Then he borrowed a spade from Mr. Ryves for the purpose of digging a hole in the cellar in which he could store potatoes! Taking the spade he disappeared into the house and proceeded back to the kitchen where there was a trap door in the floor-that led into the cellar. Raising this trap he descended, with a lamp to aid him, and dug a hole with the spade in the corner of the cellar. Having finished the task he returned the spade and left for the day.
The next step in the course he mapped out was to place the children in the house. Accordingly he took them away from the Albion on October 25th, and left them at the house in the morning. The children played about the house the greatest part of the day. They were in good spirits for the arch-deceiver had assured them that they would soon be joined by both their mother and their father.
Some time in the afternoon Holmes returned with a large trunk, in an express wagon. The expressman discharged, Holmes entered the house and examined the trunk critically, glancing now and then at the two children who stood nearby watching him curiously. At length he seemed, satisfied for he said.
"It is just large enough for both of you."
"But we already have a trunk,"' said Alice.
"It isn't large enough," replied Holmes with a horrible laugh.
The little ones looked at each other in surprise.
"We are going to get some new clothes, I guess.' said Alice.
"Yes, I suppose so, returned Nellie. "You know when papa returns we are going to be rich."
This childish conversation amused the fiend greatly. . He seemed to consider that he was about to perpetrate the joke. Taking a small saw from a satchel and a carpenter’s chisel he began cutting a hole in the top of the trunk.
This drew an exclamation of astonishment from the children.
"Why are you spoiling the trunk, Mr. Holmes?" queried Alice.
"I am not spoiling it at all," retorted Holmes gruffly, "I am making it useful."
With these words he finished his task. Raising the lid of the trunk it was seen to contain a little hole about three inches square.
"What is that hole for?" asked Nellie.
"That is to breath through," said Holmes, grinning. "Climb in and see if it will answer."
They hesitated.
"Come, come," exclaimed the murderer, impatiently.
”Do as I say, climb into the trunk. Don't stand there gaping at me like a couple of owls. Do as I say!"
Alice began to retreat. Seeing the movement Holmes seized them both in an iron grip and forced them towards the trunk.
"Get into it - both of you," he hissed in terrible tones, accompanied by a frightful expression of countenance. "Get into the trunk."
Now trembling with terror the children obeyed-both of them beginning to cry.
"Don't stand up." Lie down - both of you - lie down!"
The children now realized their predicament and began to beg piteously for mercy. But Holmes was made of stone. Finding them slow in complying with his command he struck each of them a stinging blow in the face and then forced them down by sheer strength, using the lid as a kind of a lever to crush them in. Throwing his whole weight upon the trunk so as to spring the catch he succeeded in locking the trunk.
"Now then," said he calmly. "You can understand why I left the hole in the top. You won't suffocate immediately. When I come back I'll finish the job."
Saying these words he left them, imprisoned in the trunk, and returned to the hotel where his wife was staying.
"Tomorrow we must go to, Prescott, Canada, and from there to Burlington," he said. "At both places I expect to sell quite a number of my patent copiers."
"I hope you will have success," said Miss Yokes, with all the sympathy that a woman can display for the man she loves. "I am sure you work hard enough to earn it."
"Do not fail to prepare everything, so that we can leave at a minutes notice," replied Holmes. "I must go now and confer with a party about a little speculation."
He left his wife with these words and proceeded to the Union House. Here he met Mrs. Pitezel.
"Is Ben with you?" she said breathlessly.
"No," replied Holmes. "He dare not come just now."
"The same old story," cried Mrs. Pitezel with a sob.
"My God where will it all end, Take me to him and we will go to prison together if we must, but do not keep us parted any longer. I cannot bear up under it!"
"Only a little while-only a little while," said Holmes soothingly. "He will foil the detectives yet. I can arrange it very nicely. You must pack up and go to Ogdenburg."
"Another journey?" cried the poor woman.
"It is imperative," continued Holmes. "They have discovered that you are in Toronto and they are waiting for you to go to your husband."
"He is really in Toronto?" cried Mrs. Pitezel struggling through the despair to catch at a hope.
"'Of course he is, else I would not tell you so," said Holmes with an injured air. "Only follow my directions closely and all will yet be well."
Even as the monster was talking to her those babies which the mother supposed to be hundreds of miles away were dying a horrible death in the same city where she then was and the smooth-tongued monster who had committed the crime was standing before her wondering what method he could pursue to murder her also!
An hour later he again entered the house in St. Vincent Street. He stopped before the trunk and listened. He frowned as the sound of difficult breathing came to his ears. He kicked the trunk impatiently. A faint moan came from the interior. The poor children had thoroughly exhausted themselves by ineffectual cries for help that could not be heard outside the room. At last unconsciousness came as a blessed relief from their unbearable torture.
Alice was the first to revive. She realized immediately that someone was in the room and began to cry out.
"Shut up!" growled Holmes, savagely.
The poor child recognized the voice and began to plead with heart-rending words to be released.
"Oh please Mr. Holmes - good Mr. Holmes - good, dear, kind Mr. Holmes," wailed the doomed girl.
Her sister was roused by these sounds and joined with her voice in the useless pleading.
"Will you never let up!" demanded Holmes, finishing the arrangement that was to put the children out of their fearful suffering forever.
This arrangement was a long hose of rubber about half an inch in diameter, one end of which he attached to the gas jet and inserted the other end into the hole in the trunk. Then he turned on the gas and went out on the veranda to wait until the device had done its work. When sufficient time had elapsed he returned and shutting off the gas raised the lid of the trunk.
There they were, cramped together in their horrible prison, their little faces blackened and distorted by the manner of their death. Ruthlessly dragging the bodies from the trunk the inhuman monster proceeded with them to the cellar. Here he bundled the little corpses into the hole he had made for them and began filling up the hole with the spade he had borrowed from Mr. Ryves. He was not quite through when he heard the sound of knocking on the door that led to the street. With a curse he dropped the spade and hurried up-stairs. As he opened the door, Mr. Ryves, the neighbor greeted him cheerily.
"Good evening, sir, good evening!" he cried. "I just stepped over to get my spade if you are through with it."
"I will be through with it in a few moments," said Holmes affably. "And I will return it to you immediately!"
"I wish you would," rejoined Mr. Ryves. "I need the spade myself. I have a little work to do in the yard."
So saying he left and Holmes returned to the cellar to finish his awful work. The grave being filled again he carefully smoothed down the loose dirt and covered it over with boards. Then he went up-stairs and set to work demolishing the trunk with his spade. Having chopped it up into, bits he placed the wreckage in a large grate and set fire to it. When this was completed he sighed like a man that has done a good days work and is proud of it.
He left the hous
e taking the spade with him and closing the door behind him.
Approaching Mr. Ryves who stood waiting for him at the gate Holmes handed over the spade and said very politely.
"I am ever so much obliged to you, sir. I filled the hole up again because my sister has decided not to come."
So saying he took his departure and was seen in the vicinity of No. 16 St. Vincent Street no more.
Foiled
Between October 25th and November 1st, Holmes took Mrs. Pitezel successively to different places. From Toronto they went to Prescott, Canada, from there to Ogdenburg and from thence to Burlington. Miss Yokes also accompanied him-but unaware that he was directing the movements of Mrs. Pitezel, Dessie and the baby.
Not until he arrived at Burlington did he find a place adapted to the killing of Mrs. Pitezel. Under the name of J. A. Judson, he sought out a real estate agent by the name of Mr. McKillep and represented that he was looking for a house for his widowed sister, Mrs. Cook. Unaware of the character of the man McKillep rented him the house located at No. 26 Winooski Avenue.
Here Mrs. Pitezel and all that remained of her poor family were installed. At last the fiend had narrowed down to her, poor creature.
Soon after she had taken possession of the house Holmes called upon her. During the past few days the disappointments that forever mocked her efforts to see and speak to her husband made her desperate. With the desperation came a certain hysterical courage - the courage of the partially insane.
Within her was born a fierce determination to wring the truth from Holmes. She would no longer follow at his beck and call. At whatever cost she would compel him to produce her husband and restore him to her side.
No sooner had he entered the room than he perceived that a change had taken place in her condition. She was pale, haggard, emaciated - worn down to a skeleton by the wasting process of it all, there was something new in her bearing. She stood in the center of the apartment where she had received him, drawn erect with all the majesty of a queen. From her eyes blazed the light of imperious command. And when she commenced to speak just the faintest suggestion of color sprang to her cheeks as a kind of signal to denote the fire that burned in her veins.
"Mr. Holmes!" she began in tones that no longer trembled and fluttered like the voice of a consumptive. "Mr. Holmes, I have been going for many days from city to city and from place to place. You have promised me again and again that within the next twenty-four hours all the difficulties in the way of seeing my husband would be removed. When last you left this house you promised that upon your return Ben would accompany you. Where is he?" Holmes averted her look like a coward. He managed to stammer. "He came as far as the door with me - believe me - believe me - but the house is watched by the detectives and he did not dare to enter."
"Liar!"
Clear and startling the words rang out in the close confines of that little apartment and the cur at whom they were directed started as if shot. He stood for a moment undetermined and then the dogged manner of his nature came to the surface. With a cry of hate upon his lips he dashed at the defenseless woman before him with his fist drawn back as if to strike. But that blow was never delivered. Like a threatened angel the persecuted mother clenched her hands and looked the murderer full in the face. There was something in that look that seemed to paralyze the miscreant. Scorn, loathing, hate was expressed in her blazing eyes-and above all, defiance. Every fiber in her being seemed to proclaim.
"Dare to strike me if you will! Dare!"
He retreated and muttered.
"I came near forgetting that you are a woman."
"You came near remembering that you are a cur!" retorted the brave woman.
He grew livid beneath these words but remained silent.
Mrs. Pitezel continued.
"Where is my husband, sir. Tell me where he is!"
Holmes was still silent. He was trying to invent a means to recover his mastery of the poor woman.
Alas, Mrs. Pitezel was so weakened by her long suffering that she could not long maintain the pitch of desperation, which at present animated her. As she stood there waiting for the villainous wretch to answer her, the tears started unbidden to her eyes and her heart wavered.
"Tell me where he is!" she cried with a sudden sob that shook her frame like a convulsion." In God's name, Mr. Holmes, tell me where he is!"
She sank upon her knees and lifted her hands in the air with the supplicating gesture of a slave. Perceiving the unlooked for relapse in her attitude Holmes was once more inspired by the devilish confidence that never failed to victimize those about him when he had the courage to maintain it.
The cunning smile of old returned to his features and the light of triumph called back the greenish luster in his eyes. His accents were once more covered with honey.
"My dear Mrs. Pitezel," he said, directing upon her the strange influence that swayed his subject as if by their own will. "My dear Mrs. Pitezel, how can you speak to me in such a manner when I am making every effort I can to serve you. Am I not doing everything in my power to unite you with Ben and at the same time keep him out of the hands of the law. It is the dearest wish of my life to see this little family all under one roof once more. Without saying anything to you about it - and I would not mention it at all but for this outburst - I had arranged to have not only Ben meet you in Toronto but Alice and Nellie too. Think of the chances I ran! Here am I imperiling my own liberty by bringing these children out of their concealment and bringing them to a spot where you and Ben and the rest of the family could not be found by the police at any moment!"
Mrs. Pitezel looked up at him with surprise.
"Alice and Nellie in Toronto!" she cried.
"Yes-they are in Toronto and if you will be patient for only a little while longer I will fetch them here to you in Burlington! To show you that I am really and truly your friend, I will deliberately run the greatest risks I have ever undertaken!”
As he said these last words he succeeded in passing his hand over her forehead. No sooner had he touched her than every particle of doubt and fear for the realization of these promises seemed to vanish.
Why was this the case? What manner of man was this being, who used a hundred names and murdered countless people? By what supernatural power did he enslave those with whom he came in contact with? Perhaps that question, will never be solved.
He now prepared to leave. Taking up his hat he said, fixing his gaze intently upon the pale face of Mrs. Pitezel. "I am going down to Boston for a few days and I expect to see Ben there. Depend upon me to arrange a meeting between you." His words came slowly with the sibilant hissing sound in them that was one of his peculiarities in speaking.
"There is one thing that I wish you would attend to for me, and I thought I would speak of it the last thing before I left, so that you would not forget it."
He was retreating towards the door step by step, Mrs. Pitezel following in the same manner drawn on by some peculiar influence that she could not resist.
"So that I would not forget it," repeated the poor woman after him in hollow mechanical tones that showed she spoke unconsciously.
"There is a package in the cellar that contains something valuable," continued Holmes.
"Something valuable" repeated Mrs. Pitezel.
"You are to fetch it upstairs and place it in the second story," added the retreating Holmes.
"The second story," repeated the woman as before.
"You will do this yourself - say yes."
"Yes - I will do it myself."
As Mrs. Pitezel stood with her eyes staring before her with a blank expression in them the archfiend seemed to fade before her vision and vanish. She heard the sound of the outer door as it closed and gave a start as though she had received an electric shock. She rubbed her eyes and looked about her, vaguely remembering that Holmes had been in the room with her. How strangely she felt! She tried to remember what she had said but had an unaccountable inability to do it. Slowly she repeated to
herself as if awaking from a dream.
"A package in the cellar which he wishes to be taken to the second story. A package in the cellar."
As if following an instructive impulse she went to-wards the rear of the house where a door led into the cellar. Here she paused. Something was coming into her mind by degrees. "It will be dangerous," she said to herself, "I had better not do it." Even as she said this she took another -step in the direction of the cellar. Again she paused.
"It is a trap," she said with a frown. "I am very foolish to obey him. I will not do it."
She turned as if to retrace her steps. By the greatest effort of will she could exert she found herself unable to move a step in the direction she wished to go. In spite of all her desire to go back she still went forward - irresistibly drawn down the cellar stairs as by some unseen power! A chill seemed to encircle her heart as she realized what she was doing. Step by step, slowly, surely she was descending the cellar steps, in the dark!
At last she had left the last one. There seemed to be no doubt entering her mind as to the exact spot where this mysterious package was located. She went forward, going slightly to the right until she reached a point about ten feet from the cellar stairs. An agony of fear possessed her.
The cold sweat stood out upon her forehead like beads. Like one petrified she stood with her staring eyes trying to pierce the darkness of the cellar. In obedience to an impulse that she could not overcome she began to stoop towards an object that lay at her feet, slightly in advance of where she stood. With difficulty she retained her balance.
She reasoned that it was folly to try and reach the object from where she stood. If she succeeded in touching it she would inevitably fall. Suddenly a sound came to her from above that thrilled her as the sound of a firemen's voice thrills those whom he goes to rescue. It was Dessie calling to her from above.
"Mamma!"
The word never sounded so sweetly to the mother's ear. The child's accents lingered for a moment in the echoes of ne cellar and then were answered by the child on the upper floor.
Confessions of the Serial Killer H.H. Holmes (Illustrated) Page 25
