The Irvington, Indiana, tragedy is next. Upon the 1st day of October, 1894, I took the three Pitezel children to the Circle House in Indianapolis, where I engaged permanent board for them until such a time as I could kill one or more of them. Upon the evening of that day I went to St. Louis, where I remained until October 4, busily engaged in settling up the insurance matter with McDonald and Howe, the attorneys. During this time I also called upon the agent or owner of the Irvington House. This was my first incautious step and was destined to fasten crime upon me, for later when the detectives learned that I made this call upon the date that they knew the insurance settlement took place, they no longer hesitated in stating that I, and I alone, could have murdered the boy. Upon October 4, I returned to Indianapolis and later in the same day went to Franklin, Indiana, which is situated south of Indianapolis, while Irvington is east thereof, Franklin to Irvington representing the hypotenuse of a triangle—Franklin to Indianapolis and Indianapolis to Irvington the two shorter sides—so that one could go from Franklin to Irvington direct without making the longer journey via Indianapolis. On October 5th the rent of the house was paid and at about 9 A.M. October 6th I called upon Dr. Thompson at Irvington for the keys, he having been a former occupant. At 5 o’clock upon the same day I called upon Mr. Brown at Irvington to engage him to make some repairs upon the house, and upon his appearing indifferent I became very angry with him and my only wonder is that I did not entice him to the house and kill him also. This small circumstance aided in bringing the crime home to me when it was made known to the detectives and considered by them in connection with many other complaints of my violent and ungovernable temper that had come to their knowledge. On October 7 I called at the Irvington drug store and purchased the drugs I needed to kill the boy and the following evening I again went to the same store and bought an additional supply as I feared I had not obtained a sufficient quantity upon my first visit. My next step was to secure the furniture for the house. This was done upon October 8, late in the afternoon, at such an hour that made it impossible for the store owner to deliver them, and as I wished to stay at Irvington that night I hired a conveyance and carted the goods to the house myself, keeping the horse there until the next day. It was also upon the 8th, early in the forenoon, that I went to the repair shop for the long knives I had previously left there to be sharpened. Early in the afternoon of October 10th I had the boy’s trunk and a stove I had bought taken to the depot, and they arrived at the Irvington house at about 6 P.M. at which time Mr. Moreman was the last person who saw the boy alive, for almost immediately I 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 had ceased to breathe I cut his body into pieces that would pass through the door of the stove and by the combined use of gas and corncobs proceeded to burn it with as little feeling as ‘though it had been some inanimate object. If I could now recall one circumstance, a dollar of money to be gained, a disagreeable act or word upon his part, in justification of this horrid crime, it would be a satisfaction to me, but to think that I committed this and other crimes for the pleasure of killing my fellow beings, to hear their cries for mercy and pleas to be allowed even sufficient time to pray and prepare for death—all this is now too horrible for even me, hardened criminal that I am, to again live over without a shudder. Is it to be wondered at that, since my arrest my days have been those of self-reproaching torture, and my nights of sleepless fear? Or that even before, my death, I have commenced to assume the form and features of the […].
After I had finished the cremation of my victim I made the excavation in which the few remaining portions were found at the time the horror was brought to light, which together with the stove and other evidences of my wrong-doings, were brought here to Philadelphia at the time of my trial to mock me in my efforts to save my life. Then after I had removed the blood and other evidences of the crime, and had burned the contents of the trunk, I went to the office of Powell & Harter, at Indianapolis, for my mail; from there to the hotel for the other two children, whom I took at once to Chicago. I immediately returned to the Irvington House, and was seen there by Mr. Armstrong, a teamster, or such, in time as to have made it a foolish act for me to have persisted in saying that it was some other person whom he saw. My identification in Chicago by a woman with whom the children boarded and by the station agent at Milwaukee, and later at Adrian Mich., all show the uselessness of trying to escape from one’s self or from the responsibility of one’s wrong acts.
In Detroit I hired a house and made an excavation in the basement, where I left a note in my own handwriting, al of which I hastened to tell the detectives as soon as I was arrested, so that by their going to the house and finding both the excavation and the note they would not be inclined to prosecute a similar search in Toronto or other places.
I now, with much reluctance, come to the discussion of the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh murders. The victims were Alice and Nellie Pitezel, whose deaths will seem to many to be the saddest of all, both on account of the terribly heartless manner in which it was accomplished, and because in one instance, that of Alice, the oldest of these children, her death was the least of the wrongs suffered at my hands.
Figure 8: Alice Pitezel
Here again I am tempted to either pass the matter by without speaking of it, or to altogether deny it, but to what purpose? It is publicly known and was freely commented upon at my trial, and to deny it now, would only serve the double purpose of breaking my resolution to hold nothing in reserve, and of causing many who are somewhat familiar with the details of the different cases to disbelieve me in other matters, moreover, the testimony already given by Mrs. Actlia Allcorn, and the opinion of Coroner Ashbridge and a Mr. Perry, who knew the mental condition of the child upon the following day, would, if called for, be sufficient to decide the matter. These children, after boarding in Detroit for about one week, reached Toronto, October 19, and were taken to the Albion Hotel, where they boarded until they were killed. Upon October 20 I hired the Vincent street house, having the lease made in the name of H. M. Howard, in order to avert suspicion as much as possible in case an investigation followed. Between 5 and 6 P.M. the same day I took a large empty trunk to the house and then passed the following day at Niagara Falls. On the 22nd, I bought and had taken to the house the furniture, stove and bedding, and on the 23rd, the children went to the house for a few hours. The 24th was passed in other parts of the city, but upon the 25th, the fatal day of these deaths, they were seen at the house at 1 P.M., and a little later they accompanied me to several clothing stores and finally at 4 P.M., while they were in a restaurant near-by I entered a large store in which I believed I should meet Mrs. Pitezel, holding in my hands some heavy winter underwear I had bought for the little boy already dead. Of this meeting Mrs. Pitezel has said:
“I believed my children were at that time in that store with me.”
I immediately took them to the Vincent street house and compelled them through the cover of which I made a small opening. Here I left them until I could return and at my leisure kill them. At 5 P.M. I borrowed a spade of a neighbor and at the same time called on Mrs. Pitezel at her hotel. I then returned to my hotel and ate my dinner, and at 7:00 P.M. went again to Mrs. Pitezel’s hotel, and aided her in leaving Toronto for Ogdenaburg, N.Y. Later than 8:00 P.M. I again returned to the house where the children were imprisoned, and ended their lives by connecting the gas with the trunk, then came the opening of the trunk and the viewing of their little blackened and distorted faces, then the digging of their shallow graves in the basement of the house, the ruthless stripping off of their clothing and the burial without a particle of covering save the cold earth, which I heaped upon them with fiendish delight.
Figure 9: Nellie Pitezel
Consider what an awful act this was! Those little innocent and helpless children, the oldest only being 13 years of age, a puny and sickly child, who to look at one would believe much younger; consider that for
eight years before their death I had been almost as much a father as though they had been my own children, thus giving them a right to look to me for care and protection, and in your righteous judgment let your bitterest curses fall upon me, but again I pray upon me alone! There is little more to tell. The next day was passed in burning the children’s clothing, and in resting from my terrible night’s work. And upon the 27th I called an expressman and had trunk removed from the house, and after giving the keys to a neighbor went away never to return.
From Toronto I went to Ogdensburg, from there to Burlington, Vermont, where I hired a furnished house for Mrs. Pitezel’s use, and a few days prior to my arrest in Boston I wrote her a letter in which I directed her to carry a bottle of dynamite that I had previously left in the basement 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, but that of her two remaining children, who I knew would be with her at the time. This was my last act, and happily did not have a fatal termination. The eighteen intervening months I have passed in solitary confinement, and in a few days am to be led forth to my death. It would now seem a very fitting time for me to express regret or remorse in this, which I intend to be my last public utterance for these irreparable shortcomings. To do so with the expectation of even one person who has read this confession to the end, believing that in my depraved nature there is room for such feelings, is I fear, to expect more than would be granted. I can at least, and do refrain, from calling forth such a criticism by openly inviting it.
Philadelphia County Prison. Wednesday, April 9, 1896
Holmes’ Busy Day - The Murderer Realizes That His Time is Growing Short.
Holmes is now using every second of time that is left to him to put his affairs in shape. All day yesterday he sat in his cell hard at work, with pencil and paper. Once in a while he would turn around to chat with a keeper or a prison official who passed down the corridor. He was at all times cheerful and good-humored. It was evident that his confession has taken a great load from his shoulders.
Holmes’ cell presents an interesting picture. The furnishing is meager. There is the usual cot and stool, and in one corner under the narrow-grated window is a table on which are paper and pencils. It is here that Holmes sits most of the time hard at work. To a stable in the floor of the cell is fastened a stoat iron chain, such as are used to manacle unruly prisoners.
Holmes has taken this chain and arranged it in the form of a cross. At times the eyes that have seen so many death agonies turn furtively and glance at the crude reminder of the crucifixion as though the arch fiend were trying to gain some measure of forgiveness for his many crimes. Father Dally, who is Holmes constant attendant, is giving the murderer what solace he can.
Holmes fully realizes that his time is growing short, and that the hours are now slipping away faster than ever. Once yesterday the murderer turned and glanced at the calendar. “I haven’t got much time left,” he remarked, “and I still have a great deal of work to do.” When he wrote his statement for The Inquirer, repudiating the false confessions that appeared in certain papers he tore at the corner of the paper and kept it ___ stock is getting short,” he remarked “and I must look after the ___ and ends.”
Holmes’ Arrest - How the Insurance Company Worked Out the Great Case.
Soon after the body of Pitezel was discovered on September 3, 1894, and the insurance money paid, Inspector Gary of the Fidelity Mutual Life Association discovered that a fraud had been perpetrated against the company. With special Agent Perry and backed by President Fouse, he started out to unravel the mystery. The task was an enormous one. It took big sums of money. The company stopped at nothing in the way of expense. Agents and Pinkertons were sent out everywhere and Holmes’ movements were finally traced. At last the man was captured in Boston after an exciting hunt through New England.
During that chase the insurance people picked up many things that afterwards led them to unravel the great mystery and convict the man of murder. At the time of the arrest the Fidelity people fully believed that Holmes had killed Pitezel, but they did not know the full depths of the man’s infamy. At this time even the authorities took little interest in the case.
The belief of the insurance company that Pitezel was murdered and that Holmes was the murderer, is testified to in an affidavit which was made by O. L. F. Perry prior to Holmes arrest.
From that time on Holmes has maintained his innocence until he made his confession for The Inquirer.
Geyer’s Search - The Detective Writes a Book Telling - How He Solved the Pitezel Mysteries.
Up to this time the Supreme Court sealed his fate H. H. Holmes believed that he would escape the gallows. Outwardly his front was as bold as a lion’s. In court and out he spun fairy stories to the authorities and mocked them in his sleeve. Had he been dealing with less careful men it is likely that he would even now be a free man.
Holmes was arrested on November 17, 1894, in Boston on a charge of defrauding the Fidelity Mutual Life Association, of this city. On September 3 of the same year the body of the man then known as Perry, afterwards identified as B. F. Pitezel, was found in the house, No. 1316 Callowhill street. As soon as he was arrested Holmes expressed his willingness to tell the entire story concerning it and the collection of the insurance money.
He was permitted to talk, and he proceeded on the first of a series of rambling statements that eventually tangled him up. For a long time he succeeded in keeping the authorities off the right track. But the officials were patient. Link by link they worked on the case, until they finally reached the conclusion that Holmes must have murdered the three Pitezel children.
His Letter to Mrs. Pitezel
It was decided to release Mrs. Pitezel from custody in June, 1895, and to take up the hunt in earnest. The day the sorrowing mother left Moyamensing Prison she was handed a letter from Holmes. Viewed in the light of subsequent developments, that letter seems to be as great a series of cold-blooded lies as ever mortal penned.
The document has but recently been made public by Detective Geyer in his book, “The Holmes-Pitezel Mystery.” The quotations from Mr. Geyer are also from the same work. It reads:
PHILADELPHIA, June 17, 1893.
Mrs. Carrie A. Pitezel:
Dear Madam: I have been exceedingly anxious during the last few months to communicate with you, but have been headed off in every direction. I learn that you will shortly be set at liberty, and I shall take this letter to City Hall with me and then give it to my attorneys to be sent to you, as the prison regulations do not prohibit my doing so.
I have been repeatedly called cruel and heartless during the past six months, and by those who were at the very time doing more than I that was both cruel and heartless towards you. Within ten days after you came here arrangements were made with my attorney to furnish bail for you and a house to live in. We were refused permission to see you, although you remember coming here from Boston it was promised I should see you. Later I offered to make arrangements with your lawyer for the same. Mr. Barlow, of the District Attorney’s office, told me I could do nothing and that I need not worry myself about you, as you are being cared for. Within three days after you came here you had been made to believe so much from others that you forgot that for years I had done all I could do for you and yours and that it was hardly likely that all at once I should turn and do all I could against you.
Threats of Suicide
Facts you should know are as follows: Ben lived West, and while drunk at Fort Worth, Texas, married a disreputable woman by the name of Mrs. Martin. When he became sober and found what he had done he threatened to kill himself and her, and I had him watched by one of the other men until he went home. When we straightened up the bank account he had fooled away or had been robbed by her of over $850 of the money we needed there so much.
Confessions of the Serial Killer H.H. Holmes (Illustrated) Page 17
