repair shop for
the long knives I had previously leftthere to be sharpened. Early in the
afternoon of October tenth, I hadthe boy's trunk and the stove I had
(32:37):
bought taken to the depot, andthey arrived at the Irvington house at about
six o'clock PM, at which timemister Mormon was the last person who saw
the boy alive, for almost immediatelyI called him into the house and insisted
that he go to bed at once, first giving him the fatal dose of
medicine. As soon as he hadceased to breathe, I cut his box
(33:00):
into pieces that would pass through thedoor of the stove, and by the
combined use of gas and corn cobs, proceeded to burn it with as little
feeling as if it had been someinanimate article. If I could now recall
one circumstance, a dollar of moneyto be gained, a disagreeable act or
(33:22):
word on his part, and justificationof this horrid crime, it would be
a satisfaction to me. But tothink that I committed this and other crimes
for the pleasure of killing my fellowbeings, to hear their cries for mercy
and please to be allowed even sufficienttime to pray and prepare for death.
All this is now too horrible foreven me, hardened criminal, that I
(33:45):
am to again live over without ashudder. Is it to be wondered at
that, since my arrest, mydays have been those of self reproaching torture,
and my knights those of sleepless fear, Or that even before my death
I have committed to assume the formand features of the evil one himself.
After I had finished the creation ofmy victim, I made the excavations in
(34:08):
which the few remaining portions were foundat the time the horror was brought to
light, which, together with thestove and other evidences of my wrongdoing,
were brought here to Philadelphia at thetime of my trial to mock me and
my efforts to save my life.Then, after I had removed the blood
and other evidences of the crime,and had buried the contents of the trunk
(34:29):
and part of the trunk itself,I went to the office of Powell and
Harder at Indianapolis for my mail.From there to the hotel of the other
two children, whom I took atonce to Chicago. I immediately returned to
the Irvington house, and was seenthere by mister Armstrong, a teamster,
at such an hour as to makeit a foolish act for me to persist
(34:50):
in saying it was some other personwhom he saw my identification. In Chicago,
by a woman with whom the childrenboarded, and by the station agent
at Milwaukee and later at Adrian,Michigan, all showed the uselessness of trying
to escape from one's self or fromthe responsibility of one's wrong act. In
Detroit, I hired a house andmade an excavation in the basement, where
(35:12):
I left a note in my ownhandwriting, all of which I hastened to
tell the detectives as soon as Iwas arrested, so that by their going
to the house and finding both theexcavation in the note, they would not
be inclined to make a similar searchin Toronto or other places. I now,
with much reluctance, come to thediscussion of the murders of Alice and
(35:37):
Nellie Pitzel, whose deaths will seemto many to be the saddest of all,
both on account of the terribly heartlessmanner in which they were accomplished,
and because, in one instance,that of Alice, the oldest of these
children, her death was the leastof the wrong suffered of my hands.
Here again I am tempted either topass the matter by without speaking of it,
(36:00):
or to deny it altogether. Butto what purpose? It was publicly
known and freely commented upon at mytrial, And to deny it now would
only serve the double purpose of breakingmy resolution to hold nothing in reserve,
and of causing many who are somewhatfamiliar with the details of different cases to
disbelieve me in other matters. Moreover, the testimony already given by missus Adleiah
(36:22):
Alacombe, and the opinion of CoronerAshbridge and mister Perry, who knew the
mental condition of the child upon thefollowing day, would, if called for,
be sufficient to decide the matter.These children, after boarding in Detroit
for about one week, reached Torontoand were taken to the Albion Hotel,
where they boarded until they were killed. On October twentieth, I hired the
(36:44):
Vincent Street house, having the leastmade in the name of H. M.
Howard, in order to avert suspicionsas much as possible in case an
investigation should follow. Between five andsix p m. On the same day,
I took a large empty trunk tothe house, and then passed the
following day at Niagara Falls. Onthe twenty third, I bought and took
to the house the furniture, stoveand bedding, and the children went to
(37:05):
the house for a few hours.The twenty fourth was passed in other parts
of the city, but on thetwenty fifth, the day of their death,
the children were seen at the houseat one o'clock PM, and a
little later they accompanied me to someclothing stores. Finally, at four o'clock
PM, while they were in arestaurant near by, I entered a large
store in which I believed I shouldmeet Missus Pitzell. Holding my hands some
(37:28):
heavy winter underclothing, which I boughtfor the little boy already dead. At
Indianapolis. Speaking of this meeting,missus Pitzell has since said, I believe
my children were at that time inthe store with me. I immediately took
the children to the Vincent Street houseand compelled them both to get within the
large trunk, through the cover ofwhich I made an opening. There,
(37:50):
I left them until I should return, and at my leisure killed them.
At five o'clock PM, I borroweda spade of a neighbor, and later
I called on missus Pitzel at herhotel. I then returned to my hotel
and ate my dinner, and atseven o'clock PM went again to missus Pitzel's
hotel and aided her in leaving Torontofor Ogdensburg, New York. Later than
(38:12):
eight PM, I again went tothe house in which the children were imprisoned
and ended their lives by connecting thegas pipes with the trunk. Then came
the opening of the trunk and theviewing of their little, blackened and distorted
faces. Then the digging of thetwo shallow graves in the basement of the
house, the ruthless stripping of theirclothing, and their burial without a particle
(38:35):
of clothing, but the cold earthwhich I heaped upon them, These little,
innocent, helpless children, the oldestbeing only thirteen years of age,
a puny and sickly child whom,to look at one would believe much younger.
Consider that for eight years before theirdeath I had been almost as much
a father to them as if theyhad been my own children, thus giving
them a right to look at mefor care and protection. And in your
(38:59):
righteous judgment, let your bitterest cursesfall upon me. But again I pray
upon me alone. There is littlemore to tell. The next day was
past and burning the children's clothing,and in resting from my terrible night's work.
And upon the twenty seventh, Icalled an expressman and had the trunk
(39:20):
removed from the house. After givingthe keys to a neighbor, I went
away, never to return. FromToronto, I went to Ogdensburg, and
from there to Burlington, Vermont,where I hired a furnished room for missus
Pitzel's use, and a few daysprior to my arrest in Boston, I
wrote her a letter in which Idirected her to carry a bottle of dynamite
(39:44):
that I had previously left in thebasement, so arranged that in taking it
to the third story of the house, it would fall from her hands and
not only destroy her life, butthat of her two remaining children, whom
I knew would be with her atthe time. This was my last crime,
happily did not have a fatal termination. The eighteen intervening months I have
(40:08):
passed in solitary confinement, and afew days I am to be led forth
to my death. It would nowseem a very fitting time for me to
express regret or remorse in this whichI intend to be my last public utterance
for irreparable shortcomings. I do sowithout the expectation that even one person who
(40:28):
has read this confession to the endwill believe that in my depraved nature there
is room for such feelings. Ifear to expect more than would be granted,
and I can and do refrain fromcalling forth such criticism by openly inviting
it. Signed H. Holmes.This has been the Confession of H.
(41:14):
H. Holmes. A litany ofhorror presented by true crime historian Richard O.
Jones. The descriptions and quotes usedin this production have been called from
the pages of the Chicago inter Oceanand other newspapers of the day before he
was hanged in the Philadelphia County Prisonon May seventh, eighteen ninety six.
(41:34):
Holmes recanted his confession, but thedetails are so specific that most historians believe
this to be at least a semblanceof the truth of what happened in the
murder Castle of H. H.Holmes musical direction by Chuck Wiggins. This
is true crime. Historian Richard O. Jones signing off for now all unity
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!